"It hurts me more than you", and "This is for your own good"--these are the statements my mother used to make years ago when I had to learn Latin, clean my room, stay home and do homework. That was before we entered _ in education in which we decided it was all right not to push our children to achieve their best in school. The schools and the educators made it easy for us. They taught that it was all right to be parents who take a let-alone policy. We stopped making our children do homework. We gave them calculators, turned on the television, left the teaching to the teachers and went on vacation. Now teachers, faced with children who have been developing at their own pace for the past 15 years, are realizing we've made a terrible mistake. One such teacher is Sharon Klompus who says of her students "so passive" and wonders what has happened. Nothing is demanded of them, she believes. Television, says Klompus, contributes to children's passivity. "We're talking about a generation of kids who've never been hurt or hungry. They have learned somebody will always do it for them, instead of saying 'go and look it up', you tell them the answer. It takes greater energy to say no to a kid." Yes, it does. It takes energy and it takes work. It's time for parents to end their vacation and come back to work. It's time to take the car away, to turn the TV off, to tell them it hurts you more than them but it's for their own good. It's time to start telling them no again. What is the main idea of the passage? A) Parents should leave their kids alone B) Kids should have more activities at school. C) It's time to be stricter with our kids. D) Parents should set a good example to their kids.
C
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Have you still remember what happened when you went to school on the first day? I still remember my interesting first day of school . On that day, I hurried to my science class in the morning and found a seat in the back. I waited there for 15 minutes before the bell rang. The science teacher told us about some class rules. No one talked to me nor did I talk to anyone else. I was one of those very shy girls. After the science class, I had an English class. I thought it would be boring but it turned out to be very funny. When the classes of the morning ended I went to lunch. I sat outside the dining room with no one to talk to and no food because I was too nervous to join the lunch line. I kept looking around hoping to see someone I knew but I never saw anyone. Lunch ended and I went to have my art class. I was the first one there and not even my teacher was there yet. So I sat at my desk and started drawing some pictures. I didn't notice the rest of the class walking in or the girl that was standing behind me till I surprised by the voice, "So what are you drawing?" It was a girl who had really long hair. She ended up being my best friend and one of the kindest and liveliest girls I know. In the next class meeting, the teacher asked us to talk about the past holiday. I was glad to make some new friends in the class. The first day of high school was hard for me but I got through it. What do we know about the writer's science class? A) She was 15 minutes late for it. B) She made some new friends. C) She learned some class rules. D) She sat in the front row.
C
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Le Val de Cantobre, Aveyron (France) It's in the grounds of a medieval house. There's a swimming pool, a river and a pizza restaurant. The scenery   around the park is beautiful and great for walking. A week's stay will cost you about EUR280. For more information please go to www.eurocamp.co.uk. Four Seasons Tented Camp, Golden Triangle (Thailand) This must be one of the best campsites ( ) in the world. Instead of tents, there are "canvas cabins  ". And there's a gourmet restaurant, a spa and a pool. There are only 15 of cabins to rent so you'll have to book early. The campsite can only be reached by river boat, but once there you can learn to ride an elephant. Unfortunately, it isn't cheap, and two nights at the Four Seasons will cost you about EUR1,500! For more information please go to www.Fourseasons.com/goldentriangle. Three Cliffs Bay, Gower (Wales) The Three Cliffs Bay is in a beautiful part of the country, and it won't cost you much either: a family tent (2 adults, 2 children) is about EUR28 a day. There's a camp shop where you can buy food and drinks, and there are pubs and restaurants nearby so you won't even have to cook. You can water-ski from the beach, or go walking along the Gower Way. For more information please go to www.Threecliffsbay.com. Longitude 131, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park (Australia) Situated in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, near the massive   red rock formerly known as Ayer's Rock, this is more like a hotel than a campsite. There's a restaurant, a pool and even a library. The only problem is that it's a bit expensive -- around EUR1,500 a night. For more information please go to www.Longitude131.com.au. If a couple want to stay in Le Val de Cantobre for two days, they will have to pay about  _  . A) EUR56 B) EUR280 C) EUR160 D) EUR80
C
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There is a lot of misunderstanding about studying. Most students have not been taught the principles behind really effective working. Imagine a graph showing the amount a person learns against the number of hours he works in a day. If he doesn't do any work, he learns nothing (point 0). If he does an hour's work he learns a certain amount (point 1). If he does two hours' work he learns about twice as much (point 2). If he does more work he'll learn still more (point 3). However, if he tries to do twenty-three and a half hours' work in a day, he will be so tired that he'll hardly remember anything: what he learns will be very little (point 4). If he did less work he'd learn more (point 5). Now whatever the exact shape of the graph's curve , made by joining these points, it must have a high point. Point "X" is the very maximum anyone can learn in the day. And this represents the optimum , the best, amount of work to do. It is the best possible compromise between adequate time at the books and fatigue . Fatigue is an absolutely real thing; one can't escape it or ignore it. If you try to ignore it and press yourself to work past the optimum, you will only get on this downward slope and achieve less than the best - and then become very tired and lose your power of concentration. The skill in being a student consists of getting one's daily study as near the optimum point as possible. I cannot tell you what the optimum is. It differs with the type of work, it differs from person to person, and even in the same person it varies from week to week. You must try to find your own. Every day you study, bear this principle of the optimum in mind. When you feel yourself getting fatigued, if you find yourself reading the same paragraph over and over again and not taking it in, that's a pretty good sign you've reached your highest point for the day and should stop. Most ordinary students find their optimum at five hours a day. Yours may be a little more or a little less - but if you get in five hours' good work a day, you... According to the passage,   _  . A) the longer you study every day, the more you will learn B) you'll achieve better learning results if you work three hours every day C) the less work you do, the better you will learn D) your work efficiency will decrease once you exceed a certain point of work

D
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