Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Mark Twain, the famous American writer and a great master of humor, liked to play jokes on others. But once a joke was played on him. One day Mark Twain was invited to give a talk in a small town. At lunch he met a young man, one of his friends. The young man said that he had an uncle with him. He told Mark Twain that his uncle never laughed or smiled, and that nobody and nothing was able to make his uncle smile or laugh. "You bring your uncle to my talk this evening," said Mark Twain. "I'm sure I can make him laugh." That evening the young man and his uncle sat in the front. Mark Twain began to speak. He told several funny stories and made everyone in the room laugh. But the man never even smiled. Mark Twain told more funny stories, but the old man still kept quiet. Mark Twain continued to tell his funny stories. Finally he stopped. He was tired and quite disappointed. Some days later, Mark Twain told another friend what had happened." Oh," said his friend, "I know that man. He's been deaf for years." Question: One day Mark Twain met _ at lunch. - a friend - his brother - his teacher - a young girl
a friend

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: This summer, Monika Lutz's life took an unusual turn. Instead of heading off to college, the high school graduate packed her bags for a Bengali jungle. Lutz, like a growing number of other young Americans, is taking a year off. Gap years are quite common in Britain and Australia, but they are just beginning to catch on in the U.S. Lutz, who grew up in Boulder, Colo., has put together a 14-month schedule that includes helping deliver solar power to some communities in India and interning for a fashion designer in Shanghai---experiences that are worlds away from the lecture halls and university dormitories that await other students. "I could not be happier," she says. Why are students attracted to the gap-year concept? According to new survey data from Karl Haigler and Rae Nelson, education-policy experts and co-authors of The Gap-Year Advantage, the most common reason for this is to avoid burnout. "I felt like I was focused on college as a means to an end," says Kelsi Morgan, an incoming Middlebury College freshman who spent last year interning for a judge in Tulsa, Okla., and teaching English at an orphanage in the Dominican Republic. The hope is that after a year out of the classroom, students will enter college more energized, focused and mature. That can be an advantage for colleges too. Robert Clagett, dean of admissions at Middlebury, did some research a few years ago and found that a single gap semester was the strongest predictor of academic success at his school. Most experts recommend securing a spot in college before taking a gap year and warn against using the time off to lengthen your resume. "Most admissions folks can see right through that," says Jim Jump, the academic dean of St. Christopher's School in Richmond, Va. But for students like Lutz, who, after getting rejected from five Ivies, decided to take time off, a gap year can help focus interests. Lutz now plans to apply mostly to non-Ivies that have strong marketing programs. "This experience has really opened my eyes to the... Question: Stefanie DeLuca probably agrees that _ . - students should think twice before taking gap years - taking gap years enables students to achieve success - schools should encourage their students to take gap years - taking gap years increases students' chances of getting a good job
students should think twice before taking gap years

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Our education system was invented. There were no public systems of education before the 19th century. They all came into being to meet the needs of industrialism. So the most useful subjects for work are at the top and you were probably driven away from what you did as a kid at school--things you liked--because you would never get a job doing that. Is that right? Don't do music. You're not going to be a musician. Don't do art. You're not going to be an artist. In addition, the whole system of public education around the world is a process of university entrance. And the consequence is that many highly talented, brilliant, creative people think they're not because the thing they were good at wasn't valued at school. I think we can't afford to go on that way. In the next 30 years, more people worldwide will be graduating through education than since the beginning of the history. Suddenly, degrees aren't worth anything. When I was a student, if you had a degree, you had a job. But now you need a Master's degree where the previous job required a Bachelor, and now you need a Ph.D. for the other. It's a process of academic inflation , and it indicates the whole structure of education needs changing. All the great teachers I've ever met and worked with are people who can inspire interest and curiosity and light up people's imaginations with the interests they themselves have for a particular field of work. I mean, teaching is not only a process of giving people direct instructions and information they have to memorize, it is much more than that. I believe our only hope for the future is to rethink the fundamental principles on which we are educating our children. And our task is to educate their whole being so they can face the future. By the way, we may not see this future, but they will. And our job is to help them make something of it. Question: Things little kids like to do are not taught at school because they _ . - are not useful for making a living - are not challenging enough for students - don't meet the expectation of parents - don't fit in classroom teaching
are not useful for making a living