(Q).
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Handball is a hugely popular sport in Europe and Asia, and it is one of the fastest and most exciting sports in the world.It combines basketball and soccer with the attracting saves of water polo. Handball is played on an indoor court(the size of two basketball courts)and there are goals at each end.There are twelve players on each team,two goal keepers and ten field players,but there is a maximum of one goalkeeper and six field players from each team allowed on the court at any one time.The idea is simple:score more goals than the other team. The ball is made of leather or synthetic material and it must be round.The surface must not be shiny or slippery.The size and weight of the ball varies for male and female teams,and adult and junior teams. Handball has the same free-ranging play as basketball,with all players except the goalkeeper constantly moving from attack to defence.The goalkeeper uses hands, feet,head and body to keep out the other team's shots.The origins of handball are unclear.Many people believe that it developed as a training game for soccer,to be played in the off season,or when it snowing.Now,in countries where handball is popular,players can earn large sums of money,and indoor stadiums seating over ten thousand people sell out regularly.Handball has been played at the Olympics since 1972. Question: The passage states that handball was most probably developed _ . Options: A: as a replacement for basketball B: by supporters of water polo C: as a training game D: for the 1972 Olympics
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C

(Q).
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Nowadays, the younger generations are often complained about the selfishness and lack of respect by the older generations. It is undeniable that some young people do need to be educated on mutual respect and concern for others, especially senior members of society. But we older people should have some understanding about the young, too. Today's society is rather different from what it was when we were young. The social, financial and psychological pressure today's young people have to face is much higher than what we did back in the 1950s through the 1990s. They are in the early stage of their career. They have to find proper jobs to support themselves and work hard to rise. They have to live in smaller houses, because they are unable to afford the rising housing prices. Considering these facts, we may find it understandable why young people sometimes appear aloof and disrespectful. I don't mean that we should put up with it without reminding them of the need to mend their ways. What I mean is that we should be more patient, understanding and tolerant toward them. For instance, when we get up on a bus or a subway train, we should not complain about not being offered a seat. A young person does not offer a senior citizen his/her seat probably because he/she has to travel a long way to work or because the carriage is too crowded for one to move at all. In fact, young people do offer their seats to the seniors. I seldom take a bus or a subway train, but more than a quarter of the times I have done so, I was offered a seat. That is fair enough, considering that I do not look so old. But on occasions, I have seen old people not showing any sign of gratitude when offered a seat. China has become an aging society since the end of the last century. According to a recent survey, people older than 60 accounted for 11.4 percent of the nation's population. And the percentage is expected to rise because of the one-child family planning policy our country has practiced for more than three decades. In other... Question: What can be the best title for the text? Options: A: Should the young show respect for the old? B: A debate between the young and the old C: Who should be blamed, the young or the old? D: Young people deserve more understanding
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D

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Read the article and select the best answer. Article: LONDON, Feb. 18,2014 (Xinhua News agency) --Britain will send experts to East China's Shanghai to learn from the city's experience in maths teaching in an attempt to raise the teaching standards. British Education Minister Elizabeth Truss is to lead a delegation of experts on a fact-finding mission to Shanghai's schools next week to see how children there have become the best in the world at maths, to get a first-hand look at maths classes and teaching methods there, and particularly to investigate why the performance of almost all children in Shanghai is high, regardless of gender or income. Britain was last year placed 50th out of 148 countries and regions in the World Economic Forum's competitiveness ranking in quality of maths and science education. Two years ago, Shanghai topped the 2012 international PISA tables for maths, while England was ranked in 26th place. The top five were all in Southeast Asia, with 15-year-olds in Shanghai judged to be three years ahead of their peers in maths. The education department said: "England's performance in maths has lagged behind while other countries have improved and overtaken us, including Poland and Germany." Actually, it is the latest step in the government's drive to raise standards in maths, looking at what has made schools in the far East the most successful in the world in teaching the subject. "Shanghai is the top-performing part of the world for maths--their children are streets ahead. Shanghai and Singapore have teaching practices and a positive mind that make the difference. They have a belief that diligence makes up for lack of ability," Truss said. "Our new curriculum has borrowed from theirs because we know it works--early learning of key arithmetic, and a focus on times tables and long division , for instance." She was determined to change the situation as performance in maths is weakening the country's skills base and threatening the productivity and growth. The government is emphasizing maths because of the importance of good grades in the subject... Question: How will students' poor performance in maths affect the country eventually? Options: A: By threatening the country's competitiveness of economy. B: By weakening the country's political system. C: By losing international competitions in education. D: By failing to find jobs in a global labor market.
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A