Q: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: We've all heard about the power of positive thinking, but a recent study found that people who think they're getting fit actually get more positive benefits from activity, according to a Reuters Health article. The study examined hotel housekeepers over a period of four weeks. Some of the housekeepers were told that their work duties gave them enough activity to meet the Surgeon General's health guidelines . Another group of housekeepers were told nothing. After four weeks, the housekeepers who believed their work activity counted as exercise lost weight and body fat, and their blood pressure went down. The results of this study suggest that it's important to understand and believe in the positive benefits of your activity. So here are a few things to think about the next time you exercise: Just thirty minutes of quick walking each day can greatly reduce your risk of a heart attack. Even your housework -- like yard work and house cleaning -- can help you burn calories and increase your fitness levels. Weight bearing activity just a few times a week can build bone density and reduce your chances of developing osteoporosis . Three 10-minute workouts throughout the day are just as good to your health as one long workout. Moderate amounts of exercise have been linked to lower rates of heart disease, stroke and even cancer. Strength training can help make daily activities like carrying bags or laundry feel easier. Regular exercise will reduce stress, keep you in a good mood and improve the quality of your sleep. Question: The main purpose of this passage is to _ . Options: A: encourage people to think they will get fit in different activities B: tell people how to finish the work duties better C: tell people how to lose weight D: advise people to do more housework
A: A

Q: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: A young man who lived in London was in love with a beautiful girl. Soon she became his fiancee. The man was very poor while the girl was rich. The young man wanted to make her a present on her birthday. He wanted to buy something beautiful for her, but he had no idea how to do it, as he had very little money. The next morning he went to a shop. There were many fine things there: gold watches, diamond... but all these things were too expensive. There was one thing he could not take his eyes off. It was a beautiful vase. That was a suitable present for his fiancee. He had been looking at the vase for half an hour when the manager of the shop noticed him. The young man looked so pale, sad and unhappy that the manager asked what had happened to him. The young man told him everything. The manager felt sorry for him and decided to help him. A bright idea struck him. The manager pointed to the corner of the shop. To his great surprise the young man saw a vase broken into many pieces. The manager said: "When the servant enters the room, he will drop it." On the birthday of his fiancee the young man was very excited. Everything happened as had been planned. The servant brought in the vase, and as he entered the room, he dropped it. There was horror on everybody's face. When the box was opened, the guests saw that each piece was packed separately . Question: Why did the young man want to buy a present for the girl? Options: A: He wanted to give her a Christmas present. B: He fell in love with her. C: Her birthday was coming soon. D: They were going to get married.
A: C

Q: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: On the whole, it's not something we parents shout about, but one in four of us does it. Hiring private tutors for our children is now widespread. "It's expensive, but worth it," says Ashan Sabri, whose daughter Zarreen, is having tuition in biology and chemistry in preparation for A-levels this summer. "My husband and I tried to tutor her at home, but we found all our knowledge was out of date and we were only confusing Zarreen. We also tried a group revision course but all the children were sitting in a room for different kinds of exams. On the whole, we think one-to-one tuition works best." The real reason is: does tutoring do any good? "It's not the _ ," says Professor Judith Ireson, author of a 2005 Institute of Education report on the subject. "It's still up to the child to do the learning. If he or she isn't interested, sending them to a private tutor won't do any good. However, we did find that students who had private tuition in mathematics during the two years before GCSE achieved on average just under half a grade higher than students who did not have a tutor." In which case, surely it's time to break open the champagne? Not necessarily, says Elaine Tyrrell, head of The Rowans School, Wimbledon, a preparation school which regularly gets children into the best private schools. "While we recommend private tutoring for a few children whose first language isn't English, we don't encourage it for the others. With the level of education they get here, children really ought to be able to pass the entrance exams without any extra teaching. And our worry is that they might just get used to getting help from last-minute tutoring, but, once they actually get to that school, they won't be able to cope." But Mylene Curtis, owner of Fleet Tutors, one of the biggest tutoring agencies in the country, holds a different view. "In some respects, the hurdles children have to leap in order to get into these schools are set at a higher level than the reality," says Curtis. "We often find that, once a child has got into a... Question: What does Ashan Sabri think of the group revision course? Options: A: It's expensive but worthwhile because it works the best. B: It confuses students because the knowledge taught in it is out of date. C: It isn't effective because it doesn't focus on specific exams. D: It is effective because it doesn't focus on specific exams.
A: C

Q: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Speed-reading is a necessary skill in the Internet age.We skim over articles, e-mails and WeChat to try to grasp key words and the essential meaning of a certain text.Surrounded with information from our electronic devices, it would be impossible to cope if we read word by word, line by line.But a new trend calls on people to unplug and enjoy reading slowly, listing benefits beyond the intelligent stimulation. A recent story from The Wall Street Journal reported on a book club in Wellington, New Zealand, where members meet in a cafe and turn off their smartphones.They sink into cozy chairs and read in silence for an hour. Unlike traditional book clubs, the point of the slow reading club isn't exchanging ideas about a certain book, but to get away from electronic devices and read in a quiet, relaxed environment. According to the Journal, the Wellington book club is just one example of a movement started by book lovers who miss the old-fashioned way of reading before the Internet and smartphones. Slow readers, such as The Atlantic's Maura Kelly, say a regular reading habit sharpens the mind, improves concentration, reduces stress levels and deepens the ability to sympathize. Another study published last year in Science showed that reading novels helps people understand other's mental states and beliefs, a fundamental skill in building relationships. Yet technology has made us less attentive readers. Screens have changed our reading patterns from the straight and information.left-to-right sequence to a wild skimming and skipping pattern as we hunt for important words and information. Reading text punctuated with links leads to weaker comprehension than reading plain text. The Internet may have made us stupider, says Patrick Kingsley from The Guardian. Because of the Internet, he says, we have become very good at collecting a wide range of interesting news, but we are also gradually forgetting how to sit back, reflect, and relate all these facts to each other. Slow reading means a return to an uninterrupted,... Question: According to the passage, slow reading _ . Options: A: contributes to understanding among people B: promotes the current technology advances C: provides people with a quiet environment D: cures the memory loss of elderly people
A: A