Since the 1990s, education has been required for all South Africans from age seven to fifteen. Last December, the government announced that 70% of students passed their final examination to finish high school. In 2008, the pass rate was about 63%. There have been increases each year since then. Professor Shireen Motala says basic education is no longer a problem in South Africa. Most children stay in school until they are about sixteen. The problem is that large numbers of them leave without completing high school. Students take an examination known as the "matric" in Grade Twelve. Professor Motala says, "Less than half of the children who started school in 2000 sat for the matric last year. Many dropped out of school, so only around 45% took the matric. And the worry is where those students actually go." Those who drop out have to compete with better educated people for jobs. Educational researchers also point to another problem. South African schools do not produce enough students with the skills for higher education in maths and science. Many schools are not well-equipped. Children do not see laboratories, and, as a result, their science marks are not very good. They do not have libraries at school. Also, many teachers do not have the skills or training to do their jobs. In South Africa, a number of teachers were poorly trained before. Secondly, teachers have been confused by the many educational reform efforts in the last fifteen years. Finally, language differences in the classroom have not got as much attention as they should, which is a huge problem. Subjects such as maths and science are taught in English starting at about the age of ten. But South Africa has eleven official languages. South Africa's minister of basic education promises a number of improvements. Angie Motshega says teacher development efforts will focus on subject and content knowledge, making sure that the correct teachers are in the correct jobs. What is the real concern of Shireen Motala? A) Something is wrong with the country's basic education system. B) Most children have to find a job at an early age. C) The final exam is too difficult for most children. D) Most children cannot complete high school until they are 16.
B
(Question)
Environmentalists said our planet was doomed to die. Now one man says they are wrong. "Everyone knows the planet is in bad shape," thundered a magazine article last year. Species are being driven to die out at record rates, and the rivers are so poisonous that fish are floating on the surface, dead. But there's a growing belief that what everyone takes for granted is wrong: things are actually getting better. A new book is about to overturn our most basic assumptions about the world's environment. Rivers, seas, rain and the atmosphere are all getting cleaner. The total amount of forests in the world is not declining. The Skeptical Environmentalist by Bjorn Lomborg, professor of statistics at the University of Aarhus in Denmark, is an attack on the misleading claims of environmental groups, and the "bad news" culture that makes people believe everything is getting worse. Now the attacks are increasingly coming from left-wing environmentalists such as Lomborg, a former member of Greenpeace. The accusation is that, although the environment is improving, green groups -- with profits of hundreds of millions of pounds a year -- are using scare tactics to gain donations. Lomborg's book doesn't deny global warming -- probably the biggest environmental threat -- but destroys almost every other environmental claim with many official statistics. The Worldwatch Institute claims that "deforestation has been accelerating over the last 30 years". But Lomborg says that is simply rubbish. Since the dawn of agriculture the world has lost about 20 per cent of its forest cover, but in recent decades the forest area's depleting has come to a stop. According to UN figures, the area of forests has remained almost steady, at about 30 percent of total land area, since the 1940s. Forests in countries such as the US, the UK and Canada have actually been expanding over the past 40 years. Despite all the warnings the Amazon rainforest has only shrunk by about 15 percent. Nor are all our species dying out. Some... According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE? A) The total area of forests in the world has increased significantly. B) The effects of global warming are not as bad as first expected. C) It appears that the bald eagle will now survive. D) In the last 50 years the number of whales has increased.
(Answer)
C
Ques: In the early 1980s, one of our neighbors asked my mom if she would make a few gift baskets for her [:]to give as gifts for the holidays. My mom agreed and news of the unique gift baskets my mum was making spread like wildfire throughout the neighborhood. My mum was busy throughout the holiday season, so she asked a friend to help her. When the orders continued after the holiday season for baby gifts, birthday gifts and more, it occurred to them that maybe this job could be turned into a business and they did it. My mum went into her business because she had a creative idea. She got orders and filled orders. But there was no purpose and no real strategy . In 1991, my mum' s partner got into financial trouble and there was not enough money to support either my mum or her partner. So if you are led by your creativity or enthusiasm, make sure you ask yourself what you want out of your business. If you don't set goals, how will you know what direction to go in? Do you want to create jobs and growth in the economy? Are you looking for a hobby? You can't keep scores if you don' t know what game you are playing. After my mom's partner gave up, she had to abandon her business to support herself. She swore she would run a business again and do it differently the next time. However, there wasn't a "next time" for her. She passed away just after her 51st birthday. She never had someone tell her how important having a goal was. She never had an opportunity to be everything that she could be. There are no right or wrong goals, only the ones that matter to you. Set them so that you can make progress and achieve success, whatever that may mean to you. The author writes the text to stress the importance of _ . A) creativity B) opportunities C) goals D) partners
Ans: C
Question: BEIJING -- The rescue operations at a coal mine accident have ended with 105 miners dead. The State Council has organized an investigation team to probe into what caused the disaster in the city of Linfen, North China's Shanxi Province. Preliminary investigations show the illegal mining of an unauthorized seam , and the number of miners who had been sent down the shaft far exceeded its capacity. This mine was found to have long ignored the rules to steal state coal, and did not have a list of miners employed to check the number of miners missing after the accident. How did such a coal mine get all the necessary licenses for production? How did it pass the three safety inspections the local government organized last month? In response to this disaster, the Shanxi governor promised to set up hotlines for people to report illegal coal mines and rewards as high as 100,000 yuan for _ We appreciate the action this governor has taken to solving the coal mining problems, and we believe that the reporting scheme will help to stop the existence of illegal coal mines. But at the same time we have reason to question how governments at various levels supervise these mines. The sad fact that such a mine with serious safety problems could pass three consecutive local government safety inspections in a month is enough to tell us how ineffective the safety inspections were. What if these inspections were just a formality ? What if the inspectors were bribed by the mine owners to turn a blind eye to the safety dangers? We can well imagine what would happen if reports about mine problems were handled by such officials. So a thorough probe must find out who are responsible for the death of so many miners. A real safety inspection and management system must be established to guarantee that safety dangers will be removed. What is NOT one of the causes of this coal mine accident? A) The workers didn't operate properly. B) The mine didn't obey the rules to mine for coal. C) A lot more miners than allowed were working under the mine. D) The safety inspections were ineffective.
Answer:
A