*Question*
More surprising,perhaps,than the present difficulties of traditional marriage is the fact that marriage itself is alive and thriving.As Skolnick notes,Americans are a marrying people: to Europeans,more of us marry and we marry at a younger age.Moreover, after a drop in the early l950s,the rate of marriage in the United States is now increasing.Even the divorce rate needs to be taken in this pro-marriage context:some 30 percent of divorced individuals remarry. Thus,marriage remains by far the preferred way of life for the vast majority of people in our society. What has changed more than marriage is the nuclear family.Twenty five years ago,the typical American family was made up of a husband,a wife,and two or three children. Now there are many marriages in which couples have decided not to have any children.And there are many marriages where at least some of the children are from the wife's former marriage,or the husband's,or both.Sometimes these children spend all of their time with one parent from the former marriage;sometimes they are shared between the two former spouses . Thus,one can find every type of family arrangement.There are marriages without children;Marriages with children from only the present marriage;Marriages with "full time" children from both the present and former marriages;Marriages with "full time" children from the present marriage and "part time",children from former marriages.There are stepfathers,stepmothers,half brothers, and half sisters.It is not all that unusual for a child to have four parents and eight grandparents! These are great changes from the traditional nuclear family.But even so,even in the midst of all this,there remains one constant:Most Americans spend most of their adult lives married. By calling American marrying people the author means that_. A) than in Europe B) Americans expect more out of marriage than Europeans C) there are more married couples in U.S. D) more of Americans,as compared with Europeans,prefer marriage and they accept it at a younger age
**Answer**
D

*Question*
What are the biggest problems that society will have to deal with in the new age? There are diseases like AIDS and cancer. There's climate change, of course. And what about producing enough cheap food and energy for the world's growing population? Who's going to solve all these terrible problems? Yes, politicians and world leaders will have a big part to play. Yes, businesses will need to create the economic wealth to pay for some of these things. But who's going to make a much greater difference to something like AIDS or climate change? It's going to be a scientist. It is the scientist who can turn some new bit of science into a new technology to solve these problems. If you like thinking about the world around you, why not become a scientist? It doesn't mean you have to wear a white coat and plastic glasses and spend all your time in a lab as most people often imagine! Scientists do all kinds of amazing things that are actually interesting! Military scientists develop not only new weapons but new military technologies that could help make wars out of date. Forensic scientists work with the police to find quite small clues to catch criminals. Scientists work in schools and colleges as the teachers and professors who will train tomorrow's scientists. Don't think a scientist is far away! Maybe you like cooking? You could be a food technologist helping to keep fruit and vegetables fresher for longer. Perhaps sport is your thing? Do you know that most top athletes work with sports scientists in order to improve their performance? You could even be the science writer who gets to spend the life studying the latest advances and sharing them with the world. Looking for something to do for the rest of your life? My advice? Take a long and hard look at science. It is interesting and ever. What is needed to solve these problems? A) Advanced weapons. B) Enough energy. C) New technologies. D) A growing population.
**Answer**
C

*Question*
A new study suggests that the more teenagers watch television, the more likely they are to develop depression as young adults.But the extent to how much TV may be to blame is a question that the study leaves unanswered. The researchers used a national long-term survey of adolescent health to look into the relationship between media use and depression.They based their findings on more than 4,000 adolescents who were not depressed when the survey began in 1995. As part of the survey, the young people were asked how many hours of television or videos they watched daily.They were also asked how often they played computer games and listened to the radio. Media use totaled an average of 5 and one half hours a day.More than 2 hours of that was spent watching TV. 7 years later, in 2002, more than 7 percent of the young people had signs of depression.The average age at that time was 21. Brian Primack at the University of Pittsburgh medical school was the lead author of the new study.He says every extra hour of television meant an 8 percent increase in the chances of developing signs of depression. The researchers say they did not find any such relationship with the use of other media such as movies, video games or radio.But the study did find that young men were more likely than young women to develop depression given the same amount of media use. Doctor Primack says the study did not explore why watching TV causes depression.But one possibility, he says, is that it may take time away from activities that could help prevent depression, like sports and socializing. It might also affect sleep, he says, and that could have an influence. The study was just published in the Archives of General Psychiatry. In December, the journal Social Indicators Research published a study of activities that help lead to happy lives.Sociologists from the University of Maryland found that people who describe themselves as happy spend less time watching television than unhappy people.The study found that happy people are more likely to be... The study done by the sociologists from the University of Maryland was mainly meant to _ . A) tell the difference between happy and unhappy people B) prove the relationship between TV and depression C) stress the importance of being socially active D) provide a happy recipe for all people
**Answer**
B

*Question*
Getting rid of dirt, in the opinion of most people, is a good thing. However, there is nothing fixed about attitudes to dirt. In the early 16th century, people thought that dirt on the skin was a means to block out disease, as medical opinion had it that washing off dirt with hot water could open up the skin and let ills in. A particular danger was thought to lie in public baths. By 1538, the French king had closed the bath houses in his kingdom. So did the king of England in 1546. Thus began a long time when the rich and the poor in Europe lived with dirt in a friendly way. Henry IV, King of France, was famously dirty. Upon learning that a nobleman had taken a bath, the king ordered that, to avoid the attack of disease, the nobleman should not go out. Though the belief in the merit of dirt was long-lived, dirt has no longer been regarded as a nice neighbor ever since the 18th century. Scientifically speaking, cleaning away dirt is good to health. Clean water supply and hand washing are practical means of preventing disease. Yet, it seems that standards of cleanliness have moved beyond science since World War II. Advertisements repeatedly sell the idea: clothes need to be whiter than white, cloths ever softer, surfaces to shine. Has the hate for dirt, however, gone too far? Attitudes to dirt still differ hugely nowadays. Many first-time parents nervously try to warn their children off touching dirt, which might be responsible for the spread of disease. On the contrary, Mary Ruebush, an American immunologist , encourages children to play in the dirt to build up a strong immune system. And the latter position is gaining some ground. How does the passage mainly develop? A) By providing examples. B) By making comparisons . C) By following the order of time. D) By following the order of importance.
**Answer**
C