Ques: I have a close friend who has a good family tradition, that is, each year after Thanksgiving dinner, all of the people sit around in the living room and each person takes a few minutes and gives thanks for what really matters and what has added value to their life over the last year. This is something I valued and followed. I have thought about a lot in the last year, and I finally came up with two things. The first one is the healthiness of my daughter. She's as healthy as she can be, and her weight and height are in good condition and she has no illnesses or genetic diseases. I am so thankful for having this wonderful baby in my life, and thankful that she has the gift of good health. Secondly, I am thankful for the discovery of the value of writing in my life. A year ago, my website. The simple Dollar was only a few weeks old and was far from popular, but on Thanksgiving Day Last year it had about three score readers who ordered it in advance. The process of writing was bringing me enjoyment, but I hadn't yet realized that I could be successful in it and attract many readers. This past year showed me a lot and I am deeply thankful for it. After thinking for a while, I began to realize that it was a very powerful and wonderful positive exercise. You spend time reflecting deeply on the positive things in your life, and you often realize that even when things are bad, you do have a lot to be thankful for because there is lots of good in your life, and it can shine a bright light even in a dark spot in your life. How many people had ordered The simple Dollar by Thanksgiving Day last year? A) About 30. B) About 20. C) About 60. D) About 40.
Ans: C

Ques: The music of your teenage years probably will stay with you for the rest of your life.I think music is deeply connected with memory because of the emotions it awakens.Music also helps to mark time because of the way the fashions and stars of pop culture come and go.I often connect some summers with particular records ( ) that came out while I was on holiday.But what's really the best way to record your youth? Is it your favorite song, or a picture of the singer? In my teenage years, one of the special things about Britain was the huge amount of information about music.There were 3 weekly newspapers about music:Sounds, Melody Maker and the New Musical Express.Buying records was expensive and it also meant making a choice.So it was wise to read about music instead, and in some ways, it was actually better as well.It was possible for a group to get onto the front cover of one of the music papers without even having made any records--but they needed things to say for the reporters to write about.In fact, the best pop stars of the 1980s were people whose main talent was exactly _ .They weren' t great musicians or singers and they weren't especially goodlooking, but they had some unusual acts or habits and a nice way with clever phrases.They were ideal for filling music papers. When The Face magazine first came out in May, 1980, it was meant to be a rock magazine.I have given away or sold all the records I bought as a teenager, but I think my old copies of The Face will stay with me for ever.Although it started out as a source of information about music, the writers quickly realized that it wasn't really the music that was important--it was the way people spoke and acted, and, above all, the way they looked. According to the author,music can NOT   _  . A) improve memory B) awaken emotions C) mark time D) stay in the mind
Ans: A

Ques: Humans have been keeping animals as pets for tens of thousands of years, but Dr Jean-Loup Rault, an animal scientist at the University of Melbourne in Australia, believes new companions are coming: robot pets. "Technology is moving very fast," Rault told ABC News, "The Tamagotchi in the early 1990s was really the first robotic pet, and now Sony and other big companies have improved them a lot." This may not _ pet lovers. After all, who would choose a plastic toy over a lovely puppy? But Rault argues that the robotic kind has a lot going for it: "You don't have to feed it, you don't have to walk it, it won't make a mess in your house, and you can go on a holiday without feeling guilty." The technology also benefits those who are allergic to pets, short on space, or fearful of real animals. It's not clear whether robot pets can replace real ones. But studies do suggest that we can bond with these smart machines. People give their cars names and kids give their toy animals life stories. It's the same with robots. When Sony stopped its repair service for its robot dog Aibo in March 2014, owners in Japan held funerals. As an animal welfare researcher, Rault is concerned about how robotic pets could affect our attitudes towards live animals. "If we become used to a robotic companion that doesn't need food, water or exercises, perhaps it will change how humans care about other living beings," he said. So are dogs and cats a thing of the past, as Rault predicts? For those who grew up with living and breathing pets, the mechanical kind might not do. But for our next generation who are in constant touch with smart technology, a future in which lovely pets needn't have a heartbeat might not be a far-fetched dream. The passage mainly tells us  _  . A) the advantages of robot toys B) the popularity of robot pets C) living pets are dying out D) robot pets are coming
Ans: D

Ques: "All I could see was two sets of red eyes below me," said Dave Gatty, an Australian farmer who spent seven days up a tree in remote bush land to escape crocodiles. Gatty, 52, said he was forced to take such drastic action after he accidentally went into a crocodile-infested area of Queensland. He only had two meat sandwiches to keep him going, as crocodiles moved beneath his tree each night until his rescue. Gatty said he decided it was safer to hold out for a rescue team than try to make a run for it. His problems began after he fell off his horse while out in the northern Australia outback. Dazed and bleeding, he climbed back on his horse and hoped it would lead him home. It was only when he regained his senses he realized that he had been taken into crocodile-infested area. "I had to get off the horse and I fell straight into a crocodile nest," he told reporters. "That frightened me. I couldn't go back, it was too far and too dangerous, so I headed to the nearest high ground and stayed there, hoping someone would come and find me before the crocs did." Gatty explained how each night two crocodiles would sit at the bottom of the tree staring at him. Although Gatty's two sandwiches ran out after three days, he was able to get running water during the day and knew rescuers were looking for him as he could see helicopters in the air above his tree. "If I hadn't seen the crocs circling me, and if I hadn't fallen into the croc nest, I would have made a push for it. But I knew the safest thing was for me to sit and wait," he said. A chocolate bar, given to him by rescuers after being moved to safety by using a winch , "was like a gourmet (delicious)meal," he said. The article can be classified as   _  . A) a news story B) a scientific fiction C) a personal essay D) a literary report
Ans:
A