The Agency for Crude oil estimates that China's imports or crude will increase 8 percent a year, a figure, more than twice the predicted rate of growth in global demand. To protect Chinese farmers, the group that has gained least from the economic reforms, and for fear of social unrest, the People's Congress has held the price of diesel at the pumps artificially low. These Price controls mean that Chinese state-owned refineries are losing vast sums of money supplying domestic markets. To offset these losses, the refinery managers must export fuel and, as a consequence, create the single most important cause of the chronic fuel shortages facing the domestic market of China. China's energy companies are desperately trying to resolve the issue by securing more suppliers of crude. Their greatest hope lies with Russia, which currently only supplies a small fraction of China's annual consumption. Chinese officials would dearly love a pipeline from the Siberian oilfields. But Russia is anxious to keep control of its export market and is understandably reluctant to provide its neighbor's refineries with oil, only to see it sold on to a third party in order to cross-subsidize the artificially low cost of fuel in China's domestic markets. Perhaps a more viable solution lies with a price increase in the cost of diesel in Chinese domestic markets. This might well mean that the current runaway demand will be curtailed Chinese refineries will be better able to supply their home markets.

Read the passage and answer questions based on information contained or implied in the passage. Socrates taught that "the man who is master of himself is truly free." By being master of oneself he meant first knowing oneself, one's fault and weakness and one's good points, without making any pretenses and then being able to control oneself. This knowledge of himself is what helps a man to be courageous and the courageous man has very important sort of freedom fear. Socrates himself, because he was not afraid of the consequences, always felt free to teach what he thought was right. No wonder all his pupils loved Socrates. But he made some dangerous enemies by his strange ways of teaching and asking questions. Some of the rulers in Athens did not like people to be encouraged to ask questions for fear that they would begin asking questions about what their rulers were doing. So they accused Socrates of teaching young men wicked things and leading them to throw off their religion.

Read the passage and answer questions based on information contained or implied in the passage. What are the good parts of our civilization? First and foremost there are order and safety. If today I have a quarrel with another man, I do not get beaten merely because I am physically weaker and he can kick me down. I go to law, and the law will decide as fairly as it can between the two of us. Thus, in disputes between man and man right have taken the place of might. Moreover, the law protects me form robbery and violence. Nobody may come and break into my house, steal my goods or run off with my children. Of course, there are burglars, but they are very rare, and the law punishes them whenever it catches them.It is difficult for us to realize how much this safety means. Without safety these higher activities of mankind which make up civilization could not go on. The inventor could not invent, the scientist finds out or the artist make beautiful things. Hence, order and safety, although they are not themselves civilization, are things without which civilization would be impossible. They are as necessary to our civilization as the air we breathe is to us; and we have grown so used to them that we do not notice them, any more than we notice the air. Another great achievement of our civilization is that today civilized men are largely free from the fear of pain. They still fall ill, but illness is no longer the terrible things it used to be. Not only do men and women enjoy better health, they live longer than they ever did before, and they have a much better chance of growing up. Thirdly, our civilization is more secure than any that have gone before it. This is because it is much more widely spread. Previous civilizations were specialized and limited; they were like oases in a desert.

Instruction: Answer the next three questions based on the following passage. Improving your communication skills may be the single most important step you can take in your career. You can have the greatest ideas in the world, but they are worthless unless you can express them to your company or your career if you can't express them clearly and persuasively. Some jobs, such as sales and customer support, are primarily about communicating. In fields such as engineering or finance, you often need to share complex ideas with executives, customers, colleagues, and your ability to connect with people outside your field can be as important as your technical expertise. If you have the entrepreneurial urge, you will need to communicate with a wide range of audiences, from investors, bankers, and government regulators to employees, customers, and business partners. As you take on leadership and management roles, communication becomes even more important. The higher you rise in an organization, the less time you will spend using the technical skills of your particular profession and the more time you will spend communicating.

Read the passage and answer questions based on information contained or implied in the passage. Extensive research has shown that the effects of short- term price promotions on sales are themselves Line short-term. Companies' hopes that promotions might have a positive aftereffect have not been borne out for reasons that researchers have been able to identify. A price promotion entices only a brand's long-term or "Loyal' customers; people seldom buy an unfamiliar brand merely because the price is reduced. They simply avoid paying more than they have to when one of their customary brands is temporarily available at a reduced price. A price promotion does not increase the number of long-term customers of a brand, as it attracts virtually no new customers in the first place. Nor do price promotions have lingering aftereffects for a brand, even negative ones such as damage to a brand' reputation or erosion of customer loyalty, as is often feared. So why do companies spend so much on price promotions? Clearly price promotions are generally run at a loss, otherwise there would be more of them. And the bigger the increase in sales at promotion prices, the bigger the loss. While short-term price promotions can have legitimate uses, such as reducing excess inventory, it is the recognizable increase in sales that is their main attraction to management, which is therefore reluctant to abandon this strategy despite its effect on the bottom line.

Read the passage and answer the question on information contained or implied in the passage. As of now, we notice that the Sami are indigenous people living in the northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia's Kola Peninsula. Originally, the Sami religion was animistic; that is, for them, nature and natural objects had conscious life spirit. Therefore, one was expected to move quietly in the wilderness and avoid making disturbance out of courtesy to these spirits. Ghengis Khan is said to have declared that the sami were on people he would never try to fight again. Because the Sami were not warriors and did not believe in war, they simply disappeared in times of conflict. They were known as 'peaceful retreaters.'