Even before my father left us, my mother had to go back to work to support our family.Once I came out of the kitchen, complaining, "Mom, I can't peel potatoes.I have only one hand." Mom never looked up from sewing."You get yourself into the kitchen and peel those potatoes," she told me."And don't ever use that as an excuse for anything again!" In the second grade, our teacher lined up my class on the playground and had each of us race across the monkey bars, swinging from one high steel bar to the next.When it was my turn, I shook my head.Some kids behind me laughed, and I went home crying. That night I told Mom about it.She hugged me, and I saw her "we'll see about that" look.The next afternoon, she took me back to school.At the deserted playground, Mom looked carefully at the bars. "Now, pull up with your right arm," she advised.She stood by as I struggled to lift myself with my right hand until I could hook the bar with my other arm.Day after day we practiced, and she praised me for every rung I reached.I'd never forget the next time, crossing the rungs.I looked down at the kids who were standing with their mouths open. One night, after a dance at my new junior school, I lay in bed sobbing.I could hear Mom come into my room."Mom," I said, weeping, "none of the girls would dance with me." For a long time, I didn't hear anything.Then she said, "Oh, honey, someday you'll be beating those boys off with a bat." Her voice was soft and weak.I glanced at her to see tears running down her cheeks.Then I knew how much she suffered on my behalf.She had never let me see her tears. The most probable conclusion we can draw after reading the passage is _ . A) the last incident was sad enough to make Mom weep B) the child's experience reminded Mom of that of her own C) Mom could solve any problem except the one in the last paragraph D) in fact Mom suffered more in the process of the child's growth
D
Monkeys , face to face DISCOVER magazine once reported on a curious event in the woods : a group of monkeys applied mud to their faces in order to keep away insects , but when they were done they seemed to have lost their ability to recognize each other ---two monkeys that were supposed to be friends even started fighting. "Faces are really important to how monkeys and apes can tell one another apart," explained Michael Alfaro, a biologist at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), to the New York -based International Science Times . This is quite different from many other animals , which depend heavily on smells. Since faces play such a crucial part in the social lives of monkeys , could this explain why certain monkey species have such colorful faces while others have simpler, plainer ones ? To test this theory , a group of researchers from UCLA studied 139 monkey species , mainly from Asia and Africa, and analyzed hundreds of headshot photos of those monkeys from their databases. It was found that species that live in larger groups have faces with more complex color patterns than those that live in smaller groups. According to Live Science, researchers believe that this is nature's way of making it easier for monkeys to recognize each other since those living in larger groups have to distinguish between a greater number of faces. This is actually not that hard to understand . Just imagine if there were 10 people standing in front of you, all wearing white clothes. It would be much more difficult to tell them apart than if they wore clothes with colorful patterns. However, if there were only two people that you had to identify, a lack of color wouldn't be much of a problem. Apart from the need to recognize group members , researchers found that geography and environment also affect monkeys' facial colors. Species that live closer to the equator in thick, humid forests were found to have darker faces than those who live in dry areas further away from the equator. This is because darker faces help... What is article mainly about? A) The social lives of monkeys. B) How monkeys tell each other apart. C) A comparison between the face patterns of monkeys and those of human beings. D) The different factors that determine monkeys' face patterns.
D
(Question)
"There's no point in talking with you: you don't understand me. You don't even know me." A teen spits these words at a parent, who is hurt and annoyed. How can her own child say these things? She's worked hard getting to know him, learning to read his feelings from his voice and gestures. How can her own child now say to her, "You don't know who I really am"? Nothing shakes a parent's confidence as much as the starting of a child's adolescence. The communication that has flowed easily through words, glance and touch becomes a minefield Recent discoveries that the human brain undergoes specific and dramatic development during adolescence offer new "explanations" of teen behavior, particularly of the impulsiveness of teenagers. During this development, there may be too many synapses for the brain to work efficiently, the mental capacities of decision-making, judgment and control are not mature until the age of twenty-four. An old explanation is that anger hormones account for the apparently unreasonable moodiness of teens. Though hormones do play a role in human feelings, the real task of adolescence, and the real cause of the unrest, is the uncertainty of teenagers about who they are, alongside their eagerness to establish a sense of identity. This involves self-questioning, self-discovery and self-development across a range of issues, including sex, faith, intellect and relationships. A sense of who we are is not a mere luxury; without it we feel worthless. A teen often looks upon his or her friends sa models: " I don't know who I am, but I know who he is, I'll be like him," is the underlying thought. Parents also become such mirrors: teens want that mirror to reflect back to them the vividness and clarity they themselves do not feel. Arguments with parents can often be understood in this context. While those common teenager-parent quarrels, which explode every few days, are often over small things such as homework, housework, and respect; a teenager's real focus is on a parent's recognition of his... What do we learn from the text? A) Parents hate talking to their children because they can't understand them. B) The brains of teenagers work more efficiently because of the synapses. C) Hormones are the real causes of unrest and moodiness in teens. D) What teens really care about is being recognized by their parents.
(Answer)
D