A new report says African governments are ill prepared to handle the growing number of people over age 65. The population in Africa as in other parts of the world, is getting older. Currently, there are 36 million people on the continent 65 years and above. which is 3.6 percent of the population. up from 3.3 percent 10 years ago. That could rise to 4.5 percent by 2030 and 10 percent by 2050. The African development Bank is raising concerns over the shortage of health insurance and pensions . The African Development Bank says. "Aging is highly linked with long-term physical and mental disability and a number of long-term chronic conditions." "Africa is not well prepared to care for its aging population right now. And it needs to prepare for this fact." said Professor Mthuli Ncube. the African Development Bank's chief economist. African nations spend far less on healthcare than developed nations do _ about $26per person per year. Not so many countries have well developed medical aid plans for the elderly, whether they are privately provided plans or indeed government plans. If you look at the pension plans, you will find the pension industries are not well developed in some of the countries. Professor Mthuli Ncube said African governments failed to take action on health insurance and pensions because they were busy with economic reforms. Another challenge for Africa is the worsening of informal systems of social protection. That is cash and support from both the extended family and community sources. . The African Development Bank recommends governments help carry out health insurance and pension plans. Ncube said African governments didn't have to handle the health insurance burden alone. "It is not only a must but also an opportunity for private companies to add their bit in this regard", he said. The report also recommends that African governments consider providing ways of free health services. medications and long-term health care facilities for the elderly. The article is most likely to be seen _ A) in a story book B) in a newspaper C) on a TV program D) in a textbook
B
Helen Thayer, one of the greatest explorers of the 20th century, loves challenges. She says,"I like to see what's on the other side of the hill." She has gone almost everywhere to do that. In 1988,at the age of 50,she became the first woman to travel alone to the North Pole. She pulled her own sled piled with 160 pounds of supplies,and during her trip no one brought her fresh supplies.Accompanied only by her dog Charlie,she survived cold weather and meetings with polar bears. In fact,Charlie saved her life when one of them attacked her.Near the end of her trip,a forceful wind blew away the majority of her supplies. The last week of the trip,she survived on a handful of nuts and a little water each day. Helen goes to challenging places not only for adventures,but also for education.Before her Arctic journey,she started a website called Adventure Classroom.On the site,she shared her adventures in order to inspire students.She explained,"Although kids often see the world in a negative way,without hope for their future,we work to inspire them to set goals,plan for success and never give up..." Helen grew up in New Zealand.Her parents were athletes and mountain climbers.Following her parents'example,she climbed her first mountain at the age of nine.Later,she climbed the highest mountains in North and South America,the former USSR and New Zealand. In 1996,she took on another challenge--the Sahara Desert.She and her husband,Bill,walked 2,400 miles across it.In 2001,she and Bill travelled on foot from west to east through the Gobi Desert in Mongolia.They hope to travel in mainland China into Sichuan and Tibet to study pandas. Helen plans to continue taking trips.She'll use her explorations,writing,photography and environmental works to create programs for her Adventure Classroom website. She wants to inspire her students to never stop facing challenges. Why does Helen travel to different places worldwide? A) For fun. B) For education. C) For money. D) For fame.
B
Q: If you don't use a dictionary. What should you do instead? The first thing you can do is trying to guess what the word means. Often the surrounding context gives a very clear idea of the meaning of the word. Even if you can't work out the meaning exactly, you may be able to get a vague idea, enough to enable you to continue reading. Sometimes It is impossible to guess the meaning of a word from the context and then you will have to decide whether the word is important enough to make it worthwhile stopping and looking it up in a dictionary or whether you can just pass it by. Many times in your reading, you will come across words which you don't know, but which do not prevent you from understanding all the main points of the text. You can made your dictionary use much more efficient if you only look up the words which are necessary to understand the text. and this means that you must develop the skill to decide whether the words are worth looking up. In this passage the writer _ . A) advised us to use the dictionary as much as possible B) told us not to be discouraged by the sight of a dictionary C) gave us some advice on how to deal with these unknown words D) introduced some ways to take notes in the course of reading
A: C
(Question)
People hold different views on what or how much homework should be. It is partly due to the fact that people can't seem to agree on the purpose of homework. Some teachers think that homework is necessary to reinforce what is learned in school. And so they ask their students to memorize what was discussed in class through homework. Some teachers think the point of homework is to cover material that the class didn't have time to get to, so their homework is to let students learn additional things. Other teachers like homework simply because they want students to form work habits and still others believe homework is necessary because it's the best way for parents to learn what their children do in school. However, many parents seem to have different ideas. Elisa Cohen, who has twins at Lafayette Elementary School, doesn't like the fact that third-grade students in DC elementary schools are asked to write about 25 book summaries a year. She said, "They do the same thing over and over without really getting into alternate ways of thinking about books, reading and writing." Some education reformers , such as Howard Gardner, a Harvard University professor well-known for his theory on multiple intelligence, think that Cohen is on the right track. But it's often hard to persuade overworked teachers to give much thought to homework tasks. Some education reformers think we should improve our school education by _ . A) increasing homework B) changing schools C) changing teachers D) reducing homework
(Answer)
D