Some caterpillars' warning signals may have evolved from walking. A team, writing in the journal Nature Communications, reported that the hair-like structures the creatures use to make sounds evolved from legs. The team studied caterpillars which use these structures to communicate their ownership of leaves. This means the caterpillars are able to "tell" strangers to go away without risking injury in conflicts. "These are really interesting caterpillars," said Dr. Jayne Yack from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, who led the research. "They make signals using hair-like structures which are on their back ends." The caterpillars drag these structures across the leaf to make scraping sounds when strangers enter their "leaf shelters". "When they make this signal, the strangers leave," explained Dr. Yack. "It's like saying 'I'm here, get out of here --I already own this leaf'." The scientists looked at other species within the same group of caterpillars and created a "family tree" of the creatures. They used chemical markers to work out the relationship between the animals, showing which in the group were the more ancient species and which species evolved more recently. "Those more ancient species actually don't have these sound-producing structures. They have legs that they use to walk towards strangers," said Dr. Yack. These more ancient species, she explained, walk towards strangers and try to attack them. "They can kill each other in the conflicts," Dr. Yack added. She said that the evolution of the scraping show had allowed the caterpillars to solve their conflicts without fighting. "So our idea is that these signals actually avoid damage to both sides --they solve conflicts in a more 'friendly' way." The study also provides a map of an evolutionary path that many other biologists are exploring. What is the main idea of the text? A) How caterpillars evolved. B) Communication between caterpillars. C) Caterpillars talk with strangers. D) Caterpillars' warning signals evolved from walking.
D
Making an apology is not the same as making amends. Sometimes we apologize just because it's the easiest thing to do. What's actually important is to identify where we go wrong, take full responsibility for our mistakes and , if possible, try to make up for them. A recent case involving Hewlett-Packed, the US computer giant, shows the importance of presenting a sincere apology. The Chinese consumers who had bought notebook computers of certain models, which have been put on Chinese market since 2007, suffered a massive flash screen failures and overheating problems. Through investigation, Chinese AQSIQ identified these HP computers had quality problems and HP admitted this. HP made a proposal that they would extend the warranty period of such computers, but this could not satisfied the consumers. What they needed was a thorough description of the truth. HP has "sincerely" apologized. But the consumers remain angry, and say that only a product recall -- as HP has done in the past -- will prove that the apology is sincere. Another apology that fell flat on its face was that of Thierry Henry, the famous French footballer. His deliberate handball in November 2009 created the goal which knocked Ireland out of the 2010 World Cup. The incident caused great anger in the football world, and eventually Henry issued an apology. Two days later, he wrote, "I'm not the referee...but if I hurt someone I'm sorry." Better late than never, perhaps, but even then he passed the blame onto the referee! Such high-profile cases, which attract a lot of publicity often under the spotlight, but similar incidents occur in our everyday lives. Stress caused by schoolwork and tiredness can sometimes result in outbursts of anger against friends and family. Have you ever lost your temper for minor reasons? After calming down, most people are quick to realize their mistake and apologize. But it's just as important to identify what caused the error in the first place and take action to ensure it doesn't happen again. No one should hold a... We can infer from the case of Thierry Henry that _ . A) it's never too late to say "I'm sorry." B) writing an apology is not a good idea C) Henry didn't identify his fault. D) the football fans were mad with Henry.
C
Q: For anyone still doubting the belief that our emotions impact our physical health, a new study from New Zealand should be able to settle the matter. It reports that the physical wounds of healthy seniors healed more quickly if they wrote about their most upsetting experiences. This confirms the results of a 2010 study, and extends those findings to cover older adults-a group that is likely to suffer wounds (as from surgery), and one with less access to other ways of lowering tension (such as exercise). Reported in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, a research team led by the University of Auckland's Elizabeth Broadbent made a study featuring 50 healthy adults ranging in age from 64 to 97. They were assigned to write for 20 minutes per day for three consecutive days. Half were asked to write about the most upsetting experience in their life, describing their deepest thoughts, feelings, and emotions about the events, ideally not previously shared with others. The others were asked to write about their daily activities without mentioning emotions, opinions or beliefs. Two weeks after the third day of writing, all participants received a standard 4mm skin biopsy on their inner arm. The very tiny wounds caused by the biopsy were photographed regularly over the following days to determine the rate at which they healed. On the 11th day after the biopsy, the wounds completely healed on 76.2 percent of those who had done the expressive writing. That was true of only 42.1 percent of those who had written about everyday activities. "The biological and psychological mechanisms behind this effect remain unclear," the researchers wrote, noting that those who had done the expressive writing did not report lower stress levels or fewer depressive symptoms than the others in the control group. Even if they weren't consciously aware of feeling more relaxed or positive, the expressive writing appeared to have caused some sort of bodily reaction-probably involving their immune systems-that hastened their recovery. What would be the best title of the text? A) Sharing with others can reduce stress. B) Skin biopsies are likely to cause wounds. C) Expressive writing heals physical wounds. D) Upsetting experiences impact our emotions.
A: C
Community service is an important component of education here at our university. We encourage all students to volunteer for at least one community activity before they graduate. A new community program called "One On One" helps elementary students who've fallen behind. Your education majors might be especially interested in it because it offers the opportunity to do some teaching, that is, tutoring in math and English. You'd have to volunteer two hours a week for one semester. You can choose to help a child with math, English, or both. Half-hour lessons are fine, so you could do a half hour of each subject two days a week. Professor Dodge will act as a mentor to the tutors-he'll be available to help you with lesson plans or to offer suggestions for activities. He has office hours every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. You can sign up for the program with him and begin the tutoring next week. I'm sure you'll enjoy this community service...and you'll gain valuable experience at the same time. It looks good on your resume, too, showing that you've had experience with children and that you care about your community. If you'd like to sign up, or if you have any questions, stop by Professor Dodge's office this week. What is the purpose of the program that the speaker describes? _ A) To find jobs for graduating students. B) To help education majors prepare for final exams. C) To offer tutorials to elementary school students. D) To provide funding for a community service project.
C