"Hon? You still awake?" Quiet. Jan pulled herself out of the bed and stood up, looking around the dark room for anything. She needed something, something that she could grab onto, and hold, hold until it hurt, hold until blood made racing red lines down her arms, until her hands were raw. She left the room and walked quietly into the now guest room that had been Rob's. Opening the closet, she found the teddy bear that Rob had once confided in and held it in her arms tight as she slumped down on the bed. A quiet sobbing rang through the house accompanied only by the chime of the grandfather clock in the living room every fifteen minutes. As Jan lay on the guest room bed she soon resorted to deep gasps, knowing that meager tears would never be forceful enough to express her worry to those that listened. "Just bring him home, bring him home, bring him home," she mumbled over and over, each time changing the tone slightly in a desperate attempt to make her pleading sound more real. She could hear the occasional snore of her husband and she hated him for it. What kind of person could find sleep at a time like this? Why wasn't he awake worrying? Why wasn't he with her? Her thoughts became dark like blood, evil little monsters eating at her sanity. If her son was crazy and not just a drug addict she could see how easy it was to fall over the line. "Please God, please God, please God, please Rob, Please Rob, Please Rob, Please Rob." Soon, a sleep came but it was peppered with demons. And as the sliver of sun peeked through the window, she held her false self-control tight and said little. According to the above context, choose the correct option to answer the following question. Question: How long has Rob probably been gone? Options:  A. not enough information  B. two weeks  C. half an hour  D. a few days
D


(Question)
WHITE HOUSE — A controversial clothing choice is overshadowing a surprise visit by U.S. first lady Melania Trump to a Texas facility to meet immigrant children separated from their families because of her husband's "zero-tolerance" immigration policy. Boarding a U.S. Air Force jet at and returning to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Thursday, the first lady was spotted wearing an olive green jacket. The back of the jacket read "I really don't care. Do U?" in white graffiti-style lettering. The first lady's team insisted that there was no hidden meaning behind the sartorial choice. "It's a jacket. There was no hidden message. After today's important visit to Texas, I hope the media isn't going to choose to focus on her wardrobe," said her communications director, Stephanie Grisham. President Donald Trump, however, contradicted the assertion there was no message conveyed by his wife's choice of apparel. Trump, in a tweet, said what was written on the back of the jacket "refers to the Fake News Media. Melania has learned how dishonest they are, and she truly no longer cares!" Television news channels brought pundits in the studio to discuss the meaning conveyed by the jacket. "I think she may have had an audience of one in mind — her husband," said USA Today newspaper Washington bureau chief Susan Page, who has covered six presidential administrations, appearing on MSNBC. "I think it was Melania giving the middle finger to the media," Kate Anderson Brower, author of First Women: The Grace & Power of America's Modern First Ladies, told VOA. "But someone should have told her that it could also be read that she doesn't care about the children, which is clearly not the case." Fashion bloggers quickly identified the jacket as one selling for $39 by Zara, a fast fashion global retailer. It was a relatively humble selection by Trump, a former Paris runway model who is frequently clad for public appearances in haute couture dresses and coats. According to the above context, choose the correct option to answer the following question. Question: What is probably true about the news media? Options:  A. they are critical toward Melania Trump in many cases  B. They do everything they can to encourage Melania Trump in a favorable way  C. They are favorable toward Melania Trump in most cases  D. not enough information
(Answer)
A


The young man (boy, really) played with his fingers in the garish light cast from the lone bulb in the concrete bunker. He scratched at an imaginary itch on his right hand (just below his thumb) to take his mind off the man in the lab coat who sat across from him at the beaten, scarred, wood table. It didn't work. And whoever this man in the lab coat was, he was insistent about paperwork. He had three inches clipped onto a weathered clipboard which he flipped through with precision. "Can I offer you a glass of water?" asked the boy's captor in a calm, sensitive tenor. The boy, Kurt, continued to scratch the imaginary itch, which had leapt magically from his right hand to the left. Eventually the falseness of the itch would be deduced, and the lab coated man would disappear out of the cell and return with... God knows what. He had seen torture hundreds-if not thousands-of times on TV, and he was glumly certain that there would be no commercial breaks for him. "Can I offer you a glass of water?" The question was repeated without urgency, like a forgetful waiter. The itch now leaped with the dexterity of a trained flea onto the boy's leg, and the dutiful fingers followed. He watched as the man in the lab coat, without name tag or company insignia, studied his stack of papers attached to the clipboard. Several yellow forms near the top half inch were labeled 27B. The man frowned and wrote a note on the top page. "Note: Find out who isn't duplicating 27B in Pink." "I'm sorry," he said, "I wasn't listening. Was that a yes or no to the water?" Kurt remained in his chair, almost motionless, except for the itching-and-scratching routine. It had leapt again, this time onto his scalp, and the twitching fingers followed. He wondered how long he could keep this up without drawing blood. According to the above context, choose the correct option to answer the following question. Question: The boy is afraid: Options:  A. to have an itch  B. to be tourtured  C. not enough information  D. to drink water

B