Can you believe everything that you read? It seems as if every day, some new articles come out about a new discovery about this or that. For example, water is bad for you, or good for you. The answer depends on which scientific study has just come out. People cannot decide which food items are healthy, how pyramids were constructed, and why dinosaurs disappeared. When we look for answers we sometimes can believe persuasive researches and scientists. But how trustworthy are they really? Here are two examples of scientific hoaxes . As far back as 1726, Johann Beringer was fooled by his fellow scientists into thinking he had made an amazing discovery. The fossils of spiders, lizards, and even birds with the name of God written on them in Hebrew were unlike anything that had been found before. He wrote several papers on them and was famous for those only to have it revealed that they were planted by jealous colleagues to ruin his reputation. When an early human being was discovered in 1912, scientists at this time were wild with excitement over the meaning it had for the theory of evolution. There were hundreds of papers about this Piltdown man over the next fifty years until it was finally discovered to be a complex hoax. The skull of a man had been mixed with the jawbone of an orangutan to make the ape man. The next time you read the exciting new findings of a study of the best scientist, do not automatically assume that it is true. Even qualified people can get it wrong. While we certainly should not ignore scientific research, we do need to take it _ . Just because it is accepted as the truth today does not mean it will still be trustworthy tomorrow. What can we learn from the passage? A) Hebrew is probably a kind of language. B) Truths of science will never be out of time. C) People believe scientists because they are persuasive. D) We are advised to believe famous scientists.
A
The Nobels are the originals, of course. Alfred Nobel, the man who invented deadly explosives,decided to try and do something good with all the money he earned, and gave prizes to people who made progress in literature, science, economics and ---perhaps most importantly---peace. Not all rewards are as noble as the Nobels. Even though most countries have a system of recognizing, honoring and rewarding people who have done something good in their countries, there are now hundreds of awards and award ceremonies for all kinds of things. The Oscars are probably the most famous--a time for the (mostly)American film industry to tell itself how good it is and an annual opportunity for lots of big stars to give each other awards and make tearful speeches. As well as that there are also the Golden Globes, evidently for the same thing. But it's not only films---there are also Grammies, Brits, the Mercury Prize and the MTV for music. In Britain, a writer who wins the Booker Prize can expect to see their difficult, literary novel hit the bestseller lists and compete with the Da Vinci Code for popularity. The Turner Prize is an award for British contemporary artists---each year it causes controversy by apparently giving lots of money to artists who do things like displaying their beds, putting animals in glass cases or---this year---building a garden shed. Awards don't only exist for arts. There are now awards for Sports Personality of the Year, for European Footballer of the Year and World Footballer of the Year. This seems very strange---sometimes awards can be good to give recognition to people who deserve it, or to help people who don't make a lot of money carry on their work without worrying about finances, but professional soccer players these days certainly aren't short of cash! Many small towns and communities all over the world also have their own award ceremonies, for local writers or artists, or just for people who have graduated from high school or, got a university degree. Even the British Council... At the end of the passage, the writer shows concern about whether _ . A) people are really given credit for what they have done. B) people are happy to contribute to their countries. C) it is worthwhile to give so many awards. D) so many awards will continue to be given
A
Q: Many Americans concerned about pollution are demanding cleaner supplies of energy. The demand has resulted in increased research about ethanol fuel. Ethanol is an alcohol that can be mixed with gas. It burns up most of the pollutants in gas. It replaces some of the chemicals that are known to cause cancer, and it can be produced in the United States. Some experts say that in the future ethanol will replace some of the oil imported into America. Today ethanol is less than one percent of total American fuel supply. The head of the National Corn Growers Association, Kieve Hard, says ethanol will provide twenty-five percent of the fuel supply by 2030. The organization is involved in the production of ethanol because it can be made from corn. One company in the American Midwest says it is starting to produce ethanol because of demands from people and from the government. The Congress approved the Clean Air Act in 1990. The company says this means the market for ethanol will expand. The company is a major producer of corn starch that can be used to make ethanol. At Texas A and M University Professor Mark Holzapple produces ethanol from materials found in solid waste. He has developed a way to turn materials like paper into simple sugar. He then uses yeast to turn the sugar into ethanol. Professor Holzapple says two hundred liters of ethanol fuel can be produced from one ton of solid waste. A professor at the University of Arkansas, John Geddie, is exploring another way to make ethanol. He is using acids on paper material. He says a large factory could produce ethanol from waste paper at a cost about the same as the cost of producing gasoline. Environmentalists support the use of ethanol because it turns solid waste into a useful product. Professor Holzapple says law makers in industrial nations need to support the development of this clean, less expensive fuel of the future. Why does the interest in ethanol fuel increase in the United States according to the passage? A) Ethanol products are known to cause cancer. B) Ethanol can remove some harmful pollutants from gas. C) The production of ethanol is protected by law. D) Ethanol-fueled automobiles are cheaper than gas-fueled ones.
A: B
(Question)
It may not be news to parents of teenage girls, but researchers have confirmed that no one can stop their 16-year-old daughter from deciding how the family spends its money. The willpower and determination of teenage girls in how a family's money is spent on everything from food and meals to mobile phones, and, of course, clothes. Teenage boys did not show up at all in the analysis, which was designed to find out the influence of young people on household spending. The findings on the spending power of teenage girls were calculated from Office for National Statistics records of family spending during the 1980s and 1990s. Researchers examined how much money went on services and leisure goods in different kinds of homes. They checked spending on food, restaurant meals, alcohol, tobacco, services, heating, transport, clothes and sports in 2,745 British families. They found that teenage girls in the UK typically played an active role in family decisions about the allocation of household resources. But older children-- those over the age of 21 who are still living with their parents--appear to have no say in household decisions. They also tried to calculate to what extent the bargaining power of a teenager affected family budgets. "Every parent knows that children, even at a very early age, have their own preferences with regard to consumption, researchers said. "But children are only interested in a limited range of goods--mainly sweets and toys--and parents are able to use punishment to reduce their children's bargaining power or remove it." When they become teenagers, however, girls are much more independent and they are capable of earning their own money, which improves their bargaining power in family decisions. The researchers could not explain why girls have more influence over spending while the evidence for boys is much less conclusive. However, this study could be of great significance to market research and how marketers target children. How can parents reduce children's bargaining power? A) By persuading them B) By offering them sweets or toys. C) By threatening to punish them. D) By allocating household resources.
(Answer)
C