TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you're given an article, a question which often contains a blank, four options (associated with "A", "B", "C", "D") and the answer to that question. Your task is to classify whether the given answer is correct or not by providing "Yes" or "No", based on the article.
PROBLEM: Article: Some kinds of mental skills naturally decrease as people get older. Yet research seems to show that some training can improve such skills. A recently published study also appears to demonstrate that the good effects of training can last for many years after that training has ended. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland wanted to learn how long memory and thinking skills would last in older people who trained to keep them. The people were part of the ten-year research project. They were taught methods meant to improve their memory, thinking and ability to perform everyday tasks. More than 2,800 volunteered for the study called ACTIVE - short for Advanced (Cognitive) Training for Independent and Vital Elderly. Most studied when they were more than 70 years old. The volunteers took one of several short training classes meant to help them keep their mental abilities. One class trained participants in skills including how to remember word lists. Another group trained in reasoning. A third group received help with speed-of-processing - speed of receiving and understanding information. A fourth group - the control group did not get any training. Earlier results had established that the training helped the participants for up to five years. Now, lead study writer George Rebok says, the research showed most of the training remained effective a full ten years later. Professor Rebok and his team found that the people trained in reasoning and speed-of-processing did better on tests than the control group. "We are wondering whether those effects which endured over time would still be there ten years following the training, and in fact, that's exactly what we found." The effect on memory, however, seemed not to last as long. Still, the old people in any of the three classes generally reported less difficulty in performing daily activities than the control group. The total training time for the older people was between 10 and 15 hours.
Question: Which statement is true according to the text?
Options: (A) This kind of training can only have effect on people for a few years. (B) The people were trained during a period of ten years. (C) All the people who were studied were more than 70 years old. (D) The second group were trained how to remember word lists.
Asnwer: B

SOLUTION: Yes

PROBLEM: Article: The U. S. Postal Service (USPS) is losing billions of dollars a year. The government company that delivers "small mail" is losing out to email and other types of electronic communication. First-class mail amount fell from a high point of 104 million pieces in 2000 to just 64 million pieces by 2014. Congress permits the 600.000-empIoyee USPS to hold a monopoly over first-class and standard mail. The company pays no federal, state or local taxes; pays no vehicle fees; and is free from many regulations on other businesses. Despite these advantages, the USPS has lost $52 billion since 2007, and will continue losing money without major reforms. The problem is that Congress is preventing the USPS from reducing costs as its sales decline, and is blocking efforts to end Saturday service and close unneeded post office locations. USPS also has a costly union-dominated workforce that slows the introduction of new ideas or methods down. USPS workers earn significantly higher payment than comparable private-sector workers. The answer is to privatize the USPS and open postal markets to competition. With the rise of the Internet, the argument that mail is a natural monopoly that needs government protection is weaker than ever. Other countries facing declining letter amounts have made reforms Germany and the Netherlands privatized their national postal companies over a decade ago, and other European countries have followed suit. Britain floated shares of the Royal Mail on its stock exchange in 2013. Some countries, such us Sweden and New Zealand, have not privatized their national postal companies, but they have opened them up to competition. These reforms have driven efficiency improvements in all of these countries. Additional number of workers have been reduced, productivity has risen and consumers have benefited. Also, note that cost-cutting measures--such as closing tone post offices--are good for both the economy and the environment. Privatization and competition also encourage new changes. When the USPS monopoly over "extremely urgent" mail was stopped in 1979, we saw an explosion in efficient overnight private delivery by firms such as FedEx. The government needs to wake up to changing technology, study postal reforms abroad and let businessmen reinvent our out-of-date postal system.
Question: What do we know about the USPS?
Options: (A) Its great competitor is the delivery firm FedEx. (B) It is an old public service open to competitions. (C) Its employees don't pay federal, state or local taxes. (D) It has complete control of first-class and standard mail.
Asnwer: A

SOLUTION: No

PROBLEM: Article: For the 17 years my life was very happy. Then the first sad thing happened. My mother became very ill, and soon she knew that she was dying. Just before she died, she asked Elizabeth and me to go to her room. She held our hands and said, "Victor and Elizabeth, my children, I'm very happy because you love each other, and because one day you'll get married. Everyone in the family loves you, Elizabeth. Will you take my place in the family, my dear? I can die happy if you look after them when I have gone." My mother died and we were very sad, because we loved her dearly. Elizabeth was brave and helped us; her sweet smile gave us some happiness in the unhappy days after my mother's death. The time came for me to go to university. I didn't want to leave my sad family, but we all knew that I should go. It was hard to leave, too, because the parents of my good friend Henry would not let him go to university with me. So I had gone alone. On my first day at university I met my teacher, Professor Waldman, who was one of the greatest scientists in the world. He gave a wonderful talk to all the students who were starting at the university. He ended his talk by saying, "Some of you will become the greatest scientists of tomorrow. You must study hard and discover everything that you can. This is why God made you intelligent--to help other people." After the professor's talk, I thought very carefully. I remembered the storm when I was 15; I remembered how the lightning had destroyed the tree. From then on, I wanted to use electricity to help people, and I wanted to discover the secrets of life. I decided to work on these two things. I started to work the next day. I worked very hard and soon Professor Waldman and I realized that I could learn to be a very good scientist. The professor helped me very much, and other important scientists who were his friends helped me, too. I was interested in my work and I did not take one day's holiday during the next two years, I did not go home, and my letters to my family were very short. After two years, I had discovered many things and I built a scientific machine that was the best in the university. My machine would help me answer the most important question of all. How does life begin? Is it possible to put life into dead things? To answer these questions about life I had to learn first about death. I had to watch bodies from the moment when they died and the warm life left them. In the hospital and in the university, I watched the dying and the dead. Day after day, month after month, I followed death, so it was a dark and terrible time. I built a tall mast about 150 meters high, which is higher than the tallest building in the city, to catch lightning and send the electricity down to my machine in the lab. I believed I could use that electricity to give life to things that were dead. Then one day, the answer came to me. Suddenly I was sure that I knew the secret of life.
Question: Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
Options: (A) Elizabeth married shortly after Victor's mother died. (B) Elizabeth was a brave girl who loved Victor and gave him much help. (C) Victor's mother was very angry when she knew he loved Elizabeth. (D) Victor did not want to leave his family because his mother died not long before.
Asnwer: B

SOLUTION:
Yes