Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Tayka Hotel de Sal Where:Tahua, Bolivia How much:about $95 a night Why it's cool:You've stayed at hotels made of brick or wood, but salt? That's something few can claim. Tayka Hotel de Sal is made totally of salt--including the beds (though you'll sleep on regular mattresses and blankets). The hotel sits on the Salar de Uyuni, a prehistoric driedup lake that's the world's biggest salt flat. Builders use the salt from the 4,633squaremile flat to make the bricks, and glue them together with a paste of wet salt that hardens when it dries. When rain starts to dissolve the hotel, the owners just mix up more salt paste to strengthen the bricks. Green Magic Nature Resort Where: Vythiri, India How much: about $240 a night Why it's cool: Riding a pulleyoperated  lift 86 feet to your treetop room is just the start of your adventure. As you look out of your open window--there is no glass--you watch monkeys and birds in the rain forest canopy.  Later you might test your fear of heights by crossing the handmade rope bridge to the main part of the hotel. You don't even have to come down for breakfast--the hotel will send it up on the pulleydrawn "elevator". Dog Bark Park Inn B&B Where: Cottonwood, Idaho How much: $92 a night Why it's cool: This doghouse isn't just for the family pet. Sweet Willy is a 30foottall dog with guest rooms in his belly. Climb the wooden stairs beside his hind leg to enter the door in his side. You can relax in the main bedroom, go up a few steps to the loft in Willy's head, or hang out inside his nose. Gamirasu Cave Hotel Where: Ayvali, Turkey How much: between $130 and $475 a night Why it's cool: Experience what it was like 5,000 years ago, when people lived in these mountain caves formed by volcanic ash. But your stay will be much more modern. Bathrooms and electricity provide what you expect from a modern hotel, and the white volcanic ash, called tufa, keeps the rooms cool, about 65degFin summer. Question: What's the writer's purpose in writing the passage? Options: A: To show his wide knowledge. B: To develop business in tourism. C: To attract attention from readers. D: To introduce some interesting hotels.
D
------
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: As soon as I saw her, I understood I was in trouble. The tiny 10-year-old girl was staring at me with that specific facial expression which probably only dentists have to enjoy all day long! Whatever question I asked, whatever activity I suggested, her reaction was pretty much the same -- she was frozen with horror. She was sent to our private language school after having been the worst in English at her key school with a pretty strict ELT syllabus , with her peers  teasing her for her mistakes in English. Moreover, her state school teacher called her name. To make things worse, she was under pressure from her family for getting bad marks in English. She was definitely expecting me to carry on the same way with her. I have to admit that I had been staring at her with probably the same expression for a while before eventually she handed in an absolutely incredible  composition which I had previously asked the class to write. It was written in perfect handwriting, was full of clever ideas and had correct paragraphing. The girl got her first excellent mark in English, and I praised her generously and from then on I started using her writing skills to support the others. Before doing an oral retelling of a story, she wrote it down. Before presenting her oral project, she was allowed to do the same thing. The day she first put up her hand to orally answer my question addressed to the class I was incredibly  happy. She taught me how to approach withdrawn students -- find the skill which they can excel  at, in her case writing, and help the student use it to develop other skills! Question: The writer's first impression of the little girl was that she was  _  . Options: A: incredibly dull B: hard to cope with C: far too lovely D: pretty confident
B
------
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Let Children Roam  Free Everyone agrees that playing outside keeps children thinner. The loss of opportunities for outdoor play is one of the main causes of childhood obesity. What is more remarkable is the growing evidence that children's mental health and emotional well-being are enhanced by contact with the outdoors, and that the restorative  effect appears to be strongest in natural settings. Researchers are convinced of the depth of the connection between children's well-being and the environment, claiming that contact with nature may be as important to children as good nutrition and adequate sleep. But now children seem to get less touch with outdoor activities. The root causes of the dramatic loss of children's freedom lie in changes to the very fabric of their lives over the last 30 years or so. The growth in road traffic, alongside poor town planning and shifts in the make-up and daily rhythms of families and communities, have left children with fewer outdoor places to go. These changes coincided with the "culture of fear": a generalized anxiety about all imaginary kinds of threats, even though children are statistically safer from harm now than at any point in human history. These physical, economic and social changes and fears have been made use of by manufactures and advertisers, whose products and messages both reinforce the logic of keeping children virtual prisoners, and force us to compensate them in the only way our cash-rich, time-poor society seems to know: by spending money on them. Government must bear some of the blame for keeping children prisoners indoor, through their promotion of planning policies that favour cars over communities and profit over people. The real planning crimes lie in housing companies occupying attractive parks and green spaces, and in town plans that force families to depend largely on their cars. There is no doubt that traffic danger, unlike stranger danger, is a real threat to children and a constant worry for parents.  Around 100 child pedestrians  are killed... Question: Playing outside is just as important as   _   . Options: A: dieting to lose weight B: releasing emotions C: getting enough sleep D: exercising the mind
C
------
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: In the face of rising gas costs, many consumers are beginning to consider the choice of a hybrid vehicle--one which operates on both gas and electricity. All of the models of hybrid car will save money, but are they really effective when all of the costs of maintenance and other considerations are included in? First of all, consider the cost of buying a hybrid vehicle. Depending on the model, hybrid vehicles can cost anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000 more than the traditional models. However, some say that as the hybrid cars become increasingly more available as a reflection of demand, the prices can be expected to drop, making them more cost effective when it comes to the initial investment. Also important to keep in mind is the fact that the hybrid cars have a much more specialized system than the standard vehicle, and will therefore require more specialized workers to repair them when they break down. It seems as though, at least for the time being, the purchase of a hybrid vehicle for the average consumer may not be the best choice when it comes to saving money. It is important to keep several things in mind, however, when considering purchasing a hybrid model. Many consumers are choosing to purchase these cars because they represent a significant development in terms of environmental concerns over standard models. They also mean that as a whole, Western nations will become less dependent on oil as the only means of power. Finally, it is necessary to remember that the hybrid car is a very new technology. Developed only within the last few years, the technology is still in the starting stage, where costs will continue to be high. As time passes, the development of the hybrid technology will begin to push prices down to the point where hybrids are more competitive with the traditionally fueled models of the past. Question: We can infer from the passage that   _   in the future. Options: A: the traditional cars will gradually disappear B: the hybrid vehicles will gradually disappear C: the cost of hybrid cars will be more reasonable D: the hybrid technology will bring oil prices down

C
------