Most of us are used to seasons. Each year, spring follows winter, which follows autumn, which follows summer, which follows spring. And winter is colder than summer. But the earth goes through temperature cycles over much longer periods than those that we experience. Between 65,000 and 35,000 years ago, the planet was much colder than it is now. During that time the temperature also changed a lot, with periods of warming and cooling. Ice melted during the warm periods, which made sea levels rise. Water froze again during the cold periods. A new study from Switzerland, sheds light on where ice sheets melted during the ice age. It now seems that the ice melted at both ends of the earth, rather than just in either northern or southern regions. This surprised the researchers from the University of Bern. Scientists have long assumed that most of the ice that melted was in the Northern hemisphere during the 30,000-year long ice age. That belief was held because the North Pole is surrounded by land, while the South Pole is surrounded by the Antarctic Ocean. It is easier for ice sheets to grow on land. If surrounded by sea the ice can easily just slip into the ocean instead of building up. The researchers used a computer model to look at ways the ice could melt and how it might affect sea levels. They compared these results to evidence of how temperatures and currents actually changed during that time. The model showed that if it was only in the Northern hemisphere that ice melted, there would have been a bigger impact on ocean currents and sea temperatures than what actually happened. Studies suggest that melting just in the Southern hemisphere would have been impossible, too. The only reasonable conclusion, the scientists could make, was that ice melted equally in the North and the South. It is still a mystery as to what caused the temperature changes that caused the ice to melt. We can infer from the passage _ . A) the ice can easily just slip into the ocean B) volcanoes caused the ice to melt C) melting just in the Northern hemisphere would have been impossible D) researchers often use the computer models help their research work.
C
Let's say you have a piece of wood, a nail, and a hammer. Pretend the wood is a person, and the nail is a mean rumor about that person. If you hammer in the nail, you're obviously hurting him or her. If you then pull out the nail, there's still a hole in the wood, and the damage has been done. There are many reasons why that nail of a rumor can be so harmful. Rumors are, quite simply, a form of bullying . When a person or a group makes up a rumor about someone or decides to spread gossip, it's usually to hurt someone, break up a friendship, or make someone less popular. It's the same thing as teasing, only it's done behind someone's back instead of to his or her face. When you spread a rumor about someone, you're sending a signal that the person is outside of the group, and somehow less worthy of friendship than others. You're making fun of that person or pointing out negative things about him or her. This can let others think that it's okay to make the person feel bad, and make him or her an outsider. We need to be able to trust our friends, and gossip and rumors can break this trust. If you tell a personal secret to a friend, and he turns around and tells it to someone else, you might feel like you will get burned if you ever get close to him again. Letting a rumor influence your behavior is like letting someone else make a big decision for you. Let's say you hear that the teacher plans to call a Snow Day tomorrow because a blizzard is coming. Expecting a day off, you don't do your homework. The next morning, the blizzard turns out to be nothing more than a drizzle , and school isn't off after all. You get zeroes on your work. The purpose of this passage is to _ . A) advise on how to deal with rumors B) teach us how to judge a rumor C) find out why rumors spread fast D) explain why rumors hurt
D
(Q).
Seventeen-year-old Randy Waldron, Jr., was shocked when he applied for his first credit card and was denied. He was even more shocked by the reason: He failed to repay thousands of dollars in debt. Waldron's identity had been stolen by his father, who left when Randy was learning to walk. From 1982 to 1999, Randy Waldron, Sr., used his son's Social Security number to obtain credit from various merchants and lenders, then racked up tens of thousands of dollars in debts. He declared bankruptcy in his son's name, which resulted in default judgments against the younger Waldron. It has taken Randy Jr., now a 24-year-old flight attendant, years to untangle the mess. Waldron isn't alone. Identity theft is this country's fastest-growing crime -- and, increasingly, ID thieves are targeting children. Their clean credit and absence of criminal histories make them ideal victims. Linda Foley, co-executive director of the Identity Theft Resource Center inprefix = st1 /San Diego, estimates that at least 400,000 children had their identities stolen in 2005, more than double the number in 2003. Waldron's case is typical: The resource center estimates that two-thirds of child ID thefts are committed by family members. Some dishonest persons use children's names and Social Security numbers to ring up massive debts; others use children's identities in place of their own when caught committing other crimes; still others sell identification information on the black market to illegal immigrants, fellow criminals or even terrorists. The theft brings its victims enormous financial and emotional trauma, in part because the identity abuse often goes undetected for years. Dealing with child identity theft after it happens is extremely difficult. Laws in many states are insufficient to handle the crime's complexity, and financial institutions are often less than helpful. Randy Waldron, Jr., has worked tirelessly for eight years to straighten out his credit record, and he continues to deal with the fallout. "It's been a very... Which of the following is the best title of the passage? A) Child Identity Theft B) How to Avoid Identity Theft C) Recover My Identity D) Look out for Family Members
(A).
A