There is no question that fewer teenagers are on the roads in the US. In 1978, 50% of 16-year-olds had got their first driving licence. In 2008, according to the US Transportation Department, it was just 30%. The number of those aged 19 and under with driving licences has also been _ since 1978, when 11, 989, 000 had licence. In 2010, it was 9, 932, 441, or 4.1% of American drivers. In the UK, 683, 273 teenagers have driving licences- just 1.85% of total licence holders, according to Department of Transport figures from September 2010. But the decline in the US may have more to do with tougher tests and the introduction of the new rule in many states, which force drivers aged under 16 to be with licensed drivers of 21 years and older when driving. In recent years, the annual number of journeys being made by American drivers of all ages has declined clearly for the first time ever. Car use began falling in 2007, when average petrol prices almost doubled to $4.12 a gallon, and the economy became worse. But there are signs that it is getting back to normal and American remains a country on wheels. It has a higher number of cars per head of population than any other country in the world. "Cars will always be a popular means of transportation in America. You have to take into consideration some places don't have access to public transportation. Cars are the only way some people can get around," says Kristin Nevels. This makes driving necessary in some rural states, where about twice as many teenagers are on the road than in big cities. What can be inferred from the text? A) The UK has more teenager drivers than the US. B) A 15-year-old boy cannot drive alone in the US. C) The US has very developed bus transportation system. D) Big cities have more teenager drivers than rural areas in the US.
B
The New York Times announced Wednesday that it intended to charge frequent readers for access to its website, a step being debated across the industry that nearly every major newspaper has so far feared to take. Starting in early 2011, visitors to NYTimes.com will get a certain number of articles free every month before being asked to pay a standard and fixed fee for unlimited access. Subscribers to the newspaper's print edition will receive full access to the site. But executives of The New York Times Company said they could not yet answer fundamental questions about the plan, like how much it would cost or what the limit would be on free reading. They stressed that the amount of free access could change with time, in response to economic conditions and reader demand. Still, publishers fear that money from digital subscriptions would not make up for the resulting loss of audience and advertising income. NYTimes.com is by far the most popular newspaper site in the country, with more than 17 million readers a month in the United States, according to Nielsen Online, and analysts say it is the leader in advertising income, as well. That may make it better positioned than other general-interest papers to charge--and also gives The Times more to lose if the move produces an opposed result. The Times Company has been studying the matter for almost a year, searching for common ground between pro-and-anti pay campaigns--a debate mirrored in dozens of media-watching blogs-- and the system will not go into effect until January 2011. Executives said they were not bothered by the possibility of absorbing barbs for moving cautiously. "There's no prize for getting it quick," said Janet L. Robinson, the company's president and chief executive. "There's more of a prize for getting it right." Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage? A) Non-paying subscribers will get no access to NYTimes.com. B) Readers will be charged more to read articles on NYTimes.com. C) Readers will get more free online articles to log on NYTimes. com more often. D) Subscribers to the paper's print edition will also enjoy full access to the site.
D
Q: Many studies have been carried out to discover the benefits of listening to and playing music. The growing field of "music treatment" is presenting increasing amounts of proof that point to the great powers of music. Emotional benefits The right song can put anybody in a better state. Most people turn to certain songs to make them feel better. The main reason behind this is that music can express our feelings better than any other medium. In addition, we have favorite songs for particular situations because we turn to the music which has the best effect on us. Music and exercise Have you ever noticed how out of breath you get when listening to an exciting song while doing exercises at the gym? It has been suggested that exciting music can actually increase muscle tension , while light music does the opposite. It has also been proved that music can improve motor skills. An experiment done on a group of pupils proved that children learning basic motor skills such as throwing ,catching and jumping while listening to music did better than those with no music. Chronic pain relief Music also has the ability to reduce chronic pain. In fact, according to a paper published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing, music can reduce chronic pain by 21%. The paper reports that 60 patients in an experiment were divided into two groups--one group listened to music, and the other did not. The results showed that people who listened to music for an hour each day for a week improved physically and psychologically while those who did not listen to music did not. It can be inferred from the passage that A) the 60 patients all have physical and psychological problems B) 21%of the patients recovered quickly with the help of music C) all the patients listened to music daily D) music can cure people of muscle pain slowly
A: A
*Question*
The World Bank estimates there are about 650 million mobile phone users in African countries south of the Sahara Desert. That is greater than the number of users in the United States and European Union. Samia Melhem worke for the World Bank to increase information technologies in Africa. She says mobile phones are the fastest growing technology on the continent. "Faster than TV, definitely faster than electricity. More people have access to mobile phones and therefore communication. More people have internet access today in Africa than they have access to water, clean water, or even sanitation .So we can say that this has been the most significant revolution in terms of changing the African landscape and how people live their daily life." CNN television recently named seven ways of life it says have been revolutionized because of mobile phones. They include political activism, education, entertainment, disaster management, agriculture and health. Another area is banking. Reports say half of more of the adults in Gabon, Kenya and Sudan use mobile money. Rene Mendy sells goods in the streets of Dakar, Senegal. But he never had enough money to open a bank account. Now he uses a mobile phone banking service called Orange Money. With his telephone, he can add or take out as little as one dollar. He can make payments and send money to family members who live far away. Orange Money says it serves four million customers in ten countries. The World Bank's Samia Melham notes that the French company is facing competition from other mobile banking services. "The mobile banking is a huge trend. And people in the West don't understand it, because most people have bank accounts and they have credit cards. It-mobile banking-is the instant possession fo cash at a much lower cost. The cost is the cost of sending an SMS, which is almost nothing compared to what traditional transfer agents, like Western Union, would charge-10 dollars or more for a particular money transfer." The most significant revolution refers to _ . A) seven ways of life revolutionized because of mobile phones B) more people having access to clean water C) mobile phones being the fastest growing technology in Africa D) the fast development of electricity in Africa
**Answer**
C