Many people say pennies are not worth saving. After all, a penny is only worth a cent. But one unusual penny turned out to be worth a lot more when a coin collector paid $1.7 million for it earlier this month. The coin is one of a kind. It is the only penny that the Denver mint made out of copper, instead of steel, in 1943. Because it is unique, it is also very valuable. No penny has ever sold for so much money. The Changing Penny The Lincoln penny first appeared in 1909. For 34 years, the one-cent coin was made out of copper. Then, in 1943, the penny changed. World War II was going on, and copper was needed for equipment. So for one year, pennies were made out of steel instead. At least most of them were. Only a few coins were made out of unused copper. There are three main mints, or places where coins are made, in the United States. Of the known copper pennies from 1943, twelve were made in the Philadephia mint, and five were made in the San Francisco mint. Only one was made in the Denver mint. Nobody knows for sure why a copper penny was made at the Denver mint in 1943, coin dealers Andy Skrabalak toldTime for Kids. "There is a rumor that a mint employee made the coin in the middle of the night." A Special Set The coin collector who bought the $1.7 million penny wants to remain unknown. But the reason for the trade is known. He already had two copper pennies from 1943 - one from the San Francisco mint and one from the Philadephia mint. To complete the set, he needed the Denver penny. The three coins will go on display at a coin exhibition in Tampa, Florida. The collector who sold the penny is also keeping his name a secret. It took four years to convince him to give up the rare coin. Now that he has finally donating all of the money to charity. What can we learn about the collector who sold the penny? A) He already had two copper pennies from 1943. B) He wanted to complete the set of copper pennies. C) He didn't want to sell his penny in the beginning. D) He was a well-known coin dealer in Tampa, Horida.
C
(Question)
Astronomers recently found another ring around the planet Saturn -- and it's the biggest one yet. This newly discovered ring stretches about 15 million miles across, which makes a loop big enough to fit a billion Earths inside. It may be even bigger and reach 22 million miles across at its diameter . Saturn's new ring is now the biggest known ring in the solar system. This ring, like Saturn's other rings, is not one solid piece of rock. Instead, it is made up of millions or billions of tiny rocks that orbit the planet all together and give the appearance of a unified ring. Unlike the more visible rings, however, this big one is mysterious -- the pieces are far apart, and the ring cannot be seen from the surface of the Earth. If all the pieces were stuck together, they'd be slightly bigger than a rock a half-mile wide. Astronomers suspect that the newly discovered ring gets its material from Saturn's outermost moon, Phoebe. For example, the dust in the ring circles Saturn in the same path and the same direction as Phoebe. Plus, the surface of Phoebe is marked with holes and places where rock has been knocked away, the result of collisions between Phoebe and other moons and rocks. These collisions could have sent dust out into space to become part of the big ring. The discovery of the ring could help explain other mysteries surrounding Saturn and its dozens of moons. The moon called Iapetus, for example, is two-toned: one side is gray; the other more reddish. Iapetus is within the newly discovered ring, but it orbits in the opposite direction. As a result, some researchers say, debris from the ring may have coated and color1ed one side of Iapetus as it moved through space, and left the other side alone. "The cause of Iapetus' strange color1 distribution ... has been a puzzle that now seems solved," said Joseph Burns, a scientist. But not everyone agrees. Some think the ring alone may not be able to explain Iapetus' funny color1ing. The purpose of the passage is to _ . A) compare the moons of Saturn B) analyze why Saturn has so many rings C) describe a newly discovered ring of Saturn D) explain Iapetus' funny color1ing
(Answer)
C
I stood outside New York's Madison Square Garden and just stared, almost speechless. I was a farm boy from County Kilkenny, a child who some thought would never walk, let alone go as far as I had in the world. From the day I was born, there was a problem. The doctors at the Dublin hospital told my parents I had phocomelia, a _ that affected both legs below the knee, which were outward and shorter than normal and each foot had just three toes. Life was tough. I couldn't stand, much less walk. I rarely, left the farmhouse---and then only in someone's arms. Mam bundled me up whenever she took me to town, no matter the season. "The world will see him when he can walk," she told Dad. "And he will walk." Mam devoted herself to helping me. She tried everything to get me on my feet. When I was three, she and Dad took me to a clinic in Dublin. A few weeks later we returned to Dublin with my artificial limbs . Back home I practiced walking with my new limbs. "There's nothing anyone can do but you can't," Mam said. "You and I are going to walk through town." The next day Mam dressed me in my finest clothes. She wore a summer dress and fixed her hair and makeup. Dad drove us to the church. We stepped out of the car. Mam took my hand. "Hold your head up high, now, Ronan," she said. We walked 300 meters to the post office. It was the farthest I'd walked, and I was sweating from the effort. Then we left the post office and continued down the street, Mam's eyes shining with a mother's pride. That night, back on our farm, I lay exhausted on my bed. It meant nothing, though, compared to what I'd done on my walk. Then I began to pursue my dream of singing. And at every step Mam's words came back to me--Ronan, you can do anything anyone else can do--and the faith she had in God, who would help me do it. I've sung from the grandest stages in Europe, to music played by the world's finest musicians. That night, I stood at the Madison Square Garden, with Mam's words chiming in my ears. Then I began singing. I couldn't feel the... According to the writer, what mattered most in his success? A) His consistent effort. B) His talent for music. C) His countless failures. D) His mother's promise.
D