Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: You're probably aware of the basic trends. The financial rewards to education have increased over the past few decades, but men fail to benefit. In elementary and high school, male academic performance is lagging. Boys earn three-quarters of the D's and F's. By college, men are clearly behind. Only 40 percent of bachelor's degree go to men, along with 40 percent of master's degree. Thanks to their lower skills, men are dropping out of the labor force. In 1954, 96 percent of the American men between the ages of 25 and 54 worked. Today, that number is down to 80 percent. In Friday's jobs report, male labor force participation reached an all-time low. Millions of men are collecting disability benefits. Even many of those who do have a job are doing poorly. According to Michael Greenstone of the Hamilton Project, annual earnings for average prime-age males have dropped by 28 percent over the past 40 years. Men still dominate the top of the corporate ladder because many women take time off to raise children, but women lead or are gaining nearly everywhere else. Women in their 20s outearn men in their 20s. Twelve out of the 15 fastest-growing professions are dominated by women. Over the years, many of us have employed a certain theory to explain men's economic decline. It is that the information-age economy rewards qualities that women are more likely to possess. To succeed today, you have to be able to sit still and focus attention in school at an early age. You have to be emotionally sensitive and aware of context. You have to communicate smoothly. For genetic and cultural reasons, many men are not good at these. But, in her fascinating new book, The End of Men, Hanna Rosin suggests a different theory. It has to do with adaptability. Women, Rosin argues, are like immigrants who have moved to a new country. They see a new social context, and they flexibly adapt to .new circumstances. Men are like immigrants who have physically moved to a new country but who have kept their minds in the old one. They speak the... Question: In Hanna Rosin's opinion, male performance is falling behind because _ . - men are less likely to sit still and focus in school at early age - men are more rigid and less able to adapt to new circumstances - women are doing better for genetic and cultural reasons - it is more and more difficult for men to get bachelor's degree
men are more rigid and less able to adapt to new circumstances

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Some people can stay up all night and still get work done the next day. I'm not one of them. After a night without enough sleep, I feel bad-tempered. I have trouble remembering things. And all I want to do is go to bed. How do you feel after you've stayed up late to finish schoolwork or the day after an overnight party? Scientists now say that your answers to these questions may depend on your genes. New research suggests that a gene called "period 3" influences how well you function without sleep. The "period 3" gene comes in two forms: short and long. Everyone has two copies of the gene. So, you may have two longs, two shorts, or one of each. Your particular combination depends on what your parents passed on to you. Scientists from the University of Surrey in England studied 24 people who had either two short or two long copies of "period 3". Study participants had to stay awake for 40 hours straight. Then, they took tests that measured how quickly they pushed a button when numbers flashed on a screen and how well they could remember lists of numbers. Results showed that the people with the short form of "period 3" performed much better on these tests than the people with the long form did. In both groups, people performed worst in the early morning. After the first round of experiments, participants were finally allowed to sleep. People in the group that performed well on the tests (those with the short form of "period 3") took about 18 minutes to nod off. While people with the long "period 3" gene fell asleep in just 8 minutes. They also spent more time on deep sleep. That suggests that people with the long form of the gene need more and deeper sleep to keep their brains working in top form. I think I must have the long form of "period 3". What about you? Question: The purpose of this passage might be _ - to tell the result of a research on sleepy gene. - to tell us the importance of plenty of sleep. - to inform the harm of lacking sleep. - to announce the sleeping rules of humans.
to tell the result of a research on sleepy gene.

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Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: "Plants were expected to get larger with increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, but changes in temperature, humidity and nutrient availability seem to have _ the benefits of increased carbon dioxide," said researchers from the National University of Singapore. 45 percent of the species studied now reach smaller adult sizes than they did in the past. The researchers point out that warmer temperatures and changing habitats, caused by climate change, are possible reasons for the shrinking of creatures. "We do not yet know the exact mechanisms involved, or why some organisms are getting smaller while others are unaffected," the researchers said. "Until we understand more, we could be risking negative consequences that we can't yet quantify." The change was big in cold-blooded animals. Only two decades of warmer temperatures were enough to make reptiles smaller. An increase of only 1degC caused nearly a 10 percent increase in metabolism . Greater use of energy resulted in tiny tortoises and little lizards. Fish are smaller now too. Though overfishing has played a part in reducing numbers, experiments show that warmer temperatures also stop fish growth. There is a recent report on warmer temperatures' negative effects on plankton ,the base of the marine ecosystem. Warm-blooded animals weren't immune from the size change caused by climate change. Many birds are now smaller; Mammals have been miniaturized too. Soay sheep are thinner. Red deer are weaker. And polar bears are smaller, compared with historical records. This isn't the first time this has happened in Earth's history. 55 million years ago, a warming event similar to the current climate change caused bees, spiders and ants to shrink by 50 to 75 percent over several thousand years. That event happened over a longer time than the current climate change. The speed of modern climate change could mean organisms may not respond or adapt quickly enough, especially those with long generation times. So, it is likely that more negative influences of climate... Question: What can we learn from the passage? - Climate change has even affected plankton negatively. - Birds have suffered more from climate change than fish. - Cold-blooded animals become smaller because of the lack of food. - The warming event has never happened in Earth's history before.
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Climate change has even affected plankton negatively.