When you tidy your messy bedroom, it gets a lot easier to find things. Dreams may work the same way for a messy brain, helping you learn by organizing memories and ideas. To test how much dreams can help learning, Robert Stickgold had some students play a shape-fitting game called Tetris for a few hours and then go to sleep. Soon they were dreaming of falling Tetris shapes. Interestingly, the worst Tetris players had the most Tetris dreams and improved their game the most. Similar tests have shown the same results for all kinds of skills. As we dream, many important tasks are getting done. The brain decides what to keep and what to forget. It is connecting new experiences to older learning. In fact, the brain is learning all night long. Another important task of dreams may be to help us deal with emotions . At night, emotions are in the driver's seat. People who have had an upsetting experience often dream about it afterward. Often the dream event changes somehow--another way the brain tries to make the memory less upset. So if your best friend moves away, you might dream that you're the one who's moving. In fact, dreams have a proven power to improve mood, and people who dream about what's bothering them usually feel better sooner than those who don't. Everybody dreams for a couple of hours every night--in the course of your life, you'll spend about 25 years asleep and 6 years dreaming. There's probably no single answer to the question why we dream, but there doesn't have to be. One dream might help you remember your math facts, while another might lead to a new invention, or give you a fun, crazy story to tell your friends. It's all in a night's work for our busy, mysterious brains. Robert Stickgold's test shows that _ . A) games are useful for memory B) tasks can only be settled through dreams C) players stop learning in dreams D) dreams can help improve skills
D
(Question)
If you think American cooking means opening a package and throwing the contents into the microwave oven , think again. On the one hand, it's true that many Americans have cold cereal for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and instant dinners. From busy homemakers to working people, many Americans enjoy the convenience of fast food that can be ready to serve in 10 minutes or less. On the other hand, many Americans realize the importance of cooking skills. Parents -- especially mothers -- see the importance of training their children -- especially daughters. Most Americans think that there's nothing better than a good home-cooked meal. _ . Probably every cook has his or her own way of cooking. But there are some basic skills that most people follow. For example, baking is a main method of preparing food in America. For that reason, Americans would find it next to impossible to live without an oven. American cooks pay special attention to the balance of foods, too. In planning a big meal they try to include meat, a few vegetables, some bread and often a dessert. They also like to make sure the meal is colorful. Having several different colors of food on the plate usually makes for a healthy meal. For those who need guidance in their cooking, or for those who have just run out of ideas, recipes are a great help. Recipes list all the ingredients for a dish (generally in the order used), the amount of each to use, and a description of how to put them together. This passage mainly tells us that _ . A) Americans like to have several different colors of food on the plate B) without an oven, Americans find it impossible to live conveniently C) Americans pay special attention to recipes and nutritious meals D) Americans usually have fast food, but they pay special attention to cooking as well
(Answer)
D
Ques: Indonesia is a dangerous country to call home. It lies above several active plates with many fire-breathing volcanoes around. The eruption of a volcano and the shaking of an earthquake this week is just one reminder of Indonesia's burning base. Indonesia, consisting of 17,500 islands, sits between the world's most active region, the Pacific Ring of Fire, and the world's second most active region, the Alpide belt. Being situated between them means the islands experience some of the strongest earthquakes and most powerful volcanic eruptions known on Earth. The Pacific Ring of Fire is the world's greatest earthquake belt according to U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), because of its series of fault lines covering about 25,000 miles from Chile through Japan and Southeast Asia. Earthquakes usually occur along faults, which are breaks in the rocky plates. About 90 percent of all the world's earthquakes, and 80 percent of the world's largest earthquakes, strike along the Pacific Ring of Fire. About 17 percent of the world's largest earthquakes and 5-6 percent of all quakes occur alone the Alpide belt. In 2009 alone Indonesia had 10 earthquakes greater than magnitude 6.0, according to the USGS. Monday's 7.7-magnitude earthquake that caused a 3-meter-high tsunami, killing at least 113 people, occurred when the Australian and Sunda plates struck into each other. One rocky plate took a dive below the other, resulting in an earthquake The 9.1-mangitdue 2004 quake and Indian Ocean tsunami killed about 230,000 people in quite a few countries. Below Indonesia, the Eurasian Plate, Australian Plate, Sunda Plate and Pacific Plate meet together. It can be inferred that Indonesia has many earthquakes because _ . A) there are many volcanoes B) many plates met there C) the environment is polluted D) the plates there are very thin
Ans: B
The only survivor of one of the two Sandy Hook Elementary School first-grade classrooms where Adam Lanza shot and killed 20 children tricked the gunman by playing dead,the girl's pastor said. "She ran out of the school building covered from head to toe with blood and the first thing she said to her mom was,"Mommy,I'm OK but all my friends are dead" Pastor Jim Solomon told ABC News' Lara Spencer this weekend "Somehow,at that moment, by God's grace,she was able to act as she was already dead."he said. The girl, a 6-year-old whose name is not being announced for privacy reasons,was the first student to appear from the lockdown at Sandy Hook,Solomon said.He said the young girl described the shooter to her mom in a way that only a young child can. "Well, she saw someone who she felt was angry and someone she felt was very mad,"Solomon said. "I think it's impossible without the help of God. She has wisdom beyond her years, for sure'' Of the 20 children killed on Friday in the Newtown,Conn., school, eight were boys and l2 were girls Six staff members,all female, were also killed. The gunman,whose mother was also killed by him before he went to the schoo1 classrooms, was found dead at the present spot. "The mom told me--and I thought this was very insightful --that she was suffering from what she felt was survivor's guilt because so many of her friends no longer have their children but she has hers," Solomon said how the girl's mother and father are handling the trauma ."I don't know whether l would have the type of faith that they have if the same thing happened to me." What can we know from the text? A) It is not difficult for the parents to handle the trauma. B) The girl's parents have asked for help from their pastor. C) The girl has helped the police in catching the gunman. D) The gunman has worked in the school.
B