Sitting on a chair all day in school can make anyone want to move around. So, more and more teachers are letting students have a ball. By sitting on exercise balls instead of chairs , teachers find students' posture and attention improve. Dottie Pownall, a fifth-grade teacher in West Virginia, USA, has been using balls as chairs since December 2008. "The students love them", she says. Pownall took a survey of her students. She found that 80% of the students thought sitting on the balls helped them pay more attention to what they were learning. The teacher, Pisa Witt, felt so strongly about the use of balls as chairs, she started Witt Fitt. This company encourages the use of the balls. And the company educates not only teachers but also students on how to use them. "Our products are used in 24 states, three provinces in Canada, Puerto Rico and Japan," says Witt, " Research shows that sitting on the balls makes them sit up straighter . You can slouch on a ball," says Witt, "but it feels bad." Because the students are moving, their blood increases. That carries more oxygen( ) to the brain , so the kids have more energy and can pay attention longer. "Besides, they're fun." says Pownall. What will happen if a student sits on a chair all day in school? The student will _ . A) pay more attention to his lessons B) be fun C) like to move around D) sit up straighter
C

Sometimes life gets a little dull. What used to be fun and different becomes boring. That is the time to look for something new. It is the time for a big idea to get your mind off everyday life. So why not search for extraterrestrial intelligence? Or even better, why not get your computer to do it for you? Over two million people have joined the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence(SETI)project. Based in California, the SETI project analyzes information taken from a giant radio telescope based in South America. Its task is to look for signals from outer space that might prove that life exists on other planets. Processing this information is far too big a job for one computer. So the SETI project workers divide the work among volunteers who visit their website. Each computer gets some information to work out from the SETI network through the Internet. This process is often known as "meta-computing". It is a wonderful thought. You are sleeping, eating a meal or going out with friends. All this time, your computer is searching the stars for signs that might show something is out there trying to get in touch. Volunteers are proud of being involved in the SETI project. It shows that they understand the potential of computing. They know that it is more than just a way of working or playing games. Meta-computing may also be creating intelligence as well as looking for _ . This idea is based on the theory that human intelligence is created by the way in which different parts of the brain communicate with each other. As the saying goes, "The whole is more than the sum of its parts." People who join the SETI project sometimes wonder whether their computer will become part of a huge network that has learned to think for itself. The passage mainly tells us about _ . A) a new way to work on the computer B) a new way to work and play games C) a new way to search for life outside the earth D) a new way to make computers learn to think for itself
C

Warm water freezes more quickly than cold water. Sir Francis Bacon said that almost four hundred years ago. But few people believed him until 1970. In that year Canadian scientist Geoge Kell proved the English physicist was right. Dr Kell filled one open bowl with cold water. He filled another with warm water. He put both bowls to the same low temperature. The warm water froze first. The lack of covers on the bowls was the secret . Some of the warm water changed into vapor. It evaporated into the air. This meant that less of the warm water was left to freeze. And so the warm water froze faster than the cold water. Most people didn't believe Bacon because warm water is _ . A) further from freezing temperature than cold water B) quicker to evaporate than cold water C) able to flow faster than cold water D) a little harder than colder water
A

Very far away from the city lived a poor farmer and his wife. In front of their house was a small dirt road. Very few cars drove on this road because it was so far from the city. On the dirt road, there was a big hole filled with water. The hole was very deep, but drivers on the road didn't know just how deep. Drivers always drove into the hole, but they never drove out. One day, a man in a new car was driving down the road. He saw the hole with the water, but he didn't think it was very deep. He drove into the hole, but he couldn't drive out. The man saw the farmer on his tractor working in the field, and he signaled to the farmer. The farmer drove over to the man in the new car. "Is there a problem?"asked the farmer. "Yes,"said the man."My car is stuck in this hole. Can you help me?" "Maybe,"said the farmer."But I'm very busy." "lf you help me, I'll pay you," said the man. "OK,"said the farmer. The farmer pulled the car out of the hole with his tractor, and the man paid him a lot of money. The man looked at the farmer and said,"You must. make a lot of money pulling cars out of this hole day and night." "Actually, no,"said the farmer. "Why not?"asked the man. "The hole is very deep, and a lot of people get stuck and ask for help. But I don't make money day and night because I don't pull cars out at night." "At night I'm busy filling the hole with water," answered the farmer. What did the farmer usually do at night? A) He helped pull out cars. B) He made money. C) He filled water to the hole D) He slept at home.
C