Choice of Lesson (Bấm chuột vào ô sổ xuống bên dưới và chọn bài kiểm tra)

Level A Level B Level C TOEFL Incorrect word TOEFL Reading Comprehension Synonym word TOEFL

Friday, November 16, 2007

Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 157

Đọc đoạn văn sau và trả lời các câu hỏi: The cause of tooth decay is acid, which is produced by bacteria in
the mouth. The acid removes minerals from tooth enamel, allowing
tooth decay to begin; the saliva in your mouth encourages remineralization
and neutralizes the acid. The rate at which bacteria in the mouth
5 produce acid depends on the amount of plaque on the teeth, the composition
of the microbial flora, and whether the bacteria of the plaque have
been "primed" by frequent exposure to sugar. To keep your teeth healthy,
a regular dental hygiene program should be followed.

10 Removing plaque with a toothbrush and dental floss temporarily reduces
the numbers of bacteria in the mouth and thus reduces tooth decay.
It also makes the surfaces of the teeth more accessible, enabling
saliva to neutralize acid and remineralize lesions. If fluoride is
present in drinking water when teeth are forming, some fluoride is
15 incorporated into the enamel of the teeth, making them more resistant
to attack by acid. Fluoride toothpaste seems to act in another way,
by promoting the remineralization of early carious lesions.

In addition to a regular dental hygiene program, a good way to keep
20 your teeth healthy is to reduce your intake of sweet food. The least
cavity-causing way to eat sweets is to have them with meals and not
between. The number of times you eat sweets rather than the total
amount determines how much harmful acid the bacteria in your saliva
produce. But the amount of sweets influences the quality of your
25 saliva. Avoid, if you can, sticky sweets that stay in your mouth
a long time. Also try to brush and floss your teeth after eating
sugary foods. Even rinsing your mouth with water is effective. Whenever
possible, eat foods with fiber, such as raw carrot sticks, apples,
celery sticks, etc., that scrape off plaque, acting as a toothbrush.
30 Cavities can be greatly reduced if these rules are followed when
eating sweets.1. What does this passage mainly discuss?




2. According to the passage, all of the following statements about plaque are true EXCEPT




3. We can infer from the passage that one benefit of fluoride to healthy teeth is




4. The word "it" in line 12 refers to




5. What can be concluded from the passage about sweets?




6. The word "scrape off" in line 29 is closest in meaning to




7. It can be inferred from the passage that foods with fiber are




8. According to the passage, the value of eating foods with fiber is that




9. The author of the passage states that the amount of acid produced by the bacteria in your saliva increases




Back Test with: Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 156 and Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 157

Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 156

Đọc đoạn văn sau và trả lời các câu hỏi: When Daniel Boone died peacefully in bed in his son Nathan's elegant
stone Missouri farmhouse on September 26, 1820, the surge of emigrants
along the Oregon Trail was still a generation away. But Boone already
exemplified the pioneer at his best. He was neither the physical
5 giant (five feet nine) nor the innocent child of nature that legend
has made of him. He was an intelligent, soft spoken family man who
cherished the same wife for 57 years. He befriended Indians, preferred
company to solitude, and when he told his wife it was time to move
because a newcomer had settled some 70 miles away, he was joking.
10
Pennsylvania-born, Boone was one of 11 children in a family of Quakers
who migrated to North Carolina. There Boone was recruited at age
40 to undertake a scheme designed to open up Kentucky to settlers
and establish it as a 14th colony. He arranged a deal by which the
15 Cherokees sold 20 million acres for $20,000 worth of goods to Boone's
employers, the Transylvania Company. It was all fair and square-the
Indians had an attorney, an interpreter, and the sound advice of
their squaws. The deal completed, Boone led a party from Tennessee
through the Cumberland Gap, hacked out the Wilderness Road, and set
20 up a town- Boonesboro-and a government. Elected a legislator, he
introduced on the first session's first day a bill to protect game
against wanton slaughter and a second bill to "improve the breed
of horses." He got 2,000 acres for his work, but after the Revolution-in
which Boone won considerable fame as a militia commander-the scheme
25 of the Transylvania Company was declared illegal and Boone lost his
land. Undaunted, he staked out more claims-and lost them because
he impatiently neglected to register his deeds. Ever hopeful, he
accepted an invitation from Spanish-held Missouri to come and settle
there and bring others with him. The Spanish gave him 8,500 acres
30 and made him a judge. But the Louisiana Purchase, which embraced
Missouri, again left him-but not his children-landless. Old and broke,
Boone cheerfully continued hunting and trapping long after his hands
shook. Shortly before he died, he was talking knowledgeably with
young men about the joys to be experienced in settling California.1. What is the author's purpose in writing this passage?




2. The word "surge" in line 2 is closest in meaning to




3. It can be inferred that one area in which Boone was NOT successful was




4. The phrase "fair and square" in lines 16 is closest in meaning to




5. It can be inferred from the passage that Boone died




6. According to the passage, where is Boone's namesake city located?




7. The Transylvania Company wanted Boone to




8. The word "undaunted" in line 26 is closest in meaning to




9. According to the passage, the Louisiana Purchase




10. What can be inferred from the passage about Boone's children?




11. The author's attitude toward Daniel Boone in the passage can be best described as




Back Test with: Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 156 and Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 155

Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 155

Đọc đoạn văn sau và trả lời các câu hỏi: This rapid transcontinental settlement and these new urban industrial
circumstances of the last half of the 19th century were accompanied
by the development of a national literature of great abundance and
variety. New themes, new forms, new subjects, new regions, new authors,
5 new audiences all emerged in the literature of this half century.
As a result, at the onset of World War I, the spirit and substance
of American literature had evolved remarkably, just as its center
of production had shifted from Boston to New York in the late 1880s
and the sources of its energy to Chicago and the Midwest. No longer
10 was it produced, at least in its popular forms, in the main by solemn,
typically moralistic men from New England and the Old South; no longer
were polite, well-dressed, grammatically correct, middle-class young
people the only central characters in its narratives; no longer were
these narratives to be set in exotic places and remote times; no
15 longer, indeed, were fiction, poetry, drama, and formal history the
chief acceptable forms of literary expression; no longer, finally,
was literature read primarily by young, middle class women. In sum,
American literature in these years fulfilled in considerable measure
the condition Walt Whitman called for in1867 in describing Leaves
20 of Grass: it treats, he said of his own major work, each state and
region as peers "and expands from them, and includes the world ...
connecting an American citizen with the citizens of all nations."
At the same time, these years saw the emergence of what has been
designated "the literature of argument," powerful works in sociology,
25 philosophy, psychology, many of them impelled by the spirit of exposure
and reform. Just as America learned to play a role in this half century
as an autonomous international political, economic, and military
power, so did its literature establish itself as a producer of major
works.1. The main idea of this passage is




2. It can be inferred from lines 1-3 that the previous passage probably discussed




3. The word "evolved" in line 7 is closest in meaning to




4. The word "it" in line 10 refers to




5. The word "exotic" in line 14 is closest in meaning to




6. The author uses the word "indeed" in line 15 for what purpose?




7. The phrase "these years" in line 18 refers to




8. It can be inferred from the passage that Walt Whitman




9. All of the following can be inferred from the passage about the new literature EXCEPT




10. This passage would probably be read in which of the following academic courses?




Back Test with: Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 154 and Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 155

Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 154

Đọc đoạn văn sau và trả lời các câu hỏi: Until recently, most American entrepreneurs were men. Discrimination
against women in business, the demands of caring for families, and
lack of business training had kept the number of women entrepreneurs
small. Now, however, businesses owned by women account for more than
5 $40 billion in annual revenues, and this figure is likely to continue
rising throughout the 1990s. As Carolyn Doppelt Gray, an official
of the Small Business Administration, has noted, "The 1970s was the
decade of women entering management, and the 1980s turned out to
be the decade of the woman entrepreneur".
10
What are some of the factors behind this trend? For one thing, as
more women earn advanced degrees in business and enter the corporate
world, they are finding obstacles. Women are still excluded from
most executive suites. Charlotte Taylor, a management consultant,
15 had noted, "In the 1970s women believed if they got an MBA and worked
hard they could become chairman of the board. Now they've found out
that isn't going to happen, so they go out on their own".

In the past, most women entrepreneurs worked in "women's" fields: cosmetics
20 and clothing, for example. But this is changing. Consider ASK Computer
Systems, a $22-million-a-year computer software business. It was
founded in 1973 by Sandra Kurtzig, who was then a housewife with
degrees in math and engineering. When Kurtzig founded the business,
her first product was software that let weekly newspapers keep tabs
25 on their newspaper carriers-and her office was a bedroom at home,
with a shoebox under the bed to hold the company's cash. After she
succeeded with the newspaper software system, she hired several bright
computer-science graduates to develop additional programs. When these
were marketed and sold, ASK began to grow. It now has 200 employees,
30 and Sandra Kurtzig owns $66.9 million of stock.

Of course, many women who start their own businesses fail, just as
men often do. They still face hurdles in the business world, especially
problems in raising money; the banking and finance world is still
35 dominated by men, and old attitudes die hard. Most businesses owned
by women are still quite small. But the situation is changing; there
are likely to be many more Sandra Kurtzigs in the years ahead.1. What is the main idea of this passage?




2. The word "excluded" in line 13 is closest in meaning to




3. All of the following were mentioned in the passage as detriments to women in the business world EXCEPT




4. In line 17, "that" refers to




5. According to the passage, Charlotte Taylor believes that women in the 1970s




6. The author mentions the "shoebox under the bed" in the third paragraph in order to




7. In line 20, the word "this" refers to




8. The expression "keep tabs on" in line 24-25 is closest in meaning to




9. The word "hurdles" in line 33 can be best replaced by




10. It can be inferred from the passage that the author believes that businesses operated by women are small because




11. The author's attitude about the future of women in business is




Back Test with: Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 154 and Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 153

Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 153

Đọc đoạn văn sau và trả lời các câu hỏi: While most desert animals will drink water if confronted with it,
for many of them the opportunity never comes. Yet all living things
must have water, or they will expire. The herbivores find it in desert
plants. The carnivores slake their thirst with the flesh and blood
5 of living prey. One of the most remarkable adjustments, however,
has been made by the tiny kangaroo rat, who not only lives without
drinking but subsists on a diet of dry seeds containing about 5%
free water. Like other animals, he has the ability to manufacture
water in his body by a metabolic conversion of carbohydrates. But
10 he is notable for the parsimony with which he conserves his small
supply by every possible means, expending only minuscule amounts
in his excreta and through evaporation from his respiratory tract.

Investigation into how the kangaroo rat can live without drinking
15 water has involved various experiments with these small animals.
Could kangaroo rats somehow store water in their bodies and slowly
utilize these resources in the long periods when no free water is
available from dew or rain? The simplest way to settle this question
was to determine the total water content in the animals to see if
20 it decreases as they are kept for long periods on a dry diet. If
they slowly use up their water, the body should become increasingly
dehydrated, and if they begin with a store of water, this should
be evident from an initial high water content. Results of such experiments
with kangaroo rats on dry diets for more than 7 weeks showed that
25 the rats maintained their body weight. There was no trend toward
a decrease in water content during the long period of water deprivation.
When the kangaroo rats were given free access to water, they did
not drink water. They did nibble on small pieces of watermelon, but
this did not change appreciably the water content in their bodies,
30 which remained at 66.3 to 67.2 during this period.

This is very close to the water content of dry-fed animals (66.5),
and the availability of free water, therefore, did not lead to any
"storage" that could be meaningful as a water reserve. This makes
35 it reasonable to conclude that physiological storage of water is
not a factor in the kangaroo rat's ability to live on dry food.1. What is the topic of this passage?




2. The word "expire" inline 3 is closest in meaning to




3. Which of the following is NOT a source of water for the desert animals?




4. The word "it" in line 3 refers to




5. The author states that the kangaroo rat is known for all of the following EXCEPT




6. The word "parsimony" in line 10 is closest in meaning to




7. It is implied by the author that desert animals can exist with little or no water because of




8. The word "deprivation" inline 26 is closest in meaning to




9. According to the passage, the results of the experiments with kangaroo rats showed that




Back Test with: Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 152 and Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 153

Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 152

Đọc đoạn văn sau và trả lời các câu hỏi: Scientists do not yet thoroughly understand just how the body of an
individual becomes sensitive to a substance that is harmless or even
wholesome for the average person. Milk, wheat, and egg, for example,
rank among the most healthful and widely used foods. Yet these foods
5 can cause persons sensitive to them to suffer greatly. At first,
the body of the individual is not harmed by coming into contact with
the substance. After a varying interval of time, usually longer than
a few weeks, the body becomes sensitive to it, and an allergy has
begun to develop.
10
Sometimes it's hard to figure out if you have a food allergy, since
it can show up so many different ways. Your symptoms could be caused
by many other problems. You may have rashes, hives, joint pains mimicking
arthritis, headaches, irritability, or depression. The most common
15 food allergies are to milk, eggs, seafood, wheat, nuts, seeds, chocolate,
oranges, and tomatoes. Many of these allergies will not develop if
these foods are not fed to an infant until her or his intestines
mature at around seven months. Breast milk also tends to be protective.
Migraines can be set off by foods containing tyramine, phenathylamine,
20 monosodium glutamate, or sodium nitrate. Common foods which contain
these are chocolate, aged cheeses, sour cream, red wine, pickled
herring, chicken livers, avocados, ripe bananas, cured meats, many
Oriental and prepared foods (read the labels!). Some people have
been successful in treating their migraines with supplements of B-vitamins,
25 particularly B6 and niacin. Children who are hyperactive may benefit
from eliminating food additives, especially colorings, and foods
high in salicylates from their diets. A few of these are almonds,
green peppers, peaches, tea, grapes. This is the diet made popular
by Benjamin Feingold, who has written the book Why your Child is
30 Hyperactive. Other researchers have had mixed results when testing
whether the diet is effective.1. The topic of this passage is




2. According to the passage, the difficulty in diagnosing allergies to foods is due to




3. The word "symptoms" in line 12 is closest in meaning to




4. The phrase "set off" in lines 19 is closest in meaning to




5. What can be inferred about babies from this passage?




6. The word "hyperactive" in line 25 is closest in meaning to




7. The author states that the reason that infants need to avoid certain foods related to allergies has to do with the infant's




8. The word "these" in line 27 refers to




9. Which of the following was a suggested treatment for migraines in the passage?




10. According to the article the Feingold diet is NOT




Back Test with: Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 152 and Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 151

Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 151

Đọc đoạn văn sau và trả lời các câu hỏi: "The economic history of the United States", one scholar has written,
"is the history of the rise and development of the capitalistic system."
The colonists of the eighteenth century pushed forward what those
of the seventeenth century had begun: the expansion and elaboration
5 of an economy born in the great age of capitalist expansion.

Our excellent natural resources paved the way for the development
of abundant capital to increase our growth. Capital includes the
tools-such as machines, vehicles, and buildings-that make the outputs
10 of labor and resources more valuable. But it also includes the funds
necessary to buy those tools. If a society had to consume everything
it produced just to stay alive, nothing could be put aside to increase
future productions. But if a farmer can grow more corn than his family
needs to eat, he can use the surplus as seed to increase the next
15 crop, or to feed workers who build tractors. This process of capital
accumulation was aided in the American economy by our cultural heritage.
Saving played an important role in the European tradition; it contributed
to Americans' motivation to put something aside today for the tools
to buy tomorrow.
20
The great bulk of the accumulated wealth of America, as distinguished
from that which was consumed, was derived either directly or indirectly
from trade. Though some manufacturing existed, its role in the accumulation
of capital was negligible. A merchant class of opulent proportions
25 was already visible in the seaboard cities, its wealth the obvious
consequence of shrewd and resourceful management of the carrying
trade. Even the rich planters of tidewater Virginia and the rice
coast of South Carolina finally depended for their genteel way of
life upon the ships and merchants who sold their tobacco and rice
30 in the markets of Europe. As colonial production rose and trade expanded,
a business community emerged in the colonies, linking the provinces
by lines of trade and identity of interest.1. With what subject is this passage mainly concerned?




2. The phrase "paved the way for" in line 7 is closest in meaning to




3. In line 10 the word "it" refers to




4. According to the passage, capital includes all of the following EXCEPT




5. In line 10, the word "funds" is closest in meaning to




6. The phrase "put aside" in lines 13 is closest in meaning to




7. According to the passage, which of the following would lead to accumulating capital?




8. It can be inferred from the passage that the European ancestors of early Americans




9. According to the passage, the emergence of a business community in the colonies was a result of




Back Test with: Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 150 and Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 151

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 150

Đọc đoạn văn sau và trả lời các câu hỏi: In the early 1800s, to reach the jump-off point for the West, a family
from the East of the United States could either buy steamboat passage
to Missouri for themselves, their wagons, and their livestock or-as
happened more often-simply pile everything into a wagon, hitch up
5 a team, and begin their overland trek right in their front yard.

Along the macadamized roads and turnpikes east of the Missouri River,
travel was comparatively fast, camping easy, and supplies plentiful.
Then, in one river town or another, the neophyte emigrants would
10 pause to lay in provisions. For outfitting purposes, the town of
Independence had been preeminent ever since 1827, but the rising
momentum of pioneer emigration had produced some rival jump-off points.
Westport and Fort Leavenworth flourished a few miles upriver. St.
Joseph had sprung up 55 miles to the northwest; in fact, emigrants
15 who went to Missouri by riverboat could save four days on the trail
by staying on the paddle-wheelers to St. Joe before striking overland.

At whatever jump-off point they chose, the emigrants studied guidebooks
and directions, asked questions of others as green as themselves,
20 and made their final decisions about outfitting. They had various,
sometimes conflicting, options. For example, either pack animals
or two-wheel carts or wagons could be used for the overland crossing.
A family man usually chose the wagon. It was the costliest and slowest
of the three, but it provided space and shelter for children and
25 for a wife who likely as not was pregnant. Everybody knew that a
top-heavy covered wagon might blow over in a prairie wind or be overturned
by mountain rocks, that it might mire in river mud or sink to its
hubs in desert sand-but maybe if those things happened on this trip,
they would happen to someone else. Anyway, most pioneers, with their
30 farm background, were used to wagons.1. What is the topic of this passage?




2. All of the following can be inferred from the passage about travel east of the Missouri EXCEPT that it




3. The phrase "jump-off point" in lines 1, 13 and 18 is closest in meaning to




4. Which of the cities that served as a jump-off point can be inferred from the passage to be farthest west?




5. The word "preeminent" in line 11 is closest in meaning to




6. The author implies in the passage that the early emigrants




7. The word "neophyte" in line 9 is closest in meaning to




8. All of the following were mentioned in the passage as options for modes of transportation from the Missouri River to the West EXCEPT




9. In line 16, the word "striking" is closest in meaning to




10. The expression "green" in line 19 is closest in meaning to




11. All of the following features of the covered wagon made it unattractive to the emigrants EXCEPT




12. In line 28, the phrase "those things" refers to




Back Test with: Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 150 and Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 149

Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 149

Đọc đoạn văn sau và trả lời các câu hỏi: There are many theories of aging, but virtually all fall into the
category of being hypotheses with a minimum of supporting evidence.
One viewpoint is that aging occurs as the body's organ systems become
less efficient. Thus failures in the immune system, hormonal system,
5 and nervous system could all produce characteristics that we associate
with aging. Following a different vein, many current researchers
are looking for evidence at the cellular and sub cellular level.
It has been shown that cells such as human fibroblasts (generalized
tissue cells) grown in culture divide only a limited number of times
10 and then die. (Only cancer cells seem immortal in this respect.)
Fibroblast cells from an embryo divide more times than those taken
from an adult. Thus some researchers believe that aging occurs at
the cellular level and is part of the cell's genetic makeup. Any
event that disturbs the cell's genetic machinery such as mutation,
15 damaging chemicals in the cell's environment, or loss of genetic
material, could cause cells to lose their ability to divide and thus
bring on aging. Other theories of aging look at different processes.

Chronological aging refers to the passage of time since birth and
20 is usually measured in years. While chronological age can be useful
in estimating the average status of a large group of people, it is
a poor indicator of an individual person's status because there is
a tremendous amount of variation from one individual to the next
in regard to the rate at which biological age changes occur. For
25 example, on the average, aging results in people losing much of their
ability to perform strenuous activities, yet some elderly individuals
are excellent marathon runners.

Another type of aging is cosmetic aging, which consists of changes
30 in outward appearance with advancing age. This includes changes in
the body and changes in other aspects of a person's appearance, such
as the style of hair and clothing, the type of eyeglasses, and the
use of a hearing aid. Like chronological aging, it is frequently
used to estimate the degree to which other types of aging have occurred.
35 However, it is an inaccurate indicator for either purpose because
of variation among individuals and because a person's appearance
is affected by many factors that are not part of aging, including
illness, poor nutrition, and exposure to sunlight.1. The author believes the theories of aging are




2. In line 7, the word "evidence" refers to




3. The word "vein" in line 6 is closest in meaning to




4. The author of the article points out that cancer cells




5. The word "culture" in line 9 is closest in meaning to




6. It can be inferred from the passage that fibroblast cells




7. As explained in this passage, the theory of aging which examines the cellular level would NOT assign which of the following as a cause of aging?




8. According to the passage, chronological aging is not a good indicator of an individual's status regarding aging because




9. The author implies all of the following about cosmetic aging EXCEPT




Back Test with: Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 148 and Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 149

Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 148

Đọc đoạn văn sau và trả lời các câu hỏi: It takes a long time to raise a family of owlets, so the great horned
owl begins early in the year. In January and February, or as late
as March in the North, the male calls to the female with a resonant
hoot. The female is larger than the male. She sometimes reaches a
5 body length of twenty-two to twenty-four inches, with a wingspread
up to fifty inches. To impress her, the male does a strange courtship
dance. He bobs. He bows. He ruffles his feathers and hops around
with an important air. He flutters from limb to limb and makes flying
sorties into the air. Sometimes he returns with an offering of food.
10 They share the repast, after which she joins the dance, hopping and
bobbing about as though keeping time to the beat of an inner drum.

Owls are poor home builders. They prefer to nest in a large hollow
in a tree or even to occupy the deserted nest of a hawk or crow.
15 These structures are large and rough, built of sticks and bark and
lined with leaves and feathers. Sometimes owls nest on a rocky ledge,
or even on the bare ground. even to occupy the deserted nest of a
hawk or crow. These structures are large and rough, built of sticks
and bark and lined with leaves and feathers. Sometimes owls nest
20 on a rocky ledge, or even on the bare ground. The mother lays two
or three round, dull white eggs. Then she stoically settles herself
on the nest and spreads her feather skirts about her to protect her
precious charges from snow and cold.

25 It is five weeks before the first downy white owlet pecks its way
out of the shell. As the young birds feather out, they look like
wise old men with their wide eyes and quizzical expressions. They
clamor for food and keep the parents busy supplying mice, squirrels,
rabbits, crayfish, and beetles. Later in the season baby crows are
30 taken. Migrating songsters, waterfowl, and game birds all fall prey
to the hungry family. It is nearly ten weeks before fledglings leave
the nest to search for their own food. The parent birds weary of
family life by November and drive the young owls away to establish
hunting ranges of their own.1. What is the topic of this passage?




2. In line 3-4, the phrase "a resonant hoot" is closest in meaning to




3. It can be inferred from the passage that the courtship of great horned owls




4. According to the passage, great horned owls




5. According to the passage, which of the following is the mother owl's job?




6. The phrase "precious charges" in lines 23 refers to




7. According to the passage, young owlets eat everything EXCEPT




8. In line 27, the word "they" refers to




9. What can be inferred from the passage about the adult parents of the young great horned owls?




10. The phrase "weary of" in line 32 is closest in meaning to




Back Test with: Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 148 and Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 147

Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 147

Đọc đoạn văn sau và trả lời các câu hỏi: A binary star is actually a pair of stars that are held together by
the force of gravity. Although occasionally the individual stars
that compose a binary star can be distinguished, they generally appear
as one star. The gravitational pull between the individual stars
5 of a binary star causes one to orbit around the other.
From the orbital pattern of a binary, the mass of its stars can be
determined: the gravitational pull of a star is in direct proportion
to its mass, and the strength of the gravitational force of one star
on another determines the orbital pattern of the binary. Scientists
10 have discovered stars that seem to orbit around an empty space. It
has been suggested that such a star and the empty space really compose
a binary star. The empty space is known as a black hole, a star with
such a strong gravitational force that no light is able to get through.1. A binary star could best be described as




2. According to the passage, what happens as a result of the gravitational force between the stars?




3. According to the passage, what can scientists learn from the pattern of a binary star's orbit?




4. According to the passage, what is a black hole?




5. According to the passage, what is a black hole?




6. This passage would most likely be assigned reading in a course on




Back Test with: Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 146 and Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 147

Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 146

Đọc đoạn văn sau và trả lời các câu hỏi: It is a strong belief among certain groups of people that the medical community should take every possible step to keep a person alive, without regard for the quality of that person's life. But other people argue just as strongly that patients who are facing 5 a life of pain and incumberance on others have the right to decide for themselves whether or not to continue with life-prolonging medications and therapies. The question, however, is really far more difficult than just the issue of a terminally ill patient of sound mind who directs the physician not to continue with any treatment that does 10 not in any way cure the disease but only helps to draw out a painful death. When the quality of life has disintegrated, when there is
no hope of reprieve, when there is intense and everpresent pain, does the patient have the right to be put to death? The patient in this case is not asking the physician to discontinue treatment but 15 instead is requesting the physician, the supposed protector of life,
to purposefully bring a life to a close.

1. With what subject is the passage mainly concerned?





2. The phrase "medical community" in line 1-2 means




3. "However", as it is used in line 7, could best be replaced by which of the following?




4. In what situation does the author suggest that a patient might have the right to be put to death?




5. Which of the following statements best applies to the idea presented in the passage?




Back Test with: Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 146 and Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 145