Can you imagine living in a house built by recycled waste? Texas home builder Dan Phillips transforms trash into artful treasures, creating beautiful floors with wood pieces, kitchen counters from ivory -colored bones and roofs out of license plates  . The fantastic houses which spring from his imagination are made almost entirely of materials which would otherwise have ended up in a garbage area. " People have been doing this for hundreds of thousands of years; using whatever is available to build shelter, " Phillips said."If you think about carefully what could be used, then building materials are everywhere. The thirteen homes he has built so far would fit better in an art museum than the residential streets of Huntsville, a conservative town of about 35 ,000 people. Living in these houses is a bit like living in a roadside attraction."Almost every day, somebody knocks on the door and says ' Is there any way that we could see?' "said Edie Wells, an artist who rents a room in the Bone House.Her home features a stairway made of bones, floors covered in wine corks   and beer bottle caps.Wells said visitors are most impressed when they see a bathroom with its walls, floor and ceiling entirely covered with broken mirror pieces. In addition, each house is highly energy efficient with plenty insulation   , an on-demand solar hot water heater and a system that can collect and recycle rainwater to clean the toilet and wash clothes. Phillips founded Phoenix Commotion 12 years ago with the aim of creating a new model for sustainable housing.For as little as $ 10,000 it builds affordable homes for single parents, low-income families and artists. The company has used hundreds of tons of construction waste by recycling the materials into habitable buildings. Phillips tries to spread his recycled-house idea by speaking at events across the United States, and by using the Internet to reach out to like-minded individuals.Phillips said: "I'm not going to be saving the world anytime soon.But there needs to be at least some... Which of the following is NOT the advantage of the homes built by Phillips? A) environmentally-friendly B) energy efficient C) convenient D) cheap
C


(Question)
Irina,now 46,never imagined she'd one day make a living as a balloon artist.The daughter of an engineer and a teacher,she won top academic awards in high school,went on to medical school and became an emergency room physician in a small city. "I loved the science of medicine," she says today,"but being a doctor was very hard.I saw things people don't normally see--women giving birth in the street,people getting drunk and killing someone." Medications were scarce,making it very difficult to treat those in need.When Irina was 33,a girlfriend showed her a magazine photo of an American named Wes Patterson.They began exchanging letters,and married that December.Irina took a public relations job.Then,a few years ago,she watched a man at a party twist a skinny balloon into the shape of a dog. _  Irina soon purchased a tiny pump and a supply of balloons and began practicing on the sidewalks.Observers challenged her to create all kinds of figures.Now,Irina says,"There's nothing I can't make." Many years ago,Irina's husband developed a serious disease which now keeps him homebound."But he is a very wonderful man," Irina says.Thanks to her new career,she is able to support them both,performing about five events weekly and earning as much as  $2,000 per appearance. "Irina's a wonder," says Marlene Berg,chief development officer for the Florida Heart Research Institute."She turned the evening into magic." "My whole life has become magic," Irina says,"and it's all come from a balloon." What's Irina's job now? A) An emergency room physician. B) A researcher. C) A public relations worker. D) An artist.
(Answer)
D


Ques: Sixteen-year-old Maria was waiting in line at the airport in Santo Domingo. She was leaving her native country to join her sister in the United States. She spoke English very well. Though she was very happy she could go abroad, she was feeling sad at leaving her family and friends. As she was thinking all about this, she suddenly heard the airline employee asking her to pick up her luggage and put it on the scales . Maria pulled and pulled. The bag was too heavy and she just couldn't lift it up. The man behind her got very impatient. He, too, was waiting to check in his luggage.    "What's wrong with this girl?" He said, "Why doesn't she hurry up?" He moved forward and placed his bag on the counter, hoping to check in first. He was in a hurry to get a good seat.   Maria was very angry, but she was very polite. And in her best English she said, "Why are you so upset? There are enough seats for everyone on the plane. If you are in such a hurry, why can't you give me a hand with my luggage?"   The man was surprised to hear Maria speak English. He quickly picked up her luggage and stepped back. Everyone was looking at him with disapproval. Maria's story happened   _  . A) when she was leaving America B) on her way back to Santo Domingo C) before she left the USA D) when she arrived at the airport
Ans: D


Question: One day a mime  is visiting the zoo and tries to earn some money as a street performer. As soon as he starts to draw a crowd, a zookeeper pulls him into his office. The zookeeper explains that the zoo's most popular attraction, a gorilla , has died suddenly and the keeper fears that attendance  at the zoo will fall off. He offers the mime a job to dress up as the gorilla. The mime accepts. The next morning the mime puts on the gorilla suit and enters the cage before the crowd comes. He soon discovers he can sleep, play and make fun of people and he draws bigger crowds than he ever did as a mime -- the job he likes but loses. However, with days going by, he begins to notice that the people are paying more attention to the lion in the cage next to his. Not wanting to lose the attention of his audience, he climbs to the top of his cage, crawls across a partition , and dangles  from the top to the lion's cage. The lion gets angry at this. The scene is _ to the crowd. At the end of the day he is given a raise for being such a good attraction -- well, this continues for some time. The crowds grow larger, and the mime's pay keeps going up. Then one day when he is dangling over the lion he slides and falls. The mime is terrified. He starts screaming "Help me!", but the lion is quick. The mime soon finds himself flat on his back looking up at the angry lion and the lion says, "Shut up you fool! Do you want to get us both fired?" The mime's first contact with the lion is to   _  . A) find pleasure for himself B) win back his audience C) get his pay raised D) get the lion's attention
Answer:
B