Franz Kafka wrote that " _ "I once shared this sentence with a class of seventh graders, and it didn't seem to require any explanation. We'd just finished John Steinbeck's novelOf Mice and Men. When we read the end together out loud in class, my toughest boy, a star basketball player, wept a little, and so did I. "Are you crying?" one girl asked, as she got out of her chair to take a closer look. "I am," I told her, "and the funny thing is I've read it many times." But they understood. When George shoots Lennie, the tragedy is that we realize it was always going to happen. In my 14 years of teaching in a New York City public middle school, I've taught kids with imprisoned parents, abusive parents, irresponsible parents; kids who are parents themselves; kids who are homeless; kids who grew up in violent neighborhoods. They understand, more than I ever will, the novel's terrible logic--the giving way of dreams to fate . For the last seven years, I have worked as a reading enrichment teacher, reading classic works of literature with small groups of students from grades six to eight. I originally proposed this idea to my headmaster after learning that a former excellent student of mine had transferred out of a selective high school--one that often attracts the literary-minded children of Manhattan's upper classes--into a less competitive setting. The daughter of immigrants, with a father in prison, she perhaps felt uncomfortable with her new classmates. I thought additional "cultural capital" could help students like her develop better in high school, where they would unavoidably meet, perhaps for the first time, students who came from homes lined with bookshelves, whose parents had earned Ph. D.'s. Along withOf Mice and Men, my groups read: Sounder, The Red Pony, Lord of the Flies, Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth. The students didn't always read from the expected point of view. About The Red Pony, one student said, "it's about being a man, it's about manliness. "I had never before seen the parallels between... The girl left the selective high school possibly because _ . A) she was a literary-minded girl B) her parents were immigrants C) she couldn't fit in with her class D) her father was then in prison
C
A few years ago, I had the opportunity to play the character of Ronald McDonald for the McDonald's Corporation. One day each month,we visited hospitals bringing a little happiness to the children there. But there were two rules placed on me during a visit. First, I could not go anywhere in the hospital without permission. And second, I could not physically touch anyone within the hospital. They did not want me to carry germs from one patient to another. Breaking either of these rules, I was told, I could lose my job. One day, as I was heading down a hallway and on my way home, I heard a little voice coming through a halfopened door,"Ronald,Ronald." I stepped in and saw a boy,about five years old, lying in his dad's arms, Mom with a nurse on the other side. I knew by the feeling in the room that the situation was _ . I asked his name. He told me it was Billy and that I did a few simple magic tricks for him. As I stepped back to say goodbye, he asked me "Ronald, would you hold me?" At such a simple request, my heart was screaming, "Yes!"But my mind was screaming louder. "No!You are going to lose your job!" "Hold me" was such a simple request, and yet I searched for any reasonable excuses that allowed me to leave, but none. It took me a moment to realize that in this situation, losing my job may not be the disaster I feared. Then, I picked up this little boy. He was so weak and so scared. We laughed and cried for 45 minutes. With tears in my eyes, I left them. Less than 48 hours later, I received a phone call from Billy's mom that Billy had passed away. She and her husband simply wanted to thank me for making a difference in their little boy's life. Billy's mom told me shortly after I left the room. Billy looked at her and said, "Momma, I don't care any more if I see Santa this year because I was held by Ronald McDonald." For the record, McDonald's Corporation did find it out, but, given the situation,permitted me to go on with my job. I continued as Ronald for another year before leaving the corporation to... What lesson did the author draw from his experience? A) To amuse others is enjoyable. B) To take risks is important. C) To break rules is necessary. D) To be fired is not fearful.
B
*Question*
Stagnant scientific education endangers U.S. economic leadership, says a report by leading business and science figures. Released at a congressional meeting attended by senators and Congress members of both parties, the report updates a 2005 science education report that led to moves to double federal research funding. Nevertheless, the Rising Above the Gathering Stormreview finds little improvement in U.S. elementary and secondary technical education since then. "Our nation's future has worsened," concludes the report panel headed by former Lockheed chief Martin Norman Augustine. The report "paints a discouraging future for America if it were to continue on the _ path it has been following'': * U.S. K-12 education in mathematics and science ranks 48thworldwide. * 49%of U.S. adults don't know how long it takes for the Earth to circle the sun. Although US school achievement scores have stagnated, harming the economy as employers look elsewhere for competent workers, the report says that other nations have made gains. If the USA's students matched Finland's, for example, analysis suggests the US economy would grow 9%-16%. "The real point is that we have to have a well-educated workforce to create opportunities for young people," says Charles Vest,head of the National Academy of Engineering, a report sponsor. "Otherwise, we don't have a chance." "The current economic crisis makes the link between education and employment very clear,'' says Steven Newton of the National Center for Science Education in Oakland. In 2007, however, an analysis led by B. Lindsay Lowell of Georgetown University found that worries about US science education were overblown . It saw three times more science and engineering college graduates than job openings each year. Other reports have found top science and engineering students migrating to better-paying jobs in finance, law and medicine since the 1900s. What would be the best title for the passage? A) Poor science education harms US economy B) America's future will become worse C) Experts' worries about US science education D) The connection between education and employment
**Answer**
A