There are stories about two U.S . presidents,Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren,which attempt to explain the American English term OK.We don't know if either story is true,but they are both interesting. The first explanation is based on the fact that President Jackson had very little education.In fact,he had difficulty reading and writing.When important papers came to Jackson,he tried to read them and then had his assistants explain what they said.If he approved of a paper, he would write "all correct"on it.The problem was that he didn't know how to spell.So what he really wrote was "ol korekt".After a while,he shortened that term to "OK". The second explanation is based on the place where President Van Buren was born,Kinderhook,New York.Van Buren's friends organized a club to help him become President .They called the club the Old Kinderhook Club,and anyone who supported Van Buren was called"OK". .The author _ . A) believes both of the stories B) doesn't believe a word of the stories C) is not sure whether the stories are true D) is telling the stories just for fun
C
I remember a day when I was a little kid. I was making a sandwich in the kitchen when I noticed the date on one of the wine bottles. " Dad, dad!" I cried. "This wine is too old to drink." " Son, hold on," he said. " No, you can't drink this tonight! This bottle of wine was made 10 years ago." " Wait, let me tell you..." " Would you like me to throw it away fro you?" I asked. " Son, wait a second," he said. "Son, some wines get better over time. The longer you wait to drink it, the better it will be. Although this may seem strange, it is true." When I was young, I didn't have any understanding of what this meant, but now, this would have been very helpful to remember as I went through my teenage years. In our society, we forget this simple rule: The longer you want for certain things, the better they will be. But we want the best job as quickly as possible; we want to graduate from college in as few years as possible; we even speed through our homework just to chat with friends. When we do this, we lose something of great importance. We all want to get to the next step so quickly that perhaps we don't get ready enough to get there. This has a negative effect on our society. When trying to go to the right college, we will do anything to get in and when we rush through our class-work, we may not study enough for the test, and end up failing. We need to be ready for whatever comes, ready for the unexpected. Wine gets better over time, so do the things in our paths of life. Which of the following best reflects the main idea of the passage? A) Well begun is half done. B) More haste, less speed. C) Failure is the mother of success. D) Nothing is impossible to a willing heart.
B
Q: Smoking bans in public places are linked with falls in childhood asthma attacks and preterm births , according to the biggest analysis of the influence of public smoking bans on child health. The finding should remove fears that such laws could have the opposite effect because they may lead people to smoke more at home. Several countries, such as Japan and Australia, have tightened laws on smoking in public places over the last few years. Meanwhile, some countries, such as the Netherlands and Germany, still allow smoking in pubs and restaurants. Only about half of US states have comprehensive bans, and there are few restrictions in poorer nations. Opponents often claim that bans could result in people smoking more at home, which would be worse for their children's health. Asthma is one of the main concerns as second-hand smoke harms children's airways in several ways. Researchers led by Jasper Been at Maastricht University Medical Centre reviewed as many as 11 studies that examined how hospital admissions for childhood asthma and preterm births changed after smoking bans came in. The studies involved more than 2.5 million births, and nearly 250,000 hospital admissions for asthma. The result shows that both asthma admissions and preterm birth rates fell by about 10 percent within a year after smoking restrictions were carried out. The effect on preterm births could also have been caused by pregnant women being more likely to quit or cut down following a public ban, says Been. But Been also says the studies could not completely prove that smoking bans directly caused these changes. However, as a matter of fact, because the analysis included several smoking bans introduced in different countries in different years, and most saw health improvements. Such findings are useful for countries and states where there is ongoing debate about how strict smoking bans should be, especially as hospital care for premature babies is so expensive. This might be one of the most important things to know in order to strengthen... Laws on smoking bans in public places are going stricter in . A) America B) Japan C) Germany D) Netherlands
A: B
(Question)
Mr. Knight was the manager of a hotel. One weekend all of the hotels in the city were full because there was a large meeting. On Friday, three men came into the hotel and asked for rooms. Mr. Knight said there were no rooms ready because of the meeting. The men were unhappy. Mr. Knight wanted to help them. He remembered that Room 418, a small room, was empty. He asked them if they could share a room. The three men said they would. Mr. Knight said the room would be thirty dollars; ten dollars for each person. Each man gave him the money and then went up to the room. Mr. Knight soon began to feel sorry. "Thirty dollars is a lot to ask as a price for that small room." he thought. He called his assistant over and said, "Here is five dollars. Take it to the men in Room 418. I asked too much for their room." The assistant took the money. While he was on the way there, he started to think, "How can three men divide five dollars? I'll give them each only one dollar and keep the two dollars for myself. The men will be happy to get something back. And Mr. Knight will never know." So the assistant returned one dollar to each man. Each man had at first paid ten dollars. After the assistant returned them one dollar each, each had actually(in fact) paid nine. There were three men. $9 3="$27." The assistant kept$2. $27+$2="$29." Where is the missing dollar? At first _ . A) $27 was paid by the three men B) $30 was paid by each of the three men C) $25 was paid by the three men D) $10 was paid by each of the three men
(Answer)
D