Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Our love of music and appreciation of musical harmony is learnt and not based on natural ability, a new study by University of Melbourne researchers has found. The researchers said previous theories about how we appreciate music were based on the physical functions of sound, the ear itself and a born ability to hear harmony. The study shows that musical harmony can be learnt, and it is a matter of training the brain to hear the sounds. So if you thought that the music of some foreign culture (or Jazz) sounded like the crying of cats, it's simply because you haven't learnt to listen by their rules. The researchers used 66 volunteers with a range of musical training and tested their ability to hear combinations of notes to determine if they found the combinations familiar or pleasing. They found that people needed to be familiar with combinations of notes. If they couldn't recognize the notes, they found the notes _ . This finding put an end to centuries of theories claiming that physical functions of the ear determine what we find attractive. The study found that trained musicians were much more sensitive to unpleasant notes than non-musicians. When they couldn't find the note, the musicians reported that the sounds were unpleasant, while non-musicians were much less sensitive. This shows the importance of training or nurturing the brain to like particular sound of combinations of notes, like those found in jazz or rock. Depending on their training, a strange chord sound was pleasant to some musicians, but very unpleasant to others. This showed us that even the ability to hear a musical note is learnt. To confirm this finding, they trained 19 non-musicians to find the notes of a random selection of western chords. Not only did the participants' ability to hear notes improve rapidly; the chords they had learnt sounded more pleasant--regardless of how the chords were played. The question of why some combinations of musical notes are heard as pleasant or unpleasant has long been debated. "... Question: According to the passage, why do people sometimes find foreign music quite unpleasant? Options: A: Because they don't like the person playing the music. B: Because they have no talent for music at all. C: Because they have no idea about how to listen. D: Because they hear music too often.
C

(Question)
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Friendship and friends continue to be the centre of our life. The relationship that we share with our friends is grounded in mutual care as our friends help us in _ our personalities as well. Even in this age of online social networking and e-cards, the need of keeping the network of friends, whether online or offline remains a primary concern for people. We may not completely understand what makes a friend but we all want to have a good number of friends around us. The first step to make friends with someone is to make them like you. If they don't like you in the first place, it is unlikely that they'll be eager to become your friends. To let someone know that you are specially interested in them, simple gestures like a little smile and calling them by their names can lay the basic foundation. To make the other person feel important to you, you need to be a good listener and encourage the other person to talk. Give your honest and sincere opinion but do not directly criticize or make fun of him or her. The second step of making someone your friend is to develop a mutual understanding. You need to share his or her experiences and it is necessary for you to develop a habit to see things from the other person's point of view. The third or final step towards friendship is to show your unconditional support and encouragement towards your friend. Moreover, you also need to be very clear about your expectations from your friend. If what you expect from the person you want to make friends with matches with what that person can give, the developing friendship between you and your friend is sure to be successful. Question: If you want to make friends with someone, you can _ . Options: A: show your interest with a smile to him or her B: make him or her feel more important than you C: never expect him or her to support you D: have your own ways of seeing things
(Answer)
A

Read the article and select the best answer. Article: I'm a teacher. But there are days, like today, when I wonder why. The results of an English quiz taken by my fifth-graders were depressing. Despite my best efforts, the world of pronouns remains a mystery to them. How I wish there were a way to make the study of our language as exciting as a computer game, so the glazed looks would not appear in their eyes at the mention of the word "grammar." I remember my husband's words: "Why don't you quit? You'd probably make more money by doing something else, and you wouldn't have papers to grade every night." Tonight I have a stack of papers to grade, which I promised my students I would return tomorrow. But a friend, whom I haven't seen in a year, is visiting from Belgium, and I told her I would keep this evening free. Sitting in traffic behind a distant stoplight, it's hard not to replay the day. A voice reports the body of a local youngster, missing for weeks, has been identified. This missing child has had a deep effect on my students. They wondered, "If it happened to her, could it happen to me?" My children had found the answer themselves. They got out their pencils, markers and made cards. Cards were written with words of compassion and love for a mother and father they didn't know. Cards were filled with red hearts, golden crosses, flowers and angels. Their cards, intended to comfort others, comforted the children themselves by leading them past the anxiety, back into the world of security that should be theirs. And then I remember why I'm still teaching. It's the children. They're more important than a lifetime filled with quiet evenings and more valuable than a pocket filled with money. My classroom, a child-filled world of discovery, of kindness and of caring is the real world. It's time to call my friend. I have promises to keep. She'll understand. After all, she's a teacher. Question: What is the most important according to the writer? Options: A: A pocket filled with money. B: The kind and caring children. C: A lifetime filled with quiet evenings. D: The freedom to control her own time.
B