Q: When I was at University I studied very hard. But a lot of my friends did very little work. Some did just enough to pass exams. Others didn't do quite enough. Fred Baines was one of them. He spent more time playing than working in the library.

Once at the end of the term, we had to take an important test in chemistry. The test had a hundred questions. Beside each question we had to write "True" or "False". While I was studying in my room the night before the test, Fred was watching TV. Fred usually worried a lot the night before a test. But on that night he looked perfectly calm. Thenhe told me of his plan. "It's very simple. There are a hundred questions and I have to get fifty correct to pass the test. I'll just toss the coin to decide the answers. That way, I'm sure I'll get half the questions right."

The next day, Fred came happily into the exam room. As he sat tossing a coin for half an hour he marked down his answers. Then he left, half an hour before the rest of us.

The next day, he saw the chemistry professor in the corridor. "Oh, good," he said to the teacher, "Have you got the result of the test?" The teacher reached into his pocket and took out a coin. He threw it into the air, caught it in his hand and looked at it.

"I'm terribly sorry, Fred," he said, "You failed!"

Answer the following questions:
1. Did Fred do enough work?
2. Where was he supposed to work?
3. What did he do instead?
4. What was Fred doing the night before the test?
5. Did Fred plan to guess his way through the test?
6. By flipping what?
7. How many questions did he have to get right to pass?
8. What fraction of the total number of test questions was this?
9. Who did Fred see in the hallway?
10. True or False: Fred passed his test.
11. How did the professor determine this?
12. Where did he get the coin from?
13. True or False: The test was multiple-choice.
14. Was Fred confident in the testing room?
15. How long did it take him to finish his test.
16. What was the narrator doing the night before the test?
17. True or False: It was a beginning-of-term test.
18. What is Fred's surname?
19. Was the narrator a dedicated student?
20. How many of his friends worked hard like he did?
A: 1. no
2. in the library
3. played
4. watching TV
5. yes
6. a coin
7. fifty
8. half
9. the professor
10. False
11. flipped a coin
12. his pocket
13. false
14. yes
15. half an hour before the rest
16. studying
17. False
18. Baines
19. yes
20. very few

Answer the questions at the end based on the text.

"Mom, you should put some of your things away. The house should be safe for the baby," said my son Mark as he walked upstairs with his wife and fifteen-month-old Hannah.

They visited us for the Thanksgiving holiday. After driving all day from Salt Lake to Ft. Collins, his temper showed. "That one finger rule may work with other kids, but never Hannah," he insisted.

When my three granddaughters first moved into our house three years ago, my friend offered me her secret to behave grandchildren. "Teach them the 'one finger rule'." All of her five grandchildren learned it at a young age and it proved to also work well with mine.

I picked up my granddaughter and said, "Well, Mark, just watch." I hugged her and walked all around the great room.

"Hannah, you may touch anything in this room you want, but, you can only use one finger." I showed the technique by touching my forefinger to the sculpture. Hannah followed my example. "Good girl. Now what else would you like to touch?"

She stretched her finger toward the lamp. I allowed her to touch everything in sight, plants, glass objects, TV, VCR, speakers, etc. If she started to grab , I gently reminded her to use one finger. She always obeyed. However, Hannah, an only child, possessed a more adventurous personality. Her father predicted it would prevent her from accepting the "one finger rule".

During their four-day stay, we aided Hannah in remembering "one finger rule". She learned quickly.

Months later, my husband and I drove to Salt Lake. I watched Mark continue to practice the one finger rule. I smiled happily each time he asked Hannah to touch with "one finger".

1. Where does Mark live?
2. What is the one finger rule?
3. What did Hannah touch?
4. Where did the narrator drive later?
5. Why did she smile during the trip?
6. How old is Hannah?
7. Did Mark initially have doubts the one finger rule would work?
8. Is Hanna an only child?
9. What holiday did Mark and his family visit?
10. Is Mark married?

Numbered answers:

A: 1. Salt Lake to Ft. Collins,
2. you may touch anything in this room you want, but, you can only use one finger
3. the lamp
4. Salt Lake
5. she watched Mark continue to practice the one finger rule
6. fifteen-month-old
7. Yes
8. No
9. Thanksgiving
10. Yes

Answer the questions at the end based on the text.

(CNN) -- For all the headaches on the campaign trail, you would not think a candidate would be hounded by his own dog.

That, however, has been the relentless fate of Republican contender Mitt Romney. A trip to Canada 30 years ago with the family pooch in a car top carrier, has been the gift that just keeps giving to Democrats. They've lampooned him as cruel at worst, foolish at best, with bumper stickers and T-shirts that say "Dogs aren't luggage!" and "Mitt is Mean!"

Republicans have counterattacked by pointing out that President Obama wrote in his own book about eating dog as a child, helping the dog fight become a theme at this year's White House Correspondents Association dinner.

Comedian Jimmy Kimmel nipped at both of them. "If Mitt Romney offers you a ride, call shotgun. And if President Obama starts buttering you, run!"

It would be easy to dismiss all of this as political silliness were it not for one troubling fact: Sometimes the way a president connects with critters can affect the way voters relate to him.

"Presidents and their pets have a long and storied history," says Garrett Graff, a goldfish owner and editor-in-chief at Washingtonian magazine. His theory about why voters take such an interest in such matters: "Most of us don't 'get' Middle East oil politics, and the rise and fall of the G.D.P., but we can 'get' if you connect with a dog or you connect with a cat."

First a little history. Ever since George Washington took office with horses and hounds in tow, presidents have welcomed animals into their lives. A lot of animals.

1. How long ago did someone go on a trip?
2. Where did they go?
3. What is this story about?
4. Did he have a pet?
5. What kind?
6. Why were people mad at him?
7. What did they say?
8. Are any other presidents mentioned?
9. Which is one?
10. Did he have a pet?
11. Did he eat a cat?
12. What did he eat?
13. Who made fun of them?
14. Did anybody else?
15. What did he say about Mitt?
16. And the other?
17. Which editor is mentioned?

Numbered answers:

A:
1. 30 years ago
2. Canada
3. Mitt Romney
4. yes
5. dog
6. the family pooch was in a car top carrier
7. unknown
8. yes
9. President Obama
10. no
11. no
12. dog
13. Democrats
14. Jimmy Kimmel
15. If Mitt Romney offers you a ride, call shotgun
16. And if President Obama starts buttering you, run!
17. Garrett Graff