My husband and I were once in Nepal to see sunrise over the Himalayas. One morning we awoke to total darkness at 5 o'clock.As we rushed through a town with cameras in hand,I noticed the calm,gentle way the Nepalese people greeted the morning.One man boiled a huge pot of milk tea,and other villagers gathered around his fire,cupping their hands around small glasses of the steaming sweet mixture.It was fascinating,but not to be left behind,we joined the stream of tourists moving quickly up to the lookout point. The top was crowded when we arrived,but after 10 minutes of cold waiting,the assembled group gave up."The cloud cover is too heavy,"one said.Then one by one they rushed down the hill to the next item on their sightseeing list.I was disappointed as well,but suddenly I noticed a small Nepalese boy absently playing with a stick and shooting quick glances at the clouds.He must know something we don't,I thought.I decided to wait with him. The boy and I didn't have to wait long.Moments later,a tiny stream of golden light burned through one thick cloud,then another.Rose-colored fog warmed the backs of the clouds,and suddenly the morning sun stole a glance around the side of the mountain,mile above where I'd expected it to be. Nothing I'd seen before prepared me for the moment the clouds withdrew with bowed heads,and the magnificent Himalayas were revealed before,around,and above me.I sat in astonishment,not breathing,not daring to look away,certain that God had placed me here at the backdoor of Earth to show me what Heaven really looks like.I certainly got the message.Never again will I rush a sunrise.I now know Nature will supply her fruits to me only when I am truly ready to receive them. What can be concluded from the passage? A) Do in Rome as the Romans do. B) God helps those who help themselves. C) Time and tide wait for no man. D) Fortune rewards those having patience.
D
(Question)
Many people would interpret "The American dream" as "living like an American"--a two-story house with a white picket fence; a family with two cars; and two children. However, the economic situation is now affecting the American way of life for 4.4 million people living in the US, according to new census data. "It's going to have a long-term impact and to say it's going to end is optimistic, " says Cheryl Russell, former editor-in- chief of American Demographics magazine. "I'm more pessimistic that this is the new normal." So what is the new normal? *Marrying later. The average age of the first marriage has increased to 28.7 for men and 26.7 for women, up from 27.5 and 25.9 respectively in 2006. At the same time, fewer people are getting married. If the marriage rate had stayed the same as in 2006, there would have been about 4 million more married people in 2010. *Fewer babies. There were 200,000 fewer births among women aged 20 to 34 in 2010 compared with two years before. This was despite the fact that the number of women of childbearing age had gone up by more than 1 million. "The recession is the likely cause ," says Kenneth Johnson, demographer at the University of New Hampshire's Carsey Institue, "Economic fertility " because women delay ...in uncertain times. *Breaking up is harder. The number of divorces has been falling for 25 years as people wait longer or choose to live together before they get married. There were about 65,000 fewer divorces in 2010 than in 2008, a 7 percent decrease. *Crowd living. Unemployment is forcing more people to live together. The number of households where people lived with "other s" climbed from 6.7 percent in 2006 to 7.2 percent in 2010. *Going public. Private school enrollment decreased from 13.6 percent in 2006 to 12.8 percent in 2010. *Fewer cars. The percentage of households without a car rose to 9.1 percent against 8.8 percent in 2006. The percent-age of households with two or more cars fell from 58 percent to 57.1 percent. *Driving solo. When people are not... Which of the following statements is TRUE? A) The typical US family is expected to have three-story house with a big yard and two children. B) The US birth rate rose slightly in 2010 compared with two years before. C) A growing number of people are forced to share their homes with other s in the US. D) US students prefer to go to private schools rather than pubic schools.
(Answer)
C
Question: Do you find getting up in the morning so difficult that it's painful? This might be called laziness, but Dr. Kleitman has a new explanation. He has proved that everyone has a daily energy cycle. During the hours when you labour through your work, you may say that you're "hot". That's true. The time of day when you feel most energetic is when your cycle of body temperature is at its peak. For some people that peak comes during the forenoon. For others it comes in the afternoon or evening. No one has discovered why this is so, but it leads to such familiar monologues as "Get up , John ! You'll be late for work again !" The possible explanation to the trouble is that John is at his temperature-and-energy peak in the evening. Much family quarrelling ends when husbands and wives realize what these energy cycles mean, and which cycle each member of the family has. You can't change your energy cycle, but you can make your life fit it better. Habit can help. Dr. Kleitman believes. Maybe you're sleepy in the evening but feel you must stay up late anyway. Counteract your cycle to some extent by habitually staying up later than you want to . If your energy is low in the morning but you have an important job to do early in the day, rise before your usual hour. This won't change your cycle , but you'll get up steam and work better at your low point . Get off to a slow start which saves your energy. Get up with a yawn and stretch. Sit on the edge of the bed a minute before putting your feet on the floor. Avoid the troublesome search for clean clothes by laying them out the night before. Whenever possible, do routine work in the afternoon and save tasks requiring more energy for your sharper hours . If you want to work better at your low point in the morning, you should _ . A) change your energy cycle B) overcome your laziness C) get up early than usual D) go to bed earlier
Answer:
C