Q: I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: Forty years ago, Finland was a small country with mediocre public schools. Today, Finland is still small but no one calls Finland's public schools mediocre any more. In 2000, the Finns surprised the world when their 15-year-olds scored at the top of a closely watched international exam called the PISA. Finland has stayed near the top ever since, while the U.S. scores around the middle. Pasi Sahlberg, an official with Finland's Ministry of Education and Culture, is in Seattle this week to share the story of Finland's success, and what states like Washington can learn from it. Sahlberg's message, although he is too polite to put it so bluntly : Stop testing so much, trust teachers more; give less homework; shorten the school day. On Tuesday, in a room filled with teachers, principals, professors, school-board members and policy makers, Sahlberg joked about the Finns' reputation for being a quiet, humble people. "When Finland hit the top of the PISA," he said, "the biggest disbelievers were Finns." More seriously, Finland never set out to create the world's top school system. Instead, he said, the country decided in the 1970s that it wanted to ensure that a student's success didn't depend on family background. "Finland relied on cooperation among teachers and schools, rather than on competition. Rather than judging teachers and schools based on test scores," he said, "Finland puts trust in its teachers and principals. Teachers develop the curriculum in Finland, and design their own tests. There are no national tests, except one at the end of high school." That's just the start. Along with a shorter school day, Finnish students don't even start school until they are 7 years old. Many primary schools have a policy against giving homework. "But Finland,"he said,"succeeded in part by adopting ideas from the U.S. and other countries. And those countries, "he said, "can learn from Finland, too." Question: People first learned Finland's success in education from _ . Options: A: its students' performance in an international exam. B: its international exchange programs. C: lectures given by Pasi Sahlberg. D: its small-sized public schools.
A: A

Q: I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: As a teacher, I always think it right to teach my students to write about their true feelings and real experiences. But once I was puzzled about this. After explaining a text one day, I asked my students to write a passage about their families. All the students wrote quite well but the best of them all was the one written by a small girl. I was deeply touched by it. The girl's father had died years before and her mother had to work hard to support the family. Many times she had seen her mother working deep into the night but never seen tears on her face. Like her mother this girl also works hard at her lessons and she is really good at any of them. I even didn't know anything about her unlucky family. She always appears happy every day so she is really liked by us all, both the students and teachers. In order to make her an example to the class, I read this passage to the class. When I finished reading it I found my throat _ and my students' eyes full of tears. Some of them even wept in a low voice. After the class nearly all my other students wanted to hand in their pocket money for the daily use to help this girl. To tell you the truth, I was really proud of my students. But to my disappointment, this student of mine left the class even without telling me the next day. I don't know the reason why, can you tell me? Question: Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage? Options: A: The teacher asked her students to read the little girl's article by themselves. B: The little girl's father died of a traffic accident. C: The little girl's classmates were willing to help her. D: The little girl's mother blamed her for her writing.
A: C

Q: I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: I give two examples as to why intelligent life may not actually exist, though I admit that for me, or even for a physicist who devoted his or her entire life to researching and studying the universe, it's shocking to claim that completely no life exists elsewhere. Keeping that in mind, I'd just like to consider conditions elsewhere in the known universe. You really only need to look at our own solar system or the Earth at certain periods in its own history to appreciate that most places are much worse and much less suitable for life than our mild, watery globe. So far, space scientists have discovered about seventy planets outside the solar. But it appears that if you wish to have a planet suitable for life, you just have to be very lucky, and the more advanced the life is, the luckier you'll have to be. I'm by no means a space observer, but I can recognize some particularly fortunate breaks we've had on the Earth. For example: We are, to a degree, at the right distance from the perfect type of star, the one that is big enough to radiate a huge amount of energy, but not so big as to bum itself out quickly. Had our sun been ten times as huge, it would have burnt out completely after only ten million years, instead of ten billion and surely we would not exist. Too near, everything on the Earth would have boiled and withered away; any further, everything would have frozen over. The universe is a surprising place, and our existence within it is a wonder. If a long and unimaginably complex sequence of events dating back 4.6 billion years or so hadn't happened in a particular manner at a particular time --if, to take just one example, the dinosaurs hadn't been wiped out by a meteor --we might still be a few centimeters long, with whisker and a tail, and you'll be reading this in a cave somewhere. Question: What's the best title for this passage? Options: A: No Life Exists out of the Earth B: Seventy Planets Discovered C: A Place Full of Wonders D: Perfect Conditions for Life
A: A

Q: I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: Student Residences Banbury House Tel: 564839 Enjoy mixing with other students in comfortable accommodation ? 10 minutes' walk to the university district and close to all main bus stops. Single and double rooms. All cleaning services offered. Please bring your own bedding. Three Seasons Tel: 445987 We can provide all types of accommodations for all types of single students. Rooms are fully furnished with bedding and there are four bathrooms each floor. Meals provided. 20minutes' walk to the university and city center. First Stop Tel: 223300 Suitable for new students. We provide double rooms. If you wish, we can offer help in finding a suitable person to share a room with. All washing and cleaning services offered at extra charge. Large canteen and three bathrooms on each floor. Sturtin Hotel Tel: 876333 Located in pleasant countryside surroundings. We offer scenic views and old-world attractiveness. Relax after a long day by swimming in the pool or using the exercise gym. Separate study rooms; bar & restaurants available. No children. Downtown Digs Tel: 882312 Do you worry that you'll not have enough money to see the term through? Don't waste it on expensive housing. This is a hostel run by students. No references and no rules. Shared bathroom, dormitory accommodation. 30 minutes' walk to the university and city center. Hilton Hostel Tel: 846241 It is not quite the Hilton Hotel but all rooms are fully provided with meals, bedding and cleaning services included. 5minutes' walk to the university and bus stops to the city downtown. Minimum stay period of six months. Singles only. Question: If you like swimming, you will choose _ . Options: A: Banbury House B: Three seasons C: Sturtin Hotel D: Downtown Digs
A: C