Several different stories are told about the origin of Saint Valentine's Day. One legend dates as far back as the days of Roman Empire . According to the story, Claudius, the Emperor of Rome, wanted to increase the size of the army. He knew that it would be easier to get young men who were not married to join the army. Therefore, he made a rule that no young men could marry until he had served in the army for a certain number of years. A priest named Valentine broke the rule and secretly married a great number of young people. Finally, Claudius found out about Valentine and put the priest in prison, where he remained until his death on February 14. After his death, Valentine was made a saint and the day of his death was named Saint Valentine's Day. It became the custom for lovers to send each other message on this day. Now Saint Valentine's Day is a time for people to send one another their greeting of many kinds. February 14, Valentine's Day, is sweetheart's day, on which people in love with each other express their tender emotions . People sometimes put their love message in a heart-shaped box of chocolates or a bunch of flowers tied with red ribbons . Words of letters may be written on the flower-covered card, or something else. Whatever the form may be, the message is almost the same "Will you be my Valentine?" According to the rule, _ . A) no young men could get married unless they were old enough. B) young men could get married if they had served the army for a number of years. C) no one could get married without the emperor's permission D) young men could get married only in the army.
B
The English test will be removed from China's college entrance exam by 2020, according to details of exam and admission reform revealed by the Ministry of Education. The national college exam, known as the "Gaokao" has been used to evaluate Chinese students for three decades. The Ministry of Education has worked out a plan for reforming exams and enrollment. The Ministry will solicit public opinions before its release. Instead, tests will be held several times a year to allow students to choose when and how often they sit the exam so as to ease study pressure and change China's once-in-a-lifetime exam system. The plan and suggestion for its implementation will be announced in the first half of next year. It will be piloted in selected provinces and cities and promoted nationwide from 2017. A new exam and admission system will be established by 2020, according to the education ministry. The decision has aroused a heated discussion among Shanghai educators and parents who doubted the reform would reduce the burden of learning English or if the substitute test could reflect a student's English skills and help students learn English better. "The reform shows China is learning from the West to give students more test-taking chances. But more chances might become more of a burden since Chinese students are likely to repeat the test until they get the highest score," said Cai Jigang, a professor at Fudan University's College of Foreign Languages and Literature and chairman of the Shanghai Advisory Committee for College English Teaching at Tertiary level. Yu Lizhong, chancellor of New York University Shanghai, where classes are in English and students are required to have a high standard of English, said the most important aspect of the reform lay in what to test and how to test. "As far as I see, the reform doesn't mean English is no longer important for Chinese students after it will be excluded from the college entrance exam," Yu said. "In a way, English is even more important than before since the test would... According to the passage, Shanghai educators and parents argue that _ . A) the new exam and admission system will make no difference. B) English shouldn't be removed from China's college entrance exam. C) the reform may accomplish the very opposite. D) Western educational system does not apply to China.
C
Q: Motherhood may make women smarter and may help prevent dementia in old age by bathing the brain in protective hormones , U.S.researchers reported on Thursday. Tests on rats show that those who raise two or more litters of pups do considerably better in tests of memory and skills than rats who have no babies, and their brains show changes that suggest they may be protected against diseases such as Alzheimer's .University of Richmond psychology professor Craig Kinsley believes his findings will translate into humans."Our research shows that the hormones of pregnancy are protecting the brain, including estrogen , which we know has many neuroprotective effects," Kinsley said. "It's rat data but humans are mammals just like these animals are mammals," he added in a telephone interview."They go through pregnancy and hormonal changes." Kinsley said he hoped public health officials and researchers will look to see if having had children protects a woman from Alzheimer's and other forms of age-related brain decline. "When people think about pregnancy, they think about what happens to babies and the mother from the neck down," said Kinsley, who presented his findings to the annual meeting of the Society of Neuroscience in Orlando, Florida. "They do not realize that hormones are washing on the brain.If you look at female animals that have never gone through pregnancy, they act differently toward young.But if she goes through pregnancy, she will sacrifice her life for her infant--that is a great change in her behavior that showed in genetic alterations to the brain." How do scientists know "Motherhood may make women smarter"? A) Some researchers have told them. B) Many women say so. C) They know it by experimenting on rats. D) They know it through their own experience.
A: C
*Question*
Many a online shopper stayed up until 2 am on Sunday, looking through the Internet to buy products being sold at half price before they could _ (be bought)by other shoppers. Tens of millions of the Internet users were crazy to take advantage of the halfprice promotion, started by the ecommerce giant Alibaba Group on Sunday, Nov. 11, which is known as Singles' Day in China, and is the Chinese answer to Cyber Monday in the United States. By 7 pm on Sunday, 14.1 billion yuan's worth of sales was made on tmall. com and taobao. com. That could make Singles' Day the biggest ecommerce sales day on record. The research company comScore said US online retailers saw $ 1.25 billion of sales during last year's Cyber Monday, the day after Thanksgiving weekend and the busiest day for online retailers as US shoppers start to prepare for Christmas. Singles' Day originated with university students, and was later adopted by ecommerce companies as a promotional opportunity. Ecommerce companies, including Jingdong Mall and Amazon China, also took part in the promotion." In the past, people only shopped online occasionally, but now, online shopping is a lifestyle accepted by many," said Zhang Yong, Tmall president. Alibaba began to hold Singles' Day promotions in 2009, and last year, its sales totaled 5.2 billion yuan."I don't know whether we would lose money, but I don't think we could earn much on this day by selling goods at half price," said Hao Hongfeng, chairman of Beijing Jiuxian ECommerce, a liquor retailer in Beijing who took part in the event. He said it is a good opportunity for online retailers to get their names known. Which title do you think is more suitable for this article? A) Chinese Shopping Style B) The Origin of Singles' Day C) Online Purchasing Power D) A Craze for Online Promotion
**Answer**
D