*Question*
I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: Bushwick is a tough place to grow up. This part of Brooklyn, in New York City, has a lot of crime. More than half of its 100,000 residents rely on aid from the government. Only 50% of students at Bushwick High School graduate in four years. Some people might say, "We should help these poor kids who have so many challenges." But Malaak Compton-Rock looks at the teens in Bushwick and says, " Go to help kids who have even bigger challenges than you do." She believes that once young people see the power they have to make things better, they can handle their own problems more easily. So her service group, the Angel Rock Project, took 30 Bushwick kids to Soweto, in South Africa, to help poor families there. Soweto is a township outside the city of Johannesburg. The effort, called Journey for Change, aims to show that any kid can change the world. "Kids in Bushwick face pressure to drop out of school or become involved in gangs and drugs." Says Compton-Rock. "We want them to live a life of purpose and service." In Soweto, many parents have died of AIDS, a deadly disease. When that happens, a grandparent or a child must lead the family. The Bushwick volunteers helped such families. They tended vegetable gardens, cared for babies and bought groceries. "The saddest thing was when we visited an orphanage and I helped a little boy who had been abandoned because he had HIV, the virus that causes AIDS," says Queen Clyde, 12. "It's been good to be on this trip. But what's also important is what we do when it's finished. That's what counts." " I never appreciated what I had until I saw some people who had nothing," says Sadara Lewis, 12 "It's really changed my attitude. I want to make a difference." The trip was two weeks long. But the kids, aged 12 to 15, will spend all year speaking about their experience, fund-raising and more. Question: In Compton-Rock's opinion, the Bushwick kids _ . Options: A: have few challenges B: should be kept out of schools C: can learn to deal with their own problems by helping others D: are living much better than people in Africa
**Answer**
C

*Question*
I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: Self-control can make you happier not only in the long-run, but also in the moment. The research showed that self-control isn't about giving up desires, but more about managing conflicting goals. Since most people consider highly self-controlled ones as being more task-centered, the scientists decided to find out the connection between self-control and people's happiness to determine if being self-disciplined leaves people feel less joyful. Through a set of tests-including one that assessed 414 middle-aged participants on self-control and another that randomly interviewed volunteers on their smart phones about their mood and any desires they might be experiencing, researchers found a strong connection between higher levels of self-control and satisfaction. The smart phone experiment also showed how self-control may improve mood. Those who showed the greatest self-control reported more good moods and fewer bad ones. But this didn't appear to be linked to being more able to resist temptation --it was because they exposed themselves to fewer situations that might inspire desires in the first place. They were doing a number of things that bring them happiness and avoiding problematic desires and conflicts. That became clear in the study's last experiment, which looked into how self-control affects the way people handle goals that conflict with one another. In particular, the researchers were interested in how self-disciplined and less-disciplined people differed when it came to choosing among "virtues" and "vices" like the pleasure of eating sugar cookie vs. the pain of gaining weight. Participants were asked to list three important goal conflicts they experienced regularly and were also questioned on how they managed to balance the goals. The highly self-controlled showed an obvious difference from those with less discipline over their lives. They tended to avoid creating situations in which their goals would conflict, and reported fewer instances of having to choose between short-term pleasure and long-term... Question: From the smart phone experiments, the researchers found self-controlled people _ . Options: A: like to challenge more goals B: may have more good moods C: are easier to resist temptation D: are less satisfied with their life
**Answer**
B

*Question*
I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: Helen Thayer, one of the greatest explorers of the 20th century, loves challenges. She says,"I like to see what's on the other side of the hill." She has gone almost everywhere to do that. In 1988,at the age of 50,she became the first woman to travel alone to the North Pole. She pulled her own sled piled with 160 pounds of supplies,and during her trip no one brought her fresh supplies.Accompanied only by her dog Charlie,she survived cold weather and meetings with polar bears. In fact,Charlie saved her life when one of them attacked her.Near the end of her trip,a forceful wind blew away the majority of her supplies. The last week of the trip,she survived on a handful of nuts and a little water each day. Helen goes to challenging places not only for adventures,but also for education.Before her Arctic journey,she started a website called Adventure Classroom.On the site,she shared her adventures in order to inspire students.She explained,"Although kids often see the world in a negative way,without hope for their future,we work to inspire them to set goals,plan for success and never give up..." Helen grew up in New Zealand.Her parents were athletes and mountain climbers.Following her parents'example,she climbed her first mountain at the age of nine.Later,she climbed the highest mountains in North and South America,the former USSR and New Zealand. In 1996,she took on another challenge--the Sahara Desert.She and her husband,Bill,walked 2,400 miles across it.In 2001,she and Bill travelled on foot from west to east through the Gobi Desert in Mongolia.They hope to travel in mainland China into Sichuan and Tibet to study pandas. Helen plans to continue taking trips.She'll use her explorations,writing,photography and environmental works to create programs for her Adventure Classroom website. She wants to inspire her students to never stop facing challenges. Question: Why does Helen travel to different places worldwide? Options: A: For fun. B: For education. C: For money. D: For fame.
**Answer**
B

*Question*
I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: It is believed that it took about 800 thousand to 1 million years for the earth's population to reach the 250 million total which existed at the end of the first century AD. For some time after that, disease, famine and war kept the population increase down to a rate of 1 percent a year so that more than 15 centuries passed before the population reached 500 million. But in the next 250 years, up to 1850, the population of the world shot to 1 billion and today it has reached 3.5 billion. Scientists say that in the next 35 years the population of the world will double, reaching almost 7 billion by the year 2010. When experts are asked what are the most effective measures that can stop over population, they reply that at least three measures can be considered. (A) Increasing sources and supply of food for under-developed countries. (B) Increasing the industrialization of under- developed countries. (C) Controlling birth. The experts add, however, that none of the above measures can be effective by itself, and that all must be combined into one whole program. They also agree that without controlling of births, any other measures are doomed to failure. Question: The population of the world doubled between the year _ . Options: A: 1850 and today B: 100 and the year 1400 C: 100 and the year 1600 D: 1 and the year 100
**Answer**
C