*Question*
I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: My wife and I used to feel that it was impossible to be a true friend to someone whose name we didn't know. How wrong we were! Years of Sunday-morning bus trips through the city with the same group of "nameless" people have changed our thinking. Before the bus takes off, we all join in a conversation: where's the silent woman who sits up front and never responds to our cheery greetings? Here she comes. Her worn clothing suggests she doesn't have much money to spare, but she always takes an extra cup of coffee for the driver. We get smiles from a Mexican couple as they get on the bus hand in hand. When they get off, they're still holding hands. The woman was pregnant late last year, and one day her change of shape confirmed that she'd delivered the child. We even felt a little pride at the thought of our extended family. For many months, our only sadness lay in our inability to _ the same friendship with the silent woman at the front of the bus. Then, one evening, we went to a fish restaurant. We were shown to a table alongside someone sitting alone. It was the woman from the bus. We greeted her with friendly familiarity we'd shown all year, but this time her face softened, then a shy smile. When she spoke, the words escaped awkwardly from her lips. All at once we realized why she hadn't spoken to us before. Talking was hard for her. Over dinner; we learned the stay of a single mother with a disabled son who was receiving special care away from home. She missed him desperately, she explained. "I love him... and he loves me, even though he doesn't express it very well," she murmured. "Lots of us have that problem, don't we? We don't say what we want to say, what we should be saying. And that's not good enough."The candles flared on our tables. Our fish had never tasted better. But the atmosphere grew pleasant, and when we parted as friends--we shared names. Question: The woman had the same problem with her son in the way that _ . Options: A: they both disabled people B: they both had some difficulty in expressing C: they both liked bus travel D: they both brought interest to the passengers
**Answer**
B

*Question*
I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: Even before my father left us, my mother had to go back to work to support our family. Once I came out of the kitchen, complaining, "Mom, I can't peel(......) potatoes. I have only one hand." Mom never looked up from sewing. "You get yourself into that kitchen and peel those potatoes," she told me. "And don't ever use that as an excuse for anything again!" In the second grade, our teacher lined up my class on the playground and had each of us race across the monkey bars, swinging from one high steel rod to the next. When it was my turn, I shook my head. Some kids behind me laughed, and I went home crying. That night I told Mom about it. She hugged me, and I saw her "we'll see about that" look. The next afternoon, she took me back to school. At the deserted playground, Mom looked carefully at the bars. "Now, pull up with your right arm," she advised. She stood by as I struggled to lift myself with my right hand until I could hook the bar with my other elbow . Day after day we practiced, and she praised me for every rung I reached. I'll never forget the next time, crossing the rungs, I looked down at the kids who were standing with their mouths open. One night, after a dance at my new junior high, I lay in bed sobbing. I could hear Mom come into my room. "Mom," I said, weeping, "none of the boys would dance with me." For a long time, I didn't hear anything. Then she said, "Oh, honey, someday you'll be beating those boys off with a bat." Her voice was faint. I peeked out from my covers to see tears running down her cheeks. Then I knew how much she suffered on my behalf . She had never let me see her tears. Question: When the child looked down at the kids, they were standing with their mouths open because _ . Options: A: they felt sorry for what they had done before B: they were afraid the author might fall off and get hurt C: they were astonished to find the author's progress D: they wanted to see what the author would do on the bars
**Answer**
C

*Question*
I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: Why do we dream?It's a question researchers have been studying for years. Now new research suggests that some dreams may result from the brain's effort to keep learning, even as we sleep. In a study in Boston, 100 volunteers were trained for an hour on a maze .They tried to find their way through the difficult puzzle as quickly as possible. Then half of the volunteers were allowed to sleep for 90 minutes. The other half stayed awake, reading or relaxing. The ones who slept were asked to describe their dreams when they woke up. After the rest, the volunteers were asked again to solve the maze. Those who hadn't slept showed no improvement or did even worse after the break. Sleepers who didn't report any maze related dreams did better but showed only a little improvement. However, four nap-takers who reported dreaming about the maze showed a surprising improvement. They scored 10 times higher after sleeping and dreaming about the maze. Even though the number of dreamers was small, the researchers noted that the gap in learning between the dreamers and non-dreamers was so wide that the finding was significant . The dreamers had all performed poorly on the test before dreaming about it. That suggests that struggling with a task might be the _ that leads the sleeping brain to focus on it and work on how to deal with it. "It's almost as if your brain is going through everything that happened today,"Dr Stickgold,a scientist at Harvard Medical School, said. "The things you're obsessed with are the ones that your brain forces you to continue to do with." Question: According to the study, which group showed the greatest improvement? Options: A: Those who didn't sleep. B: Those who slept but didn't dream. C: Those who dreamed about the maze while sleeping. D: Those who thought about the maze before falling asleep.
**Answer**
C