Coca-Cola is probably the most famous brand in the world, and in some areasyou can even access it easier than clean drinkable water. Although the company is trying to present itself as a health-conscious company, you can't really say that drinking cola is healthy for you. Still, we all drink cola, some more and some less, and we tell ourselves that it's all okay as long as we don't overdo it. However, Coca-Cola has other functions besides drinking. Cola removes the tarnish  from old pennies. Got some old rusty pennies? Not to worry! Put them inside a glass of cola and let them rest for a while. When you get them out, you'll have shiny pennies that will look as if they were coined a couple of days ago. If you couldn't clean those pennies with industrial acids, just buy a can of cola and let it do its magic! You can remove gum from your hair with cola. If you've got gum stuck in your hair and don't know a better way to get it out, don't worry, you won't have to cut it. Just pour some cola into a bowl and dip the part of your hair with gum on it inside. Leave it for a couple of minutes and then simply wipe off the gum. You can make an exploding fountain. You probably know about this one. You can make an exploding fountain by putting a mint  inside a two-liter bottle. Then move away from the bottle and get ready for a Coca-Cola explosion. This is a fun thing to do, but it is also a warning -- don't eat a mint and drink cola at the same time, because a similar thing could happen to your stomach. Why can't we eat a mint and drink cola at the same time? A) It can cause harm to our stomach. B) It might make our stomach smaller. C) Mints with cola will produce heat. D) The mint will release poisonous substances.
A


(Question)
Horror seized the heart of the World War I soldier as he saw his life-long friend fall in the battle. Caught in a trench with continuous gunfire whizzing over his head, the soldier asked his commander if he might go out into the "No Man's Land" between the trenches to bring his fallen comrade back. "You can go," said the commander, "but I don't think it will be worth it. Your friend is probably dead and you may throw your own life away." The commander's words didn't matter, and the soldier went anyway. To one's surprise, he managed to reach his friend, raised him onto his shoulder, and brought him back to their company's trench. As the two of them fell in together to the bottom of the trench, the officer checked the wounded soldier, and then looked kindly at his friend. "I told you it wouldn't be worth it," he said. "Your friend is dead, and your wound is deadly." "It was worth it, though, sir." the soldier said. "How do you mean 'worth it'?" responded the commander. "Your friend is dead!" "Yes sir." the soldier answered. "But it was worth it because when I got to him, he was still alive, and I had the satisfaction of hearing him say, 'Jim, I knew you'd come.'" Many a time in life, whether a thing is worth doing or not really depends on how you look at it. Take up all your courage and do something your heart tells you to do so that you may not regret not doing it later in life. According to the soldier, why did he say "It was worth it."? A) Because the soldier saved his friend in time. B) Because the soldier successfully brought his friend back. C) Because what he did will bring him great honor and make him get promoted in his later life. D) Because his friend was still alive when he reached him and he didn't make his friend disappointed.
(Answer)
D


Ques: Some people like modern art, while others say that is rubbish. But a cleaner who works in the Tate Gallery in London isn't able to tell the difference. The woman, whose name isn't known, mistook a work of art by the German painter Gustav Metzger for a bag of rubbish, and threw it out with other bags. The plastic bad, which contained pieces of paper and cardboard, was later recovered outside the gallery, but the artist thought that it was too damaged to be put on show again. 78-year-old Mr Metzger explained that the exhibit, which he said was a copy of a similar work he had created in 1960, was meant to show that all art is temporary and "finite" . Embarrassed officials at the museum said that they had had to call a meeting with cleaners to explain which things should not be touched. They would not say whether Mr Metzger would be paid any compensation for the incident. However, to make absolutely sure the same thing would not happen again, they decided to cover Mr Metzger's work every evening with a colored cloth. In this way the cleaners arriving after the gallery had closed to the general public would realize they should not touch it. This is not the first time that museum cleaners have had trouble distinguishing exhibits from rubbish. In 2001, in another London gallery, a cleaner threw away a work by the well-known British artist Damien Hirst. It was an arrangement  of empty beer bottles, coffee cups, and overflowing ashtrays, which were meant to indicate the chaos in the life of an artist. However, cleaners don't always throw things away--sometimes they clean them! This was the case with a dirty asking what the bath was doing in the gallery, the cleaners simply scrubbed it clean. What's the best title of the passage? A) Cleaners mistake modern art for rubbish B) Modern art shouldn't be cleaned C) What makes a great work of art D) Cleaners don't always throw things away
Ans: A


Question: As an English teacher, one of the most common problems I've found with my students is their lack of confidence with speaking, and difficulty in understanding native speakers. Another problem could be that a foreign language taught in schools can sound quite different to what native speakers actually use. There are a few English words and expressions that I'd never heard until I came to China. The most common one in my experience is "How are you? I'm fine, thank you, and you?" I appreciate that although this greeting is much too formal for everyday use - it's easy to learn and helps build confidence. However, it can be a hard habit to break. I've seen many parents correct their kids if they don't use that exact phrase, as if simply replying "I'm fine" would somehow be rude. In fact I'm banning my students from saying that in the classroom, insisting a simple "I'm fine, thanks" is good enough. "Seldom" is another one that I find interesting. The first time a student told me "I seldom watch TV", my initial reaction was a stupefied look, followed by "Huh?" I then realized the student used "seldom" when it's more common for us to use "rarely." I was just as confused when I first heard a toilet referred to as a WC (water closet), another English term I'd never heard of back in Australia. Of course, my students know the other names for it like bathroom, toilet, washroom etc. so to prefer that name is an interesting choice.   I don't mind that my students have substituted familiar English words with their own, far from it. It reminds me how creative they can be with not only their language, but with mine as well. It's healthy for English to evolve   and change and I'm happy to add these new words to my vocabulary. One important lesson I've learnt is that textbooks can only help you so much. For further improvement you'd better practice with native speakers. What is the writer's attitude towards his students using Chinese-English? A) He's tolerant. B) He's angry. C) He feels uncomfortable. D) He pays no attention.
Answer:
A