Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Recently, we've been talking about how we need better teachers. There's no doubt that a great teacher can help in a student's achievement but here's what some new studies are also showing: We need better parents. Every three years, the organization called O.E.C.D. organizes exams as part of the Program for International Student Assessment , or PISA, which tests 15-year-olds on their abilities to solve real problems. America's 15-year-olds have not done as well as students in Singapore, Finland and Shanghai in the PISA exams. To better understand the reasons, the PISA team, starting with four countries in 2006, and then adding 14 more in 2009, went to the parents of 5,000 students. They interviewed them about how they raised their kids and then compared it with the test results for each of those years. Two weeks ago, the PISA team published the main findings of its study: Fifteen-year-olds whose parents often read books with them during their first year of primary school get much higher scores in PISA 2009 than students whose parents don't often read with them or not at all. Parents' concern for their children is strongly connected with better results in PISA. According to Schleicher, the leader of the team, just asking your children how their school day was and showing great interest in their learning can help a lot. It is something every parent can do, no matter what their education level. The study found that getting parents concerned about their children's learning at home is more powerful than parents attending parent-teacher meetings, volunteering in classrooms, taking part in money-raising, and showing up at back-to-school nights. To be sure, nothing can replace a good teacher. But let's stop putting the whole responsibility on teachers. We also need better parents. Better parents can make teaching more effective . Question: It is suggested in the study that parents should _ . - try to search for better teachers - put the whole duty on teachers - care about their children's school life - ask their children to read more books
care about their children's school life

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Energy is very important in modern life. People use energy to run machines, heat and cool their homes, cook, give light, and transport people and products from place to place. Most energy comes from fossil fuels--petroleum, coal, and natural gas. However, burning fuels causes pollution. Also, if we don't find new kinds of energy, we will use up all the fossil fuels in the twenty-first century. Scientists are working hard to find other kinds of energy for the future. What might these sources of energy be? Energy from the wind All over the world, people use the power of the wind. It turns windmills and moves sailboats. It is a clean source of energy, and there is lots of it. Unfortunately, if the wind does not blow, there is no wind energy. Energy from water When water moves from a high place to a lower place, it makes energy. This energy is used to create electricity. In Brittany, France, for example, waterpower produces enough energy to light a town of 40,000people. Waterpower gives energy without pollution. However, people have to build dams to use this energy. Dams cost a lot of money, so water energy is expensive. Energy from the earth There is heat in rocks under the earth. Scientists use this heat to make geothermal energy. San Francisco gets half of the energy it needs from geothermal power. This kind of energy is cheap, but it is possible only in a few places in the world. Energy from the sun Solar panels on the roofs of houses can turn energy from the sun into electricity. These panels can create enough energy to heat an entire house. Solar power is clean and there is a lot of it in sunny places. But when the weather is bad, there is no sunlight for energy. Question: What does this passage mainly talk about? - Advantage of the energy from nature. - The future of the energy. - Scientists have been working hard to research other kinds of energy. - Energy is the most important power in the word.
Scientists have been working hard to research other kinds of energy.

Q: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Who are the elders in your family? The most common answer is that they are your parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and elder cousins ------in a word, any who is older than you. But that doesn't really answer the question, does it? In a normal family, there is a big difference between being elderly and being an elder. Elders are the storytellers, the cooks, the historians, the authorities, the knitters, and the workhorses. They are the people we respect and turn to for answers or help when we are in trouble, because of their many years of life experience. Most of all, they are the people who raised you and your loved ones and helped you growing into the people you are. For many years, they carried the burden of caring for your family and leading it to better times. Now it's your turn to dote on them. Ensuring the welfare of your elders should come as naturally to us as raising our children. Unfortunately, too many people take their parents' and grandparents' ability to care for them for granted. And in a country where so many of us live hundreds of miles from our families, looking after loved ones can be difficult. Even so, you should make sure your loved ones are taken care of no matter where they live, and try to look after the seniors living alone in your neighbor, too. Taking responsibility for the elders in our society in an important thing that all citizens should do. Question: In which of the following columns would you most probably read this passage? - Education - Parenting - Society - Family
A: Family

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Every athlete,from Tiger Woods(a golf player)to a high school quarterback ,uses a form of self-hypnosis to move their game to the next level Use the Olympics to 1earn how to use the amazing power of your subconscious to do the same with your sport. Here are some examples of how to best use the power of the mind: During the 2004 Olympics,one of the swimmers told of how she would fall asleep each night with the picture of a clock in her mind. It was the timer's clock she would see at the end of her Olympic swim and it always had her world-record-breaking time on it. In his pre-shot routine, Tiger Woods never varies the number of practice swings or intensity of his concentration.The pre-shot routine is always the same so that the stroke will always be the same. Michael Phelps,American Swimming Gold Medalist, always stretches out his back and arms by swinging both arms three times before his event. Not 2,not 4: always 3. He is anchoring in his winning state of mind and state of body as well as stretching. In athletics, an anchor is a gesture or series of gestures that put you into the frame-of mind(and body)you want to be in to win.Repetition is what makes it work .That means practice,practice,practice ---- with your body as well as your mind. Begin right now creating a ritual before you exercise.Visualize yourself doing whatever you do faster, longer, higher--whatever adverb works best for your particular activity. Then begin to mentally practice it. See or imagine yourself-----with your ideal body ---- doing your activity better, faster, longer, etc. Using both the power of your brain and the activity of your body, soon you will be better and fitter as you use the Olympics to help you create a happier and healthier you. Question: Why does Michael Phelps always take the same warming-up activities before his events? - Because back and arms are the most important parts for a swimmer. - Because this is the best stretching for any swimmer. - Because this is the best way to adjust his state - Because he wants to confuse his opponents .
Because this is the best way to adjust his state