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I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: LONDON, Feb. 18,2014 (Xinhua News agency) --Britain will send experts to East China's Shanghai to learn from the city's experience in maths teaching in an attempt to raise the teaching standards. British Education Minister Elizabeth Truss is to lead a delegation of experts on a fact-finding mission to Shanghai's schools next week to see how children there have become the best in the world at maths, to get a first-hand look at maths classes and teaching methods there, and particularly to investigate why the performance of almost all children in Shanghai is high, regardless of gender or income. Britain was last year placed 50th out of 148 countries and regions in the World Economic Forum's competitiveness ranking in quality of maths and science education. Two years ago, Shanghai topped the 2012 international PISA tables for maths, while England was ranked in 26th place. The top five were all in Southeast Asia, with 15-year-olds in Shanghai judged to be three years ahead of their peers in maths. The education department said: "England's performance in maths has lagged behind while other countries have improved and overtaken us, including Poland and Germany." Actually, it is the latest step in the government's drive to raise standards in maths, looking at what has made schools in the far East the most successful in the world in teaching the subject. "Shanghai is the top-performing part of the world for maths--their children are streets ahead. Shanghai and Singapore have teaching practices and a positive mind that make the difference. They have a belief that diligence makes up for lack of ability," Truss said. "Our new curriculum has borrowed from theirs because we know it works--early learning of key arithmetic, and a focus on times tables and long division , for instance." She was determined to change the situation as performance in maths is weakening the country's skills base and threatening the productivity and growth. The government is emphasizing maths because of the importance of good grades in the subject... Question: How will students' poor performance in maths affect the country eventually? Options: A: By threatening the country's competitiveness of economy. B: By weakening the country's political system. C: By losing international competitions in education. D: By failing to find jobs in a global labor market.
**Answer**
A

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I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: Michael Fish may soon be replaced as a weather forecaster by the shark . Research by a British biology student suggests that sharks could be used to predict storms. Lauren Smith, 24, is close to completing her study on shark's ability to sense pressure. If her studies prove the theory, scientists may be able to monitor the behavior of sharks to predict bad weather. Miss Smith had previously studied the behavior of lemon sharks in the Bahamas. She then used their close relatives, lesser spotted dogfish, for further research at Aberdeen University. Her work---thought to be the first of its kind to test the pressure theory ---- resulted from the observation that juvenile blacktip sharks off Florida moved into deeper water ahead of a violent storm in 2001. Miss Smith said: "I've always been crazy about traveling and diving and this led me to an interest in sharks." "I was delighted to have been able to research in the area for my degree. I know there's so much more we need to understand ---- but it certainly opens the way to more research." It has been discovered that a shark senses pressure using hair cells in its balance system. At the Bimini Shark Lab in the Bahamas, Miss Smith fixed hi-tech sensors to sharks to record pressure and temperature, while also tracking them using GPS (Global Positioning System) technology. In Aberdeen, she was able to study the effects of tidal and temperature changes on dogfish----none of which were harmed. She also used a special lab which can mimic oceanic pressure changes caused by weather fronts. She is due to complete her study and graduate later this year. She says she will be looking for a job which will give her the chance to enrich her experience of shark research. Question: The passage is most probably taken from _ . Options: A: a short-story collection B: a popular science magazine C: a research paper D: a personal diary
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B

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I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: Babies are born yogis. Once we were all able to pull our toes up by our ears and laugh about it. Then we aged, got injured, and began carrying stress in our shoulders and back. In short, we lost our balance. Yoga is an ancient practice that helps create a sense of union in body, mind, and spirit. It brings us balance. I was seriously out of balance when I started practicing yoga in 1999. I had plantar facilities in both feet, and my doctor had warned me against all the things I loved to do: walking, hiking, and playing tennis. I was desperate for exercise. Yoga became my salvation and even enhanced my other fitness activities. I practice yoga at least twice a week, but I consider yoga to be part of my daily life because after a while you no longer just practice yoga--you love it. Yoga becomes part of your physical life. Your body grows stronger, more toned, and more flexible as you move from one pose to the other. I spent a week in Mexico at a yoga retreat, and it was the first vacation on which I lost weight. "Rather than building muscle, yoga builds muscle tone," says Shakta Kaur Khalsa, author of the K.I.S.S. Guide to Yoga. "Because yoga helps maintain a balanced metabolism , it also helps to regulate weight. Additionally, yoga stretches muscles lengthwise, causing fat to be removed around the cells." I do yoga poses throughout the day. After hours at my computer, I stretch my stiff shoulders and arms. When I need a boost of energy, I do energizing poses. When I am feeling exhausted at the end of the day, I do restorative poses. Yoga becomes part of your mental life. Yoga teaches you to focus on breathing while you hold the poses. This attention to breath is calming; it dissolves stress and anxiety. I use yogic breathing on the tennis courts, in the dentist's chair, and in traffic jams. You should always leave a yoga practice feeling energized, not tired. If you feel tired after yoga, it means you spent the time "fighting" yourself, trying to force yourself into poses. In yoga, you "surrender" to the... Question: People feel tired after yoga because _ . Options: A: they consume energy in practicing yoga B: they respond well to yoga poses C: they spend too much time on yoga D: they force themselves into yoga poses
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D