Started in 1636, Harvard University is the oldest of many colleges and universities in the United States. Yale, Princeton, Columbia and Dartmouth were all started before the American Revolution made the thirteen colonies into states. In the early years, these schools were much alike. Only young men attended colleges. All the students studied the same subjects, and everyone learned Latin, Greek and Hebrew. Little was known about science then, and one kind of school could teach everything that was known about the world. When the students graduated, most of them became ministers or teachers. In 1782, Harvard started a medical school for young men who wanted to become doctors. Later, lawyers could receive their training in Harvard's law school. In 1852, Harvard began teaching modern languages, such as French and German, as well as Latin and Greek. Soon it began teaching American history. As knowledge increased, Harvard and other colleges began to teach many new subjects that interested them. Special colleges for women were started. New state universities began to teach such subjects as farming, engineering and business. Today, there are many different kinds of colleges and universities. Most of them are divided into smaller schools that deal with special fields of learning. There is so much to learn that one kind of school cannot offer it all. Which statement does the passage lead you to believe? A) The early schools are still much alike. B) There is more to learn today than in 1636. C) All the early students worked harder. D) Students in modern America learn only science.
B
Just as the world's most respected scientific bodies have confirmed that the world is getting hotter, they have also stated that there is strong evidence that humans are driving the warming. Countless recent reports from the world's leading scientific bodies have said the same thing. For example, a 2010 summary of climate science by the Royal Society stated that: "There is strong evidence that the warming of the Earth over the last half-century has been caused largely by human activity." The idea that humans could change the planet's climate may be counter-intuitive , but the basic science is well understood. Each year, human activity causes billions of tons of greenhouse gases to be released into the atmosphere. As scientists have known for years, these gases hold heat that would otherwise escape to space, wrapping the planet in an invisible blanket. Of course, the planet's climate has always been changing thanks to "natural" factors such as changes in solar or volcanic activity, or cycles relating the Earth's going around the sun. According to the scientific literature, however, the warming recorded to date matches the pattern of warming we would expect from a build-up of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere - not the warming we would expect from other possible causes. Even if scientists did discover another reasonable explanation for the warming observed so far, that would beg a difficult question. As Robert Henson puts it in The Rough Guide to Climate Change: "If some newly discovered factor can account for the climate change, then why aren't carbon dioxide and the other greenhouse gases producing the warming that basic physics tells us they should be?" The only way to prove with 100% certainty that humans are responsible for global warming would be to run an experiment with two _ Earths - one with human influence and one without. That obviously isn't possible, and so most scientists are careful not to state human influence as an certainty. Which of the following can be the best title? A) How can we stop global warming? B) Where Is Global Warming Leading Us to? C) Are Humans Definitely Causing Global Warming? D) What's Relation of Global Warming and Greenhouse Gases?
C
Q: My first performance in front of an audience was coming up soon. I tried as hard as I could to keep calm, but my heart was racing. I stared down at my sweat-covered, shaking hands. I looked up again at the audience, realizing that these were real people. They were not just my mum and dad, who would say, "Good job!" even if I missed up the whole piece. What if I had the wrong music? What if I played the wrong notes? As it turned out, I was never able to answer these questions because the spotlight was waiting for me. I grasped my hands tightly together, drying off the sweat. Slowly I walked to the mud-brown piano in the centre of the room. It had 88 _ keys, which were waiting impatiently to be played. _ in my throat and sat down. Slowly, I opened the music. Next, I rested my still shaking hands on the keys. As my fingers played across the keys, I was becoming more unsure of my preparation for this moment. But the memory of my year of training came flooding back. I knew that I had practised this piece so many times that I could play it backwards if asked. Although at one point I accidently played two keys instead of the intended one, I continued to move my fingers automatically . My eyes burned holes into the page in front of me. There was no way that I was going to lose my concentration. To keep this promise to myself, I leaned forward and concentrated carefully on the music. When I came to the end of the page, a warning went off inside my head: don't make a mistake when you turn the page! Needless to say, I obeyed myself with all my heart and mind, and was proud of my "page-turning" feat . I finished the rest of the piece without making a single mistake. I had finished. I had mastered the impossible. Before the writer gave her first performance, _ . A) she could see nothing but her own shaking hands. B) her parents encouraged her, saying, "Good job!" C) she missed up the whole piece. D) her heart beat very fast.
A: D
Q: A year ago August, Dave Fuss lost his job driving a truck for a small company in west Michigan. His wife, Gerrie, was still working in the local school cafeteria , but work for Dave was scarce (,), and the price of everything was rising. The Fusses were at risk of joining the millions of Americans who have lost their homes in recent years. Then Dave and Gerrie received a timely gift--$7,000,a legacy from their neighbors Ish and Arlene Hatch, who died in an accident . " It really made a difference when we were going under financially, " says Dave. But the Fusses weren't the only folks in Alto and the neighboring town of Lowell to receive unexpected legacy from the Hatches. Dozens of other families were touched by the Hatches' generosity. In some cases, it was a few thousand dollars ; in others, it was more than $100,000. It surprised nearly everyone that the Hatches had so much money, more than $3 million--they were an elderly couple who lived in an old house on what was left of the family farm . Children of the Great Depression, Ish and Arlene were known for their habit of saving, They thrived on comparison shopping and would routinely go from store to store, checking prices before making a new purchase . Through the years, the Hatches paid for local children to attend summer camp when their parents couldn't afford it. "Ish and Arlene never asked if you needed anything," says their friend Sand Van Weelden, "They could see things they could do to make you happier, and they would do them. Even more extraordinary was that the Hatches had their farmland distributed (;). It was the Hatches' wish that their legacy--a legacy of kindness as much as one of dollars and cents should enrich the whole community and last for generations to come. Neighbors helping neighbors ----that was Ish and Arlene Hatch's story. Which of the following is true of the Hatches? A) They had their children during the Great Depression B) They gave away their possessions ( ;) to their neighbors C) They left the family farm to live in an old house D) They helped their neighbors to find jobs
A: B