Bird Talk includes everything you need to know to help keep your bird healthy and active.Get important information on bird healthcare and nutrition,step-by-step training and caging tips. Readers also enjoy color1ful photos,entertaining stories,and a centerfold poster in each monthly issue. Issues per year:12 Our price:$ 13.99 Cover price:$ 47.88 Art on Paper is a bimonthly art magazine devoted to works on paper. Offering a balanced range of media and historical periods. Art on Paper presents current information about exhibitions and the marketplace. Each issue contains news and announcements,reviews of current and recent museum and gallery exhibitions,as well as limited-edition prints. Issues per year:6 Our price:$ 45.00 Cover price:$ 80.00 Disney Adventuresis for children aged 7 to 14 who are eager to learn.This wacky and. exciting magazine focuses on fun and action-packed adventure covering the world of entertainment, comics, Sports, technology, and weird science. Issues per year:10 Our price:$ 14.95 Cover price:$ 29.90 Mother Earth News is a country lifestyle publication dedicated to helping readers with the how-to information of home building and home improvement.Topics include building, gardening,homesteading, do-it-yourself,kitchen and so on. Issues per year:6 Our price:$ 18.00 Cover price:$ 23.70 The purpose of the passage is mainly _ . A) to compare advantages of four magazines B) to provide readers with more entertainment C) to get readers to buy the magazines D) to introduce four magazines to readers
C
(Question)
But what is teacher quality? How can one measure it reliably? An analysis is issued on a sample of data from a Texas school district. Experts argue convincingly that teacher effectiveness should be measured by students' gains on standardized tests: Mr. Smith is probably a better teacher than Ms. Brown if his students consistently improve their test scores more than hers do. Though this approach is appealing, there are tricky issues. For example, what if Ms. Brown teaches in a school where students score so high there is little room for improvement? The authors try to correct for this problem, as well as other sorts of measurement issues, to generate a measurement of teacher effectiveness. The paper is primarily concerned with how this measure is related to other observable characteristics. The first finding is that there is a large variation in teacher effectiveness: some teachers consistently have a larger impact on their students' achievement than others. Second, easily observable characteristics like having a master's degree or a passing score on the teacher certification exam are not correlated with teacher effectiveness. Then what does matter? The most important single influence is experience: first-year teachers are much less effective than others. The second year is significantly better, and by the fourth year, _ . It is not entirely clear whether this experience effect is learning by doing (the more you teach, the more effective you become) or survival of the fittest (those who are not good at teaching tend to drop out early.) From my reading of the paper, both effects appear important and there is no simple answer. The data do suggest, however, that teacher effectiveness is pretty clear by the end of the second year, so the information to make an informed decision is available at that time. The authors also investigate the contentious issue of racial matching of students and teachers. Here they find strong evidence that minority teachers tend to be more effective with minority students. Again, it is... Which of the following may serve as the best title? A) The Quality of Teaching B) Impact of Teacher Quality on Student Learning C) Different Sorts of Measurement Issues D) Survival-of-the-fittest Model vs. Learning-by-doing Model
(Answer)
C
Ques: Soccer star David Beckham will be there with his pop star wife Victoria. Elton John is attending with partner David Furnish. The guest list for the April 29 union of Prince William and Kate Middleton is still being kept secret, but details have begun to leak out, with some coming forward to say they are attending and the Mail on Sunday newspaper claiming to have the official invitation roster . The palace dismissed the newspaper's list as speculation Sunday. It won't be clear until the day how the royal couple has balanced the protocol demands that they invite statesmen, diplomats, religious leaders, politicians and the like with invitations to the people they really want to see, particularly the crowd they made friends with when they met and fell in love at St. Andrews University in Scotland. Kate Reardon, editor of high-society magazine Tatler, said many _ Britons acted as if they didn't really care about receiving an invitation while secretly checking the mail every day to see if the invitation had arrived. "Everyone's been hoping," she said. William and Middleton have showed their modern side by inviting a number of close friends, including some former sweethearts, the newspaper said. The wedding is not technically a state event, which somewhat limits the protocol requirements applied to the guest list. But royal obligations still order that a large number of the 1,900 or so seats go to guests from the world of politics, not actual friends of the couple. The couple have also invited many guests from the charities they work with, and Middleton has used her influence to invite the butcher, shopkeeper and pub owner from her home village of Bucklebury. President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle were not invited and many other international leaders are also expected to be watching on TV, not from a seat at Westminster Abbey. It is not clear if treasured Brits from the world of stage and screen and pop music will be on the list. Who were not invited to Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding? A) David Beckham and his wife. B) Elton John and his partner David Furnish. C) People from the charities they work with. D) President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle.
Ans: D
Ques:As we neared the last days of my mom's life, I wanted to understand what she was feeling and seeing. The day before she took her last breath I decided to ask her. First I wanted to make sure she could comprehend what I was saying. I told her I loved her, and she raised her eyebrows in acknowledgment. Then I shared a funny story about a conversation my sister and I had. The corners of her mouth turned up in a smile. I could tell that she was taking in every word. And then I went for it. "Mom, can I ask you a serious question?" She turned her head and opened her eyes fully. I could tell she wanted to grasp every word that came out of my mouth. "Mom, do you see any of our dead relatives in the room? Do you see your dad?" she shook her head. Do you see your mom?" She shook her head again. "Do you see dad?" Her response was quite different this time. She began nodding her head. "Is he here in this room right now?" She nodded. "Can he see me?" She nodded again. Then she tried to communicate with words, but she couldn't get the words out. The next morning she died peacefully.. A few weeks ago, I was wondering why I haven't had many dreams of my mom since she died. That night I had one of the clearest dreams I've had for a long time. Mom was dressed beautifully. She stared at me with a huge smile. Her eyes were bright and full of life. She was happier than I had seen her in years. And she was younger. We didn't exchange any words, but it was clear that she was happy and free. I woke up with joy in my heart. What did the author dream that night? A) Her mother talked with her. B) Her mother was in high spirits. C) Her mother's eyes seemed dull. D) Her mother looked older than ever.

Ans:
B