AUTHOR RELATED QUESTIONS

Text 1

Over this decade, employment in jobs requiring education beyond a high school diploma will grow
more rapidly than employment in jobs that do not; of the 30 fastest growing occupations, more than half
require post-secondary education. With the average earnings of college graduates at a level that is twice as
high as that of workers with only a high school diploma, higher education is now the clearest (4) ... Into the
middle class.

In higher education, the U.S. has been outpaced internationally. While the United States ranks
ninth in the world in the proportion of young adults enrolled in college, we have fallen to 16th in the world
in our share of certificates and degrees awarded to adults ages 25-34 — lagging behind Korea, Canada.
Japan and other nations. While more than half of college students graduate within six years, the (5) ... For
low-income students is around 25 percent. Acknowledging these factors early in his administration,
President Obama challenged every American to commit to at least one year of higher education or post-
secondary training.
(6) ... That America would once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by
2020.

1. The opinion that best completes (4) is ...

(A) Effort 3. The opinion that best completes (6) is ...
(B) Position (A) Americans will deserve higher
(C) Beginning education for their future
(D) Advantage (B) Middle class Americans are invited to
(E) Pathway provide financial aids
(C) American students are suggested to
2. The opinion that best completes (5) is ... take entrepreneurial skill
(A) Learning achievement (D) The President has set up a new
(B) Academic capacity educational goal for the country
(C) Completion rate (E) The government recommends
(D) Logical understanding Americans for college education
(E) Intellectual development
Text 2

From birth, infants naturally show a preference for human contact and interaction, including faces
and voices. These basic predispositions to social stimuli are altered in individuals diagnosed with Autism
Spectrum Disorders (ASD). A new study conducted by researchers at the Yale University School of
Medicine now reports that 6-moth-old infants later diagnosed with autism divert their gaze from facial
features when that face is speaking. One of the best methods to examine autism in very young infants is
the use of eye tracking. This technology uses advanced video monitoring and special software that tracks
and “maps‟ exactly where the eyes are focused and for how long. Dr. Frederick Shic and his colleagues
used this method to examine how 6-month-old infants looked at videos of still, smiling, and speaking faces.
The infants were later assessed at 3 years of age and divided into groups based on their diagnosis of ASD,
other developmental delays, or typical development. Infants who later developed ASD not only looked at
all faces less than other infants, but also, when shown a face that was speaking, looked away from key
facial features such as the eyes and mouth.

"These results suggest that the presence of speech disrupts typical attentional processing of faces
in those infants later diagnosed with ASD," said Shic." This is the first study to isolate an atypical response
to speech as a specific characteristicin the first half year after birth that is associated with later emerging
ASD.” These findings indicate that infants who later develop ASD have difficulty maintaining attention to
relevant social information as early as 6 months of age, a phenomenon that could reduce the quality of
their
social and communicative exchanges with others and, consequently, the trajectory of their social
development.

Autism typically can't be diagnosed until at least two years of age, but this and other studies
confirm that abnormalities in behavior and attention can be detected as early as 6 months of age. “It seems
clear that brain changes related to autism appear much earlier than we traditionally diagnose this
disorder,” commented Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry. “This study elegantly illustrates
that autism- related disturbances in social relatedness are present very early in life, shaping one’s most
fundamental social contacts.”

These affected infants may be experiencing an altered social experience at a critical

developmental point. The hope is that this and further research can help clarify how and when the
developmental trajectory is altered in children who develop autism and potentially, develop targeted
interventions that could normalize their developmental processes.

4. The author’s purpose in writing this article

is to …. 7. It can be inferred from the passage that
(A) Compare typical children and the research ….
children that develop autism at early (A) Succeeded in revealing new
age. important information about autism
(B) Illustrate the advanced research in diagnosis
psychiatry due to modern technology (B) Managed to discover the reasons
(C) Argue that autistic infants should autism causes changes in children‟s
receive special treatment from their brains
family (C) Found why autism at an early stage
(D) Explain that autism can be detected was easier to detect than at later
early by using an eye-tracking test on stage
infants. (D) Convinced parents to send their 6-
(E) Inform that infants with autism have month-old babies to get eye-tracking
difficulties in identifying people‟s test
intentions (E) Required many years of observation
and collaboration with various
5. According to the text, infants with ASD .... researchers
(A) Gazed at faces more frequently than
typical infants 8. According to the text, which of the
(B) Stared at all faces without noticing following is not expected from research
their key features on autism?
(C) Were more attracted to smiling faces (A) Shed light on how autistic children
than speaking faces have different developmental
(D) Avoided looking at main facial processes
features of speaking faces (B) Design involvement plan for children
(E) Diverted their gaze from speaking with autism to normalize their
faces and smiling faces progress
(C) Explain the time children with
6. The underlined word “atypical” in autism develop differently from
paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to …. typical children
(A) Illegal (D) Come up with solutions how to
(B) Unusual return autistic children‟s
(C) Important development to normal
(D) Irregular
(E) Impossible
 (E) Clarify the effects of autism on
children and their relationships with
the parents.

Text 3

According to their findings, published this week in the journal Nature, the Clovis people are direct
ancestors of many Native Americans now living in North America. And can be linked to many native
peoples in Central and South America as well.‟

9. What does the author mean by writing

(C) The author means that the Clovis
that the Clovis can be linked to many
people used the same technology as
native peoples in Central and South
many native peoples in Central and
America?
South America.
(A) The author means that many native
(D) The author means that the Clovis
peoples in Central and South America
people got along well with many
could communicate with the Clovis
native peoples in Central and South
people.
America.
(B) The author means that many native
(E) The author means that the Clovis
peoples in Central and South America
people went to war with many native
are related to the Clovis people.
peoples in Central South America.

Text 4

Electronic cigarettes: Are they safer than tobacco? Or are they a high-tech way to hook a new
generation on a bad nicotine habit? Research into the effect of e-cigarettes lags behind their popularity.
But ready or not, the era of e-cigarette is here. It‟s a booming, billion-dollar industry - on track to outsell
tobacco products within a decade. The number of teens and tweenagers (children between the ages of
about 10 and 14) using these products doubled between 2011 and 2012.

10. What does the passage say about the

(C) It‟s a booming, billion-dollar industry
effects of e-cigarettes? The passage …
- on track to outsell tobacco products
(A) Says that the effects are popular.
within a decade.
(B) Says that the research of the effect of
(D) The number of teens and tweenagers
e-cigarettes is still insufficient
(children between the ages of about
(C) Says that the effects are good for
10 and 14) using these products
teens and teenagers.
doubled between 2011 and 2012.
(D) Says that the effects are high-tech.
(E) Nothing.
(E) Provides no information about the
effects.
12. Which one is TRUE according to the text?
(A) Electronic cigarettes are safer than
11. From the passage above, which sentence
tobacco.
is a prediction?
(B) E-cigarette effects are unpopular.
(A) Electronic cigarettes: Are they safer
(C) The number of people using e-cigarettes
than tobacco? Or are they a high-tech
has double between 2011-2012.
way to hook a new generation on a
(D) The number of e-cigarettes sold is
bad nicotine habit?
greater than that of normal tobacco
(B) Research into the effects of e-
products.
cigarettes lags behind their
(E) Some teens use e-cigarettes.
popularity.
Text 5

Did you ride your bike to school when you were a kid, A generation ago most kids rode, walked or
caught the bus to school; very few of us were dropped off by our parents at the school gate. These days
most of us have experienced the daily traffic jams around schools at drop-off and pick-up times, as parents
drive their children to the school gate. While there is no national data on the number of children who walk
or ride to school, a recent Victorian survey found nearly half of all children are driven to school every day.

Parents choose to drop their kids at school for a number of reasons — mostly to do with safety
and convenience. But experts say chauffeuring your kids to school every day could mean they are missing
out on much-needed exercise and other life skills.

Research suggests at least a third of Australian children aged 9-16 years are not getting the
amount of daily physical activity recommended in national guidelines. But this is not because children's
participation in leisure or sporting activities has dropped off, says Dr Jan Garrard. Participation in these
activities has not altered much over the years, Garrard says but what has changed is the level of incidental
activity children do. "When you look at countries where children are just active as part of everyday life,
they do not have to be sporty. All they have to do is to get around the way the Community gets around by
walking and cycling, and they get enough physical activity," she says.

13. The author develop some ideas in

(B) Kids given a lift to school likely lose
paragraph 2 by ...
vital social and physical advantages
(A) Describing parents’ chauffeuring
(C) Schooling means not only learning in
followed by its effect
classes but also socializing with
(B) Explaining reason for chauffeuring
others
and their advantages
(D) Parents spoil their kids’ future social
(C) Discussing the function of
and physical life by giving them a lift
chauffeuring and the impact
(E) When a child needs physical and
(D) Arguing for chauffeuring practice for
social training, parent should
children’s safety
facilitate them
(E) Exposing how parent chauffer and its
drawbacks
15. The paragraph following the passage
above most likely contains information on
14. By writing the sentence “… chauffeuring
…
your kids to school everyday could mean
(A) Advice to parents for their children to
they are missing out on much-needed
have enough physical activities
exercise and other life skills.” (paragraph
(B) The decreasing trend of children to
2), the author implies that ….
do physical activities at their will
(A) Taking kids to school makes them
(C) Parental motives behind chauffeuring
deprived individuals when they grow
their children to school
up
(D) Reasons for children not to do fun
and incidental activities
Text 6 (E) Effects of having children not to be
given a lift to school.

Gardeners and homeowners might sometimes need to add nitrogen fertilizers to their gardens
and lawns to provide just the right food for their plants. The amount used typically depends on plant and
seed instructions as well as on the other sources of nitrogen, such as manure, already applied to the soil.
While an addition of nitrogen to the lawn and garden may be necessary, homeowners often use more than
what is recommended, and over time this excess nitrogen pollutes water and air. Nitrogen at higher levels
causes a loss of certain plant species, depletion of soil nutrients, death of fish and aquatic organisms, and
contamination of drinking water.
 Though nitrogen serves to aid plants in their growth, weeds and nonnative plants tend to grow
more readily with additional nitrogen supplies. Other plants that have lower nitrogen needs end up dying,
causing a decline in native species, according to the Ecological Society of America (ESA). In California, for
example, it is reported that too much nitrogen encourages the growth of nonnative grasses and kills off
lichens on trees. In the coastal areas of the western United States, soils have higher levels of nitrogen,
which feed nonnative grasses. The shift in plant species increases the chances of wildfires because these
new grasses are flammable.

In the soil, too much nitrogen also creates an imbalance of nutrients that causes a depletion of
other important minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium. While fertilizer overuse causes
this change, nitrogen polluted air, caused by nitrates from automobiles and industrial plants, also results
in this acidification of the soil when acid rain falls. When the nitrogen abundance reduces important
minerals, toxic elements such as aluminum can proliferate and harm plants as well as fish in rivers.

When nitrogen levels in rivers and streams increase, they aid in algae overgrowth. As algae dies
and decomposes. organic matter in the water increases. This process uses up oxygen, causing levels to
drop. Without the oxygen, fish, crabs and other aquatic life die. In the San Francisco Bay Delta, for example,
blue- green algae blooms occur in numbers during the warmer months, especially when the conditions
such as increased nitrogen occur. Researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution say these
algae blooms, which can appear in different colors, produce toxins that can be harmful.

A soluble substance, nitrogen soaks deeply into the soil after a rainstorm or after irrigation,
reaching ground water and nearby wells. When babies under a year old and elderly people ingest water
with high nitrogen levels, they can develop symptoms such as gastrointestinal swelling and irritation,
diarrhea, and protein digestion problems, according to the University of Nebraska- Lincoln Extension.
Because nitrogen is odorless and colorless, only testing can determine whether contamination has
occurred.

(Adapted from SFGATE)

16. According to the passage, which of the

following best shows the author’s bias? (D) Provides a reason why the change of
(A) The need of fertilizer to increase plants may occur in forests
agricultural production. (E) States the characteristics of nitrogen
(B) Blooms of algae in spring but leaving in the nature
polluted waters afterwards.
(C) Change of plants in the forest and 18. What is the author’s attitude towards
forest fire because of nitrogen. overuse of nitrogen?
(D) Growing of unwanted plants and (A) Pessimistic
plants extinction caused by nitrogen. (B) Concerned
(E) Nitrogen as a useful supplement for (C) Mindful
plant, be it in the air, water, or soil. (D) Critical
(E) Neutral
17. In connecting the idea in paragraph 2 and
that in paragraph 3, the author .... 19. The paragraph following the passage will
(A) Shows evidence why change of plants most likely discuss ....
causes forests more vulnerable from (A) a case of polluted water contaminated
fire by nitrogen
(B) Gives further impacts of nitrogen not (B) trainings on how to use fertilizers
only on soil but also in water and air wisely to possible users
(C) Argues that nitrogen harms not only (C) results of testing an area possibly
plants and animals, but also humans contaminated by nitrogen
 (D) a case of plant change because of
(B) polluted soil, the more crop problems
nitrogen excess in the soil
(C) fertilizers, the more agricultural
(E) efforts to reduce acid rains to avoid
products
nitrogen contaminating wells
(D) nitrogen, the more acid rains and
plant shifts
20. Based on the passage, it can be
(E) industrial areas, the more polluted air
hypothesized that the more ....
and soil
(A) houses, the more nitrogen excesses