Choose the best answer:
I found it truly ____ to hear that Mr. Kim had been appointed to the committee.

 

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Light, litter and noise from boating and water sports are all major stressors on marine  life, a new study aims to enhance our knowledge of the effects of these stressors. Researchers will be gathering data from sporting events, leisure boating, tourism and beach activities. The project will assess the impact that these activities have on the environment and marine life in order to offer further guidance to organisers and water sports enthusiasts.  Mike Laflin said: “I’ve worked in the sports industry for 30 years, providing market intelligence and information services and a few years ago I started to measure the impact of sporting events on host cities and nations. I’m excited to support this new research so that we can understand more about how our activities impact the environment and how we can mitigate against any negative effects.” Theresa Laflin said: “We are very excited to be able to support all the wonderful work that the university is doing in the area of marine research, and for increasing our awareness of the detrimental impact we have on our environment.”  The PhD project will be supervised by Tamara Galloway, Professor of Ecotoxicology at Exeter, who conducts research into the human health effects of pollutants, particularly micro-plastics in water; and Steve Simpson, Associate Professor in Marine Biology and Global Change at the University of Exeter, who has shown that man-made noise is having a detrimental effect on the marine world. Simpson said: “Noise from offshore construction, shipping and motorboats all change the ocean soundscape, disrupting acoustic communication, robbing animals of fundamental sensory information and causing stress. However, working with industry we have found that by managing when and where noise is made, and developing new technology to reduce the noise, we can mitigate the impacts of noise. Finding solutions to reduce the impacts of sporting activities will further help to protect the marine environment.” Galloway said: “We’ll be looking at all forms of pollution both from everyday leisure activities and major sporting events. Investigating specific events gives us the opportunity to measure environmental quality before and after the event, and to return after a period of time to assess recovery. Such an event could be seen as an ‘acute stressor’. Then we’ll also assess ongoing sporting activities, akin to a ‘chronic stressor’ and will try to compare and contrast different types of impact.” 
4. The word “supervised” in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to _______

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In 1860 the United States was predominantly rural. Most people were engaged in  agriculture, and about 80 percent of the population actually resided on farms or in small villages. Only 20 percent lived in towns and cities of 2,500 or more, the census definition of an urban area after 1880. New York alone in 1860 had more than 1 million people, and only 8 cities could boast about a population of more than 100,000. Thereafter the transition from a rural to a predominantly urban nation was especially remarkable because of its speed. By 1900, urbanization, with all of its benefits, problems, and prospects for a fuller life, became the mark of modern America The changing physical landscape reflected the shift to an urbanized society. Railroad terminals, factories, skyscrapers, apartment houses, streetcars, electric engines, department stores, and the increased pace of life were all signs of an emerging urban America. Indeed, the vitality, dynamic quality, variety, and restless experimentalism in society centered in the urban communities where the only constant factor was change itself.  Urbanization did not proceed uniformly throughout the nation. New England and the Middle Atlantic states contained the highest percentage of city dwellers. In the Middle West, the growth of cities such as Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland, and St. Louis showed the importance of urbanization in that region. The three West Coast states also experienced rapid urban growth. In the South, urbanization developed much more slowly, although by 1910 the expansion of transportation, commerce, and industry had greatly increased the population of older cities such as New Orleans and stimulated the growth of new urban centers such as Birmingham. However, the South remained predominantly rural. Only somewhat more than 20 percent of the population in that region was urban by 1910.  In some regions the urban impact had a depressing effect upon the surrounding rural communities. Much of New England in the late nineteenth century presented a discouraging picture of abandoned farms and sickly villages as people forsook the countryside and rushed to the larger towns and cities. In the Middle West, particularly Ohio and Illinois, hundreds of townships lost population in the 1880’s.
3. It is implied in paragraph 1 that people were attracted to urban because of ____

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A new method for analyzing DNA collected from waterways which can help identify endangered bird species has been developed with the help of researchers from The University of Western Australia. The DNA analysis method developed also with researchers from Charles Darwin University and the Northern Territory’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources provides a new way of understanding the distribution of endangered birds by analyzing DNA collected in the waterways where they drink. The research, which will be published in Endangered Species Research Journal, offers new possibilities to support conservation efforts and increase understanding of birds that are scarce and otherwise hard to capture data on. The team developed a probe to locate DNA in water samples of the critically endangered Gouldian Finch (Erythrura gouldiae), a rainbowcolored grassfinch endemic to the savanna woodlands of northern Australia. UWA Professor Simon Jarman from the School of Biological Sciences said the researchers thought it would be hard to detect bird DNA in tropical conditions where the rate of DNA breakdown was high. “We were also sampling from pools where the water was not flowing and there was a lot of sediment and algal and bacterial growth,” Professor Jarman said. “However we were really pleased to get reliable bird detections from our methods showing DNA can be used to detect many species from the poles to the equator.” Professor Jarman said the Gouldian Finch was a beautiful and iconic species that was endangered due to habitat loss from being hunted extensively. "The DNA method will help to map where the finches are currently found with great accuracy, which will help persuade people to conserve the areas where they live," he said.  
4. According to paragraph 3, why did Professor Simon Jarman describe the investigated area?

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Alzheimer's disease impairs a person's ability to recall memories, both distant and as a few hours before. Although there is no yet a cure for the illness, there may be hope for a cure with a protein called nerve growth factor. The protein is produced by nerve cells in the same region of the brain where Alzheimer's occurs. Based on this relationship, scientists from the University of Lund in Sweden and the University of California at San Diego designed an experiment to test whether doses of nerve growth factor could reverse the effects of memory loss caused by Alzheimer's. Using a group of rats with impaired memory, the scientists gave half of the rats doses of nerve growth factor while giving the other half a blood protein as a placebo, thus creating a control group. At the end of the four-week test, the rats given the nerve growth factor performed equally to rats with normal memory abilities. While the experiment do not show that nerve growth factor can stop the general process of deterioration caused by Alzheimer's, they do show potential as a means to slowing the process significantly.
1. With what topic is this passage mainly concerned?

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the undelined part that needs correction in each of the following questions:
Being aware of one's own emotions - recognizing and acknowledging feelings as they happen - is at the very heart of Emotional Intelligence. And this awareness encompasses not only moods but also thoughts about those moods. People who are able to monitor their feelings as they arise are less likely to be ruled by them and are thus better able to manage their emotions.
Managing emotions does not mean suppressing them; nor does it mean giving free rein to every feeling. Psychologist Daniel Goleman, one of several authors who have popularized the notion of Emotional Intelligence, insisted that the goal is balance and that every feeling has value and significance. As Goleman said, "A life without passion would be a dull wasteland of neutrality, cut off and isolated from the richness of life itself." Thus, we manage our emotions by expressing them in an appropriate manner. Emotions can also be managed by engaging in activities that cheer us up, soothe our hurts, or reassure us when we feel anxious.
Clearly, awareness and management of emotions are not independent. For instance, you might think that individuals who seem to experience their feelings more intensely than others would be less able to manage them. However, a critical component of awareness of emotions is the ability to assign meaning to them - to know why we are experiencing a particular feeling or mood.
Psychologists have found that, among individuals who experience intense emotions, individual differences in the ability to assign meaning to those feelings predict differences in the ability to manage them. In other words, if two individuals are intensely angry, the one who is better able to understand why he or she is angry will also be better able to manage the anger.
Self-motivation refers to strong emotional self-control, which enables a person to get moving and pursue worthy goals, persist at tasks even when frustrated, and resist the temptation to act on impulse. Resisting impulsive behavior is, according to Goleman, "the root of all emotional self- control."
Of all the attributes of Emotional Intelligence, the ability to postpone immediate gratification and to persist in working toward some greater future gain is most closely related to success - whether one is trying to build a business, get a college degree, or even stay on a diet. One researcher examined whether this trait can predict a child's success in school. The study showed that 4-year-old children who can delay instant gratification in order to advance toward some future goal will be “far superior as students” when they graduate from high school than will 4-year-olds who are not able to resist the impulse to satisfy their immediate wishes.

The word “pursue” in paragraph 4 mostly means     .

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Before the mid-nineteenth century, people in the United States ate most foods only in season. Drying, smoking, and salting could preserve meat for a short time, but the availability of fresh meat, like that of fresh milk, was very limited; there was no way to prevent spoilage. But in 1810 a French inventor named Nicolas Appert developed the cooking-and-sealing process of canning. And in the 1850’s an American named Gail Borden developed a means of condensing and preserving milk. Canned goods and condensed milk became more common during the 1860’s, but supplies remained low because cans had to be made by hand. By 1880, however, inventors had fashioned stamping and soldering machines that mass- produced cans from tinplate. Suddenly all kinds of food could be preserved and bought at all times of the year. Other trends and inventions had also helped make it possible for Americans to vary their daily diets. Growing urban populations created demand that encouraged fruit and vegetable farmers to raise more produce. Railroad refrigerator cars enabled growers and meat packers to ship perishables great distances and to preserve them for longer periods. Thus, by the 1890’s, northern city dwellers could enjoy southern and western strawberries, grapes, and tomatoes, previously available for a month at most, for up to six months of the year. In addition, increased use of iceboxes enabled families to store perishables. An easy means of producing ice commercially had been invented in the 1870’s, and by 1900 the nation had more than two thousand commercial ice plants, most of which made home deliveries. The icebox became a fixture in most homes and remained so until the mechanized refrigerator replaced it in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Almost everyone now had a more diversified diet. Some people continued to eat mainly foods that were heavy in starches or carbohydrates, and not everyone could afford meat. Nevertheless, many families could take advantage of previously unavailable fruits, vegetables, and dairy products to achieve more varied fare.
5. It can be inferred that railroad refrigerator cars came into use: 

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A new method for analyzing DNA collected from waterways which can help identify endangered bird species has been developed with the help of researchers from The University of Western Australia. The DNA analysis method developed also with researchers from Charles Darwin University and the Northern Territory’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources provides a new way of understanding the distribution of endangered birds by analyzing DNA collected in the waterways where they drink. The research, which will be published in Endangered Species Research Journal, offers new possibilities to support conservation efforts and increase understanding of birds that are scarce and otherwise hard to capture data on. The team developed a probe to locate DNA in water samples of the critically endangered Gouldian Finch (Erythrura gouldiae), a rainbowcolored grassfinch endemic to the savanna woodlands of northern Australia. UWA Professor Simon Jarman from the School of Biological Sciences said the researchers thought it would be hard to detect bird DNA in tropical conditions where the rate of DNA breakdown was high. “We were also sampling from pools where the water was not flowing and there was a lot of sediment and algal and bacterial growth,” Professor Jarman said. “However we were really pleased to get reliable bird detections from our methods showing DNA can be used to detect many species from the poles to the equator.” Professor Jarman said the Gouldian Finch was a beautiful and iconic species that was endangered due to habitat loss from being hunted extensively. "The DNA method will help to map where the finches are currently found with great accuracy, which will help persuade people to conserve the areas where they live," he said.  
4. The word “they” in paragraph 4 refers to _______

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While trust in media as a whole may be at an all-time low, a new study by the EBU has shown the public’s trust in traditional media (broadcast and the written press) is actually on the rise. However, people’s trust in new media continues to fall: 61% of European countries distrust the internet while 97% have no faith in social networks. The EBU’s new report – Trust in Media 2018 – shows the figures illustrating the differences between people’s trust in traditional and new media. Broadcast media remain the most trusted forms of media with 59% of people tending to trust radio (equivalent to 2017) and 51% trusting TV in the EU (an increase of 1 percentage point on 2017). Trust in the written press has also slowly improved over the last 5 years and it is now trusted by 47% of EU citizens. At the same time, people’s trust in the internet and social media has been eroded by fake news, misinformation and disinformation. Only 34% of EU citizens trust the internet and a mere 20% now trust social networks (down from 36% and 21% respectively in 2017). Trust in Media 2018 is based on data published in the 88th Eurobarometer survey and gives an idea of European citizens’ perception of the trustworthiness of different types of media. The survey consists of approximately 1000 face-to-face interviews in the 33 countries covered by the study. The report shows how European citizens’ trust in broadcast media is closely connected with a free and independent press. The higher the level of trust in a country’s radio and TV, the higher press freedom in that country tends to be. There are also strong regional differences with the Nordics and Albania tending to trust traditional media the most while Eastern Europeans tend to trust social networks and the internet more. The EBU’s Head of Strategy and the Media Intelligence Service Roberto Suárez Candel said: “The results of our research show that good quality, impartial media is highly valued by the public. “Public service media play an important role in that and, together, our Members make an invaluable contribution to society. The role of our public service Members in upholding democratic values and supporting media freedom is clearly demonstrated by the results of our research.”  
4. The word “it” in paragraph 2 refers to _____.

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Set aside time each day Most of us can find 15 minutes or half an hour each day for some specific regular activity. It may be a free period or a regular wait, stay in the queue for a bus or meal - even while eating breakfast. One famous surgeon always made it a rule to spend at least 15 minutes on general reading before he went to sleep each night. Whether he went to bed at 10:00 p.m or 2:30 a.m. made no difference. Even if you cannot keep to this kind of discipline, it is a good idea to make sure you always have a general interest book in your pocket. Don’t forget it should be a book which entertains you and the English must not be too difficult for you. Checking your progress through pacing Nearly all speed reading courses have a "pacing element - some timing device which lets the student know how many words a minute he is reading. You can do this simply by looking at your watch every 5 or 10 minutes and noting down the page number you have reached. How do you know when 5 minutes have passed on your watch if you are busy reading the book? Well, this is difficult at first. A friend can help by timing you over a set period. Pace yourself every three or four days, always with the same kind of easy, general interest book. You should soon notice your habitual w. p. m rate creeping up. Check comprehension Obviously there is little point in increasing your w. p. m rate if you do not understand what you are reading. When you are consciously trying to increase your reading speed, stop after every chapter (if you are reading a novel) or every section or group of ten or twelve pages (if it is a textbook) and ask yourself a few questions about what you have been reading. If you find you have lost the thread of the story, or you cannot remember clearly the details of what was said, re-read the section or chapter. “Lightening speed” exercise Take 4 or 5 pages in the general interest book you happen to be reading at the time. Read them as fast as you possibly can. Do not bother about whether you understand or not. Now go back and read them at what you feel to be your normal w. p. m rate, the rate at which you can comfortably understand. After a “lightening speed” read through (probably around 6 w. p. m) you will usually find that your normal speed has increased -  perhaps by as much as 50 -100 w. p. m.
8. The purpose of pausing for thought every so often is to ____

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Most young people and their families have some ups and downs during their teenage years, but things usually improve by late adolescence as children become more mature. And family relationships tend to stay strong right through. For teenagers, parents and families are a source of care and emotional support. Families give teenagers practical, financial and material help. And most teenagers still want to spend time with their families, sharing ideas and having fun. Adolescence can be a difficult time-your child is going through rapid physical changes as well as emotional ups and downs. Young people aren’t always sure where they fit, and they’re still trying to work it out. Adolescence can also be a time when peer influences and relationships can cause you and your child some stress. During this time your family is still a secure emotional base where your child feels loved and accepted, no matter what’s going on in the rest of his life. Your family can build and support your child’s confidence, self-belief, optimism and identity. When your family sets rules, boundaries and standards of behavior, you give your child a sense of consistency and predictability. And believe it or not, your life experiences and knowledge can be really useful to your child-she just might not always want you to know that! Supportive and close family relationships protect your child from risky behavior like alcohol and other drug use, and problems like depression. Your support and interest in what your child is doing at school can boost his desire to do well academically too. Strong family relationships can go a long way towards helping your child grow into a well-adjusted, considerate and caring adult.  
3. What is NOT mentioned as a trouble-making factor during teenage years?

Read the passage below and choose one correct answer for each question.

Movements and gestures by the hands, arms, legs, and other parts of the body and face are the most pervasive types of nonverbal messages and the most difficult to control. It is estimated that there are over 200.000 physical signs capable of stimulating meaning in another person. For example, there are 23 distinct eyebrow movements, each capable of stimulating a different meaning. Humans express attitudes toward themselves and vividly through body movements and postures. Body movements express true messages about feelings that cannot be masked. Because such avenues of communication are visual, they travel much farther than spoken words and are unaffected by the presence of noise that interrupt, or cancels out speech. People communicate by the way they walk, stand, and sit. We tend to be more relaxed with friends or when addressing those of lower status. Body orientation also indicates status or liking of the other individual. More direct orientation is related to a more positive attitude. Body movements and postures alone have no exact meaning, but they can greatly support or reject the spoken word. If these two means of communication are dichotomized and contradict each other, some result will be a disordered image and most often the nonverbal will dominate.

Nonverbal communication ________.

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Most households in the UK will have a broadband connection and a lot of those  houses will also have experienced connection or speed issues. But what if there was a way to connect to the internet and benefit from a direct connection with much faster speeds? Enter Li-Fi.  Li-Fi stands for Light Fidelity and is a Visible Light Communications (VLC) system which runs wireless communications that travel at very high speeds. With Li-Fi, your light blub is essentially your router. It uses common household LED light bulbs to enable data transfer, boasting speeds of up to 224 gigabits per second.  Li-Fi and Wi-Fi are quite similar as both transmit data electromagnetically. However, Wi-Fi uses radio waves, while Li-Fi runs on visible light waves. This means that it accommodates a photo-detector to receive light signals and a signal processing element to convert the data into “streamable” content. For example, data is fed into an LED light bulb, it then sends data at rapid speeds to the photo-detector. The tiny changes in the rapid dimming of LED bulbs is then converted by the “receiver” into electrical signal. The signal is then converted back into a binary data stream that we would recognise as web, video and audio applications that run on internet-enabled devices.  While some may think that Li-Fi with its 224 gigabits per second leaves Wi-Fi in the dust, Li-Fi’s exclusive use of visible light could halt a mass uptake. Li-Fi signals cannot pass through walls, so in order to enjoy full connectivity, capable LED bulbs will need to be placed throughout the home. Not to mention, Li-Fi requires the light bulb is on at all times to provide connectivity, meaning that the lights will need to be on during the day. Additionally, where there is a lack of light bulbs, there is a lack of Li-Fi internet so Li-Fi does take a hit when it comes to public Wi-Fi networks.  However, using Li-Fi instead of Wi-Fi, you’ll negate lots of security problems associated with shared and often overloaded broadband networks. It will also be advantageous in areas where radio frequency waves do not reach. Due to its impressive speeds, Li-Fi could make a huge impact on the internet of things too, with data transferred at much higher levels with even more devices able to connect to one another. 
8. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

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A friend once boasted to me that she had seen the film The Sound of Music no fewer than 17 times. Personally, I cannot imagine any greater (1) ______of one’s time (once was enough for me), but I have to confess there are films I, too, have watched on multiple occasions without ever growing tired of them. Indeed, some films have benefited (2)______ a second viewing, in exactly the same way that one’s enjoyment of a novel can improve on the second, third or fourth reading. It often feels like a different experience. And a recent study has shown that it actually is different, that reading books, watching films again or revisiting places (3)_____ you have been happy, ‘results in a new or renewed appreciation’ of the experience. (4)______study says that doing something again enables people not only to relieve the past experience, but also to discover new details. “Therefore, the experience is different, (5) _______ it is repeated,” the research concludes. “By doing it again, people get more out of it.”

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“Evidence has piled up to show that our relationships, including friendships, affect  our health at a much deeper level, tweaking not just our psychology and motivation but the function and structure of our organs and cells,” writes science journalist Lydia Denworth in the book “Friendship: The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life’s Fundamental Bond” (W.W. Norton), out now. The average American claims to have about four close friends, and the great majority of us have between two and six. Only 5 percent of those studied had more than eight, while 5 percent had no close friends.  Still, 20 percent of us call ourselves lonely — and the health implications are overwhelming. We’ve known about the fallout of loneliness since a 1988 Science paper concluded that being lonely “constitute[s] a major risk factor for health” equivalent to obesity, smoking and lack of physical exercise. According to Denworth’s research, lack of social contact in the elderly costs Medicare $6.7 billion a year. There are purely positive relationships, which make up about half of our social networks, and then purely negative ones, which are rare. And then there are the uncomfortably ambivalent ones that land in-between — aka “frenemies.” These ambivalent bonds make up about half of our social networks, but the research on them is pretty stark: “Ambivalent relationships are bad for us,” writes Denworth. These relationships are reportedly causing levels of inflammation, aging, blood pressure and even greater artery calcification. This is true for even not so intimate relationships, such as colleagues and neighbors, too. Sadly, about 50 percent of married view their spouses ambivalently, according to Brigham Young University researchers. According to the book, it takes between 40 and 60 hours to create a casual friendship and over 200 hours to become a “best friend.”

3. The word “implications” in paragraph 2 can be replaced by______.

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NASA is developing the capabilities needed to send humans to an asteroid by 2025 and Mars in the 2030s – goals outlined in the bipartisan NASA Authorization Act of 2010 and in the U.S. National Space Policy, also issued in 2010. Mars is a rich destination for scientific discovery and robotic and human exploration as we expand our presence into the solar system. Its formation and evolution are comparable to Earth, helping us learn more about our own planet’s history and future. Mars had conditions suitable for life in its past. Future exploration could uncover evidence of life, answering one of the fundamental mysteries of the cosmos: Does life exist beyond Earth? While robotic explorers have studied Mars for more than 40 years, NASA’s path for the human exploration of Mars begins in low-Earth orbit aboard the International Space Station. Astronauts on the orbiting laboratory are helping us prove many of the technologies and communications systems needed for human missions to deep space, including Mars. The space station also advances our understanding of how the body changes in space and how to protect astronaut health. Our next step is deep space, where NASA will send a robotic mission to capture and redirect an asteroid to orbit the moon. Astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft will explore the asteroid in the 2020s, returning to Earth with samples. This experience in human spaceflight beyond low-Earth orbit will help NASA test new systems and capabilities, such as Solar Electric Propulsion, which we’ll need to send cargo as part of human missions to Mars. Beginning in FY 2018, NASA’s powerful Space Launch System rocket will enable these “proving ground” missions to test new capabilities. Human missions to Mars will rely on Orion and an evolved version of SLS that will be the most powerful launch vehicle ever flown. A fleet of robotic spacecraft and rovers already are on and around Mars, dramatically increasing our knowledge about the Red Planet and paving the way for future human explorers. The Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover measured radiation on the way to Mars and is sending back radiation data from the surface. This data will help us plan how to protect the astronauts who will explore Mars. Future missions like the Mars 2020 rover, seeking signs of past life, also will demonstrate new technologies that could help astronauts survive on Mars. Engineers and scientists around the U.S. are working hard to develop the technologies astronauts will use to one day live and work on Mars, and safely return home from the next giant leap for humanity. NASA also is a leader in a Global Exploration Roadmap, working with international partners and the U.S. commercial space industry on a coordinated expansion of human presence into the solar system, with human missions to the surface of Mars as the driving goal.  
5. The word “capture” in the paragraph 4 could be best replaced by __________

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Language preservation is the effort to prevent languages from becoming unknown. A language is at (1)______ of being lost when it no longer is taught to younger generations, while fluent speakers of the language (usually the elderly) die. Language is an important part of any society, because it enables people to communicate and express themselves. When a language dies (2)_______, future generations lose a vital part of the culture that is necessary to completely understand it. This makes language a vulnerable aspect of cultural heritage, and it becomes especially important to (3) __________ it. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), from facts published in their “Atlas of Languages in Danger of Disappearing,” there are an estimated 6,000 languages spoken worldwide today, and half of the world’s population speaks the eight most common. More than 3,000 languages are reportedly spoken by fewer than 10,000 people each. Ethnologue, a reference work published by SIL International, has cataloged the world’s known (4)_______ languages, and it estimates that 417 languages are on the verge of extinction. There are different factors that can (5)________ a language in danger of becoming extinct. One is when a language is no longer being taught to the children of the community, or at least to a large number of the children. In these cases, the remaining fluent speakers of the language are generally the older members of the community, and when they pass away, the language dies out with them

A considerable body of research has demonstrated a correlation between birth order and aspects such as temperament and behavior, and some psychologists believe that birth order significantly affects the development of personality. Psychologist Alfred Adler was a pioneer in the study of the relationship between birth order and personality. A key point in his research and in the hypothesis that he developed based on it was that it was not the actual numerical birth position that affected personality; instead, it was the similar responses in large numbers of families to children in specific birth order positions that had an effect. For example, first-borns, who have their parents to themselves initially and do not have to deal with siblings in the first part of their lives, tend to have their first socialization experiences with adults and therefore tend to find the process of peer socialization more difficult. In contrast, later-born children have to deal with siblings from the first moment of their lives and therefore tend to have stronger socialization skills.

Numerous studies since Adler's have been conducted on the effect ofbirth order and personality. These studies have tended to classify birth order types into four different categories: first-born, second-born and/or middle, last, and only child.

Studies have consistently shown that first-born children tend to exhibit similar, positive and negative personality traits. First-borns have consistently been linked with academic achievement in various studies; in one study, the number of National Merit scholarship winners who are first- borns was found to be equal to the number of second-and third-borns combined. First-borns have been found to be more responsible and assertive than those born in other birth-order positions and tend to rise to positions of leadership more often than others; more first-borns have served in the u.s. Congress and as u.s. presidents than have those born in other birth-order positions. However, studies have shown that first-borns tend to be more subject to stress and were considered problem children more often than later-borns.

Second-born and/or middle children demonstrate markedly different tendencies from first- borns. They tend to feel inferior to the older child or children because it is difficult for them to comprehend that their lower level of achievement is a function of age rather than ability, and they often try to succeed in areas other than those in which their older sibling or siblings excel. They tend to be more trusting, accepting, and focused on others than the more self-centered first-borns, and they tend to have a comparatively higher level of success in team sports than do first-borns or only children, who more often excel in individual sports.

The last-born child is the one who tends to be the eternal baby of the family and thus often exhibits a strong sense of security. Last-borns collectively achieve the highest degree of social success and demonstrate the highest levels of self-esteem of all the birth-order positions. They often exhibit less competitiveness than older brothers and sisters and are more likely to take part in less competitive group games or in social organizations such as sororities and fraternities.

Only children tend to exhibit some of the main characteristics of first-borns and some of the characteristics of last-borns. Only children tend to exhibit the strong sense of security and self-esteem exhibited by last-borns while, like first-borns, they are more achievement oriented and more likely than middle-or last-borns to achieve academic success. However, only children tend to have the most problems establishing close relationships and exhibit a lower need for affiliation than other children.

Which of the following is NOT true?

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Coal, oil and gas get more than $370bn a year in support, compared with $100bn for renewables, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) report found. Just 10-30% of the fossil fuel subsidies would pay for a global transition to clean energy, the IISD said. Ending fossil fuel subsidies has long been seen as vital to tackling the climate emergency, with the G20 nations pledging in 2009 to phase them out, but progress has been limited. The new analysis shows how redirecting some of the fossil fuel subsidies could decisively tip the balance in favour of green energy, making it the cheapest electricity available and instigating a rapid global rollout. The transition from polluting fossil fuels to clean energy is already under way. Annual investment in renewables has been greater than that in fossil fuel electricity generation since 2008 and new renewable capacity has exceeded fossil fuel power each year since 2014. But progress is slow compared with the urgency required, said Bridle. “There is no question that renewables can power the energy system,” he said. “The question now is can we transit quickly enough away from fuels like coal, and subsidy reform is a very obvious step towards that.  Reform of fossil fuel subsidies could have a significant impact on global heating. An earlier IISD study of 20 countries with large fossil fuel subsidies found that a 30% swap to renewables would lead to emissions reductions of between 11% and 18%. Most experts define fossil fuel subsidies as financial or tax support for those buying fuel or the companies producing it. The IMF also includes the cost of the damage fossil fuel burning causes to climate and health, leading to an estimate of $5.2tn of fossil fuel subsidies in 2017, or $10m a minute. Ending the subsidies would cut global emissions by about a quarter, the IMF estimates, and halve the number of early deaths from fossil fuel air pollution. Bridle said funding fossil fuel subsidies was “madness”, but said ending them could cause short-term price rises and political difficulties, as the benefits of lower costs in the future and reduced air pollution are less obvious. “There are political problems but it is worth persevering because the prize is so big,” he said. “You have to bring people along with you.” Gençsü said governments must ensure that the most vulnerable people were not adversely affected by changes. 
5. According to paragraph 4, what conclusion does all the statistics point at?

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Elephants need a large amount of habitat because they eat so much. Humans have become their direct competitors for living space. Human populations in Africa and Asia have quadrupled since the turn of the century, the fastest growth rate on the planet. Forest and savanna habitat has been converted to cropland, pastureland for livestock, and timber for housing and fuel. Humans do not regard elephants as good neighbors. When humans and elephants live close together, elephants raid crops, and rogue elephants rampage through villages. Local people shoot elephants because they fear them and regard them as pests. Some countries have established culling programs: park officials or hunters kill a predetermined number of elephants to keep herds manageable and minimize human-elephant conflicts. Hunting has been a major cause of the decline in elephant populations. Elephants became prized trophies for big-game hunters after Europeans arrived in Africa. More recently, and more devastatingly, hunters have slaughtered elephants for their ivory tusks. The ivory trade became a serious threat to elephants in the 1970s. A sudden oil shortage caused the world economy to collapse, and ivory became more valuable than gold. In fact, ivory has been called “white gold” because it is beautiful, easily carved, durable, and pleasing to the touch. Most of the world’s ivory is carved in Japan, Hong Kong, and other Asian countries, where skilled carvers depend on a supply of ivory for their livelihoods  Hunting elephants is no longer legal in many African countries, but poaching was widespread until very recently. For many the high price of ivory, about $100 a pound in the 1980s, was too tempting to resist. Local people often had few other ways to make a living, and subsistence farmers or herders could make more by selling the tusks of one elephant than they could make in a dozen years of farming or herding. As the price of ivory soared, poachers became more organized, using automatic weapons, motorized vehicles, and airplanes to chase and kill thousands of elephants. To governments and revolutionaries mired in civil wars and strapped for cash, poaching ivory became a way to pay for more firearms and supplies. Poaching has caused the collapse of elephants’ social structure as well as decimating their numbers. Poachers target the biggest elephants because their tusks are larger. They often kill all the adults in the group, leaving young elephants without any adults to teach them migration routes, dry-season water sources, and other learned behavior. Many of Africa’s remaining elephant groups are leaderless subadults and juveniles.
1. What is the main idea of the passage?

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
The elusive “generation gap” is construed as being widest when one of the two  generations is the adolescent. While the gap exists in almost all facets of social and personal domains, never is it more evident than in the field of technology, where one of the generations is a digital native and the other, an immigrant or even an alien, depending upon the stage of the continuum of adulthood. The use of gadgets itself is markedly influenced by age, as shown in Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project that studied how different generations use technology.  Although cell phones are now the predominant form of interpersonal communication, the way they are used significantly varies between generations. Youngsters use their phones for a variety of activities such as taking photos, texting, going online, instant messaging, emailing, playing games, listening to music, and even recording and watching videos while adults progressively according to their age progression, restrict the use of these devices to fewer and fewer activities. Interestingly, Pew Research found that the one cell phone activity that transcends age is taking photos, with adults just as likely to click photos on the cell phone cameras as the young. However, the type of photos taken differs, with adolescents clicking more selfies that adults.  The Internet seems to be a good leveler of digital use, at least within the US. While fewer than 60% of senior citizens (ages >65) are conversant with and use the Internet in 2014, the percentages are comparable for all other age groups; 92% for teens, 97% for young adults (18-29 years), 94% for the mid-lifers (30-49%) and 88% for older adults (50-64%). How the internet is used also varies among age groups. While teenagers and young adults under age 30 use the Internet to find information, socialize, play, shop and perhaps conduct business, older users visit government websites or seek financial information online. However, this gap is narrowing, according to Pew Research, and activities such as emails and search engines being increasingly used by all age groups that are online.  Social media is another area where there is an age difference. While the percentage of adults who use social media (72%) is not that different from the youngsters in it (81%), there is a difference in the type of social media applications that is favored. Youngsters (teens and young adults) seem more prevalent in social media applications such as Facebook and Twitter while adults dominate tumblr, Instagram and Pinterest. Adults are largely passive or semi-active users of social media as seen in that adults typically add contacts only on request while adolescents actively seek new friendships. Adolescents use the social media platform as a conversation space and an outlet for self-expression, aimed largely at building new relationships while adults use social media to maintaining existing relationships. Adults have fewer contacts with a third of the adults in social media admitting to having family as their main contact group. Contrast this with the fact that only 10 and 15 percent of adolescents reported to have family in their social media contact list.
7. The following are true about social media, EXCEPT ___________