We are surrounded by mixed messages about mistakes: we're told we earn by making them, but we work hard to avoid them. So the result is that most of us know that we are going to make mistakes, but deep down, we feel we shouldn't. Experiments with schoolchildren who did well on a given test show that those who were praised for being smart and then offered a more challenging or less challenging task afterward usually chose the easier one. On the other hand, children praised for trying hard-rather than being smart-far more often selected the more difficult task. If we try hard to avoid mistakes, we aren't open to getting the information we need in order to do better. In a writing study, experiments showed that those who are so scared to make mistakes perform worse in writing tasks than those who aren't as worried about being perfect. They fear receiving any kind of negative feedback, so they don't learn where they went wrong and how to get better. We don't just learn more when we're open to mistakes, we learn deeper. Research tells us that if we're only concerned about getting the right answer, we don't always learn the underlying concepts that help us truly understand whatever we're trying to figure out. Mistakes need to be seen not as a failure to learn, but as a guide to what still needs to be learned. As Thomas Edison said, "I am not discouraged, because every abandoned wrong attempt is another step forward. " Furthermore, we often make mistakes because we try new things-we wander away from accepted paths. Teflon, penicillin-these are examples of great discoveries made by mistake. Take a page from Albert Einstein, who said, "Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new. " What will happen to students praised for being smart in face of choosing tasks compared to students praised for working hard? A) He will choose a less challenging task. B) He will hide his mistakes from his teachers. C) He will work harder to avoid mistakes. D) He will ask his teachers for advice.
A


(Question)
The first summer job is often a signal that you are on your way to adulthood, and it is also a method for earning money to pay for what you dream of. It is never too early to start considering the future. Now, here are some good choices for you! Retail  Sales Retail offers plenty of opportunity for teens who are looking for a job. This type of work can pay from $10 to $15 an hour depending on the duty you are expected to take on. It can also be great for teens who are friendly and enjoy talking to other people. For more information, call us at 111-222-3333. Food Service A job in the food service industry is a natural fit for sociable teens who enjoy communicating with public. It allows employees to work as part of a team while learning about following instructions. It also comes with the opportunity to earn between $8 and $10 per hour. Just call 111-222-3533 for more information. Babysitter This job requires someone who is highly responsible. Though it pays generally between $6 and $8 hourly, it also requires a lot of patience. This is a great choice for teens who wish to make a career in teaching, child care, social work or any other field that makes use of social skills or requires interaction with kids. Got a question? Just call 111-222-3336. Housekeeping This type of work can bring in about $5 an hour and it will allow teens to learn responsibility and develop their organizational skills. The summer sees _ in the tourism industry, so hotels are often looking for more housekeeping staff, and parks often need more people to assist with keeping public areas clean and organized as well. Telephone: 111-222-3330. Which of the following jobs may attract teens who want to be a teacher? A) Retail Sales B) Food Service C) Babysitter D) Housekeeping
(Answer)
C


Ques: My Best Enemy Once again, I was in a new school. So was a girl in my class named Lisa. That's where the similarities ended. I was tall and she was small. My thick black hair had been recently cut short into an untidy style. Her natural blonde hair flowed to her waist and looked great. I was 12 and one of the oldest in the class while she was 11 and the youngest. I was awkward and shy. She wasn't. I couldn't stand her, considering her my enemy. But she liked me and wanted to be friends. One day, she invited me over and I said yes--I was too shocked to answer any other way. My family had moved six times in six years, and I had never managed to develop any friendships. But this girl who wore the latest fashions wanted me to go home with her after school. She lived in a fun part of town that had two pizza places, an all-night bookstore, a movie theater and a park. As we walked from the school bus stop through her neighborhood, I tried to guess which house might be hers. Was it the white one with the perfect lawn or the three-story house with a front porch? I got very surprised when she led me into an old apartment building. She lived on the fourth floor in a two-room place with her mother,her stepfather, her two brothers and her sister. When we got into the room she shared with her sister, she took out a big case of Babies, which was my next surprise. I had never played with them. We sat on the floor,laughing as we made up crazy stories about the Babies. We found out that we both wanted to be writers when we were older and both had wild imaginations. We had a great day that afternoon. Lisa was loved by the whole neighborhood. The bookstore owners lent her fashion magazines; the movie theater gave her free tickets... Soon I was included in her magic world. We slept over at each other's houses and spent every free moment together. Lisa, my first real friend since childhood, helped me get through the rough year of early adolescence  and taught me an amazing and very surprising thing about making friends: that your... One day Lisa invited the writer  _   . A) to go to her home B) to go to the movie C) to go to a park D) to go to a pizza place
Ans: A


Ques:Are we getting more stupid? According to Gerald Crabtree, a scientist at Stanford University in the US, we are. You may not want to hear this, but Crabtree believes that human intelligence reached its peak more than 2,000 years ago and ever since then has been going downhill. "If an average Greek from 1,000 BC were transported to modern times, he or she would be one of the brightest among us," Crabtree told The Guardian. At the heart of Crabtree's thinking is a simple idea. In the past, intelligence was critical for survival when our ancestors had to avoid dangerous animals and hunt for food. The difference of being smart or stupid is often life or death. However, after the spread of agriculture, when our ancestors began to live in dense farming communities, the need to keep their intelligence in peak condition gradually reduced. This is not hard to understand. Most of the time, pressure is what keeps us going - you need the pressure from your teachers to finish your homework; the pressure of looking pretty prompts  you to lose weight when summer comes. And the same is also true of our intelligence - if we think less, we become less smart. These mutations  are harmful to our intelligence and they were all developed in the past 3,000 years. The other evidence that Crabtree holds is in our genes. He found that among the 2,000 to 5,000 genes that we have that determine human intelligence , there are two or more mutations in each of us. However, Crabtree's theory has been criticized by some who say that early humans may have better hunting and surviving abilities, but people today have developed a more diverse intelligence. For example, spearing a tiger doesn't necessarily require more brainpower than playing chess or writing a poem. Moreover, the power of modern education means a lot more people have the opportunity to learn nowadays. "You wouldn't get Stephen Hawking 2,000 years ago. He just wouldn't exist," Thomas Hills of the University of Warwick, UK, told Live Science. "But now we have people of his... What is Thomas Hills' attitude toward Crabtree's theory? A) Supportive B) Unfavorable C) Worried D) Confused

Ans:
B