Question: Where do most writers get their ideas? For Yoshiko Uchida, it all began with Brownie, a five-month-old puppy. So excited was Yoshiko by Brownie's arrival that she started keeping a journal, writing about all the wonderful things Brownie did and the progress he made. Soon she was writing about other memorable events in her life, too, like the day her family got their first refrigerator. She also began writing stories, thanks to one of her teachers. Yoshiko wrote stories about animal characters such as Jimmy Chipmunk and Willie the Squirrel. She kept on writing, sharing the kitchen table with her mother, who wrote poems on scraps of paper and the backs of envelopes. Yoshiko grew up in the 1930s in Berkeley, California. Her parents, both of whom had been born in Japan, provided a loving and happy home for Yoshiko and her sister. They also provided a stream of visitors to their home who later found their way into Yoshiko's stories. One visitor who later appeared in several of Yoshiko's stories was the bad-tempered Mr. Toga, who lived above the church that her family attended. Mr. Toga would scold anyone who displeased him. The children all feared him and loved to tell stories about how mean he was and how his false teeth rattled   when he talked. Yoshiko also included in her stories some of the places she visited and the experiences she had. One of her favorite places was a farm her parents took her to one summer. The owners of the farm, showed Yoshiko and her sister how to pump water from the well and how to gather eggs in the henhouse. They fed the mules that later pulled a wagon loaded with hay while Yoshiko and the others rode in the back, staring up at the stars shining in the night sky. Yoshiko, who lived in the city, had never seen such a sight. As Yoshiko gazed up at the stars, she was filled with hope and excitement about her life. The images of that hayride stayed with her long after the summer visit ended, and she used them in several of her stories. The experiences Yoshiko had and the parade of people... What is the main idea of this story? A) People who live in the city should spend as much time as they can in the country. B) Writers like Yoshiko Uchida must communicate with as many writers as possible. C) Those who move to the United States often miss their homelands for many years. D) Writers like Yoshiko Uchida look to the richness of their lives for material.
Answer: D

Question: Bigger-brained birds survive better than their feathered friends with smaller brains, according to a study published on Tuesday. Scientists have suspected that birds with large brains in relation to their body size lived longer because they were able to adapt their behavior to environmental challenges. Now they have provided evidence that it does. "We have tested the hypothesis  that the brain can buffer  animals against the environment and help them to survive when they face environmental challenges," said Daniel Sol of the Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications in Barcelona, Spain. After comparing death rates, brain size and body mass of 236 species of birds from different regions of the world, Sol and scientists in Britain, Hungary and Canada discovered that the bigger the brain the better. Crows and parrots have the largest brains, while pheasants   have a relatively small brain. Earlier studies have shown there is a relationship between the size of the brain and an animal's capacity to create new behavior and adapt more easily. "The idea is that if you have a big brain, you are more capable of adjusting behavior and responding to environmental changes. This can help you to survive," said Sol, who reported the finding in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. Tamas Szekely of the University of Bath in England and a co-author of the report, said birds were ideal to test the hypothesis because they are the only species in which brain size and behavioral response to environmental challenges such as climate and habitat destruction is understood. The finding of bird's brains recently refers to   _  . A) the smaller brain the birds have, the longer they live B) the smaller brain the birds have, the cleverer they are C) the bigger brain the birds have, the larger their bodies are D) the bigger brain the birds have, the abler they are to deal with environment
Answer: D

Question: The doctor handed me my medicine and said sorry to me because his register   had already closed. He asked if I would mind using the register at the front of the store. I told him not to worry and walked up front. One person was in line ahead of me, a little girl no more than seven with a bottle of medicine on the counter  . She held a little green and white coin purse closely to her chest  . The purse reminded me of the days when, as a child, I liked dressing myself up in my grandma's clothes. One day, wearing her large clothes and hat, I went out to buy something. I gave a fake  dollar to the shop owner, but he handed back some real coins for my purse. "Keep the change!" he told me with a smile. Now, with both hands shaking, the little girl pulled out a dollar bill and some coins for her medicine. As she tried to count her money, I could see right away that she was about a dollar short. Quickly, I put a dollar bill onto the counter. The child collected her change into her coin purse and ran out. As I walked to my car, I felt a tug  on my shirt. There was the girl, looking up at me with her big brown eyes. She gave me a smile, and put out her little hand. It was full of coins. "Thank you," she said. "That's OK," I answered, smiling. "Just keep the change!" The writer helped the girl because   _  . A) the girl had no money B) the girl wanted to use some fake money C) the girl made the writer think of her own childhood D) the writer was very rich
Answer:
C