People talk about energy everywhere. Green energy, for example. Then, energy independence. It has a nice ring to it. Doesn't it? If you think so, you're not alone, because energy independence has been the dream of American president for decades, and never more so than in the past few years, when the most recent oil price shock has been partly responsible for kicking off the great recession . "Energy independence" and its rhetorical  companion "energy security" are, however, unreliable concepts that are rarely thought through. What is it that we want independence from, exactly? Most people would probably say that they want to be independent from imported oil. But there are reasons that we buy all that oil from elsewhere. The first reason is that we need it to keep our economy running. Yes, there is a trickle  of biofuel  available, and more may become available, but most biofuels cause economic waste and environmental destruction. Second, Americans have basically decided that they don't really want to produce all their own oil. They value the environmental quality they preserve over their oil imports from abroad. Vast areas of the United States are off-limits to oil exploration and production in the name of environmental protection. To what extent are Americans really willing to tolerate the environmental influence of domestic  energy production in order to cut back imports? Third, there are benefits to trade. It allows for economic efficiency, and when we buy things from places that have lower production costs than we do, we benefit. And although you don't read about this much, the United States is also a large exporter of oil products, selling about 2 million barrels of petroleum products per day to about 90 countries. There is no question that the United States imports a great deal of energy and, in fact, relies on that steady flow to keep its economy stable. When that flow is interrupted, we feel the pain in short supplies and higher prices. At the same time, we get massive economic benefits when we buy... Why does America rely heavily on oil imports? A) It wants to expand its storage of raw oil. B) Its own oil reserves are quickly running out. C) Its own oil production falls short of demand. D) It wants to keep its own environment untouched.
D
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Cloud seeding is a method of artificially causing clouds to produce precipitation   in the form of rain or snow.Cloud seeding has also been used in attempts to modify the severity of hail storms and hurricanes.The effectiveness of cloud seeding remains controversial  .but it continues to be used in some regions to try to increase rainfall for agriculture and to build snow packs for water supplies and power production. Cloud seeding was developed by American scientists Irving Langmuir and Vincent Joseph Schaefer during and after World War II.Their work began as an effort to learn more about the buildup of ice on airplane wings, and eventually led them to attempt to create rainfall by releasing several pounds of crushed frozen carbon dioxide into a cloud from an airplane.In this form, the carbon dioxide is called dry ice.On November 13, 1946, the technique appeared to produce snow directly under the cloud; the snow then turned to rain as it fell to the ground. For their experiment, Langmuir and Schaefer selected a supercooled cloud, one in which the water droplets remain liquid in subfreezing temperatures.Their theory was that small grains of dry ice falling through the cloud would cause tiny droplets of water vapor in the cloud to freeze into crystals that attracted more water vapor.Their theory proved to be correct and eventually the crystals became heavy enough to fall from the cloud as snow.As the snow reached the warmer temperatures closer to the ground, it melted and became rain. Another scientist, Bernard Vonnegut, produced a method of cloud seeding using silver iodide  .He used particles of silver iodide because its crystal structure resembled that of ice in clouds.Silver iodide also had practical advantages over frozen carbon dioxide It could be stored at room temperature and did not require an airplane as a delivery mechanism.Instead, silver iodide crystals could be fired by cannons   high into the air, where wind carried them into the clouds. Bernard chose silver iodide as a method of cloud seeding because  _  . A) it is much cheaper than dry ice B) it can be stored at any rooms C) it can be sent into clouds by wind D) it is similar
D
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There is no doubt that most of the readers will be students with little or no experience in reading poetry out loud, especially to such a large group. And we know that a poem will live or die depending on how it is read. The readers, by the way, should not read poems without getting any practice. They should be given their poems a few days in advance so that they have time to practice, maybe in the presence of a teacher. Read the poem slowly. Most young people speak quickly, and a nervous reader will tend to do the same in order to get the reading over with. Reading a poem slowly is the best way to make sure that the poem will be read clearly and understood by its listeners. Learning to read a poem slowly will not always make the poem easier to hear, however. A poem should not be read too slowly, and a good way for a reader to set an easy pace is to pause for a few seconds between the title and the poem's first line. Read in a normal, relaxed tone of voice. It is not necessary to give any of these poems a dramatic reading, as if from a stage. The poems selected are mostly written in a natural style and should be read in that way. Let the words of the poem do the work. Just speak clearly and slowly. Obviously, poems come in lines, but pausing at the end of every line will create a choppy   effect and interrupt the flow of the poem. Readers should pause only where there is punctuation , just as you would when reading prose , only more slowly. How many suggestions did the author give us? A) Two B) Three C) Four D) Five
B
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My son has poliomyelitis  and he suffered from it a lot. When he was young, my wife and I took him to see so many doctors and got different kinds of treatments. But still, he couldn't walk like a normal kid. So he was laughed at by his peers for his walking style. His tears burnt our eyes like sulphuric acid . Then, he became afraid of going to school. He wouldn't go anymore. One night, my wife had a breakdown and shouted at him, "I tell you, my kid, you might be like this forever. You are a freak in other people's eyes, and perhaps it would never change. But in my eyes, in your dad's eyes, you are not a freak! You are not! Even if you are, we love you and we will love you forever!" My son spoke nothing for two days. He didn't eat or sleep. We could read he was hurt. We hoped something wonderful would fall in our family. On the third morning, he struggled to walk to my car, with his school bag in his hand of course. He raised his head high and hugged me, saying "I want to go to school. Nothing will beat me." You know, from then on, he was never afraid of being mocked or despised anymore. If he couldn't avoid these looks, he chose to look at them in the eyes. Later, something nice really happened and my son went to MIT. When he was asked how he managed to bear the pressure, he said, "Because of my parents." My dear fellows, if you care too much about how other people look at you or what their opinions are, you will never become what you want to be. Which of the following is NOT right according to the passage? A) The boy was brave to face any difficulty after being encouraged by his mother. B) The boy achieved success and was admitted to a famous university. C) The boy finally could walk like a normal child after some treatments. D) The boy owed his success to his parents and was grateful to them.

C
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