Read the article and select the best answer. Article: The World Bank has looked at the distinguishing features of successful school system. According to the World Bank's education specialist, Harry Patrinos, this include: improving the quality of teachers and making sure that teachers are highly regarded; providing information to make schools accountable and giving autonomy to schools and head teachers. This matters not only for individual pupils but also for the well-being of countries, he says, because improving educational performance has a direct impact on improving economic performance. China's education performance-- at least in cities such as Shanghai and Hong Kong-- seems to be as spectacular as the country's fast growing economy. Certainly both these open and outward-looking cities consider education to be important and are willing to adopt the best educational practices from around the world to ensure success. In Hong Kong, education accounts for more than one-fifth of entire government spending every year. "Shanghai and Hong Kong are small education systems, with a concentration of ideas, manpower and resources for education," says Prof Cheng. Under the banner "First class city, first class education", Shanghai set about systematically re-equipping classroom, upgrading schools and improving the curriculum in the last decade. It got rid of the "key schools" system which concentrated resources only on top students and top schools. Instead staff were trained in more interactive teaching methods and computers were brought in. About 80% of Shanghai school leavers go to university compared to an overall average of 24% in China. Meanwhile, dynamic Hong Kong was forced into educational improvements as its industries moved to cheaper mainland Chinese areas in the 1990s.Its survival as a service and management hub depends on upgrading knowledge and skills. In the last decade Hong Kong has concentrated on closing the gap for all students, says a report by McKinsey management consultants. The report, How the World's Most Improved School Systems Keep Getting... Question: What is the author's attitude towards the school systems of Shanghai and Hong Kong? Options: A: Negative. B: Positive. C: Neutral. D: Critical.
B

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Read the article and select the best answer. Article: If you live in America in the 21stcentury you'll probably have to listen to a lot of people tell you how busy they are. It's become the default response when you ask anyone how they are doing:"Busy!""Crazy busy!".It is,pretty obviously,a boast disguised as a complaint. And the common response is a kind of congratulation:"That's a good problem to have,"or"Better than the opposite." Notice it isn't generally people pulling back-to-back shifts in the ICU or commuting by bus to three minimum-wage jobs who tell you how busy they are.What those people are is not busy but tired.Exhausted!Dead on their feet.It's almost always people whose busyness is purely self-imposed:work and obligations they've taken on voluntarily,classes and activities they've "encouraged" their kids to participate in.They're busy because of their own ambition or drive or anxiety,because they're addicted to busyness and dread that they might have to face in _ absence. Almost everyone I know is busy. They feel anxious and guilty when they aren't either working or doing something to promote their work.It's something they have chosen.Busyness serves as a kind of existential reassurance ,a measure against emptiness,obviously your life cannot possibly be silly or tiny or meaningless if you are so busy,completely booked,in demand every hour of the day. Idleness is not just a vacation.It is as necessary to the brain as vitamin D is to the body,and deprived of it we suffer a mental affliction as ugly as rickets.The space and quiet that idleness provides is a necessary condition for standing back from life and seeing it whole,for making unexpected connections and waiting for the wild summer lightning strikes of inspiration."Idle dreaming is often the essence of what we do,"wrote Thomas Pynchon.Archimedes' "Eureka"in the bath, Newton's apple :history is full of stories of inspirations that come in idle moments. Question: From the article,we can infer that _ . Options: A: generally people pulling back-to-back shifts in the ICU tell you they are busy B: "Dead on their feet" means "being tired out" C: all the kids are self-imposed due to the drive and motivation D: The author seems to agree that idleness is better than busyness
(Answer)
B

Ques: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Gabby Logan was a gymnast when she was young. She is now the 39-year-old mother of seven-year-old twins, Reuben and Lois. The other day on TV she was dressed in a new swimsuit, which was designed to show off her nice figure, which was admired by a great number of television viewers. Gabby, who won high praise for her television show of the Olympics, has asked the woman of the whole nation to go to the swimming pool, saying the secret of her figure is regular swimming. She is also making advertisements for the new Sculpture Swimwear of Speedo, an international swimsuit company, to help women find the perfect swimsuit. Gabby said, "We all felt uneasy about getting into our swimwear at first. But we should be excited by the sporting achievements we have seen at the Olympics this summer. To get ourselves a little healthier, have a try and go to the swimming pool. " Then she said," Swimming is the perfect exercise if you want to feel healthy or simply relax. I find that going for a swim always clears my mind and also gives me some valuable 6 my time'. I like the calm of swimming which I can't experience when I am not in the pool. " A study by Speedo, an International company, which sells swimsuits, reported the biggest reason why women were put off going to the pool was the way they looked in swimwear. More than half of the l,000 women surveyed have been reduced to tears when trying on swimwear. And 48 percent said they felt too self-conscious to go swimming with their children. Sally Polak, from Speedo, said, " We're hoping to give women the courage and confidence to get back into the water. " Question: What is the author's purpose of writing the text? Options: A: To introduce a famous woman. B: To discuss a TV show of the Olympics. C: To report a way of keeping a good figure. D: To encourage women to go swimming.
Ans:
D