Large numbers of children in Britain are missing out on the natural world, a study from the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) suggests. The three-year project found that only 21 % of children aged 8 --12 were "connected to nature". Girls were much more likely than boys to be exposed to the great outdoors, while children in Wales had the lowest score across the UK. The RSPB says that a perception among some adults that nature is dangerous or dirty could be holding children back. There has been an increasing amount of research in recent years underlining the lack of contact and experience with nature among modern children. Some have argued that this is having a negative impact on their health, education and behaviour. The RSPB says its new study is the first to quantify the scale of British children's exposure, or lack of it, to the natural world. They came up with a definition of what "connected to nature" actually means and then deve -loped a questionnaire with 16 statements designed to assess the level of connection among children. Some 1, 200 children from across the UK were asked to agree or disagree with these statements. Only 21 % of children in the UK had a level of connection with wildlife and the natural world that the RSPB believes should be realistic and achievable for all youngsters. This "realistic and achievable" value is based on the average scores of children visiting RSPB sites or who are junior members of the organization. One interesting finding was the gender difference. While 27 % of girls were at or above the "realistic and achievable" target, only 16 % of boys were at the same level. "We need to understand these differences," Sue Armstrong Brown, head of conservation at the charity, told BBC New. "Whether boys and girls are scoring differently on different questions, are girls more empathetic to nature than boys for instance? We need to analyze the data to find that out." The report also stressed significant regional differences. Only 13% of children in Wales... How did the RSPB assess the level of nature connection among children? A) By doing an experiment. B) By carrying out a survey. C) By running a test. D) By visiting wildlife.
B
(Question)
LAST week, the College Board announced that it was revising the SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test) in an effort to make it more acceptable to test-takers, teachers, college admission officers and the public more generally. Test-takers who receive lower scores than they have hoped for are likely to be concerned about their academic future. It's no wonder that it's hard to discuss the test without negative feelings. The SAT isn't perfect. Like any test, it can be misused, and may reflect unequal educational opportunities. Even before the announcement of the SAT's redesign, experts were discussing the test's limitations. Writing in The New Yorker, Elizabeth Kolbert described its questions as limited: "Critical thinking was never called for, let alone curiosity or imagination." But the SAT provides an effective measure of a person's ability to reason through verbal and mathematical materials, a skill required in college. Although there are conflicting reports on the issue, a study published in the journal Educational and Psychological Measurement in 2011 found that the SAT can meaningfully add to the prediction of a student's first-year college academic performance, above his grades in high school alone. The fact that the SAT can help predict this is, to me, an astonishing achievement that cannot be ignored. We cannot afford to ignore tests because they fall short of perfection or make us uncomfortable. But there's a better way to make the SAT more acceptable in the long run: We should expand the types of tests we use so as to more fully reflect what students can do. What if, in addition to the SAT, students were offered new tests that measured more diverse abilities? For future artists or musicians, there are tests that measure creative thinking --a largely ignored ability by the SAT. For future engineers, there are tests that measure their sense of space. And new measures of "personal intelligence" -- the ability to reason about a person's motives, emotions and patterns of activities -- may also tell us... The article most probably appears in the newspaper column _ . A) Sports B) Entertainment C) City News D) Education
(Answer)
D
Ques: Three "Great Walls" built around the United States' Tornado Alley could reduce tornadoes from destroying billions of dollars in property and endangering millions of lives, a physicist has claimed. Professor Rongjia Tao of Temple University, Philadelphia unveiled a proposal this week calling for the construction of three 1,000-foot barriers up to 100 miles long, which would act like hill ranges and soften winds before tornadoes could form, the BBC reports. The $16.9 billion plan would call for the faux hill ranges in North Dakota, along the border between Kansas and Oklahoma, and in Texas and Louisiana, ostensibly saving billions of dollars in damage every year, Tao said. The walls would not shelter towns, he said, but instead would soften the streams of hot southern and cold northern air that form tornadoes when they clash in the first place. But critics laughed at Tao's proposals. Leading tornado experts pointed to areas that are already protected by hill ranges the size of the barriers Tao is proposing, yet still have plenty of tornados, like parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri. And even if the plan did work, it would create more problems than it would solve, scientists said, by creating catastrophic weather side effects. "Everybody I know is of 100% agreement - this is a poorly conceived idea," Professor Joshua Wurman of the Center for Severe Weather Research. "From what I can gather his concept of how tornadoes form is fundamentally flawed . Meteorologists cringe when they hear about 'clashing hot and cold air'. It's a lot more complicated than that." What's the main idea of the passage? A) The different opinions on the proposal that the walls will reduce the loss caused by tornadoes. B) How to solve the problems that are caused by tornadoes. C) The proposal mentioned in the paragragh is totally wrong. D) The proposal to reduce tornadoes is effective.
Ans: A
Question: It is obvious that television brings us not only advantages but also disadvantages . At first, television is both a convenient channel of amusement, and a ly cheap one. If we have a TV set in the family, we are not necessary to go to the cinema or theatre to enjoy programme with expensive tickets. All that they have to do is press a button with a finger, and they can watch all the programmes they like, such as TV talk shows , movies, opera and so on. But some people think of it as a danger. When we watch TV, we don't need to do anything . We do not even have to leave our sofa because we have a remote control in our hand. We don't need to make any judgment or statement about it. We are totally passive and don't use our head to think hard about some matters. As we all know, television keeps us informed about world events--including all the events in society, science and politics .We can get a good idea of the most remote countries and the strangest customs in their country. Of course the radio performs this service too, but the effect of the programme is not better than on the television. Everything we enjoy on the television is much more vivid and realistic. However, in turn there is a great danger. Usually we cannot resist the television screen, because it has a great harm for us. We have been so accustomed to enjoying the screen, so dependent on its pictures. But when our TV sets are out of order, we are surprised to find that we have much more time to do things. And at this time we actually begin to have a talk to each other again. It is really worth thinking. Of course the arguments about the advantages and disadvantages of television are on the go.We can not simply say television itself is good or bad. The truth is that how we use it determines its true value to our society. Why are some people against TV? A) Because TV programs are not interesting. B) Because TV viewers are completely passive. C) Because TV prices are very high. D) Because TV has both advantages and disadvantages.
Answer:
B