Learning to play a musical instrument can change your brain, with a US review finding musical training can lead to improved speech and foreign language skills. Although it was suggested in the past that listening to Mozart's music or other classical music could make you smarter, there has been little evidence to show that music can boost brain power. But a data-driven review by Northwestern University has pulled reaserch together that links musical training to learning that spills over into skills including language, speech, memory, attention and even vocal emotion. Researcher Nina Kraus said the data strongly suggested that the nervous connections made during musical training also prepared the brain for other aspects of human communication. " The effect of musical training suggests that, like physical exercise and its effect on body fitness, music is a resource that tones the brain for _ fitness and thus requires society to re-examine the role of music in shaping individual development, " the researchers said in their study. Kraus said learning musical sounds could improve the brain's ability to adapt and change and also enable the nervous system to provide constructing patterns that are important to learning. The study, published in Nature Review Neuroscience , looked at the explosion of research in recent years focusing on the effect of musical training on the nervous system which could have impacts for education. The study found that playing an instrument prepares the brain to choose what is related in a complex process that may involve reading or remembering a score, timing issues and coordination with other musicians. It was believed but not proved that listening to classical music could _ . A) add to your intelligence B) improve your speech C) boost your memory D) make you think faster
A
(Question)
Surprisingly, no one knows how many children receive education in English hospitals, still less the content or quality of that education. Proper records are just not kept. We know that more than 850,000 children go through hospital each year, and that every child of school age has a legal right to continue to receive education while in hospital. We also know there is only one hospital teacher to every 1,000 children in hospital. Little wonder the latest survey concludes that the extent and type of hospital teaching available differ a great deal across the country. It is found that half the hospitals in England which admit children have no teacher. A further quarter have only a part-time teacher. The special children's hospitals in major cities do best; general hospitals in the country and holiday areas are worst off. From this survey, one can estimate that fewer than one in five children have some contact with a hospital teacher--and that contact may be as little as two hours a day. Most children interviewed were surprised to find a teacher in hospital at all. They had not been prepared for it by parents or their own school. If there was a teacher they were much more likely to read books and do math or number work; without a teacher they would only play games. Reasons for hospital teaching range from preventing a child falling behind and maintaining the habit of school to keeping a child occupied, and the latter is often all the teacher can do. The position and influence of many teachers was summed up when parents referred to them as "the library lady" or just "the helper". Children tend to rely on concerned school friends to keep in touch with school work. Several parents spoke of requests for work being ignored or refused by the school. Once back at school children rarely get extra teaching, and are told to catch up as best they can. Many short-stay child-patients catch up quickly. But schools do very little to ease the anxiety about falling behind expressed by many of the children interviewed. It can be inferred from the latest survey that _ . A) hospital teaching across the country is similar B) each hospital has at least one part-time teacher C) all hospitals surveyed offer education to children D) only one-fourth of the hospital have full-time teacher
(Answer)
D
Ques: Hundreds of years ago, life was much harder than it is today. People didn't have modern machines. There was no modern medicine, either. Life today has brought new problems. One of the biggest is pollution. Water pollution has made our rivers and lakes dirty. It kills our fish and pollutes our drinking water. Noise pollution makes us talk louder and become angry more easily. Air pollution is the most serious kind of pollution. It's bad to all living things in the world. Cars, planes and factories all pollute our air every day. Sometimes the polluted air is so thick that it is like a quilt over a city. This kind of quilt is called smog. Many countries are making rules to flight pollution. Factories must now clean their water before it is thrown away, and they mustn't blow dirty smoke into the air. We need to do many other things. We can put waste things in the dustbin and do not throw them on the ground, there will be less pollution. Rules are not enough. Every person must help to fight pollution. The most serious kind of pollution is _ . A) noise pollution B) air pollution C) water pollution D) A, B and C
Ans: B
Backpacks are convenient. They can hold your books, your lunch, and a change of clothes, leaving your hands free to do other things. Someday, if you don't mind carrying a heavy load, your backpacks might also power your MP3 player, keep your cell phone running, and maybe even light your way home. Lawrence C. Rome and his colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia2 and the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole3, Mass. 4, have invented a backpack that makes electricity from energy produced while its wearer walks. In military actions, search-and- rescue operations, and scientific field studies, people rely increasingly on cell phones, global positioning system (GPS)5 receivers, night-vision goggles, and other battery-powered devices to get around and do their work. The backpack's electricity-generating feature could dramatically reduce the amount of a wearer's load now devoted to spare batteries, report Rome and his colleagues in the Sept. 9 Science6. The backpack's electricity-creating powers depend on springs used to hang a cloth pack from its metal frame. The frame sits against the wearer's back, and the whole pack moves up and down as the person walks. A gear mechanism converts vertical movements of the pack to rotary motions of an electrical generator, producing up to 7.4 watts. Unexpectedly, tests showed that wearers of the new backpack alter their gaits in response to the pack's oscillations, so that they carry loads more comfortably and with less effort than they do ordinary backpacks. Because of that surprising advantage, Rome plans to commercialize both electric and non-electric versions of the backpack. The backpack could be especially useful for soldiers, scientists, mountaineers, and emergency workers who typically carry heavy backpacks. For the rest of us, power- generating backpacks could make it possible to walk, play video games, watch TV,and listen to music, all at the same time. Electricity-generating packs aren't on the market yet, but if you do get one eventually,... Backpacks are convenient because A) your hands are freed to do other things. B) they can hold as many things as you want to carry. C) they can be very large. D) you do not have to carry things with you.
A