We know the famous ones--the Thomas Edisons and the Alexander Graham Bells --but what about the less famous inventors? What about the people who invented the traffic light and the windshield wiper ? Shouldn' t we know who they are? Joan Mclean thinks so. In fact, Mclean, a professor of physics at Mountain University in Range, feels so strongly about this matter that she' s developed a course on the topic. In addition to learning "who" invented "what" , however, Mclean also likes her students to learn the answers to the "why" and "how" questions. According to Mclean, "When students learn the answers to these questions, they are better prepared to recognize opportunities for inventing and more motivated to give inventing a try. " Her students agree. One young man with a patent for an unbreakable umbrella is walking proof of McLean's statement. "If I had not heard the story of the windshield wiper' s invention," said Tommy Lee, a senior physics major. "I never would have dreamed of turning my bad experience during a rain storm into something so constructive. " Lee is currently negotiating to sell his patent to an umbrella producer. So, just what is the story behind the windshield wiper? Well, Mary Anderson came up with the idea in 1902 after a visit to New York City. The day was cold and stormy, but Anderson still wanted to see the sights, so she jumped aboard a streetcar. Noticing that the driver was struggling to see through the snow covering the windshield, she found herself wondering why there couldn' t be a built - in device for cleaning the window. Still wondering about this when she returned home to Birmingham, Alabama, Anderson started drafting out solutions. One of her ideas, a lever on the inside of a vehicle that would control an arm on the outside, became the first windshield wiper. Today we benefit from countless inventions and innovations. It' s hard to imagine driving without Garrett A. Morgan' s traffic light. It' s equally impossible to picture a world without Katherine J.... By mentioning "traffic light" and "windshield wiper", the author indicates that countless inventions are _ . A) beneficial, because their inventors are famous B) beneficial, though their inventors are less famous C) not useful, because their inventors are less famous D) not useful, though their inventors are famous
B
(Question)
A traveler once visited a city where everyone wore blue. Puzzled, he went to a dyer and said, " Please dye the handkerchief red." "I don't know how to dye red." "Then dye it green." "I can't dye it green. There are forty master dyers in this city, and every one of us can dye only blue." "I can dye all color1s," said the traveler, "Hire me and I'll teach you my art." "We never allow a stranger to enter our craft ", said the dyer. The traveler made the same offer to the other master dyers, but none would hire him. So he began his own dye shop. Folks soon crowded around asking, "What are all these beautiful color1s called?" He answered, "This is red and that is yellow," and so on. Everyone began bringing him cloth to dye. When the master dyers saw this, they quickly apologized for their past insults , begging him to hire them and teach them his art. To the traveler, the strangest thing about the city was that _ . A) it was a nice and old city B) there were forty master dyers C) everyone wore the same color1 D) the dyers didn't use machines
(Answer)
C
Ques: Bringing up children is hard work, and you are often to blame for any bad behavior of your children. If so, Judith Rich Harris has good news for you. Parents, she argues, have no important long -term effects on the development of the personality of their children. Far more important are their playground friends and neighborhood. Ms. Harris takes to hitting the assumption, which has dominated developmental psychology for almost half a century. Ms. Harris's attack on the developmental psychologists' "nurture" argument looks likely to reinforce doubts that the profession was already having. If parents matter, why is it that two adopted children, brought up in the same home, are no more similar in personality than two adopted children brought up in separate homes? Or that a pair of identical twins, brought up in the same home, are no more alike than a pair of identical twins brought up in different homes? Difficult as it is to track the clear effects of parental upbringing, it may be harder to measure the exact influence of the peer group in childhood and adolescence. Ms. Harris points to how children from immigrant homes soon learn not to speak at school in the way their parents speak. But acquiring a language is surely a skill, rather than a characteristic of the sort developmental psychologists hunt for. Certainly it is different from growing up tensely or relaxed, or from learning to be honest or hard -working or generous. Easy though it may be to prove that parents have little impact on those qualities, it will be hard to prove that peers have vastly more. Moreover, mum and dad surely cannot be ignored completely. Young adults may, as Ms. Harris argues, be keen to appear like their peers. But even in those early years, parents have the power to open doors: they may choose the peers with whom their young associate, and pick that influential neighborhood. Moreover, most people suspect that they come to resemble their parents more in middle age. So the balance of influences is probably complicated. Even if... According to Ms. Harris, _ . A) parents are to blame for any bad behavior of their children B) children's personality is largely shaped by their friends and neighbors C) nature rather than nurture has a significant effect on children' s personality development D) parents will affect greatly the children's life in the long run
Ans: B
Ques:What kind of sports impressed you most during your childhood? Maybe racing around the playground or skipping rope for hours would bring you pleasure. At that time you weren't thinking of fitness, you were just thinking of entertainment. But in this age of high-tech home equipment and underused gym memberships, the simple joy of jumping rope has been forgotten. I think rediscovering it probably will give you a total-body exercise. Although considered an excellent form of exercise, jumping rope has never received widespread acceptance because of two reasons. First,most people recognize jumping rope as an excellent form of cardiovascular exercise, but they also believe that it is simply too difficult. In other words, they don't think they'll be able to continue jumping for the near 20 minutes in order to achieve a beneficial physical effect. Second, many regard it as somewhat boring and overly repetitive --not as something fun or enjoyable. _ . Instead of doing the usual two-foot bounce over and over again, players good at rope-jumping often change their pattern every 10 or 20 jumps. A single bounce, a double -bounce , a skip, a knee-up, side swings , as well as a variety of other easy-to-learn free-style rope-jumping . Nowadays researchers are discovering that jumping rope also prepares the brain for learning . It is an exercise allowing both brain hemispheres to perform equallyto each other . In short, jumping rope can be a life-long activity requiring little equipment, time and space , yet leading to a much healthier life. One reason that can explain why rope jumping has not spread widely is that _ . A) it benefits the cardiovascular system B) it is too difficult for people to learn to jump C) it is believed to be boring and repetitive D) it requires little equipment, time and space

Ans:
C