Without plant, people could not live. We eat plants. We breathe the oxygen that plants produce. And we need plants for another reason: we need them for their beauty. Imagine a world with no plants. Imagine no flowers with their sweet smells, their beautiful colors and their lovely shapes. Imagine when the wind blows, not being able to hear the leaves in the trees or watch the branches sway from side to side. Everywhere people need the beauty of plants. That is why we have parks full of trees and flowers. That is why people always try to design houses with room for some grass and a garden. Do you talk to your plants? Do you give them love and attention? Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird, writers of a book called THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS, tell of an experiment in which two seeds were planted in different places. While the plants were growing, one plant was given love and hopeful ideas. The other plant was given only hopeless ideas. After six months, the loved plant was bigger. Under the earth it had more and longer roots; above the earth, it had a thicker stem   and more leaves. The experiment has proved  that  _  -. A) we should talk to plants and give them love B) without plants people could not live C) we should grow as many plants as possible D) plants need plenty of water, sunshine and attention
A

Those accustomed to browsing through thousands of books in large bookstores may find Japan's Morioka Shoten a little strange. That's because this tiny bookstore that is located in Ginza, Tokyo sells only a single book at a time. Opened in May 2015, Morioka Shoten is the brainchild of Yoshiyuki Morioka. He began his career as a bookstore clerk in Tokyo's Kanda district before branching out to open his own store. It was here while organizing book reading and signing that he realized that customers usually came into the store with one title in mind. Morioka began to wonder if a store could exist by selling multiple copies of just one single book. In November 2014, he partnered with Masamichi Toyama to establish a unique bookstore with the philosophy of "A Single Room with a Single Book". The selections that are picked by Morioka change weekly and vary widely to attract customers with different interests. Recent choices include The True Deceiver, an award-winning Swedish novel by Tove Jansson, Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales, and a collection of Karl Blossfeldt's photography of plants. Morioka has also selected books written by a famous Japanese author Mimei Ogawa. To highlight his only offering, Morioka often uses clever tricks. For example, when selling a book about flowers, the storekeeper decorated his shop with the ones that had been mentioned in the book. He also encourages authors to hold talks and discussions so they can connect with customers. Morioka says his goal is for the customers to experience being inside a book, not just a bookstore. Risky as the idea might seem, things appear to be going well. The storekeeper says he has sold over 2,100 books. Things can get better given that his bookstore is becoming increasingly popular not just among the locals but also visitors form other countries. Why is Morioka Shoten unique? A) It is popular with foreigners. B) It sells books of different topics. C) It is decorated with colorful flowers. D) It sells various copies of a book in a week.
D

Eleven top universities are joining the Open University to launch free Internet courses. King's College London, along with the Universities of Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, East Anglia, Exeter, Lancaster, Leeds, Southampton, St Andrews and Warwick, has partnered with FutureLearn, a company set up by the Open University that will offer free and non-credit bearing courses to Internet-users around the world. The courses are modeled on the US phenomenon "Massive open online courses" ( Moocs ), which have attracted millions of users around the world and are especially popular in emerging economies. FutureLearn will improve UK institutions for international students, said Prof Martin Bean, voice-chancellor of the Open University. "At the moment, foreign students' _ of UK Universities is: wonderful history, great tradition, really good teaching, but a bit boring." Leeds University says the partnership will benefit students studying on campus. "Students will have access to a rich set of resources from both Leeds and our partners. They can also broaden their education beyond their main subject areas." The UK higher education industry stands among the top five export earners for Britain Moocs have grown rapidly in the US over the past year, with two providers leading the field. Coursera offers courses from 33 Universities, including Princeton, Brown, Columbia and Duke, and has reached more than 1.7 million users, EdX, a nonprofit start-up from Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology courses this autumn. Simon Nelson, one of the key architects of BBC Online, will head FutureLearn as launch CEO. "It's really meaningful for these universities to come together -we'll punch much harder collectively than any other university will individually," he said. Partner Institutions will be responsible for their own content while the OU, which has been providing distance-learning courses since 1971, will assist with course delivery and infrastructure. Details of further universities will be revealed next year, as will... We can learn from the passage that  _ A) Coursera, one of the two providers, leads the online courses in the US. B) Economics is the most popular subject among these online courses. C) FutureLearn is only set up for the Internet-users. D) About 1,7million users are taking the free courses launched by UK.
A

A Paul Zindel's death on March 27,2003 ended the brilliant life of a famous writer. Not only did Paul Zindel win a Pulitzer Prize as well as an Obie Prize for his 1970 play The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, but he was one of the earliest writers in the field of contemporary   literature for young adults  . The Pigman, published in 1968. is still one of the most well-known and widely-taught novels in the genre, the American Library Association has named it one of the 100 Best of the Best books for Young Adults published between 1967 and 1992, and Zindel's autobiography. The Pigman and Me, was among the 100 Best of the Best Books published for teenagers during the last part of the twentieth century. Six of Zindel's books, in fact, have been voted the Best Books for Young Adults, and most of his recent horror books--such as The Doom Stone and Rats--have been chosen as Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers. Clearly, he was a writer who knew how to interest contemporary children. Recognizing that, the American Library Association in 2002 honored Paul Zindel with the Margaret A. Edwards Prize for his lifetime achievements , and later that same year he was presented with the ALAN Prize for his contributions to Young Adult Literature. With his passing, young readers, teachers, and librarians have lost a great friend. When did Paul Zindel win the ALAN Prize? A) In 2002 B) In 2003 C) Between 1967 and 1992 D) Between 2002 and 2003

A