Robert Spring, a 19 century forger ,was so good at his profession that he was able to make his living for 15 years by selling false signatures of Americans. Spring was born in England in 1813 and arrived in Philadelphia in 1858 to open a bookstore. At first he became rich by selling his small but real collection of early U.S. autographs . Discovering his ability at copying handwriting, he began imitating signatures of George. Washington and Ben Franklin and writing them on the title pages of old books. To lessen the chance of detection , he sent his forgeries to England and Canada for sale. Forgers have a hard time selling their products. A forger can't deal with a respectable buyer but people who don't have much knowledge in the field. Forgers have many ways to make their work look real. For example, they buy old books to use the aged paper of the title page, and they can treat paper and ink with chemical. In Spring's time right after the Civil War, Britain was still fond of the Southern states, so Spring invented a respectable maiden lady known as Miss Fanny Jackson, the only daughter of General "Stonewall" Jackson. For several years Miss Fanny's financial problems forced her to sell a great number of letters and manuscripts . Spring had to work very hard to satisfy the demand. All this activity did not prevent Spring from dying in poverty, leaving sharp-eyed experts the difficult task of separating his forgeries from the originals. Who was Miss Fanny Jackson? A) The only daughter of General "Stonewall" Jackson B) A little -known girl who sold her father's to Robert Spring C) Robert Spring's daughter D) An imaginary person created by Spring.
D
Like most parents, I worry that my child isn't getting enough sleep. Now it turns out that doctors have been warning kids don't get enough sleep for over a century--long before iPads, and texting robbed children of peaceful sleep. What's more, there's no solid scientific basis for pediatricians' recommendations on the amount of time children need to sleep. That's the word from researchers in Australia. It turns out that children are sleeping less than those in days of old. The researchers, at the University of South Australia's Health and Use of Time Group, found that kids' nightly sleep time declined by about three-quarters of a minute each year for the period they studied. My daughter was more likely to beg for a few more minutes of Angry Birds before bedtime.That means nowadays my daughter is sleeping about 50 minutes a night less than her grandfather who had to get up to milk the cows at 5:30 am. What hasn't changed is the predictions from health professionals on the consequences of lack of sleep. "This is a sleepless age and more and more... we are turning night into day," one expert said in 1905. Back then, sleep was seen as a way to restore "wearied brain tissue". Children and "clever" children were thought to be most at risk, and most in need of energy-restoring sleep. The words may be different today, but the threats are pretty much the same. Parents are told that children risk mental and physical problems, and even obesity, if they don't get enough sleep. So the Australians looked to see how much sleep kids do need. The answer is the biggest surprise of this study--no one really knows. "There is almost no exact evidence for proper sleep for children," the authors write. Their work was published in the journal Pediatrics. According to the passage,the decrease of children's sleep is . A) a universal phenomenon B) a social pressure from education C) because of the invention of iPads D) pediatricians' lack of responsibility
A
Q: For many years, I was convinced that my suffering was due to my size . I believed that when the weight disappeared, it would take old wounds , hurts and rejections with it . Many weight-conscious people also mistakenly believe that changing our bodies will fix everything. Perhaps our worst mistake is believing that being thin equals being loved , being special , and being cherished . We fantasize about what it will be like when we reach the long-awaited goal .We work very hard to realize this dream . Then , at last , we find ourselves there . But we often gain back what we have lost . Even so , we continue to believe that next time it will be different . Next time , we will keep it off . Next time , being thin will finally fulfill its promise of everlasting happiness , self-worth , and , of course , love . It took me a long while to realize that there was something more for me to learn about beauty . Beauty standards vary with culture . In Samoa a woman is not considered attractive unless she weighs more than 200 pounds . More importantly , if it's happiness that we want , why not put our energy there rather than on the size of our body ? Why not look inside ? Many of us strive hard to change our body , but in vain . We have to find a way to live comfortably inside our body and make friends with and cherish ourselves . When we change our attitudes toward ourselves , the whole world changes . What can be inferred about the author ? A) The author is a Samoan . B) The author succeeded in losing weight . C) The author probably got wounded in wars or accidents . D) The author has been troubled by her/his weight .
A: D
*Question*
We always read reports about costs of oil going up and we will think this is our most valuable material. However, water is the most valuable resource . People in the Middle East are more worried about this than oil. Maybe the next war will be about water. In the future, to control the quality and quantity , you will use different water for different usages. The water used to wash your car, water your flowers or wash your clothes doesn't need to be as clean as the water you drink. One in five people live in countries without enough fresh water and in 25 years, the number is believed to be one in every three people. Our world population is increasing. What do you suppose this will suggest for us in the future? Population control? Traditional management of the water industry has been out of date since the 1990s. When technologies develop so rapidly in the world, we have loads of information for technologies in the business world, but in the water industry we don't have any. Britain and France have already taken measures to successfully improve their water industries. All the water services in Britain have been provided by private companies since 1991. Since then, improvement has been made in the rules for their water quality and pricing. What can you do now for the future? Using water more efficiently in your house can make a great difference not only to the world but to your money. Even if you don't have to pay much now, you will when you start to pay big prices for different water usages. Water shortage is getting more serious because _ . A) the world population is growing up. B) there will be more wars about water. C) people don't have efficient management of the water industry. D) water services will be provided only by private companies.
**Answer**
A