The drug store was closing for the night. Young Alfred Higgins, the shop-assistant, was ready to go home. Mr. Carr, the boss, stared at him and said: "Stop! Alfred. Maybe you'd be good enough to take the things out of your pockets and leave them here before you go." Alfred's face got red. After a little hesitation , he took out what he had stolen. Mr. Carr said, "Maybe I should call you mother and let her know I'm going to have to put you in prison." Alfred thought his mother would come rushing in, eyes burning with anger. But, to his surprise, she arrived wearing a smile. "Hello, I'm Alfred's mother. Is he in trouble?" she said. Mr. Carr was surprised, too. He had expected Alfred's mother to come in nervously, shaking with fear, asking with wet eyes for a mercy for her son. Yet, she was most calm, quiet, and pleasant, which made Mr. Carr feel guilty . Soon Mr. Carr was shaking his head in agreement with what she was saying. "Of course", he said, "I don't want to be cruel. You are right. Sometimes, a little good advice is the best thing for a boy at certain times in his life and it often takes the youth a long time to grow up." And he warmly shook Mrs. Higgins's hand. Back home, without even looking at Alfred, she said, "You are a burden. Your trouble came one after another, always! Why do you stand there so stupidly? Go to bed." In his bedroom, Alfred heard his mother in the kitchen. Getting to the kitchen, he saw his mother drinking a cup of tea. His mother's face was a frightened, broken one, totally different from the earlier cool, bright face. She lifted the tea cup, her hands shaking, the lips moving nervously. He watched his mother quietly, without making a sound. The picture of his mother nearly made him cry. Realizing all the troubles he brought his mother in her shaking hands and the deep lines of worry in her grey face, he felt he shouldn't have done such a shameful theft to hurt his mother so deeply. He determined to grow up like a true man and protect his mother rather than hurt her again. According to the passage, which of the following is probably said by Mrs. Higgins while talking to Mr. Carr? A) "I can't believe it! You are treating my son like that!" B) "You know, it takes time for a youth to truly grow up." C) "Punishment plays an important role in kid's life." D) "Oh, my Gosh, you know, he is just a kid after all."
B
(Question)
That little "a" with a circle curling around it that is found in E - mail addresses is most commonly referred to as the "at" symbol. Surprisingly though, there is no official, universal name for this sign. There are dozens of strange terms to describe the "@" symbol. Before it became the standard symbol for electronic mail, the "@" symbol was used to represent the cost of something or how heavy something is. For instance, if you purchased 6 apples, you might write it as 6 apples "@" $1.10 each. With the introduction of e-mail came the popularity of the "@" symbol. The "@" symbol or the "at sign" separates a person's online user name from his mail server address. For instance, joe@uselessknowledge.com. Its widespread use on the Internet made it necessary to put this symbol on keyboards in other countries that have never seen or used the symbol before. As a result, there is really no official name for this symbol. The actual origin of the symbol remains a mystery. History tells us that the @ symbol came from the tired hands of the Middle Ages. During the Middle Ages before the invention of printing machines, every letter of a word had to be copied with great efforts by hand for each copy of a published book. The monks that performed these long, boring coping duties looked for ways to reduce the number of individual strokes per word for common words. Although the word "at" is quite short to begin with, it was a common enough word in text and documents so that those monks thought it would be quicker and easier to shorten the word "at" even more. As a result, the monks changed the shape of "t" into a circle to surround "a", thus leaving out two strokes in the spelling "t". Which of the following is the best title of the passage? A) How "at" developed into @. B) How @ came into being. C) How monks invented @. D) How people wrote the cost of something.
(Answer)
B
Question: I'd like to share my unforgettable experience with you. Believe it or not, it was a real happening. We were on tour a few summers ago, driving through Chicago, when right outside of the city, we got pulled over. A middle-aged policeman came up to the car and was really being troublesome at first. Lecturing us, he said, "You were speeding. Where are you going in such a hurry?" Our guitarist, Tim, told him that we were on our way to Wisconsin to play a show. His way towards us totally changed. He asked, "Oh, so you boys are in a band?" We told him that we were. He then asked all the usual band questions about the type of music we played, and how long we had been at it. Suddenly, he stopped and said, "Tim, you want to get out of this ticket, don't you?" Tim said, "Yes." So the officer asked him to step out of the car. The rest of us, inside the car, didn't know what to think as we watched the policeman talk to Tim. Next thing we knew, the policeman was putting Tim in the back of the police car he had parked in front of us. With that, he threw the car into reverse , stopping a few feet behind our car. Now we suddenly felt frightened. We didn't know if we were all going to prison, or if the policeman was going to sell Tim on the black market or something. All of a sudden, the policeman's voice came over his loudspeaker. He said, "Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time ever, we have Tim here singing on Route 90." The policeman had told Tim that the only way he was getting out of the ticket was if he sang part of one of our songs over the loudspeaker in the police car. Seconds later, Tim started screaming into the receiver. The policeman enjoyed the performance , and sent us on our way without a ticket. The policeman stopped the boys to _ . A) put them into prison B) give them a ticket C) enjoy their performance D) ask some band questions
Answer:
B