Over three million people will do their Christmas shopping entirely online this year without once visiting an actual shop, a poll   has found. Overcrowding and long queues in shops are forcing people away from the high street as the hassle   of Christmas shopping becomes too much. The number of people turning their backs on the high street is almost one million higher than it was last year, according to the poll by YouGov. Last Christmas 2.4 million shoppers did not do any of their shopping in actual shops. The figure this year is predicted to be around 3.4 million, equal to around 7 percent of the adult population. Over a third of people said that the main turn-off about shopping on the high street is 0ver-crow-ding. Meanwhile almost a quarter said that long queues at the cheek-out are the worst thing about it. Of the 2.065 people pored, even those who are stir taking to the shops plan to spend less time in them this Christmas. Around 31 percent of shoppers who plan to spend at least some time on the high street will spend less than half of their shopping time in actual shops, using the rest of the time to shop remotely via the internet. This compares to 28 percent of people last year. Meanwhile the proportion of people spending over half of their shopping time in high street shops has dropped from 41 percent last year to 39 percent this year. Just 2 percent of people said that they are looking forward to dealing wi.th store staff this festival season. Guy Boxall, senior product marketing manager at Casio Business Solutions Division, which commissioned the research from YouGov, said that despite the fall in people visiting the high street,humans are "social creatures" who actually like spending time together. "Although the high street is facing a big challenge Christmas, retailers   should see this research as a challenge to improve the in-store shopping experience, rather than the nail in the coffin. We are social creatures, and the desire to spend time with each other, particularly at Christmas, is never... It can be inferred from Mr. Boxall's words that  _ A) retailers should reduce their in-store goods. B) retailers wiR be pessimistic about the result of this research. C) retailers should focus on the advantage of in-store shopping. D) retailers will make more profits this Christmas than last Christmas
C

When I was about twelve, I headed to a restaurant for dinner with my family. It was winter, and on that particular night, the wind was really blowing. As my mom and I headed towards the restaurant from our car, a girl about my age and her mother came up to us. They asked if we had any spare change. My mom immediately asked where they kept their things. They pointed to an old car in a parking across the street. The girl said there were six of them living in that car, which was the same size as my own family. My mom said she had something to do after handing the people a few dollars. She sent me inside the restaurant with my dad and my three siblings. But she didn't come. Later, I found out she had gone home and practically emptied our cupboards into a few bags. Then, she brought that food over to the car and handed the bags to the family. I wasn't there when that part happened, but I can only imagine the joy it brought to their faces. A few days later, when I actually found out about what she had done, I asked her why she helped those people. She told me that they were not lucky. I remember the face of that girl who had asked us for change, she was the same age as me, yet we looked so different. Here I stood, dressed in almost new clothes, headed to dine in a restaurant and then back home to the bedroom I shared with my younger sister. I remember thinking that the other girl didn't have any food to eat. and she was heading back to a cold car shared with five other people. After painting this picture in my mind, I understood why my mom had done what she did. I will never forget what she did that night, and how she taught me one of the best lessons I ever learned. Which of the following best describes the author's mother? A) Reliable and determined. B) Considerate and enthusiastic. C) Cautious and friendly. D) Unusual and optimistic.
B

When Geoff Marcy was 14, his parents bought him a telescope. Every night, he would go onto the roof outside his window to see the wonders of the sky. "What excited me most was whether there were planets in other solar systems where life might exist," he says. "I decided to try to find planets orbiting other stars like our Sun." And he did. "My fellow researcher, Paul Butler, and I found our first planet in 1995," Dr. Marcy says. "We worked for ten years without finding anything! _ and our patience paid off." Since then, the two scientists have discovered 65 of the more than 100 planets found orbiting other stars. Dr. Marcy and Dr. Butler also spotted the first "family" of three planets. In June 2002 they announced another discovery: a Jupiter-like planet orbiting star 55Cancri. At first, the two researchers found only planets that orbit close to stars. Recently, the scientists found planets farther out. The planet orbiting 55Cancri is a major breakthrough: it is the first sighting of a large gas planet about same distance from the star as Jupiter is from the Sun. Why is this important ? Scientists think that life on Earth may exist because of two special features in our solar system. The first is Jupiter. "Because it's so big, Jupiter pulls comets and asteroids , or they all come and hit the Earth." Dr. Marcy explains. "Without Jupiter , life on Earth would likely have been destroyed." A second feature is that Earth is a rocky planet where liquid water, which is necessary for life , can exist. Unlike gas planets, rocky planets like Earth have surfaces where water can gather in pools and seas, which may support life. A huge space exists between the Jupiter-like planet and two other planets that lie close to 55Cancri. Is there an Earth-like planet in the space, too small for us to notice? If so, says Dr. Marcy, "We would have two striking similarities to our solar system: a Jupiter-like planet and an Earth-like planet. And there may be life!" Dr. Marcy thinks that life may exist in the 55Cancri system because   _  . A) he has found the system similar to the solar system. B) he has discovered an Earth-like planet there. C) he has discovered a rocky planet there. D) he has found signs of life in the system

A