Read the article and select the best answer. Article: A team of researchers in the UK has shown that children who were taken to the library more often and owned more books at two years old achieved higher scores in school tests when they began primary school. The research also showed that although social background has a noticeable effect on a child's readiness for school, attending pre-school and having their parents teach them a wide range of activities have a positive effect---while extended exposure to television lowers their scores. "One message coming through loud and clear is that how a child learns in his very early years is critical for a smooth transition into the educational system," said Professor James Law. "This is a very positive message, as it gets us away from the belief that a child's educational future is pre-determined by standard measures of socio-economic disadvantage, such as income, housing, or the mother's education." Data from the study shows that children from a positive communication environment had a better expressive vocabulary by their second birthday. These children went on to achieve higher scores in language, reading and maths tests when they entered school. In the early years, the communication environment was a better predictor of children's success with language than their general social background. Most children develop speech and language effortlessly, but some are slow to acquire these skills and go on to struggle with literacy and academic skills throughout their schooling. This project set out to uncover what factors contributed to these problems. Professor Sue Roulstone said, "These findings are an encouragement to all parents to provide a positive communication environment for their children from the very start of their lives. The project did identify particular aspects of the communication environment, such as having children's books around and not having the television on too much. But the main message is that, as parents, we can have an impact on how our children learn to talk by providing a range of... Question: The study shows that two-year-old children who have a positive communication environment do better in _ . Options: A: maths B: reading C: writing D: speaking
D

Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Liu Xiang, a 21-year-old Chinese athlete, got the gold medal of the fascinating men's 110m hurdles before a crowd of 70,000 at the Olympic Stadium in the 28th Olympics in Athens late Friday local time. He clocked an excellent 12.91 seconds to equal the world record set by Britain's Collin Jackson in 1993. It is the first gold Chinese men's athlete has ever won from the track and field in the Olympics history. China has won over 100 gold medals from the summer Olympic Games since 1984 but its male athletes only got one medal from Olympics' most popular sport, the track and field. The Shanghai native, with his father a truck driver and mother an out-of-work housewife, loved sports when he was very little. Liu was selected to the Junior Sports School of Putuo District of Shanghai to practice jumping as a fourth grader in the primary school. But after a bone test showing that he will not be able to become a tall man, Liu was asked to give up sports one year later, although he had won the national champion at that level. In 1998 when he attracted coach Sun Haiping's attention as a 15-year-old jumper, Sun was a well-known hurdle coach and he believed a star was born at the first sight of Liu. He visited Liu's parents several times and finally persuaded them to let Liu transfer to the 110m hurdles. After only three years, Liu launched his career in style in the IAAF Grand Prix in Lausanne in 2001 by breaking the world youth and Asian record with a time of 13.12. But the first warning he sent to the world was his bronze-winning feat at the world indoor championships in Birmingham, England, last year. In 2004, Liu won the silver in the world indoor championships in Budapest in March. Two months later, he proved the winner in a race against American great Allen Johnson in the IAAF Grand Prix in Osaka, Japan, where he clocked a new Asian record and world's season best time of 13.06 seconds. He went on to win two Johnson-absent races in Lille, France, on June 26 and Zagreb, Croatia, three days later. He put up an... Question: According to Paragraph One, which of the following is TRUE? Options: A: Liu Xiang is the fastest of the mentioned athletes. B: Liu Xiang has set a new world record in the event of the men's 110m hurdles. C: Both Liu Xiang and Jackson got a gold medal at the Athens Olympics. D: In the Olympics history, Liu Xiang is the fastest in this event.
D

Read the article and select the best answer. Article: While residents of wealthy nations tend to have greater life satisfaction, new research shows that those living in poorer nations report having greater meaning in life. These findings, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological science, suggest that meaning in life may be higher in poorer nations as a result of greater religiosity . As countries become richer, religion becomes less central to people's lives and they lose a sense of meaning in life. "Thus far, the wealth of nations has been almost always associated with longevity, health, happiness or life satisfaction," explains psychological scientist Shigehiro Oishi of the University of Virginia. "Given that meaning in life is an important aspect of overall well-being, we wanted to look more carefully at differential patterns, correlates , and predictors for meaning in life." Oishi and colleague Ed Diener of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign investigated life satisfaction, meaning, and well-being by examining data from the 2007 Gallup World Poll, a large-scale survey of over 140,000 participants from 132 countries. In addition to answering a basic life satisfaction question, participants were asked: "Do you feel your life has an important purpose or meaning?" and "Is religion an important part of your daily life?" The data revealed some unexpected trends: "Among Americans, those who are high in life satisfaction are also high in meaning in life," says Oishi. "But when we looked at the societal level of analysis, we found a completely different pattern of the association between meaning in life and life satisfaction." When looking across many countries, Oishi and Diener found that people in wealthier nations were more educated, had fewer children, and expressed more individualistic attitudes compared to those in poorer countries - all factors that were associated with higher life satisfaction but a significantly lower sense of meaning in life." The data suggest that religiosity may play an important... Question: Which of the following statements is true? Options: A: Those who have higher life satisfaction usually have lower sense of meaning in life. B: People in wealthier nations were more educated, have fewer children and express less individualistic attitudes compared to those in poorer countries. C: Religion may provide meaning to life in that people can get strong support from it in face of hardship. D: Wealthy people are more likely to commit suicide than poor people.
C