Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Plants have family values, too; it seems, with new research suggesting they can recognize close relatives in order to work together. An ability to tell family from strangers is well known in animals, allowing them to cooperate and share resources, but plants may possess similar social skills, scientists believe. Susan Dudley and Amanda File of McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, report they have demonstrated for the first time that plants can recognize their kin. This suggests that plants, though lacking recognition and memory, are capable of complex social interactions. "Plants have this kind of hidden but complicated social life," Dudley said. The study found plants from the same species of beach-dwelling wildflower grew aggressively alongside unrelated neighbors but were less competitive when they shared soil with their families. Sea rocket, a North American species, showed stronger and healthier root growth when planted in pots with strangers than when raised with relatives from the same maternal family, the study found. This is an example of kin selection, a behavior common in animals in which closely related individuals take a group approach to succeeding in their environment, the researchers said. Kin selection also applies to competition, because if family members compete less with each other, the group will do better overall. "Everywhere you look, plants are growing right up next to other plants," Dudley said," Usually it's a case of each plant for itself. But sometimes those plants are related, and there are benefits to not wasting resources on being competitive, and there is not really a cost to not being competitive as long as your neighbor is also not being competitive." Learning and memory appear to be important for kin recognition in animals, but this isn't an option for plants, she noted. Some researchers speculate that plants communicate through their roots, identifying themselves using tiny chemical signatures specific to each plant's family. Question: Plants' kin selection is to _ . Options: A: grow well B: compete with other kinds of plants C: strengthen the relationship among siblings D: find which one is the best
B

Read the article and select the best answer. Article: As you are probably aware,the latest job markets news isn't good:Unemployment is still more than 9 percent,and new job growth has fallen close to zero.That's bad for the economy,of course.And it may be especially discouraging if you happen to be looking for a job or hoping to change careers right now.But it actually shouldn't matter to you nearly as much as you think. That's because job growth numbers don't matter to job hunters as much as job staff-turnover data.After all,existing jobs open up every day due to promotions,resignations,and retirements.(Yes,people are retiring even in this economy.)In both good times and bad,staff-turnover creates more openings than economic growth does.Even in June of 2007,when the economy was still booming along,job growth was only 132,000,while staff-turnover was 4.7 million! And as it turns out,even today--with job growth near zero--over 4 million job hunters are being hired every month. I don't mean to imply that overall job growth doesn't have an impact on one's ability to land a job.It's true that if total employment were higher.it would mean more jobs for all of us to choose from(and compete for).And it's true that there are currently more people applying for each available job opening,regardless of whether it's a new one or not. But what often distinguishes those who land jobs from those who don't is their ability to stay motivated.They're willing to do the hard work of identifying their valuable skills;be creative about where and how to look;learn how to present themselves to potential employers;and keep going,even after repeated rejections.The Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that 2.7 million people who wanted and were available for work hadn't hunted for it within the last four weeks and were no longer even classified as unemployed. So don't let the headlines fool you into giving up.Four million people get hired every month in the U.S.You can be one of them Question: What does the author say about overall job growth? Options: A: It doesn't have much effect on individual job seekers. B: It increases people's confidence in the economy. C: It gives a ray of hope to the unemployed. D: It doesn't mean greater job security for the employed.
A

Q: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: What a great Paralympic Games this has been. An outstanding Opening Ceremony, splendid athletic performances in perfect stadiums, the best-ever Paralympic Villages, amazing high definition television coverage, a never ending and self-generating supply of passion and emotion, superb organization, wonderful volunteers, millions of new Paralympic sports lovers both here in China and around the world. These are the greatest Paralympic Games ever. --Philip Craven, president of the International Paralympic Committee It was another spectacular show. Perhaps it's not quite as sublimely beautiful as the opening, but a fitting end to what has been a memorable 12 days in the Chinese capital. The Paralympics were inspiring. Not only the Paralympians themselves, but also the warmth of people in Beijing and the sense of self-respect among the disabled in China that these Games seem to have inspired, as well as a new attitude in general from the government and form Chinese society as a whole. -- Jeff Z. prefix = st1 /Klein,New YorkTimes It doesn't get any better for disabled persons living in Beijingthan September 2008, with increased access for them in public areas. But there are still problems. Some taxi drivers are not willing to pick up wheelchair users. Some companies deliberately break employment laws that ask them to employ a percentage of disabled persons. Many schools haven't opened their door to disabled students. During the past Paralympics, Chinese society has witnessed firsthand the abilities of disabled persons in sporting. And the next step will be for the abilities of disabled people on the Paralympics to be translated into a realization of their abilities to study, work and go about daily life in a barrier-free society. -- Eric Roeder, China Daily Question: What is highly praised in all the three comments? Options: A: The past Paralympics. B: The Paralympian's self-respect. C: The voluntary work. D: The public services.
A: A

Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Did you ever wonder how some of your favorite foods, products or toys came about? Believe it or not, they may have been an accident, or a failure of some other intention. Below, we found three mistakes we're thankful for turned out to be what they are. 1. Most historians hold that the Chinese invented fireworks in the 9th century when they discovered how to make gunpowder. Story has it that a Chinese cook accidentally mixed together what were then considered common kitchen items and noticed they burnt. When put tightly in a bamboo tube and lit, it blew up. 2. In May of 1886, a law led John Pemberton, a pharmacist , to rewrite the formula for "Pemberton's French Wine Coca," his popular headache treatment. Containing sugar instead of wine as a sweetener, the outcome became something for Coke, which was later mixed with carbonated water. His bookkeeper suggested the name Coca-Cola because he thought the two C's would look good together, which is how what we call Coca-Cola, a world -wide drink came into being. 3. During World War II, scientists at the University of Birmingham invented the magnetron--an important heat-producing part of the microwave oven . While working for Raytheon Corporation after the war, the American engineer Percy Spencer was testing the magnetron when a chocolate bar in his pocket melted. He went on to test other foods including popcorn kernels, and found it to be a much more efficient way to cook. In 1947 Raytheon came out with the first restaurant microwave oven, which was six feet tall and weighed 750 lbs. Question: What can we learn from the above invention stories? Options: A: Experiments make great inventors of our time. B: Nothing is impossible if one tries each day. C: Inventors come out of hard work at any time. D: A small incident may lead to a great invention.
D