Babies who watch TV are more likely to show late learning development and language at 14 months, especially if they are watching programs aimed at adults and older children, according to a new study, which would probably surprise those parents who leave their babies in front of a TV set. Babies who watched 60 minutes of TV daily had developmental scores a third lower at 14 months than babies who were watching less TV. Although their developmental scores were still in the normal range, the difference may have been due to the fact that when children and parents are watching TV, they are missing the talking, playing and other communications that are important to learning and development. This new study, which appeared in the Aechives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, followed 259 lower-income families in New York, most of whom spoke Spanish as their primary language at home. Other studies of higher-income families have also come to the same conclusion: TV watching is not only non-educational, but it seems to slow down babies' development. But what about "good" TV, like Sesame Street? The researchers didn't find any difference when compared to non-educational programs designed for small children, like Spongebob SquarePants. Earlier research by some of the same scientists, most of whom are at New York University School of Medicine's Bellevue Hospital Centre, has found that parents whose children watch non-educational TV programs like Spongebob SquarePants spend less time reading to their children or teaching them. At this point, parents reading this will probably be astonished. TV is so often a parent's good friend, keeping children happily occupied so that the adults can cook dinner, answer the phone, or take a shower. But, clearly, this electronic babysitter is not an educational aid. It is best to make sure the babies are fast asleep if you have to watch TV. We can infer from the passage that _ . A) Educational and non-educational TV have different effects on babies B) Many parents leave babies to the TV to do their own things C) Educational TV is very popular among higher-income families D) Lower-income families tend to teach their babies at home
B
(Question)
We were on the way from Hutchinson to Chicago for a short spring break. For many years I had wanted to take my family on the train. We all had been to Chicago four years ago, and the kids loved it. Chicago is one of my favorite cities, too, so the thought struck me again last fall to ride the train to Chicago. Of course, flying would have been faster. But I don't think flying is easier, especially these days, with all the security and waiting in lines at airports. Though we were tired in the middle of the night, the kids got on the train with the _ of this adventure. "We're moving," my son William shouted happily with big eyes as the train began to pull away from the Hutchinson station. I removed my shoes and lay down to try to finish my night's sleep. The sleeper car would have better enabled that, but the ordinary train seats were not too bad. An airline flight is a more miserable experience for me: not enough room, two hours of pain with my knees almost touching my chin, the hard seatback in front cracking my kneecaps with every move of the body planted in front of me. On the train I could almost outstretch all of my 6-foot-2-plus body in the generous legroom. The journey didn't feel at all as long as it was. We all found the train ride a joy. The car ride would have felt every minute of 13 hours. But on the train you are free to walk around, sit in the observation carriage for a while and enjoy the scenery out the windows, have a nice meal in the dining car, read a book, or play a board game. In short, the train is all about enjoying the trip, which isn't something I do so much when traveling by airline or by car, when the trip seems more of a mission to get there than an experience to enjoy along the way. Chicago offers much to do for a family. This time, getting there was half the fun. Which of the following words best describes the whole family's feeling about the train journey? A) Moved. B) Delighted. C) Disappointed. D) Nervous.
(Answer)
B
Ques: The "Occupy Wall Street" movement gained more support on Wednesday as unions and students joined in. With the protests developing from a group of young people's camping out near the New York Stock Exchange on September 17 to large-scale movements across the country and around the world, people can't help asking: What has led to "Occupy Wall Street?" Three years after the severe economic crisis, the U.S. economy now is stuck again. Protesters are not satisfied with the present economic situation since unemployment rate is above 9 percent and economic growth has slowed. The housing market is still struggling for a recovery three years after the bubble burst. People are losing their houses even after they have paid a large amount of mortgage . It is getting difficult for young people to find jobs. People feared that a similar crisis like the one in 2008 may be already on its way. It is Wall Street that possessed the most riches. It is Wall Street greed that, at least partly, led to the financial crisis in 2008. It was Wall Street's "fat cats" who take taxpayers' aid money as their own big bonus . With the growing economic crisis around the world, people realize that Wall Street is responsible for it. So they try to target people who created the crisis. The majority of the protesters are young people under 30. Many of them are unemployed. Some are students with mountains of loans . Some are hard-working people about to lose their houses even if they have paid a large amount of mortgage. They are complaining that the hard-working middle class is getting poor, yet Wall Street stays wealthy. William Cohan, author ofMoney and Power: How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the world, wrote recently that Wall Street not only learned nothing from the 2008 crisis, they are also trying to kill all reforms that might "break this dangerous cycle in which bankers get very rich while the rest of working people suffer from their mistakes." . We can learn from the passage that Wall Street is the symbol of _ in the USA. A) civilization B) power C) wealth D) fashion
Ans:
C