Born in a landowner family, Modest Mussorgsky learned his first lessons in piano from his mother. When he turned nine, Mussorgsky had already started performing for family and friends. The very next year, he was admitted to St. Peter's School and then went ahead to publish a piano piece called Porte-enseigne Polka, which was funded by his father. The family tradition of military service was carried on by Mussorgsky, as he joined the Cadet School of the Guards at age of 13. There he continued to take piano lessons with the General's daughter. He graduated from the school in 1856. While in service, he developed friendship with Alexander Borodin and Alexander Dargomyzhsky, the famous Russian composers who had a deep impact on his musical career. Mussorgsky decided to devote his life to music in 1858, he joined Mikhail Glinka's opera A Life for the Tsar. He produced a four-hand piano sonata in 1860 which was his only movement in sonata form. By this time, he had finished his studies. In the same year, he began to work on an opera called Salammbo on which he spent three years of his life. But, his musical career came to a standstill after his mother died in 1865. This led him into alcoholism. In 1867, he finished Night on Bald Mountain which was his most famous composition. During 1868-1869, he composed an opera describing the life of the Tsars which was rejected by Mariinsky Theatre. Later, he made a few changes to the opera and the new version was accepted in May, 1872. His alcoholism made him drift away from his circle of friends and worsened his situation in later life. His later year's compositions include Sunless and Khovanschina. Though his physical condition improved for some weeks, he soon passed away on March 28, 1881, a week after his 42nd birthday. While in service, Mussorgsky _ . A) performed works for family and friends B) published Porte-enseigne Polka C) taught the General's daughter to play the piano D) made friends with some famous composers.
D
For more than six million American children, coming home after school means coming home to an empty house. Some deal with the situation by watching TV. Some may hide. But all of them have something in common. They spend part of each day alone. They are called latchkey children. They're children who look after themselves while their parents work. And their bad condition has become a subject of concern. Lynette Long was once the headmaster of an elementary school. She said, "We had a school rule against wearing jewelry. A lot of kids had chains around their necks with keys attached. I was constantly telling them to put them inside shirts. There were so many keys, it never came to my mind what they meant." Slowly, she learned they were house keys. She and her husband began talking to the children who had them. They learned of the impact working couples and single parents were having on their children. Fear is the biggest problem faced by children at home alone. One in each three latchkey children the Longs talked to reported being scared. Many had nightmares and were worried about their own safety. The most common way latchkey children deal with their fears is by hiding. It might be in a shower stall, under a bed in a closet. The second is TV. They'll often play it at high volume. It's hard to get statistics on latchkey children, the Longs learned. Most parents are slow to admit they leave their children alone. The main idea about "latchkey children" is that they _ . A) are growing in numbers B) are also found in middle-class neighborhoods C) watch too much television during the day D) suffer problems from being left alone
D
Q: In American crime movies, policemen search crime scenes for anything that might belong to a criminal-- bits of fingernail , blood or hair-- in order to find out who they are. What they hope to find is the key to their identity--their DNA. DNA is the chemical that contains a person's genetic makeup. Every person, except for identical twins, has unique DNA information. That is why we can use it to identify someone. There is no doubt that DNA evidence is becoming a very powerful tool for law enforcement officers. In the US, all 50 states and the federal government keep DNA databases of some criminals after they have been convicted . Whenever a crime happens, the police collect DNA from the crime scene and compare this with samples they already have in the criminal database. If they match any suspect in the database, then they've caught their criminal. Even if they don't, the DNA sample can still be used to determine the person's sex, height, hair and eye color1 and other characteristics. This helps police to create a physical profile of the criminal. Some people feel that the database should be made bigger to contain everyone's DNA and help to solve many more crimes. This would also avoid mistakes when someone is wrongly convicted of a crime. DNA doesn't make mistakes. However, other people are worried that it would violate their privacy. Someone's DNA can be used to gather information such as the person's family and ethnic background, whether he or she has a gene mutation or certain genetic diseases, and other personal issues. People are afraid that this information might be used inappropriately. They may fear that employers might read it and treat them differently. People may also be afraid that personal data might get into the hands of insurance firms or loan companies. For example, if they knew from your DNA that you had a genetic risk of a serious disease, they might be able to refuse you life insurance, a loan, or even a job. Clearly, the use of DNA evidence will continue to help the police solve... What is the article mainly about? A) The possibilities opened up by DNA technology B) The controversy over DNA databases C) How DNA databases are built D) What role DNA plays in solving crimes.
A: B
(Question)
A new planet-hunting technique has detected the most earth-like planet yet around a star other than our sun, raising hopes of finding a space rock that might support life, astronomers reported recently. "This is an important discovery to answer the question 'Are we alone?'" said Michael Turner of the National Science Foundation. "The team has discovered the most earth-like planet yet, and more importantly, has proved the power of a new technique that is sensitive to detecting planets that are fit for people to live on," Turner said in a statement. In the last decade, astronomers have detected more than 160 planets moving around stars outside our solar system. Most of these have been gas giant planets like Jupiter, which are unfit for life. But an international team has detected a cold planet about 5.5 times more massive than the earth -- still small enough to be considered earth-like -- moving around a star about 20,000 light years away, close to the center of the Milky Way. To find this new planet, the team used a technique called gravitational microlensing . When a planet is circling the closest star, the planet's gravity can add its own signature to the light. This kind of light signature was observed on July 11 by a group of telescopes in a project known as OGLE, short for Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment. "The main advantage of microlensing is the signals for low-mass planets: They're not weak signals. They're just rare," Bennett of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana said by telephone. "If there happens to be a straight line between a foreground star with its planet and the background source star, then you're able to detect that planet." Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage? A) The signals coming from low-mass planets are too weak to be noticed. B) Most of the discovered planets are not fit for people to live on. C) If a star with its planet happens to be in line with the source star, then the planet can be found. D) The power of the new technique is proved by the discovery of the earth-like planet.
(Answer)
A