When I met him, I had a lot of anger inside me. I've lived my whole life in Spanish Harlem, but in my neighborhood, there are shoot-ups all the time. I know kids who have been shot or beaten up. I have friends who ended up in prison. I could have ended up that way, too, but Mr. Clark wouldn't let that happen. Mr. Clark worked long hours, making sure I did my work. My grades rose. In fact, the scores of our whole class rose. One day, he took our class to see The Phantom of the Opera, and it was the first time some kids had ever been out of Harlem. Before the show, he treated us to dinner at a restaurant and taught us not to talk with our mouths full. We did not want to let him down. Mr. Clark was selected as Disney's 2000 Teacher of the Year. He said he would draw three names out of a hat ; those students would go with him to Los Angles to get the award. But when the time came to draw names, Mr. Clark said, "You're all going." On graduation day, there were a lot of tears. We didn't want his class to end. In 2001, he moved to Atlanta, but he always kept in touch. He started giving lectures about education, and wrote a best-selling book based on his classroom rules, The Essential 55. In 2003, Mr. Clark took some of us on a trip to South Africa to deliver school supplies and visit orphanages . It was the most amazing experience of my life. It's now my dream to start a group of women's clubs one day, helping people from all backgrounds. Without Mr. Clark, the writer _ . A) might have been put into prison B) might not have won the prize C) might have joined a women's club D) might not have moved to Atlanta
A
Professor Reason recently persuaded 35 people to keep a diary of all their absent-minded actions for two weeks. When he came to analyze their embarrassing errors, he was surprised to find that nearly all of them fell into a few groups. One of the women, for instance, on leaving her house for work one morning threw her pet dog her earrings and tried to fix a dog biscuit on her ear. "The explanation for this is that the brain is like a computer," explains the professor. "People programme themselves to do certain activities regularly." It was the woman's custom every morning to throw her dog two biscuits and then put on her earrings. "But somehow the action got reversed in the programme." About one in twenty of the incidents the volunteers reported were these "programme assembly failures." Twenty percent of all errors were "test failures" -- mainly due to not verifying the progress of what the body was doing. A man about to get his car out of the garage passed through the back yard where his garden jacket and boots were kept, put them on -- much to his surprise. A woman reported, "I got into the bath with my socks on." The commonest problem was information "storage failures". People forgot the names of people whose faces they knew, went into a room and forgot why they were there, mislaid something, or smoked a cigarette without realizing it. The research so far suggests that while the central processor of the brain is liberated from second-to-second control of a well-practiced routine, it must repeatedly switch back its attention at important decision points to check that the action goes on as intended. Otherwise the activity may be gotten by another frequently and recently used programme, resulting in embarrassing errors. Which of the following might be grouped under "programme assembly failures"? A) A woman went to a shop and forgot what to buy. B) A man returning home after work left his key in the lock. C) A lady fell as she was paying attention to each step her feet were taking. D) An old man, with his shoes on, was trying to put on his socks.
D
Q: For 40 years, people in London have been happy to see parakeets in their parks. The shocking green body and long tail have brought a bright color to the parks, which have attracted a lot of people. However, the parakeets are no longer welcome. They will push out local birds from trees to build their own nests, and will also take most of the food in the parks, such as seeds, fruit and nuts. Sometimes by accident, plants and animals are carried to new places. They are transported by trains, ships or even planes. Often, animals like fishes get transported in the water containers of ships. When these ships reach new places and pump out the water from their tanks, these animals will start a new life in a new place. Sometimes people take plants and animals from one part of the world to the other to solve a problem. But it will create a bigger problem. Years ago, the farmers of northern Australia brought the toads from South America to their farms. They thought they would kill the beetles that harm the sugarcane crops. But the toad has done much more. It is now killing Australia's native animals, such as snakes, water birds and so on. What can we learn about the toads? A) They didn't kill the beetles at all. B) They were brought to Australia by accident. C) They have ruined the sugarcane crops. D) They have created a larger problem in Australia.
A: D
*Question*
Mark was walking home from school one day when he noticed a boy ahead of him. He had tripped and dropped all of the books he was carrying, along with some clothes, a baseball bat and a glove. Mark knelt down and helped the boy pick up the things. Since they were going the same way, he offered to carry some things for the boy. As they walked, Mark discovered the boy's name was Bill. He loved video games, baseball and history, but he was having trouble with some of his subjects. They arrived at Bill's home first. Mark was invited in for a Coke and to watch some television. The afternoon passed pleasantly with some laughs and talk. Then Mark went home. They continued to see each other around school, had lunch together once or twice, then both graduated from junior school. Three days before graduation, Bill asked Mark if they could talk. Bill reminded Mark of the day years ago when they had first met. "Did you ever wonder why I was carrying so many things home that day?" asked Bill. "You see, I took away all my things from school. I had stored away some of my mother's sleeping pills . I was going home to kill myself. But after we spent some time talking and laughing, I realized that if I had died, I would have missed so many good times. So you see, Mark, when you picked up those books that day, you did a lot more. _ " Which of the following is NOT true? A) Mark was a warm-hearted boy. B) Bill and Mark were in the same school. C) Bill was good at all of his subjects. D) Bill loved video games, baseball and history.
**Answer**
C