With an overwhelming variety of educational toys and learning tools in the market, you really wonder if these educational products are really beneficial to children. There have been many educational DVDs in the market that promise to stimulate a child's learning and enhance his or her cognitive skills. Parents feel good about buying these products for their children. After all, these educational tools try to do a parent's job of participating in the child's education, especially when the parent can't be present due to his or her busy schedule. Moreover, children seem to love these DVDs that contain pictures, words, and loads of stories. Some DVDs contain fun, sing-along songs or read-aloud words to help the children learn different concepts and words. Although these are fun for the parents and the children, the question that needs to be asked is whether these DVDs are actually beneficial to the child, as they claim to be. Although parents expected "educational" products to give their child some educational advantage, research has shown otherwise. Researchers in a recent study concluded that there was indeed no difference between the language and cognitive ability of the infants who were repeatedly exposed to educational DVDs and those who were not exposed to the DVDs. In fact, contrary to expectations, it was found that babies who were exposed to the DVDs at an earlier age had lower overall language scores at a later age. This suggested a damaging effect of such DVDs on younger children. For several years the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that toddlers under age of 24 months or 2 years should not watch videos or television. However, there are many parents who believe these DVDs really help in stimulating the child and keep him or her entertained. While it may work as a great babysitter, it is important to limit activities like video games, computer games, DVDs or TV programs. To promote their children's development and cognitive skills, parents are advised to spend time with their children... Many parents love to buy educational DVDs for their children actually because _ . A) their children have great interest in these DVDs B) they are sure that these DVDs are beneficial to children C) these DVDs can share their participation in children's education D) these DVDs are effective in improving children' s cognitive skills
C
(Question)
Last year we visited Stratford the place where Shakespeare was born on the 23rdof April, 1564. Stratford is a very interesting town, right in the center of England. The countryside around Stratford is pleasant, with its beautiful woods, green fields and quiet rivers. The first place we visited was the house in the center of Stratford where Shakespeare was born. We saw the small desk that Shakespeare sat at when he went to school. One of the things we like best was the garden behind the house, because we could see there many of the flowers, trees and plants that Shakespeare wrote about in his plays. After we visited Shakespeare's birthplace, we went to see the church where he was buried. We had lunch in a very old hotel that was probably there in Shakespeare's time. Every room of the hotel had the name of one of Shakespeare's plays on the door--the"Hamlet"room, the "Romeo and Juliet"room and so on. After lunch we walked across the fields to the old cottage, about a mile out of Stratford, where Shakespeare spent most of his married life. The cottage is just as it was in Shakespeare's days. We saw the chairs where Shakespeare perhaps sat and thought about ideas for new plays, and we saw the plates from which he probably ate his dinner. When we got back to our school in the evening, we were very tired, but we had enjoyed a wonderful day. Stratford is _ . A) a big interesting city of England B) in the center of England C) full of woods, green fields and quiet rivers D) where Shakespeare used to put on his plays
(Answer)
B
Ques: I had to knock on the taxi to get his attention.Finally,the driver,a man about 60,looked up from behind the wheel and apologized,"I'm sorry,but I was reading a letter." He sounded as if he had a cold or a cough. Since I was in no hurry,I told him to finish his letter.He shook his head,explaining that he had already read it several times and almost knew it by heart.Curious,I asked whether it was from a child or maybe a grandchild."This isn't family,"he replied."though he might just as well have been a regular member of the family.Old Ed and I grew up together." They were always friends.But since he moved away from the neighborhood 30 years ago,it'd generally just been postcards at Christmas time between them.A couple of weeks ago,Ed died."I should have kept in touch." He repeated this,more to himself than to me.To comfort him,I said sometimes we just didn't seem to find the time."But we used to find the time," he said."Take a look." He handed the letter over to me. The first sentence "I've been meaning to write for some time,but I've always delayed it." reminded me of myself.It went on to say that he often thought about the good times they had had together.When I read the part where it said "Your friendship really means a lot to me,more than I can say because I'm not good at saying things like that",I found myself nodding in agreement. We had gone several kilometers and were almost at my hotel, so I read the last paragraph: "So I thought you'd like to know that I was thinking of you." And it was ended with "Your Old Friend, Tom." "I thought your friend's name was Ed," I said. "I'm Tom," he explained. "It's a letter I wrote to Ed before I knew he'd died. I never put it in the mailbox. I guess I should have written it sooner." His face was pale as he wiped his eyes with a handkerchief. When I got to my hotel room I didn't unpack right away.I had to write a letter and post it. What message does the passage probably try to convey? A) Comfort your friends when they are feeling down. B) Life is unpredictable so live each day as if it were your last. C) Remember to always mail your letters after expressing your words. D) Always make time to value and experience your lasting friendships.
Ans: D
When a friend calls out "Wait a second, I have a trick to show you," don't you always stop and wait? Tricks are hard to resist. No one is ever too old to enjoy them or too young either. In fact, many of the most successful tricks are really quite simple. They don't require special equipments or hours of practice. For example, you tell a friend "Pick a card", then you surprise him by telling him which card he picked. Here's how it is done. Take a pack of cards and secretly look at the bottom card. Put the cards facedown on a table, and ask your friend to pick a card. Then place the card at the bottom. Has your friend picked the cards by taking part of the cards from the top and putting it at the bottom? Start turning the cards up one at a time. You can pretend to think hard about each card. Look for the bottom card at the beginning which you have remembered. The cards that come after it will be the one your friend picked. Also, a mind-reading trick is fun to do at a party. You leave the room, and while you are gone, a tea cup is placed upside down over a penny, nickel($0. 05), dime($0. 1)or quarter($0. 25). When you come back into the room, you can tell which coin the tea cup is hiding. To do this trick, you only need a helper, or partner. Before hand, you two work out some signals. If he looks up. it's a penny; if he looks right, a nickel. You see, they are all very easy. Why not have a try? The author's main purpose to write this passage is _ . A) to tell the readers tricks are done to fool people B) to give the readers knowledge about all kinds of tricks C) to tell the readers how to do some easy tricks to enjoy themselves D) to say tricks are very popular
C