Ques: I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: Some schools are now forbidding or restricting bake sales in an effort to fight a rise in obesity among kids. In February,the New York City Board of Education ordered that only fruits,vegetables,and approved packaged foods be sold at schools. Many students and parents objected to the restrictions on bake sales , which have long been a way to raise money for schools and community causes , including athletic events and Haitian earthquake relief.New York City finally compromised,allowing each school to hold one bake sale a month.But California and school districts in other states still limit bake sales.Should all schools forbid bake sales? Childhood obesity has been a growing problem for decades.The number of obese school-age children in the U.S.has increased by three times in the past 20 years.According to Eric Goldstein,the head of food services for New York City schools.40 percent of the city's 1.1 million pupils are obese. "We have a big problem in the city,state,and the country with obesity,"Goldstein said."During the school day, we have to focus on what is healthy for the mind and the body." A. J. Juarez, a community organizer for the Massachusetts Public Health Association,agrees.Restricting the kinds of food sold in schools is ''about teaching kids good habits,"he said. Nutrition experts believe schools are supposed to be a place where teachers and students set up a model environment, and the last thing kids need is an extra source of pointless calories. But many parents and students _ ."It's not fair. Bake sales have always been a positive way to raise money for school programs,and to make that against the rules is not appropriate," said a parent. "I don't think they should forbid bake sales,''Reese Butler,12,told The New York Times.A sixth-grader from Wrightstown,New Jersey,he reasoned that,"Money raised by selling cookies is sometimes used for field trips and for community causes,including Haitian earthquake relief." For Alyssa Howell,11,a fifth-grader in Ann Arbor,... Question: What is the passage mainly about? Options: A: How to fight childhood obesity. B: How to raise money for school programs. C: Whether to eat food with higher calories. D: Whether to forbid bake sales at schools.
Ans: D

Ques: I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: "Tell me again how you learned to ride a horse," I would ask my father when I was a little girl in Denmark. I was no more than four years old--too little to learn to ride a horse by myself. But I liked to hear my father tell his story. And then he would begin. "When I was a little boy, as little as you are now," he would say, "I wanted to ride the horses. But I was too small to mount a horse. So I would slip into my father's stables to be with the horses and admire them. Such big, powerful animals they were! "The gentle workhorses stood quietly in their stalls, eating their hay. I would climb up the side of one of the stalls and slide over onto the horse's back. "Then I would hold its mane and imagine us running quickly over the grasslands, down to the shore, and even into the sea. "When I grew tall enough to mount a horse," he said, "my wish came true." "You swim with the horses now," I said. "You even swim with Fiery. And he has spirit!" Everybody knew about Fiery, the great black male horse with the fierce temper, and how he behaved when he first came to the stables. He raised itself on its back legs with the front legs in the air. He snorted and kicked. He rolled his eyes. And everyone was afraid of him. Everyone, except my father. I wanted to hear more. "Now tell me how you made Fiery your friend," I begged. This was my favorite story. "Well, little Else," my father went on, "I just talked to him. I talked as a friend. You must talk to a horse like Fiery. "I'd say, 'No, little horse. No, my friend. You can't run free. You must learn to let me ride you.' "And soon Fiery began to listen. He knew from my voice that I would be his friend." So Fiery let my father teach him to carry a rider. Then Fiery would take my father across the soft green grasslands or even into the lively waters of the northern sea. I loved to see Father riding Fiery without a saddle into the sea. There they swam, Father and Fiery, out in the cold, clear water. Often I would watch them from the shore, holding tight to my mother's hand.... Question: What does Else learn from her father's story? Options: A: How to train a workhorse. B: How to swim with a horse. C: How to make friends with a horse. D: How to ride a horse without a saddle.
Ans: C

Ques: I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: The practice of students endlessly copying letters and sentences from a blackboard is a thing of the past. With the coming of new technologies like computers and smartphone, writing by hand has become something of nostalgic skill. However, while today's educators are using more and more technology in their teaching, many believe basic handwriting skills are still necessary for students to be successful---both in school and in life. Virginia Berninger, professor of educational psychology at the University of Washington, says it's important to continue teaching handwriting and help children acquire the skill of writing by hand. Berninger and her colleagues conducted a study that looked at the ability of students to complete various writing tasks---both on a computer and by hand. The study, published in 2009, found that when writing with a pen and paper, participants wrote longer essays and more complete sentences and had a faster word production rate. In a more recent study, Berninger looked at what role spelling plays in a student's writing skills and found that how well children spell is tied to know well they can write. "Spelling makes some of the thinking parts of the brain active which helps us access our vocabulary, word meaning and concepts. It is allowing our written language to connect with ideas." Berninger said. Spelling helps students translate ideas into words in their mind first and then to transcribe "those words in the mind written symbols on paper or keyboard and screen," the study said. Seeing the words in the "mind's eye" helps children not only to turn their ideas into words, says Berninger, but also to spot spelling mistakes when they write the words down and to correct then over time. "In our computer age, some people believe that we don't have to teach spelling because we have spell checks," she said. "But until a child has a functional spelling ability of about a fifth grade level, they won't have the knowledge to choose the correct spelling among the options given by the computer." Question: What conclusion could be drawn from the passage? Options: A: Computers can help people with their choice of words. B: Spell checks can take the place of spelling teaching. C: Handwriting still has a place in today's classrooms. D: Functional spelling ability develops fast in the fifth grade.
Ans:
C