New research finds a link between poverty and poor decision making. The findings may explain why poor people sometimes make bad choices that continue their hardship. Earlier studies have found the poor less likely to escape poverty. But there has been little research on why the poor make decisions that make their lives harder. Until recently, it was economists who studied poverty, not psychologists. Eldar Shafir, a psychologist in Princeton University says now scientists from both fields work together. Mr. Shafir and his team did two experiments. One took place at a shopping center in New Jersey. Another was carried out among sugar cane farmers in rural India. The New Jersey experiment involved individuals with low paying jobs and others belonged to the middle class. All the volunteers were asked what they would do if their cars needed repairs. The volunteers were given two imaginary situations. In the first, the car repairs cost $ 150. In the second, $ 1,500. "And what we found is that the poor and the rich performed equally well on almost all the tests. " Not so when the researchers raised the repair costs to $ 1,500. "Now the poor performed significantly worse. " The poorer lost about 13 IQ points on average. This is about the loss experienced when a person has not slept for one night. The scientists then wondered if the same person reacted differently when he was rich and when he was poor. The Indian sugar cane farmers earn most of their money once a year, when the harvest comes in. But the money often does not last through the year. "So they find themselves basically rich after the harvest when the income comes in and poor just before the harvest. The researchers gave them tests similar to the ones taken by the people in New Jersey. They tested the Indian farmers before the harvest and after. And the results were much the same as with the mall shoppers. "They performed much more slowly and with many more mistakes when they were poorer than when... What do the two experiments have in common? ( ) A) They got similar findings. B) They were carried out in the rural areas. C) They were carried out by economists only. D) They chose two groups of people with different income.
A
(Question)
Will there be a time in our lives when cars don't crash? When we can just sit back and relax and our cars will drive themselves. Auto technology experts say "yes". And they say that some of those advances may happen quicker than you might think. They will require the users to input the name of the destination or the complete address of the location that they want to go and the cars' artificial intelligence takes them there automatically without a driver. They will run on solar power in the daytime and ethanol fuel at night. Toyota, BMW and Honda will completely control the trade of driverless car business together and will have the cheapest driverless cars. Fossil fuels will be completely incompatible with these cars. Driverless cars will not require a driver's license of any grade to operate. Anyone with basic literacy and computer skills who are at least 16 years of age will be legally allowed to operate the vehicle with absolutely no restrictions. This would give the young users permission to operate the driverless cars on major highways as well as secondary roads without needing a separate classification. In addition to all this, drunken people will be able to use their own automobiles to return home because they are not "driving" the vehicle. What's more, car insurance will become _ because there will be no more automobile accidents after the year 2025. This is because the driverless car will have all safety methods in place by the car's artificial intelligence to prevent automobile accidents. Global positioning systems will become mandatory in all newly-manufactured cars after 2010, and will be the most important part in the driverless car. Which of the following may be the best title of the passage? A) Car safety. B) Driverless cars. C) The future cars. D) New technology in cars.
(Answer)
B
Ques: Reading to dogs is an unusual way to help children improve their literacy skills With their shining brown eyes, wagging tails, and unconditional love, dogs can provide the nonjudgmental listeners needed for a beginning reader to gain confidence , according to Intermountain Therapy Animals (ITA) in Salt Lake City. The group says it is the first program in the country to use dogs to help develop literacy in children, with the introduction of Reading Education Assistance Dogs (READ). The Salt Lake City Public Library is sold on the idea. "Literacy specialists admit that children who read below the level of their fellow pupils are often afraid of reading aloud in a group, often have lower self-respect, and regard reading as a headache," said Lisa Myron, manager of the children's department. Last November the two groups started "Dog Day Afternoon" in the children's department of the main library. About 25 children attended each of the four Saturday-afternoon classes, reading for half an hour. Those who attended three of the four classes received a "pawgraphed" book at the last class. The program was so successful that the library plans to repeat it in April, according to Dana Thumpowsky, public relations manager. By saying "The Salt Lake City Public Library is sold on the idea", the writer means the library _ . A) uses dogs to attract children B) accepts the idea put forward by ITA C) has opened a children's department D) has decided to train some dogs
Ans: B
Question: A green house is a building made of glass which is used for keeping warm when the outside temperature is low. In a similar way there are several gases in the atmosphere (mixture of gases that surround the earth) which trap the heat produced by the sun and prevent it from escaping. These gases are known as "greenhouse gases". And the way in which they trap heat in the atmosphere is called the "greenhouse effect". This is not simply air pollution. Most of the main greenhouse gases exist naturally in small amounts in our atmosphere, and without them the earth would be 30 degrees colder and human life would not exist. In other words, the greenhouse effect is a natural course which is to some degree helpful to us. The problem is that in the last century and a half, we have been putting too many of these gases into the earth's atmosphere by burning large quantities of coal and oil and by cutting down forest. The rapid increase in greenhouse gases is making the world warmer. The world's temperature has already gone up by half a degree this century, and the sea level has risen by 10 centimetres. If the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere doubles, there will probably be a rise in the earth's temperature of between I and 4degC;. This may seem a small increase, but it would be enough to cause major changes in geography and agriculture. Large areas of the world would be flooded, and some areas would become dry and unable to produce crops. It is important, too, to consider that there may be a delay of about 30 years in the greenhouse effect. This means that we are probably experiencing only now the effect of the gases put into the atmosphere before the 1960s. Since then, our use of these gases has greatly increased. This passage mainly deals with _ . A) the concept and the harm of the greenhouse B) the relation between greenhouse gases and man C) the concept and change of greenhouse effect D) the effect of the rise of the earth's temperature
Answer:
A