Choose the best answer:
A boat is ....... than a plane.

 

Read the following passage and then choose the best answer.
This is a picture of Tom’s family. He is my pen pal. He lives in a lovely old town in England. There are six people in his family: his parents, his aunt, his uncle, his brother and Tom. They live happily together.
Tom’s family lives in a nice house in the town. His house is near a park and next to a bookstore. There are seven rooms, a garage and a beautiful garden in the house. The seven rooms include three bedrooms, two bathrooms, one living room, and a large kitchen. Tom and his brother share a bedroom and they don’t really like it. The house was built in 1999 but it is still new and fashionable. The garden is so beautiful with many kinds of flowers. Tom loves the garden so much.
People in Tom’s family have different jobs. His father is fifty and he is a teacher. He teaches in a secondary school in the town. His mother is forty-eight and she is a housewife. She takes care of all the people in the house. She grows vegetables in the garden and usually prepares wonderful meals. His brother, Peter is a pilot. He flies a plane in the sky. He is very handsome. His aunt is a nurse. She helps doctors take care of sick people in the hospital. His uncle is a journalist. He writes articles for a local newspaper. Tom is a student and he wants to be a doctor in the future. I will go to England to see him again next summer vacation.

What is TRUE about Tom’s house?

My fingers were injured _____ my sister had to write the note for me.

(351)______

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks.
Amy Tan was born on February 19, 1952 in Oakland, California. Tan grew up in Northern California, (1)............when her father and older brother both died from brain tumors in 1966, she moved with her mother and younger brother to Europe, where she attended high school in Montreux, Switzerland. She returned to the United States for college. After college, Tan worked as a language development consultant and as a corporate freelance writer. In 1985, she wrote the story "Rules of the Game" for a writing workshop, which laid the early (2)............... for her first novel The Joy Luck Club. Published in 1989, the book  explored the (3)............. between Chinese women and their Chinese–American daughters, and became the longest–running New York Times bestseller for that year. The Joy Luck Club received numerous awards, including the Los Angeles Times Book Award. It has been translated into 25 languages, including Chinese, and was made into a major motion picture for (4)...............Tan co–wrote the screenplay. Tan's other works have also been (5)................. into several different forms of media.

(4)............................

Choose the best answer:
My father ________ this flower every morning.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions:
The American type of football was developed in the 19th century from soccer and rugby football. Played by professionals, amateurs, college and high school students, or young children, football in American is one of the most popular sports besides basketball and baseball. It attracts millions of fans each fall and people are very supportive of their favourite teams. The football playing field of today is rectangular in shape and measures 100 yards long and 53.5 yards wide. White lines are painted on the playing field to mark off the distances to the end zone. The games is divided into four quarters, each fifteen minutes long. The first two quarters are known as the first half. There is a rest period between two halves which usually last about fifteen minutes. Each team has eleven players. Each team has offensive players who play when the team has possession of the ball and defensive players who play when the other team has the possession of the ball. Because of the body contact players have during the game, helmets are worn to protect their head and face area, whereas pads are worn to protect the shoulders, arms, and legs. Also, there are officials carrying whistles and flags to make certain that the rules of the game are followed during the game. The football is made of leather and is brown in colour. It is shaped much like an oval and has white rings near each end of the football. These rings help the players see the ball when it is thrown or someone is running with it. The eight stitches on the top of the football help the players to grip the ball when throwing or passing. The most famous game of the year is Super Bowl that is played in January or February. It is televised around the world and is watched by millions of people each year.

Which is the most popular sport in the US?

Read‌ ‌the‌ ‌following‌ ‌passage‌ ‌and‌ ‌mark‌ ‌the‌ ‌letter‌ ‌A,‌ ‌B,‌ ‌C,‌ ‌or‌ ‌D‌ ‌on‌ ‌your‌ ‌answer‌ ‌sheet‌ ‌to‌ ‌indicate‌ ‌the‌ ‌correct‌ ‌answer‌ ‌to‌ ‌each‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌questions‌ ‌from‌ ‌43‌ ‌to‌ ‌50.‌ ‌
There‌ ‌are‌ ‌two‌ ‌basic‌ ‌types‌ ‌of‌ ‌glaciers,‌ ‌those‌ ‌that‌ ‌flow‌ ‌outward‌ ‌in‌ ‌all‌ 
directions‌ ‌with‌ ‌little‌ ‌regard‌ ‌for‌ ‌any‌ ‌underlying‌ ‌‌terrain‌ ‌‌and‌ ‌those‌ ‌that‌ ‌are‌ ‌confined‌ ‌by‌ ‌terrain‌ ‌to‌ ‌a‌ ‌particular‌ ‌path.‌ ‌The‌ ‌first‌ ‌category‌ ‌of‌ ‌glaciers‌ ‌includes‌ ‌those‌ ‌massive‌ ‌blankets‌ ‌that‌ ‌cover‌ ‌whole‌ ‌continents,‌ ‌appropriately‌ ‌called‌ ‌ice‌ ‌sheets.‌ ‌There‌ ‌must‌ ‌be‌ ‌over‌ ‌50,000‌ ‌square‌ ‌kilometers‌ ‌of‌ ‌land‌ ‌covered‌ ‌with‌ ‌ice‌ ‌for‌ ‌the‌ ‌glacier‌ ‌to‌ ‌
qualify‌ ‌as‌ ‌an‌ ‌ice‌ ‌sheet,‌ ‌when‌ ‌portions‌ ‌of‌ ‌an‌ ‌ice‌ ‌sheet‌ ‌spread‌ ‌out‌ ‌over‌ ‌the‌ ‌ocean,‌ ‌they‌ ‌form‌ ‌ice‌ ‌shelves.‌ ‌
About‌ ‌20,000‌ ‌years‌ ‌ago‌ ‌the‌ ‌Cordilleran‌ ‌Ice‌ ‌sheet‌ ‌covered‌ ‌nearly‌ ‌all‌ ‌the‌ ‌mountains‌ ‌in‌ ‌southern‌ ‌Alaska,‌ ‌western‌ ‌Canada,‌ ‌and‌ ‌the‌ ‌western‌ ‌United‌ ‌States.‌ ‌It‌ ‌was‌ ‌about‌ ‌3‌ ‌kilometers‌ ‌deep‌ ‌at‌ ‌its‌ ‌thickest‌ ‌point‌ ‌in‌ ‌
northern‌ ‌Alberta.‌ ‌Now‌ ‌there‌ ‌are‌ ‌only‌ ‌two‌ ‌sheets‌ ‌left‌ ‌on‌ ‌Earth,‌ ‌those‌ ‌covering‌ ‌Greenland‌ ‌and‌ ‌Antarctica.‌ ‌Any‌ ‌domelike‌ ‌body‌ ‌of‌ ‌ice‌ ‌that‌ ‌also‌ ‌flows‌ ‌out‌ ‌in‌ ‌all‌ ‌directions‌ ‌but‌ ‌covers‌ ‌less‌ ‌than‌ ‌50,000‌ ‌square‌ ‌kilometers‌ ‌is‌ ‌called‌ ‌an‌ ‌ice‌ ‌cap.‌ ‌Although‌ ‌ice‌ ‌caps‌ ‌are‌ ‌rare‌ ‌nowadays,‌ ‌there‌ ‌are‌ ‌a‌ ‌number‌ ‌in‌ ‌northeastern‌ ‌Canada,‌ ‌on‌ ‌
Baffin‌ ‌Island,‌ ‌and‌ ‌on‌ ‌the‌ ‌Queen‌ ‌Elizabeth‌ ‌Islands.‌ ‌The‌ ‌second‌ ‌category‌ ‌of‌ ‌glaciers‌ ‌includes‌ ‌those‌ ‌of‌ ‌a‌ ‌variety‌ ‌of‌ ‌shapes‌ ‌and‌ ‌sizes‌ ‌generally‌ ‌called‌ ‌mountain‌ ‌or‌ ‌alpine‌ ‌glaciers.‌ ‌Mountain‌ ‌glaciers‌ ‌are‌ ‌typically‌ ‌identified‌ ‌by‌ ‌the‌ ‌landform‌ ‌that‌ ‌controls‌ ‌their‌ ‌flow.‌ ‌One‌ ‌form‌ ‌of‌ ‌mountain‌ ‌glacier‌ ‌that‌ ‌resembles‌ ‌an‌ ‌ice‌ ‌cap‌ ‌in‌ ‌that‌ ‌it‌ ‌flows‌ ‌outward‌ ‌in‌ ‌several‌ ‌directions‌ ‌is‌ ‌called‌ ‌an‌ ‌ice‌ ‌field.‌ ‌The‌ ‌difference‌ ‌between‌ ‌an‌ ‌ice‌ ‌field‌ ‌and‌ ‌an‌ ‌ice‌ ‌cap‌ ‌is‌ ‌‌subtle‌.‌ ‌Essentially,‌ ‌the‌ ‌flow‌ ‌of‌ ‌an‌ ‌ice‌ ‌field‌ ‌is‌ ‌somewhat‌ ‌controlled‌ ‌by‌ ‌surrounding‌ ‌terrain‌ ‌and‌ ‌thus‌ ‌does‌ ‌not‌ ‌have‌ ‌the‌ ‌domelike‌ ‌shape‌ ‌of‌ ‌a‌ ‌cap.‌ ‌
There‌ ‌are‌ ‌several‌ ‌ice‌ ‌fields‌ ‌in‌ ‌the‌ ‌Wrangell.‌ ‌St.‌ ‌Elias,‌ ‌and‌ ‌Chugach‌ ‌mountains‌ ‌of‌ ‌Alaska‌ ‌and‌ ‌northern‌ ‌British‌ ‌Columbia.‌ ‌Less‌ ‌spectacular‌ ‌than‌ ‌large‌ ‌ice‌ ‌fields‌ ‌are‌ ‌the‌ ‌most‌ ‌common‌ ‌types‌ ‌of‌ ‌mountain‌ ‌glaciers:‌ ‌the‌ ‌cirque‌ ‌and‌ ‌valley‌ ‌glaciers.‌ ‌Cirque‌ ‌glaciers‌ ‌are‌ ‌found‌ ‌in‌ ‌depressions‌ ‌in‌ ‌the‌ ‌surface‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌land‌ ‌and‌ ‌have‌ ‌a‌ ‌characteristic‌ ‌circular‌ ‌shape.‌ ‌The‌ ‌ice‌ ‌of‌ ‌valley‌ ‌glaciers,‌ ‌bound‌ ‌by‌ ‌terrain,‌ ‌flows‌ ‌down‌ ‌valleys,‌ ‌curves‌ ‌around‌ ‌‌their‌ ‌‌corners,‌ ‌
and‌ ‌falls‌ ‌over‌ ‌cliffs.‌ ‌

‌The‌ ‌word‌ ‌“subtle”‌ ‌in‌ ‌paragraph‌ ‌5‌ ‌could‌ ‌best‌ ‌be‌ ‌replaced‌ ‌by____________.‌ ‌

WORLD WIDE WEB

World Wide Web (WWW), computer-based (1) _______ of information resources that combines text and multimedia. The information on the World Wide Web can be accessed and searched through the (2) _______, a global computer network. The World Wide Web is often (3) _______ to simply as “the Web.” The Web started to become a (4) _______ resource after 1993 when the first widely distributed browser provided a convenient way to (5) _______ a variety of information on the Internet

Choose the best answer:
________ my experience, very few people really understand the problem.

Choose the best answer:
Most of the pupils are _____ to pass the examination.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions:
Fish that live on the sea bottom benefit by being flat and hugging the contours. There are two very differcent types of flatfish and they have evolved in very separate ways. The skates ad rays, relatives of the rharks, have become flat in what might be called the obivious way. Their bodies have grown out sideways to form grat “wings”. They look as though they have been flattened but have remained symmetrical and “the right way up”. Conversely, fish such sas plaice, sole, and halibut have become flat in a different way. There are bony fish which have a marked tendency to be flattened in a vertical direction; they are much “taller” than they are wide. They use their whole, vertically flattened bodies as swimming surfaces, which undulat through the water as they move. Therefore, when their ancestors migrate to the seabed, they lay on one side than on their bellies. However, this raises the problem that one eye was always looking down into the sand and was effectively useless – In evolution this problem was soleved by the lower eye “moving” around the other side. We see this process off moving around enacted in the development of every young bony flatfish. It starts life swimming near the surface, and is symmetrical and vertically flattened, but then the skull starts to grow in a strange asymmetrical twisted fashion,, so that one eye, for instance the left, moves over the top of the head upwards, an old Picasso – like vision. Incidentally, some species of 20 flatfish settle on the right side, others on left, and others on either side.

It can be inferred from the passage that the early life of a flatfish is     .

She asked _____.

(227)_____

Choose the best answer:

Books help broaden the mind. Books also provide a good source of entertainment.

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
One of the most important social developments that helped to make possible a shift in thinking about the role of public education was the effect of the baby boom of the 1950’s and 1960’s on the schools. In the 1920’s, but especially in the Depression conditions of the 1930’s, the United States experienced a declining birth rate – every thousand women aged fifteen to forty-four gave birth to about 118 live children in 1920, 89.2 in 1930, 75.8 in 1936, and 80 in 1940. With the growing prosperity brought on by the Second World War and the economic boom that followed it, young people married and established households earlier and began to raise larger families than had their predecessors during the Depression. Birth rates rose to 102 per thousand in 1946, 106.2 in 1950, and 118 in 1955. Although economics was probably the most important determinant, it is not the only explanation for the baby boom. The increased value placed on the idea of the family also helps to explain this rise in birth rates. The baby boomers began streaming into the first grade by the mid-1940’s and became a flood by 1950. The public school system suddenly found itself overtaxed. While the number of schoolchildren rose because of wartime and postwar conditions, these same conditions made the schools even less prepared to cope with the flood. The wartime economy meant that few new schools were built between 1940 and 1945. Moreover, during the war and in the boom times that followed large numbers of teachers left their profession for better-paying jobs elsewhere in the economy. Therefore, in the 1950’s and 1960’s, the baby boom hit an antiquated and inadequate school system. Consequently, the “custodial rhetoric” of the 1930’s and early 1940’s no longer made sense; that is, keeping youths aged sixteen and older out of the labor market by keeping them in school could no longer be a high priority for an institution unable to find space and staff to teach younger children aged five to sixteen. With the baby boom, the focus of educators and of laymen interested in education inevitably turned toward the lower grades and back to basic academic skills and discipline. The system no longer had much interest in offering nontraditional, new, and extra services to older youths
3. The word “overtaxed” in line 14 is closest in meaning to _________.

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Cities develop as a result of functions that they can perform. Some functions result directly from the a great city regardless of the disadvantageous ingenuity of the citizenry, but most functions activity. result from the needs of the local area and of the surrounding hinterland (the region that supplies goods to the city and to which the city furnishes services and other goods). Geographers often make a distinction between the situation and the site of a city. Situation refers to the general position in relation to the surrounding region, whereas site involves in physical characteristics of the specific location. Situation is normally much more important to the continuing prosperity of a city. If a city is well situated in regard to its hinterland, its development is much more likely to continue. Chicago, for example, possesses an almost unparalleled situation: it is located at the southern end of a huge lake that forces East-West transportation lines to be compressed into its vicinity, and at a meeting of significant land and water transport routes. It also overlooks what is one of the world's fiest large farming regions. These factors ensured that Chicago would become characteristics of the available site, such as being prone to floding during thunderstorm Similarly, it can be argued that much of New York City's importance stems from its early and continuing advantage of situation. Philadelphia and Boston both originated at about the same time as New York and shared New York's location at the Western end of one of the world's most important oceanic trade routes, but only New York possesses an easy-access functional connection (the Hudson-Mohawk lowland) to the vast Midwestern hinterland. This account does not alone explain New York's primacy, but it does include several important factors. Among the many aspects of situation that help to explain why some cities grow and others do not, original location on a navigable waterway seems particularly applicable. Of course, such characteristics as slope, drainage, power resources, river crossings, coastal shapes, and other physical characteristics help to determine city location, but such factors are normally more signifiant in early stages of city development than later.
9. The word "functional" in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to: 

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Television has transformed politics in the United States by changing the way in which information is disseminated, by altering political campaigns, and by changing citizen's patterns of response to politics. By giving citizens independent access to the candidates, television diminished the role of the political party in the selection of the major party candidates. By centering politics on the person of the candidates, television accelerated the citizen's focus on character rather than issues. Television has altered the forms of political communication as well. The messages on which most of US reply are briefer than they once were. The stump speech, a political speech given by travelling politicians and lasting 1/2 to 2 hours, which characterized nineteenth-century political discourse, has given way to the 30-second advertisement and the 10 second "sound bite" in broadcast news. Increasingly the audience for speeches is not that standing in front of the politician but rather the viewing audience tvho will hear and see a snippet of the speech on the news. In these abbreviated forms, much of what constituted the traditional political discourse of earlier ages has been lost. In 15 or 30 seconds, a peaker cannot establish the historical context that shaped the issue in question, cannot detail the probable causes of the problem, and cannot examine alternative proposals to argue that one is preferable to others. In snippets, politicians assert but do not argue. Because television is an intimate medium, speaking through it require a changed political style that was more conversational, personal, and visual than that of the old-style stump speech. Reliance on television means that increasingly our political world contains memorable pictures rather than memorable words. Schools teach US to analyze words and print. However, in a word in which politics is increasingly visual, informed citizenship requires a new set of skills. Recognizing the power of television's pictures, politicians craft televisual, staged events, called pseudo-event, designed to attract media coverage. Much of the political activity we see on television news has been crafted by politicians, their speechwriters, and their public relations advisers for televised consumption. Sound bites in news and answers to questions in debates increasingly sound like advertisements.
6. The phrase "given way to" in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to: 

How men first learnt to creat words is unknown; in other words, the origin of language is a (1) _____ . All we really know is that men, unlike animals, somehow invented certain sounds to express thoughts and feelings, actions and things so that they could communicate with each other; and that later they agreed (2) _____ certain signs, called letters, which could be combined to represent those sounds, and which could be written down. These sounds, whether spoken or written in letters, are called words. Great writers are those who not only have great thoughts but also express these thoughts in words that appeal powerfully to our minds and emotions. This charming and telling use of words is what we call literary style. Above all, the real poet is a master of words. He can (3) _____ his meaning in words which sing like music, and which by their position and association can (4) _____ men to tears. We should, therefore, learn to choose our words carefully, (5) _____ they will make our speech silly and vulgar.

(12)_________

Rewrite the sentence
We/ before/ seen/ have/ Physical/ never/ this/ experiment.

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Ever since it was first possible to make a real robot, people have been hoping for the invention of a machine that would do all the necessary jobs around the house. If boring and repetitive factory work could be (1) ________ by robots, why not boring and repetitive household chores too? For a long time the only people who really gave the problem their attention were amateur inventors And they came up against a major difficulty. That is, housework is actually very complex It has never been one job it has always been many. A factor robot (2) ________ one task endlessly until it is reprogrammed to do something else. It doesn’t run the whole factory. A housework robot on the other hand, has to do several different (3) ________ of cleaning and carrying jobs and also has to cope (4) ________ all the different shapes and positions of rooms, furniture, ornaments, cats and dogs. (5) ________, there have been some developments recently. Sensors are available to help the robot locate objects and avoid obstacles. We have the technology to produce the hardware. All that is missing the software- the programs that will operate the machine

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions:
Most of the time, we avoid strangers. It is one of the first lessons we learn (1)__________  children. But according to Dr. Richard Wiseman, it is a habit we should change. Talking to strangers opens up new possibilities in life. It increases the chances of finding luck and friendship. Choosing which strangers to talk to obviously requires a bit of common (2)___________ and judgement, but Liz Barry and Bill Wetzel from New York were so inspired by the idea that they started the “Talk to Me” project. For three years, they sat at bus stops, on street corners and any other place they could find in New York holding a sign saying ‘Talk to me’. They encountered hostility and (3)__________ sometimes, but in general they were surprised by the kindness they encountered. Many philosophical and religious traditions tell us that happiness can be found by living in the present. Now there is some scientific support (4)___________ this belief. Recent research by Harvard University psychologists found that we spend 46.9 percent of our (5)____________ time daydreaming. And when we daydream, we are less happy, the research found

Read an article about Elizabeth Taylor and choose the best answer.

Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born on February 27, 1932, in London, England. One of film's most celebrated stars, Elizabeth Taylor has fashioned a career that's covered more than six decades, accepting roles that have not only showcased her beauty, but her ability to take on emotionally charged characters.

Taylor's American parents, both art dealers, were residing in London when she was born. Soon after the outbreak of World War II, the Taylors returned to the United States and settled into their new life in Los Angeles.

Performance was in Taylor's blood. Her mother had worked as an actress until she married. At the age of 3, the young Taylor started dancing, and eventually gave a recital for Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. Not long after relocating to California a family friend suggested the Taylors' daughter take a screen test.

She soon signed a contract with Universal Studios, and made her screen debut at the age of 10 in There's One Born Every Minute (1942). She followed that up with a bigger role in Lassie Come Home (1943) and later The White Cliffs of Dover (1944).

Her breakout role, however, came in 1944 with National Velvet, in a role Elizabeth Taylor spent four months working to get. The film subsequently turned out to be a huge hit that pulled in more than $4 million and made the 12-year-old actress a huge star.

Her role in National Velvet ____________________.