Ques: (ALAUDDIN VALLEY) -- Russia's relationship with Tajikistan has  _ following an incident involving a Russian pilot who was arrested -- after making an emergency landing in the Central Asian nation. Russia responded by beginning to drive out Tajik guest workers, a move that threatens Tajikistan's entire economy. In total, some 700,000 Tajik citizens work in Russia. In the past quarter, they sent home some $742 million in remittances  . Overall, the money guest workers send back makes up half of the republic's government budget.  The Alauddin Valley is in the Fann Mountains in eastern Tajikistan. The place long held an attraction for Russian writers and adventurers. Later, during the Soviet era, it was a popular tourist destination. Yet establishing a strong relationship with the people of the mountainous region is not easy. Men are seldom seen in the area. Nearly every family has at least one breadwinner working in Russia, if not more. The farm work falls to the women, who divide it up among themselves. Each summer, the village chooses the most experienced and skilled women to take all of the cows (up to 300 of them) to the summer pastures   high up on in the mountains. The women spend four months there with their children since there is no one to leave the children with. They milk the cows and prepare products for the winter: cheese, butter and so on. These fermented   goods get them through the winter when snow and avalanches   cut off all contact with civilization.  Residents here generally have two questions for visiting Russians. The first one is obvious: Is President Dmitri Medvedev going to limit the entry of Tajik guest workers? The second question is less obvious: Are there cows in Moscow? The Alauddin Valley's women truly can't imagine life without either. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage? A) A Russian pilot was arrested in Tajikistan. B) Each year Tajik guest workers send home some $ 742 million. C) The Alauddin Valley is a popular tourist destination for Russians. D) Now there are no men in the Alauddin Valley.
Ans: A

Ques: Too often we accuse others of not listening, pretending that we ourselves are faultless, yet in our hearts we know that many of the mistakes we make come about because we haven't listened carefully enough. We get things wrong because we haven't listened carefully enough. We get things wrong because we haven't quite understood what someone meant when they were talking to us. Anyone who has ever taken the minutes of a long meeting will know how hard it is to remember-- despite the benefit of notes-- exactly what everyone said. But success depends on getting things right--and that means listening. Listening is not the same thing as hearing; it is not an effort actively. It demands attention and concentration. It may mean quizzing the speaker for additional information or for clarification------ it is always better to ask than to continue regardless and get things wrong. However, if you allow your mind to wander onto something else, even for a few minutes, you'll miss what the speaker is saying------ probably at the very moment when he or she is saying something critical. And not having heard, you won't know you've missed anything until it's too late. The most common bad habit we have is to start thinking of what we are going to say about the subject long before the other speaker has finished. We then stop listening. Even worse, this often adds rudeness to inattentiveness, as once you have decided what to say there is a fair chance you will interrupt to say it. Good listeners don't interrupt. In fact it is often worth explaining the main idea of what you have just been told before going on to make your own points. Nobody is offended by this and it shows that you have listened well. Above all be patient and accept that many people are not very good communicators. It's helpful to remember that the ways people move and position themselves while they are speaking can reveal a great deal about what they are saying. Equally important you should put yourself in the other person's place, both intellectually and... Which is the best title for this passage? A) Don't be too clever B) Be a good listener. C) Don't miss anything critical D) Think of the speaker
Ans: B

Ques: In April 2014,the world's oldest known message in a bottle was discovered floating in the Baltic Sea. It had spent 101 years lost in the ocean!The message was finally sent to the author's granddaughter. A German fisherman named Konrad Fischer found the brown bottle near Kiel,Germany. He said he nearly threw the bottle back into the water after pulling it out of a fishing net. Then he noticed something inside. The bottle in good condition contained a Danish postcard with two German stamps,dated May 17,1913. Although dampness had made most of the writing illegible ,the readable part of the message asked whoever found it to return it to an address in Berlin. It even contained two stamps to pay for postage. From the address,researchers found that the postcard was written by a man named Richard Platz,who was 20 years old when he wrote the message. While he was hiking on the Baltic coast with a nature appreciation group,he threw the bottle into the sea. Then the researchers began a search for any living relatives of his. Sure enough,they were able to find his 62-year-old granddaughter,Angela Erdmann,who still lives in Berlin. "It was almost unbelievable,"Erdmann said upon being presented with her grandfather's bottle and message."That was a pretty moving moment. Tears rolled down my face." Erdmann never knew her grandfather,who died in 1946,but says that the discovery of the bottle has made her want to learn more about him. The bottle remained on display at the International Maritime Museum in Hamburg until May 1.After that,the researchers examined the postcard and tried to figure out the meaning of the rest of the message. Previously,the oldest message found in a bottle spent nearly 98 years at sea and was discovered in April 2012,according to Guinness World Records. What can be the best title for this passage? A) The finding of a floating bottle at the sea B) A one-century-old letter to a granddaughter C) The world's oldest message in a floating bottle D) The oldest Danish postcard in a floating bottle
Ans:
C