*Question*
Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Nowadays, there's a lot of debate about single sex education since it has begun to regain its popularity recently. According to long term studies of children from around the world, students achieve more and learn better in single sex schools. An Australian study of 270,000 students found that both boys and girls performed much higher on standardized tests when they attended separate schools. During an experiment in Virginia in 1995, 100 eighth graders were separated just for math and science courses. Almost immediately, the girls began to achieve more, become more confident and take part more often in class activities. In 2001, a British study concluded that nearly every girl regardless of her ability or socio-economic status performed better in single sex classrooms than co-ed ones. The study of 2,954 high schools and 979 primary schools showed that while boys at the lowest levels in study improved the most in single sex schools, single sex education was particularly beneficial to girls. Every one of the top 50 private elementary schools and top 20 private high schools in Britain are single sex schools. Girls became more confident in themselves as students and earned higher scores on their College Board and Advanced Placement examinations. A quarter of the female members of the US Congress and one-third of all female members of Fortune 100 boards graduated from all-women's colleges. While the statistics are not as dramatic for boys, however, boys tend to soften their competitive edge and become more cooperative in a single sex setting. They can just be boys and not worry about what the girls might think. Single sex education has a pleasant way of encouraging children to be fearless, to be curious, to be enthusiastic --- in short, to just be themselves. Children are subjected to pressures from every quarter to become adults before they are ready to do so. They grow up too quickly. Why not let them be children for a few more years? Single sex education with its gentler, more controlled social atmosphere... Question: With the experiment in Virginia in 1995, the writer wants to show that _ . - single sex education has become popular in recent years - the effect of single sex education on girls is immediate - students at separate schools are better prepared for standardized tests - both boy and girl students achieve more and learn better in single sex schools
**Answer**
the effect of single sex education on girls is immediate

*Question*
Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Elephants have four distinct personalities that help their herd survive in the African bush, scientists have found. With their grey skin, mournful eyes and slow heavy pace, you could be forgiven for thinking elephants are uniformly melancholy creatures. But scientists have now discovered the largest living land animals have personalities to match their size. In a new study of African elephants, researchers have identified four distinct characters that are common in a herd - the leaders, the gentle giants, the playful rogues and the reliable plodders . Each of the types has developed to help the giant mammals survive in their harsh environment and is almost unique in the animal kingdom, according to the scientists. Professor Phyllis Lee and her colleague Cynthia Moss studied a herd of elephants in the Amboseli National Park in Kenya known as the EB family -- famous for their matriarch Echo before she died in 2009. Using data collected over 38 years of watching this group, the researchers analyzed them for 26 types of behavior and found four personality features tended to emerge. The strongest personality to emerge was that of the leader. Unlike other animals, where leadership tends to be won by the most dominant and aggressive individual, the elephants instead respected intelligence and problem solving in their leader. Echo, the matriarch and oldest in the group, her daughter Enid, and Ella, the second oldest female, all emerged as leaders. The playful elephants tended to be younger but were more curious and active. Eudora, a 40-year-old female in the herd, seemed to be the most playful, consistently showing this feature throughout her life while playfulness in some of the other elephants declined with age. Gentle elephants, which included two 27-year-old females Eleanor and Eliot, touched and rubbed against others more than the others. Those that were reliable tended to be those that were most consistent at making good decisions, helped to care for infants in the herd and were calm when faced with threats.... Question: From the passage we get to know that _ . - the researchers reached their conclusion by analyzing the data - the research centered on the 26 types of behavior of the matriarch - the scientists conducted the research by comparing elephants with other animals - professor Phyllis Lee and her colleague spent nearly 38 years tracking the herd
**Answer**
the researchers reached their conclusion by analyzing the data

*Question*
Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Peter Fern was mad on mountains. Climbing was the love of his life. Church towers, seaside cliffs, rock faces, ice mountains, anything --- "If it's there," he used to say, "then I want to climb it." so the news of his marriage gave me surprise. I'd never known him to take much interest in girls. Well, well, Peter Fern, a married man! I couldn't get over it. I wondered whether his wife would try to stop some of his risky adventures. She was French perhaps --- from that place where he usually spent his holidays. Chamonix, wasn't it? From Chamonix he's climbed Mont. Blanc on his seventeenth birthday, and one of the Aifuilles the day after! That was it, then; she was French, from a family, most of whom liked climbing. No doubt --- No other explanation. A month later I met them both in town. Anna surprised me because she was English. She was a dancer in the theatre. "never climbed more than sixty steps in my life." she told me. "Peter has his interests, and I've got mine. No problem." "None at all, " Peter said, smiling. "Where did you spend your honeymoon?" I asked. "Somewhere far from theater and mountains, was it?" "We had a week's holiday," Anna said, "I flew toprefix = st1 /New Yorkto see the drake Dancers on Broadway. a wonderful show!" Peter said, "Didn't want to miss the good weather. So I went toSwitzerlandand climbed the north face of the Eiger with Allen Dunlop. Great fun, the Eiger. Grand place for a honeymoon! I'll show you the photographs we took one day." Question: "Peter was mad on mountains" means _ - he sometimes enjoyed climbing mountains - he was angry on mountains - he lost his senses on mountains - he enjoyed climbing mountains very much
**Answer**
he enjoyed climbing mountains very much