Q: Children whose minds wander might have sharper brains, a research suggests. A study has found that people who appear to be often distracted   have more "working memory", giving them the ability to hold a lot of information in their heads and control it cleverly. Children at school need this type of memory on a daily basis for a variety of tasks, such as following teachers' instructions or remembering dictated   sentences. During the study, volunteers were asked to perform one simple task during which researchers kept asking if their minds were wandering. At the end, volunteers measured their working memory capacity   by their ability to remember a series of letters mixed with simple maths questions. Daniel Levinson, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the United States, said that those with higher working memory capacity reported "more mind wandering during these simple tasks", but their performance did not _ . The results, published online in the journal Psychological Science, appear to confirm former research that found working memory allows humans to deal with multiple thoughts at the same time. Dr Jonathan Smallwood, of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Science in Leipzig, Germany, said, "What this study seems to suggest is that, when surroundings for the task aren't very difficult, people with additional working memory capacity use them effectively to think about other things besides what they're doing." Working memory capacity is also associated with general measures of intelligence, such as reading comprehension and IQ scores. Dr Smallwood added: "Our results suggest the sorts of planning that people do quite often in daily life - when they are on the bus, when they are cycling to work, when they are in the shower - are probably supported by working memory." What's the text mainly about? A) How the working memory works in the daily life. B) Wandering minds might have brighter brains. C) Why people's minds wander while working. D) Working ability can be improved by wandering minds.
A: B


Q: The Italian island of Sardinia recently lost its oldest citizen. Family members say Antonio Todde died in his sleep early this month. Mr. Todde was 112 years old. It was less than three weeks away from his 113thbirthday. Record-keeping experts say he was the world's oldest man.          His long life and that of other very old Sardinians are the subjects of a scientific project called Akea. Luca Deiana of Sassari University is directing the study. He says the name Akea comes from a traditional greeting on Sardinia. It means"health and life for 100 years". Professor Deiana and his team started to collect information for the study in 1997. They identified more than 220 Sardinians who were centenarians--100years old or older. His team required three documents to confirm a person's age. They were a government birth record, a church record and a statement by a close family member.          The Akea study has produced two major findings. The first is Sardinia's extremely high number of centenarians. The island had about 135 centenarians for every one million people. In other Western countries, the average is about seventy five centenarians for every one million people. The second major finding is an unusual rate of female to male centenarians. Sardinia has two women centenarians for every male centenarian. In central Sardinia there are equal numbers of female and male centenarians.          Studies in other parts of the world have shown a much higher percentage of female centenarians. The Akea study collected information about the health and diet of about 140 of the centenarians. About ninety percent of those in the study agreed to provide blood for scientific testing. The study team hope to identify genetic material in the blood that can be linked to successful aging. Study leaders say there is no single reason why people on Sardinia live so long. They believe the answer is a combination of genetic and environmental conditions. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage? A) Other parts of the world have a higher rate of female centenarians than Sardinia. B) There are equal numbers of female and male centenarians on Sardinia. C) Sardinia has an unusunl rate of male to female centenarians. D) There are about seventy-five centenarians for every one million people on Sardinia.
A: A


Q: Dear Editor, I'm a Senior I study in a middle school. This term, my favorite teacher, Miss Mao, no longer teaches us. I want to see her, but I'm afraid that she no longer likes me and I don't want to trouble her. I really miss her. What should I do? Tian Yan Dear Tian Yan, It's bad luck that you have lost your favorite teacher, But if she is still in your school , nothing can stop you going to see her. When she isn't busy, ask her if she minds having a quick chat. You can then tell her she was your favorite teacher------ everyone is happy to know that they are liked! If she has left the school, it will be more difficult to meet her. It will be hard, but remember people always come and go in their lives. We can't rely on them to be with us all the time. You may be sad to say goodbye to her, but we can remember and learn from her. Think of her best qualities. You could also try looking for similar qualities in your other teachers. Study hard and give your new teacher a chance. In time, you might start to see that he or she has different qualities to learn from. Finally, you can not completely rely on other people to get you through your studies , or even your life. Editor . According to the passage, students can make progress in their studies   _  . A) completely by their favorite teachers B) completely by their favorite classmates C) mainly by their parents D) mainly by themselves
A: D


Q: One day in l965, when I worked at View Ridge School in Seattle, a fourth-grade teacher approached me. She had a student who finished his work before all the others and needed a challenge. "Could he help in the library?" She asked. I said, "Send him along." Soon a slight, sandy-haired boy in jeans and a T-shift appeared. "Do you have a job for me?" he asked. I told him about the Dewey Decimal System for shelving books. He picked up the idea immediately. Then I showed him a stack of cards for long-overdue books that I was beginning to think had actually been returned but were misshelved with the wrong cards in them. He said, "Is it kind of a detective job?" I answered yes, and he became working. He had found three books with wrong cards by the time his teacher opened the door and announced, "Time for break!" He argued for finishing the finding job; She made the case for fresh air. She won. The next morning, he arrived early. "I want to finish these books," he said. At the end of the day, when he asked to be a librarian on a regular basis, it was easy to say yes. He worked untiringly. After a few weeks I found a note on my desk, inviting me to dinner at the boy's home. At the end of a pleasant evening, his mother announced that the family would be moving to neighbouring school district. Her son's first concern, she said, was leaving the View Ridge library. "Who will find the lost books?" he asked. When the time came, I said a reluctant good-bye. I missed him, but not for long. A few days later he came back and joyfully announced: "The librarian over there doesn't let boys work in the library. My mother got me transferred back to View Ridge. My dad will drop me off on his way to work. And if he can't, I'll walk!" I should have had an inkling  such focused determination would take that young man wherever he wanted to go. What I could not have guessed, however, was that he would become a wizard of the Information Age: Bill Gates, tycoon of Microsoft and America's richest man. What impressed the author most was that the boy   _  . A) had a thirst for learning B) had a strong will C) was extremely quick at learning D) had a kind heart
