The computer keyboard helped kill shorthand---a system of rapid handwriting, and now it's threatening to finish off handwriting as a whole. When handwritten essays were introduced on the SAT exams for the class of 2011, just 15% of the most 1.5 million students wrote their answers in cursive .The rest? Block letters. And those college hopefuls are just the first edge of a wave of US students who no longer get much handwriting instructions in the primary grades, frequently 10 minutes a day or less. As a result, more and more students struggle to read and write cursive. At Keene Mill Elementary School in Springfield, all their poems and stories are typed. Children in Fairfax County schools are taught keyboarding beginning in kindergarten. Older students who never mastered handwriting say it doesn't affect their grades. There are those who say the culture is at a crossing, turning from the written word to the typed one. If handwriting becomes a lost form of communication, does it matter? It was at University of Virginia that researchers recently discovered a previously unknown poem by Robert, written in his unique script. Handwritten documents are more valuable to researchers, historians say, because their authenticity can be confirmed. Students also find them more fascinating. The loss of handwriting also may be a cognitive opportunity missed. Several academic studies have found that good handwriting skills at a young age can help children express their thoughts better-a lifelong benefit. It doesn't take much to teach better handwriting skills. At some schools in Prince George's County, elementary school students use a program called Handwriting Without Tears for 15 minutes a day. They learn the correct formation of manuscript letters through second grade, and cursive letters in third grade. There are always going to be some kids who struggle with handwriting because of their particular neurological wiring, learning issues or poor motor skills. Educators often point to this factor in support of keyboarding. What is the author's attitude towards this debate? A) Devotion. B) Encouragement. C) critical. D) Objective.
D
A drink of water is just a matter of turning on a tap for most of us. However, water for those in drought-stricken northwestern China can't be taken for granted. Its present shortage is a matter of life and death to them. The tragedy is the direct result of the drought that has hit a large area of northwestern China, and is affecting more than 50 million people. The drought began last spring, ravaging Gansu, Qinghai and Shaanxi. Experts say the drought is a result of less rainfall, insufficient water reserves, high temperatures, dated irrigation projects, environmental damage and global climate change. More than 15 million people are having difficulties getting safe drinking water. The drought is also affecting schoolchildren's studies. "I am worried that my family will get no harvest this year. In that case, my family will not be able to afford my living costs," an unnamed boarding schoolgirl at Naqing Primary School in Shandan, Zhangye, told Dazhong Daily. But thanks to measures taken under the leadership of the central government, the drinking water problem has been greatly eased. Each person in the five worst-hit provinces is being supplied with drinking water and 20 liters of water for other purposes each day. Local authorities are digging deep wells and creating artificial rain. Military personnel are helping to transport water from others province to Gansu and Qinghai, according to CCTV. In Shaanxi, locals are turning to drought resistant crops. Other parts of China are helping by giving water and donating other resources. Which of the following is not the cause of the drought mentioned in the passage? A) Less rainfall. B) Insufficient water reserves. C) Digging deep wells. D) Environmental damage.
C
Q: Work is a part of living --my grandparents understood that. They lived and worked on a farm that has been in my family for 150 years. They raised chickens for eggs , pigs and cattle for meat . Cows were kept for milk and the cream, from which Grandma made butter and cheese. What little yard they had became a garden. The Depression, therefore, didn't make much change in their lives. But it did bring an unending flow of men out of work, drifting from job to job, to the farm. The first to show up at the door of the kitchen was a man in rags. He took off his hat and quietly explained that he hadn't eaten for a while. Grandpa stood watching him a bit , then said , "There's a stack of firewood against the fence behind the barn . I've been needing to get it moved to the other side of the fence . You have just about enough time to finish the job before lunch ." Grandma said a surprising thing happened. The man got a shine in his eyes and he hurried to the barn at once. She set another place at the table and made an apple pie. During lunch, the stranger didn't say much, but when he left, his shoulders had straightened. "Nothing ruins a man like losing his self-respect," Grandpa later told me. Soon after, another man showed up asking for a meal. This one was dressed in a suit and carried a small old suitcase. Grandpa came out when he heard voices. He looked at the man and then offered a handshake." There is a stack of firewood along the fence down behind the barn I've been meaning to get it moved. It'd sure be a help to me . And we'd be pleased to have you stay for lunch." The fellow set his suitcase aside and neatly laid his coat on top. Then he set off to work. Grandma says she doesn't remember how many strangers they shared a meal with during those Depression days-or how many times that stack of wood got moved. The writer's grandfather asked those jobless men to move the stack of firewood because _ . A) he didn't want them to have a meal free of charge B) he had been needing to get it moved C) he wanted to help them in his own way D) he wanted to show them his kindness and respect
A: C
*Question*
That little "a" with a circle curling around it that is found in E - mail addresses is most commonly referred to as the "at" symbol. Surprisingly though, there is no official, universal name for this sign. There are dozens of strange terms to describe the "@" symbol. Before it became the standard symbol for electronic mail, the "@" symbol was used to represent the cost of something or how heavy something is. For instance, if you purchased 6 apples, you might write it as 6 apples "@" $1.10 each. With the introduction of e-mail came the popularity of the "@" symbol. The "@" symbol or the "at sign" separates a person's online user name from his mail server address. For instance, joe@uselessknowledge.com. Its widespread use on the Internet made it necessary to put this symbol on keyboards in other countries that have never seen or used the symbol before. As a result, there is really no official name for this symbol. The actual origin of the symbol remains a mystery. History tells us that the @ symbol came from the tired hands of the Middle Ages. During the Middle Ages before the invention of printing machines, every letter of a word had to be copied with great efforts by hand for each copy of a published book. The monks that performed these long, boring coping duties looked for ways to reduce the number of individual strokes per word for common words. Although the word "at" is quite short to begin with, it was a common enough word in text and documents so that those monks thought it would be quicker and easier to shorten the word "at" even more. As a result, the monks changed the shape of "t" into a circle to surround "a", thus leaving out two strokes in the spelling "t". Which of the following is the best title of the passage? A) How "at" developed into @. B) How @ came into being. C) How monks invented @. D) How people wrote the cost of something.
**Answer**
B