1. Every two weeks, one of the world’s recorded 7,000 languages becomes extinct.

The expedition was seeking to document and help preserve the endangered languages in
2 Q this isolated area.

Instead, they heard a language, the linguists said, that sounded as different from Aka as
4 R English does from Japanese.

Two years ago, a team of linguists visited the remote hill country of northeastern India to
1 S study little-known languages, many of them unwritten and in danger of falling out of use.

After further investigation, leaders of the research announced last week the discovery of a
“hidden” language, known locally as Koro, completely new to the world outside these rural
5 T communities.

When they reached the tiny village of Kichang, they expected to hear the people speaking
3 U Aka, a fairly common tongue in that district.

2. Asian stinkbugs have become a highly damaging pest to farmers and a major annoyance to
homeowners in the United States.

Farmers in these areas are currently using conventional insecticides to control the bugs,
2 Q but are experiencing limited success.

An extract of the fungus strongly repelled stink bugs in laboratory tests, and could be
4 R capable of repelling up to 90 percent of stink bugs in other settings.

A repellent made from this extract could promise relief for homeowners and farmers
5 S plagued by the invasive bugs.

However, a group of Japanese researchers announced last week that they had developed
3 T the first-ever stink bug repellent, made from a common plant fungus.

These stink bugs have no natural predators here and are particularly rampant in mid-
1 U Atlantic states like Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
3. It has been one of the great murder mysteries of the garden: what is killing off the honeybees?

Since 2006, 20 to 40 percent of the bee colonies in the United States alone have suffered
1 Q “colony collapse.”

A fungus combined with a virus have apparently interacted to cause the problem, according
4 R to these scientists.

Exactly how that combination kills bees remains uncertain, the scientists said, and this
5 S remains a subject for the next round of research.

2 T Suspected reasons for this collapse ranged from pesticides to genetically modified food.

Now, scientists appear to have achieved a major breakthrough: identifying a new suspect,
3 U or two.

4. A handful of major league baseball teams are engaged in a race to master motion-capture technology.

Motion-capture technology is an advanced imaging technology that could influence the way
1 Q athletes train, perform and recover from injuries.

It combines the technology that captures human gestures for movie special effects with
2 R advanced sensors, biomechanics and orthopedic research.

This research could lead to new virtual training programs to help athletes practice without
5 S actually risking injury.

Orthopedic surgeons are doing research with it to analyze the details of athletes’
4 T movements, in hopes of improving performance or preventing injuries.

This combination produces a full, three-dimensional representation on a computer that can

3 U be analyzed to calculate the stresses on joints and the G-forces that produce them.
5. The education gap facing the nation’s work force is evident in the numbers.

Several nonprofit education organizations are beginning an ambitious initiative to address

3 Q that challenge by accelerating the development and use of online learning tools.

Recent state budget cuts, education experts agree, promise to make it even harder for
2 R people to go to college.

An initial donation of $20 million will be for online courses tailored for community
4 S colleges and low-income young people.

Most new jobs will require more than a high school education, yet fewer than half of
1 T Americans under 30 have a postsecondary degree of any kind.

5 U Another round of grants, for high school programs, is scheduled for next year.

6. A physician named Dr. Verghese is on a mission to bring back something he considers a lost art: the
physical exam.

But Dr. Verghese believes a thorough exam can yield vital information and help doctors
4 Q figure out which tests to order and which to skip.

3 R Others admit they do the exam almost as a token gesture, only because patients expect it.

A proper exam also earns trust, he said, and serves as a ritual that transforms two
5 S strangers into doctor and patient.

He is out to save the physical exam because it seems to be wasting away, he says, in an
1 T modern era of CT, ultrasound, M.R.I., and countless lab tests.

Some doctors would gladly let the exam go, claiming that much of it has been rendered
2 U obsolete by technology and that there are better ways to spend their time with patients.
7. Rome is a glorious jumble of history and art, which has changed slowly, unlike other European
cultural capitals.

These recent changes have caused a boom in tourism in the last year, bringing in 10%
5 Q more people this year alone.

3 R Around town young chefs are experimenting with local ingredients to create new tastes.

4 S Even old palazzos have been given makeovers.

2 T A futuristic museum in the historic center has added color to the city’s architectural scene.

1 U But lately, Rome has welcomed some new sparkle.

8. Kimchi is a fiery and pungent Korean dish that typically combines cabbage, radishes, red chili
peppers, garlic and salt.

The average price for a head of Napa cabbage was originally around $1.40, according to
4 Q food industry figures.

Economists have blamed this price increase on overly rainy weather that caused a cabbage
shortage, as well as fewer acres having been planted in cabbages after a bumper crop and
5 R low prices in 2009.

The price for Napa cabbage grown in Korea has skyrocketed in the past month, to as much
3 S as $14, from about $2.50.

1 T Restaurants normally offer kimchi for free, as a “banchan” or side dish.

However, the price of cabbage has recently gone up so high that restaurants can no longer
2 U afford to do this.