UK Attention, Harry Potter fans: The sixth novel in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter stories, , will go on sale in the United States, Canada, Britain and Australia on July 16, 2005 Italy According to a recent study, there are now more dogs and cats in Italian homes than children. There are at least 14.5 million dogs cats in Italian homes compared with 8.7 million children under the age of 15.Italy has one of the lowest birth rates in Europe. A psychologist said that pets were loved by many young Italians who could not have or did not want to have children. In Italy, spending on pets has increased by 20 percent in the past five years. US The start of a new years is time when many Americans like to think about ways to make improvements for the future. But this year, instead of the usually New Year's resolution  to lose weight, quit smoking or exercise more, the US Department of Homeland Security is urging Americans to create a family emergency plan for any terror attack. France & Iraq The two French journalists who had been held hostage  in Iraq for 124 days were freed last week. Christian Chesnot, 37 and Georges Malbunot, 41, were kidnapped along with their Iraqi driver on Aug, 20 in Iraq. French Prime Minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, said that the French government had not paid ransom  for their release. Which is the suitable title for the second passage? A) The Lowest Birth Rates B) More Pets Than Children C) Great Change On Money Spending D) A scientific Research Report
B
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Big Ben, one of London's best-known landmarks, which is famous for its accuracy and chimes ,stopped ticking for 90 minutes, an engineer said Saturday. Officials do not know why the 147-year-old clock on the banks of the River Thames stopped at 10:07 p.m. Friday. It continued keeping time, but stopped again at 10:20 p.m. and remained still for about 90 minutes before starting up again, a spokeswoman for the House of Commons said. A recent period of hot weather may have been to blame. Temperatures in London reached 90 Saturday, and forecasters called it England's hottest day in May in the past fifty three years, since 1953. Big Ben, which is operated by the Palace of Westminster, survived attack by German Luftwaffe bombers during World WarII,continued to mark the time within11/2 seconds of Greenwich Mean Time. However, the clock has experienced occasional problems. In 1962, snow caused the clock to ring in  the New Year 10 minutes late. In 1976, the clock stopped when a piece of its machinery broke. Big Ben also stopped on April 30, 1997, and once more three weeks later. Big Ben is actually the clock's 13-ton bell, which was named after Sir Benjamin Hall, the British commissioner of works at the time the clock was built. The official name for the Gothic tower holding Big Ben is St. Stephen's Tower. Standing 315 feet tall, it was completed in 1859 after an 1834 fire destroyed most of the Palace of Westminster. How many times has Big Ben gone wrong up to now? A) Three. B) Five. C) Six. D) Eight.
C
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NBA commissioner David Stern was in Orlando on Thursday night, getting ready for Sunday's All-Star Game. Of course, all he could talk about was the only player anyone wants to talk about these days: New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin. Hours before Lin took the court against the Heat, a few hundred miles South down I-95 in Miami, Stern told reporters that Lin's instant popularity hasn't ever been matched in sports history, not even by Sunday's biggest names, LeBron James or Kobe Bryant. The Associated Press had the details. "I haven't done a calculation, but it's fair to say that no player has created the interest and the craze in this short period of time, in any sport, that I'm aware of like Jeremy Lin has," Stern said Thursday. Lin, an undrafted guard from Harvard, has become the NBA's biggest story since coming off the Knicks' bench earlier this month to lead them to nine wins in 11 games heading into their matchup with Miami on Thursday night. With Lin's popularity in Asia as the league's first American-born player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent, and with the religious community because of his strong Christian faith, Stern says he's "never quite seen anything like" the attention on Lin. "It's fascinating," Stern said after the All-Star Jam Session opening ceremonies. The top five videos on NBA.com since Feb. 4, when Lin joined the circulation, are all Lin or Knicks related. Lin went from 190,000 followers on Sina, China's version of Twitter, on Feb. 2 to more than 1 million as of Feb. 16. Indeed, Lin's popularity is so _ that the NBA made a late list switch to ensure his participation in the Rising Stars Challenge on All-Star Saturday, a game that includes the NBA's best rookies and sophomores. Lin is in such high demand that all of the game's other participants will meet with the media following a team practice on Friday while Lin will have his own, separate press conference later in the night. This is Jeremy's world, folks. We're all just living in it. Even David Stern and the rest of the league's... What can we learn from the above passage about Jeremy Lin's instant popularity? A) Knowledge starts with practice. B) Failure is the mother of success. C) Every dog has its day. D) No pains, no gains.
C
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Terra-cotta Warriors As the greatest archaeological findings of the 20th century, Terra-cotta Warriors has a really long history.In 246 BC, Qin Shi Huang, later the first Emperor of all China, had begun to prepare for his mausoleum which took 11 years to finish to defend him in the afterlife.There are over 7,000 pottery soldiers, horses, bronze chariots, and even weapons found in it now.Terra-cotta Warriors was listed by UNESCO in 1987 as one of the world cultural heritages and it has made Xi'an a famous city for tourists. Big Wild Goose Pagoda The Big Wild Goose Pagoda has a history of over 1,300 years and is a typical ancient Chinese building.It is located in the south of Xi'an City.Because Master Xuanzang stored his classics brought from India in the pagoda, it is also a holy place for Buddhists.As a National Key Cultural Relic Preserve, it won the title of an AAAA Tourist Attraction as well. Xi'an Ancient City Wall As one of the landmarks of Xi'an, Ancient City Wall still stretches round the old city today, dividing the city into the inner part and the outer part.Ancient City Wall was originally built during the old Tang Dynasty (618 -- 907) and then enlarged by Zhu Yuanzhang, Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, thus forming the modern Xi'an City Wall.After the extension, the wall now stands 12 meters tall, 12-14 meters wide at the top and 15-18 meters thick at the bottom. What is The Big Wild Goose Pagoda most famous for? A) It has a history of over 1,300 years. B) It is a typical ancient Chinese building. C) It is a holy place for Buddhists. D) It won the title of an AAAA Tourist Attraction.

C
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