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Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Research shows that childhood friendships are important indicators of future success and social adjustment. Children's relationships with peers strongly influence their success in school, and children with fewer friends are more at risk of dropping out of school, becoming depressed and other problems. Making and Keeping Friends Is More than Child's Play When 6yearold Rachel returned to school on a recent Monday morning, her eyes immediately scanned the playground for her friend Abbie. "Though they were only separated by a weekend, the girls ran right into each other's arms and hugged," recalls Rachel's mother Kathryn Willis of Gilbert. "It was like a scene from a movie." Most parents instinctively know that having friends is good for their child. Experts agree that friendship is not simply child's play, but a powerful predictor of social adjustment throughout life. A Skill for Life "Childhood friendships serve as a very important training ground for adulthood," says Dr.Robbie AdlerTapia, psychologist with the Center for Children's Health & Life Development at the East Valley Family Resource Center. Researcher William Hartup states, "Peer relations contribute significantly to both social and cognitive development." Hartup concludes that the single best childhood predictor of adult social adaptation is not school grades or classroom behavior, but rather, how well a child gets along with other children. The work of Arizona State University professor of Developmental Psychology Gary Ladd proves that being able to make and keep friends is beneficial to kids while the lack of friends is _ . Good Friendships Don't Just Happen Experts agree that it is essential for children to establish highquality friendships. But, researchers warn, these friendships don't necessarily just happen. Often, a good friendship begins with involved parents. Psychologist Dr.Lynne Kenney Markan believes kids should be taught social skills in much the same way they are taught math and reading. Bad Company Many parents worry about the... Question: The example of Rachel and Abbie is used to indicate that _ . Options: A: childhood friendship is of great significance to their growth B: a positive friendship helps children solve emotional and physical problems C: it is a proven fact that peer friendship is the most rewarding experience throughout life D: Rachel missed her friend Abbie very much because of their separation of one weekend
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A

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Read the article and select the best answer. Article: It's hard to track the blue whale, which has almost been killed off by commercial whaling. Attaching radio devices to it is difficult and visual sightings are too unreliable to give real insight into its behavior. So biologists were delighted early this year when, with the help of the US Navy, they are able to track a particular blue whale for 43 days recording its sounds. This was possible because of the Navy's former top secret system of underwater listening devices across the oceans. Tracking whales is but one example of an exciting new world just opening to civilian scientists after the cold war as the Navy starts to share and partly uncover its global network of underwater listening system built over the decades to track the ships of potential enemies. Earth scientists announced at a news conference recently that they had used the system for closely observing a deep-sea volcanic eruption for the first time and that they planned similar studies. Other scientists have proposed to use the network for tracking ocean currents and measuring changes in the ocean and global temperatures. Different layers of ocean water can act as channels for sounds focusing them in the same way a stethoscope does when it carries faint noises from a patient's chest to a doctor's ear. This focusing is the main reason that even relatively weak sounds in the ocean, especially low-frequency ones, can often travel thousands of miles. Question: What can we infer from the passage? Options: A: New radio devices are developed for tracking the blue whales. B: Blue whales are no longer endangered with the new system. C: Opinions differ on the use of military technology. D: Military technology has great potential in civilian use.
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D

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Read the article and select the best answer. Article: The United States is already one year into a depression That was the news this week from the Na-tional Bureau of Economic Research. The downturn is the longest since a depression that began in 1981and lasted sixteen months. Economists generally wait for production to shrink for six months in a row before they declare a re-cession. But the bureau, a private group, uses a wider set of information to measure the economy. Thenews only confirmed what many people already knew: that the world's largest economy is weak and maynot recover soon. Worsening conclitions have led to a big drop in spending, especially on costly products like new cars. Even Japanese automaker Toyota saw its sales fall thirty - four percent in the United States in November from a year ago. The heads of Chrysler, Ford and General Motors retumed to Congress this week to again ask for federal aid. Congressional leaders denounced them two weeks ago after they came in private jets with no clear plans for saving their industry. This time, the chiefs drove to Washington in fuel- saving hybrid vehicles. And their companies presented detailed restructuring plans. The reguest for aid has risen from twenty-five billion dollars two weeks ago to thirty-four billion in loans and credit lines. G.M. wants almost half of that, and says it needs four billion dollars this month. It warned that without support it cannot continue to operate. Ford is in a better position, But the sharing of suppliers means it could be affected if G.M. or Chrysler fails. Ford is asking for a nine billion dollar credit line in case it needs it. Chrysler is the smallest and most trouble of America's Big Three. It says it needs a seven billion dollar loan by the end of the month. Two days of congressional hearings began Thursday in the Senate Banking Committee. The chairman, Democrat Chris Dodd, said he would support helping the automakers for the good of the economy. But the committee's top Republican, Richard Shelby, continued to express opposition to a bailout . A main root of... Question: Why were the automakers refused for federal aid two weeks ago? Options: A: Because the government had no extra money to help. B: Because they didn't have a ciear plan to save their industry. C: Because they had wasted too much on costly new cars. D: Because they had enough money to save their industry.
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B