*Question*
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Mail carriers will be delivering some good news and some bad news this week. The bad news: Stamp prices are expected to rise 2 cents in May to 41 cents, the Postal Regulatory Commission announced yesterday. The good news: With the introduction of a "forever stamp,"it may be the last time Americans have to use annoying 2-or 3-cent stamps to make up postage differences. Beginning in May, people would be able to purchase the stamps in booklets of 20 at the regular rate of a first-class stamp. As the name implies, "forever stamps" will keep their first-class mailing value forever, even when the postage rate goes up. The new "forever stamp" is the United States Postal Service'(USPS) answer to the complaints about frequent rate increases. The May increase will be the fifth in a decade. Postal rates have risen because of inflation ,competition from online bill paying, and the rising costs of employee benefits, including healthcare, says Mark Saunders, a Spokesman for USPS. The USPS expects some financial gain from sales of the "forever stamp" and the savings from not printing as many 2-or 3-cent stamps. "It's not your grandfather's stamp," says Mr. Saunders. "It could be your great-grandchildren's stamp." Other countries, including prefix = st1 /Canada,England, andFinlanduse similar stamps. Don Schilling, who has collected stamps for 50 years, he's interested in the public's reaction. "This is an entirely new class of stamps," Mr. Schilling says. He adds that he'll buy the stamps because he will be able to use them for a long period of time, not because they could make him rich-the volume printed will be too large for collectors. "We won't be able to send our kids to college on these," he says, laughing. The USPS board of governors has yet o accept the Postal Regulatory Commission's decision, but tends to follow its recommendations. No plans have been announced yet for the design of the stamps. Question: By saying "It could be your great-grand children's stamp", Mr. Saunders means that forever stamps_. Options: A: could be collected by one's great-grandchildren B: might be very precious in great-grandchildren's hands C: might have been inherited from one's great-grandfathers D: could be used by one's great-grandchildren even decades later
**Answer**
D

*Question*
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Learning a second language can improve brain power, scientists believe. US researchers from Northwestern University say bilingualism is a form of brain training -- a mental "work out" that adjusts the mind finely. Speaking two languages well affects the brain and changes how the nervous system reacts to sound, lab tests showed. Experts say the experiment performed by the National Academy of Sciences provides "biological" evidence of this. In an attempt to prove the guess that speaking two languages is good for one's mind, the team monitored how the brain of 48 healthy student volunteers reacted to different sounds. Twenty three of these volunteers were bilingual. The scientists used special equipment to trace the pattern of brainwaves. Under quiet, laboratory conditions, the bilingual students responded in a similar way to the English-only-speaking students, who formed the control group. But the bilingual group were far superior at processing sounds even when there were a lot of people talking in the room. They were better able to focus on to the important information -- the speaker's voice -- and block out other _ noises. Prof Nina Kraus, who led the research, said: "The bilingual's better experience with sound results in a hearing system that is highly efficient, flexible and focused in its automatic sound processing, especially in challenging or novel listening conditions." Co-author Viorica Marian said: "People do crossword puzzles and other activities to keep their minds sharp. But the advantages we've discovered in double language speakers come automatically simply from knowing and using two languages.'' Musicians appear to gain a similar benefit when rehearsing , say the researchers. According to some theories, being bilingual might help avoid dementia . Question: How was the bilingual group better at processing sounds? Options: A: They were the control group. B: They could better fix their attention on something of importance. C: They were able to find the speaker's voice quickly. D: They had better nervous system.
**Answer**
B

*Question*
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Linda Evans was my best friend -like the sister I never had ,We did everything to-- gether :piano lessons ,movies, swimming , horseback riding. When I was 13, my family moved away , Linda and I kept in touch through letters ,and we saw each other on special times - like my wedding and Linda's. Soon we were busy with childern and moving to new homes, and we wrote less often , One day a card that I sent came back , stamped "Address Unknown", I had no idea about how to find Linda. Over the years, I missed Linda very much, I wanted to share happiness of my children and then grandchildren , And I needed to share my sadness when my brother and then moth-er died, There was an empty place in my heart that only a friend like Linda could fill. One day, I was reading a newspaper when I noticed a photo of a young woman who looked very much like Linda and whose last name was Wagman --Linda's married name."There must be thousands of Wagmans."I thought, but I still wrote to her. She called as soon as she got my letter, "Mrs , Tobin!"she said excitedly, "Linda Ev-ans Wagman is my mother." Minutes later I heard a voice that I recognized at once, even after 40 years ,We laughed and cried and caught up on each other's lives, Now the empty place in my heart is filled, And there's one thing that Linda and I know for sure; We won't lose each other again! Question: They didn't often write to each other because they _ . Options: A: got married B: had little time to do so C: didn't like writing letters D: could see each other on special times
**Answer**
B