Q: I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: Psychologist George Spilich and colleagues at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, decided to find out whether, as many smokers say, smoking helps them to "think and concentrate." Spilich put young non-smokers, active smokers and smokers deprived of cigarettes through a series of tests. In the first test, each subject sat before a computer screen and pressed a key as soon as he or she recognized a target letter among a grouping of 96. In this simple test, smokers, deprived smokers and nonsmokers performed equally well. The next test was more complex, requiring all to scan sequences of 20 identical letters and respond the instant one of the letters transformed into a different one. Non-smokers were faster, but under the stimulation of nicotine , active smokers were faster than deprived smokers. In the third test of short-term memory, non-smokers made the fewest errors, but deprived smokers committed fewer errors than active smokers. The fourth test required people to read a passage, then answer questions about it. Non-smokers remembered 19 percent more of the most important information than active smokers, and deprived smokers bested those who had smoked a cigarette just before testing. Active smokers tended not only to have poorer memories but also had trouble separating important information from insignificant details. "As our tests became more complex." Sums up Spilich, "non-smokers performed better than smokers by wider and wider margins" He predicts, "smokers might perform adequately at many jobs until they got complicated. A smoking airline pilot could fly adequately if no problems arose, but if something went wrong, smoking might damage his mental capacity." Question: Which of the following statements is true? Options: A: Active smokers in general performed better than deprived smokers. B: Active smokers responded more quickly than the other subjects. C: Non-smokers were not better than other subjects in performing simple tasks. D: Deprived smokers gave the slowest responses to the various tasks.
A: C

Q: I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: When Carrie Conley's husband left in the early 1960s, she started raising six children on her own. She took a job at a hospital, delivering meals to patients as what was called "a tray girl". Jerry Johnson, the youngest child in the family, was 5 years old when his dad left. Speaking with his mother recently, Johnson heard his mother repeat the question she asked at that time. "Lord, what am I going to do with all these kids by myself?" The answers came in the form of lima beans, black-eyed peas and low prices on chicken necks. "Something to boil for every day of the week," Conley said. "I cannot remember one Christmas that I didn't feel like the luckiest kid in the world," Johnson said, "even though now I realize we had hardly anything in terms of money." "How did you hold all that together?" he asked his mother. Conley said she would save up her sick days at work, going in no matter how she felt. Then in December, the company would pay her for the unused sick days. More help came in castoffs , when wealthy families would clean out their toy chests at Christmastime and take a load of toys to the Salvation Army. Conley would pick through them, finding the best ones for her children. The result of those sacrifices led to a big, happy Christmas for Conley and her kids. "But I never did tell you it was a Santa Claus," Conley said, "I couldn't give any man credit for what I had done." Johnson thanked his mom for her sacrifices, and for the good example she set for him and his siblings. "I think it's helping us all be better parents," Johnson said. In 1975, Conley retired from Detroit's Outer Drive Hospital. Jerry was a sophomore in college at that time. He later graduated from Washington University Medical School and received a degree in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics. Question: How did Johnson feel about Christmas when he was a kid? Options: A: Pleased. B: Disappointed. C: Awful D: Indifferent.
A: A

Q: I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: On Saturday nights, A.J.Coston doesn't get a lot of sleep. Usually three or four times a night, a loud bell rings, a red light flashes, and he has to jump out of his bed. That's because he's a weekend volunteer firefighter with Loudoun County Fire and Rescue Station 13 in Northern Virginia. During the week, he lives at home with his mom, dad and sister and does his main job which is going to high school. "I have always wanted to get into firefighting since I was a little kid watching fire trucks go by," he says. "One day on the Internet I noticed that Loudoun County offered a junior firefighter program." He was only 16, but he got it. Fighting fires is dangerous work. Firefighters never stop practicing the skills they need to stay safe. Once Coston learned those skills, he was allowed to work inside burning buildings. "Teamwork is most important," he says. "It's the whole team that puts the fire out." Firefighters feel great about helping people. "My most unbelievable call was probably the time four kids were struck by lightning," says Coston. He will be off to college next fall, building on his dream job. "I'll get my degree in emergency medical care. and then work in a fire and rescue company for a while. I want to be a flight doctor on a helicopter in the end, but I will never forget the days as a firefighter. These are my unforgettable experiences," he says. Question: What do we learn about Coston from the passage? Options: A: He doesn't like studying at school. B: He will go to college next year. C: He dreams to be a great hero one day. D: He is only sixteen years old.
A: B

Q: I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: Children are losing the ability to play properly because they are being given too many toys and games, according to new research. The studies show that children, especially those under five, are often overwhelmed and actually play less than those with fewer toys. It may even harm their development. The studies show that giving children too many toys or toys of the wrong type can actually be doing them harm. They get overwhelmed and cannot concentrate on anything long enough to learn from it. The conclusions have been backed up by British research looking at children with ly fewer toys, whose parents spend more time reading, singing or playing with them. It showed such children surpass youngsters from richer backgrounds, even those who could use computers. Some parents notice the ill effect early. Orhan Ismail, a researcher saw a change for the worse in Cameron, his 10-month-old son, after he was given a lot of toys last Christmas. Ismail said, " If there are too many toys in front of him, he will just keep flitting around them and then end up going off and finding something like a slipper to play with. Now we just get out one or two toys and hide the rest in a box. " Alexander and her husband also decided to limit the toys their 6 daughters play with. She believed many toys restrict children's imaginations. She said, " A Barbie can only work as a Barbie. But a cardboard box can become anything. The only limitations are in the child's mind. " Experts hesitate to put a figure on the number of toys children should have, but many believe two dozen is enough for children of preschool age. Question: It may NOT be a good idea to _ . Options: A: spend more time reading or playing with children B: choose right types of toys for children C: ask experts for the exact number of necessary toys D: put out one or two toys and hide the rest
A: C