Alan took an early interest in gardening---first on his grandfather's Yorkshire allotment in Ilkley, and then in his parents' back garden. Small polythene greenhouses appeared in the back garden, and cacti were bought from church markets. Alan left school at fifteen with one `O' level in Art and took a job as an apprentice gardener in Ilkley Parks Department nursery, studying for his City and Guilds in Horticulture in the evening. He went on to horticultural college at Oaklands in Hertfordshire where he studied for one year full-time, being awarded the National Certificate in Horticultural. This was followed by three years at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, resulting in the award of the Kew Diploma. After two years as supervisor of staff training at Kew, Alan entered journalism where he became first a gardening books editor, and then Deputy Editor of Amateur Gardening magazine. He appeared regularly on BBC Radio and Television in programs such as Nationwide , Breakfast Time, Open Air, Pebble Mill, Songs of Praise, Titchmarsh's Travels, and the Chelsea Flower Show. He presented the 100th edition of The Word for Channel 4, and hosted the quiz show Ask the Family. Gardeners' World and the hugely popular Ground Force, second only to Easterners in the BBC1 ratings, are broadcast as far as Australia, New Zealand and North America. After leaving both programs, Alan worked on two other series for the BBC to be transmitted in 2003 and 2004, one of them a landmark series on the natural history of Britain. Alan writes for the Daily Express, Sunday Express, Radio Times and BBC Gardeners' World magazine, and has more than thirty gardening books to his credit. His four novels, as well as a book about his own life, have been best sellers. Alan, 53, gardens organically, and lives with his wife, two daughters and a medley of animals. What's the best title for the passage? A) A Man of Many Talents. B) Botany Makes Him What He Is Today. C) No Pains, No Gains. D) Can't a Poorly-graded Student Be Successful?
B


(Question)
We gather a great deal of incidental knowledge from pets.If we look after them properly we learn what they like and dislike. We do not set out to gain this knowledge purposely, but in attending to our pets we gain it by the way. It is got without our realizing it.     In keeping our dogs or cats we learn about various diseases that can affect them,and the cures for these diseases.We learn how much sleep they need and what kind of food keeps them healthy. In looking after our fish we learn about the composition of water.We get to know what kinds of fish can live peacefully together and what kinds are hostile to each other.We learn that animal,fish and birds have a lot of things in common with human beings. If children keep pets their general education is helped by this kind of incidental knowledge.One little incident after another in which their pets are involved adds to their store of learning.It is a more interesting form of learning than that given in the biology lesson in school.People who keep pets should have a sense of responsibility towards them.Children,too,should be taught to be responsible.Pets are completely dependent on their owners and the owners should respond to this dependence by looking after them.Irresponsible behavior towards pets is a form of cruelty.     In deciding to keep a pet we take on a task,we make ourselves responsible for providing proper food and shelter for the pet.In a crowded city like Hong Kong, where there is so little room for the exercise required by large pets,we should think  _ before undertaking the responsibility of keeping one. In keeping pets,we learn that  _  . A) pets dislike human beings B) pets share what we have C) human beings can gain knowledge by keeping pets D) pets and human beings gather a great deal of incidental knowledge
(Answer)
C


Ques: A very old lady won a million dollars in a lottery . Her son and his wife heard the news on the radio."How are we going to tell your mother?" the wife asked. "The shock might kill her!  "That's true." the son said. "Perhaps we'd better speak to her doctor about it. He'll know how to break the news to her gently." They explained the situation to the old lady's doctor. "I'm glad you told me." he said. "A shock, even a happy one,could give her a heart attack. Leave it to me. I 'll find a way of breaking the news to her." He thought about the problem for several days, and then decided what he would say. He called on the old lady and sat by her side. He took her hand in his."Let's play a game, my dear." he said. "A 'Let's Pretend' game." ks5u "Oh, yes." the old lady said. "I love 'Let's Pretend' games." "Good. I'll ask you a question first." the doctor said. "Then you can ask me one." He pretended to think for a few moments. Then he said, "Tell me, what would you do if you won a million dollars in the lottery?" "Oh, that's an easy one." the old lady said. "I'd give most of it to you, doctor, because you have been so good to me all these years. Doctor!" But the doctor was now lying on the floor. He had died of shock. The best title for this passage should be "  _    " A) The Lottery B) Breaking the News C) Good News D) Bad News
Ans: B


Even plants can run a fever, especially when they're under attack by insects or disease. But unlike human, plants can have their temperature taken from 3,000 feet away--straight up. A decade ago, adopting the infrared scanning technology developed for military purposes and other satellites, physicist Stephen Paley came up with a quick way to take the temperature of crops to determine which ones are under stress. The goal was to let farmers precisely target pesticide spraying rather than rain poison on a whole field, which invariably includes plants that don't have pest problems. Even better, Paley's Remote Scanning Services Company could detect crop problems before they became visible to the eye. Mounted on a plane flown at 3,000 feet at night, an infrared scanner measured the heat emitted by crops. The data were transformed into a colourcoded map showing where plants were running "fevers". Farmers could then spotspray, using 50 to 70 percent less pesticide than they otherwise would. The bad news is that Paley's company closed down in 1984, after only three years. Farmers resisted the new technology and longterm backers were hard to find. But with the renewed concern about pesticides on produce, and refinements in infrared scanning, Paley hopes to get back into operation. Agriculture experts have no doubt the technology works. "This technique can be used on 75 percent of agricultural land in the United States, " says George Oerther of Texas A & M. Ray Jackson, who recently retired from the Department of Agriculture, thinks remote infrared crop scanning could be adopted by the end of the decade. But only if Paley finds the financial backing which he failed to obtain 10 years ago. The application of infrared scanning technology to agriculture met with some difficulties--  _  . A) its high cost B) the lack of official support C) the lack of financial support D) its failure to help increase production

C