I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: If you want to increase your vocabulary, the best way to do it might be to pick up a guitar, or learn the violin. A new study shows that learning to play a musical instrument makes the brain more able to remember words. "Grown-ups with music training in their childhood can have better memory for words," said Dr Agnes Chan of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, who did the research. "They can remember things that you tell them better than those who did not have music training when they were young." It seems that one can remember spoken words because his brain has a special part. "That part of the brain is larger in musicians than in non-musicians," Dr Chan told BBC. "If that part of the brain is larger, it may be better developed and so this explains very nicely our results." Dr Chan and her workmates came to their conclusion after studying students. Their research is reported in the latest edition of the journal Nature. "We did the experiment with 60 girl college students from our university and 30 of them have at least six years training with one western musical instrument (such as the violin and the piano) before the age of 12. The other 30 had received no music training. We tested their memory by reading them some words and asking them to remember these words--a very common test for memory. We found that people who have had music training can remember about 70% more information than those who have not had any music training." Dr Chan thinks the process of learning is more important than the actual instrument used. She also believes if one is able to remember words through learning to play instruments, he or she could have some very real benefits. Dr Chan thinks this could be developed into a medical way for patients who are suffering from memory loss. Question: How many students took part in Dr Chan's research? Options: A: 30 girl students. B: 60 girl students. C: 17% of his students. D: 60 girl and boy students.
B

I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. 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: The study was done in _ countries in total in 2009. Options: A: 4 B: 14 C: 18 D: 40
C

I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: Would you like to be an actor, but aren't the right age or physical type for the part? Don't give up: there may be a place for you in the world of voice-acting. _ . In addition to many appearances on television and in movies, Rickey is a voice-over actor, someone we hear but don't see. Rickey has acted since he was 6, both on and off camera. After school, his grandmother-- a manager and acting coach--helped him develop his skills by doing voice exercises and reading aloud. Voice-over actors do many kinds of acting. They are the voices of cartoon characters on television, in movies and video games, and for communicating toys. In films, they replace the foreign language conversation with English version. They create crowd noises, make commercials, act in radio plays, and record telephone instructions and public announcements. They read books on tape and even record museum tours. Like other actors, voice-over actors need to understand scripts, interpret characters, and breathe correctly. They have to master voice techniques, such as pacing, volume, and range. Sometimes they use their normal voices; other times they change their voices to create different characters or noises. Rickey receives his Danny Phantom scripts only a few days before he tapes each episode . He writes helpful notes on the script to guide himself on speaking his part. Rickey practices, then tapes at the recording studio. He and the other cast members sit in a soundproof booth, acting out their characters as they read their lines into the microphones. "The cartoon gets created after we record the words, so we have to imagine everything in our mind," says Rickey. Later, the recorded words, music, and sound effects are combined with the cartoon art to create the cartoon we enjoy on TV. Sound interesting? Maybe you can have a "voice" in acting after all! Question: From the passage we can infer that _ . Options: A: it's very complex to become a cartoon film voice-over actor B: Rickey has been involved with acting most of his life C: Rickey's mother helped him a lot with acting D: many people have nice voices
B