Ques:FOR most people, life without plants is unimaginable. They feed us, clean up our air and brighten up our gardens. But what if someone told you that even our smartphones can benefit from plants? Meet the scientists from the Freiburg University of Mining and Technology in Germany. According to reports from Reuters, they have come up with a way to take the important element germanium   from plants. The element was first discovered in Germany (hence the name) and was used to develop the first transistor   because it can transport electricity very quickly. Nowadays, silicon-germanium alloy   plays an important role in making computers, smartphones and fiber-optic cables  . Although germanium can be found in soil around the world, it is difficult to extract  . In the traditional process, people take the material after zinc   mining or burning coal. But the Freiburg scientists decided to fall back on the natural world. Biology professor Hermann Heilmeier is one of the scientists who are using common plants for this uncommon process. "Different energy crops are being planted, for example, sunflowers, corn ... we want to use them for phytomining. In German we call it 'mining with plants'." Others have used this method in the past with metals like gold and copper  . But in their study, the Freiburg scientists brought germanium from the soil into the roots and shoots of the plants, harvested them and then took the element from the plants. The process did not cost too much because germanium can be taken after plants are processed for use as biogas  . So many of the costs are already covered in existing biogas plants. However, there is still a lot of work to do before we can all experience the benefits. At the moment germanium can only be harvested in very small amounts, just a few milligrams per liter. Now scientists are working on different plants to improve this. "As is so often the case, industry is still waiting because they want to see everything already working. Then they say, 'We'll have it.' But of course we have... According to the article, phytomining   _  . A) is a completely new method for extracting metals B) has been widely used in extracting all kinds of rare metals C) has different productivity depending on the type of energy crop D) is now being tested on types of plants that it has never been tried on

Ans:C
-----
Ques:People say that a mother's love knows no boundaries. This is true when it comes to my mother. She has given up many things so that my sisters and I could live a better life.  My mother comes from a large family and her parents died when she was quite young. She dropped out of school when she was fifteen because no one could afford to pay her studies. At the age of 19, she married my father and when they had my sisters and I, they moved to the United States so that we could have a better life. My parents did not know English but somehow they communicated with other people. My mother stayed at home and raised us while my father was working. There were so many dangerous incidents that happened where we lived that my mother finally decided that we all moved to Texas when I was seven.  My mother has worked so hard to give us everything. She always tells us that all she wants is for us to be happy.  As the saying goes, "You don't appreciate something until it's gone." Well, I finally had a chance to experience it. My mother went to Mexico this winter because she needed to have an operation. For the first time in my life, my mother was not there to hold and comfort me. Those two weeks when she was away made me realize how much I love her. All she has done for me is incredible. When I suffer she suffers with me. I have to show her how much I care about her. She means the world to me. The writer didn't realize that he loves his mother very much until   _  . A) they moved to Texas B) his mother told them all she wanted was for them to be happy C) his mother left home for an operation D) his mother died

Ans:C
-----
Ques:Can you believe your eyes? A recent experiment suggests that the answer to that question may depend on your age. Martin Doherty, a psychologist at the University of Stirling in Scotland, led the team of scientists. In this experiment, Doherty and his team tested the perception  of some people, using pictures of some orange circles. The researchers showed the same pictures to two groups of people. The first group included 151 children aged 4 to 10, and the second group included 24 adults aged 18 to 25. The first group of pictures showed two circles alone on a white background. One of the circles was larger than the other, and these people were asked to identify the larger one. Four-year-olds identified the correct circle 79 percent of the time. Adults identified the correct circle 95 percent of the time. Next, both groups were shown a picture where the orange circles, again of different sizes, were surrounded by gray circles. Here's where the trick lies in. In some of the pictures, the smaller orange circle was surrounded by even smaller gray circles -- making the orange circle appear larger than the other orange circle, which was the real larger one. And the larger orange circle was surrounded by even bigger gray circles -- so it appeared to be smaller than the real smaller orange circle. When young children aged 4 to 6 looked at these tricky pictures, they weren't fooled -- they were still able to find the bigger circle with roughly the same accuracy as before. Older children and adults, on the other hand, did not do as well. Older children often identified the smaller circle as the larger one, and adults got it wrong most of the time. As children get older, Doherty said, their brains may develop the ability to identify visual context. In other words, they will begin to process the whole picture at once: the tricky gray circles, as well as the orange circle in the middle. As a result, they're more likely to fall for this kind of visual trick. When asked to find the larger circle,  _  . A) children at 6 got it wrong 79 % of the time with no gray ones around B) only adults over 18 got it right 95% of the time with gray ones around C) children at 4 got it right about 79 % of the time with gray ones around D) adults got it right most of the time with gray ones around

Ans:
C
-----