(Question)
What are the most popular courses at Harvard University, US?    Unsurprisingly, Intro to Economics and Intro to Computer Science claim the top two spots. But what about Classical Chinese Ethical and Political Theory (<<>> ), a course focused on ancient Chinese philosophers   and their theories? As the third most popular course, it has drawn so many students that Harvard had to move the class to its Sanders Theater, the biggest lecture hall on campus.    According to The Atlantic, Professor Michael Puett requires his students to read original texts Such as Confucius' Analects (<<>>) and the Mencius (<<>>). But doesn't that make the class boring ?Not at all, says The Atlantic: "It' s clear that students are attracted by Puett's promise: This course will change your life."    Puett introduce his students not just to a completely different culture worldview. More importantly , he puts Chinese thought "in the context   of contemporary  American life to help 18 and 19-year-olds figure out how to be good human beings and become successful people". Puett told The Atlantic that nowadays , more students are pressured to think big and achieve individual excellence. They usually direct all of their courses, and even their activities after class, towards practical career goals.  www.ks5u.com   However, Puett believed that being calculating  about one's plans is the wrong way to make any sort of important life decision."The Chinese philosophers would say that this strategy  makes it harder to remain open to other possibilities," he explained to The Atlantic."Students who do this are not paying enough attention to the daily things that actually inspire them."Our smallest actions ,said Chinese philosophers, have ripple effect .To really change our lives for the better, we have to start with mundane things."Holding open the door for someone or smiling at the grocery clerk  can change the course of the day by affecting how we feel," said Puett."Paying attention to small clues can change everything that we can become as human beings." What are the things that students can learn in Professor Michael Puett's course? A) How to be a better person. B) The culture of ancient China. C) How to make their big dreams come true. D) A complete introduction to Confucius and Mencius.
(Answer)
A


(Question)
History is rich with 'eureka' moments: scientists from Archimedes to Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein are said to have had flashes of inspiration while thinking about other things. But the mechanisms  behind this psychological phenomenon have remained unclear. A study now suggests that simply taking a break does not bring on inspiration -- rather, creativity is fostered by tasks that allow the mind to wander. The discovery was made by a team led by Benjamin Baird and Jonathan Schooler, psychologists at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The researchers presented 145 undergraduate students with two 'unusual uses' tasks that gave them two minutes to list as many uses as possible for everyday objects such as toothpicks, clothes hangers and bricks. After the two minutes were over, participants were given a 12-minute break, during which they rested, undertook a demanding memory activity that required their full attention or engaged in an undemanding reaction-time activity known to elicit mind-wandering. A fourth group of students had no break. All participants were then given four unusual-uses tasks, including the two that they had completed earlier. Those students who had done the undemanding activity performed an average of 41% better at the repeated tasks the second time they tried them. By contrast, students in the other three groups showed no improvement. "We've traditionally found that rapid-eye-movement sleep grants creative insight. That allowing the mind to wander does the same is absolutely fascinating. I think they are on to something really interesting here, " says Sara Mednick, a psychologist at the University of California, Riverside. Participants who engaged in the undemanding task did not do any better than others on unusual-uses tasks that they encountered for the first time in the second round. "The implication   is that mind-wandering was only helpful for problems that were already being mentally chewed on. It didn't seem to lead to a general increase in creative problem-solving... The word "zone out"in italics is the nearest in meaning to   _  . A) dream while sleeping B) die away in a secret way C) get the solution suddenly D) be unable to think clearly
(Answer)
D


(Question)
When many people are worried that there are no more heroes in the modern times, two university students who lost their lives to rescue drowning children have shown that heroes still exist. According to the Inner Mongolia Morning Post, the tragedy   on the afternoon of December 14, 2002 when three school students skating on a frozen lake in Qingcheng Park in Hohhot fell through the ice into the freezing water. More than 20 university students who happened to be near the place where it happened immediately went to the rescue of the children. Two children were quickly rescued, but the third died. The child's body was not found for three hours. Two of the rescuers, Liu Ye and Hao Longbiao, also died of cold and tiredness. The body of Hao who took the lead in jumping into the lake was not found until the next day. A student who was unwilling to tell his name said he and his classmates from the local college were taking photos at the lake. When they heard the children's cries for help, they went to the ice hole hand in hand to rescue the children. But the ice kept breaking, causing most of them to fall into the icy water. Local people held mourning ceremonies   at the lake. Eight of the students were seriously affected by the freezing water and were being kept in hospital for further observation  , but their lives were no longer in danger. The author wrote the passage to    _   . A) warn people of the danger of skating on ice B) ask people to learn from the brave university students C) tell us a tragedy D) advise university students to cherish   their lives
(Answer)

B