Former President Jimmy Carter believes U.S central intelligence agency is spying on him -- so much so, he gives up email to avoid government spies. "You know, I have felt that my own communications are probably monitored," Carter told NBC's Andrea Mitchell in an interview broadcast Sunday. "And when I want to communicate with a foreign leader privately, I type or write a letter myself, put it in the post office and mail it. "I believe if I send an email, it will be monitored," Carter continued. The 89-year-old said the National Security Agency and others have abused the argument that gathering intelligence is important to homeland security. "That has been extremely liberalized and, I think, abused by our own intelligence agencies," Carter said. The 39th president, however, stopped short of criticizing No. 44 over the handling of the N.S.A. scandal , the crisis in Ukraine or anything else. "I don't have any criticism of him," Carter said of Obama. He was asked if the president ever asks him for advice. "Unfortunately, the answer is no," Carter said. "President Obama doesn't. But previous presidents have called on me and the Carter Center to take action." Why not Obama? "That's a hard question for me to answer, you know, with complete directness," he said. "I think the problem was that in dealing with the issue of peace between Israel and Egypt, the Carter Center took a very strong and public position of equal treatment between the Palestinians and the Israelis. And I think this was a sensitive area in which the president didn't want to be involved." Which of the following is NOT true according to the report? A) Carter reveals the fact that he is being spied during an interview broadcast B) Obama has never asked Carter for political advice C) Carter totally supports Obama in dealing with sensitive issues D) Carter is now in his late nineties
C


(Question)
Deserts are found where there is little rainfall or where rain for a whole year falls in only a few weeks' time. Ten inches of rain may be enough for many plants to survive   if the rain is spread throughout the year. If it falls within one or two months and the rest of the year is dry, those plants may die and a desert may form. Sand begins as tiny pieces of rock that get smaller and smaller as wind and weather wear them down. Sand dunes   are formed as winds move the sand across the desert. Bit by bit, the dunes grow over the years, always moving with the winds and changing the shape. Most of them are only a few feet tall, but they can grow to be several hundred feet high. There is, however, much more to a desert than sand. In the deserts of the southwestern United States, cliffs   and deep valleys were formed from thick mud that once lay beneath a sea more than millions of years ago. Over the centuries, the water dried up. Wind, sand, rain, heat and cold all wore away at the remaining rocks.  The faces of the desert mountains are always changing--very, very slowly--as these forces of nature continue to work on the rock. Most deserts have a surprising variety of life. There are plants, animals and insects that have adapted to life in the desert. During the heat of the day, a visitor may see very few signs of living things, but as the air begins to cool in the evening, the desert comes to life. As the sun begins to rise again in the sky, the desert once again becomes quiet and lonely. It can be learned from the text that in a desert  _  . A) there is no rainfall throughout the year B) life exists in rough conditions C) all sand dunes are a few feet high D) rocks are worn away only by wind and heat
(Answer)
B


Ques: Bill Gates was born on October 28th, 1955. He and his two sisters grew up inprefix = st1 /Seattle. Their father, William H. Gates II, was aSeattleattorney  . Mary Gates, their late mother, was a school teacher.    Gates attended public elementary school before moving on to the private Lakeside School in North Seattle. It was at Lakeside that Gates began his career in personal computer soft- ware, programming computers at age 13.    In 1973, Gates enteredHarvardUniversityas a freshman, where he lived down the hall from Steve Ballmer, who is now Microsoft's president. While at Harvard, Gates developed a version   of the programming language BASIC for the first microcomputer---the MITS Astair. In his junior year, Gates dropped out of Harvard to devote his energies full-time to Microsoft, a company he had started in 1975 with his boyhood friend Paul Allen. Guided by a belief that the personal computer would be a valuable tool on every office desk-top and in every home, they began developing software for personal computers.    Gates' foresight and vision have led to the success of Microsoft and the software industry. He plays an important role in the technical development of new products. Much of his time is devoted to meeting with customers and staying in contact with Microsoft employees around the world through e-mail.    In the dozen years since Microsoft went public, Gates has donated more than $ 800 mil- lion to charities  , including $ 200 million to the Gates Library Foundation to help libraries in North America take advantage of new technologies and the Information Age. Where did Bill Gates begin his career in personal computer software? A) At public elementary school. B) At the privateLakesideSchool. C) AtHarvardUniversity. D) At Microsoft Company.
Ans: B


Question: Every day from the time we wake up until the time we go to bed, we are bombarded with information from all sides, from TV, radio, newspapers and books; from family, friends, and colleagues. As a new cable television subscriber, I am  ly amazed at the quantity and varying levels of information quality on cable television. Including the networks, there are eight TV "news" organizations vying to provide us with all the information we can possibly absorb. Newspaper, magazines, books, radio, the Internet, email, snail mail, and the telephone all compete for our attention and our minds. At the office conversations around the water cooler and coffee maker serve to spread even more items of information.   There is valuable information out there about the world we live in, on topics as varied as health, safety, traffic, nutrition, business, finance, philosophy, nature, science, weather, history and the human condition. There is also a large amount of misleading and outright false information, not just on controversial subjects such as politics and religion but on any topic one can think of, including all of the topics mentioned above.   With all this information coming at us from all directions, how does one sift through it all to sort out the facts from the fiction, the truth from the lies, the more important from the less important? Should we turn off the TV, cancel our newspaper subscriptions, disconnect our phones and modems to become information "hermits"? Probably not.   A better method of sifting through the information wave without being overwhelmed and confused is to become a skeptical inquirer-or skeptic-with regard to the surrounding world. By "skeptic"-I do not mean a cynic-a person who rejects new ideas simply because they are new. A skeptic is one who questions the validity of a particular claim by calling for evidence to prove or disprove it. Skepticism is a method, not a position. It is a provisional approach to all factual claims. In terms of processing information, a skeptic needs to be able to grasp... What can we conclude from the difference between a skeptic and a cynic? A) Skeptics are reasonable but cynics are too optimistic. B) Skeptics are reasonable but cynics are too pessimistic(opposite of optimistic). C) Skeptics take a position but cynics are extreme in their attitude. D) Skeptics reject all new ideas but cynics only reject some of them.
Answer:
B