Dear Peter,

After much consideration, I have come to the conclusion that the views of the Townsville Citizens Association and of myself have become distinctly different over the past year. I no longer feel that I can be a useful contributor to the goals and mission of the organization. So I am writing to inform you that after much thought, I am regretfully resigning as a member of the Townsville Citizens Association. I also wish you to know that even though I may no longer be a member, I still sincerely hope for the continued success of this organization.

Sincerely,
Norman Smith

By the tenth frame, my heart began to race. Cory, Laura, and Gray were ahead of me, but only by a few points. The other kids were way behind us. I studied the score sheet. If I could bowl a strike in this frame, I would win the game. My hands were sweaty. I dried them off on a towel. I stepped onto the lane. I took a deep breath. Raised the ball... Sent it rolling down the center of the lane... And knocked down all ten pins. I had bowled a strike on my last turn. I pumped my fist in the air and came back to the bench victoriously.

Imagine for a moment that today was your last day on Earth. Now, make a list for yourself of all the things that you feel you have accomplished, all the things you are proud of, and all the things that make you happy. Is your car on the list? Your television? Is your salary on the list? No. What’s on the list are the fundamental elements of a satisfied life―your relationship with friends and family, the contribution you have made to others’ lives, the celebrated events of your life. Those are the building blocks of your list. Many of us live day to day as if the opposite were true. Instead of appreciating what is truly important and making that our priority, we collect things and indicators of success without questioning just what success really means. Remember what really matters in your life.

We have constructed so many large reservoirs to hold water, and they are located primarily in the Northern Hemisphere rather than randomly around the globe. As a result, enough of Earth’s mass has shifted to speed up its rotation. Currently, 88 huge reservoirs hold some 10 trillion tons of water. Before the reservoirs were built, this water was located in the ocean, which has most of its mass in the Southern Hemisphere. The effect is like a whirling skater who pulls her arms in to turn faster. Because natural factors in the environment, such as the pull of tides, are gradually slowing Earth’s rotation, the human influence is accidentally working against the natural rate of deceleration. The shift in Earth’s mass has also changed the location of the axis on which Earth rotates.

Studies show that narrative feedback on students’ performance is better than grades at both promoting kids’ self-motivation to learn and boosting their achievement. Primary school teachers do a good job of providing feedback in reports, but as soon as grades take over from narrative comments as the main method of evaluation, students and parents begin to lose out. When teachers offer information such as “You did a great job of planning your ideas for this paper, and formulating your main argument, but your body paragraphs don’t address the question raised by the argument,” in response to a rough draft of a paper, the student has information that praises the positive elements, addresses failures, and gives useful information for her better performance. In this way, informational feedback works much like praise for efforts, and similarly boosts enthusiasm for the task and later performance.

Poetry sharpens our senses and makes us more keenly and fully aware of life. Imagine, for a moment, that you are trying to describe one of your friends. You could say the friend is tall, has blue eyes, a mole on the left cheek, or a red nose. But that would only describe the outside of this person. It wouldn’t tell people what your friend is really like―the habits, feelings, all the little peculiarities that make this person what he or she is and different from everyone else. You would find it very difficult indeed to describe the inside of your friend, even though you feel you know such a great friend through and through. Now good poetry does describe life in that way; it tells us about its inside as well as its outside, and thus it helps you to know and love the world as intimately as you know and love a friend.

The pie charts above show the preferred banking method based on the annual survey of 1,000 U.S. adults in 2013 and 2014 by the American Bankers Association. ① The sum of the percentages of respondents preferring Internet Banking and Branches surpassed 50 percent in both years. ② In 2013, 39 percent of respondents named Internet Banking as their favorite way of conducting their banking, while the preference dropped 8 percentage points in 2014. ③ However, compared to 2013, the preference of Branches and ATMs increased 3 percentage points respectively in 2014. ④ In 2013, the preference of Mobile was less than 10 percent, but it reached the double digits in 2014. ⑤ In 2013 and 2014, both Telephone and Mail remained the same in preference at 7 percent.

The Gunnison Tunnel, constructed between 1905 and 1909, was designed to supply water to parts of western Colorado, diverting water from the Gunnison River to the Uncompahgre Valley around Montrose, Colorado. At the time of its completion, it was the longest irrigation tunnel in the world. Workers encountered a number of difficulties during the construction period, including soft ground and pockets of gas. Soft ground caused a sudden collapse that killed six workers in early 1905. Despite these obstacles, the tunnelers made good progress, achieving a record by cutting through 449 feet of granite in one month. President William Howard Taft conducted the opening on September 23, 1909, pressing the switch that released the first water. The completed tunnel, which is 30,583 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 10 feet deep at the sides, is still in operation.

*granite: 화강암

2016 Carbon Monoxide(CO) Poster Contest

Sponsored by San Diego Clean Environment Commission(SCEC)

Students in middle school are invited to create a poster to warn people about the dangers of poisonous CO.

◆ Contest rules:
• The application form must be filled out by a parent or a guardian and submitted along with a poster. You can find this form at www.scec.org/COpostercontest.
• All entries must be mailed to PO Box 201611 Campo, San Diego, CA 91323 by November 25, 2016.
• SCEC does not accept any submissions in person.
• All posters will be judged by SCEC.
• Winning posters will be put on the website.
◆ Topics to choose from:
steps you can take to protect against CO poisoning
how to recognize CO exposure and symptoms

Bognar Library

We are very happy to let you know that we have finally built a public library in our community. It opens next month (Dec. 19). Visit and enjoy various books and facilities.

☞ Checkout
- Checkout period: 10 days
- Checkout limit: maximum 5 books
* Those who return books late cannot checkout again for the same number of days they were late.

☞ Hours
- Monday through Friday: 9 a.m. - 9 p.m.
- Saturdays and Sundays: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
- Closed on National Holidays
* Please note that the library will be cleared out 10 minutes before closing.

☞ Library rules
1.Ensure that your mobile phone is on silent.
2.All calls are prohibited inside the reading room.
3.No food or drinks (except water) are allowed in the library.

Why do we often feel that others are paying more attention to us than they really are? The spotlight effect means seeing ourselves at center stage, thus intuitively overestimating the extent ① to which others’ attention is aimed at us. Timothy Lawson explored the spotlight effect by having college students ② change into a sweatshirt with a big popular logo on the front before meeting a group of peers. Nearly 40 percent of them ③ were sure the other students would remember what the shirt said, but only 10 percent actually did. Most observers did not even notice ④ that the students changed sweatshirts after leaving the room for a few minutes. In another experiment, even noticeable clothes, such as a T-shirt with singer Barry Manilow on it, ⑤ provoking only 23 percent of observers to notice―far fewer than the 50 percent estimated by the students sporting the 1970s soft rock singer on their chests.

*sport: 자랑해 보이다

Even if lying doesn’t have any harmful effects in a particular case, it is still morally wrong because, if discovered, lying weakens the general practice of truth telling on which human communication relies. For instance, if I were to lie about my age on grounds of vanity, and my lying were discovered, even though no serious harm would have been done, I would have (A) undermined / upheld your trust generally. In that case you would be far less likely to believe anything I might say in the future. Thus all lying, when discovered, has indirect harmful effects. However, very occasionally, these harmful effects might possibly be outweighed by the (B) benefits / drawbacks which arise from a lie. For example, if someone is seriously ill, lying to them about their life expectancy might probably give them a chance of living longer. On the other hand, telling them the truth could possibly induce a depression that would (C) accelerate / decelerate their physical decline.

One day, Jane was walking from class across campus to catch her bus home, with her head down, fighting tears of total despair, when a woman came down the sidewalk toward ① her. Jane had never seen her before. Embarrassed at being seen in such an emotional mess, ② she turned her head away and hoped to hurry past. But the woman moved directly in front of Jane, waited until she looked up, and then smiled. Looking into ③ her eyes, the woman spoke in a quiet voice, “Whatever is wrong will pass. You’re going to be OK. Just hang on.” ④ She then smiled again and walked away. Jane can’t explain the impact of that moment, of the woman’s unexpected kindness and unconditional caring! The woman gave her the one thing ⑤ she’d lost completely: hope. Jane looked for her on campus to thank her but never saw her again.

Mathematical models of flocks of birds and schools of fish and swarms of insects that move in unison demonstrate the same point: there is no central control of the movement of the group, but the group manifests a kind of _______________  that helps all within it to flee or discourage predators. This behavior does not reside within individual creatures but, rather, is a property of groups. Examination of flocks of birds “deciding” where to fly reveals that they move in a way that accounts for the intentions of all the birds, and, even more important, the direction of movement is usually the best choice for the flock. Each bird contributes a bit, and the flock’s concerted choice is better than an individual bird’s would be.

The Neanderthals would have faced a problem when it was daylight: the light quality is much poorer at high latitudes and this would have meant that they couldn’t see things in the distance so well. For a hunter, this is a serious problem, because you really don’t want to make the mistake of not noticing the mother rhinoceros hiding in a dark corner of the forest edge when trying to spear her calf. Living under low light conditions places a much heavier premium on vision than most researchers imagine. The evolutionary response to low light levels is __________________________________. It is the familiar principle from conventional star-gazing telescopes: under the dim lighting of the night sky, a larger mirror allows you to gather more of the light from whatever you want to look at. By the same token, a larger retina allows you to receive more light to compensate for poor light levels.

It’s possible to lie with numbers, even those that are accurate, because numbers rarely speak for themselves. They need to be interpreted by writers. And writers almost always have purposes that shape the interpretations. For example, you might want to announce the good news that unemployment in the United States stands at just a little over 5 percent. That means 95 percent of Americans have jobs, an employment rate much higher than that of most other industrial nations. But let’s spin the figure another way. In a country as populous as the United States, unemployment at 5 percent means that millions of Americans don’t earn a daily wage. Indeed, one out of every twenty adults who wants work can’t find it. Suddenly that’s a sobering number. And, as you can see, the same statistic can __________________________________.

*sobering: 정신이 번쩍 들게 하는

Generally, during a complex negotiation, Westerners divide the large tasks up into smaller ones. One can move through the smaller tasks, finishing one and moving on to the next, sensing accomplishment along the way. Issues are resolved at each step in the process, and the final agreement is the sum of the sequence. ____(A)____, in Eastern thinking, all issues are discussed, often with no apparent order, and compromises, when made, occur at the conclusion of negotiations. The Western approach is sequential and the Eastern is holistic―the two worlds are apart. ____(B)____, American negotiators have difficulty measuring progress during negotiations with the Japanese, and the differences in the thinking and decision-making processes can result in misunderstandings.

The truth that has been merely learned sticks to us like an artificial limb, a false tooth, or a nose of wax. ① On the other hand, the truth acquired through our own thinking is like the natural limb; it alone really belongs to us. ② On this rests the distinction between the thinker and the mere scholar. ③ The intellectual gain of the thinker who thinks for himself is, therefore, like a beautiful painting that vividly stands out with perfect harmony of colors. ④ Color in painting is a major influence on our emotions, and therefore plays a huge part in how we appreciate art. ⑤ The intellectual acquisition of the mere scholar, on the other hand, is like a large palette full of bright colors but without harmony.

Twins provide a unique opportunity to study genes. Some pairs of twins are identical: they share the exact same genes in their DNA.

(A) In the same way, scientists can estimate the role genes play in any other trait by comparing the similarity of identical twins to the similarity of fraternal twins. If there is a difference, then the magnitude of the difference gives a clue as to how much genes are involved.

(B) Other pairs are fraternal, sharing only half of their genes on average. Differences in genetic similarity turn out to be a powerful natural experiment, allowing us to estimate how much genes influence a given trait.

(C) For example, identical twins almost always have the same eye color, but fraternal twins often do not. This suggests that genes play a role in eye color, and in fact geneticists have identified several specific genes that are involved.

For years business leaders and politicians have portrayed environmental protection and jobs as mutually exclusive.

(A) Pollution control, protection of natural areas and endangered species, and limits on use of nonrenewable resources, they claim, will choke the economy and throw people out of work. Ecological economists dispute this claim, however.

(B) Recycling, for instance, makes more new jobs than extracting raw materials. This doesn’t necessarily mean that recycled goods are more expensive than those from raw resources. We’re simply substituting labor in the recycling center for energy and huge machines used to extract new materials in remote places.

(C) Their studies show that only 0.1 percent of all large-scale layoffs in the United States in recent years were due to government regulations. Environmental protection, they argue, not only is necessary for a healthy economic system, but it actually creates jobs and stimulates business.

It is possible to obtain more natural-looking portraits when the camera shoots from the same level as the child’s eyeline instead of being tilted.

The birth of a child in a family is often the reason why people begin to take up or rediscover photography. ( ① ) In many ways, photographing a child is little different from photographing any other person. ( ② ) What makes it different, however, is the relative height between a young child and an adult. ( ③ ) Using the camera at your own head height works well for photographing adults, but for children the camera will be tilted downward. ( ④ ) You are looking down on the child, literally and metaphorically, and the resulting picture can make the child look smaller and less significant than most parents would like. ( ⑤ ) For an eight year old, this might mean sitting down when shooting; and for a crawling baby, the best approach may be to lie on the floor.

When you were first learning to read, you may have studied specific facts about the sounds of letters.

There are different kinds of knowledge. Some is domain-specific knowledge that relates to a particular task or subject. For example, knowing that the shortstop plays between second and third base is specific to the domain of baseball. ( ① ) Some knowledge, on the other hand, is general―it applies to many different situations. ( ② ) For example, general knowledge about how to read or write or use a computer is useful both in and out of school. ( ③ ) Of course, there is no absolute line between general and domain-specific knowledge. ( ④ ) At that time, knowledge about letter sounds was specific to the domain of reading. ( ⑤ ) But now you can use both knowledge about sounds and the ability to read in more general ways.

Inappropriate precision means giving information or figures to a greater degree of apparent accuracy than suits the context. For example, advertisers often use the results of surveys to prove what they say about their products. Sometimes they claim a level of precision not based reliably on evidence. So, if a company selling washing powder claims 95.45% of British adults agree that this powder washes whiter than any other, then this level of precision is clearly inappropriate. It is unlikely that all British adults were surveyed, so the results are based only on a sample and not the whole population. At best the company should be claiming that over 95% of those asked agreed that their powder washes whiter than any other. Even if the whole population had been surveyed, to have given the result to two decimal points would have been absurd. The effect is to propose a high degree of scientific precision in the research. Frequently, however, inappropriate precision is an attempt to mask the unscientific nature of a study.

*decimal point: 소수점

Advertisers often give us information with a(n) ___(A)___ precision, but it can be considered as an intention to conceal the lack of ___(B)___ of their research.

Although organisms interact with their surroundings in many ways, certain factors may be critical to a particular species’ success. A shortage or absence of this factor restricts the success of the species; thus, it is known as a limiting factor. Limiting factors can be quite different from one species to another.
The limiting factor for many species of fish is the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water. In a swiftly flowing, tree-lined mountain stream, the level of dissolved oxygen is high and so provides a favorable environment for trout. As the stream continues down the mountain, the steepness of the slope decreases, which results in fewer rapids where the water tumbles over rocks and becomes oxygenated. In addition, as the stream becomes wider, the canopy of trees over the stream usually is thinner, allowing more sunlight to reach the stream and warm the water. Warm water cannot hold as much dissolved oxygen as cool water. Therefore, slower-flowing, warm-water streams contain less oxygen than rapidly moving, cool streams. Fish such as black bass and walleye are adapted to such areas, since they are able to tolerate lower oxygen concentrations and higher water temperatures. Trout are not able to survive under such conditions and are not found in warm, less well-oxygenated water. Thus, low levels of oxygen and high water temperatures are limiting factors for the ___________ of trout.

Although organisms interact with their surroundings in many ways, certain factors may be critical to a particular species’ success. A shortage or absence of this factor restricts the success of the species; thus, it is known as a limiting factor. Limiting factors can be quite different from one species to another.
The limiting factor for many species of fish is the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water. In a swiftly flowing, tree-lined mountain stream, the level of dissolved oxygen is high and so provides a favorable environment for trout. As the stream continues down the mountain, the steepness of the slope decreases, which results in fewer rapids where the water tumbles over rocks and becomes oxygenated. In addition, as the stream becomes wider, the canopy of trees over the stream usually is thinner, allowing more sunlight to reach the stream and warm the water. Warm water cannot hold as much dissolved oxygen as cool water. Therefore, slower-flowing, warm-water streams contain less oxygen than rapidly moving, cool streams. Fish such as black bass and walleye are adapted to such areas, since they are able to tolerate lower oxygen concentrations and higher water temperatures. Trout are not able to survive under such conditions and are not found in warm, less well-oxygenated water. Thus, low levels of oxygen and high water temperatures are limiting factors for the ___________ of trout.

(A)
American gymnast Bart Conner was active in many sports as a child, starting his gymnastics career at the age of ten and progressing quickly to become the youngest member of the United States Olympic team at the Summer Games in Montreal. (a) He attended the University of Oklahoma and worked with gymnastics coach Paul Ziert. The coach’s critical opinion was that Conner had a relative lack of flexibility and limited tumbling skills.

(B)
Afterwards, in an interview, Conner thanked his parents. “Come on Bart,” said the interviewer, “everyone thanks their parents when they win a gold medal.” But Conner told him that this was different. (b) He said, “Every night before bed my parents would ask me what my success of the day was. When I was injured, I knew I was going to make it back because I was a success every day of my life.” Conner’s story tells us: When people focus on what they are doing well, they do more things well.

(C)
People believed Conner would never make it back in time to compete in the Olympics. He underwent surgery and intensive physical therapy, in an attempt to regain fitness. With just one chance left to qualify, (c) he managed to squeeze into the Olympic team. Conner underwent intense training to reclaim his competitive level. By enduring this training, Conner helped the US team to earn a gymnastics team gold. In (d) his favored parallel bars event he scored a ‘perfect ten’ to win an individual gold medal as well.

(D)
Despite the coach’s negative perspective, Conner refused to accept such limitations that (e) he pointed out. Conner’s motivation combined with his other physical abilities helped him to quickly advance. Conner won the parallel bars event at the World Championship with an original complex move called the ‘Conner Spin’ since he was the first ever to do it. Nine months before his country hosted the Olympics in Los Angeles, Conner tore his bicep muscle.

(A)
American gymnast Bart Conner was active in many sports as a child, starting his gymnastics career at the age of ten and progressing quickly to become the youngest member of the United States Olympic team at the Summer Games in Montreal. (a) He attended the University of Oklahoma and worked with gymnastics coach Paul Ziert. The coach’s critical opinion was that Conner had a relative lack of flexibility and limited tumbling skills.

(B)
Afterwards, in an interview, Conner thanked his parents. “Come on Bart,” said the interviewer, “everyone thanks their parents when they win a gold medal.” But Conner told him that this was different. (b) He said, “Every night before bed my parents would ask me what my success of the day was. When I was injured, I knew I was going to make it back because I was a success every day of my life.” Conner’s story tells us: When people focus on what they are doing well, they do more things well.

(C)
People believed Conner would never make it back in time to compete in the Olympics. He underwent surgery and intensive physical therapy, in an attempt to regain fitness. With just one chance left to qualify, (c) he managed to squeeze into the Olympic team. Conner underwent intense training to reclaim his competitive level. By enduring this training, Conner helped the US team to earn a gymnastics team gold. In (d) his favored parallel bars event he scored a ‘perfect ten’ to win an individual gold medal as well.

(D)
Despite the coach’s negative perspective, Conner refused to accept such limitations that (e) he pointed out. Conner’s motivation combined with his other physical abilities helped him to quickly advance. Conner won the parallel bars event at the World Championship with an original complex move called the ‘Conner Spin’ since he was the first ever to do it. Nine months before his country hosted the Olympics in Los Angeles, Conner tore his bicep muscle.

(A)
American gymnast Bart Conner was active in many sports as a child, starting his gymnastics career at the age of ten and progressing quickly to become the youngest member of the United States Olympic team at the Summer Games in Montreal. (a) He attended the University of Oklahoma and worked with gymnastics coach Paul Ziert. The coach’s critical opinion was that Conner had a relative lack of flexibility and limited tumbling skills.

(B)
Afterwards, in an interview, Conner thanked his parents. “Come on Bart,” said the interviewer, “everyone thanks their parents when they win a gold medal.” But Conner told him that this was different. (b) He said, “Every night before bed my parents would ask me what my success of the day was. When I was injured, I knew I was going to make it back because I was a success every day of my life.” Conner’s story tells us: When people focus on what they are doing well, they do more things well.

(C)
People believed Conner would never make it back in time to compete in the Olympics. He underwent surgery and intensive physical therapy, in an attempt to regain fitness. With just one chance left to qualify, (c) he managed to squeeze into the Olympic team. Conner underwent intense training to reclaim his competitive level. By enduring this training, Conner helped the US team to earn a gymnastics team gold. In (d) his favored parallel bars event he scored a ‘perfect ten’ to win an individual gold medal as well.

(D)
Despite the coach’s negative perspective, Conner refused to accept such limitations that (e) he pointed out. Conner’s motivation combined with his other physical abilities helped him to quickly advance. Conner won the parallel bars event at the World Championship with an original complex move called the ‘Conner Spin’ since he was the first ever to do it. Nine months before his country hosted the Olympics in Los Angeles, Conner tore his bicep muscle.