Ashleigh Fraser and Leah Guskjolen, both 18, wondered why they would not be allowed to wear nail polish or artificial nails during their training to become certified nursing assistants. But when they asked, the only response which they got was that "rules are rules." Not satisfied, the teens decided to explore the issue themselves. For their new study, Ashleigh and Leah, seniors at Willcox High School in Willcox, Arizona., borrowed materials from the hospital where they had been trained as nursing assistants. Ten nurses there agreed to give them little scrapings off the top side of their nails. Half of the participants had natural nails. The other half wore nail polish or fake nails on top of their natural nails. The teens grew bacteria from the scrapings on plates; these are plastic dishes with a gel that feeds bacterial growth. Natural nails produced an average of 4.3 bacterial colonies. In contrast, scrapings from nail polish or artificial nails produced an average of 17.5 colonies! Leah and Ashleigh had their answer to the question. Only natural nails are allowed because polished or artificial nails tend to harbor far more bacteria. The germs could be dangerous to sick patients. Leah notes that they are not the first to look at nails in a medical setting. Still, she says, "It is something that should be taken much more seriously than it is." To emphasize that, she points to the large list of similar studies she and Ashleigh uncovered during their research. When nurses touch patients, they often wear gloves, but many small tasks are performed bare-handed. The teens hope to raise awareness of how dangerous artificial nails can be in the medical setting. "What shocked me," Leah says, "is how unconcerned some of the nurses were. They did not think their nails were dangerous." Ashleigh agrees and observes that to preserve their manicures , nurses with polish or fake nails tended to scrub less vigorously when washing their hands. Their nails might look nice, but this might contribute to the large... What did the two teenagers do for their study? A) They visited many top scientists. B) They consulted the hospital's nurses. C) They collected experimental samples at a school. D) They grew germs from the scrapings on dishes.
D
(Question)
We find that bright children are rarely _ by mixed ability teaching. On the contrary, both their knowledge and experience are enriched. We feel that there are many disadvantages in streaming(......) pupils. It does not take into account the fact that children develop at different rates. It can have a bad effect on both the bright and the not-so-bright child. After all,it can be quite discouraging to be at the bottom of the top grade! Besides, it is rather unreal to grade pupils just according to their intellectual ability. This is only one aspect of their total personality. We are concerned to develop the abilities of all our pupils to the full, not just their academic ability. We also value personal qualities and social skills, and we find that mixed-ability teaching contributes to all these aspects of learning. In our classrooms, we work in various ways. The pupils often work in groups: this gives them the opportunity to learn to co-operate, to share, and to develop leadership skills. They also learn how to deal with personal problems as well as learning how to think, to make decisions, to analyze and evaluate, and to communicate effectively in order to have the ability to become leaders. The pupils learn from each other as well as from the teacher. Sometimes the pupils work in pairs;sometimes they work on individual tasks , and they can do this at their own speed. They also have some formal class teaching when this is suitable. We encourage our pupils to use the library, and we teach them the skills they need in order to do this efficiently. An advanced pupil can do advanced work:it does not matter what age the child is. We expect our pupils to do their best, not their least, and we give them every encouragement to attain this goal. We can know from the passage that the author' s attitude towards "mixed-ability teaching" is _ . A) approving B) disapproving C) questioning D) inactive
(Answer)
A
Ques: According to a recent study performed by the Office of Applied Science, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, every day about 3,900 children and teens under the age of 18 try their first cigarette . Among the teens who continue to smoke into their adult years, about one out of three will die as a result of the habit. Because of the nicotine content in tobacco products, smoking not only becomes a habit for teens, but an addiction . The nicotine in the tobacco is addictive. Once a teen develops the habit of smoking, it is difficult for them to quit without help. The American Lung Association reports smokers who start early in life find it more difficult to quit because of the addiction. Teens that smoke often do as a way of dealing with social situations or as a result of pressure from people of their age. The results of a Duke University study show teens with brothers and sisters who smoke are more likely to engage in smoking and other risky actions. The components of tobacco products have documented effects on behavior. Nicotine is known to increase fights in teens and adults. The center for Young Women's Health at the Children's Hospital of Boston states that tobacco products contain about 4,000 chemicals, some of which are poisonous. Breathing these poisons into the lungs quickly affects a teen's entire body. Outward changes include dry, wrinkled skin, yellow teeth and nails, and bad breath. Teen smokers are three times more likely to have bad teeth than non-smokers of their age, the Center further reports. External effects are often present soon after smoking becomes a habit. What is this passage mainly about? A) The reasons why people like smoking. B) Some important facts about cigarettes. C) Effects of smoking on the health of teens. D) Ways for people to say 'no' to cigarettes.
Ans: C
Although cats may be one of the most popular pets today, little is known about how and when humans and cats set up their close relationship. The earliest evidence for human-cat interaction dates back to prehistoric Cyprus , where the remains of a wild cat and a human -- dated 9,500 years old -- were found buried together. A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has confirmed the first direct evidence of a human-domestic cat relationship among Chinese farmers 5,300 years ago. Researchers studied the bones of cats, dogs, deer and other animals unearthed in an excavation near a village in Central China. By using some ways, scientists showed that the cats were living on a mostly millet -based diet, just like the domesticated dogs and pigs from the site. "The most reasonable explanation for a high consumption of millet-based food is that the cats had formed a stable and mutual relationship with humans and could easily feed on rodents around human villages, find leftover food or even have been fed by people intentionally," said Hu Yaowu from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, whose research focuses on the relationship between humans and domesticated animals. "It is very interesting for us to find the consumption of millet-based foods by the cats, since this kind of evidence had long been missing." Hu explains. Since cats usually eat meat, such a diet would be unexpected, unless the cats were being fed by people, the study argues. The researchers also found that one of the cats survived to reach old age, implying that it had a safe place to live and enough to eat. Why the farmers wanted to keep cats nearby or make them "pets" could be answered by other evidence. Chinese archaeologists found some storage containers were specifically designed to keep out rodents -- a vermin that cats could certainly have helped with. The simplified theory is that rats were attracted to the food of farmers, and so were harmful to farmers. Cats were attracted to the rats, and so farmers formed a... The evidence found in the remains dating back to prehistoric Cyprus means _ . A) human made cats pets as early as 9,500 years ago B) human interacted with cats very early C) cats didn't appear until prehistoric Cyprus D) when cats became domesticated
B