Choose the best answer:
She has been stressed lately so she needs to _____ a break.

 

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The government knows the extent of the problem. The government needs to take action soon.

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
From their inception, most rural neighborhoods in colonial North America included at least one carpenter, joiner, sawyer, and cooper in woodworking; a weaver and a tailor for clothing production; a tanner, currier, and cordwainer (shoemaker) for fabricating leather objects; and a blacksmith for metalwork. Where stone was the local building material, a mason was sure to appear on the list of people who paid taxes. With only an apprentice as an assistant, the rural artisan provided the neighborhood with common goods from furniture to shoes to farm equipment in exchange for cash or for “goods in kind” from the customer’s field, pasture, or dairy. Sometimes artisans transformed material provided by the customer wove cloth of yam spun at the farm from the wool of the family sheep; made chairs or tables from wood cut in the customer’s own woodlot; produced shoes or leather breeches from cow, deer, or sheepskin tanned on the farm.  Like their farming neighbors, rural artisans were part of an economy seen, by one historian, as “an orchestra conducted by nature.” Some tasks could not be done in the winter, others had to be put off during harvest time, and still others waited on raw materials that were only produced seasonally. As the days grew shorter, shop hours kept pace, since few artisans could afford enough artificial light to continue work when the sun went down.  To the best of their ability, colonial artisans tried to keep their shops as efficient as possible and to regularize their schedules and methods of production for the best return on their investment in time, tools, and materials. While it is pleasant to imagine a woodworker, for example, carefully matching lumber, joining a chest together without resort to nails or glue, and applying all thought and energy to carving beautiful designs on the finished piece, the time required was not justified unless the customer was willing to pay extra for the quality - and few in rural areas were. Artisans, therefore, often found it necessary to employ as many shortcuts and economics as possible while still producing satisfactory products.
7. The word "few" in the passage refers to ____

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:
Most people think that lions only come from Africa. This is understandable because in fact most lions do come from there but this has not always been the case. If we went back ten thousand years, we would find that there were lions roaming vast sections of the globe. However now, unfortunately only a very small section of the lion's former habitat remains.
Asiatic lions are sub-species of African lions. It is almost a hundred thousand years since the Asiatic lions split off and developed as a sub-species. At one time the Asiatic lion was living as far west as Greece and they were found from there, but in a band that spreads east through various countries of the Middle East, all the way to India. In museums now, you can see Greek coins that

have clear images of the Asiatic lion on them. Most of them are dated at around 500 B.C. However, Europe saw its last Asiatic lions roaming free two thousand years ago. Over the next nineteen hundred years the numbers of Asiatic lions in the other areas declined steadily, but it was only in the nineteenth century that they disappeared from everywhere but in India.
The Gir Wildlife Sanctuary in India was established especially to protect the Asiatic lion. There are now around three hundred Asiatic lions in India and almost all of them are in this sanctuary. However, despite living in a sanctuary, which makes them safe from hunters, they still face a number of problems that threaten their survival. One of these is the ever-present danger of disease. This is what killed more than a third of Africa’s Serengeti lions in 1994, and people are fearful that something similar could happen in the Gir Sanctuary and kill off many of the Asiatic lions there.
India's lions are particular vulnerable because they have a limited gene pool. The reason for this is interesting is because all of them are descended from a few dozen lions that were saved by a prince who took a particular interest in them. He was very healthy, and he managed to protect them; otherwise they would probably have died out completely.
When you see the Asiatic lion in India, what you sense is enormous vitality. They are very impressive animals and you would never guess that they have this vulnerability when you look at them.

The word "vulnerable" in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to .

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October brings attention to breast cancer, by raising awareness of treatment, research  and prevention. One local company is going a step above the rest, by offering a free home cleaning to a patient undergoing treatment. Cleaning for a Reason is an international organization that provides home cleanings for family members battling cancer.  “I am a breast cancer survivor myself, I was diagnosed in 2011. And so when I found out about this in 2014, after going through my experience of being extremely tired and just no energy at all to perform day to day tasks, that I realized this would be something that would greatly benefit the women in our community,” said Marlo Kanipe, owner of Deserved Comfort House Cleaning. The company partners with Cleaning for a Reason to provide the service locally.  Columbia native Lenora Floyd was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018, and learned about Cleaning for a Reason from a flyer. “I was sitting at the table and I thought ‘that’s really something that would be such a huge help!’ Because I do most of the cleaning around the house, and I didn’t really know what to expect,” said Floyd. Floyd said having a clean home lifted a burden while she was going through a tough time. “It was just really nice to have that service, and one less thing not to have to worry about. Be able to rest instead of thinking ‘oh, I really need to vacuum up,’” said Floyd. “The chemotherapy and radiation really just takes a toll on your body. When someone is going through those times, the last thing you want to do is to have to do physical work. And house cleaning, of course, is physical work,” said Kanipe. “It’s nice to be able to take one small thing off of their plate. That they don’t have to worry about cleaning or keeping their house clean,” said Nicka Evans, a certified cleaning technician with Deserved Comfort. “This is what I do for work, it doesn’t seem like it’s a big deal. But to be able to come into someone’s house and see that it is a big deal and it’s important to them, it really means a lot to me.”  Since partnering with Cleaning for a Reason in 2014, Deserved Comfort has donated about $15,000 worth of cleanings. They will continue to help and be there for people as they battle cancer.
6. The word “certified” in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to _______

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A generation gap in the workplace can make workers both young and old feel inferior, as well as hamper productivity and teamwork. Differences between generations can be seen in work ethics, habits and communication styles. Younger workers might fear not being taken seriously by their older colleagues, while older workers might fear that their experience is not valued but replaced by workers with knowledge of more current technology. However, members of each generation can close the gap between them if they’re willing to meet one another halfway. Older workers can show respect to the younger set by asking for their opinions and recognizing their contributions to the workplace as valid, or complimenting them on a job well done. Younger workers can show their elders respect by asking for advice on how to manage a situation with work, based on the older worker’s many years of experience. It’s important for both entry- and senior-level workers to see each other as equals, regardless of the type of position in which they work. No one wants to feel inferior or irrelevant just because of their age. Rather, a generation gap at work can be a learning opportunity. Workers can also put themselves in their colleagues’ shoes to determine what might be bothering them about their generational age difference. If a person is much older than another, perhaps it is bitterness about fewer job opportunities, or fear that a younger worker might seem more relevant and edge him out of his job. If workers open their minds to understand where co-workers are coming from, it can help ease any tension between them and appreciate each other’s work contributions.  If age seems to be a problem for someone at the workplace, it can be helpful to do the very opposite of what a co-worker might expect from someone of a different age set due to stereotypes. For example, if a worker is considerably younger such as right out of college, she can share researched information to indicate that she knows what she’s doing, or show curiosity instead of upset to indicate emotional maturity if the person makes a disparaging remark about her youth. Older workers can maintain an enthusiastic attitude about work instead of showing boredom or bitterness from past experiences. Workers can, moreover, directly address the concern of age differences at work with the colleague at odds with them by asking the person for constructive advice on how to handle the issue. For example, older workers who are unfamiliar with new software that younger colleagues understand might acknowledge to them that they did the same tasks differently in years past but show interest in learning the program to keep up with modern technology. Learning to speak their technological language can make them feel more connected. Likewise, a younger worker can admit to being green on the work scene, but eager to gain experience by learning from senior colleagues.  
2. Each generation should respect the other generation at work to _____________

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:
Because writing has become so important in our culture, we sometimes think of it as more real than speech. A little thought, however, will show why speech is primary and writing secondary to language. Human beings have been writing at least 5,000 years, but they have been talking for much longer, doubtless ever since there have been human beings. When writing developed, it was derived from and represented speech, although imperfectly. Even today, there are spoken languages that have no written form. Furthermore, we all learn to talk well before we learn to write; any child who is not severely handicapped physically or mentally will learn to talk: a normal man cannot be prevented from doing so. On the other hand, it takes a special effort to learn to write; in the past, many intelligent and useful members of society did not acquire the skill, and even today many who speak languages with writing systems never learn to read or write while some who learn the rudiments of those skills do so imperfectly.
To affirm the primacy of speech over writing is not to disparage the later. One advantage writing has over speech is that it is more permanent and makes possible the records that any civilization must have. Thus, if speaking makes us human, writing makes us civilized.

According to the author, one mark of a civilized society is that if     .

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:
In the United States, it is important to be on time, or punctual, for an appointment, a class, a meeting, etc... This may not be true in some other countries, however. An American professor discovered this difference while teaching a class in a Brazilian university. The two-hour class was scheduled to begin at 10 a.m, and end at 12 a.m. On the first day, when the professor arrived on time, no one was in the classroom. Many students came after 11 a.m. Although all of the students greeted the professor as they arrived, few apologised for their lateness. Were these students being rude? He decided to study the students’ behavior.
In American university, students are expected to arrive at the appointed hour. On the other hand, in Brazil, neither the teacher nor the students always arrive at the appointed hour. Classes not only begin at the scheduled time in the United States, but they also end at the scheduled time. In the Brazilian class, only a few students left the class at noon, many remained past 12:30 to discuss the class and ask more questions. While arriving late may not be important in Brazil, neither is staying late.
The explanation for these differences is complicated. People from Brazilian and North American cultures have different feelings about lateness. In Brazil, the students believe that a person who usually arrives late is probably more successful than a person who is always on time. In fact, Brazilians expect a person with status or prestige to arrive late, while in the United States, lateness is usually considered to be disrespectful and unacceptable. Consequently, if a Brazilian is late for an appointment with a North America, the American may misinterpret the reason for the lateness and become angry.
As a result for his study, the professor learned that the Brazilian students were not being disrespectful to him. Instead, they were simply behaving the appropriate way for a Brazilian student in Brazil. Eventually, the professor was able to adapt his own behavior to feel comfortable in the new culture.

The word "misinterpret" is closest in meaning to     .

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If you want to make your school green, think beyond your classrooms. Here are some  suggestions that are all easy and simple to follow, and can make a big difference in reducing your carbon footprint and creating a (1)__________ community.  One of the places where both teachers and students often spend some of their time is the library. An eco-friendly reading space is likely to create a favorable impression (2)________ library users, and bring some significant educational benefits. For example, you can install energy-saving products like fans instead of air-conditioners which consume a lot of energy. You can also use biodegradable dust cloths or old T-shirts to clean the environment. In addition, to (3)________ public awareness, allocate a clearly visible space on the noticeboard for everyday green tips like ‘Let others reuse your book’.  Sporty students may prefer to spend more time in the swimming pool than in the library.  Therefore, keeping this place safe and green will also help to raise their environmental awareness. Remember that (4)__________ pool water may cause red eyes and itchy skin to some people if they spend much time in the pool. An ideal alternative would be a salt-water pool, which can be naturally clean and economical. In case warm water is required, think of solar heating to save the environment as one pool with gas or electric heater may emit tons of carbon dioxide each year.  Finally, focus on the school gym, (5)_________ is perhaps the most interactive and exciting place for all school staff. Think of installing low-flow taps and showers to save gallons of water per minute and energy-saving lights to cut the cost of electricity. Moreover, make sure that the airflow pathways are clear and free of mould, mildew and other allergens

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There’s a direct link between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction.  Employees are the driving factor behind customer satisfaction. Employee interactions set the tone for a positive or negative customer experience. When employees aren’t happy at work, their interactions with customers can, and almost always will, suffer. Over the course of time, this can have serious repercussions for a business. The place where this becomes the most critical is any business where employees are directly interacting with customers, such as retail or food service. Historically underpaid and overworked, employees in these jobs are tasked with spending their entire shifts serving customers.  This is where employee experience comes in. If even a fraction of a customer experience budget was spent on employee experience, there would be a huge return on investment. One of the easiest ways to enhance employee experience is to ask for and welcome employees’ feedback. They have great insight into customer needs. After all, they’re the ones who are directly interacting with customers and hearing their criticisms and compliments firsthand. Employees can be your biggest asset when it comes to customer satisfaction.  A large part of employee experience revolves around understanding what employees need and want and gaining insight into their work preferences. Another critical piece of the employee experience is training and development. Employees should be equipped with the skills they need to excel at their jobs and have opportunities to continue to learn and develop. They should be able to check in and touch base with their managers to keep track of their progress and discuss any questions or concerns as they arise. Showing employees that you value the work they’re doing is one of the easiest ways to boost their motivation. It can be as simple as saying thank you, to publicly acknowledging and celebrating their contributions. It’s not just the younger generations who crave recognition - no one likes to feel like the work they’re doing is going unnoticed.  It’s time to shift the mindset from employees working just to work, to acknowledging that they’re valuable contributors to a company’s success. Employees need to understand how important their role is and how their work fits into the bigger picture. They need to feel like their voices are being heard and they have respect from their managers. Most importantly, they need to be able to come to work and know that the next eight hours won’t be pure torture. 
6. According to paragraph 3, what are the employees NOT advised to do for better working experience?

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Hardcover and paperback are two types of books and bookbinding processes. A hardcover book is also called a hardback or hardbound. On the other hand, a paperback also goes by the names softback and soft cover. Paperbacks can be further classified as trade paperbacks and mass-market paperbacks. Paperback book, as its name implies, has a soft card or a thick paper cover over the pages. This type of covering is less heavy but prone to folding, bending, and wrinkles with use and over time. Hardcover books are characterized with a thick and rigid covering. This covering allows protection for the pages and makes the book durable and usable for a long time. Oftentimes, a hardcover book has a dust that protects the books from dust and other wear and tear. Some books are even made durable by using leather or calfskin as a book covering. In terms of manufacturing and purchasing books, hardcover books are more expensive due to the materials and processes. Pages of hardcover books are acid-free paper. This type of paper allows preservation of the ink and is ideal for books in use and preserving them for a long time. On the other hand, paperbacks use cheap paper, usually newsprint. The reason for this is to lower production costs and being readily made available for the masses. The paper in a hardcover book is usually stitched together before being glued, stapled, or sewn to the book’s spine. Due to the stitches, a hardcover book can have signatures, a place where the binding threads are visible. Meanwhile, a paperback book’s pages are glued together and glued again to the spine. This makes the pages loose or separated while being in use. Hardcover books are often applied to academic books, references books, commercial, and bestsellers that have enjoyed financial success. Other books in the hardcover version are books of collectible value. Publishers often release a hardcover version of the book to show investment so that they can project a high return of investment. This is a large contrast regarding paperbacks. Paperback books are done for new or succeeding editions, reprinting of books or books with little profit margin. Publishers use the paperback editions to stretch the profit for the book. The first release or first edition of a literary work is purposefully done as a hardcover book followed by paperback versions.
3. The word “wrinkles” in paragraph 2 hold the same meaning as _______

Rewrite the sentence:
The program about the campaign drew the participation of 25 companies and sponsors in the city. It was broadcast live on HTV9 channel last night.

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Leisure reading, also known as recreational reading, pleasure reading, free voluntary reading, and independent reading, is independent, self-selected reading of a continuous text for a wide range of personal and social (1)__________. It can take place in and out of school, at any time. Readers (2)__________from a wide range of extended texts, including but not exclusive to narrative fiction, nonfiction, picture books, e-books, magazines, social media, blogs, websites, newspapers, comic books, and graphic novels. Leisure reading is (3)_______intrinsically or socially motivated and a pleasurable activity for the reader. Students’ home environment, where parents/caregivers encourage reading and model their enjoyment of reading, has a substantial (4)___________impact on children’s performance in reading. In classrooms, leisure reading often takes place during times designated as SSR (sustained silent reading), DEAR (drop everything and read), LTR (love to read), or POWER (providing opportunities with everyday reading), which are the most common terms for classroom leisure reading. It may take place (5) _____individual classrooms or be part of a school-wide activity

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The comings and goings of teenagers, while a frequent source of tension in the  parent–child relationship, are a crucial experience in the construction of social identities. For this age group, mobility is not just a practice that is socially determined – by social background, residential environment and schooling – but also a specific experience that durably shapes their relationships with the spaces and the social world they encounter.  Although mobility is a socialised practice, based on habits forged in the domestic, residential and school environments, it is itself a specific experience in teenage socialisation. At this age, mobility plays an important role in individuals’ learning of behaviours and ways of being, gradually reshaping the dispositions acquired during primary socialisation.  First of all, mobility affects teenagers’ ways of being and behaving within their peer group, which play an increasingly important role in teenage socialisation. At this age, peers become more and more involved in mobility practices: they are one of the key reasons for mobility but, above all, they become preferred partners in self-mobility situations.  Furthermore, the movements of teenagers, alone or in groups, gradually reshapes their dispositions vis-à-vis mobility, particularly those acquired in the domestic sphere. At this age, experiences in mobility have lasting effects on the future practices of teenagers. They sometimes help modify the dispositions of teenagers regarding transport modes. We could cite, among other examples, the case of a girl whose fear of the metro gradually diminished as a result of occasional trips with her best friend, who was more familiar with this mode of transport. These experiences also influence the spatial amplitude of future mobility, in particular preferences for travel within or outside one’s area of residence.  Lastly, mobility allows teenagers to discover the public domain, when it gives rise to interactions that take place under the gaze of an incidental audience and which are therefore subject to specific rules. In the course of their travels, teenagers gradually become familiar with these rules, and they mutually adapt their behaviours to those of other citizens so as to eventually find their place within the public domain. Listening to music on mobile phones on public transport, for example, is appropriate to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the circumstances at the time.
7. According to paragraph 5, what is the possible reason for teenagers’ effort to adapt in public domain?

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Certainly no creature in the sea is odder than the common sea cucumber. All living creature, especially human beings, have their peculiarities, but everything about the little sea cucumber seems unusual. What else can be said about a bizarre animal that, among other eccentricities, eats mud, feeds almost continuously day and night but can live without eating for long periods, and can be poisonous but is considered supremely edible by gourmets? For some fifty million years, despite all its eccentricities, the sea cucumber has subsisted on its diet of mud. It is adaptable enough to live attached to rocks by its tube feet, under rocks in shallow water, or on the surface of mud flats. Common in cool water on both Atlantic and Pacific shores, it has the ability to such up mud or sand and digest whatever nutrients are present. Sea cucumbers come in a variety of colors, ranging from black to reddish-brown to sand-color and nearly white. One form even has vivid purple tentacle. Usually the creatures are cucumber-shaped-hence their name-and because they are typically rock inhabitants, this shape, combine with flexibility, enables them to squeeze into crevices where they are safe from predators and ocean currents. Although they have voracious appetites, eating day and night, sea cucumbers have the capacity to become quiescent and live at a low metabolic rate-feeding sparingly or not at all for long periods, so that the marine organisms that provide their food have a chance to multiply. If it were not for this faculty, they would devour all the food available in a short time and would probably starve themselves out of existence. But the most spectacular thing about the sea cucumber is the way it defends itself. Its major enemies are fish and crabs, when attacked, it squirts all its internal organs into the water. It also casts off attached structures such as tentacles. The sea cucumber will eviscerate and regenerate itself if it is attached or even touched; it will do the same if the surrounding water temperature is too high or if the water becomes too polluted.
4. According to the passage, why is the shape of sea cucumbers important?

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Gujarat’s favourite watering hole, Union territory of Daman, will add more activity  for its tourists than let them hang around only in the bars on its sun-kissed beaches. The administration has decided to develop leisure water sports on Jampore and Light house beaches at Moti Daman. The tourism department of Daman has already selected two operators to run these leisure water sports facilities. At present, facilities like creation of ramps, walking area and waiting area for the tourists are under construction at the beaches.  Director of Daman Tourism, Harshil Jain told TOI, “The leisure water sports activities are all set to start very soon. We have not decided the dates, but the contractors are working day-and-night to set up facilities soon at both the beaches.” He further said that leisure water sports will help boost tourism in Daman. “The flow of tourist will increase during the vacation period. Till now, tourists come here to enjoy sitting on the beaches, but now they will have the option for water sports, too,” Jain added.  According to tourism department officials, the sporting activity would be set up on the lines of Goa. Attractions like jet skis, banana ride, para sailing, pedal boating, rowing, kayaking and motorboating will add to the beach fun, they said. A senior tourism officer said, “Since adventure has a risk factor, we have asked the contractors to keep provision of accidental insurance cover for all the tourists using the ride. Customers too must be covered for accidental death, loss of limb and permanent and partial disability.” “On the weekends alone, more than 60,000 people visit Daman. We are pretty sure that the water sports activity will increase the numbers to more than 80,000,” asserted another official. 
4. The word “they” in paragraph 2 refers to _______

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If you don’t know how to spell a word, you ……… look it up in the dictionary.

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The walnut tree produces wood that is used for countless purposes, and is considered the finest wood in the world. The wood is easy to work with, yet it is very hard and durable - and when it is polished, it produces a rich, dark luster. It also shrinks and swells less than any other wood, which makes it especially desirable for fine furniture, flooring, and even gun stocks. In fact, just about every part of the walnut is unusually hard and strong. The nut of the tree is encased inside a very hard shell, which itself is enclosed in a leathery outer covering called a husk. It requires real effort to break through those layers to get at the tasty meat inside. Yet every part of the walnut is useful to people. The outer husk produces a dark reddish stain that is hard to remove from the hands of the person who opens the nut, and this pigment is widely used in dyes and wood stains. The inner shell is used as an abrasive to clean jet engines. And the meat of the nut is extensively used in cooking, ice cream, flavourings - and just eaten raw. Walnut trees exude a chemical into the soil near their roots which can be poisonous to some trees and shrubs. Fruit trees, for example, will not survive if planted too close to a walnut. Many other plants, such as maple trees or ivy, are not affected by the walnut’s presence, and are well-suited to grow in its vicinity
2. The walnut tree is believed to produce ____

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My uncle _______ a visit to Germany in 2005.

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For many years, scientists have speculated that the cataclysmic impact of an asteroid with the earth was responsible for the demise of the dinosaurs approximately 65 million years ago. Previous discoveries and results have hinted that an asteroid two kilometers in diameter struck the Yucatan peninsula in Eastern Mexico. This impact, stronger than one thousand nuclear explosions, is speculated to have cast a cloud of dust and debris into the atmosphere, covering the entire surface of the earth and blocking out the sun and consequently lowering the surface temperature of the earth. With such a radical change in the earth's environment, scientists believe that over 99% of all animal and plant species were eradicated. Only after millions of years did plants and animals even begin to recover and develop into forms that were better adapted to survive changes in their environment. But, the reign of the dinosaurs had ended and the age of mammals had begun. The crucial link that has held this theory together has been the element iridium. Iridium is not commonly found on either the surface of the earth or inside the crust. It is more commonly found in asteroids or meteorites throughout the solar system. Scientists have hypothesized that after the asteroid impacted the Earth, an even layer of iridium sediment settled over the globe and eventually became part of its surface. The theory, of course, has depended on the discovery of such an existing layer of iridium. Unfortunately, scientists have never been able to offer absolute proof that this asteroid impact ever occurred. Recently, however, a discovery may go a long way toward validating these scientists 'theories. In 1996, a team of marine biologists excavated samples of rock from the Atlantic Ocean just off the cost of Bermuda. Found thousands of meters below the sea, these samples contain iridium similar to those found in the Yucatan peninsula thousands of kilometers away. At first, scientists were skeptical whether the samples were from the same time period. But since carbon dating placed them to 65 million years ago, their doubts were quickly alleviated. Since then many of the other theories for the demise of the dinosaur have been finally laid to rest.
4. The word "cast" is closest in meaning to: 

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 36 to 42.

It is estimated that by 2050 more than two-thirds of the world's population will live in cities, up from about 54 percent today. While the many benefits of organized and efficient cities are well understood, we need to recognize that this rapid, often unplanned urbanization brings risks of profound social instability, risks to critical infrastructure, potential water crises and the potential for devastating spread of disease. These risks can only be further exacerbated as this unprecedented transition from rural to urban areas continues.
 How effectively these risks can be addressed will increasingly be determined by how well cities are governed. The increased concentration of people, physical assets, infrastructure and economic activities mean that the risks materializing at the city level will have far greater potential to disrupt society than ever before.
 Urbanization is by no means bad by itself. It brings important benefits for economic, cultural and societal development. Well managed cities are both efficient and effective, enabling economies of scale and network effects while reducing the impact on the climate of transportation. As such, an urban model can make economic activity more environmentally-friendly. Further, the proximity and diversity of people can spark innovation and create employment as exchanging ideas breeds new ideas.
 But these utopian concepts are threatened by some of the factors driving rapid urbanization. For example, one of the main factors is rural-urban migration, driven by the prospect of greater employment opportunities and the hope of a better life in cities. But rapidly increasing population density can create severe problems, especially if planning efforts are not sufficient to cope with the influx of new inhabitants. The result may, in extreme cases, be widespread poverty. Estimates suggest that 40% of the world's urban expansion is taking place in slums, exacerbating socio-economic disparities and creating unsanitary conditions that facilitate the spread of disease.
 The Global Risks 2015 Report looks at four areas that face particularly daunting challenges in the face of rapid and unplanned urbanization: infrastructure, health, climate change, and social instability. In each of these areas we find new risks that can best be managed or, in some cases, transferred through the mechanism of insurance.

According to paragraph 3, what is one of the advantages of urbanization?