OPTION A — READ THE TEXT AND ANSWER QUESTIONS 1 TO 5.

HOW RISING TEMPERATURES DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE ARE SHORTENING PREGNANCIES

It's bad enough that adults have made a climatological mess of the world. It's worse that the mess is having a disproportionate impact on kids — who did nothing to create the problem, but are more susceptible to health issues caused by rising temperatures than adults are. Now, it appears, global warming is doing its damage even further down the human age spectrum. According to a new study published in Nature Climate Change, rising temperatures may have a direct impact on human gestational time, (line 5) increasing the risk of early delivery.

Babies are considered premature when they are born at 37 weeks or earlier. But delivery between 37 and 40 weeks is still not considered ideal, with late-term births correlated to lower birthweight and even potential cognitive development problems later in life. Many variables can cause an otherwise healthy pregnancy to come to term earlier than it should — one is extreme heat. (line 10)

To study this effect, Alan Barreca, an associate professor at UCLA's Institute of Environmental Sustainability, analyzed daily temperature and county-by-county birth rates across the U.S. in a two-decade window from 1.969 to 1.988. That is an admittedly old dataset, but the researchers had little choice. "In 1.989, the vital statistics system started to be more cautious about information it allowed out publicly in order to make it hard to identify individuals precisely by place or date of birth," says Barreca. "They (line 15) even began masking some counties. So 1.969 to 1.988 gave us the most thorough information."

In that dataset, the researchers found that on days when temperatures reached or exceeded 32.2ºC, the birth rate per 100,000 women increased by 0.97, compared to dates in which the temperature was between 16-21º C. There was a smaller, but still significant, bump of 0.57 additional births per 100,000 women on days that were hot but not quite as sweltering, ranging from 26.7-32.2º C. (line 20) (Fragment adapted from TIME.)

OPTION B — READ THE TEXT AND ANSWER QUESTIONS 1 TO 5.

CHINESE CHILDREN BANNED FROM LATE NIGHT GAMING

China has imposed restrictions on minors playing video games to combat what the government says is a serious addiction "harming the physical and mental health of minors". The new regulations ban children under the age of 18 from playing online games between 10pm and 8am. Children will also be limited to 90 minutes of game time on weekdays, extending to three hours on weekends and holidays. In addition, the new rules will limit the amount of money they can spend on online games. Children aged 8-(line 5)16 cannot spend more than 200 yuan ($29) a month. The amount rises to 400 yuan ($57) a month for children between the ages of 16-18.

These limitations are the latest government measure to rein in China's online gaming industry, one of the largest in the world. Companies and online platforms are required to enforce the new rules, which should serve as a "guide" to parents, an unnamed spokesperson for the press and publication administration (line 10) told state news agency Xinhua. According to Xinhua, the new measures are "guided by" China's leader, Xi Jinping, thought on socialism. Last year he attributed the rise of short-sightedness amongst children in China as being a result of excessive video game playing. Xi Jinping's disapproval has led to efforts from different government departments in China to tackle the issue. Other limits as a result of the new regulations include banning violent video games and those that feature gambling. (line 15)

On a microblog named Weibo, users doubted how well the new restrictions would be enforced. Minors could use the identification numbers of their parents, as many currently do to get around age restrictions. "The higher ups have policies. Those lower down have counter policies," one user said, quoting a Chinese idiom on the ways people find to get around government directives. But officials said they would provide "more powerful support" to collaboration between China's ministry of public security and relevant (line 20) agencies to build a thorough identification system that would avoid any means of escape. (Fragment adapted from The Guardian.)