Each sentence has a mistake. Findit by chosing A B C or D
Our family is a base from which we can go into the world with confidently
Suy nghĩ và trả lời câu hỏi trước khi xem đáp án
Lời giải:
Báo saiĐáp án D
confidently (adv) -> confidence (n);
theo sau giới từ phải là danh từ / cụm danh từ
Câu hỏi liên quan
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Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Deforestation is the clearing, destroying, or otherwise removal of trees through deliberate, natural or accidental means. It can occur in any area densely populated by trees and other plant life, but the majority of it is currently happening in the Amazon rainforest. The loss of trees and other vegetation can cause climate change, desertification, soil erosion, fewer crops, flooding, increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and a host of problems for indigenous people. Deforestation occurs for a number of reasons, including: farming, mostly cattle due to its quick turn around; and logging for materials and development. It has been happening for thousands of years, arguably since man began converting from hunter/gatherer to agricultural based societies, and required larger, unobstructed tracks of land to accommodate cattle, crops, and housing. It was only after the onset of the modern era that it became an epidemic. One of the most dangerous and unsettling effects of deforestation is the loss of animal and plant species due to their loss of habitat; not only do we lose those known to us, but also those unknown, potentially an even greater loss. Seventy percent of Earth’s land animals and plants live in forests, and many cannot survive the deforestation that destroys their homes. The trees of the rainforest that provide shelter for some species also provide the canopy that regulates the temperature, a necessity for many others. Its removal through deforestation would allow a more drastic temperature variation from day to night, much like a desert, which could prove fatal for current inhabitants. In addition to the loss of habitat, the lack of trees also allows a greater amount of greenhouse gases to be released into the atmosphere. Presently, the tropical rainforests of South America are responsible for 20% of Earth’s oxygen and they are disappearing at a rate of 4 hectares a decade. If these rates are not stopped and reversed, the consequences will become even more severe. The trees also help control the level of water in the atmosphere by helping to regulate the water cycle. With fewer trees left, due to deforestation, there is less water in the air to be returned to the soil. In turn, this causes dryer soil and the inability to grow crops, an ironic twist when considered against the fact that 80% of deforestation comes from small-scale agriculture and cattle ranching. Further effects of deforestation include soil erosion and coastal flooding. In addition to their previously mentioned roles, trees also function to retain water and topsoil, which provides the rich nutrients to sustain additional forest life. Without them, the soil erodes and washes away, causing farmers to move on and perpetuate the cycle. The barren land which is left behind in the wake of these unsustainable agricultural practices is then more susceptible to flooding, specifically in coastal regions. Coastal vegetation lessens the impact of waves and winds associated with a storm surge. Without this vegetation, coastal villages are susceptible to damaging floods.
1. What does the passage mainly discuss? -
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The _________ game of the 1994 tournament was played to a television audience of more than 1 million viewers. -
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following questions:
If you were going to choose a job that involves travel, what would be your first choice? There are many jobs available today that give people opportunities to travel. Although may traveling careers sound fantastic, they also have disadvantages.
Being an au pair is an excellent way to not only go to different countries, but to live in different places around the world and really get a feel for the culture. Au pairs lives with the families they are placed with and take of children. Many parents include au pairs in family events and vacations, so they experience many aspects of the new culture while on the job. However, many of the activities are centered around the children, so they may not get to experience many things that interest adults.
For people who want a bit more freedom working abroad, being an English teacher maybe a good choice. There are English teaching jobs in almost countries in the world. People teaching English in other countries often have a chance to travel on the weekends around the country. One drawback is that many teachers often wind up hanging out with other English teachers, and they don’t have time to learn the country’s language.
The nickname “roadie” implies that this job involves life on the road. Roadies are people who work and travel with bands and provide technical support. Roadies can be lighting and stage crew who set up the stage and break it down before and after events. They can also be technicians helping band members with their instruments. International tours take a band’s crew to cities around the world, often requiring air travel. However, the crew doesn’t get much time off, so they may travel to several countries without seeing much besides concert venues and hotels.
Similarly, flight attendants often travel to cities around the world, but they don’t see much besides the inside of airplanes and hotels. However, when they do have time off, they can often fly at no cost, and family member can sometimes fly free as well. Its is widely thought that a flight attendant job is
glamorous, but flight attendants must deal with travel hassles, as well as security issues.
All jobs gave advantages and disadvantages whether or not you travel for work, so if you have the travel bug, keep these jobs in mind for the future.The word “venue” in paragraph 4 is closet meaning to .
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When people marry, they’re usually in love and happy to be tying the (1) ____. But after that, things tend to change. (2) __________ average, couples’ satisfaction with their marriage declines during the first years of marriage and, if the decline is particularly steep, divorce may follow. The course of true love runs downhill. For around 30 years, researchers have studied how having children affects a marriage, and the results are (3) ______: the relationship between spouses suffers once kids come along. Comparing couples with and (4) ______ children, researchers found that the rate of the decline in relationship satisfaction is nearly twice as steep for couples who have children than for childless couples. In the (5) ______ that a pregnancy is unplanned, the parents experience even greater negative impacts on their relationship. The irony is that even as the marital satisfaction of new parents declines, the likelihood of them divorcing also declines. So, having children may make you miserable, but you’ll be miserable together -
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It was a nasty memory. Do you remember both of us wearing sunglasses to avoid ...............by the supervisors? -
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Television/ a tool/ gain/ education/ information. -
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Hardcover and paperback are two types of books and bookbinding processes. A hardcover book is also called a hardback or hardbound. On the other hand, a paperback also goes by the names softback and soft cover. Paperbacks can be further classified as trade paperbacks and mass-market paperbacks. Paperback book, as its name implies, has a soft card or a thick paper cover over the pages. This type of covering is less heavy but prone to folding, bending, and wrinkles with use and over time. Hardcover books are characterized with a thick and rigid covering. This covering allows protection for the pages and makes the book durable and usable for a long time. Oftentimes, a hardcover book has a dust that protects the books from dust and other wear and tear. Some books are even made durable by using leather or calfskin as a book covering. In terms of manufacturing and purchasing books, hardcover books are more expensive due to the materials and processes. Pages of hardcover books are acid-free paper. This type of paper allows preservation of the ink and is ideal for books in use and preserving them for a long time. On the other hand, paperbacks use cheap paper, usually newsprint. The reason for this is to lower production costs and being readily made available for the masses. The paper in a hardcover book is usually stitched together before being glued, stapled, or sewn to the book’s spine. Due to the stitches, a hardcover book can have signatures, a place where the binding threads are visible. Meanwhile, a paperback book’s pages are glued together and glued again to the spine. This makes the pages loose or separated while being in use. Hardcover books are often applied to academic books, references books, commercial, and bestsellers that have enjoyed financial success. Other books in the hardcover version are books of collectible value. Publishers often release a hardcover version of the book to show investment so that they can project a high return of investment. This is a large contrast regarding paperbacks. Paperback books are done for new or succeeding editions, reprinting of books or books with little profit margin. Publishers use the paperback editions to stretch the profit for the book. The first release or first edition of a literary work is purposefully done as a hardcover book followed by paperback versions.
7. The following statements are true, EXCEPT ________ -
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.
The poaching crisis wiping out Africa's elephants is costing the continent's economies millions in lost tourism revenue, according to a new study. Researchers looked at visitor and elephant data across 25 countries, and modeled financial losses from fewer visitors in protected areas due to the illegal wildlife trade, which has caused elephant numbers to plummet by more than 100,000 in the last decade. (A)
The study team combined visitor numbers across 164 protected areas in 25 countries in forest and savannah elephants, and elephant population data from 2009 to 2013, to reach a “per elephant" value in terms of tourism income.
They concluded that Africa was most likely losing $26m in tourism revenue a year. (B) Around $9m of that is lost from tourists' direct spending, such as staying at hotels and buying crafts, with the rest through indirect value in the economy such as farmers and other suppliers supporting the tourist industry.
The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, found that in most cases the revenue losses were higher than paying for stronger anti-poaching measures to keep elephant populations stable. (C) Dr. Robin Naidoo, the paper's lead author and , senior conservation wildlife scientist at WWF and his team found. In the case of central Africa's forest elephants, which are harder for tourists to see and therefore attract fewer visitors, the costs of protecting them exceed the benefits from tourism. Demand from south-east Asia has seen the price of ivory triple since 2009 and it is estimated that one elephant is killed every 15 minutes. (D) Corruption, a lack of resources, and, most importantly, increasingly sophisticated poachers have hamstrung African countries' efforts to stem the trade.
Naidoo said that the research was not suggesting economic issues should be the only consideration when protecting elephants, but framing the poaching crisis as a financial one could motivate African governments and communities.
“It gives an additional reason for some groups of people, who may not necessarily be motivated by intrinsic reasons for conversation, to engage with biodiversity conservation. It makes it clear to them that it's not just in the best interests of the world to conserve this stuff, but tangible reasons for a whole different group," he said.
Which of the positions marked in the passage does the phrase "but the financial argument did not stack up in all areas,” best fit?
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The world is losing languages at an alarming rate. Michael Krauss suggested that of the approximately 6,000 human languages alive today, only 350 to 500 are safe from extinction. Some linguists estimate that a language dies every two weeks or so. At the current rate, by 2100, about 2,500 native languages could disappear. Languages become extinct for many reasons. Through imperialism, colonizers impose their languages on colonies. Some politicians believe multilingualism will fragment national interests. Thus they prohibit education in all but the national language. Another reason for language death is the spread of more powerful languages. In the world today, several languages, including English, are so dominant in commerce, science, and education, that languages with fewer speakers have trouble competing. Although in the past, governments have been one of the primary causes of language death, many have now become champions of preserving endangered languages and have had some significant successes. Two outstanding examples are the revival of Hebrew and Irish. Hebrew was considered a dead language, like Latin, but is now the national language of Israel. Irish was not dead, but severely threatened by English when the government of Ireland began its rescue immediately after the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. All students in public schools must now take some classes in Irish and there are Irish programs in major media, such as television and radio. According to the Irish government, approximately 37% of the population of Ireland now speaks Irish. One of the largest programs to revive languages, Documenting Endangered Languages (DEL), is being conducted by three U.S. government agencies: the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Museum of Natural History. Researchers funded by these agencies are recording interviews with the mostly elderly people who still speak the languages. Analyses of these interviews will help linguists publish dictionaries and grammars of the languages. Eventually, linguists hope to establish language-training programs where younger people can learn the languages, carrying them on into the future. The linguists participating in DEL defend spending millions of dollars to preserve dying languages. They point out that when a language dies, humanity loses all of the knowledge of the world that that culture held. Traditional healers in rural areas have given scientists important leads in finding new medicines; aspirin is an example of these. But one of the most common reasons given by these researchers is that studying languages gives us insight into the radically different way humans organize their world. David Lightfoot, an official at the National Science foundation, gives the example of Guguyimadjir, and Australian aboriginal language, in which there are no words for “right” or left,” only for “north,” “south,” “east,” and “west.” Many researchers are optimistic that the efforts to save dying languages will succeed, at least in part. Bruce L. Cole, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, said, “Not only is this a time of great potential loss, it is also a moment for enormous potential gain. In this modern age of computers and our growing technological capabilities, we can preserve, assemble, analyze, and understand unprecedented riches of linguistic and cultural information.”
7. David Lightfoot gives the example of Guguyimadjir in order to ______ -
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Most of the viewers imagine that the presenter does little (1)______arrive at the studio a few minutes before the broadcast, read the weather, and then go home. In fact, this image is far from the truth. The two-minute (2) ____ which we all rely on when we need to know tomorrow’s weather is the result of a hard day’s work by the presenter, who is actually a highly-qualified (3)_______. Every morning, after a weather forecaster arrives at the TV studios, his/her first task of the day is to collect the latest data from the National Meteorological Office. The information is very detailed and includes predictions, satellite and radar pictures, as well as more technical data. After gathering all the relevant material from this office, the forecaster has to (4)________ the scientific terminology and maps into images and words which viewers can easily understand. The final broadcast is then carefully planned. The presenter decides what to say and in what order to say it. Next a “story board” is drawn up which lays out the script word for word. The time allocated for each broadcast can also alter. This is because the weather report is screened after the news, (5)__________ can vary in length. The weather forecaster doesn’t always know how much time is available, which means that he/she has to be thoroughly prepared so that the material can be adapted to the time available -
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The town of Chichen-Itza was established during the Classic period close to two natural cavities (cenotes or chenes), which gave the town its name “At the edge of the well of the Itzaes”. The cenotes facilitated tapping the underground waters of the area. The dates for this settlement vary according to subsequent local accounts: one manuscript gives 415-35 A.D., while others mention 455 A.D. The town that grew up around the sector known as Chichen Viejo already boasted important monuments of great interest: the Nunnery, the Church, Akab Dzib, Chichan Chob, the Temple of the Panels and the Temple of the Deer. They were constructed between the 6th and the 10th centuries in the characteristic Maya style then popular both in the northern and southern areas of the Puuc hills. The second settlement of Chichen-Itza, and the most important for historians, corresponded to the migration of Toltec warriors from the Mexican plateau towards the south during the 10th century. According to the most common version, the King of Tula, Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl, or Kukulkan as the Maya translated the name, reportedly took the city between 967 A.D. and 987 A.D. Following the conquest of Yucatán a new style blending the Maya and Toltec traditions developed, symbolizing the phenomenon of acculturation. Chichen-Itza is a clear illustration of this fusion. Specific examples are, in the group of buildings to the south, the Caracol, a circular stellar observatory whose spiral staircase accounts for its name, and, to the north, El Castillo. Surrounding El Castillo are terraces where the major monumental complexes were built: on the north-west are the Great Ball Court, Tzompantli or the Skull Wall, the temple known as the Jaguar Temple, and the House of Eagles; on the north-east are the Temple of the Warriors, the Group of the Thousand Columns, the Market and the Great Ball Court; on the south-west is the Tomb of the High Priest. After the 13th century no major monuments seem to have been constructed at Chichen-Itza and the city rapidly declined after around 1440 A.D. From its abandonment during the 15th century, Chichen-Itza underwent a process of gradual deterioration until the first excavations at the site began more than a century ago. Nevertheless, the excellent materials and building techniques used by the Maya in the construction of the buildings secured that the architectonic, sculptural and pictorial essence of Chichen-Itza would be conserved through the centuries
8. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage? -
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Stories about how people (1)__________ know when they are being watched have been going around for years. However, few made have been made to investigate the phenomenon scientifically. Now, with the completion of the largest ever study of the socalled staring effect, there is impressive evidence that this is a recognizable and (2) _______ sixth sense. The study involved hundreds of children. For the experiments, they sat with their eyes covered and with their backs to other children, who were told to either stare at them or look away. The results consistently showed that the children who could not see were able to (3) _______ when they were being stared at. In a total of 18,000 trials carried out worldwide, the children correctly sensed when they were being watched almost 70% of the time. The experiment was repeated with the added precaution of putting the children who were being watched outside the room, (4) _______ from the starters by the windows. The results, though less impressive, were more or less the same. Dr. Sheldrake, the biologist who designed the study, believes that the results are (5) _______ enough to find out through further experiments precisely how the staring effect might actually come about -
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The era of “smart cities”, controlled by an ecosystem of sensors, cameras and algorithms, is fast approaching. In China, state media claim 500 are under construction. In Canada, Alphabet has plans for turning parts of Toronto into a timber-framed tech town as a prototype. Incremental steps are also making cities smarter. Last week, Transport for London announced plans to track Tube passengers through WiFi to monitor congestion. In the US, fast-food drive-throughs will trial number plates scanners to make ordering faster. Individually these services can improve daily life. Integrating them will create something more powerful than the sum of its parts. Though convenience and safety are the end goals, serious questions about how city authorities will both store and share vast bodies of data must be answered. The fact that surveillance is built into key transport infrastructure will also make it increasingly difficult to avoid without disrupting daily life. The smart city risks creating a panopticon in the name of an easier and better life. The risks of anonymity disappearing will be increased by the use of different data sets, making it more likely that identifiable characteristics may appear. Closely linked to this is the question of data storage and sharing. The treasure trove of personal information will be a tempting target for hackers. This information might also be used by law enforcement, feeding into the existing dangers of mass surveillance and profiling, as is already the case in China. These concerns have long been levelled at social media and internet-enabled home appliances. Smart city surveillance can be even more insidious. Users can avoid Facebook or hardware such as Alexa. Avoiding basic infrastructure will be near impossible without seriously affecting day-to-day life. TfL has put up signs warning customers of the WiFi tracking, yet the only choice is between tracking and having no signal. Reports on the facial recognition at airports in America suggest that avoiding being automatically scanned will be tough as well. As these systems become more closely enmeshed, avoiding snooping will become increasingly tricky. The inevitable rise of smart cities is not inherently negative. Harnessing the power of technology and data can potentially help urban environments adapt to challenges such as climate change and overcrowding. Politicians, programmers and academics must work to ensure that does not come at the cost of all-seeing, 24-hour surveillance.
6. The word “Harnessing” in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to _______ -
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The idea of life in (1) ____________ space has been talked about for a long time. Some scientists say that life development on Earth was far too unlikely for it to have happened anywhere else. Things had to be perfect for us to make it on this planet. Other scientists say that space is too big. Stars and other planets are far too numerous for there to be no other life in the universe. For many years, there have been reports of visitors from other planets. People all around the world have claimed to see alien spaceships or even aliens themselves. There have been (2)________of these so-called UFOs (unidentified flying objects) flying through the air and they have even been captured on video. Some Americans believe that the U.S. Army found an alien spaceship crashed in the desert and then lied to the press about it. (3)________these sightings may be true, scientists have not found significant evidence that aliens exist. If you go out into the countryside on a clear night and look up, you can see thousands of stars. Those stars (4)_____a tiny part of our unniverse. There are more stars, planets, and galaxies than we can count. Even the smartest scientists can’t even come close to defining how big space is. The number of possible stars and planets out there is bigger than our ability to count. If we are really on the only planet that can (5)_________life, then we are very special in a universe full of amazing things -
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While light at night can be beneficial, neutral, or damaging for individual species, its presence invariably disturbs ecosystems. For example, some species of spiders avoid lit areas, while other species are happy to build their spider web directly on a lamp post. Since lamp posts attract many flying insects, the spiders that don’t mind light gain an advantage over the spiders that avoid it. Light pollution poses a serious threat in particular to nocturnal wildlife, having negative impacts on plant and animal physiology. It can confuse animal navigation, alter competitive interactions, change predator-prey relations, and cause physiological harm. The rhythm of life is orchestrated by the natural patterns of light and dark, so disruption to these patterns impacts the ecological dynamics. Studies suggest that light pollution around lakes prevents zooplankton, such as Daphnia, from eating surface algae, causing algal blooms that can kill off the lakes’ plants and lower water quality. Light pollution may also affect ecosystems in other ways. For example, scientists have documented that night time light may interfere with the ability of moths and other nocturnal insects to navigate. Night-blooming flowers that depend on moths for pollination may be affected by night lighting, as there is no replacement pollinator that would not be affected by the artificial light. This can lead to species decline of plants that are unable to reproduce, and change an area’s long term ecology. Reducing light pollution implies many things, such as reducing sky glow, reducing glare, reducing light trespass, and reducing clutter. The method for best reducing light pollution, therefore, depends on exactly what the problem is in any given instance. Adjusting the type of lights used, so that the light waves emitted are those that are likely to cause severe light pollution problems
1. This passage is mainly about ________________ -
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Urban development is having a direct impact on the weather in (1) ______ cities worldwide. It has been noticed that the difference in temperature is usually greater at night and the phenomenon occurs in both winter and summer. Experts agree that this is due to urban development, when open green spaces are replaced with asphalt roads and tall brick or concrete buildings. These materials retain heat generated by the Sun and release it through the night. In Atlanta, in the US, this has even led to thunderstorms (22) ______ occur in the morning rather than, as is more common, in the afternoon. Large cities around the world are adopting strategies to combat this issue, (3) ______ it is not uncommon to find plants growing on top of roofs or down the walls of large buildings. In Singapore, the government has (4) ______ to transform it into a "city within a garden" and, in 2006, they held an international competition calling for entries to develop a master plan to help bring this about. One outcome was the creation of 18 "Supertrees" – metal constructions resembling very tall trees. Each one is a vertical freestanding garden and is (5) ______ to exotic plants and ferns. They also contain solar panels used to light the trees at night and also containers to collect rainwater, making them truly self-sufficient -
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New data from Akamai, an internet delivery and cloud services company, has exposed that the video game industry remains a growing threat vector for security breaches. Hackers have targeted 12 billion credential stuffing attacks against game websites within a 17-month period The rise and success of credential stuffing attacks is a result of people continuing to reuse the same passwords across multiple accounts. Google identified that 59% of online users reuse passwords. When a data breach happens, user credentials are exposed and can subsequently be found on the internet and the dark web. Cybercriminals use a bot with a list of exposed credentials against a website to gain access to an account on that site. The reason that gaming is subject to so many breaches is twofold; No. 1, most video game companies use low-friction authentication measures because increasing friction drives customer attrition and results in a loss of revenue. The second issue is that from a consumer perspective, gaming is seen as having a low financial risk and, as a result, gamers tend to use less secure passwords. Adding to these challenges is the fact that game developers are pressured to deliver more products at a faster pace, meaning there are more bugs and security issues for cybercriminals to exploit. This has created a perfect storm in the video game industry upon which hackers are all too eager to capitalize. A significant number of gamers are young — elementary, middle, and high schoolaged — who are less security-conscious and more trusting of people they meet online. To them, privacy is a learned behavior leaving them open to exploitation. They may need to be taught best practices to safeguard their accounts and understand the risks of using weak passwords linked to the games they play. Providing a seamless online experience is paramount in the digital age and, as a result, many organizations balk at implementing robust security procedures for fear of alienating customers. The challenge for the video game industry is to find a balance between increased security without frustrating its players. One notable exception is Microsoft, which has deployed vigorous security measures with Xbox in line with the rest of its business. Without a fundamental change in approach from both gamers and the industry overall, the escalation of this problem shows no signs of slowing down.
3. According to paragraph 2, what is the probable use the hackers have for the acquired accounts? -
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We’re all born with a passion for learning that for many of us sadly fades over time. A mindset of continuous learning best positions us for an ever-evolving future. Dr. Carol Dweck, a psychologist and Stanford professor, distinguishes between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. In a fixed mindset, people believe that their basic qualities, like intelligence or talent, are fixed traits. They believe that talent alone, without effort, creates success. They believe that they are “smart” or “dumb” and that there is no way to change. No matter how hard they work at something, a ceiling prevents them from getting better. In a growth mindset, people believe that their basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work. Brains and talent are a starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishments. The sky is the limit. It’s not about proving yourself, it’s about improving yourself. “Future Shock” author Alvin Toffler once said, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.” Learning and relearning can be fun. Unlearning is hard. It’s hard discarding old thinking, protocols, treatment plans, business practices and communication styles. But that hard work is necessary to progress and grow as people and professionals. Unlearning is particularly difficult for adults; kids are good at it. Our thinking becomes more rigid as we age. How difficult was it for medical professionals of the past to unlearn bloodletting, lobotomies, arsenic and mercury treatments, urine for teeth whitening, shock therapy, and heroin for children’s coughs? All were considered contemporary medicine in our great-grandparents’ day. The importance of learning, unlearning and relearning has never been more important than in today’s rapidly changing workplace
4. The word “it” in paragraph 3 refers to ______ -
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Andrew Jackson Beard lived an extraordinary life for a black American inventor. Unlike the vast majority of inventors who never profit from their patents, he profited from his inventions. Andrew Beard was born a slave on a plantation in Woodland, Alabama, in 1849, shortly before slavery ended. He received emancipation at age 15 and he married at age 16. Andrew Beard was a farmer, carpenter, blacksmith, a railroad worker, a businessman and finally an inventor. He grew apples as a farmer near Birmingham, Alabama for five years before he built and operated a flour mill in Hardwicks, Alabama. His work in agriculture led to tinkering with improvement for plows. In 1881, he patented his first invention, an improvement to the double plow, and sold the patent rights for $4,000 in 1884. His design allowed for the distance between the plow plates to be adjusted. That amount of money would be the equivalent of almost $100,000 today. In 1887, Andrew Beard patented a second plow and sold it for $5,200. This patent was for a design that allowed the pitch of the blades of plows or cultivators to be adjusted. The amount he received would be the equivalent of about $130,000 today. In 1897, Andrew Beard patented an improvement to railroad car couplers. His improvement came to be called the Jenny Coupler. It was one of many that aimed to improve the knuckle coupler patented by Eli Janney in 1873 (patent US138405). The knuckle coupler did the dangerous job of hooking railroad cars together, which formerly was done by manually placing a pin in a link between the two cars. Beard, himself had lost a leg in a car coupling accident. As an ex-railroad worker, Andrew Beard had the right idea that probably saved countless lives and limbs. Beard received three patents for automatic car couplers. These are US594059 granted November 23, 1897, US624901 granted May 16, 1899, and US807430 granted on May 16, 1904. While there were thousands of patents filed at the time for car couplers, Andrew Beard received $50,000 for the patent rights to his Jenny coupler. This would be just shy of 1.5 million dollars today. Congress enacted the Federal Safety Appliance Act at that time to enforce using automatic couplers. Andrew Jackson Beard was inducted into the National
Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006 in recognition of his revolutionary Jenny coupler
6. Which of the following statements is TRUE, according to the passage? -
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Taking piano lessons and solving math puzzles on a computer significantly improve specific math skills of elementary schoolchildren, according to a new study. The results, (1)______ were published in the journal Neurological Research, are the latest in a series that links musical training to the development of higher brain functions. Researchers worked with 135 second-grade students at a school in Los Angeles after (2)______ a pilot study with 102 students. Children that were given four months of piano training as well as time playing (3)______ newly designed computer software scored 27 percent higher on math and fraction tests than other children. Piano instruction is thought to enhance the brain's "hard wiring" for spatial-temporal reasoning, or the ability to visualise and transform objects in space and time, says Professor Gordon Shaw, who led the study. At the same time, the computer game allows children to solve geometric and math puzzles that boost their ability to (4)______ shapes in their mind. The findings are significant (5)______ a grasp of proportional math and fractions is a prerequisite to math at higher levels, and children who do not master these areas of math cannot understand more advanced math that is critical to high-tech fields.