Passage 1
Reducing the amount of sleep students get at night has a direct impact on their performance at school during the day. According to classroom teachers, elementary and middle school students who stay up late exhibit more learning and attention problems. This has been shown by Brown Medical School and Bradley Hospital research. In the study, teachers were not told the amount of sleep students received when completing weekly performance reports, yet they rated the students who had received eight hours or less as having the most trouble recalling all the material，learning new lessons and completing high-quality work. Teachers also reported that these students had more difficulty paying attention. The experiment is the first to ask teachers to report on the effects of sleep deficiency in children. Just staying up late can cause increased academic difficulty and attention problems for otherwise healthy, well-functioning kids, said Garharn Forlone, the study’s lead author. So the results provide professionals and parents with a clear message: when a child is having learning and attention problems, the issue of sleep has to be taken into consideration. “If we don’t ask about sleep, and try to improve sleep patterns in kids’ struggling academically, then we aren’t doing our job”, Forlone said. For parents, he said, the message is simple, “getting kids to bed on time is as important as getting them to school on time”.
Questions 26 to 28 are based on the passage you have just heard.
Question 26: What were teachers told to do in the experiment?
Question 27: According to the experiment, what problem can insufficient sleep cause in students?
Question 28: What message did the researcher intend to convey to parents?
Passage 2
Patricia Pania never wanted to be a public figure. All she wanted to be was a mother and home-maker. But her life was turned upside down when a motorist, distracted by his cell phone, ran a stop sign and crashed into the side of her car. The impact killed her 2-year-old daughter. Four months later, Pania reluctantly but courageously decided to try to educate the public and to fight for laws to ban drivers from using cell phones while a car is moving. She wanted to save other children from what happened to her daughter. In her first speech, Pania got off to a shaky start. She was visibly trembling and her voice was soft and uncertain. But as she got into her speech, a dramatic transformation took place. She stopped shaking and spoke with a strong voice. For the rest of her talk, she was a forceful and compelling speaker. She wanted everyone in the audience to know what she knew without having to learn it from a personal tragedy. Many in the audience were moved to tears and to action. In subsequent presentations, Pania gained reputation as a highly effective speaker. Her appearance on a talk show was broadcast three times, transmitting her message to over 40 million people. Her campaign increased public awareness of the problem, and prompted over 300 cities and several states to consider restrictions on cell phone use.
Questions 29 to 32 are based on the passage you have just heard.
Question 29: What was the significant change in Patricia Pania’s life?
Question 30: What had led to Pania’s personal tragedy?
Question 31: How did Pania feel when she began her first speech?
Question 32: What could be expected as a result of Pania’s efforts?
