It was the day when the UPSR results would be released. Sleepless nights, pounding hearts... Pupils were laughing with their peers or talking non-stop as their eyes searched for their parents. They looked pale, as if someone had squeezed the air from their lungs. Now I was among the anxious parents. I sat behind my daughter. She looked back, saw me and waved. I nodded. As the teachers walked in, the noise subsided. The year's results were read out. Then came the moment of truth. Pupils who had scored 5As were called out one by one and each of them stepped up on stage. When my daughter went up, I felt fine, but she was crying. I wondered why; maybe she didn't expect to score 5As. Anyway, I said a thankful prayer quietly. After the last name was called, what I saw made an impact on me. One mother just dashed from the back, crying. I thought she was the parent of the last pupil, but I was wrong. She hugged her daughter seated in the front row, saying it was all right that she hadn't scored all As. Her kid was crying. This morn kissed her daughter's forehead and walked straight to the back of the hall, wiping her tears as she walked. She didn't care about the other parents looking at her. How much pressure do we put on these 12-year-olds? All they did was studying and doing endless homework and countless practice questions. Where was the joy that they rightfully needed? As a parent, I think scoring top marks is not the main thing in life. Survival skills are more important than just chewing school texts and regurgitating them in an exam. So let your kids be kids. Let them play, cycle and climb trees. They will be children only once in their lifetime, so don't rob them of their childhood. Let's teach our kids how to be human, how to interact with others, how to help others and recognize "bad people". Teach them how to survive in this cruel world! How did most parents feel when waiting for the UPSR results? A) Hopeful. B) Excited. C) Anxious. D) Disappointed.
C
This is an interview between the reporter and Sarah, a girl who created a website for her school. Reporter: Why did you start this new website for Alcott Middle School? Sarah: Three months ago, my mom was complaining about how she never hears about the days our school ends early until after the fact. She works late and sometimes she has to ask our neighbor at the last minute to pick me up after school. It happened several times, and she was frustrated that there wasn't better notification from the school. Reporter: Didn't your school already have a website with that information? Sarah: We had a website. But there wasn't much information on it, and nobody was _ keeping it up-to-date . I asked my teacher if our class could update the school calendar. That seemed pretty easy. Reporter: Was it? Sarah: Yeah, and it was kind of fun. So then we asked the principal if we could redo the whole site. He said okay, so we went to work. We discovered websites that taught us how to make our site look better and added more hot links that people could click to get more information about a subject. We posted photos from basketball games. Our class even started a blog about what's going on at school. Then we persuaded the teachers to create their own pages. Reporter: So what's next? Sarah: A few friends and I started a small Web design business. We're asking other schools if they'll employ us to set up a site like the one we created. Reporter: Wow! That's pretty enterprising for a 13-year-old. Sarah: I guess so. But it doesn't seem like work when you're doing something you enjoy. Sarah set up the new school website _ . A) with the help of her teachers B) by researching on other websites C) in order to please her principal D) to make her school more famous
B
Q: A few days ago we - that's me and the husband - took a cab to the station. Chat with the driver fell to the wrong of cyclists, and the misunderstanding of the road rules. So far as the rules of the road go, there seems to be one basic principle: when you are driving a car you hate bikes, when you are riding a bike you hate cars (and I guess walkers hate everyone). There is an obvious difference of viewpoint built in here. It wasn't until I started to drive a car (almost 20years after I had first rode a bike) that I actually realized that you could not see a cyclist at night without lights. In fact I now want to shout at late night cyclists without lights(like motortists once did at me): "You'll get killed, sunshine, I can't see you." The problem is that cyclists do ride headlong into danger. It's not just not having lights. It's biking on pavements (and so threatening to injure a load of innocent walkers in the process) and biking down one-way streets the wrong way. I admit that I do bike the wrong way down a one-way street sometimes. My feeble defense is that I try always to do it as if I know I was doing wrong. That is slowly, with an apologetic look on the face, and ready to get off at any minute. I can't bear the guys (usually, but not always it is guys) who do it as if they owned the place, and at high speed. So cyclists are not entirely innocent. But they are among the disadvantaged groups, because the bottom line is that a car or a lorry can kill a cyclist and not the other way around. Which group is most likely to face danger according to the writer? A) walkers B) passers-by C) cyclists D) motorists
A: C
(Q).
"My Best Teacher Ever" Contest Students Tell us why, in 300 words or less, your teacher (present or past) is the best teacher ever. Assay Topic Who was/is your best teacher ever? What makes him or her the best? Participation The contest is open to all students enrolled in grades 2 through 12. Entries Word limit: 300 Essays will be judged on the following criteria by Readers editorial staff: *originally, creativity--40 percent *clarity of presentation-- 40 percent *grammar, punctuation, spelling --20 percent All entries should be word-processed, typed, or hand-printed on 8.5-inch by 11-inch paper or submitted as an attached word or text document via email. Each entry must include the entrant's name, age, complete home mailing address, phone number, school name, and grade, as well as the submitting teacher's name, school name, complete school mailing address and email address. Contest Deadline Entries must be postmarked on or before April 26, 2013, or mailed by EST on that date. Submission Email your entry with attached essay and entry information (entrant's name, age, complete home mailing address, phone number, school name, and grade, submitting teacher's name, email address, school name, and complete school mailing address) to web-contest @ readers.com or mail your entry with attached entry form to this address: Readers Publishing My Best Teacher Ever Contest Attn: Anne Flounders 44 South Broadway, 18 Floor White Plains, NY10601 Prizes One winner will be chosen in each of two categories: elementary (grades 2-6) and secondary (grades 7-12). Winning students will win a $ 50 gift card and may have their essays published on readers.com. Teachers of winning students will win one free classroom subscription to the Readers magazine of their choice. Winning essays will be posted up on signing of a release by students and their agent or guardian. Winning essays will be announced on May 7, 2013, Teacher Appreciation Day, on readers.com, and winners will be notified directly. According to the text, your essay _ . A) should have a total of 300 words at least B) can't have any mistakes in grammar C) will be judged by some best teachers D) must be mailed on or before April 26, 2013
(A).
D