Is losing weight as simple as doing a 15-minute writing exercise? In a new study, women who wrote about their most important values, like close relationships or religion, lost more weight over the next few months than women who didn't. "We have this need to feel self-integrity (,)," says Christine Logel of the University of Waterloo. "When something threatens your sense that you're a good person, like failing a test, we can buffer that self-integrity by reminding ourselves how much we love our children, for example". For this study, the researchers recruited 45 female undergraduates, of whom 58% were overweight. Each woman was weighed, and was then given a list ofimportant values, like creativity, music or relationships with friends and family members. Each woman ranked the values in order of how important they were to her. Then half the women were told to write for 15 minutes about the value that was most important to her. The other half, a control group, were told to write about why a value far down on their list might be important to someone else. The women came back months later to be weighed again. Women who had written about an important value lost an average of 3.41 pounds, while women in the control group gained an average of 2.76 pounds. "How we feel about ourselves can have a big effect," Logel says. Maybe when one of the women who wrote about an important value went home that night, she felt good about herself and didn't eat to make herself feel better. Over a few months, that could make a real difference in her life, How can a 15-minute writing exercise ofimportant values affect people? A) They will feel proud of themselves and gain weight gradually. B) They may feel good about themselves and then eat less than usual. C) They may continue writing and decide to become a professional writer. D) They will never have meals at night to make themselves lose weight.
B
The computer keyboard helped kill shorthand---a system of rapid handwriting, and now it's threatening to finish off handwriting as a whole. When handwritten essays were introduced on the SAT exams for the class of 2011, just 15% of the most 1.5 million students wrote their answers in cursive .The rest? Block letters. And those college hopefuls are just the first edge of a wave of US students who no longer get much handwriting instructions in the primary grades, frequently 10 minutes a day or less. As a result, more and more students struggle to read and write cursive. At Keene Mill Elementary School in Springfield, all their poems and stories are typed. Children in Fairfax County schools are taught keyboarding beginning in kindergarten. Older students who never mastered handwriting say it doesn't affect their grades. There are those who say the culture is at a crossing, turning from the written word to the typed one. If handwriting becomes a lost form of communication, does it matter? It was at University of Virginia that researchers recently discovered a previously unknown poem by Robert, written in his unique script. Handwritten documents are more valuable to researchers, historians say, because their authenticity can be confirmed. Students also find them more fascinating. The loss of handwriting also may be a cognitive opportunity missed. Several academic studies have found that good handwriting skills at a young age can help children express their thoughts better-a lifelong benefit. It doesn't take much to teach better handwriting skills. At some schools in Prince George's County, elementary school students use a program called Handwriting Without Tears for 15 minutes a day. They learn the correct formation of manuscript letters through second grade, and cursive letters in third grade. There are always going to be some kids who struggle with handwriting because of their particular neurological wiring, learning issues or poor motor skills. Educators often point to this factor in support of keyboarding. According to the author, when is a perfect time to learn handwriting? A) Kindergarten. B) Primary school. C) High school. D) College.
B
Q: Born in 1936 in Oak Park, Illinois, the American Richard Bach is the direct descendant of J.S. Bach, the famous composer. He attended Long Beach State College in 1955. As an airplane pilot, Bach got married to his first wife and had six children, but divorced later and then left his family because he didn't believe in marriage. Everything concerning airplane was his field, including an aviation technical writer and flight instructor. Though aviation was his true love, Bach always wanted to write. During his high school years, one of his teachers made him realize his potential. In 1959 he had this idea of a bird learning to pass beyond the walls of limitations--Jonathan Livingston Seagull. In almost all his books he used airplanes as a way to pass the message. In Running from Safety, Bach shares with us his childhood: at age 8, he lost one of his brothers: Bobby. In 1970, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, a story about a seagull who flew for the sake of flying rather than merely to catch food, was published by Macmillan Publishers after the manuscript was turned down by many other publishers. The book, which included unique photos of seagulls in flight, became a best-seller. In 1973, the book was turned into a movie. It's said that Bach charged the production with changing the movie without his permission. In fact, those who saw the movie noticed that his name wasn't mentioned. About Richard Bach, we know from the passage that _ . A) his grandson was a famous composer B) he stayed with his family all the time C) he began to study in college at age 19 D) he majored in music in college
A: C
*Question*
In 1809, Mary Kies received the first U.S. patent issued to a woman. Kies , a Connecticut native , invented a process for weaving straw with silk or thread. First Lady Dolley Madison praised her for improving the nation's het industry. Unfortunately , the patent file was destroyed in a big fire in 1836. Until about 1840, only 20 U.S. patents were issued to women. The inventions were related to clothes, tools ,cook stoves and fireplaces. Patent is the "ownership" of an invention and only the inventor(s) can apply for it. In the past , women were not allowed to have equal rights of property ownership and many women patented their inventions under their husbands' or fathers' name. Women were also prevented from receiving higher education necessary for inventing. Here are a few examples to be noticed, and from these examples, we know enough reasons for encouraging girls and women to pursue technology-based courses and careers. The women inventors took annually granted U.S. patents rising fro;m 2.6 percent in 1977 to 10.3 percent in 1998. The majority of the U.S. woman-inventor patents are in the chemical technologies. In 1996, every eleven U.S. patent grant included one woman inventor. In the past 20 years, about 83 percent of the U. S. patent grants to women were for utility patents , 16.5 percent for design patents, and 0.5 percent for plant patents. About 35 percent of the U.S woman-inventor patents granted during the 1977 to 1996 period originated form California , New York or New Jersey. Today, hundreds of thousands of women apply for and receive patents every year. About 20% of all inventors are currently female and that number will quickly rise to 50% over the next generation. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage? A) The woman-inventor patent share rose by 7.7 percent since 1977. B) The woman-inventor patent share was 2.6 percent in 1977. C) Most of the woman-inventor patents are in the chemical technologies D) The woman-inventor patent share in the chemical technologies was 10.3 percent.
**Answer**
C