A small, white envelope has peeked through the branches of our Christmas tree for the past 10 years. It has no name, no identification, no inscription . My husband Mike hated Christmas. He hated the overspending and the crazy running around at the last minute for the gifts given in desperation because you couldn't think of anything else. So one year I searched for something special to give Mike. The inspiration came in an unusual way. Our son Kevin was 12 and was on the school wrestling team. Shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team of poor kids. They were dressed in ragged sneakers, and presented a sharp contrast to our boys in their golden uniforms and sparkling new wrestling shoes. As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without helmets . Their team obviously could not afford them. We beat them hands down . Mike shook his head sadly. "I wish just one of them could have won," he said. Mike loved kids and enjoyed coaching football and baseball. That's when the idea for his present came. That afternoon, I went to a sports store and bought a load of wrestling headgear and shoes. I sent them anonymously to the poor team. On Christmas Eve, I placed a small, white envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done and that this was his gift from me. Mike's smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year. In the years that followed, I sent a group of mentally handicapped youngsters to a hockey game, and a check to a pair of elderly brothers whose home had burned to the ground the week before Christmas. The white envelope became the highlight of Christmas. Mike died last year, but on Christmas Eve I still placed an envelope on the tree. The next morning it was joined by three more. Each of our three children had placed a white envelope on the tree for their dad. Mike's spirit, like the Christmas spirit, will always be with us. By Nancy W. Gavin Why did Mike hate Christmas? A) He found each Christmas was just the same as another. B) He felt Christmas was ruined by constantly having to rush around. C) He couldn't see the point in exchanging expensive gifts. D) He felt the Christmas spirit was lost in commercialized gift buying.
D
Competition. It's a simple word, yet a very complex word that covers many angles when it comes to how gasoline prices are determined. It seems so easy to explain, but don't let that trick you--it's incredibly difficult to explain and adequately understand. Say you're on a Sunday afternoon drive, and notice a gas station near you charging $3.50. Down the road a few miles, that price could easily be 10 or more cents higher or lower. The question is "how" or "why" is that? Think of it this way. Are you more likely to get a better deal on a car if there are two similar car dealers next to each other? Perhaps, because the dealers are too close. Say there is a third similar car dealer miles away. Is he going to be at the same level of competition and sell his cars for the same price as the two dealers next to each other? Likely not. He may charge more or less. Maybe people don't know there are two other dealers down the road. Maybe the dealer is almost outside of the city and the land value isn't as high, so his taxes aren't as high. These situations do take place at gas stations. And more factors can impact what a station will charge. Timing can greatly impact what price a station charges as well! Many motorists fail to realize that the price a station pays for gasoline changes daily. If one station gets lucky and buys gas on Monday and the cost goes up Tuesday, the station that bought on Monday doesn't necessarily have to raise prices like the station that bought on Tuesday. Maybe the station that got caught buying for a higher price on Tuesday will pass that higher cost on by raising its gas price. Perhaps the difference is what brand the station is---branded stations usually pay a slightly higher cost for their gasoline. In return for paying a higher cost, those stations are guaranteed first supply in case of emergency situations. Independent stations don't pay as much, but aren't guaranteed supply. While competition sounds easy to understand, there are always a large number of factors that could influence what... What could be the best title for the passage? A) How Competition Impacts Gas Prices B) Gas Prices Go Up or Down C) Competition---a Very Complex Word D) We Can't Stress Enough the Need for Competition
A
New research shows that kids from low-income families may be falling behind their peers because an important part of their brains is underdeveloped. Researchers from MIT' s McGovern Institute for Brain Research compared the brains of 12-and 13-year-olds from rich families with the brains of their peers from lower-income families. They found that one particular area of the brain--the neocortex ,which plays a key role in memory and learning ability--is thinner in children from lower-income households. This is a _ part of the brain for young students, who are often tested based on their ability to recall large chunks of information. Children who had a thinner neocortex performed poorly on standardized tests,researchers found.More than 90% of high-income students scored above average on a statewide math and English/Language Arts standardized test,compared with less than 60% of low-income students.Differences in cortical thickness could account for almost half of the income-achievement gap in this sample,researchers wrote. "Just as you would expect, there' s a real cost not living in a supportive environment. We can see it not only in test scores,in educational attainment,but within the brains of these children,"says psychological scientist John Gabrieli,a professor of brain and cognitive sciences at MIT and one of the study's authors. Since a 2011 study published by Stanford University professor Sean Reardon found that the gap between standardized test scores of high-income and low-income students has grown by about 40% since the 1960s,there' s been a lot of research aimed at finding links between income and achievement, rather than race alone. The MIT study found low-income children were equally likely to have a thinner neocortex,no matter their races. Gabrieli and his co-authors can' t say exactly why poor children' s brains develop differently because there are too many possibilities to count.Their findings do,however,underline the importance of early intervention to ensure that low-income kids get the tools... What is the main idea of the passage? A) Wealthy parents do better in raising children. B) Differences exist between poor children and rich ones. C) Poor children study harder due to their financial conditions. D) Poor children have thinner neocortex than their wealthy peers.
D