I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: As a professor I have grown accustomed to the opinion regarding American education. We are repeatedly told that American schools are failing, that colleges are not teaching, and that the students of today are not as good as the students of the past. There are, of course, problems with the education system. Because of economic inequality some schools are significantly better than others and the ideas of equality of education and equality of opportunity are cruel jokes. However, the mere fact that there are some serious problems does not mean that all the _ claims are true. One stock claim is that America has fallen behind the world in education in terms of performance on various tests. While the fact that America is behind other countries is a point of concern, there are at least three points worth considering here. The first is the above-mentioned economic inequality which will tend to result in poorer performance when taking the average for America. The second is that many countries have put considerable effort into improving their education systems and hence it is worth considering that America's decline is also due to the improvement of others. The third is the matter of the measures-- do they, in fact, present an accurate picture of the situation? I am not claiming that the data is bad. I am merely raising a reasonable concern about how accurate our picture of education is at this time. Another stock claim is that American students are doing badly on standardized tests. While there is clearly value in assessment, it is reasonable to consider whether or not such tests are a proper and adequate measure of education. It is also worth considering whether the puzzle with these tests is itself causing damage to education. That is, as teachers teach for the test and students learn for the test, it might be the case that what is being taught is not what should be taught and what is being learned is not what should be learned. Question: According to the professor, many people's attitude towards American colleges is _ . Options: A: negative B: positive C: approving D: indifferent
A

I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: In the late nineteenth century, ^5,000 pianos were sold in the United States each year and, with over half a million youths learning to play the instrument, there was a huge demand for sheet music .Indeed the demand was so huge that publishers rushed to enter the profitable market.During the last fifteen years of the century, many publishers began to set up shops in New York, the center for the production of the musical arts By the turn of the nineteenth century many important publishers had their offices on 28thStreet between Broadway and 5th Avenue, and this Is the area that became known as Tin Pan Alley.It was here that publishers adopted new, aggressive business practices and marketing techniques to achieve great sales. How it became to be known by that name is unclear, but the general opinion is that it is down to a visiting journalist by the name of Monroe Rosenfeld.He described the area as being drowned in the noise coming from the producers' offices, sounding as though hundreds of people were hitting tin pans .He used it several times in his newspaper articles in the early twentieth century and the term stuck.With time this name was popularly embraced and many years later it came to describe the U.S.music publishing industry in general. The start of Tin Pan Alley is usually dated to about 1885,.but the end of Tin Pan Alley is less clear-cut .Some date it to the start of the Great.Depression in the 1930s when the phonograph and radio replaced sheet music, as the driving force of American popular music, while others consider Tin Pan Alley to have continued into thel950s when earlier styles of American popular music were upstaged by the rise of rock & roll. There's a plaque on the sidewalk on 28th Street in honor of the influence of Tin Pan Alley on American popular culture, but the buildings that were home to the legendary Tin Pan Alley publishers and songwriters are up for sale and may be torn down to make room for modern high-rise buildings. Question: When visiting Tin Pan Alley , Rosenfeld probably felt it was _ . Options: A: very noisy B: very quiet C: wide D: narrow
A

I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: My father was 44 and knew he wasn't going to make it to 45. He wrote me a letter and hoped that something in it would help me for the rest of my life. Since the day I was 12 and first read his letter, some of his words have lived in my heart. One part always stands out. "Right now, you are pretending to be a timekiller . But I know that one day, you will do something great that will set you among the very best." Knowing that my dad believed in me gave me permission to believe in myself. "You will do something great." He didn't know what that would be, and neither did I, but at times in my life when I've felt proud of myself, I remember his words and wish he were here so I could ask, "Is this what you were talking about, Dad? Should I keep going?" A long way from 12 now, I realize he would have been proud when I made any progress. Lately, though, I've come to believe he'd want me to move on to what comes next: to be proud of, and believe in, somebody else. It's time to start writing my own letters to my children. Our children look to us with the same unanswered question we had. Our kids don't hold back because they're afraid to fail. They're only afraid of failing us. They don't worry about being disappointed. Their fear-as mine was until my father's letter-is of being a disappointment. Give your children permission to succeed. They're waiting for you to believe in them. I always knew my parents loved me. But trust me: That belief will be more complete, that love will be more real, and their belief in themselves will be greater if you write the words on their hearts:"Don't worry; you'll do something great." Not having that blessing from their parents may be the only thing holding them back. Question: The main purpose of the text is to _ . Options: A: describe children's thinking B: answer some questions children have C: stress the importance of communication D: advise parents to encourage their children
D

I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: Can feeling of nostalgia be good for you? or is it unhealthy to have a strong love for the past? For years, medical experts have studied nostalgia and the reasons for it. Many experts warn that too much nostalgia is harmful. They say linger in the past shows that a person is unhappy with his present life. These feelings keep the person from living his life to its fullest. Dr. Louise Kaplan has written several books about nostalgia. She says these feelings often begin when a young person is between 13 and 19 years old. "This is the time when you must face the loss of your childhood, " Kaplan says. "You see your new life is easily destroyed. But you think romantically about a golden past. You remember your childhood as a time when life was perfect." These feelings continue as a person gets older, Kaplan adds. She says many grown persons have a hard time keeping up with changes in the modem world, so they think back to their younger years. At that time the world seemed simple and more harmless. Kaplan says these feelings are not always actually existing. The good old days weren't always good. However, she says nostalgia can be helpful, if used properly. "Feelings of nostalgia can cause you to remember a time when you had high hopes and dreams, " Kaplan says. "It might give you the strong wish to catch those dreams today, in your present life." She adds that nostalgia can prevent you from "cutting yourself off from your aim." "At its best, " Kaplan says, "nostalgia has the ideas for the future." Question: We may also use _ as the topic of the article. Options: A: Thoughts on Nostalgia B: The reasons for Nostalgia C: Why Do They Think Back to the Past D: Nostalgia, Good or Bad
D