Ques: Halloween falls on October 31st, the last day of the Celtic calendar. Halloween was referred to as All Hallows Eve and dates back to over 2000 years ago. The American tradition of "trick-or-treating" probably dates back to the early All Souls' Day marches in England. During the festivities, poor citizens would beg for food and families would give them pastries called "soul cakes" in return for their promise to pray for the family's dead relatives. The act of giving out soul cakes was encouraged by the church as a way to replace the ancient practice of leaving food and wine for homeless ghosts. The practice, which was referred to as "going a-souling" was finally taken up by children who would visit the houses in their neighborhood and be given sweets, food, and money. The tradition of dressing in costume  for Halloween has both European and Celtic roots. Hundreds of years ago, winter was an uncertain and frightening time. Food supplies were often not enough because people were afraid of the darkness and would stay at home without doing businesses. On Halloween, when it was believed that ghosts came back to the earthly world, people thought that they would meet with ghosts if they left their homes. To avoid being recognized by these ghosts, people would wear masks when they left their homes after dark so that the ghosts would mistake them for their fellows . On Halloween, to keep ghosts away from their houses, people would place bowls of food outside their homes to satisfy the ghosts and prevent them from trying to enter their houses. Ancient people would wear masks on Halloween in order to  _  . A) frighten the ghosts B) leave their homes C) enjoy themselves D) look like ghosts
Ans: D

Ques: Biologists believe that love is fundamentally a biological rather than a cultural construct, because the capacity for love is found in all human cultures and similar behavior is found in some other animals. In humans the purpose of all the desire is to focus attention on the raising of offspring. Children demand an unusual amount of parenting, and two parents are better than one. Love is a signal that both partners are committed, and makes it more likely that this commitment will continue as long as necessary for children to reach independence. But what does science have to say about the notion of love at first sight? In recent years the ability to watch the brain in action has offered a wealth of insight into the mechanics of love. Researchers have shown that when a person falls in love, a dozen different part of brain work together to release chemicals that trigger feelings of euphoria, bonding and excitement. It has also been shown that the unconditional love between a mother and a child is associated with activity in different regions of the brain from those associated with pair-bonding love. Passionate love is rooted in the reward circuitry of the brain--the same area that is active when humans feel a rush from cocaine. In fact, the desire, motivations and withdrawals involved in love have a great deal in common with addiction. Its most intense forms tend to be associated with the early stages of a relationship, which then give way to a calmer attachment form of love one feels with a long term partner. What all this means is that one special person can become chemically rewarding to the brain of another. Love at first sight, then, is only possible if the mechanism for generating long-term attachment can be triggered quickly. There are signs that it can be. One line of evidence is that people are able to decide within a second how attractive they find another person. This decision appears to be related to facial attractiveness, although men may favor women with waist-to-hip ratio of 0.7, no matter what... Which of the following may be the best title of the passage? A) The science of love at first sight B) The stages of passionate love C) The biological construct of pair-bonding D) The mechanism for generating long-term love
Ans: A

Ques: Dear editor, Mary is my friend and she is a very good-hearted girl. She's always the first to help out others. But her habits make me mad sometimes and she just won't change her ways. For most situations, that's just fine with me, as I know it's what make her who she is. However, sometimes it's just so hard for me to bear her behavior. She has recently got a cellphone, but she often borrows mine to make calls. My phone has a chain with it. She always tries to open it like her own phone. I usually open it for her, but not always, as sometimes I'm driving my car, so she needs to get it out of my purse and open it herself. This weekend we were at a party in a faraway village. She borrowed my cellphone. As it was cold outside, I let her take it outside without opening it. Now it's broken because she didn't open it properly. I wouldn't be so mad, but over the weekend she also borrowed my car and never offered to pay for the gas, which made me very angry. She should have offered to pay for the gas. As I have mentioned, she's the type to help out others when and where she can. Perhaps because of that, she thinks others should also do the same for her. Sometimes I just think she is very childish. I don't want to hurt her, but I do want to let her know that not everyone can accept that. What should I do to let her know that? Yours, Lily What kind of person is Mary? A) Friendly and beautiful. B) Kind and careful. C) Careful and childish. D) Warm-hearted but childish
Ans: D

Ques: Girls who play with Barbie dolls tend to see fewer career options available to them, compared with the options available to boys, according to a new study by researchers at Oregon State University and the University of California (UC), Santa Cruz. The study's authors, psychology professors, Aurora Sherman of Oregon State University and Eileen Zurbriggen at UC Santa Cruz, describe their findings as significant. "This is one of the first studies to investigate how playing with sexualized   dolls affects young girls, and also one of the first to look at the impact of such play on achievement or career aspirations  , rather than body image," said Zurbriggen. Sherman suggests that Barbie and similar dolls are part of the burden of early and inappropriate sexuality placed on girls.  Sherman and Zurbriggen used girls' doll play to study the impact of gender role socialization, a process through which children learn to follow cultural norms and which encourages gender stereotypical   behavior. Thirty-seven girls from the age of four to seven from an Oregon college town were randomly arranged to play for five minutes with either a sexualized Doctor Barbie or Fashion Barbie doll, or with a more neutral   Mrs. Potato Head doll. The girls were then shown photographs of ten occupations and asked how many they themselves or boys could do in the future. The girls who played with a Barbie doll saw themselves in fewer occupations, compared with boys. Those girls who played with Mrs. Potato Head reported nearly as many career options available for themselves as for boys. The two Barbie dolls were the same except for clothing, with unrealistic bodies, extremely youthful and attractive faces, and long full hair. The researchers believe that the doll itself has more of an effect on girls than the role or career aspirations suggested by its costume. "It's significant that a few minutes of play with a Barbie doll had an immediate impact on the number of careers that girls saw as possible for themselves," Zurbriggen said. Based on the text, we know that the study   _  . A) involved thirty-seven girls and boys in all B) was designed for children under four years old C) gave children ten photos of occupations to choose from D) required children to play with a Doctor Barbie doll for extra five minutes
Ans: