Q: Read the following article and answer the question. Article: Do you often find yourself crying in arguments? Does it feel like you just can't stop your emotions defeating you completely when you are in the middle of a heated discussion with someone, and you particularly want to make clear strong points and express yourself effectively? Many people think that someone who bursts into tears during an argument or a quarrel is    9 / 17  trying to handle the situation by bringing emotion into it. But the person who wells up tears during some heated discussion is not in control of those tears. They just can't control blushing  or stop themselves breaking out in a sweat if they feel nervous. The body has a number of such automatic responses that switch on without your decision that you want to respond like this. These instinctive behaviors have evolved over millions of years to protect us. Basically, our brains make associations between things that seem similar, which is important for automatic responses. For example, a snake is a potentially dangerous creature, and you can see why it might be useful if, whenever you see a snake, you will run like crazy. And you can see why it might still be useful if you see a flexible stick and get the same reaction. However, these very simple associations can sometimes be really unhelpful. It's not useful to try to calmly argue an important point with someone, and suddenly find tears running down your cheeks. Tears can generally make you seem weak, or foolish, and less credible. Who's going to take what you say seriously if you're crying? But if these reactions are not under your control, what can you do about it? The good news is that although you can't control automatic reactions directly, you can unlink unhelpful associations. And that means that an unwanted reaction won't get started, and so won't happen. Besides, you can try the following: Begin to notice a change in how you feel about previous times when you were defeated by emotion; Develop a growing sense of confidence and optimism about how things will go in the future. Question: What can we infer from the passage? Answer:

A: Automatic responses don't always make a difference.


Q: Read the following article and answer the question. Article: A young woman went to her mother and told her how hard life was. She was tired of struggling and fighting and wanted to give up. So, her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed coffee beans. She let them sit and boil, without saying a word. In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out, pulled the eggs out and then poured the coffee into three different bowls. Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me what you see." "Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied. Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg. Finally, the daughter was asked to drink the coffee. She smiled as she tasted its rich fragrance. The daughter then asked, "What does it mean, mother?" Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same disaster but reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, and hard. However, after being subject to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The coffee beans were unique, however; after they had been in the boiling water, they had changed the water.                "Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When misfortune or change knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?" "Are you the carrot that seems strong, but with change and difficulty will you wilt   and become soft and lose your strength? Are you the egg that starts with a malleable  , heart, but changes with the heat? When faced with a death, a break-up, a financial hardship or other trial, do you become hardened and stiff? The coffee bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the... Question: Why did the young woman turn to her mother? Answer:

A: She would like to resign herself to life.


Q: Read the following article and answer the question. Article: (Natural News)Many parents have tried to gave their children a head start on education with get-smart videos and enrichment activities as early as infancy, but free play is often sacrificed, so the American Academy of Pediatrics says that the best medicine for busy children is an increase in traditional "playtime".  A number of studies suggest that unstructured play can help children become creative, discover their own interests, develop problem-solving abilities, and relate to others socially, according to a report prepared by two academy committees for release Monday at the group's annual meting. On the contrary, a lack of such playtime can create stress for both children and parents, and it can also cause obesity when children spend too much time sitting in front of educational videos. The report notes lack of playtime could even lead to depression in many children.  The report thinks the lack of playtime lies in the fact that parents want to have super-smart children and safe places for children to play is decreasing. A balance between free playtime and educational activities should be struck, the report states.  "In the current environment, where so many parents feel pressure to be super parents, I believe this message is an important one," said Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg, the report's lead author and a pediatrician at The Children's prefix = st1 /HospitalofPhiladelphia. Noted pediatrician, author, and presenter of cable TV's "What Every Baby Knows," Dr. T. Betty Brazelton agreed. "Children with structured activities" are missing the chance to dream, to make their own world work the way they want it. That to me is a very important part of childhood. Question: Which of the following is a proper word to describe today's children? Answer:

A: Busy.


Q: Read the following article and answer the question. Article: Recently, we've been talking about how we need better teachers. There's no doubt that a great teacher can help in a student's achievement but here's what some new studies are also showing: We need better parents. Every three years, the organization called O.E.C.D. organizes exams as part of the Program for International Student Assessment  , or PISA, which tests 15-year-olds on their abilities to solve real problems. America's 15-year-olds have not done as well as students in Singapore, Finland and Shanghai in the PISA exams. To better understand the reasons, the PISA team, starting with four countries in 2006, and then adding 14 more in 2009, went to the parents of 5,000 students. They interviewed them about how they raised their kids and then compared it with the test results for each of those years. Two weeks ago, the PISA team published the main findings of its study: Fifteen-year-olds whose parents often read books with them during their first year of primary school get much higher scores in PISA 2009 than students whose parents don't often read with them or not at all. Parents' concern for their children is strongly connected with better results in PISA. According to Schleicher, the leader of the team, just asking your children how their school day was and showing great interest in their learning can help a lot. It is something every parent can do, no matter what their education level. The study found that getting parents concerned about their children's learning at home is more powerful than parents attending parent-teacher meetings, volunteering in classrooms, taking part in money-raising, and showing up at back-to-school nights. To be sure, nothing can replace a good teacher. But let's stop putting the whole responsibility on teachers. We also need better parents. Better parents can make teaching more effective  . Question: The study was done in  _   countries in total in 2009. Answer:

A: