Ques:One fine afternoon I was walking along Fifth Avenue when I remembered that it was necessary to buy a pair of socks. I turned into the first sock shop that caught my eye, and a boy clerk who could not have been more than 17 years old came forward. "What can I do for you, sir?" "I wish to buy a pair of socks." His eyes glowed. "Did you know that you had come into the best place in the world to buy socks?" I had not been aware of that. "Come with me," said the boy happily. He began to haul   down from the shelves box after box. "Hold on, boy, I am going to buy only one pair!" "I know that," said he, "but I want you to see how beautiful these are. Aren't they wonderful?" There was on his face an expression of joy, as if he were showing to me the mysteries of his religion. "My friend," said I, "if this is not just the enthusiasm   that comes from novelty  , if you can keep up this day after day, in ten years you will own every sock in the United States." In many shops the customer has to wait for someone to serve him. And when finally some clerk does notice you, you are made to feel as if you were disturbing him. He displays no interest either in you or in the goods he is paid to sell. Yet possibly that very clerk who is now so cold began his career with enthusiasm. As time goes by, the enthusiasm is gradually gone; his only pleasures were found outside of working hours. He became a mechanical  , not inspired, salesman. I have observed such change in the lives of so many people in so many occupations that I have come to the conclusion that the fastest road to failure is to do things mechanically. According to the writer, many shop clerks   _  . A) show no or little pleasure in serving their customers B) have trouble in selling goods to their customers C) become uninterested in their work because it's hard D) think it unnecessary to introduce their goods to the customer

Ans:A
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Ques:It was a cold night in Washington, D.C. and I was heading back to the hotel when a beggar walked up to me. He asked if I would give him some money so he could get something to eat. After a short hesitation, I shook my head and kept walking. With helplessness, he said, "I really am homeless and I really am hungry! You can come with me and watch me eat!" But still, I kept on walking. The incident bothered me for the rest of the week. In fact, I had money in my pocket and it wouldn't have killed me to hand over a dollar or two even if he had been lying. On a freezing cold night, I wondered what would happen to a hungry man. Flying back to my hometown, Anchorage, I couldn't help thinking of him. I tried to find excuses for my failure to help. After all, government agencies, churches and charities were there to feed him. Besides, you're not supposed to give money to beggars. But I just couldn't forget the incident and began to think I must do something. At that time, I was writing a garden column  for the local Daily News. Suddenly, I came up with an idea. Why not try to get all my readers to plant one row in their gardens donated to Bean's? Bean's Cafe, the soup kitchen which has volunteered to feed hundreds of hungry people every day for many years. The idea began to _ . I began to receive more e-mails and calls from kind people. They tried their best to show their concerns about the hungry. Food was sent by different warm-hearted people and even those who only grew flowers sent their flowers. They are food for the spirit, which comforted me a lot. Next year, the Garden Writers Association of America held their annual conference in Anchorage and after learning of Anchorage's program, Plant a Row for Bean's became Plant a Row for the Hungry. You can imagine how happy I was then. According to the passage, the reason why the author refused to give some money to the beggar probably is that   _  . A) he happened not to take money then B) he wasn't fond of beggars C) he thought that the beggar was lying D) he didn't like being bothered

Ans:C
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Ques:Parents often think that time spent with their kids will gradually decrease in adolescence. But a new study suggests that while teens try to avoid spending a lot of time together with their parents, private parent-child meetings may actually increase in their early adolescent years. And that may raise a teenager's self-esteem   and social confidence, especially if it is the time that spent with Dad, the researchers added. The researchers created a long-term study in which they invited families in 16 school districts in central Pennsylvania to participate. In each family, a teenager, a younger sibling  , their mother and their father were interviewed at home and then asked about their activities and self-worth five times over a period of seven years. The study authors were surprised to discover that when fathers spent more time alone with their teenagers, the kids reported they felt better about themselves. Something about the father's role in the family seemed to improve self-esteem among the teenagers in the study, said study co-author Susan McHale, a professor of human development at Pennsylvania State University. "Time with Dad often involves joking, teasing, and other playful interactions. Fathers, compared to mothers, were more involved in leisure activities and had more peer-like interactions with their children, which is crucial for youth social development," the study showed. But Marta Flaum, a psychologist in Chappaqua, New York, said, "How these findings reflect the real world is a real question. The sample in the study is so small and so unrepresentative of most families in the country today that I'm not sure how much we can generalize from it. In my community in Westchester County, I don't see parents and teenagers spend much time together at all. Parents are often working so hard and have less time to be together with their kids." However, Flaum encourages parents to make time for their kids no matter how much work they have to do. "Research like this reminds us of how important _ is. The time we... Where is the passage most likely to be taken from? A) Science magazine. B) A news report. C) A research plan. D) An advertisement.

Ans:
B
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