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Seniors in China are still highly likely to believe rumors and pseudoscience, according to reports. In recent years, China has seen more scientists and science communicators using digital platforms to combat pseudoscience, which is classified as rumors, statements, beliefs, ideas or practices that are stated as fact, but are often fabricated and scientifically untested. Despite that, many young Chinese have experienced difficulties when trying to pass on that message to older people. For example, last year, Dingxiang Doctor, a digital platform that debunks medical rumors online, released 101 articles that disproved common, inaccurate claims. However, many netizens said that when they forwarded the articles to family chat groups, they were questioned, scolded and even removed from the group by older family members. An online survey last year by Tencent, one of China’s biggest online businesses, indicated that nearly 40 percent of middle-aged and senior people had experienced online fraud, mostly related to healthcare products. Yun Wuxin, a food engineering expert who has popularized food science for more than 10 years, believes that, in general, members of the older generation lacked training in logical or critical thinking when they were young, so they have an exaggerated belief in personal experience, tradition or superstition. He said young people, especially today’s younger generation, have received better training and tend to hold skeptical or critical attitudes toward convention. He added that new media that popularize science in fresh, innovative ways － such as short videos, video blogs and animations － are very effective with young people. However, traditional methods, including television, community visits by scientists, neighborhood exhibitions and science columns in newspapers, are very important for middle-aged and elderly people who really need to understand science  
1. Which best serves as the title for the passage?

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Thousands of emergency service workers battling out of control fires across New South Wales, Australia are bracing for worsening conditions next week. Stopping the spread of fires around the state will be the top priority on Sunday, with weather conditions expected to deteriorate after that.  “Tuesday, particularly, will be a day of concern,” Rural Fire Service spokesman Greg Allan said. “There will be high temperatures, very strong winds, and low humidity.” While no fires reached emergency level on Saturday, Mr Allan stressed that people needed to remain alert. “It’s still a very dangerous situation,” he said.  More than 2 million hectares of bush land has been destroyed by flames this fire season. With RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons warning the worst might still be ahead. Mr Fitzsimmons said there may not be much respite for tiring firefighters, with no signs of significant rainfall until late January or early February. Over 100 bushfires burned across the state on Saturday, and almost half of them were out of control, with a huge – larger than Sydney – having formed north-west of the city. Another fire at Green Wattle Creek, southwest of Sydney, is still burning uncontrollably, having already destroyed 5400 hectares of bush land. Efforts are being made to keep the situation from getting out of hand. More than 2100 personnel are fighting the fires across the state and a group of 21 specialty firefighters form the US has arrived in Australia, following 21of their Canadian counterparts. While the Canadians are being distributed to the north of the state, the Americans will be assigned to areas in the Sydney Basin or southern New South Wales. Additionally, a total fire ban was in place for eight regions across the state, including Sydney, Far North Coast, Greater Hunter, the Illawarra and Central Rangers. “Right across all fire grounds, our crews, although exhausted, are working extremely hard to slow the spread of fire,” said Mr. Allan. 
4. The word “them” in paragraph 3 refers to __________________

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If you were going to choose a job that involves travel, what would be your first choice? There are many jobs available today that give people opportunities to travel. Although may traveling careers sound fantastic, they also have disadvantages.
Being an au pair is an excellent way to not only go to different countries, but to live in different places around the world and really get a feel for the culture. Au pairs lives with the families they are placed with and take of children. Many parents include au pairs in family events and vacations, so they experience many aspects of the new culture while on the job. However, many of the activities are centered around the children, so they may not get to experience many things that interest adults.
For people who want a bit more freedom working abroad, being an English teacher maybe a good choice. There are English teaching jobs in almost countries in the world. People teaching English in other countries often have a chance to travel on the weekends around the country. One drawback is that many teachers often wind up hanging out with other English teachers, and they don’t have time to learn the country’s language.
The nickname “roadie” implies that this job involves life on the road. Roadies are people who work and travel with bands and provide technical support. Roadies can be lighting and stage crew who set up the stage and break it down before and after events. They can also be technicians helping band members with their instruments. International tours take a band’s crew to cities around the world, often requiring air travel. However, the crew doesn’t get much time off, so they may travel to several countries without seeing much besides concert venues and hotels.
Similarly, flight attendants often travel to cities around the world, but they don’t see much besides the inside of airplanes and hotels. However, when they do have time off, they can often fly at no cost, and family member can sometimes fly free as well. Its is widely thought that a flight attendant job is
glamorous, but flight attendants must deal with travel hassles, as well as security issues.
All jobs gave advantages and disadvantages whether or not you travel for work, so if you have the travel bug, keep these jobs in mind for the future.

The word “venue” in paragraph 4 is closet meaning to    .

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Certainly no creature in the sea is odder than the common sea cucumber. All living creature, especially human beings, have their peculiarities, but everything about the little sea cucumber seems unusual. What else can be said about a bizarre animal that, among other eccentricities, eats mud, feeds almost continuously day and night but can live without eating for long periods, and can be poisonous but is considered supremely edible by gourmets? For some fifty million years, despite all its eccentricities, the sea cucumber has subsisted on its diet of mud. It is adaptable enough to live attached to rocks by its tube feet, under rocks in shallow water, or on the surface of mud flats. Common in cool water on both Atlantic and Pacific shores, it has the ability to such up mud or sand and digest whatever nutrients are present. Sea cucumbers come in a variety of colors, ranging from black to reddish-brown to sand-color and nearly white. One form even has vivid purple tentacle. Usually the creatures are cucumber-shaped-hence their name-and because they are typically rock inhabitants, this shape, combine with flexibility, enables them to squeeze into crevices where they are safe from predators and ocean currents. Although they have voracious appetites, eating day and night, sea cucumbers have the capacity to become quiescent and live at a low metabolic rate-feeding sparingly or not at all for long periods, so that the marine organisms that provide their food have a chance to multiply. If it were not for this faculty, they would devour all the food available in a short time and would probably starve themselves out of existence. But the most spectacular thing about the sea cucumber is the way it defends itself. Its major enemies are fish and crabs, when attacked, it squirts all its internal organs into the water. It also casts off attached structures such as tentacles. The sea cucumber will eviscerate and regenerate itself if it is attached or even touched; it will do the same if the surrounding water temperature is too high or if the water becomes too polluted.
7. What can be inferred about the defense mechanisms of the sea cucumber?

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You must drive more slowly in built up areas ............... you drive in the city, it is ............... that you will have an accident.

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Alzheimer's disease impairs a person's ability to recall memories, both distant and as a few hours before. Although there is no yet a cure for the illness, there may be hope for a cure with a protein called nerve growth factor. The protein is produced by nerve cells in the same region of the brain where Alzheimer's occurs. Based on this relationship, scientists from the University of Lund in Sweden and the University of California at San Diego designed an experiment to test whether doses of nerve growth factor could reverse the effects of memory loss caused by Alzheimer's. Using a group of rats with impaired memory, the scientists gave half of the rats doses of nerve growth factor while giving the other half a blood protein as a placebo, thus creating a control group. At the end of the four-week test, the rats given the nerve growth factor performed equally to rats with normal memory abilities. While the experiment do not show that nerve growth factor can stop the general process of deterioration caused by Alzheimer's, they do show potential as a means to slowing the process significantly.
6. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

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My children can’t live without media. At age 14, 15 and 18, my daughters Sussy and Anni and my son Bill don’t use media. They inhabit media. And they do so exactly as fish inhabit a pond. Gracefully, and without consciousness and curiosity as to how they got there. They don’t remember a time before email or instant messaging or Google. When my children laugh, they don’t say “Ha, ha”. They say “LOL”. These are children who shrug indifferently when they lose their iPods, with all 5000 tunes plus video clips, feature films, and TV shows (like who watches TV on a television anymore?). “There is plenty more where that came from”, their attitude says. And they seem right. The digital content that powers their world can never truly be destroyed. As a social scientist, journalist, and mother, I’ve always been an enthusiastic user of information technology. But I’d noticed that the more we seemed to communicate as individuals, the less we seemed to function together as a family. And on a broader scale, that the more facts we have at our fingertips, the less we seem to know. That the “convenience” of messaging media (email, SMS, IM) consumes ever larger amounts of our time. That as a culture we are practically swimming in entertainment, yet remain more depressed than any people who have ever lived. Our family’s self-imposed exile from the information age changed our lives infinitely for the better. I watched as my children became more focused. I watched as their attention spans increased, allowing them to read for hours at a time; to hold longer and more complex conversations with adults and among themselves. They probably did no more homework during The Experiment than they had done before, but they all completed it far more efficiently and far more quickly The Experiment also forced us to notice food more. Before, eating had been a side dish. Now it was the main course, or at least one of them. Our approach to cooking changed, too, especially for the girls. They’d started out as reasonably competent cooks, but by the end of The Experiment they were capable of turning out entire meals with ease The Experiment also confirmed my strong suspicion that media has been robbing Sussy of sleep for years. Unplugged, the changes to her sleep patterns were dramatic. The evidence strongly suggests she is no isolated case. One study found that children who spend more time online also drink more caffeinated beverages, with a resulting effect on their prospects of sleeping well  
8. The highlighted word "exile" in the passage is closest in meaning to _________

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Insects’ lives are very short and they have many enemies but they must survive long enough to breed and perpetuate their kind. The less insect-like they look, the better their chance of survival. To look “inedible” by imitating plants is a way frequently used by insects to survive. Mammals rarely imitate plants, but many fish and invertebrates do. The stick caterpillar is well named. It is hardly distinguishable from a brown or green twig. This caterpillar is quite common and can be found almost anywhere in North America. It is also called “measuring worm” or “inchworm”. It walks by arching its body, then stretching out and grasping the branch with its front feet then looping its body again to bring the hind fed forward. When danger threatens, the stick caterpillar stretches its body away from the branch at an angle and remains rigid and still, like a twig, until the danger has passed. Walking sticks, or stick insects, do not have to assume a rigid, twig-like pose to find protection: they look like inedible twigs in any position. There are many kinds of walking sticks, ranging in size from the few inches of the North American variety to some tropical species that may be over a foot long. When at rest their front legs are stretched out, heightening their camouflage. Some of the tropical species are adorned with spines or ridges, imitating the thorny bushes or trees in which they live. Leaves also seem to be a favorite object for insects to imitate. Many butterflies can suddenly disappear from view by folding their wings and sitting quietly among the plants that they resemble 
4. Which of the following is true of stick insects?

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In 1972. a century after the first national park in the United States was established at Yellowstone, legislation was passed to create the National Marine Sanctuaries Program. The intent of this legislation was to provide protection to selected coastal habitats similar to that existing for land areas designated as national parks. The designation of an areas a marine sanctuary indicates that it is a protected area, just as a national park is. People are permitted to visit and observe there, but living organisms and their environments may not be harmed or removed.
The National Marine Sanctuaries Program is administered by the National Oceanic and  Atmospheric Administration, a branch of the United States Department of Commerce. Initially, 70 sites were proposed as candidates for sanctuary status. Two and a half decades later, only fifteen sanctuaries had been designated, with half of these established after 1978. They range in size from the very small (less than 1 square kilometer) Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary in American Samoa to the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary in California, extending over 15,744 square kilometers.
The National Marine Sanctuaries Program is a crucial part of new management practices in which whole communities of species, and not just individual species, are offered some degree of protection from habitat degradation and overexploitation. Only in this way can a reasonable degree of marine species diversity be maintained in a setting that also maintains the natural interrelationships that exist among these species.
Several other types of marine protected areas exist in the United States and other countries. The National Estuarine Research Reserve System managed by the United States government, includes 23 designated and protected estuaries. Outside the United States, marine protected-area programs exist as marine parks, reserves and preserves.
Over 100 designated areas exist around the periphery of the Caribbean Sea. Others range from the well-known Australian Great Barrer Reef Marine Park to lesser-known parks in countries such as Thailand and Indonesia, where tourism is placing growing pressures on fragile coral reef systems. As state, national, and international agencies come to recognize the importance of conserving marine biodiversity, marine projected areas whether as sanctuaries,parks, or estuarine reserves, will play an increasingly important role in preserving that diversity.

What does the passage mainly discuss?

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It’s important to be able to articulate your dream job. Not just for personal reasons,  but also for when you’re asked about it in interviews. But, how can you even begin to describe your ideal job, especially to someone who’s clearly going to be judging your response? Just picking a place to start is a head-scratcher.  First, let’s talk about what you’re good at doing, or your strengths. It’s likely you’ve already had the chance to talk about this topic a bit during the interview, so it makes for a nice transition. Highlight the skills that you enjoy using most, not just the ones you’re a superstar at. This is about your dream job, so don’t shy away from mentioning any that you want to grow as well.  Think big picture for this. What drew you to your industry? What’s something you did as a kid that’s actually found its way into your work? What is it about your career that keeps you engaged? Weave that in. Giving a sense of what your career values are will give the interviewer an idea about what motivates you; it’s a good way to bring the focus back to the company you’re interviewing for. It also adds some extra complexity to your answer. You’re not just saying, “I want an interesting job that I’m good at.” I mean, that’s nice, but this is your dream job we’re talking about! Don’t pigeonhole yourself with anything that official. Instead, give the hiring manager a more nuanced response by covering your skills, interests, and values. He or she will get the chance to learn more about you—and you have more flexibility to line up your career goals and the position you’re applying for. That’s a win-win. 
4. What is the tone of the passage?

Each sentence has a mistake. Find it bychosing A B C or D

Every second, a hectare of the world rainforest is destroyed. That is equivalent to two football fields

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The annual mortality burden in the UK from exposure to outdoor air pollution is equivalent to around 40,000 deaths. To this can be (1) ____ further impacts from exposure to indoor air pollutants such as radon and second-hand smoke. The health problems resulting from exposure to air pollution also have a (2) ____ cost to society and business, our health services, and people who suffer from illness and premature death. In the UK, these costs add up to more than £20 billion every year. Vulnerable people are prisoners of air pollution, having to stay indoors and limit their (3) ____when pollution levels are high. This is not only unjust; it carries a cost to these individuals and the community from missed work and school, from more health problems (4) ____ lack of exercise, and from social isolation. Taking action will reduce pain, suffering and demands on the National Health Service (NHS), while (5) ____ people back to work, learning, and an active life. The value of these benefits far exceeds the cost of reducing emissions

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In this semester, we have to _____________ our major for future occupation.

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Because the low latitudes of the Earth, the areas near the equator, receive more heat than the latitudes near the poles, and because the nature of heat is to expand and move, heat is transported from the tropics to the middle and high latitudes. Some of this heat is moved by winds and some by ocean currents, and some gets stored in the atmosphere in the form of latent heat. The term “latent heat” refers to the energy that has to be used to convert liquid water to water vapor. We know that if we warm a pan of water on a stove, it will evaporate, or turn into vapor, faster than if it is allowed to sit at room temperature. We also know that if we hang wet clothes outside in the summertime they will dry faster than in winter, when temperatures are colder. The energy used in both cases to change liquid water to water vapor is supplied by heat – supplied by the stove in the first case and by the Sun in the latter case. This energy is not lost. It is stored in water vapor in the atmosphere as latent heat. Eventually, the water stored as vapor in the atmosphere will condense to liquid again, and the energy will be released to the atmosphere. In the atmosphere, a large portion of the Sun’s incoming energy is used to evaporate water, primarily in the tropical oceans. Scientists have tried to quantify this proportion of the Sun’s energy. By analyzing temperature, water vapor, and wind data around the globe, they have estimated the quantity to be about 90 watts per square meter, or nearly 30 percent of the Sun’s energy. Once this latent heat is stored within the atmosphere, it can be transported, primarily to higher latitudes, by prevailing, large-scale winds. Or it can be transported vertically to higher levels in the atmosphere, where it forms clouds and subsequent storms, which then release the energy back to the atmosphere
6. According to the passage, 30 percent of the Sun’s incoming energy _____________

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There is no conflict between big business and the green movement towards the fight  against climate change and the two are “totally compatible”. That’s according to Mike Hughes, Zone President, Schneider Electric UK & Ireland, who believes while there may be differences on how organisations play their part in the move towards the net zero target and the speed at which it happens, the two are “totally aligned”.  Speaking to ELN at the Energy Live Expo event last week, which attracted more than 450 people from across the industry, he said: “Big business goes where there is opportunity. Big business is a force for good. It has to be involved in this transition, in this change, in this climate change. If you look at it, there are two things that have happened in the last five to seven years that have really accelerated this topic. One is the general public getting on board with the whole concept of climate change, the emergency. The second is actually the business community and particularly the financial community starting to look at the financial risks around climate change and moving its money and where it will invest.”  Mr Hughes added the UK’s target for net zero carbon emissions by 2050 is a “hugely ambitious step” and it shows leadership, direction and ambition, enabling businesses to focus on where they can invest. He is also “extremely optimistic” and from a technology point of view, he believes there are technologies available to support the transition. He said: “It’s now around awareness, incentives from government, the right regulations to get people to make the right step and boosting the use of these technologies. I’m extremely positive.”
5. The word “incentives” in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to ______.

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After two decades of growing student enrollments and economic prosperity, business schools in the United States have started to face harder times. Only Harvard's MBA School has shown a substantial increase in enrollment in recent years. Both Princeton and Stanford have seen decreases in their enrollments. Since 1990, the number of people receiving Masters in Business Administration (MBA) degrees, has dropped about 3 percent to 75,000, and the trend of lower enrollment rates is expected to continue.
There are two factors causing this decrease in students seeking an MBA degree. The first one is that many graduates of four-year colleges are finding that an MBA degree does not guarantee a plush job on Wall Street, or in other financial districts of major American cities. Many of the entry-level management jobs are going to students graduating with Master of Arts degrees in English and the humanities as well as those holding MBA degrees. Students have asked the question, "Is an MBA degree really what I need to be best prepared for getting a good job?" The second major factor has been the cutting of American payrolls and the lower number of entry-level jobs being offered. Business needs are changing, and MBA schools are struggling to meet the new demands.

The phrase "two decades" in line 1 refers to a period of     .

A.     B.     C.     D. 

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We find that bright children are rarely held back by mixed- ability teaching. On the contrary, both their knowledge and experience are enriched. We feel that there are many disadvantages in streaming pupils. It does not take into account the fact that children develop at different rates. It can have a bad effect on both the bright and the not-so-bright child. After all, it can be quite discouraging to be at the bottom of the top grade! Besides, it is rather unreal to grade people just according to their intellectual ability. This is only one aspect of their total personality. We are concerned to develop the abilities of all our pupils to the full, not just their academic ability. We also value personal qualities and social skills, and we find that mixed- ability teaching contributes to all these aspects of learning. In our classrooms, we work in various ways. The pupils often work in groups; this gives them the opportunity to learn to co-operate, to share, and to develop leadership skills. They also learn how to cope with personal problems as well as learning how to think, to make decisions, to analyze and evaluate, and to communicate effectively. The pupils learn from each other as well as from the teachers. Sometimes the pupils work in pairs; sometimes they work on individual tasks and assignments; and they can do this at their own speed. They also have some formal class teaching when this is appropriate. We encourage our pupils to use the library, and we teach them the skills they need in order to do this effectively. An advanced pupil can do advanced work; it does not matter what age the child is. We expect our pupils to do their best, not their least, and we give them every encouragement to attain this goal.
7. According to the passage, which of the following is an advantage of mixed- ability teaching?

Each sentence has a mistake. Find it by chosing A B C or D

It is often said that an early life of hardship and poverty made Abraham Lincoln to be the great leader he was

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The towers of the My Son sanctuary are the most significant ……. of the My Son civilization.

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The issue of equality for women in British society first attracted national attention in the early 20th century, when the suffragettes won for women the right to vote. In the 1960s feminism became the subject of intense debate when the women's liberation movement encouraged women to reject their traditional supporting role and to demand the equal right with men in areas such as employment and play. Since then, the gender gap between the sexes has been reduced. The Equal Pay Act of 1970, for instance, made it illegal for woman to be paid less than men for doing the same work, and in 1975 the Sex Discrimination Act aimed to prevent either sex having an unfair advantage when applying forjobs. In the same year the Equal Opportunities Commission was set up to help people claim their rights to equal treatment and to publish research and statistics to show where improvements in opportunities for women need to be made. Women now have much better employment opportunities, though they still tend to get less well-paid jobs than men, and very few are appointed to top jobs in industry. In the US the movement that is often called the"first wave of feminism"began in the 1800s. Susan B. Anthony worked for the right to vote, Margaret Sanger wanted to provide women with the means of contraception so that they could decide whether or not to have children, and Elizabeth Blackwell, who had to fight for the chance to become a doctor, wanted to have greater opportunities to study. Many feminists were interested in other social issues. The second wave of feminism began in 1960s. Women like Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem became associated with the fight to get equal rights and opportunities for women under law. An important issue was the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which was intended to change the Constitution. Although the ERA was not passed, there was progress in other areas. It became illegal for employers, schools, clubs, etc... to discriminate against women. But women still find it hard to advance beyond a certain point in their career, the so-called glass ceiling that prevents them from having high level jobs. Many women also face the problem of the second shift, i.e. the household chores. In the 1980s, feminism became less popular in the US and there was less interest in solving the remaining problems, such as the fact that most women still earn much less than men. Although there is still discrimination, the principle that it should not exist is widely accepted.
4. The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA): 

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Certainly no creature in the sea is odder than the common sea cucumber. All living creature, especially human beings, have their peculiarities, but everything about the little sea cucumber seems unusual. What else can be said about a bizarre animal that, among other eccentricities, eats mud, feeds almost continuously day and night but can live without eating for long periods, and can be poisonous but is considered supremely edible by gourmets? For some fifty million years, despite all its eccentricities, the sea cucumber has subsisted on its diet of mud. It is adaptable enough to live attached to rocks by its tube feet, under rocks in shallow water, or on the surface of mud flats. Common in cool water on both Atlantic and Pacific shores, it has the ability to such up mud or sand and digest whatever nutrients are present. Sea cucumbers come in a variety of colors, ranging from black to reddish-brown to sand-color and nearly white. One form even has vivid purple tentacle. Usually the creatures are cucumber-shaped-hence their name-and because they are typically rock inhabitants, this shape, combine with flexibility, enables them to squeeze into crevices where they are safe from predators and ocean currents. Although they have voracious appetites, eating day and night, sea cucumbers have the capacity to become quiescent and live at a low metabolic rate-feeding sparingly or not at all for long periods, so that the marine organisms that provide their food have a chance to multiply. If it were not for this faculty, they would devour all the food available in a short time and would probably starve themselves out of existence. But the most spectacular thing about the sea cucumber is the way it defends itself. Its major enemies are fish and crabs, when attacked, it squirts all its internal organs into the water. It also casts off attached structures such as tentacles. The sea cucumber will eviscerate and regenerate itself if it is attached or even touched; it will do the same if the surrounding water temperature is too high or if the water becomes too polluted.
1. What does the passage mainly discuss?