Q: Believing that birds began to mate on February 14, people in the Middle Ages started the card tradition by sending love letters on that day. In the 15th century, singing and spoken valentines were slowly replaced by written letters in Europe. The first written valentine is credited to Charles, the Duke of Orleans, who wrote love poems to his wife while he was in prison in 1415. By the beginning of the 16th century, valentines were almost always written. Early valentines were hand-made on color1ed paper. Often they were tinted with water color1s and inks. The 1800s saw valentines made by factory workers. Black and white pictures were painted by the workers in the early part of the century. By the end of the 1800s, the cards were made by machines. These cards were elaborately decorated with gold leaf, satin, lace and flowers. In 1840, the first mass-produced valentine's cards were made in America. Esther Howland, who sold $5,000 worth of the cards in her first year, created them. What appeared in the first Valentine's Day letter according to the passage? A) A message. B) A letter of thanks. C) Romantic poems. D) Beautiful pictures.
A: B

Q: For every woman who feels like she's had to scale back her personal ambitions since becoming a mother, gold medal cyclist Kristin Armstrong has a message: Don't give up on your dreams. She retired after winning gold in Beijing to start a family; son Lucas arrived in 2010, but then she decided to compete again in the London Olympics. She won a gold medal at last. The decision to start training again wasn't easy. "I struggled with that a lot," she told a newspaper. "At the beginning I felt selfish, I felt like, 'Well, I'm not supposed to be thinking of myself anymore. It's all supposed to be for my kid.'" She faced physical challenges of getting back into competition shape after giving birth, as well. When she started racing in the spring of 2011, she was still breast-feeding; she would nurse her son, then race, then breast-feed again after the race. Her days revolved around Lucas and training. "I feel like I'm able to do what I love to do and still manage a family and have that balance," Armstrong said. "That you have a family or a child doesn't mean that you have to stop going after what you dream of individually." Armstrong makes balance look easy, whether it's on her bike or as an athlete-mom. But she points out that you can't have it all without making some sacrifices. For example, don't expect a neat home--her husband, Joe Savola, who she describes as her support system and her "protector", says he's had to give up on trying to keep everything orderly at home and just accept that their living room has become Lucas's playroom. For Armstrong, she's sacrificed time with friends who had kids around the same age--there just wasn't time. Now, she says, "That sounds like fun to me." As she heads home to Boise, Idaho, she's ready to do regular mom stuff. After Kristin Armstrong retired, she _ . A) lived an easy life B) moved to a new house C) still had a great interest in cycling D) spent much time with her kid
A: C

Q: Travelling around the world with children is difficult enough, but attempting it without using motorized transport is even more of challenge. But Dario Schworer, a 42-year-old climatologist and mountain guide, and his 33-year-old wife Sabine are on a journey to do just that. The Swiss couple want to travel across the world's oceans and climb the highest mountain on every continent to promote Earth-friendly ways of life. "We are collecting good examples of dealing with climate change and living in harmony with nature and we want to spread such ideas," Schworer said. "We want to help people affected by global warming and to inspire children for the future." Recently after having spent three months teaching children in the Everest region, the couple want to show it is possible to travel through as the world's climate zones using just human-power and forces of nature. In the 47 countries they have visited so far they have collected 22 tons of trash, taught people in Ecuador how the sun's rays can be used to clean water and inspired a person in Chile to build a house on water with recycled plastic bottles as a foundation. They have also collected trash in the mountains of Nepal with school children. So far they have communicated with 45,000 children from South America, Australia and Asia, giving presentations about the importance of recycling and using alternative energy like solar and wind power. "We need to motivate children," said Sabine. When they began their adventure in 2003 they had no children of their own. But since then two has become five: daughter Sabine is now five years old, Andri was born in Chile and baby Noe was born in Australia. _ the couple thought they would complete their travels in four years, but now, seven years later, they believe it could take seven more. "Since our belief is the need to respect nature, we travel only when conditions are good," Schworer said. The best title of the passage can be _ . A) A Swiss family' journey across the world B) An eco-friendly adventure across the world C) We have a long way to make a good travel D) Nature needs respecting and protecting
A: B

Q: Reading is the key to school success and, like any skill, it takes practice. A child learns to walk by practicing until he no longer has to think about how to put one foot in front of the other. An excellent sportsman practices until he can play quickly, correctly and without thinking. Educators call it "automaticity ". www.ks5u.com A child learns to read by sounding out the letters and finding the meaning of the words. With practice, he stumbles less and less, reading by the phrase . With automaticity, he doesn't have to think about the meaning of words, so he can give all his attention to the meaning of the text. It can begin as early as first grade. In a recent study of children in Illinois schools, Alan Rossman of Northwestern University found that automatic readers in the first grade not only read almost three times as fast as the others, but also got better results in exams. According to Rossman, the key to automaticity is the amount of time a child spends reading , not his IQ. Any child who spends at least 3.5 to 4 hours a week reading books, magazines or newspapers will probably reach automaticity. It can happen if a child turns off TV just one night for reading at home. You can test yourself by reading something new which is suitable for your level. If you read aloud with expression, with a sense of the meaning of the sentences, you probably are an automatic reader. If you read brokenly, one word at a time, without expression or meaning, you need more practice. The best title for the passage is "_". A) IQ Is the Key to the Automaticity B) TV Is Bad for Children's Reading C) Automaticity Depends on Practice D) Automatic Reads Will Be Successful
A: C