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These days it is easy for most of us to get a hold of the latest books or magazines. We can go to bookstores, order them through the Internet, or borrow them from the local libraries. Now imagine having to walk miles and miles through a hot sandy desert just to borrow a book. This is the reality for people living in the villages of the Carissa region of Kenya in East Africa.
In 1996, librarian Wycliffe Oluoch used to spend each day waiting for people to come to borrow some of the 24,000 books in his library in Carissa. The library had no shortage of books, but people weren’t coming to read them. It was too much effort to walk through the desert just to borrow books. Oluoch racked his brain for ways to entice people into the library. After a lot of thought, he hit upon a great idea. If people wouldn’t come to the library, then he would have to take the library to them. Oluoch strapped boxes of books onto the backs of camels, and created the Mobile Camel Library.
Starting with three camels in 1996, but more recently expanding the service to six camels, the Mobile Camel Library serves over one million people. Twice a month, the camel library can be seen carrying books all around the Carissa region. These hard-working animals need little water and can carry up to 500 pounds of books across the sands. A librarian, a library assistant, a herdsman, and a lookout all travel with the camels. The lookout helps protect the books from thieves.
The children of Carissa love the camel library and appreciate Oluoch’s effort. Eleven-year-old Mohamud Mohamed reads his library books carefully and always returns them on time. He knows the Carissa library punishes people for losing books, just like any other library. However, the punishment is very stiff compared to that of other libraries. If a village loses a book, the camel library stops visiting.a
The word “stiff” is closest in meaning to .
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Lời giải:
Báo saiTừ “stiff” gần nghĩa với từ nào nhất?
serious (adj): nghiêm trọng = stiff (adj)
enormous (adj): khổng lồ
easy (adj): dễ dàng
rough (adj): khó khăn
Câu hỏi liên quan
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MOBILE PHONES: ARE THEY ABOUT TO TRANSFORM OUR LIVES?
We love them so much that some of us sleep with them under the pillow, yet we are increasingly concerned that we cannot escape their electronic reach. We use them to convey our most intimate secrets, yet we worry that they are a threat to our privacy. We rely on them more than the Internet to cope with modern life, yet many of us don’t believe advertisements saying we need more advanced services. Sweeping aside the doubts that many people feel about the benefits of new third generation phones and fears over the health effects of phone masts, a recent report claims that the long-term effects of new mobile technologies will be entirely positive so long as the public can be convinced to make use of them. Research about users of mobile phones reveals that the mobile has already moved beyond being a mere practical communications tool to become the backbone of modern social life, from love affairs to friendship to work.
The close relationship between user and phone is most pronounced among teenagers, the report says, who regard their mobiles as an expression of their identity. This is partly because mobiles are seen as being beyond the control of parents. But the researchers suggest that another reason may be that mobiles, especially text messaging, were seen as a way of overcoming shyness. The impact of phones, however, has been local rather than global, supporting existing friendship and networks, rather than opening users to a new broader community. Even the language of texting in one area can be incomprehensible to anybody from another area.
Among the most important benefits of using mobile phones, the report claims, will be a vastly improved mobile infrastructure, providing gains throughout the economy, and the provision of a more sophisticated location-based services for users. The report calls on government to put more effort into the delivery of services by mobile phone, with suggestion including public transport and traffic information and doctors’ text messages to remind patients of appointments. There are many possibilities. At a recent trade fair in Sweden, a mobile navigation product was launched. When the user enters a destination, a route is automatically downloaded to their mobile and presented by voices, pictures and maps as they drive. In future, these devices will also be able to plan around congestion and road works in real time. Third generation phones will also allow for remote monitoring of patients by doctors. In Britain, scientists are developing an asthma management solution using mobiles to detect early signs of an attack.
Mobile phones can be used in education. A group of teachers in Britain use third generation phones to provide fast internet service to children who live beyond the reach of terrestrial broadband services and can have no access to online information. ‘As the new generation of mobile technologies takes off, the social potential will vastly increase,’ the report argues.What does the writer suggest in the first paragraph about our attitudes to mobile phones?
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Most of the fastening devices used in clothing today, like the shoelace, the button, and the safely pin. have existed in some form in various cultures for thousands of years. But the zipper was the brainchild of one American inventor, namely Whitcomb Judson of Chicago. At the end of the 19th century. Judson was already a successful inventor, with a dozen patents to his credit for mechanical items such as improvements to motors and railroad braking system.
He then turned his mind to create a replacement for the lengthy shoelaces which were then used in both men’s and women's boots. On August 29th 1893, he won another patent, for what he called the case “locker”. Though the model was somewhat clumsy, and frequently jammed, it did work: in fact, Judson and his business associate Lewis Walker had sewn the device into their own boots. Although Judson displayed his clasp–locker at the World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893, the public largely ignored it. The company founded by Judson and Walker, Universal Fastener, despite further refinements, never really succeeded in marketing the device.
The earliest zip fasteners were being used in the clothing industry by 1905, but it was only in 1913, after a Swedish–American engineer, Gideon Sundbach, had remodeled Judson's fastener into a more streamlined and reliable form, that the zipper was a success. The US Army applied zippers to the clothing and equipment of the troops of World War I. By the late 1920s, zippers could be found in all kinds of clothing, footwear, and carrying cases; by the mid–1930s, zippers had even been embraced by the fashion industry.
The term “zipper" was coined as onomatopoeia (resembling the sound it makes) by B.F. Goodrich whose company started marketing rubber shoes featuring the fastener in 1923. Regrettably. Whitcomb Judson died in 1909, and never heard the term, or saw the success by which his invention would become popular.The word "it" in paragraph 2 refers to
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The first thing to do when you have a trip abroad is to check that your passport is valid. Holders of out–of–date passports are not allowed to travel overseas. Then you can prepare for your trip. If you don't know the language, you can have all kinds of problems communicating with local people. Buying a pocket dictionary can make a difference. You'll be able to order food, buy things in shops and ask for directions. It's worth getting one. Also there's nothing worse than arriving at your destination to find there are no hotels available. The obvious way to avoid this is to book in advance. This can save you money too. Another frustrating thing that can happen is to go somewhere and not know about important sightseeing places. Get a guide book before you leave and make the most of your trip. It's a must.
Then, when you are ready to pack your clothes, make sure they are the right kind. It's no good packing sweaters and coats for a hot country or T–shirts and shorts for a cold one. Check the local climate before you leave.
Also, be careful how much you pack in your bags. It's easy to take too many clothes and then not have enough space for souvenirs. But make sure you pack essentials. What about money? Well, it's a good idea to take some local currency with you but not too much. There are conveniently located cash machines (ATMs) in most big cities, and it's usually cheaper to use them than change your cash in banks. Then you'll have more money to spend. When you are at your destination, other travellers often have great information they are happy to share. Find out what they have to say. It could enhance your travelling experience.According to the passage, holders of out–of–date passports .
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Alaska is disappearing slowly, but surely. It is estimated that since the 19505, as much as fifteen percent of Alaska's land area has disappeared. How can a whole state be disappearing? The problem is that Alaska’s glaciers are melting. The state has more than 100,000 glaciers. These glaciers account for about 75,000 square kilometers, or five percent, of the state’s area. That is an area of land larger than Ireland!
According to a recent report by the US Geological Survey, ninety-nine percent of Alaska's glaciers are either retreating or diminishing. This diminishing seems mainly due to the increase in global temperatures. Since the 19605, the average year-round temperature has increased by almost 3°C. Additionally, the average winter temperature has increased by over 6°C. Presently, an estimated 100 cubic kilometers of ice is disappearing from Alaskan glaciers every year. It may be even more in the near future, as some scientists predict that the average world temperature could go up 4 to 7°C by the year 2100.
Another problem facing Alaska is its thawing permafrost. Much of the land in Alaska used to be permanently frozen or frozen for most of the year. Now, the thawing permafrost is causing a number of problems for people living in Alaska. Roads and utility poles are collapsing as the ground around and under them warms and soften. Also, the hard permafrost that originally prevented beaches from eroding during violent storms is now melting. People who live along Alaska's coasts are being forced to relocate. For villages on small low islands, one terrible storm could wipe out the entire community.
The melting permafrost and increasing temperatures are both affecting the forests of Alaska. As the permafrost under the forests melts, insects that normally do not turn up until the warmer seasons are appearing sooner. The spruce-bark beetle, for example, is increasing in numbers as a result of warmer winter temperatures. It usually takes about two years for these beetles to grow and reproduce in. very cold weather. However, due to the increase in temperatures, spruce-bark beetles are reproducing faster and damaging as many trees in one year as they previously damaged in two. If something cannot be done to change things, Alaska's forests will not survive the turn of the century.
Some scientists believe that human activity is linked to a global increase in weather temperature.
Whatever the cause of rising temperatures may be, the fact remains that temperatures are warming, affecting Alaska for the worse. Horribly, this could be a preview of what will happen to the rest of the world in the next century.What is predicted in the last paragraph?
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Educating children at home as an alternative to formal education is an option chosen by families in many parts of the world. The homeschooling movement is popular in the United States, where close to one million Children are educated at home. In Canada, 1 percent of school-age children are homeschooled, and the idea also enjoys growing popularity in Australia, where 20,000 families homeschool their children. The movement is not limited to these countries. Homeschooling families can be found all over the world, from Japan to Taiwan to Argentina to South Africa.
Homeschooling is not a novel idea. In fact, the idea of sending children to spend most of their day away from home at a formal school is a relatively new custom. In the United States, for example, it was not until the latter part of the nineteenth century that state governments began making school attendance compulsory. Before that, the concept of a formal education was not so widespread. Children learned the skills they would need for adult life at home from tutors or their parents, through formal instruction or by working side by side with the adults of the family.
In the modern developed world, where the vast majority of children attend school, families choose homeschooling for a variety of reasons. For people who live in remote areas, such as the Australian outback or the Alaskan Wilderness, homeschooling may be their only option. Children who have exceptional talents in the arts or other areas may be homeschooled so that they have more time to devote to their special interests. Much of the homeschooling movement is made up of families who, for various reasons, are dissatisfied with the schools available to them. They may have a differing educational philosophy, they may be concerned about the safety of the school environment, or they may feel that the local schools cannot adequately address their children's educational needs. Although most families continue to choose a traditional classroom education for their children, homeschooling as an alternative educational option is becoming more popular.Which of the following could be the main idea of the passage?
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In the American colonies there was little money. England did not supply the colonies with coins and did not allow the colonies to make their own coins, except for the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which received permission for a short period in 1652 to make several kinds of silver coins. England wanted to keep money out of America as a means of controlling trade: America was forced to trade only with England if it did not have the money to buy products from other countries. The result during this pre-revolutionary period was that the colonists used various goods in place of money: beaver pelts, Indian wampum, and tobacco leaves were all commonly used substitutes for money. The colonists also made use of any foreign coins they could obtain. Dutch, Spanish, French, and English coins were all in use in the American colonies.
During the Revolutionary War, funds were needed to finance the world, so each of the individual states and the Continental Congress issued paper money. So much of this paper money was printed that by the end of the war, almost no one would accept it. As a result, trade in goods and the use of foreign coins still flourished during this period.
By the time the Revolutionary War had been won by the American colonists, the monetary system was in a state of total disarray. To remedy this situation, the new Constitution of the United States, approved in 1789, allowed Congress to issue money. The individual states could no longer have their own money supply. A few years later, the Coinage Act of 1792 made the dollar the official currency of the United States and put the country on a bimetallic standard. In this bimetallic system, both gold and silver were legal money, and the rate of exchange of silver to gold was fixed by the government at sixteen to one.How was the monetary system arranged in the Constitution?
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The quest for sustainable sources of energy study the energy has led humans to study the energy potential of the sun and the wind, as well as the immense power created by dammed rivers. The oceans, too, represent an impressive source of potential energy. For example, it has been estimated that the oceans could provide nearly 3,000 times the energy generated by hydroelectric dams such as the Hoover Dam. Yet, this source remains quite difficult to exploit.
But this challenge has not prevented scientists from trying. Within the last few decades, several technologies that can transform the ocean’s immense forces into usable electricity have been invented and introduced. Some focus on capturing the power of the changing tides, while others rely on thermal energy created by oceans in certain tropical regions. However, the most common and easiest-to-develop technologies are those designed to harness the power inherent in the ocean’s waves.
There are several methods by which ocean-wave energy can be collected. All of them work because the movement of the water that the waves induce creates storable energy by directly or indirectly driving a power generator. In one such technology, the changing water levels in the ocean that are produced by waves lift a long floating tube comprised of many sections connected by hinges. As the sections move up and down with the water, they pump a special fluid through the tube that can be used to drive a generator. Another technique works on a similar principle, only the floating object rocks back and forth with the motion of the water instead of up and down. A third method of collecting wave energy relies on the rising water from the waves to compress air in a partially submerged chamber. As the waves rush into the chamber, they push the air out through a narrow tunnel. Located inside this tunnel is a turbine connected to a power generator. The movement of the air turns the turbine, which feeds energy into the generator.
The drawback to each of these concepts is that the they make it necessary to have many pieces of machinery linked together. This presents a problem because the larger the device, the more vulnerable it is to damage from hazardous ocean environments, and the more likely it is to interfere with otherwise unspoiled coastal scenery. Also, these methods demand the construction of site-specific machines that take into consideration average local wave heights and sea conditions. Such a requirement can be quite cost-prohibitive, because engineers must create unique power generation mechanism for each site. In other words, the ability to get power from waves differ from region to region.
Japan, Norway, and the UK have attempted to generate energy by capturing the power of ocean waves. In northern Scotland, the first power plan to use wave power, OSPREY ( Ocean Swell Powered Renewable Energy ), began operating in 1995. It followed the principle of the third method described above : waves entering a partially submerged chamber pushed air into turbines to generate electricity. The electricity was then transmitted to power collectors in the shore via underwater cables. Unfortunately, the OSPREY plant was destroyed in a large storm, highlighting an unavoidable difficulty associated with this kind of power generation.
The potential benefits of wave-based energy are hard to ignore. Once the proper machinery is produced and installed, the energy is free. Maintenance cost are small, and the equipment does not pose any threats of environmental pollution. And best of all, the amounts of energy produced are enormous.
However, these theoretical advantages have yet to be fully realized. In many cases, a lack of government funding has inhibited the technologies from advancing. For example, despite the relative abundance of propo -
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Cooking shows on TV are usually all about exotic foods. Thanks to globalization, people everywhere are introducing their taste buds to dishes from every corner of the world. At the same time, other people are discovering that food from their area is the best kept secret. In the past few years, this movement of purchasing local produce keeps picking up steam because it offers a lot of benefits. For starters, local food is often tastier because it is fresher. Goods that are imported from abroad must be flown or shinped in from far away, so they naturally lose some of their freshness during the journey. A simple way to test this is to sample a banana from overseas versus one that was grown locally and compare the tastes. Imported goods must also be washed and packaged in plastic or other containers so they can survive the journey. These materials may cause the nutritional value of these goods to decline during the shipping process. Food safety is another reason why people are choosing local produce. Today's laws regarding foods vary from country to country. This causes confusion and makes it difficult to detect if any harmful pesticides were used. When you know the local farmer who grows your food and the fields that are used to produce it, the chances of it being contaminated are greatly reduced.
Buying local foods can also have beneficial impact on the environment. By supporting local growers, consumers can maintain green space and farmland in their communities. Buying locally also helps to build the local community. If farmers can sell directly to consumers instead of a middleman, they will earn more money for their families. Additional profits also enable farmers to better care for their soil and keep quality standards high. In the end, it is a win-win situation for both parties.
If you are interested in incorporating more local foods into your diet, you can start by attending a farmers' market in your area. This is an open market where farmers sell fruits, vegetables, and meat directly to the public. If you have any questions about the production process or quality of these goods, you can ask the farmers directly. Once you experience the freshness of local foods for yourself, it might be tough to go back to the supermarket.The word “beneficial” in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to .
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Most sources of illumination generate light over an appreciable period, and indeed if an object is lit for a very brief time (1ess that 1/25 second), the human eye will not react in time to see the object. A photographic emulsion - that is, a light-sensitive coating on photographic film, paper, or glass - will, however, record much shorter bursts of light. A photographic flash can therefore be used to capture high- speed movement on film as well as to correct deficiencies of the normal surrounding lighting. Photoflash is now generated electronically, but the earliest form, first used in 1864, was a paper bag containing magnesium wire and some oxygen-rich substance, such as potassium chlorate. When the bag was ignited, the metal burned with an intense flash. A contemporary observer reported that "this quite unsafe device seems to have done nothing worse that engulf the room in dense smoke and lead to pictures of dubious quality and odd poses.”
The evolution of the photoflash was slow, flashbulbs, containing fine wire made of a metal, such as magnesium or aluminum, capable of being ignited in an atmosphere of pure oxygen at low pressure, were introduced only in the 1920's. In the earliest type, the metal was separated from the oxygen by a thin glass bulb. The flash was fired by piercing the bulb and allowing the oxygen to come into contact with the metal, which ignited spontaneously. Later bulbs were fired by an electric battery, which heated the wire by passing a small current through it. Other combinations, such as the pairing of oxygen difluoride with zirconium, have also been used. In each case enough energy is given out to heat the oxidizable metal momentarily to a white hot emission of visible light. The smoke particles are so small that they cool rapidly; but since they are white, they contribute to the brilliance by reflecting the light from their still glowing neighbors. A slightly bigger form of the metal will burn for a longer time.According to the passage, an advantage of using a photoflash is that it .
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Have you ever thought about inventing something? Did you worry that your idea was too strange or unrealistic? Well, maybe you should think again. Strange or unrealistic ideas never stopped Arthur Pedrick. Pedrick was a British inventor. Originally a government clerk, he spent his retirement in the 1960s and 1970s developing new and unusual ideas. Some of these ideas contradicted basic physics, but that didn’t stop Pedrick. One of his strangest ideas was a plan to connect large tubes from the continent of Australia all the way to Antarctica, a distance of 10,000 km! These tubes would carry giant ice balls from Antarctica to Australia. This ice would then melt in the Australian desert, and the water would be used in irrigation. Another of Pedrick’s inventions was a radio-controlled golf ball. A golfer could change the speed and direction of the golf ball by small flaps, controlled by computer chips. Using radio waves, the golfer could also find lost golf balls. Arthur Pedrick had thousands of bizarre ideas for inventions, most of which were never built.
Though many of Pedrick’s inventions were never developed, a lot of other strange ideas were. In 1989, a company designed and sold a theft-prevention device for expensive cars. As part of this device, several tubes were attached to the bottom of a car. If someone tried to steal the car, super hot flames would come out of the tubes and burn the car thief. Some people who were not thieves, however, were seriously injured. They accidentally set off the device by walking past the car. Other strange inventions include underwear for dogs and pens with drinkable ink. The underwear keeps dogs from making a mess when they go out for a walk. Also, if you are ever thirsty during a test, a pen with drinkable ink would be very handy! If you have an idea that seems a little out in left field, don’t let that stop you from trying it. You’ll be in good company.According to the passage, how was Pedrick’s plan to bring water to Australia probably unrealistic?
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Choose the best answer:
Today we take electricity for granted and perhaps we do not realize just how useful this discovery has been. Steam was the first invention that replaced wind power. It was used to drive engines and was passed through pipes and radiators to warm rooms. Petrol mixed with air was the next invention that provided power. Exploded in a cylinder, it drove a motor engine. Beyond these simple and direct uses, those forms have not much adaptability. On the other hand, we make use of electricity in thousands of ways. From the powerful voltages that drive our electric trains to the tiny current needed to work a simple calculator, and from the huge electric magnet in steel works that can lift 10 tons to the tiny electric magnet in a doorbell, all are powered by electricity. An electric current can be made with equal ease to heat a huge mass of molten metal in a furnace or to boil a jug for a cup of coffee. Other than atomic energy, which has not as yet been harnessed to the full, electricity is the greatest power in the world. It is flexible, and so adaptable for any task for which it is wanted. It travels so easily and with incredible speed along wires or conductors that it can be supplied instantly over vast distances. To generate electricity, huge turbines or generators must be turned. In Australia they use coal or water to drive this machinery. When dams are built, falling water is used to drive the turbines without polluting the atmosphere with smoke from coal. Atomic power is used in several countries but there is always the fear of an accident. A tragedy once occurred at Chernobyl, in Ukraine, at an atomic power plant used to make electricity. The reactor leaked, which caused many deaths through radiation. Now scientists are examining new ways of creating electricity without harmful effects to the environment. They may harness the tides as they flow in and out of bays. Most importantly, they hope to trap sunlight more efficiently. We do use solar heaters for swimming pools but as yet improvement in the capacity of the solar cells to create more current is necessary. When this happens, electric cars will be viable and the world will rid itself of the toxic gases given off by trucks and cars that burn fossil fuels.1. The author mentions the sources of energy such as wind, steam, petrol in the first paragraph to......
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A leading question among anthropologists is: what exactly led to the development of human cities? Basically, modern humans have existed on earth for over 100,000 years. Yet it is only in the last 8,000 years that they have begun to gather in significant numbers and form cities. Prior to that period, humans existed in small family or tribal groups, generally consisting of fewer than 100 individuals. What, then, led humans to make the dramatic shift from living in small groups to living in large, organized cities? It seems that the development of cities required a particular set of circumstances.
First, it required a minimum population density. For much of their early history, humans existed only in small numbers. This is due to the fact that early humans relied on hunting and gathering wild foods for their survival. Even the most fertile land would only support a relatively small number of predators, so it was not until humans began to practice agriculture that they were able to gather in large enough numbers to form cities.
Furthermore, the development of a city could only be possible if a large number of people shared a common language, culture and religion. Without such unifying factors, a cooperative, peaceful existence among large numbers of people would have been impossible.
Finally, it seems that early humans needed to be faced with a large problem, which one small group of individuals could not solve on its own. Only when large-scale cooperation was needed to overcome a problem would humans come together to form cities.The word "circumstances" in paragraph 1 mostly means .
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Homeopathy, the alternative therapy created in 1796 by Samuel Hahnemann, and now widely used all over the world, is based on the belief that the body can be stimulated to heal itself. A central principle of the “treatment” is that “like cures like”, meaning a subtance that causes certain symptoms can also help to remove those symptoms. Medicines used in homeopathy are created by heavily diluting in water the subtance in question and subsequently shaking the liquid vigorously. They can then be made into tablets and pills. Practitioners believe that the more a subtance is diluted in this way, the greater its power to treat symptoms.
However, in a new study, a working committee of medical experts at Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has claimed that homeopathic medicines are only as effective as placebos at treating illness. Their research, involving the analysis of numerous reports from homeopathy interest groups and the public, concluded that there is no reliable evidence that homeopathy works.
Moreover, researchers uncovered no fewer than 68 ailments that homeopathic remedies had failed to treat, including asthma, sleep disturbances, cold and flu, and arthritis.
As a result of the findings, the NHMRC is urging health workers to inform their patients to be wary of anecdotal evidence that appears to support the effectiveness of homeopathic medicine. “It isn’t possible to tell whether a health treatment is effective or not simply by considering the experience of one individual or the beliefs of a health practitioner,” says the report. Experts believe that most illnesses said to have been cured by homeopathy would be cured by the body on its own without taking the medicine. Apparently, many illnesses are short-lived by their very nature which often leads to people believing that it is the homeopathy that cures them.
A more serious matter is highlighted by Professor John Dwyer of the University of New South Wales. As an immunologist, he is concerned about homeopathic vaccinations on offer for diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria, none of which he considers effective. According to Professor John Dwyer, the concept that homeopathic vaccinations are just as good as traditional vaccinations in delusion, and those who believe it are failing to protect themselves and their children.According to the reading passage, homeopathic medicines are .
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These days it is easy for most of us to get a hold of the latest books or magazines. We can go to bookstores, order them through the Internet, or borrow them from the local libraries. Now imagine having to walk miles and miles through a hot sandy desert just to borrow a book. This is the reality for people living in the villages of the Carissa region of Kenya in East Africa.
In 1996, librarian Wycliffe Oluoch used to spend each day waiting for people to come to borrow some of the 24,000 books in his library in Carissa. The library had no shortage of books, but people weren’t coming to read them. It was too much effort to walk through the desert just to borrow books. Oluoch racked his brain for ways to entice people into the library. After a lot of thought, he hit upon a great idea. If people wouldn’t come to the library, then he would have to take the library to them. Oluoch strapped boxes of books onto the backs of camels, and created the Mobile Camel Library.
Starting with three camels in 1996, but more recently expanding the service to six camels, the Mobile Camel Library serves over one million people. Twice a month, the camel library can be seen carrying books all around the Carissa region. These hard-working animals need little water and can carry up to 500 pounds of books across the sands. A librarian, a library assistant, a herdsman, and a lookout all travel with the camels. The lookout helps protect the books from thieves.
The children of Carissa love the camel library and appreciate Oluoch’s effort. Eleven-year-old Mohamud Mohamed reads his library books carefully and always returns them on time. He knows the Carissa library punishes people for losing books, just like any other library. However, the punishment is very stiff compared to that of other libraries. If a village loses a book, the camel library stops visiting.aPeople did not visit the library in Carissa because .
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Have you ever thought about inventing something? Did you worry that your idea was too strange or unrealistic? Well, maybe you should think again. Strange or unrealistic ideas never stopped Arthur Pedrick. Pedrick was a British inventor. Originally a government clerk, he spent his retirement in the 1960s and 1970s developing new and unusual ideas. Some of these ideas contradicted basic physics, but that didn’t stop Pedrick. One of his strangest ideas was a plan to connect large tubes from the continent of Australia all the way to Antarctica, a distance of 10,000 km! These tubes would carry giant ice balls from Antarctica to Australia. This ice would then melt in the Australian desert, and the water would be used in irrigation. Another of Pedrick’s inventions was a radio-controlled golf ball. A golfer could change the speed and direction of the golf ball by small flaps, controlled by computer chips. Using radio waves, the golfer could also find lost golf balls. Arthur Pedrick had thousands of bizarre ideas for inventions, most of which were never built.
Though many of Pedrick’s inventions were never developed, a lot of other strange ideas were. In 1989, a company designed and sold a theft-prevention device for expensive cars. As part of this device, several tubes were attached to the bottom of a car. If someone tried to steal the car, super hot flames would come out of the tubes and burn the car thief. Some people who were not thieves, however, were seriously injured. They accidentally set off the device by walking past the car. Other strange inventions include underwear for dogs and pens with drinkable ink. The underwear keeps dogs from making a mess when they go out for a walk. Also, if you are ever thirsty during a test, a pen with drinkable ink would be very handy! If you have an idea that seems a little out in left field, don’t let that stop you from trying it. You’ll be in good company.What was the problem with the theft prevention device?
A. B.
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Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions:
Atomic were once thought to be fundamental pieces of matter, but they are in turn made of smaller subatomic particles There are three major subatomic particles neutrons, protons, and electronic. Protons and neutrons can be broken into even smaller units, but these smaller units not occur naturally in nature and are thought to only be produced in manmade particle accelerators and perhaps in extreme stellar events like supernovas. The structure of an atom can best be described as a small solar system, with the neutrons at the center and the electrons circling them in various orbits, just as the planets circle the sun. In reality, the structure of an atom is far more complex, because the laws of physics are fundamentally different at the atomic level than at the level of the observable word. The true nature of atomic structure can only be expressed accurately through complex mathematical formulas. This explanation, however, is of little use to most average people.
Protons and neutrons have nearly equal mass and size, but protons carry a positive electrical charge, while neutrons carry no charge at all. Protons and neutrons are bound together by the strong nuclear force, one of the four basic forces in the universe. Protons and neutrons give atoms some of their most basic properties. Elements are defined by two numbers: their atomic number, which is equal to the number of protons they have, and their atomic weight, which is equal to total number of their neutrons and protons. In most lighter atoms, the number of neutrons and protons is equal, and the element is stable. In heavier atoms, however, there are more neutrons than protons, and the element is unstable, eventually losing neutrons through radioactive decay until a neutral state is reached.
Electrons are negatively charged particles. They are bound to their atoms through electromagnetic attraction. Opposite electrical charges attract one another, so the positive charge of the proton helps to keep the negatively charged electron in orbit around the nucleus of the atom. Electrons are different from neutrons in that they cannot be broken down into smaller particles. They are also far smaller and lighter than neutrons and protons. An electron is about one thousandth of the diameter of a proton and an even smaller fraction of its mass. Electrons circle the protons and neutrons at the center of the atom in orbits. These orbits are often called electron shells. The closer the orbit is to the center of the atom, the lower its energy is. There are seven electron shells, and each higher level can hold more electrons than the previous shell. Electrons naturally seek to occupy the lowest shell possible. So, if there is space in a lower shell, an electron will drop down to occupy that space. At temperatures higher than a few hundred degrees, electrons will gain energy and move to a higher shell, but only momentarily. When the electrons drop back down to their natural shell, they emit light. This is why fires and other very hot objects seem to glow.
Electrons are also primarily responsible for many of the chemical properties of atoms. Since electrons seek to occupy the lowest electron shell possible, they will move from one atom to another if there is a space available in a lower electron shell. For example, if there is an atom with an open space in its third shell, and it comes into contact with an atom with electrons in its fourth shell, the first atom will take one of these electrons to complete its third shell. When this happens, the two atoms will be chemically bonded to form a molecule. Furthermore, atoms sometimes lose electrons in collisions with other atoms. When this happens, the radio of protons and electrons in the atom changes, and therefore, the overall electrical charge of the atom changes as well. These atoms -
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks.
Speech is one of the most important ways of communicating. It consists of far more than just making noises. To talk and also be understood by other people, we have to speak a language, that is, we have to usecombinations of sounds (1)........ everyone agrees to stand for a particular object or idea. Communication would be impossible if everyone made up their own language. Learning a language properly is very (2).......... The basic grammar of English is not very large, and not only about 2,000 words are needed to speak it quite well. But the more idea you can (3).............the more precise you can be (4).......... their exact meaning. Words are the main thing we use in communicating what we want to say. The way we say the words is also very important. Our tone of voice can express many emotions and (5) .........whether we are pleased or angry, for instance.
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Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.
There are many different metaphors used to describe culture. My favorite one is the iceberg. I think, it demonstrates so vividly what can happen to us if we believe only in the visible and ignore or underestimate the invisible part. The hidden part of our culture is that part which we know instinctively because we absorbed it from childhood on. It's handed down to us from generation to generation. We could also say, it's the "thinking" and "feeling" part of culture: habits, assumptions, attitudes, desires, values, tastes, etc.
Now, if we are in a new culture, our customary evaluations and interpretations are likely not to be on target because we see everything through our own cultural glasses. Imagine yourself in a new city trying to get around with a map from your own hometown. It wouldn't take long for you to get lost and completely frustrated! When we experience an encounter in the new culture that puzzles us, the most common reaction is to judge it through our own cultural glasses.
I want to propose an alternate approach to our initial gut reaction. Instead of immediately and instinctively judging a situation through our own glasses, we might first just pause and notice what is happening and then realize that this is a cultural learning situation. Remember the iceberg metaphor! The new culture becomes your mirror that shows you a hidden part of your own culture. What an opportunity for personal growth and new insight! You can compare two different approaches, that of the new culture and of your own culture. This gives you a choice. Now you can decide what fits best for you or even take the best from both sides.What does the passage mainly discuss?
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Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions:
More often than not, you can't just "order up a job" by responding to an online posting and have it delivered in one or two days as if you were buying whatever your heart desires on Amazon. Even as employers are hiring at a higher rate than they have in the last several years, it can often take months to work your way through the job search process. If you are a new graduate yet to receive a job offer, if you recently moved to a new locale with your spouse or partner or if you are unemployed for any other reason, you may find success in your job search by spending time volunteering at a nonprofit organization.
Both the nonprofit and for-profit worlds need people with many of the same talents. The best volunteer jobs for you to consider are ones where the experience you acquire will be applicable in the "for-pay" position you want to attain. It's often the case that once you display your passion for the organization and its mission, and have demonstrated your abilities, you'll earn strong consideration when a paying position opens up that can benefit from your talents. Even if you don't have a path to employment at the place you volunteer, by highlighting your volunteer experience on your resume, you can demonstrate that you haven't been wasting your time away staying at home watching the grass grow.
There are a few strategies you might adopt when considering at which organization you'll want to volunteer. You' ll probably want to make a priority of volunteering to do what you've already done, or want to do, in the for-profit sector. Alternatively, however, it might make sense to volunteer to do something where you can turn an area of professional weakness into a new strength. Remember, as well, that nonprofit organizations maintain strong relationships with their corporate sponsors, and you might look for a volunteer position that would enable you to be that nexus point between the two. And, especially if you are recently out of school, you should look for positions that let you learn about an occupation, a field of interest or an industry.
As you try to determine what you want to volunteer to do, and where you want to do it, make three lists: your marketable skills, the roles you seek and the kinds of charitable organizations you would want to support. For example, perhaps your skills cluster around accounting, marketing or event planning. Think about how these might come in handy for organizations that need financial help figuring out how to brand the organization to attract other volunteers or donors or run anything from charitable golf tournaments to gala dinners.The word "priority" in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to _.
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Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions:
Most of the fastening devices used in clothing today, like the shoelace, the button, and the safely pin. have existed in some form in various cultures for thousands of years. But the zipper was the brainchild of one American inventor, namely Whitcomb Judson of Chicago. At the end of the 19th century. Judson was already a successful inventor, with a dozen patents to his credit for mechanical items such as improvements to motors and railroad braking system.
He then turned his mind to create a replacement for the lengthy shoelaces which were then used in both men’s and women's boots. On August 29th 1893, he won another patent, for what he called the case “locker”. Though the model was somewhat clumsy, and frequently jammed, it did work: in fact, Judson and his business associate Lewis Walker had sewn the device into their own boots. Although Judson displayed his clasp–locker at the World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893, the public largely ignored it. The company founded by Judson and Walker, Universal Fastener, despite further refinements, never really succeeded in marketing the device.
The earliest zip fasteners were being used in the clothing industry by 1905, but it was only in 1913, after a Swedish–American engineer, Gideon Sundbach, had remodeled Judson's fastener into a more streamlined and reliable form, that the zipper was a success. The US Army applied zippers to the clothing and equipment of the troops of World War I. By the late 1920s, zippers could be found in all kinds of clothing, footwear, and carrying cases; by the mid–1930s, zippers had even been embraced by the fashion industry.
The term “zipper" was coined as onomatopoeia (resembling the sound it makes) by B.F. Goodrich whose company started marketing rubber shoes featuring the fastener in 1923. Regrettably. Whitcomb Judson died in 1909, and never heard the term, or saw the success by which his invention would become popular.According to the passage, by the late 1920s zippers could be found in all of the following industries EXCEPT .