"Have a nice day!" may be a pleasant gesture or a meaningless. When my friend Maxie says "Have a nice day" with a smile, I know she sincerely cares about what happens to me. I feel loved and secure since another person cares about me and wishes me well. "Have a nice day. Next!"This version of the expression is spoken by a salesgirl at the supermarket who is rushing me and my groceries out the door. The words come out in the same tone with a fixed procedure. They are spoken at me, not to me. Obviously, the concern for my day and everyone else's is the management's attempt to increase business. The expression is one of those behaviors that help people get along with each other. Sometimes it indicates the end of a meeting. As soon as you hear it, you know the meeting is at an end. Sometimes the expression saves us when we don't know what to say "oh, you may have a tooth out? I'm terribly sorry, but have a nice day." The expression can be pleasant. If a stranger says "Have a nice day" to you, you may find it heart-warming because someone you don't know has tried to be nice to you. Although the use of the expression is an insincere, meaningless social custom at times, there is nothing wrong with the sentence except that it is a little uninteresting. The salesgirl, the waitress, the teacher, and all the countless others who speak it without thinking may not really care about my day. But in a strange and comfortable way, it's nice to know they care enough to pretend they care when they really don't care all that much. While the expression may not often be sincere, it is always spoken. The point is that people say it all the time when they like. How does the author understand Maxie's words? A) Maxie shows her anxiety to the author. B) Maxie really wishes the author a good day. C) Maxie encourages the author to stay happy. D) Maxie really worries about the author's security.
B
At present, in many American cities especially, many teachers in the public schools say they are underpaid. They point to jobs such as secretary or truck driver, which often pay more to start than of a teacher. In many other fields, such as law, medicine, computer science, a beginning worker may make more than a teacher who has taught for several years. Teaching has never been a profession that attracted people interested in high salaries. It is by history a profession that has provided rewards in addition to money--the satisfaction of sharing knowledge, of influencing others, of guiding young people. But in the past several years, there are more difficulties in teaching, for many, than there are rewards. Unruly students, especially in big cities, large classes and a lack of support from the public in terms of money and understanding have led many public school teachers to leave the profession. As a result, many of the best students, who would have chosen teaching as their life career in the past, are going into other fields. Another reason for this change in teacher candidates is the changing status of women in the United States. Until the late 1960s and 1970s, one of the most popular choices for women was teaching. But as other professions, such as law and medicine opened up to women, women stopped pouring into teacher training programs. Thus, a major pool of excellent candidates for the teaching profession dwindled. Bit by bit government officials and others realized that the status of the teacher had suffered. They talked about change. But the change in a vast society like the United States is not easy. People's attitudes have formed over many years, and sometimes change takes many years. The author believes that change in teachers' status in the United States _ . A) is not great B) impossible C) influences people's attitude D) needs time
D
Q: Music lessons may improve memory and learning ability in your children by promoting different patterns of brain development, a study shows. After a year of musical training, children aged between 4 and 6 performed better at a standard memory test than did children who were not taught music.The findings suggest that music could be useful for building the learning capacity of your minds. Earlier studies have shown that older children given music lessons become better at IQ tests than those who are musically untrained, but this is the first to show such a benefit in children so young. Professor Laurek Trainor, of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, also found clear differences in the ways in which children's brains responded to sound after a year of musical training.'This is the first study to show that brain responses in young, musically trained and untrained children change differently over the course of a year," she said."These changes are likely to be related to the cognitive( )benefit that is seen with musical training." Professor Trainer's team looked at 12 children, 6 of whom had just started extra-curricular music lessons and 6 of whom were not being taught any music except that included as a standard part of their school curriculum . During the year all 12 children had their brains examined four times using magneto-encephalography (MEG), and each child was played two types of sound --white noise and a violin tone.The MEG measurements showed that all children responded more to violin sounds than to white noise, reflecting a preferable for meaningful tones, and their response times fell over the course of the year as their brains matured. It can be concluded from the text that _ . A) the study is the first one on the effect of musical training on children's brains B) scientists got no valuable results from the earlier studies on the topic C) children musically trained remember things better than those untrained D) older children get more benefit from musical training than younger ones
A: C
(Question)
Living with other students can be a wonderful experience. Here are a few tips for student accommodations that can help ensure a great experience and build lifelong friendships: Screen your roommates carefully if you are given a choice. Combining the living spaces of several students into one location can be exciting and rewarding experience for the outgoing students. If you are on the shy side, or prefer a quiet group to study with, pick quieter roommates. Divide the bills evenly. Some students are far less responsible than their roommates and tend to let their part of the finance slide. Dissatisfaction is quick to build when everyone has to pay the bill for a fellow student who can't seem to pay his/her share of the money. Carry your part of the load. Everyone has to clean the bathroom and the kitchen sometime. Don't avoid your part of responsibility. Student accommodations can get messy and it involves everyone to keep them tidy and healthy. Think about someone else before you think about yourself. Put your roommates interests above your own. Life will be far enjoyable when everyone is concerned about the feelings property and studies of each other. Be open and honest. Hostilities and frustrations may cause problems that can't be fixed. Everyone brings different standards and expectations to group living and it's in everyone's best interest to put them into the open. Disagreements can be managed more warmly when your are willing to be both open and listen to others. The role "carry your part of the load" means every room member should _ . A) avoid making too much noise B) take turns to keep the room tidy C) take care of others when they are ill D) avoid staying up and oversleeping
(Answer)
B