How many really suffer as a result of labor market problems? This is one of the most critical yet debatable social policy questions.  In many ways, our social statistics overstate the degree of hardship. Unemployment does not have the same horrible consequences today as it did in the 1930's when most of the unemployed were primary breadwinners, when income and earnings were usually much closer to the margin of survival, and when there were fewer effective social programs for those failing in the labor market. Increasing wealth, the rise of families with more than one wage earner, the growing dominance of secondary earners among the unemployed and improved social welfare protection have unquestionably relieved the consequences of joblessness. Earnings and income data also overestimate the scale of hardship. Among the millions with hourly earnings at or below the minimum wage level, the majority are from multiple-earner,  ly well-off families. Most of those counted by the poverty statistics are elderly or handicapped or have family responsibilities which keep them out of the labor force, so the poverty statistics are by no means an accurate indicator of labor market problems. Yet there are also many ways our social statistics underestimate the degree of labor-market-related hardship. The unemployment counts exclude the millions of fully employed workers whose wages are so low that their families remain in poverty. Low wages and repeated or long-time unemployment frequently interact to weaken the capacity for self-support. Since the number experiencing joblessness at some time during the year is several times that unemployed in any month, those who suffer as a result of forced idleness can equal or exceed average annual unemployment, even though only a minority of the jobless in any month really suffer. For every person counted in the monthly unemployment totals, there is another working part-time because of the inability to find full-time work, or else outside the labor force but wanting a job. Finally, income... Which of the following is the principal topic of the passage? A) What causes labor market problems that result in suffering. B) Why income statistics are imprecise in measuring degrees of poverty. C) When poverty, employment, and earnings figures agree with each other. D) How statistics give an unclear picture of the labor-market-related suffering.
C

I had the meanest mother in the world.While other kids ate candy for breakfast.I had to have cereal, eggs and toast.Others had cakes and candy for lunch, while we had to eat a sandwich.As you can guess, my supper was different from the other kids'.But at least I was not alone in my suffering.My sister and two brothers had the same mean mother as I did. My mother insisted on knowing where we were at all times.She had to know who our friends were and what we were doing.We had to wear clean clothes every day.Other kids always wore their clothes for days. We reached the height of disgrace   because she made our clothes herself, just to save money. The worst is yet to come.We had to be in bed by 9:00 each night and up at 7:45 the next morning.So while my friends slept, my mother actually had the courage to break Child Labor Law.She made us work. I believed she lay awake all night thinking up mean things to do to us.Through the years, our friends' report cards had beautiful colors on them, black for passing, red for failing.My mother, however, would only be satisfied with black marks.None of us was allowed the pleasure of being a dropout  . She forced us to grow up into educated and honest adults.Using this as a background, I'm now trying to bring up my three children.I'm filled with pride when my children think I am mean because now I thank God every day for giving me the meanest mother in the world. The passage was written in a way of  _  tone. A) humorous B) hateful C) ridiculous D) impatient
A

Goats are being hired to do the work of men in a neighborhood just outside of San Diego. The fires that occurred in Hillborough four years ago destroyed thirty homes, most of which have been rebuilt. While the home were rebuilt, the grasses, bushes, and shrubs were re-growing. The area is now so overgrown in brush that it again brings a major danger of fire. The city government asked for bids  to remove the brush. The lowest bid they received was $50,000. And that was if the city provided breakfast and lunch for the work crews for the six weeks it would take to clear the overgrown area. The city government said no, offering unlimited coffee and a doughnut a day for each crew member. When that offer was rejected, the city asked for help on its website. A sheepherder in Montana and a goat-herder in San Bernardino read about the city's problem while surfing the web on their laptops. They both offered to do the job for $25,000. The government chose the goat-herder because he lived closer. When told that the city dump was overflowing, the goat-herder said, "No problem. My goats will eat everything in your dump. Except for the automobile engines, of course." So, for another $5,000, the city killed two birds with one stone. If all goes well, they will invite the goat-herder and his "family" back every three years. The goat-herder said he will probably visit San Diego while his goats are in the dump. "I want to go there by plane; I just hope we don't crash. My goats would miss me a lot," he said. What are the "two birds" that the city government kills with only one stone? A) Both the sheepherder and goat-herder will work for the city for half of the money B) The danger of fire in a neighborhood and providing breakfast and lunch for the work crews. C) The danger of fire in a neighborhood and the overflowing dump. D) The city government can save some money and the goat-herder has a new job.
C

He's out there somewhere, an instant icon in the records of American conflict, the final big-game hunter. But a puzzle, too, his identity would be kept a secret for now, and maybe forever. He is the unknown shooter. The nameless, faceless triggerman who put a bullet in the head of the world's most notorious terrorist, Bin Laden. He's likely between the ages of 26 and 33, says Marcinko, founder of the "SEALs Team 6" that many believe led the attack on Bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan. He'll be old enough to have had time to hurdle the extra training tests required to join the counter-terrorism unit, yet young enough to stand the body-punishing harshness of the job. The shooter's a man, it's safe to say, because there are no women in the SEALs. And there's a good chance he's white, though the SEALs have stepped up efforts to increase the number of minorities in their ranks, Marcinko and Smith say. He was probably a high school or college athlete, Smith says, a physical specimen who combines strength, speed and wisdom. "They call themselves 'tactical athletes,'" says Smith, who works with many future SEALs in his Heroes of Tomorrow training program in Severna Park. "It's getting very scientific." Marcinko puts it in more conventional terms: "He'll be ripped," says the author of the best-selling autobiography "Rogue Warrior.""He's got a lot of upper-body strength. Long arms. Thin waist. Flat stomach." On this point, Greitens departs a bit. "You can't make a lot of physical assumptions," says the author of "The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy SEAL." There are SEALs who are 5 feet 4 and SEALs who are 6 feet 5, Greitens says. In his training group, he adds, there were college football boys who couldn't hack it; those who survived were most often men in good shape, but they also had a willingness to show their concerns in favor of the mission. The shooter's probably not the crew-cut , neatly shaven ideal we've come to expect from American fighting forces. "He's bearded,... Which of the following is most likely to be the title of the passage? A) Who shot Bin Laden? B) What do the SEALS do? C) How can boys be SEALS? D) What SEALS are like?

A