Read the following text. Answer the questions on the text by choosing A, B, C or D.

     Today there are three different kinds of New Yorkers: the people who act as if they were born here; the people who are here and wish to be elsewhere; and the collection of virtual New Yorkers all over the world, who wish they were living in New York. These are the three States of mind and what they have in common are longing and illusion. In fact, it's a city of dreamers.
     What makes New York special? New Yorkers are convinced of its specialness--but Toronto is more diverse, London is larger, Washington is more powerful. So why does New York think it's the capital of the world?
     People often explain the problems in European cities by citing inequality. But New York today is one of the most unequal cities in America. In 2010, 1 percent of New Yorkers earned 45 percent of its income. That works out to an average of $ 3.7 million a year for the city's top 34,500 households. The average daily income of this group is greater than the average annual income of the city's bottom 10 percent.
     So why would people still come to try their luck in this tough place? Is it opportunity or illusion that draws them?
     They come because any newcomer can find a place in the hierarchy of New York. If you look at a New York City restaurant, for example, the cook might be French, the people washing dishes might be Mexican, the hostess might be Russian, the owner might be British. They are not all equal. They earn different rates. But they work together to get food to hungry people.
     What New York demonstrates is this: immigration works. The city can use its immigrants, even the illegal ones. Though they broke the law by illegally crossing the borders, the city's economy would be a shell of itself had they not, and it would collapse if they were deported. Attracted here by the founding myth of the city, each immigrant is seeking to escape from history, personal and political. For him, New York is the city of the second chance. 

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     The political career of Cicero, a great Roman statesman and the most well-known speech maker of his time, was a remarkable one. At the time, high political offices in Rome, though technically achieved by winning elections, were almost exclusively controlled by a group of wealthy noble families that held them for many generations. Cicero’s family, though noble, was not one of them, nor did it have great wealth. But Cicero had a great deal of political ambition; at a very young age he chose as his basic belief the same as Achilles was said to have had: to always be the best and overtop the rest. Lacking the advantage of a proper family origin, there were especially only two career options open to them. One was a military career, since military success was thought to result from exceptional personal qualities and could lead to popularity and therefore political opportunity as was the case much later for American presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Cicero, however, was no soldier. He hated war, and served in the military only very briefly as a young man.
     Instead, Cicero chose a career in the law. To prepare for this career, he studied law, rhetoric, and philosophy. When he felt he was ready, he began taking part in legal cases. A career in the law could lead to political success for several reasons, all of which are still relevant today. First, a lawyer would gain a great deal of experience in making speeches. Second, he could also gain exposure and popularity from cases. Finally, a successful lawyer would build up a network of political connections, which is important now but was even more important in Cicero’s time, when political competition was not conducted along party lines or on the basis of doctrine, but instead was based on loose, shifting networks of personal friendships and commitments. Cicero proved to be an excellent speech-maker and lawyer, and an outstanding politician. He was elected to each of the principal Rome offices on his first try and at the earliest age at which he was legally allowed to run for them. 

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     We have heard a lot about the health benefits of tea, especially green tea. It is high in poly-phenols, compounds with strong antioxidant activity that in test-tube and animal models show anti- cancer and heart-protective effects. Good clinical studies are few, however, and although physicians tell their patients to drink green tea, there hasn't been any definite proof of the value of that advice.
     A team of Japanese researchers was able to link green tea consumption with decreased mortality from many causes-including heart disease. The researchers tracked 40,530 healthy adults ages40 to 79 in a region of northeastern Japan where most people drink green tea, following them for up to 11 years. Those who drank five or more cups of green tea a day had significantly lower mortality rates than those who drank less than one cup a day. There were also fewer deaths from cardiovascular disease.
     But no such association was seen with deaths from cancer. Nor was consumption of oolong or black tea connected with any decrease in mortality. Those teas are easier to be combined with oxy- gen in processing, which not only darkens the color of the leaves and changes their flavor but also reduces their polyphenol content.
     Coffee is more complicated. It has received both gold stars and black marks in medical literature. It, too, contains antioxidants, although they are less well studied than tea polyphenols. Evidence for the health benefits of coffee is growing, however. A group of investigators from Finland, Italy and the Netherlands reports that coffee seems to protect against age-related decline in mental capacity. The scientists studied 676 healthy men born from 1900 to 1920 and followed them for 10 years, using standardized measures of brain function. Their conclusion: the men who consumed coffee had significantly less decline in mental capacity than those who didn't. Three cups a day seemed to provide the most protection.
     Population studies like those help us form assumptions about relationships between dietary habits and long-term health. We still have to test our suppositions in controlled conditions, and measure the effects of coffee and tea on various systems of the body.

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     Five-year-old Elia arrived at school with a big box of colored pencils. Her friend, Anna, offered to exchange her set of markers for the brand-new pencils. Elia agreed, but soon discovered that the markers were dried up. "That's not fair!" cried Elia to her teacher. “I want my new pencils back.” After some tears and negotiation, the teacher helped the girls set things right by returning the items to their original owners.
     Later that day, at story time, the teacher shared the picture book classic A Bargain for Frances. Though the conflict in the story is just over a broken tea set, the message about fair play was not lost on the children. The book was helpful in exploring a small, yet significant, life lesson. Stories are vital to the way we process and experience life events and the feelings that surround us. The ability to create, share, and respond to stories is one of the vital characteristics of being human. In fact, the human brain is programmed to see patterns and become fascinated in the plot development of stories, finally storing them in long-term memory. As a result, the brain is a remarkably effective processor of stories, both real and fictional.
     High-quality picture books are a good blend of art and literature that attracts kids' imagination and communicates an idea in an effective way. These books me perfect teaching tools, as they deal with the powerful emotions that kids feel, model effective coping strategies, and present complex concepts in appropriate ways. In addition, according to brain research, the picture book complements words with what leaves the most permanent impression: images. The pictures in books are distinctive from the fleeting images kids see on television in that they remain on the page, ready to be revisited, touched, and commented upon.
     Whether we share stories about families, historical events, or emotions, stories are a way to sum up life's memorable moments and lasting lessons. We can control the power of literature and use it to develop positive character in young kids by reading often, choosing suitable books, and enjoying stories together.

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     Every year for more than a decade I've gone with some good male friends to the music festival. Women are not invited, but they do prepare a picnic for our trip. The better the food, the more likely we are to continue our annual tradition and give them peace at least one week out of the year.
     When we're not eating, we sit around in circles and talk about manly stuff: women, mostly. After years of this special journey I have figured out women are different from us, especially when it comes to how we communicate. Women don't need to manufacture reasons to chat, but guys need excuses like outings or organized events.
     And I've noticed that when women are in groups there can be several conversations going on at once. When men are in a group, one man talks, and everybody else listens. It's like bluegrass jamming in a way; one musician plays the lead, and the rest try to follow.
     I've had more heartfelt conversations with other men at the festival than I've had at any other time in my life, partly because there are no women there, and partly because we're all a little drunk. It was males bonding over whatever parts we still had left. The festival is also the only place I've ever cried in front of other men.
     As the years have slipped by, some in our group have lost parents and grandparents, some have divorced, and others have changed careers, not always on purpose. It seems that every year something distressing has happened to at least one member of our crew, and the rest of us are there to listen and offer support.
     I hope that this column can offer some comfort to women: if your man heads out on a bowling or poker night with the guys, be happy. Chances are good he's not fleeing you and the kids, but he's running toward the conversations he can only have with other men, and he'll come home the better for it. 

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     In 1997, 25 Japanese citizens, all older than 60, launched Jeeba ( the name means “old man and old woman”）to make senior-friendly products. They knew they were making history when they coined their company motto: “Of the elderly, by the elderly and for the elderly.” They do not hire young people, and the oldest of their workers is 75.
     Firms run by senior citizens are still a rarity, in Japan and worldwide. But the elderly have numbers on their side. Healthier and longer-living seniors, born immediately after World War Ⅱ, are reaching retirement age in huge numbers all over the developed world. Extremely low birthrates in those same countries mean there are far fewer young workers to take their place. One likely consequence is now clear: shrinking work forces.
     While the streamlining effects of international competition are focusing attention on the need to create and keep good jobs, those fears will eventually give way to worries about the growing shortage of young workers. One unavoidable solution: putting older people back to work, whether they like it or not. Indeed, advanced economies like those of Finland and Denmark have already raised their retirement ages. Others are under severe pressure to follow suit, as both the European Commission and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have recently warned their members that their future prosperity depends on a growing contribution from the elderly.
     Whether these changes are good or bad news to workers depends on whether they anticipate retirement with eagerness or dread. In the United States, half of working-age Americans now expect to work into their 70s, whether by financial necessity or by lifestyle choice, according to a new study by Putnam Investments.
     Contrary to still widespread assumptions, there is very little hard evidence to suggest that companies cannot stay competitive with a rising share of older workers. At British hardware chain B&Q, its “elder worker” stores in Manchester and Exmouth were 18 percent more profitable than its regular outlets—due in part, the company says, to six times less employee turnover and 60 percent less shoplifting and breakage. 

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     Camps have always reflected children's dreams and parents' fears. In the 1880s, many middle-class families worried that industrial society had broken off some tie to the frontier. Boys were growing soft: too much time with their mothers and teachers, not enough manly activity. So the early camps promised to take weakly boys out into camp life in the woods so that the pursuit of health could be combined with the practical knowledge.
     Those first campers were wilderness tourists; today a wilderness is anyplace without band- width. Allowing cell phone contradicts the point of sleepaway——camp: if 19th century campers were meant to regain lost survival skills, 21st century campers need to work on their social skill. They are often missing some basic interactive instruments; fantastically digitally aware, they are less familiar with the ideas of sharing their space, their stuff or the attention of the adults around them. For kids who are allowed to text during dinner, who have their parents whenever they get in trouble or need a ride, a little self-government is probably long overdue.
     Most camps require kids to leave their phones at home, which shows that the resistance often comes not from the kids but from parents. It's known that parents pack off their children with two cell phones, so they can hand over one and still be able to slip away and call. Parents question camp directors about why they can't reach their kids by phone. Some services let camps post news and pictures to help the families feel as if they are with the kids at camp. But that just invites inquiry about why Johnny looks sad or how Jenny's jeans got torn.
     Even as they yield in varying degrees to the demands of parents, camps endeavor to tell us our kids need a break from our eager interest and exhausting expectations. Camps talk about building independence, argue that having kids learn to solve their own problems and turn to peers and counselors for support is a key part of the experience. The implications are clear. They're lighting campfires, hiding and seeking, doing things-that feel wonderfully improper if just because they involve getting dirtier than usual. Nothing to worry about, Mom. 

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     We've read how babies stare longer and cry less when held by pretty people, and heard tales of handsome children doing better in school, given special attention by their teachers. In life, as in love, beautiful people seem to have it awfully easy. But what if we told you that when it comes to online dating, good looks could actually hurt you?
     According to a recent survey of 43,000 users by OK Cupid, an online dating site, the more men disagree about a woman's looks, the more they end up liking her. What does that mean for ladies looking for a match?" We now have mathematical evidence that minimizing your weaknesses' is the opposite of what you should do," says the site's co-founder, Christian Rudder. "If you're a little fat, play it up. If you have a big nose, play it up. Statistically, the guys who don't like it can only help you, and the ones who do like it will be all the more excited. "
     The results of this study end up highlighting an idea that recent scientific research does indeed support. Which is this: the beautiful may have it good, but online, as in work and life, women who are too attractive don't always have an advantage.
     Beauty creates more competition--among women, taught they must out-look each other for men and jobs and everyday satisfaction; and among men, who are competing for the most attractive prize. All of which might help explain why 47 percent of corporate recruiters believe it' s possible for a woman to suffer for being "too good-looking" ; why attractive women tend to face heightened examination from their female peers; or, finally, why men on OK Cupid end up contacting women who may ultimately be less attractive—because it removes the opposition. "If you suspect other men are uninterested, it means less competition," explains Rudder. "You might start thinking: maybe she's lonely, maybe she's just waiting to find a guy who appreciates her, at least I won't get lost in the crowd."
     In the end, being beautiful will always have its blessings--but sometimes, there's more to an advantage than meets the eye. 

Read the following text. Answer the questions on the text by choosing A, B, C or D.

     Isabel has turned down two job offers in the past year. In 2006, she started her own consulting practice, but by 2008, most of her larger clients had to drop her because of the economy. In 2011, she was undertaking irregular assignments and knew she needed a steady job. The first job she considered was Director of HR for a company in Utah. After the initial interviews, she felt the job fit her except for the location. Still, she flew west to meet the hiring manager. The hiring manager explained that Isabel was the top candidate for the job but that, before she continued with the process, she should better understand the firm's culture. She directed Isabel to several videos of the company's CEO, who regularly appeared in front of the company in costume as part of morale building exercises and expected his senior leaders to do the same. "Even though I was desperate for a job, I knew I couldn't do that," Isabel says. She called the recruiter to turn down the job and explained that she didn't feel there was a cultural fit.
     A few months later, she interviewed for another job: a director of employee relations at a local university. After several interviews, the hiring manager told her the job was hers if she wanted it. The job had many positives: it was a low-stress environment, it offered great benefits, and the university was an employee-friendly place. But the job was relatively junior despite the title and Isabel worried it wouldn't be challenging enough. Finally, she turned it down. "It would be great to have a paycheck and great benefits but I would definitely have trouble sleeping at night," she says.
     In both cases, she was frank with the hiring managers about why she wasn't taking the jobs." In the past, it felt like dating, I was worried about hurting people's feelings," she says. However, they appreciated her frankness and thanked her for her honesty. She says it was hard to turn down the jobs and it was a risk for her financially but she felt she had to. 

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     Sometime in the middle of the 15th century, a well-to-do merchant from London buried more than 6,700 gold and silver coins on a sloping, hillside in Surrey. He was fleeing the War of the Roses and planned to return during better times. But he never did. The coins lay undisturbed until one September evening in 1990, when local resident Roger Mintey chanced upon them with a metal detector, a device used to determine the presence of metals. Mintey's find much of which now sits in the British Museum-earned him roughly $350,000, enough to quit his job with a small manufacturer and spend more time pursuing lost treasure.
     But digging up the past is controversial in Britain. In many European countries, metal detectofists, or people using metal detectors, face tough regulations. In the U. K., however, officials introduced a scheme in 1997 encouraging hobbyists to report their discoveries (except for those falling under the definition of treasure, like Mintey's find, which they are required to report)--but allowing them to keep what they find, or receive a reward. Last year, a hidden store was uncovered in a field outside Birmingham. It consists of more than 1,500 gold and silver objects from the seventh century and was valued at more than $4.5 million. While local museums hurry to raise enough money to keep the find off the open market, it sits in limbo, owned by the Crown but facing claims by the landowner and the metal detectorist who found it.
     The find marks the latest battleground in the increasingly heated conflict between the country's 10,000-20,000 metal detectorists and the museum workers determined to protect its precious old objects. Supporters say the scheme stems the loss of valuable information about precious old ojects, while opponents argue that metal detectorists don't report everything.
     The debate centers on the larger question of who owns the past. "There's been a slow move over the centuries that precious old things belong to us all," says Professor Christopher Chippindale of Cambridge University. But in Britain at least, the temptation of buried treasure could change all that. 

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     Passwords are everywhere in computer security. All too often, they are also ineffective. A good password has to be both easy to remember and hard to guess, but in practice people seem to pay attention to the former. Names of wives, husbands and children are popular. “123456” or “12345” are also common choices.
     That predictability lets security researchers (and hackers) create dictionaries which list common passwords, useful to those seeking to break in. But although researchers know that passwords are insecure, working out just how insecure has been difficult. Many studies have only small samples to work on.
     However, with the co-operation of Yahoo!, Joseph Bonneau of Cambridge University obtained the biggest sample to date — 70 million passwords that came with useful data about their owners.
     Mr Bonneau found some interesting variations. Older users had better passwords than young ones. People whose preferred language was Korean or German chose the most secure passwords；those who spoke Indonesian the least. Passwords designed to hide sensitive information such as credit-card numbers were only slightly more secure than those protecting less important things, like access to games. “Nag screens” that told users they had chosen a weak password made virtually no difference. And users whose accounts had been hacked in the past did not make more secure choices than those who had never been hacked.
     But it is the broader analysis of the sample that is of most interest to security researchers. For, despite their differences, the 70 million users were still predictable enough that a generic password dictionary was effective against both the entire sample and any slice of it. Mr Bonneau is blunt：“An attacker who can manage ten guesses per account will compromise around 1% of accounts.” And that is a worthwhile outcome for a hacker.
     One obvious solution would be for sites to limit the number of guesses that can be made before access is blocked. Yet whereas the biggest sites, such as Google and Microsoft, do take such measures, many do not. The reasons of their not doing so are various. So it’s time for users to consider the alternatives to traditional passwords. 

Read the following text. Answer the questions on the text by choosing A, B, C or D.

     Camps have always reflected children's dreams and parents' fears. In the 1880s, many middle-class families worried that industrial society had broken off some tie to the frontier. Boys were growing soft: too much time with their mothers and teachers, not enough manly activity. So the early camps promised to take weakly boys out into camp life in the woods so that the pursuit of health could be combined with the practical knowledge.
     Those first campers were wilderness tourists; today a wilderness is anyplace without band- width. Allowing cell phone contradicts the point of sleepaway——camp: if 19th century campers were meant to regain lost survival skills, 21st century campers need to work on their social skill. They are often missing some basic interactive instruments; fantastically digitally aware, they are less familiar with the ideas of sharing their space, their stuff or the attention of the adults around them. For kids who are allowed to text during dinner, who have their parents whenever they get in trouble or need a ride, a little self-government is probably long overdue.
     Most camps require kids to leave their phones at home, which shows that the resistance often comes not from the kids but from parents. It's known that parents pack off their children with two cell phones, so they can hand over one and still be able to slip away and call. Parents question camp directors about why they can't reach their kids by phone. Some services let camps post news and pictures to help the families feel as if they are with the kids at camp. But that just invites inquiry about why Johnny looks sad or how Jenny's jeans got torn.
     Even as they yield in varying degrees to the demands of parents, camps endeavor to tell us our kids need a break from our eager interest and exhausting expectations. Camps talk about building independence, argue that having kids learn to solve their own problems and turn to peers and counselors for support is a key part of the experience. The implications are clear. They're lighting campfires, hiding and seeking, doing things-that feel wonderfully improper if just because they involve getting dirtier than usual. Nothing to worry about, Mom. 

Read the following text. Answer the questions on the text by choosing A, B, C or D.

     Given the choice, younger professionals are most interested in working at tech companies like Apple and government agencies like the State Department, but they are comparatively disinterested in working in the financial industry, according to a survey conducted by Universum, a research firm.
     What attracts college graduates to big tech companies like Apple is mainly the cool factor surounding these companies and their products, as the survey found young professionals were most influenced by the strength of the corporation's brand when picking their most desired companies.
     "Companies that have appealing consumer brands generally also succeed in being perceived as attractive employers. People nowadays love to work for companies that produce their favorite products and services," said Kortney Kutsop, employer branding specialist for Univesum. "Also, market success is an important factor: The company needs to be generally seen as innovative and best-in-class in whatever they do--that's the recipe for success."
     By contrast, financial institutions like Citigroup, whose brands have been spoiled in recent years by the collapse of the financial industry, ranked in the lower half of the list of 99 companies desired by young professionals.
     Beyond the power of a company's brand, college graduates were also heavily influenced by the perceived financial stability of each company, which may explain why major corporations like Apple would rank at the top, since they are constantly expanding and hiring new employees. On the other hand, government agencies, which fared slightly worse than the tech companies, may have been hurt by perceived weaknesses in recent years, given that the public sector as a whole has been forced to freeze wages and lay off employees.
     Universum, which surveyed more than 10,000 young professionals who graduated from college in the last eight years, also found that many of them are looking to switch jobs in the near future. In fact, half of those surveyed claimed to have applied to other jobs in the past year and a quarter plan to switch jobs within six months, suggesting that the organizations at the top of this list may be flooded with new applications in the coming months. 

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     One of the key challenges in urban architecture over the next 50 years will be figuring out how to squeeze vast numbers of additional people into urban areas that are already extremely crowded. London, for example, will somehow have to deal with a projected 100,000 extra inhabitants every year until 2016. The current plan of building a new “satellite towns” of the city causes a lot of problems—but architecture think tanks are working on ambitious solutions that go vertical instead of horizontal in search of space.
     In terms of population density, London is one of the least crowded major cities in the world---four times fewer people per square kilometer than Paris, for example, six times fewer than New York and eight times fewer than Cairo. But the fact remains that the city’s population is growing at a rapid rate, and horizontal expansion into the surrounding areas is eating up increasingly important agricultural land, as well as worsening all the transport problems that come with urban growth.
     Popular Architecture would propose a radically different solution. The proposal is to go upwards, with vertical towers of considerable size, each representing an entire new town, by the time it’s completed. Each tower would be 1500 meters high. Beyond mere accommodation, each tower would function as an entire town unit, with its own schools, hospitals, parks and gardens, sports faculties, business areas and community spaces. The population density of such a tower could help lower the individual energy requirements of each inhabitant, reducing the ecological impact of the population as a whole.
     The village towers are considered as hollow tubes, with large holes to allow light and air though the entire construction. Occasional floor discs spread throughout the height of the building will give inhabitants large central areas in the middle of the tube to use as gathering spaces.
     While the building itself is unlikely ever to be seriously considered for construction—imagine the number of elevators it would need, let alone the safety implications of open areas at such heights and with such wind exposure—the concept can serve as conversation-starter for urban planners looking to face the challenges of the current and coming countries. 

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     A smile is a strong sign of a friendly and open attitude and a willingness to communicate. It is a positive, silent sign sent with the hope the other person will smile back. When you smile, you show you have noticed the person in a positive way. The result？ That person will usually smile back.
     You might not realize a closed position is the cause of many conversational problems. A common closed position is sitting with your arms and legs crossed and your hand covering your mouth or chin. This is often called the "thinking pose". Ask yourself this question: Are you going to interrupt someone who appears to be deep in thought？ This position gives off "stay away" signs and prevents your main "sign sender" (your mouth) from being seen by others looking for inviting conversational signs.
     The open body position is most effective when you place yourself within communicating distance of the other person—that is, within about five feet. Take care, however, not to enter someone's "personal space" by getting too close, too soon.
     Leaning forward a little while a person is talking shows your interest and how you are listening to what the person is saying. By doing this, you are saying: I hear what you're saying, and I'm interested in—keep talking!
     Often people will lean back with their hands over their mouth, chin, or behind their head in the "thinking" pose. This position gives off signs of judgment, doubt, and lack of interest from the listener. Since most people do not feel comfortable when they think they are being judged, this leaning-back position serves to prevent the speaker from continuing.
     In many cultures the most common form. of first contact between two people is a handshake. Be the first to extend your hand in greeting. Couple this with a friendly "Hello", a nice smile, and your name and you have made the first step to open the lines of communication.
     Eye contact should be natural, not forced or overdone. Direct eye contact shows you are listening to the other person and that you want to know about her.

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     It was fifteen past nine as Marie hurried into the office building where she was going to work. Her bus had inched along through heavy morning traffic, making her a few minutes late for her very first job. She decided to start out half an hour earlier the next day.
     Once inside the lobby, she had to stand at the elevators and wait several minutes before she could get on one going to the sixth floor. When she finally reached the office marked “Smith Enterprises”, she knocked at the door nervously and waited. There was no reply. She tapped on the door again, but still there was no answer. From inside the next office, she could hear the sound of voices, so she opened the door and went in.
     Although she was sure it was the same office she had been in two weeks before when she had the interview with Mr. Smith, it looked quite different now. In fact, it hardly looked like an office at all. The employees were just standing around chatting and smoking. In the front of the room, somebody must have just told a good joke, she thought, because there was a loud burst of laughter as she came in. For a moment she had thought they were laughing at her.
     Then one of the men looked at his watch, clapped his hands and said something to the others. Quickly they all went to their desks and, in a matter of seconds, everyone was hard at work. No one paid any attention to Marie. Finally she went up to the man who was sitting at the desk nearest to the door and explained that this was her first day in the office. Hardly looking up from his work, he told her to have a seat and wait for Mr. Smith, who would arrive at any moment. Then Marie realized that the day’s work in the office began just before Mr. Smith arrived. Later she found out that he lived in Connecticut and came into Manhattan on the same train every morning, arriving in the office at 9:35, so that his staff knew exactly when to start working.

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     Persons who are overweight should watch their diet carefully in order to lose pounds. The best way to do this is to start a weight control program. At first it is wise to talk with your doctor. He can advise you of the number of calories you should have in your meals each day. He can tell you about exercising while on your diet. A good rule is to lose slowly. A loss of a pound or two is plenty.
     Plan meals around foods you know. This means that it is wise to include foods that you are used to and that are part of your regular eating habits. When you have lost the weight you wish, simple items can be added to your diet so that you can maintain the weight you want. While you are dieting, try to build a pattern of eating that you can follow later to maintain your desired weight.
     When dieting, choose low-calorie foods. Avoid such items as fats, fried food, sweets, cakes, cream and soft drinks. Try to take coffee and tea without sugar or cream. Snacks can be part of your diet. For example, a piece of fruit or a simple dessert saved from mealtime can be eaten between meals.
     Keep busy! This way you will not be tempted to go off the diet. Make full use of opportunities to exercise. Try walking instead of riding whenever possible. Happy dieting!

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     Late last year, I needed to transport some furniture from our house in Sussex to my son's flat in central London. I should have paid a man to do it for me, but foolishly confident in my driving ability, I decided to hire a van and drive it myself. It was a Ford Transit 280, long and wide; you couldn’t see out of the back. You never really knew how close you were to anything else on the road.
     Reversing in my home yard, I crashed into a small shed, causing permanent damage. At least I owned the shed.
     I loaded up the furniture and set out. By now it was rush hour. My nerves broke down, as I steered the huge van through ever-shifting lanes, across oncoming vehicles, between distances of buses, at last to Charlotte Street.
     Here, I found an available parking space. As I reversed into it, I noticed three people at a pavement cafe waving to me. I got out, trembling violently, like one who has just endured a stormy Atlantic crossing. “You've shifted the car parked behind you three feet“, they said, and it belonged to a disabled person. I examined the car. There were white scratches along its front bumper. It bore a disabled sign. So, now I was a bad driver and a bad man. Under the stern gaze of the three, I left an apologetic note on the damaged cars windscreen, giving my phone number.
     I unloaded the furniture, dripping with sweat. Wanting only to escape the monster, I drove the van back to its base on the Edgware Road. On arrival, the hire man told me I must fill it up with petrol before returning it. "Just charge me." I cried, still shaking with fear. He gazed at me with understanding. No doubt he’d witnessed others in this state before. "How about I drive you to a petrol station, you fill up, and I drive her back?" he asked.
     He danced the great van through the traffic so casually that it would have shamed me if I had not been so grateful. 

Read the following text. Answer the questions on the text by choosing A, B, C or D.

     John Lubbock, a British member of the Parliament, led to the first law to safeguard Britain's heritage — the Ancient Monuments Bill. How did it happen?
     By the late 1800s more and more people were visiting Stonehenge for a day out. Now a World Heritage Site owned by the Crown, it was, at the time, privately owned and neglected.
     But the visitors left behind rubbish and leftover food. It encouraged rats that made holes at the stones’ foundations, weakening them. One of the upright stones had already fallen over and one had broken in two. They also chipped pieces off the stones for souvenirs and carved pictures into them, says architectural critic Jonathan Glancey.
     It was the same for other pre-historic remains, which were disappearing fast. Threats also included farmers and landowners as the ancient stones got in the way of working on the fields and were a free source of building materials.
     Shocked and angry, Lubbock took up the fight. When he heard Britain’ s largest ancient stone circle at Avebury in Wiltshire was up for sale in 1871 he persuaded its owners to sell it to him and the stone circle was saved.
     “Lubbock aroused national attention for ancient monuments,’’ says Glancey, “At the time places like Stonehenge were just seen as a collection of stones, ancient sites to get building materials.”
     “Lubbock knew they were the roots of British identity. He did for heritage what Darwin did for natural history. ”
     But Lubbock couldn’t buy every threatened site. He knew laws were needed and tabled the Ancient Monuments Bill. It proposed government powers to take any pre-historic site under threat away from uncaring owners, a radical idea at the time.
     For eight years he tried and failed to get the bill through parliament. Finally，in 1882，it was voted into law. It had，however, been watered down; people had to willingly give their ancient monuments to the government. But what it did do was plant the idea that the state could preserve Britain's heritage better than private owners.
     Pressure started to be put on the owners of sites like Stonehenge to take better care of them. 

Read the following text. Answer the questions on the text by choosing A, B, C or D.

     Some time ago, I discovered that one of my chairs had a broken leg. I didn’t foresee any difficulty in getting it mended, as there are a whole lot of antique shops near my home. So I set forth one morning carrying the chair with me. I went into the first shop expecting a friendly reception, with a kindly man saying, “What a charming chair! Yes, that’s a quite simple job. When would you want it back?”
     I was quite wrong. I wasn’t too concerned; after all, it was only the first to try and there are many more shops on both sides of the road.
     The reaction at the second shop, though slightly politer, was just the same, and the third and the fourth—so I decided that my approach must be wrong.
     I went into the fifth shop with some confidence because I had thought of a plan. I placed the chair gently on the floor, then the rather fierce shop owner looked it over carefully and said, “Yes, not a bad little chair. How much do you want for it, sir?” “Twenty pounds,” I said. “It’s got a slightly broken leg,” I said. “Yes, I saw that, it's nothing; don’t worry about it.”
     “What will you do with it?” I asked. “Oh, it will be easy to sell once the repair is done. I like the bit of old green velvet on the top. I shall leave that, yes, very saleable.” “I'll buy it,” I said. “What do you mean? You’ve just sold it to me,” he said. “Yes, I know but I’ve changed my mind. I'm sorry, I'll give you twenty-seven pounds for it.” “You must be crazy,” he said. Then, suddenly the penny dropped. “I know what you want. You want me to repair your chair. ”
     “And what would you have done if I had walked in and asked you to repair it for me?” “I wouldn't have done it,” he said. “We don’t do repairs, not enough money in it and too much trouble, but I’ll mend this for you.”