It doesn't matter when or how much a person sleeps, but everyone needs some rest to stay alive.That's what all doctors thought, until they heard about Al Herpin.Al Herpin, it was said, never slept. Could this be true? The doctors decided to see this strange man themselves. Al Herpin was 90 years old when the doctors came to his home in New Jersey. They thought for sure that he got some sleep of some kind.So they stayed with him and watched every movement he made. But they were surprised. Though they watched him hour after hour and day after day, they never saw Herpin sleeping.In fact, he did not even own a bed. He never needed one. The only rest that Herpin sometimes got was sitting in a comfortable chair and reading newspapers. The doctors were puzzled by this strange continuous sleeplessness.They asked him many questions, hoping to find an answer.They found only one answer that might explain his condition.Herpin remembered some talk about his mother having been injured several days before he was born.But that was all.Was this the real reason? No one could be sure. Herpin died at the age of 94. Al Herpin's condition could be regarded as _ . A) a common one B) one that could be cured C) very healthy D) a rare one
D
(Question)
Some time ago I discovered that one of my chairs had a broken leg. I didn't think there would be any difficulty in getting it mended, as there are a lot of antique shops near my home. So I left home one morning carrying the chair with me. I went into the first shop expecting a friendly reception. I was quite wrong. The man wouldn't even look at my chair. The second shop, though slightly more polite, was just the same, and the third and the fourth...So I decided that my approach must be wrong. I entered the fifth shop with a plan in my mind. I placed the chair on the floor and said to the shopkeeper, "Would you like to buy a chair?" He looked it over carefully and said, "Yes. How much do you want for it, sir?" "Twenty pounds,"I said, "OK,"he said. "I'll give you twenty pounds." "It's got a slightly broken leg,"I said. "Yes, I saw that, it's nothing." Everything was going according to plan and I was getting excited. "What will you do with it?" I asked. "Oh, it will be easy to sell once the repair is done." "I'11 buy it." I said. "What do you mean?" "You've just sold it to me." he said. "Yes, I know but I've changed my mind. I am sorry. I'll give you twenty-seven pounds for it.""You must be crazy. "he said. Then, suddenly the penny dropped. "I know what you want. You want me to repair your chair." "You're right."I said. "And what would you have done if I had walked in and said, 'Would you mend this chair for me?'" "I wouldn't have agreed to do it," he said. "We don't do repairs, not enough money in it and too much trouble. But I'll mend this for you, shall we say for a fiver?" He was a very nice man and was greatly amused by the whole thing. From the text, we can learn that the writer was _ . A) honest B) careful C) smart D) funny
(Answer)
C
Ques: Anyone who cares about what schools and colleges teach and how their students learn will be interested in the memoir of Ralph W. Tyler, who is one of the most famous men in American education. Born in Chicago in 1902, brought up and schooled in Nebraska, the 19-year-old college graduate Ralph Tyler became _ while teaching as a science teacher in South Dakota and changed his major from medicine to education. Graduate work at the University of Chicago found him connected with honorable educators Charles Judd and W. W. Charters, whose ideas of teaching and testing had an effect on his later work. In 1927, he became a teacher of Ohio State University where he further developed a new method of testing. Tyler became well-known nationality in 1938, when he carried his work with the Eight-Year Study from Ohio State University to the University of Chicago at the invitation of Robert Hutchins. Tyler was the first director of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford, a position he held for fourteen years. There, he firmly believed that researchers should be free to seek an independent spirit in their work. Although Tyler officially retired in 1967, he never actually retired. He served on a long list of educational organizations in the United States and abroad. Even in his 80s he traveled across the country to advise teachers and management people on how to set objectives that develop the best teaching and learning within their schools. Who are most probably interested in Ralph W. Tyler's memoir? A) Top managers. B) Language learners. C) Serious educators. D) Science organizations.
Ans: C
Question: It never occurred to anybody, not even the creators that the world would care about the complex lives, loves and sufferings of a group of attractive and witty New Yorkers. But there's no doubt that Friends has become more than just a successful situation comedy--it has established itself as one of the last great television phenomena of the last century. Along the way, it has made its half-dozen leading actors famous. Looking back on the strong friendship between the group of three men and three women who frequently gather at each other's apartments and at Greenwich Village's Central Perk coffee house, Friends was created by television producers, David Crane and Marta Kauffman. In 1993, the pair met producer Kevin S. Bright. Then the three became partners and got a deal to produce a new comedy for Warner Brothers. What they came up with was based on Crane and Kauffman's after-college years, when they hung out at the local coffee house and involved themselves in every aspect of each other's lives. It didn't take long for viewers to make friends with Friends. The situation comedy quickly became a top ten hit. Critics loved it as well. Entertainment Weekly said the show operated like a Broadway show, with twisty plots and unique jokes. The television theme song has also been a success with the public. The song's success helped save the television theme song. An ABC executive was ready to order very short music intros on his network's shows, thinking that viewers would hit the remote control as soon as the opening started. But the success of the Friends theme song led the ABC executive to change his mind-- remote controls or not, the TV theme song would stay. Years have gone by, but Friends remains and will remain an example of a modern US situation comedy that is both hugely entertaining television and nothing short of a genuine latter-day social phenomenon. What can we learn from the passage? A) Producer, Kevin S. Bright, graduated from the same college as David Crane. B) ABC once replaced the theme song of its TV show with a short music intro. C) The ABC executive thought highly of the theme song of Friends. D) Marta Kauffman expected Friends to achieve great success.
Answer:
C