Read the article and select the best answer. Article: It feels like every time my mother and I start to have a conversation, it turns into an argument. We talk about something as simple as dinner plans and suddenly, my mother will push the conversation into World War 3. She'll talk about my lack of bright future because I don't plan to be a doctor. And much to her disappointment, I don't want to do any job related to science, either. In fact, when I was pushed to say that I planned to major  in English and communications, she nearly had a heart attack. "Why can't you be like my co-worker's son?" she _ all the time. Her coworker's son received a four-year scholarship and is now earning 70,000 dollars a year as an engineer. I don't know what to answer except that I simply can't be like Mr. Perfect as I've called the unnamed co-worker's son. I can't be like him. I am the type of the person who loved to help out in the community, write until the sun goes down, and most of all, wants to achieve a career because I love it, not because of a fame or salary. I understand why my mother is worried about my future major. I've seen my mother struggle to raise me on her small salary and work long hours. She leaves the house around 6:30 am and usually comes home around 5 pm or even 6pm. However, I want her to know that by becoming a doctor, it doesn't mean I'll be successful. I'd rather follow my dreams and create my own future. Question: Which of the following topics do the writer and his mother often talk about? Options: A: the writer's studies B: wars around the world C: dinner plans D: the writer's future job
D


Read the article and select the best answer. Article: A victim of climate change A polar bear's dead body found on the Arctic island of Svalbard, the northernmost part of Norway, has shocked experts who say climate change may be to blame for the death. The starved polar bear in Norway was said to be in good bones by the time a group of explorers came across its body in July. The bear is thought to have been heading north in a desperate search for sea ice that would allow it to hunt for seals."From his lying position in death, the bear appears to simply have starved to health in April when the Norwegian Polar Institute examined and labeled it. However, the animal was reduced to skin and bones and died where he dropped," polar bear expert Dr. Ian Stirling, a professor at the University of Alberta said, "He had external suggestion of any remaining fat, having been reduced to little more than skin and bone." Stirling believes the bear starved to death as a result of a lack of sea ice which the animals use as a platform for hunting seals. That may also explain why the 16-year-old male bear was found about 155 miles north of where it was seen in April. Arctic sea ice reached a record low in 2012, according to a report released this week by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that pointed to continued signs of climate change. The International Union for Conservation of Nature currently classifies polar bears as _ e on its Red List of Threatened Species. Question: Where does this text probably come from? Options: A: A novel. B: A guidebook. C: A news report. D: An advertisement.
C


Q: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: What makes a house a home? Not size, of course. I've been in some of the grandest houses in prefix = st1 /America, and it's clear no one lives there. Earlier this year, I had dinner in a mud hut inEthiopia, where we sat on chairs next to the hostess' bed -- a home that had more warmth than any house I've been in since. Now John Edwards is exploring what makes a house a home in his just-released Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives. There Edwards writes, "This isn't a book about houses; it's a book about homes. About the values they rest on, the dreams they are filled with, and the people they have shaped," Edwards writes. "The houses and circumstances are different, but much of what you find inside will be familiar." Whether you're sitting in an airport flight now, waiting to fly to your childhood home for Thanksgiving, or in your own home waiting for the  s to arrive, you know what he's talking about. We've lived in our townhouse for 21 years. It's home now. The loose windows that shake in the wind. The fireplace so shallow it holds only one log. The kitchen window that offers a view of the world passing by. It's where friends sit on the kitchen counter drinking wine while dinner is being fixed. I lived there for only 18, but it will always be my true home. Even the lamp in the west living room window, which I could see far down the road when driving home late at night, still shines. While all this talk about childhood memories can be warm and comforting, home is whom you're with, not where you are. As Edwards writes, "Home is family. Home is safety. Home is faith." Happy homecoming. Question: About the book Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives, we know that   _  . Options: A: it was the description of Edwards' houses B: it is mainly about houses C: it helps us understand the concept of home D: it was written by the author of the text
A: C


(Question)
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: In the age of reality television,success isn't the only way to the public eye. Failure can also create fame,just like William Hung,21,a native of Hong Kong. Hung recently has made an agreement with USbased entertainment firms Koch Records and Fuse Music Network. They'll publish a record,titled TheTrueIdolon April 6. The idol is a civil engineering student at the University of California at Berkeley. He did a version of Ricky Martin's SheBangson the television showAmericanIdol3,on January 27.The Fox TV singing contest searches for pop stars among ordinary people. In the case of Hung,however,his act was so bad that the judges cut him off in midact. Hung's response?"I already did my best,so I have no regrets at all." That's good,because any common person would have found plenty to regret:the offkey singing,the blue Hawaiian shirt worn with pants pulled up too high,the terrible dancing and the hips jerking   to a beat that did not belong to the song,maybe not even to this planet. It was,by all accounts,bad. However,it was this very bad act that sold well. Mare Juris,president of Fuse,explained it this way:"Every one of us is happily guilty of singing our favorite song at the top of our lungs with complete freedom,completely offkey and completely unworried. That's what William did and immediately won the hearts of America." Whatever  _ is,for the moment it's big.Three websites devoted to Hung have gone up on the Internet in the past few weeks. Versions of his performance have been remixed with hip hop and technomusic and have made it to the top 10 request list at a Chicago radio station. So,what does Hung think of this? "There were all these people saying things about me. A lot were saying I was very courageous and that I was great on the show,but some didn't have much respect for me and some were kind of mean." Now he says he's not so sure whether to distance himself from the glamour   or to accept it.Returning to normal hasn't been easy. Question: What is the main idea of this passage? Options: A: How an unsuccessful person became famous. B: Success sometimes does not require hard work. C: Something an idol behaves quite foolishly. D: Hung's performance attracted the public eye.
(Answer)

D