Q: The 16 operations W.Mitchell received after the motorcycle accident burned more than 65% of his body at age 46 left him unable to pick up a fork,dial a telephone or go to the bathroom without help.But Mitchell never believed he was defeated."I am in charge of my own spaoeship," he said."It's my up,my down.I could choose to see this situation as a setback or afstarting point." Mitchell bought himself a home in Colorado,a plane and a bar.Later he teamed upwith two friends and co-founded a wood burning stove company that grew to be the second largest private employer in his state.Six months later he was piloting the plane.Then four years after the motorcycle accident,the plane Mitchell was piloting crashed back onto the runway during takeoff, permanently paralyzing(...)him from the waist down. Still determined,Mitchell worked day and night to regain as much independence as possible.He was elected Mayor of Crested Butte,Colorado, to save the town from mineral mining that would ruin its beauty and environment. Despite his shocking looks and physical challenges, Mitchell began white water rafting ,fell in love and married, earned a master's degree in public administration and continued flying,environmental activism and public speaking. Mitchell's unshakable positive mental attitude has earned him appearances on the "Today Show''and "Good Moming America" as well as feature articles in Parade, Time, The New York Times and other publications. Mitchell has done all these things and more afar two horrible accidents left his face beyond recognition,his hands flngerless and his legs thin:and motionless in a wheelchair.Then what can't we healthy guys achieve? What has earned Mitchell appearances in many famous publications? A) His shocking looks. B) His strong determination. C) His physical challenges. D) His outstanding speaking talent.
A: B


Q: Full of beauty, happiness and a healthy love of life, the Bulgarian   festivals and customs date back to old time when man tried to live in peace with nature. The merriest and richest festivals are Christmas and the New Year, when the socalled "sourvakari" makes the round of house with wishes for health and wealth. Other main festivals include "ladouvane" -- a holiday for young girls on New Year's Day or Midsummer Day (24th June), Shrovetide and Mummers' Games which mark the start of spring, and "lazrouvane" -- a traditional festival for love and family, health and richness.And among them, the widely popular and typical Bulgarian customs and festivals are "martenitsas" and rosepicking. Every year on March 1st, the Bulgarians give each other "martenitsas" -- a small doll made of white and red strings, a symbol of the beginning of spring, health and happiness. In late May and early June every year, the rosepicking season starts in the Valley of Roses which is between the Balkan Range and the Sredna Gora Mountains. Rosepicking starts at dawn, before sunrise and before the pleasant smell of the rose has disappeared. The Bulgarian rose produces 70 percent of the world's rose oil which is used by the very wellknown perfume   company as a basic element of its products. This is the time of the Festival of Roses, celebrated with carnivals, happy activities, folk songs and dances in Karlovo and Kazanluk on the first Sunday in June. The passage is mainly about   _  . A) Christmas and the New Year in Bulgaria B) the origin of Bulgarian festivals and customs C) rosepicking and perfume industry in Bulgaria D) typical customs and festivals of Bulgaria
A: D


Q: A TV grab shows anchorman Bai Yansong wearing a green tie on Oct 19, 2011.                "I just want the students to know that I'm also wearing a green one. And we are all great people and are as good as those wearing red scarves." Bai Yansong, a famous anchor of China Central Television, voiced his support to students wearing green scarves at a primary school in Xi'an by wearing a green tie on a TV program, Oct 19, 2011.                The program focused on a recent controversial issue, triggered by First Experimental Primary School in Northwestern China's Xi'an that made children whose schoolwork and general behavior were not yet good enough to wear green scarves instead of the red scarf of the Chinese Young Pioneers.                "The original idea for designing the green scarf was to strengthen education and to encourage the pupils to work harder," said Chen Hong, the school's principal.               The practice that divided students into "good" and "bad" has aroused a lot of discussions on Sina Weibo, a Chinese twitter-like microblogging website.                The color1 of green in Chinese culture carries an annoying implication particularly because "green hats" are the Chinese symbol of a cuckold. Many Weibo users thought it was inappropriate to make pupils wear green scarves.               "It is a violation of dignity to make bad students wear green scarves," said a blogger with the username Suosez.                "If bad students have to wear green scarves, then bad teachers should wear green hats," another blogger said.                "The Chinese version of Steve Jobs has died in primary school because his pride has been hurt by the green scarf," said another blogger.                "It is an   discrimination against children," said yet another.                "Seeing the students in Xi'an wearing green scarves reminds me of some miserable memories. I cannot forget that I was the second group to wear a red scarf in my class. I cannot forget the scar on my hand left by my Chinese teacher.... What is the purpose of using the green scarf according to the school's principal? A) To divide students into good and bad. B) To cast a shadow over the students and bring them inferiority or jealousy. C) To strengthen education and to encourage the pupils to work harder. D) To make bad pupils drop out of school.
A: C


Q: By the mid-nineteenth century, the term "icebox" had entered the American language, but ice was still only beginning to affect the diet of ordinary citizens in the United States. The ice trade grew with the growth of cities. Ice was used in hotels, taverns , and hospitals, and by some forward-looking city dealers in fresh meat, fresh fish, and butter. After the Civil War (1861-1865), as ice was used to refrigerate freight cars, it also came into household use. Even before 1880, half of the ice sold in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and one-third of that sold in Boston and Chicago, went to families for their own use. This had become possible because a new household convenience, the icebox, a precursor   of the modern fridge, had been invented. Making an efficient icebox as not as easy as we might now suppose. In the early nineteenth century, the knowledge of the physics of heat, which was essential to a science of refrigeration, was rudimentary . The commonsense notion that the best icebox was one that prevented the ice from melting was of course mistaken, for it was the melting of the ice that performed the cooling. Nevertheless, early efforts to economize ice included wrapping up the ice in blankets, which kept the ice from doing its job. Not until near the end of the nineteenth century did inventors achieve the delicate balance of insulation  and circulation needed for an efficient icebox. But as early as 1803, and ingenious Maryland farmer, Thomas Moore, had been on the right track. He owned a farm about twenty miles outside the city of Washington, for which the village of Georgetown was the market center. When he used an icebox of his own design to transport his butter to market, he found that customers would pass up the rapidly melting stuff in the tubs of his competitors to pay a premium price  for his butter, still fresh and hard in neat, one-pound bricks. One advantage of his icebox, Moore explained, was that farmers would no longer have to travel to market at night in order to keep their produce cool. Without an ice box, farmers had to go to the market at night   _  . A) to sell their produce at high price B) to go home earlier C) to keep their produce fresh D) to win more customers than their competitors

A: C