can pray for anything you want," I told him. "I'll pray that we can have an extra week next summer. I'll pray all year. " I told him it was a great idea, but once we got home I had second thought. We had never been able to come up with the money for a two-week stay. Maybe I should be reminding Colin that sometimes our prayer requests would not be replied. But I couldn't bring myself to do it. All year round when Colin said his prayers, he would mention the extra week at the beach house.

The next summer found us back with our whole family at the same beach house-for one week only. Colin didn't seem too disappointed as we were packing up to leave on our last day. Just then, the phone rang. My mom answered it. When she hung up, she looked surprised. "That was the house's owner," she said. "The people staying here next week just cancelled. He's offering it to us for a bargain price." That bargain price was just low enough for us to cover. It was our family's only two-week holiday, thanks to Colin.

24. What did the author think of her son's request when saying "I didn't blame him."?

A. Strange. B. Ridiculous. C. Reasonable. D. Unbelievable.

25. What does the underlined word "it" in Paragraph 2 refer to?

A. Praying for an extra week. B. Staying another week.

C. Having a two-week holiday. D. Borrowing money.

26. Which of the following best describes Colin?

A. Honest. B. Brave. C. Generous. D. Determined.

27. What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A. They cancelled their holiday for the next year.

B. Colin got extremely disappointed upon leaving.

C. Their dream to have a two-week holiday came true.

D. The author's mother called the house owner for a bargaining.

Less than 5 percent of elephants die from cancer, and researchers may have finally figured out why.

　　According to a study from the University of Chicago, elephants produce "zombie genes" (僵尸基因) that can help protect the animal from cancer.

Here's how it works: Humans and other animals carry one copy of a "master tumor suppressor" gene (主肿瘤抑制基因). Elephants have 20 copies. Scientists found that gene can cause a "zombie gene" to come back to life with a new purpose: killing cells in damaged DNA.

This is beneficial, because it acts in response to genetic mistakes, errors made when the DNA is being repaired, said Vincent Lynch, an assistant professor of human genetics at the University of Chicago and the study's lead author, in a statement. "Getting rid of that cell can prevent a subsequent cancer."

Scientists say the gene also helps elephants enjoy long lives. They likely emerged roughly 25 to 30 million years ago, when small-sized ancestors of modern elephants grew bigger, Lynch said.

Researchers want to conduct more studies to find out exactly how the genes in elephants kill off cells in damaged DNA. That could help humans: Studying how animals' bodies fight off cancer could lead to strategies to treat people. An estimated 17% of people worldwide die of