Question: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: A new study done by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) shows that it doesn't make much of a difference that parents reward their children with cash for their better marks. Many parents have offered cash to their children in the hope that it would improve marks and possibly raise their children's interest in achieving higher marks. The study, conducted by researchers from the University of Toronto (UT) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to learn more about the potential for financial encouragement as motivation for improved marks, involved first and second year students receiving financial aid in 2008-2009 at the University of Toronto Scarborough. The top students participating in the study who said they were "very concerned" about having enough money to complete their degrees were to receive $100 for getting a grade of 70 per cent for each one-semester course, plus $20 for every percentage point beyond that.It was imaginable that a student could earn as much as $700 for achieving 100 percent in a course. Harvey Weingarten, president and CEO of HEQCO said, "In its efforts to help disadvantaged students by exploring the idea of paying them to attend school, the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) is asking the same question many other districts are asking about how to improve student participation and performance.Our study and others to date indicate that has little effect if any in those situations where it has been tested." The authors of the study suggest that ineffective study habits may be a barrier to academic achievement and that the real problem may be more a lack of academic preparation than a lack of effort or motivation.They note that the availability of peer advising does not appear to have helped greatly.They conclude that other potential avenues to improving performance, or other approaches of teaching, are needed at the high school and postsecondary levels. Question: What is mainly discussed in the passage? - Many parents have offered cash to their children. - Many first and second year students receive financial aid. - Ineffective study habits lead to poor academic achievement. - Rewarding students with cash for good grades has little effect
Answer: Rewarding students with cash for good grades has little effect

Question: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: It's 4 am, and Danilo C. Dequina is already awake. Holding a flashlight and a bucket, he is walking in the pre-dawn darkness along the shore of Old Poblacion Beach in the town of Maitum, Sarangani, in the far south of the Philippines. A few minutes later, he spots a patch of sand that appears to have been disturbed by a turtle. Dequina studies the area carefully, figuring out where the eggs have been buried, and then starts digging slowly. After clearing away several centimeters of sand, he uncovers a large group of eggs, roughly the size of ping-pong balls. He picks them up and puts them in the bucket. Dequina carries the eggs to his hatchery , some 50 meters away from the seashore. The hatchery is really just a sandy patch of land under the coconut trees enclosed by a black fence. It is here that he buries the turtle eggs he has collected. Today, Dequina scoops a hole, puts the eggs in it, and covers them with sand. After 45 to 70 days, the eggs will hatch. Dequina will then carry the hatchlings to the shore, and release them into the sea. He admits to feeling sorrow as he sets the hatchlings free -- most are hunted down by natural predators, and just one percent survive to adulthood. According to the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), eight species of sea turtles face extinction, including four that come to the shores of Sarangani to lay their eggs -- the Hawksbill, Olive Ridley, Loggerhead and Green Turtles. After learning about their plight , Dequina attended a DENR training session on turtle conservation and decided to take action. He helped the local government to set up the Pawikan Nesting Sanctuary next to his house in 2003. The hatchery drew the attention of the locals. "They started to change their attitudes towards sea turtles," 52-year-old Dequina says. "If they see turtle eggs, they will either bring them to me or inform me of the nesting places." Over the past ten years, more than 3,000 hatchlings have been released to the ocean. Question: What is the attitude of local people toward Dequina's efforts? - Doubtful. - Disappointed. - Opposed. - Supportive.
Answer: Supportive.

Question: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Below is a selection from a popular science book. If blood is red, why are veins blue? Actually, veins are not blue at all. They are more of a clear, yellowish colour. Although blood looks red when it's outside the body, when it's sitting in a vein near the surface of the skin, it's more of a dark reddish purple colour. At the right depth, these blood-filled veins reflect less red light than the surrounding skin, making them look blue by comparison. Which works harder, your heart or your brain? This question depends on whether you're busy thinking or busy exercising. Your heart works up to three times harder during exercise, and shifts enough blood over a lifetime to fill a supertanker. But, in the long run, your brain probably tips it, because even when you're sitting still your brain is using twice as much energy as your heart, and it takes four to five times as much blood to feed it. Do old people shrink as they age? Yes and no. Many people do get shorter as they age. But, when they do, it isn't because they're shrinking all over. They simply lose height as their spine becomes shorter and more curved due to disuse and the effects of gravity . Many (but not all) men and women do lose height as they get older. Men lose an average of 3-4 cm in height as they age, while women may lose 5 cm or more. If you live to be 200 years old, would you keep shrinking till you were, like 60 cm tall, like a little boy again?No, because old people don't really shrink!It is not that they are growing backwards--their legs, arms and backbones getting shorter. When they do get shorter, it's because the spine has shortened a little. Or, more often, become more bent and curved. Why does spinning make you dizzy ? Because your brain gets confused between what you're seeing and what you're feeling. The brain senses that you're spinning using special gravity and motion sensing organs in your inner ear, which work together with your eyes to keep your vision and balance stable. But when you suddenly stop spinning , the system goes out... Question: Which of the following statements about our brain is TRUE? - In the long run, our brain probably works harder than our heart. - When our brain senses the spinning, we will feel dizzy. - The brains of the other mammals are as complex as those of humans. - Our feelings and emotions come from the most developed area in our brain.
Answer:
In the long run, our brain probably works harder than our heart.