user: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Children whose minds wander might have sharper brains, a research suggests. A study has found that people who appear to be often distracted   have more "working memory", giving them the ability to hold a lot of information in their heads and control it cleverly. Children at school need this type of memory on a daily basis for a variety of tasks, such as following teachers' instructions or remembering dictated   sentences. During the study, volunteers were asked to perform one simple task during which researchers kept asking if their minds were wandering. At the end, volunteers measured their working memory capacity   by their ability to remember a series of letters mixed with simple maths questions. Daniel Levinson, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the United States, said that those with higher working memory capacity reported "more mind wandering during these simple tasks", but their performance did not _ . The results, published online in the journal Psychological Science, appear to confirm former research that found working memory allows humans to deal with multiple thoughts at the same time. Dr Jonathan Smallwood, of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Science in Leipzig, Germany, said, "What this study seems to suggest is that, when surroundings for the task aren't very difficult, people with additional working memory capacity use them effectively to think about other things besides what they're doing." Working memory capacity is also associated with general measures of intelligence, such as reading comprehension and IQ scores. Dr Smallwood added: "Our results suggest the sorts of planning that people do quite often in daily life - when they are on the bus, when they are cycling to work, when they are in the shower - are probably supported by working memory." Question: During the study, the researchers asked the volunteers to   _  . - solve some difficult maths problems - retell some dictated sentences - follow the teacher's instructions - carry out one simple task
carry out one simple task

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Many children would start school hungry without breakfast clubs, teachers have claimed. A new survey suggests these clubs are the only way many students can get a meal before lessons. About 54% of the 552 school staff questioned by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers(ATL)said their school provides a breakfast club for pupils. The biggest reason for them to attend these clubs is that their parents or carer goes to work early, cited by 76.8% of those questioned. About 22.6% said children attended due to lack of money at home because parents or carers are unemployed and 15.2% said lack of money at home due to changes or cuts to benefits. About 17.6% said pupils mainly attend breakfast clubs to socialize. The survey found that teachers believe that offering breakfast to pupils often helps improve their concentration and ability to learn. One primary school teacher said: "Although there is a charge for our breakfast club, we have accessed funding for those pupils on free school meals and the breakfast club had an effect on their attendance, concentration and being in school for the start of lessons. ATL general secretary Dr Roper said a nutritious meal at the start of the day has a huge impact on pupils' ability to learn. "Many schools do everything they can to ensure children eat well during school term-time. But there are many children living in poverty, who we fear won't be getting a decent meal a day in the holidays and this is something the government needs to address," she said. A Department for Education spokesman said: "We know how important it is for children to have a good breakfast. We want schools and local authorities to use their budgets to best meet the needs of their children. Many provide breakfast clubs which offer a free meal to children from poorer families. The Pupil Premium, which will double to PS 2.5 billion in 2014-2015, targets extra money to help schools to provide support such as this to the most disadvantaged children. The free school meal scheme also ensures that these children... Question: By getting breakfast offered by breakfast clubs, pupils can  _  . - perform better in their study - know how they can save money - eat better for their lunch and supper - make more friends with their classmates
perform better in their study

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Though he wore his whiskers   only four years, today we can hardly think of Abraham Lincoln without them. He often talked about the little girl in Westfield, New York, who suggested in a letter that he grow the famous whiskers. And he would add, "Sometimes a small thing can change our lives!" Grace Bedell sat in her room looking at a picture of Lincoln. Her little lamp threw shadows on the picture. A frame   of small shadows lay around the thin face and covered the hollow cheeks  . "Whiskers!" she thought. "How nice!" she said to herself. "There will be more people to elect him President if he lets his whiskers grow. Somebody ought to tell him." She reached for a pen and began to write the letter. On February 16 of the following year a special train carried the newly elected President Lincoln to the White House. The train stopped briefly at a station near Grace's town. At the station Lincoln was speaking to a large crowd, among whom were the Bedell family. Lincoln continued his speech, "I have a little friend in this place," he said. "That little lady told me how to improve my appearance, and I want to thank her. If she is present, I would like to speak to her. Her name is Grace Bedell." Grace's father led her forward to Lincoln. She looked and laughed happily, for up there on his face were the whiskers. If you visit Springfield, Illinois, today you will see the house in which Abraham Lincoln used to live. On the wall of a room hangs a piece of paper covered with a child's handwriting: "Dear sir..." Question: When Lincoln said "Sometimes a small thing can change our lives", what he really meant was that   _  . - his whiskers had helped him to become President of the U. S. - one should pay attention to small things in one's life - a little child's advice had helped to improve his appearance - a child could play an important part in politics
a little child's advice had helped to improve his appearance

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: The Barcelonabased architects of the Galactic Suite Space Resort say it will cost $4.4 million for a threenight stay at the hotel. This price also includes an eightweek training course on an island. During their stay, guests would see the sunrise 15 times a day and travel around the world every 80 minutes.    Galactic Suite Ltd's CEO Xavier Claramunt says the project will put his company in a leading position of a new industry with a huge future ahead of it, and forecasts space travel will become common in the future. "It's very normal to think that your children, possibly within 15 years, could spend a weekend in space" he told Reuters Television. A promising space tourism industry is beginning to take shape with construction in progress in New Mexico of Spaceport America, the world's first facility built specifically for passengers.  British industrialist Richard Branson's space tours firm, Virgin Galactic, will use the facility to send tourists to space at a cost of $200,000 a ride. Galactic Suite Ltd, set up in 2007, hopes to start its project with a single pod   in orbit 280 miles above the earth. "It will take a day and a half to reach the pod, and the passengers will join it for three days," Claramunt said. More than 200 people have expressed an interest in traveling to the space hotel and at least 43 people have already reserved it. The numbers are similar for Virgin Galactic with 300 people already paid or signed up for the trip, but unlike Branson, Galactic Suite says they will use Russian rockets to transport their guests into space from a spaceport to be built on an island in the Caribbean. But critics have questioned the project, saying the length of time that will be used is unreasonable and also where the money is coming from to support the project. Question: What's Xavier Claramunt's attitude towards the space tourism industry? - Quite critical. - Slightly worried. - Highly optimistic. - Fully satisfied.


assistant: Highly optimistic.