I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: Close relationships, thought to help communication by giving speakers a common context, are actually more likely to make _ when strangers are involved, a new study suggests. Because close colleagues and friends already share so much common knowledge that they often use short, ambiguous messages which can lead to misunderstandings. "People are so used to talking with those with whom they already share a great deal of information that, when they have something really new to share, they often present it in a way that they assume the person already knows it." says study-team member Boaz Keysar. Keysar and his graduate student, Shall Wu, trained 40 pairs of undergraduate students to memorize made-up names and descriptions of strange shapes. In each pair, the "director" had to communicate the identity of one of the 24 shapes. The partner had to use the information to choose the correct shape from a set of three images on a computer monitor. Half of the partners studied only the first six shapes, while the others learned the first 18 shapes. The directors, who had memorized all the shapes, were aware of their partners' knowledge levels of the shapes. In the pairs with the most shared knowledge, the directors were more likely to rattle off shape names, compared with pairs with little knowledge overlap , in which the directors were more likely to describe the actual shapes. Not surprisingly, participants with more shared knowledge were twice as likely to ask for clarification as those with less overlap. Language itself can be confusing. "The reason all this is happening at all is that language in general is ambiguous," said Keysar. He recalls an ambiguous billboard near a stadium holding a Rolling Stones concert that night. The billboard read, "Avoid LSD tonight." (:LSD"") Hmmm? "It was about Lake Shore Drive, and I'm sure the writer of the sign didn't realize he was being ambiguous," Keysar said. "Even though miscommunication can lead to missed meetings or deadlines, people are often unaware when their language is... Question: In Keysar's experiment, which of the following gives more accurate descriptions of the shapes? Options: A: The "directors" of the pairs with little shared knowledge. B: The "directors" of the pairs who shared more knowledge. C: The partners whose directors rattle off shape names. D: The partners whose directors give clear clarifications.
A
(Question)
I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: Is there a nationwide shortage of nurses? It's hard to say. However, some characteristic symptoms often indicate that there is indeed a shortage. One symptom is the vacancy rate, or the percentage of budgeted positions that are unfilled. New England's hospitals currently report that an average of 7 to 12 percent of their registered nurse positions are vacant, the highest level since the last shortage in the late 1980s. Vermont has a ly low vacancy rate, at 7.8 percent. But its vacancies were at 1.2 percent just five years ago. Another symptom is the increased use of stopgap measures to fill empty positions. For instance, many nurses report an _ in how frequently they are asked to stay past their shifts. According to Murphy, working in the St. Elizabeth's Hospital, "The shortage has definitely created a lot of opportunities of overtime for our nurses, whether they want them or not." Similarly, a national survey of registered nurses shows that in an average week, nurses in the U.S. work 2.4 more hours than they are scheduled to. Much of this extra time is voluntary, as nurses earn overtime pay when they stay to fill in blanks in the schedule. When they can't fill open positions by more traditional means, health care providers hire temporary staff to tide them over. Travelling workers are the largest part of the temporary health care workforce, hired for thirteen-week reduction at health care facilities facing short-term lack of workers. Temporary workers, mainly nurses, cost hospitals $ 7.2 billion in 2000. "Any successful solution to the shortage depends on convincing more people to become nurses, and that is not an easy goal to reach. To achieve it," says Buerhaus, "society needs to place more value on nursing. Legislation can't do that - it should come from people." And if this continues, we might have to learn to care for ourselves in the hospital. Question: What's the author's attitude towards nurse shortage? Options: A: Worried B: Indifferent C: Doubtful D: Optimistic
(Answer)
A
Ques:I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: With hospitals and nursing homes tending to thousands of patients every year accidents can---and do ---happen. These incidents whether they are through carelessness or otherwise, can leave patients feeling powerless. That's not the case. "There is growing public awareness. People are feeling they have more rights and they have tools in hand to make a complaint," said Ralph Montano, spokesman for the California Department of Public Health, which regulates hospitals and long term care facilities in the state. That department received more than 6000 complaints about hospitals in 2007; in the most recent year statistics are available. The complaints can be about mixed-up lab results, medicine errors, foreign objects left in a patient during surgery or a host of other topic. Similarly, the California Department of Aging received 43000 nursing home complaints in 2009. Some said patient abuse or neglect of patients; others reported missing items. And some commented on the quality of the food. But finding the channels through them to put forward a complaint can be tiring and time consumption. Many consumers simply don't bother, and some become lost in the system. Whether the complaint is against a hospital or a long-term care facility, the process is similar--- and many people can help, including the facility's staff, insurance company representatives and state regulators. If you want to make a complaint while in the hospital, Patti Harvey, vice president of quality and patient care services for Kaiser Permanente in Southern California, recommends talking with the bedside nurse. If that doesn't work, you can talk with other people higher in the chain of command, up to the hospital administrator. If the problem isn't still taken care of ---say you disagree with your treatment plan or have a problem with your doctor---member service offices at each hospital can help address your concerns. Question: Why are there more complaints from patients? Options: A: Because hospitals have more and more rights. B: Because it's convenient for people to put forward complaints. C: Because in the hospital there are more accidents than before. D: Because there are more departments to deal with complaints.

Ans:
B