Choose the best answer:
Some people applied for the job, but two of them were ______

 

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Astronauts ............... in their spaceship, but they frequently work outside now.

Many teenagers show signs of anxiety and ______ when being asked about their future.

(307)_____

Beginning on March 15, we will be using a new payroll service that will affect a number of our current payroll processes. First, weekly payroll checks will be mailed on Thursday instead of Friday. Direct-deposit payroll payments will also be processed a day---139---. Second, pay stubs for direct-deposit payments will no longer be e-mailed. Instead,  employees will be able to  ---140--- this information by accessing their payroll accounts online.

Other processes will remain the same. All-time cards will continue to be due to the payroll department by Monday at 6:00 P.M.---141---. A complete, updated list of instructions for payroll procedures ---142--- to all employees on or before March 1. If you have any questions before then, please contact Leonti Belousov at ext. 5810.

141...................

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In 1971, Sue Coppard worked as a secretary in London. While she enjoyed city life, Sue also missed the countryside where she spent most of her time as a child. So she offered to help out on a farm, or more specifically, an organic farming programme organized by a nearby college. She got a few people to volunteer as well, and they spent the weekend doing “housework,” which involved clearing bushes and cleaning drains. Afterwards, the farm managers said they could come back anytime to help out. Sue put a small ad in a magazine, offering people the chance to volunteer at the organic farm. The volunteer programme grew quickly, and soon other organic farmers joined in, asking for people to help out. With so many people and farms involved, someone needed to organize the different groups. A few of the original volunteers started WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) to help volunteers and farmers find one another. Today, at least 50 different countries have WWOOF organizations, and many other countries have individual farms that participate in the movement. While WWOOF is still a weekend activity for some, it now welcomes travellers and people who visit to live and work on farms for longer periods of time. WWOOF volunteers can stay on a farm for weeks or even months at a time in exchange for hands-on farming and gardening experience. The work can be exhausting, but volunteers think it’s worth it. By working on farms, the volunteers interact with farmers and develop a love for the outdoors and organic farming. Many travellers now use WWOOFing as a way to visit new countries and experience new cultures. As travellers will discover, every WWOOF opportunity is a bit different. In Serbia, you can find Misa and Olja, a couple whose farm is known for its hard cheeses and for its bread made from homegrown grains. Finca Amiruca, a farm in Ecuador, teaches volunteers how to grow peanuts, plantains, and yucca. When volunteering in Japan, you may get to learn about growing rice. WWOOF is only one of the many unique volunteer opportunities available. Volunteering is something that anyone can do, and a wide variety of organizations accept or even welcome volunteers. So the next time you get the itch to be active on the weekend or on vacation, why not look for a good cause to spend your energy on?

1. Why did Sue first work on a farm?

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Organisms play ________ important role in keeping the nature balanced.

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Explosions in the Sky
If you attend a major outdoor event in the evening, whether it is in Paris, Beijing, or New York City, there is a good chance that it will end in a sensational way. After all of the other activities have concluded, the sky will be lit up by a colourful firework display. Although the show may only last for a few minutes, during that time every eye will look on with amazement as they work their magic in the air. Fireworks were invented in the seventh century by the Chinese. They were quickly absorbed into the culture and became a part of many celebratory events and festivals. Eventually, emperors would organize large firework displays to entertain and impress their subjects. Fireworks didn’t become big in Europe until the mid-17th century. People became interested in fireworks after reading accounts from monks and travellers who saw them while in China. Once they did arrive, it was obvious they were there to stay. Fireworks were frequently paired with triumphant classical symphonies to celebrate the end of wars and other great victories. As time went on, the fireworks continued to evolve and get better in many ways. Fireworks now come in every colour imaginable. The colour comes from different chemicals that are placed inside of each firework. Thanks to modern technology, it is also possible to create firework arrangements in the shape of hearts, smiley faces, and even the planet Saturn. This is because of the way that the aerial shells, or casings, of fireworks are constructed. The cases are packed with exploding pellets and a piece of cardboard. The cardboard enables the designers to arrange the pellets in pattern or shape of the object of their choice. The first time this technology was used was in Washington DC, during a celebration to welcome home American troops who fought in the Gulf War. The visual aspect is only part of the reason fireworks are appealing. The sounds that fireworks make also add a healthy dose of excitement to the display. There are several noises that fireworks can make. The most common is the “bang” which sounds a lot like a gunshot. Fireworks can also crackle, hum, and whistle as they streak across the night sky. The world’s largest firework show was held in Kuwait in 2012. 77,282 fireworks exploded during the incredible 64-minute show. But with people’s love for fireworks at an all-time high, who knows how long that record will last?
2. How did fireworks come to Europe?

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The earth............... round the sun.

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Any change in one part of an ecosystem can cause changes in other parts. Droughts, storms and fires can change ecosystems. Some changes (1) _______ ecosystems. If there is too (2)_____ rainfall, plants will not have enough water to live. If a kind of plant dies off, the animals that feed on it may also die or move away. Some changes are good for ecosystems. Some pine forests need fires for he pine trees to reproduce. The seeds are sealed inside pinecones. Heat from a forest fire melts the seal and lets the seeds (3) _______. Polluting the air, soil, and water can harm ecosystems. Building (4) _______ on rivers for electric power and irrigation can harm ecosystems around the rivers. Bulldozing wetlands and cutting down forests destroy ecosystems. Ecologists are working with companies and governments to find better ways of (5) _______ fish, cutting down trees, and building dams. They are looking for ways to get food, lumber, and other products for people without causing harm to ecosystems.

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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.
6. The word "characteristics" is closest in meaning to: 

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A World without Wires
We are lucky to live in a world that is full of incredible technology. Our living rooms are packed with computers, LCD TVs, video game systems, and Blue-ray players that help us enjoy the latest entertainment. Although these items bring us joy and convenience, they also create a lot of clutter. Each device needs its own plug and adaptor to keep its batteries recharged, and over time these wires get _tangled_. Thankfully, something has come along to help get rid our homes of this mess while still supplying these devices with the power they need. It’s called wireless charging and this trend is just starting. Wireless charging, also known as inductive charging, has a lot of potential for smartphones and other electronic devices. Coils are used to create a magnetic field. Electronic devices can then absorb the electricity once they are placed on a special charging pad. There are several advantages that wireless charging offers over traditional methods. For starters, cords have a tendency to wear out with use. Wireless charging eliminates this hassle so users never have to worry about buying replacement cords. Wireless charging is also far more convenient for medical implants, as patients won’t need to recharge their devices through the skin using cords. In turn, this cuts down on the risks of infection. Wireless charging can also bring safety benefits, as wired charging devices that come in contact with water can increase the chances of getting an electric shock. Wireless charging eliminates that danger completely. Still, there are a few drawbacks to wireless charging. The first is speed. It takes a bit longer to charge devices wirelessly than it does if the device is plugged in. The process also requires more heat, so devices tend to get a bit hotter, which could create other safety issues. Also, since devices must be left on a special pad while charging, it is harder to operate them while they are powering up. This limitation may be eliminated in the future, as researchers are developing transmitters that can charge several different devices in a room without the need to connect to a charging pad. Although wireless-charging technology may be far from perfect, it seems like a step in the right direction as we move towards a less-tangled future.
6. All of the following are the advantages of wireless charging EXCEPT ________

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 :
We are truly at a(n) (1)__________ between imagination and reality, especially when it comes to film. No longer are we able to tell what is real and what isn’t. In the past, it was easy to tell if a scene in a film was created artificially, as the special effects were never very good. To a person who grew up with the special effects that Hollywood can create today, the effects in films from 50 years ago are laughable. The scenes from these films come (2)__________ as so obviously fake that they are almost painful to watch. Today, however, a line has been crossed. Computer-generated animation has made it nearly impossible to (3)_________ between what was actually filmed and what was created by lines of computer code by a programmer. Not only is scenery created by computers, but also many actors known as extras. In the past, a film director would have to hire dozens and possibly hundreds of extras in order to show a crowd scene. This is no longer the (4)____________, and the one film that proved thus was achievable was Titanic, directed by James Cameron. However, years later, computer animation was taken to yet another (5)__________ by the same director with the movie Avatar

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:
On the fourth Thursday in November, in houses around the United States, families get together for a feast, or a large meal. Almost all families eat turkey and cranberry sauce for this meal, and have pumpkin pie for dessert. This feast is part of a very special day, the holiday of Thanksgiving.
In 1620 the Pilgrims made a difficult trip across the ocean from England. They landed in what is now Massachusetts. In England the Pilgrims had not been allowed to freely practice their religion. So they went to the New World in search of religious freedom.
The Pilgrims' first winter was very hard. Almost half the group died of cold, hunger and disease. But the Indians of Massachusetts taught the Pilgrims to plant corn, to hunt and to fish. When the next fall came, the Pilgrims had plenty of food. They were thankful to God and the Indians and had a feast to give thanks. They invited the Indians to join them. This was the first Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving became a national holiday many years later because of the effort of a woman named Sarah Hale. For forty years Sarah Hale wrote to each president and asked for a holiday of Thanksgiving. At last she was successful. In 1863 President Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a holiday.
How much is Thanksgiving today like the Pilgrims’ Thanksgiving? In many ways they are different. For example, historians think that the Pilgrims ate deer, not turkey. The idea of Thanksgiving, though, is very much the same: Thanksgiving is a day on which we celebrate and give thanks.

The word “they” in paragraph 3 refer to     .

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Billboards that Recognize You
Have you ever felt you were being watched? Some new technologies might make you feel that way. Digital billboards are being created that have the ability to recognize certain characteristics. These high-tech devices have cameras pointed at the people on the street, and software that tries to recognize people by age and gender. A computer inside the billboard then uses this information to display ads that are directed at the people who are looking at the billboard. For example, if a man passes a billboard featuring an ad for cosmetics, the computer can change the ad to something that is more likely to catch the man’s attention, such as a restaurant, or sporting goods. While advertisers see _this_ as a great opportunity to reach their target customers, some people feel that this kind of profiling is an invasion of their privacy. People are now much more aware of how information is exposed, shared, bought, and sold on the Internet. Now this debate will include technologies such as these “smart” billboards. But advertisers claim that they are sensitive to people’s concern about privacy – companies that have tested the billboards in Japan and the US assure consumers that the billboards can only guess your age and gender, but they will not be able to recognize your face or obtain any personal information about you. Until recently, this kind of “personal” advertising has been mostly limited to the Internet. Search engines like Google and Bing can follow what we search for because each computer that connects to those sites has a unique identity. Companies then pay search engines to use this information to display ads for products and services that you have searched for. So if you search for travel information, you are likely to see ads for airlines and hotels. This kind of advertising has proven to be much more effective and valuable than traditional advertising. In addition to taking steps to deliver more personalized messages, advertisers are using billboards to offer more useful information. Digital billboards can connect to the Internet to display information such as the time, weather, and news headlines. In the future, this technology could be used to reflect activity on social media sites or to broadcast ads that relate to local events. In today’s world, people ignore thousands of ads every day. Advertisers are trying to change that trend by personalizing the experience of seeing an ad. So pay attention the next time you see a billboard – it could be talking to you.
1. What is another possible title for the passage?

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Nowadays people are more aware that wildlife all over the world is in danger. Many (1)________of animals are threatened, and could easily become (2)______ if we do not make an effort to protect them. There are many (3)_______ for this. In some cases, animals are hunted for their fur or for othervaluable parts of their bodies. Some birds, such as parrots, are caught (4)________and sold as pets. For many animals and birds, the problem is that their habitat - the (5)________where they live - is disappearing. More (6)________is used for farms, for houses or industry, and there are fewer open (7)________than there once were. Farmers use powerful chemicals to help them grow better (8)________, but these chemicals pollute the environment and (9)________wildlife. The most successful animals on earth - human beings - will soon be the only Ones left, unless we can (10)________this problem

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empty/ cleaned/ milk/ People/ and/ bottles/ refilled/ milk/ with.

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:
One of the major problems in the art world is how to distinguish and promote an artist. In effect, a market must be created for an artist to be successful. The practice of signing and numbering individual prints was introduced by James Abbott McNeill Whistler, the nineteenth- century artist best known for the painting of his mother, called “Arrangement in Grey and Black”, but known to most of us as “Whistler’s Mother”. Whistler’s brother-in-law, Sir Francis Seymour Haden, a less well-known artist, had speculated that collectors might find prints more attractive if they knew that there were only a limited number of copies produced. By signing the work in pencil, an artist could guarantee and personalize each print.
As soon as Whistler and Haden began the practice of signing and numbering their prints, their work began to increase in value. When other artists noticed that the signed prints commanded higher prices, they began copying the procedure.
Although most prints are signed on the right-hand side in the margin below the image, the placement of the signature is a matter of personal choice. Indeed, prints have been signed within image, in any of the margins, or even on the reverse side of the’print. Wherever the artist elects to sign it, a signed print is still valued above an unsigned one, even in the same edition.

It can be inferred from the passage that artists number their prints     .

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I do not have …………. oranges, but I have …………… apples.

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
Throughout the world there are different ways for people to greet each other. In much of the world, a handshake is the (1) __________ form of welcoming and greeting someone. In many countries around the Mediterranean Sea a (2) ___________ kiss on the cheek is the appropriate way to welcome friends and family. It can be a very (3) __________ surprise if you expect to shake hands and get a kiss or a hug instead. At times, it is difficult to tell what sort of greeting (4) ___________ is followed. People may bow, grab another‟s arm or even slap the other person on the back. In some places people just smile, look at the other‟s face and say nothing. Most people in the world are tolerant of visitors and don‟t mind what travellers do that seems wrong as long as the visitors are (5)__________. A big part of the delightfulness of world travel is experiencing different customs.

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At lunchtime, you can ……… lunch in the school canteen.

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Without my tutor’s help, I couldn’t have made such a good speech.