user: Nick Santonastasso has one arm equipped with one finger. He has no legs. He also has no limitations . " I know anything's possible ," the 12-year-old told TODAY 's Ann Curry. He can play baseball and football, play the keyboard and drums, and play video games with his brothers. When Nick was born, he suffered a disease only found in 11 other people. The Santonastassos had three other children, and they decided to treat Nick the same as others, with love but without excuse " We're supposed to be heroes to our children, but Nick is a hero to us," his father Michael said. But heroes have heroes, too, and Nick's is Tiki Barber, the former football superstar who retired last year and became a reporter for TODAY. Curry told Nick that for his birthday, the show wanted to give him a new skateboard. The person who presented it to him was Barber. " You're an inspiration," Barber said. " There are a lot of kids who might be at a disadvantage. You give them strength." Curry observed that most parents try to protect their kids from failure, but the Santonastassos didn't do that with Nick. "Absolutely not, "Nick's mother Stacey said. " If you do have a small failure, it just makes you stronger to succeed at the next stop." " It builds self-confidence in yourself to try it again," Nick added. Recently, Nick entered a drawing in a statewide contest in New Jersey. His drawing was a tree with a spreading canopy   and deep toots. Above the tree were the words, "The roots of a family are..." Below the ground, the roots spelled out the final word for the message: " Love." It won the contest. The judges didn't know Nick' physical condition. He won on merit  , the same way he does everything else in life. According to the passage,   _   other people have the same disease as Nick's. A) two B) three C) eleven D) twelve
C


(Question)
Language-learners who say they never or hardly ever use dictionaries often speak English well but usually write poorly, because they make many mistakes. The students who use dictionaries most do not learn especially well either. The ones who look up every new word do not read fast. So they do not have time to read much. Those who use small two-language dictionaries have the worst problems. Their dictionaries often give only one or two words as translations   of English. But one English word often has many translations in a foreign language and one foreign word has many translations in English. The most successful students are those who use large college edition dictionaries with about 100,000 words but do not use them too often. When they are reading, these students first try to get the general idea and understand new words from the context. Then they reread and use the dictionary to look up only key words that they still do not understand. They use dictionaries more for writing. If they are not sure how to spell a word, or divide it into syllables  , they always use a dictionary. Also, if they think a noun might have an unusual plural form, they check these in a dictionary. Students who never use dictionary speak well but write poor, because  _ A) They can't remember words. B) They may make mistakes. C) They are not interested in writing. D) They are afraid of writing.
(Answer)
B


Ques: Going back to school is a very exciting event for my two boys. It means getting new school bags and books, and seeing friends again after the summer holiday. My oldest son, 9-year-old Salem, asked me several times where we would go to buy a backpack, while my other son, 6-year-old Abdullah, asked what school would be like this year. For the last three years, school was a nightmare for many children and their parents as violence increased and there were more attacks on schools and teachers. As a result, many parents prevented their children from going to school. One of six children in this country did not attend primary school in 2009. Many kids who did attend school were accompanied by a parent for the entire day to make sure nothing happened to their children. For poor families or those with large families, back to school can be an expensive time. The government gives some help to those living in poor neighborhoods, and school bags, note books and other items  are given for free. Most of the merchants who sell notebooks and pens now sell their products out on the street instead of in stores. They sit on the ground and lay their items on the ground or they have a small table to sell their goods. The bags cost between $10 and $20, while clothes and shoes cost between $20 and $30. I found all the things I needed for my sons and even bought something for myself. I spent about $50 on each of them, including school uniforms. At the end of the day, we returned to our home carrying many shopping bags filled with items that made my children happy and excited to go back to school. I just hope this school year will be a peaceful one. As a parent, the author   _  . A) is unable to afford his kids' schooling B) is unwilling to send his kids to school C) hopes his kids have a happy school life D) complains school education costs too much
Ans: C


Ques: THIS is an excerpt from therapist Laura Trice's speech at TED in 2008: Hi. I'm here to talk to you about the importance of praise, admiration and "thank you"s, and making them specific and genuine. The way I got interested in this was, I noticed that when I was growing up, and until about a few years ago, I would want to say thank you to someone. I would want to praise them. I would want to take in their praise of me and then I'd just stop myself. I asked myself: why? I felt shy. I felt embarrassed. And then my question became: am I the only one who does this? So I decided to study that question. I'm fortunate enough to work in a rehab facility, so I get to see people who are facing life and death with addiction. Sometimes it comes down to something as simple as their core wound is how their father died without ever saying he's proud of them. But then, they hear from all the family and friends that the father told everybody else that he was proud, but he never told the son. It's because he didn't know that his son needed to hear it. I used to take my bike into the bike store and they'd do something called "truing " the wheels. The guy said: "You know, when you true the wheels, it's going to make the bike so much better." I get the same bike back, and they'd have taken all the little warps out of those same wheels I've had for two and a half years, and my bike would feel like new. So, I'm going to challenge all of you. I want you to true your wheels: be honest about the praise that you need to hear. What do you need to hear? Go home to your wife and ask her: "What do you need?" Go home to your husband and ask him what he needs. Go home and ask those questions and then help the people around you. It's simple. But why should we care about this? We talk about world peace. How can we have world peace with different cultures, different languages? I think it starts in each of our households. So, let's make things right in our own backyards. The purpose of the speech is most likely to   _  . A) surprise B) persuade C) describe D) entertain
Ans:

assistant: B