Choose the best answer:
The tsunami in 2011 caused a massive ________ to Japan.

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The American education system requires that students complete 12 years of  primary and secondary education prior to attending university or college. This may be accomplished either at public or government-operated schools, or at private schools. These 12 years of schooling or their equivalent may also be completed outside the USA, thus giving foreign students the opportunity to pursue the benefits of the American education system and obtain a quality American education. Perhaps one of the most impressive facts is that a large number of presidents, prime ministers and leaders from other countries have experienced the American education system and graduated from a university or school in the USA. In many fields and industries, the American education system offers the most cutting-edge, sought-after programs at the world's best schools. That is why graduating from an accredited American school and being exposed to the rigors of the American education system is an investment in your future. Whether you want to study at a top USA university, a top USA college, a vocational or high school, a thorough understanding of how the American education system works is essential. Without a clear grasp of the American education system, an international student will find it difficult to make the right academic choices. It is no surprise that the American education system and the American school system host more international students than any other country in the world!

The writer _______ the US education.

Often the craft worker’s place of employment in ancient Greece was set in rural isolation. Potter, for instance, found it convenient to locate their workshops near their source of clay, regardless of its relation to the center of settlement, At Corinth and Athens, however, two of the best-known potters’ quarters were situated on the cities’ outskirts, and potters and makers of terra-cotta figurines were also established well within the city of Athens itself. The techniques of pottery manufacture had evolved well before the Greek period, but marked stylistic developments occurred in shape and in decoration, for example, in the interplay of black and other glazes with the red surface of the fired pot. Athenian black-figure and red- figure decoration, which emphasized human figures rather than animal images, was adopted between 630 and 530 B.C.; its distinctive color and luster were the result of the skillful adjustments of the kiln’s temperature during an extended three-stage period if firing the clayware. Whether it was the potters or the vase-painters who initiated changes in firing is unclear; the functions of making and decorating were usually divided between them, but neither group can have been so specialized that they did not share in the concerns of the other.

The broad utility of terra-cotta was such that workers in clay could generally afford to confine themselves to either decorated housewares like cooking pots and jars or building materials like roof tiles and drainpipes. Some sixth-and fifth-century B.C. Athenian pottery establishments are known to have concentrated on a limited range of fine ware, but a rural pottery establishment on the island of Tliasos produced many types of pottery and roof tiles too, presumably to meet local demand. Molds were used to create particular effects for some products, such as relief-decorated vessels and figurines; for other products such as roof tiles, which were needed in some quantity, they were used to facilitate mass production. There were also a number of poor-quality figurines and painted pots produced in quantity by easy, inexpensive means- as numerous featureless statuettes and unattractive cases testify.

The passage mainly discusses ancient Greek pottery and its     .

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There is a common expression in the English language referring to a blue moon. When people say that something happens “only once in a blue moon,” they mean that it happens only very rarely, once in a great while. This expression has been around for at least a century and a half; there are references to this expression that date from the second half of the nineteenth century. (5) The expression “a blue moon” has come to refer to the second full moon occurring in any given calendar month. A second full moon is not called a blue moon because it is particularly blue or is any different in hue from the first full moon of the month. Instead, it is called a blue moon because it is so rare. The moon needs a little more than 29 days to complete the cycle from full moon to full moon. Because every month except February has more than 29 days, every month will have at least one full moon (except February, which will have a full moon unless there is a full moon at the very end of January and another full moon at the very beginning of March). It is on the occasion when a given calendar month has a second full moon that a blue moon occurs. This does not happen very often, only three or four times in a decade. The blue moons of today are called blue moons because of their rarity and not because of their color; however, the expression “blue moon” may have come into existence in reference to unusual circumstances in which the moon actually appeared blue. Certain natural phenomena of gigantic proportions can actually change the appearance of the moon from Earth. The eruption of the Krakatao volcano in 1883 left dust particles in the atmosphere, which clouded the sun and gave the moon a bluish tint. This particular occurrence of the blue moon may have given rise to the expression that we use today. Another example occurred more than a century later. When Mount Pinatubo erupted in the Philippines in 1991, the moon again took on a blue tint.

According to the passage, the moon actually looked blue

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          NEIGHBOURS INFLUENCE BUYING DECISIONS
However objective we believe ourselves to be, most of us do not judge a product solely on its merits, considering quality, value and style before making a decision. (6)........., we are easily influenced by the people around us.
There is nothing wrong with this. It is probably a smarter way to make decisions than (7)........on only our own opinions. But it does make life hard for companies. They have long understood that groups of friends and relatives tend to buy the same products, but understanding the reasons has been tricky. It is because they are so similar with (8)....... to how much money they make and what television ads they watch that they independently arrive at the same decision? Or do they copy one another, perhaps (9)............ envy or perhaps because they have shared information about the products?
Research in Finland recently found overwhelming evidence that neighbours have a big influence on buying decisions. When one of a person’s ten nearest neighbours bought a car, the chances (10)......... that person would buy a car of the same brand during the next week and a half rose by 86 per cent. The researchers argued that it was not just a matter of envy. Used cars seemed to attract neighbours even more than new cars. This suggested that people were not trying to keep up with their neighbours, they were keen to learn from them. Since used cars are less reliable, a recommendation of one can strongly influence a buying decision.
(9)..............................

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Less than a year ago marketing director, David Smith, 33 was behaving like a secet agent. He used to secretly taped all his conversations, he refused to sign his name and he would ask his secretary to check all his emails. Anything he wrote was photocopied and kept as “evidence”. But David isn’t mad, or even mildly eccertric. He suffers from ‘resposibility OCD’, one of more common form of obsessive compulsive disorder, or OCD, as it is usually known.
OCD is now recognized as the second most prevalent mental-health problem, after depression – and the number of reported cases is soaring. Experts estimate that 2% - 3% of the population suffer from the full-blown syndrome, with as many as one in five suffering from a milder form.
OCD sufferers are tortured by obsessional thoughts, such as worrying that their hands are contaminated by germs. The terrible anxiety is only relieved by performing a particular set of behaviours. Unfortunately, any sense of relief is short-lived, which is why the behaviour must be repeated again and again. OCD sufferers know their behavior is irrational, yet feel powerless to stop.
Common treatments are either antidepressants or behavioral therapy with a psychologist, but only 60% of patients show some improvement. However, a new treatment from America is bringing fresh hope to sufferers.
One of the OCD gurus and neuropsychiatrists, Jeffrey Schwartz, has designed the Four Steps program which employs meditation teachniques with the aim of teaching sufferers to manage their symptoms by themselves. “The goal is to learn to override false brain messages”, explains Schwartz.
There are different theories about what causes the disorder. Most experts recognize a genetic element that can be triggered by a stressful event. Schwartz believes that the OCD ‘worry circuit’ is a
direct result of faulty brain chemistry. ‘When someone experiences an OCD thought, one part of the brain knows quite clearly that the hand are not dirty’, explains Schwartz ‘Some part of the brain is standing apart from the symptoms, reflecting on the sheer bizarreness of it all. The objective is to harness this impartial spectator so that patients can use this healthy part of their brain to resist the compulsions.’
David Smith is delighted with the results of Schwartz’s treatment. ‘Now I can sign cheques without a problem’, he says brightly. ‘And I don’t photocopy them either. OCD used to feel like a huge stigma, but I don’t feel handicapped by it any more. You just deal with it.’

What is the word “mildly” in paragraph 1 closest in meaning to?

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If you ask any Vietnamese girl right now who she has a crush on, chances are you will encounter the name of the 20-year-old goalkeeper who plays for Vietnam national team. Bui Tien Dung made a name for himself in the AFC U23 Championship where he accurately blocked opponents' shots time after time and saved Vietnam’s chance at the championship in the process. Bui Tien Dung was born on February 28th, 1997 in a poor farming family in Thanh Hoa Province. Dung has loved soccer since he was a kid, but his family was so poor that they could not even
afford a plastic soccer ball for him and his brother. The Bui brothers had to resort to playing with balls made from scrap papers and old grapefruits.
Dung's parents recognized the brothers' passion for football and used the little money they had to support their sons' early training. When a big football club in the city announced a recruitment event, Dung convinced his younger brother to go to the tryout. He passed on the opportunity knowing that his parents could not afford to have both their sons gone to city.
While his younger brother training in the city, Dung's local training center went bankrupted and abruptly ended Dung's football career. For a year, instead of kicking balls, the young man worked as a construction worker to support his parents. He seemingly gave up on football.
Fate finally smiled on Dung when a football coach rediscovered him and sent him to train with a local football team. Reentering the football field, Dung wanted to play in a defense position but he was pushed to goalkeeping because of his height. At first, Dung was unhappy about his new position, but his parents advised him to follow and make the best out of it. And Dung did.
The young goalkeeper trained hard for his new position and patiently climbed up the ranks the following years. Through hard work, he was named the best goalkeeper of Vietnam's U19 division. Those who have worked with Dung described him as a likable young man. He is very respectful to others and speaks very little. However, when the gloves are on, the nice young man transforms into a fierce competitor and an unyielding goalkeeper.
At AFC U23 Championship, Dung finally reunited with his brother on the field. They fought battle after battle together with other amazing players on the team and helped Vietnam made history for Southeast Asian football.
Even though Vietnam came short of winning the championship, Dung and his teammates are already heroes and legends in the heart of Vietnamese people. They played fairly and lost with glory and grace.

What made a name for himself in the AFC U23 Championship?

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According to sociologists, there are several different ways in which a person may become recognized as the leader of a social group in the United States. In the tamily, traditional cultural patterns confer leadership on one or both of the parents. In other cases, such as friendship groups, one or more persons may gradually emerge as leaders, although there is no formal process of selection. In larger groups, leaders are usually chosen formally through election or recruitment.
Although leaders are often thought to be people with unusual personal ubility, decades ot research have failed to produce consistent evidence that there is any category ot “natural leaders”. It seems that there is no set of personal qualities that all leaders have in common; rather, virtually any person may be recognized as a leader if the person has qualities that meet the needs ot that particular group.
Furthermore, although it is commonly supposed that social groups have a single leader, research suggests that there are typically two different leadership roles that are held by different individuals. Instrumental leadership is leadership that emphasizes the completion of tasks by a social group.
Group members look to instrumental leaders to “get things” done.” Expressive leadership, on the other hand, is leadership that emphasizes the collective well-being of a social group’s member. Expressive leaders are less concerned with the overall goals of the group than with providing emotional support to group members and attempting to minimize tension and conflict among them. Group members expect expressive leaders to maintain stable relationships within the group and provide support to individual members.
Instrumental leaders are likely to have a rather secondary relationship to other group members. They give orders and may discipline group members who inhibit attainment of the group’s goals. Expressive leaders cultivate a more personal or primary relationship to others in the group. They offer sympathy when someone experiences difficulties or is subjected to discipline, are quick to lighten a serious moment with humor, and try to resolve issues that threaten to divide the group. As the differences in these two roles suggest, expressive leaders generally receive more personal affection from group members; instrumental leaders, if they are successful in promoting group goals, may enjoy a more distant respect.

A “secondary relationship” mentioned in the last paragraph between a leader and the members of a group could best be characterized as

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Facebook users spend an average of more than 15 hours a month on the social networking site. While there are plenty who caution against such intensive use — and there are a number of studies detailing the harm Facebook could potentially cause — there also are lots of reports extolling the site's virtues. As the social media giant prepares for its upcoming initial public offering, here are some ways Facebook just might be good for you.
Spending time on Facebook can help people relax, slow down their heart rate and decrease stress levels, according to researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Milan. In a study published earlier this year, researchers studied 30 students and  found that a natural high was sparked when they were on  the  social media network that led  to  the relaxed heart rates and lower levels of stress and tension. In the study, the students were monitored in three situations: looking at panoramic landscapes, performing complicated mathematical equations and using Facebook. While the first situation was the most relaxing to students and the math problems were the most stressful, the time on Facebook uncovered high levels of attractiveness and arousal. The findings support the researchers' hypothesis that Facebook's success, as well as that of other social media networks, correlates to the specific positive mental and physical state users experience.
While many may argue that social media networks only distract employees, research shows  the opposite may be true. Research from Keas.com found that a 10-minute Facebook break makes employees happier, healthier and more productive. The study examined workers in three groups: one that was allowed no  breaks, one that was allowed to do  anything but use the Internet and one  that was allowed 10 minutes to use the Internet and Facebook. The Facebook group was found to be 16 percent more productive than the group that was not allowed to use the Internet and nearly 40 percent more productive than the group that was allowed no breaks. "Short and unobtrusive breaks, such as a quick surf on the Internet, enables the mind to rest itself, leading to a higher net total concentration for a day's work, and as a result, increased productivity," said Brent Coker of the department of management and marketing at the University of Melbourne in Australia.
Facebook is also in the business of matchmaking. Research shows that nearly 60 percent of singles will friend someone new on Facebook after meeting them in  person. If  they like what they see, 25 percent are likely to contact their new love interest via Facebook. Once the courting is over, nearly 40 percent of those social networking adults will update their relationship status on Facebook, with just 24 percent telling their friends first. Facebook use between couples will continue through the dating process, the research shows. Throughout the day, 79 percent of  couples  said they send partners Facebook messages or chat on the social network. In addition, more than 60 percent would post romantic messages on their significant other's Facebook wall. When the relationship ends, more than half of those surveyed immediately update their status to single, which automatically sends out a notification to their friend list to start the dating cycle over again.

Why does Facebook motivate the productivity of employees?

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   For centuries, time was measured by the position of the sun with the use of sundials. Noon was recognized when the sun was the highest in the sky, and cities would set their clock by this apparent solar time, even though some cities would often be on a slightly different time. Daylight Saving Time (DST), sometimes called summer time, was instituted to make better use of daylight. Thus, clocks are set forward one hour in the spring to move an hour of daylight from the morning to the evening and then set back one hour in the fall to return to normal daylight.

   Benjamin Franklin first conceived the idea of daylight saving during his tenure as an American delegate in Paris in 1984 and wrote about it extensively in his essay, "An Economical Project." It is said that Franklin awoke early one morning and was surprised to see the sunlight at such an hour. Always the economist, Franklin believed the practice of moving the time could save on the use of candlelight, as candles were expensive at the time.

   In England, builder William Willett (1857–1915) became a strong supporter for Daylight Saving Time upon noticing blinds of many houses were closed on an early sunny morning. Willet believed everyone, including himself, would appreciate longer hours of light in the evenings. In 1909, Sir Robert Pearce introduced a bill in the House of Commons to make it obligatory to adjust the clocks. A bill was drafted and introduced into Parliament several times but met with great opposition, mostly from farmers. Eventually, in 1925, it was decided that summer time should begin on the day following the third Saturday in April and close after the first Saturday in October.

   The U.S. Congress passed the Standard Time Act of 1918 to establish standard time and preserve and set Daylight Saving Time across the continent. This act also devised five time zones throughout the United States: Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific, and Alaska. The first time zone was set on "the mean astronomical time of the seventy-fifth degree of longitude west from Greenwich" (England). In 1919, this act was repealed.

   President Roosevelt established year-round Daylight Saving Time (also called War Time) from 1942–1945. However, after this period, each state adopted its own DST, which proved to be disconcerting to television and radio broadcasting and transportation. In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson created the Department of Transportation and signed the Uniform Time Act. As a result, the Department of Transportation was given the responsibility for the time laws. During the oil embargo and energy crisis of the 1970s, President Richard Nixon extended DST through the Daylight Saving Time Energy Act of 1973 to conserve energy further. This law was modified in 1986, and Daylight Saving Time was reset to begin on the first Sunday in April (to spring ahead) and end on the last Sunday in October (to fall back).

Who opposed the bill that was introduced in the House of Commons in the early 1900s?

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The concept of obtaining fresh water from iceberg that is towed to populated areas and arid regions of the world was once treated as a joke more appropriate to cartoons than real life. But now it is being considered quite seriously by many nations, especially since scientists have warned that the human race will outgrow its fresh water supply faster than it runs out of food. Glaciers are a possible source of fresh water that has been overlooked until recently. (A)
Three-quarters of the Earth's fresh water supply is still tied up in glacial ice, a reservoir of untapped fresh water so immense that it could sustain all the rivers of the world for 1,000 years. Floating on the oceans every year are 7,659 trillion metric tons of ice encased in 10,000 icebergs that break away from the polar ice caps, more than ninety percent of them from Antarctica. (B)
Huge glaciers that stretch over the shallow continental shelf give birth to icebergs throughout the year. Icebergs are not like sea ice, which is formed when the sea itself freezes; rather, they are formed entirely on land, breaking off when glaciers spread over the sea. As they drift away from the polar region, icebergs sometimes move mysteriously in a direction opposite to the wind, pulled by subsurface  currents. Because they melt more slowly than smaller pieces of ice, icebergs have been known to drift as far north as 35 degrees south of the equator in the Atlantic Ocean. (C)
The difficulty arises in other technical matters, such as the prevention of rapid melting in warmer climates and the funneling of fresh water to shore in great volume. But even if the icebergs lost half of their volume in towing, the water they could provide would be far cheaper than that produced by desalination, or removing salt from water. (D)

What is the main topic of the passage?

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The development of genetically modified (GM) plants and animals had led to a huge global controversy. Opponents say that GM “Franken foods” are a threat to our well-being, and proponents say that the risks are minimal. There is one aspect of the war over GM that is often overlooked. Anyone who wears a cotton shirt these days is using a GM crop. Cotton is the only major non-food GM crop at present, but others are coming.
GM cotton plants that is not food has not stopped the most passionate GM opponents from objecting. If GM cotton is grown in a field next to fields of non-GM cotton, they argue, then how to keep genes from being transferred from field to field. This danger, however, is not as compelling to the public as possible health hazards in food, so there is no great fury over GM cotton.
GM cotton seeds produce higher yields, and they do without the need for pesticides. Planting of  GM cotton has increased five fold since 1997; three-quarter of cotton in America, and over half in China, is now GM. Farmers like it because it increases their profits.
Other options for non-food GM include new variety of flowers with different colors or scents, tougher grasses for lawns, and plants designed to soak up pollutants from the soil. The paper industry provides another example of potential for GM to help produce better and cheaper products. Paper is made from pulp, and pulp is generally made from trees. Researchers in New Zealand and Chile have been working on insect-resistant pines, and a Japanese firm has combined carrot genes with tree genes to make them grow better in poor soil.
Another interesting case is that of tobacco. It is not food crop, but it is consumed, and GM tobacco plants with both more and less nicotine have been created. The tobacco plant, however, is an ideal target for GM, since its genetics are very well understood and it produces a lot of leaves. The value of the drugs that could be produced by GM tobacco is so high, many farmers could switch from growing tobacco for cigarettes to growing it for medicine. Since medical cost is rising, consumers would also be happy to use drugs produced in bulk by GM tobacco.

The word “compelling” in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to

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Newspapers can be traced back to 16th century Venice. In 1566, handwritten news sheets - called 'avis' or ‘gazette' – filled with information on wars and politics in Europe were distributed weekly in Venice. Similar news sheets soon started to appear in other European countries. By 1615, Germany and Austria were publishing weeklies. And in 1621, the first news sheets appeared in England.
At first, these news sheets only printed news which came from outside the country in which they were printed. Discussion of local or national issues was avoided. Europe’s governments did not tolerate anything negative being said about them as it could lead to national unrest.
Such censorship slowed the development of newspapers. Nevertheless, a belief in the importance of a 'free press’ slowly began to take hold in Europe. England was among the first countries to escape government control of the press. This occurred during the reign of King Charles I in the 17th century, when, during a period of breakdown in the king's authority, people began to publish what they wanted.
Eventually, free press had the right to criticize government and voice other ideas freely. In the middle of the 18th century, Sweden became the first country to make press freedom a part of its law.
In the 19th century, the newspaper industry was transformed by the invention of the telegraph. The telegraph was a communication system that allowed messages to be sent over long distances in a matter of minutes. It wasn’t long before newspapers became society's primary means of spreading and receiving information. In 1880, the first photographs appeared in newspapers and, by the end of the century, all the basic technical tools for the modern newspaper were in place.
The story of newspapers in the 20th century was one of adaptation to changing consumer and media markets. The invention of radio, TV, and later the Internet, repeatedly drove newspapers to re-invent themselves. Also, during the 20th century, mass-market advertising increased profitability for newspapers. This attracted large, publicly-owned corporations who began buying newspapers from the descendants of company founders.
Over the years, people have periodically predicted the extinction of newspapers. In fact, every time a new media has come into being, dire predictions have been made for existing forms (e.g. television was supposed to have replaced radio, radio was supposed to have replaced newspapers). Yet history has repeatedly shown that new media do not replace existing media. Instead, what happens is that media consumption grows, which creates the necessary space for the new media to become a part of the media landscape.
According to the World Association of Newspapers (WAN), each day more than 1.5 billion people around the world read a newspaper. The WAN has also estimated the total annual worth of the global newspaper industry and put it at just under 180 billion USD. Such statistics suggest the newspaper industry is healthier than at any other time in its history. Indeed, if the industry proves itself as capable of adapting to change as it has done in the past, it is unlikely that newspapers will be disappearing from newsstands anytime soon.

In paragraph 1, we learn that     .

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Singapore  has  a  highly  developed  market-based  economy,  (6)...... historically revolves around extended trade. Along with Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan, Singapore is one (7)......... The Four Asian Tigers. The economy depends heavily on exports , refining, imported  goods,  especially  in  manufacturing.  Manufacturing  constituted  26  (8)...... of Singapore's GDP in 2005. The manufacturing industry is well-diversified into electronics, petroleum refining, chemicals, (9).......... engineering and biomedical sciences manufacturing. In 2006. Singapore produced about 10 percent of the world’s foundry water output. Singapore is the busiest port in the world in terms of tonnage shipped. Singapore is the world's fourth largest foreign exchange trading centre after London, New York City (10)................ Tokyo.

(10)..............................

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When John Mills was going to fly in an airplane for the first time, he was frightened. He did not like the idea of being thousands of feet up in the air. "I also didn't like the fact that I wouldn't  be in control," says John.
"I'm a terrible passenger in the car. When somebody else is driving, I tell them what to so. It drives everybody crazy."
However John couldn't avoid flying any longer. It was the only way he could visit his grandchildren in Canada.
"I had made up my mind that I was going to do it, I couldn't let my son, his wife and their three children travel all the way here to visit me. It would be so expensive for them and I know Tom's business isn't doing so well at the moment - it would also be tiring for the children - it's a nine-hour flight!" he says.
To get ready for the flight John did lots of reading about airplanes. When he booked his seat, he was told that he would be flying on a Boeing 747, which is better known as a jumbo jet. "I  needed to know as much as possible before getting in that plane. I suppose it was a way of making myself feel better. The Boeing 747 is the largest passenger aircraft in the world at the moment.
The first one flew on February 9th 1969 in the USA. It can carry up to 524 passengers and 3.400 pieces of luggage. The fuel for airplanes is kept in the wings and the 747's wings are so big that they can carry enough fuel for an average car to be able to travel 16,000 kilometers a year for 70 years. Isn't that unbelievable? Even though I had discovered all this very interesting information about the jumbo, when I saw it for the first time, just before I was going to travel to Canada, I still couldn't believe that something so enormous was going to get up in the air and fly. I was even more impressed when I saw how big it was inside with hundreds of people!"
The biggest surprise of all for John was the flight itself. "The take-off itself was much smoother than I expected although I was still quite scared until we were in the air. In the end, I managed to relax, enjoy the food and watch one of the movies and the view from the window was spectacular. I even managed to sleep for a while!
"Of course," continues John, "the best reward of all was when I arrived in Canada and saw my son and his family, particularly my beautiful grandchildren. Suddenly, I felt so silly about all the years when I couldn't even think of getting on a plane. I had let my fear of living stop me from seeing the people I love most in the world. I can visit my son and family as often as I like now!" Question 24: Why did John Mills fly in an airplane?

What does the word "which" in the paragraph refer to?

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The main difference between urban growth in Europe and in the American colonies was the slow evolution of cities in the former and their rapid growth in the latter. In Europe they grew over a period of centuries from town economies to their present urban structure. In North America, they started as wilderness communities and developed to mature urbanism’s in little more than a century.
In the early colonial day in North America, small cities sprang up along the Atlantic Coastline, mostly in what are now New America, small cities sprang up along the Atlantic United States and in the lower Saint Lawrence valley in Canada. This was natural because these areas were nearest England and France, particularly England, from which most capital goods (assets such as equipment) and many consumer goods were imported Merchandising establishments were, accordingly, advantageously located in port cities from which goods could be readily distributed to interior settlements. Here, too, were the favored locations for processing raw materials prior to export. Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Montreal, and other cities flourished, and, as the colonies grew, these cities increased in importance.
This was less true in the colonial South, where life centered around large farms, known as plantations, rather than around towns, as was the case in the areas further north along the Atlantic coastline. The local isolation and the economic self-sufficiency of the plantations were antagonistic to the development of the towns. The plantations maintained their independence because they were located on navigable streams and each had a wharf accessible to the small shipping of that day. In fact, one of the strongest factors in the selection of plantation land was the desire to have it front on a water highway.
When the United States became an independent nation in 1776, it did not have a single city as large as 50,000 inhabitants, but by 1820 it had a city of more than 10,000 people, and by 1880 it had recorded a city of over one million. It was not until after 1823, after the mechanization of the spinning and weaving industries, that cities started drawing young people away from farms. Such migration was particularly rapid following the Civil War (1861-1865).

It can be inferred from the passage that, in comparison with northern, cities, most southern cities were     .

Philadelphia’s PH11-TV invites you to download our new traffic app for your mobile device. The app---131--- the station’s traffic coverage. Use it to get traffic news if you are away from your television and are unable to watch our traffic reports. --132--. Plus, you can program your daily commute into the app to receive personalized alerts ---133--- on your mobile device when any traffic-related event occurs along with your note. Avoid traffic delays by downloading the PH11-TV traffic app today,---134--- tune in to our live broadcast beginning at 5:00 A.M. and 4:00 P.M. daily.

133....................

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A number of factors related to the voice reveal the personality of the speaker. The first is the broad area of communication, which includes imparting information by use of language, communicating with a group or an individual and specialized communication through performance. Aperson conveys thoughts and ideas through choice of words, by a tone of voice that is pleasant or unpleasant, gentle or harsh, by the rhythm that is inherent within the language itself, and by speech rhythms that are flowing and regular or uneven and hesitant, and finally, by the pitch and melody of the utterance. When speaking before a group, a person’s tone may indicate uncertainty or fright, confidence or calm. At interpersonal levels, the tone may reflect ideas and feelings over and above the words chosen, or may believe them.Here the participant’s tone can consciously or unconsciously reflect intuitive sympathy or antipathy, lack of concern or interest, fatigue, anxiety, enthusiasm or excitement, all of which are usually discernible by the acute listener. Public performance is a manner of communication that is highly specialized with its own techniques for obtaining effects by voice and /or gesture. The motivation derived from the text, and in the case of singing, the music, in combination with the performer’s skills, personality, and ability to create empathy will determine the success of artistic, political, or pedagogic communication. Second, the voice gives psychological clues to a person’s self-image, perception of others, and emotional health. Self- image can be indicated by a tone of voice that is confident, pretentious, shy, aggressive, outgoing, or exuberant, to name only a few personality traits. Also the sound may give a clue to the facade or mask of that person, for example, a shy person hiding behind an overconfident front. How a speaker perceives the listener’s receptiveness, interest, or sympathy in any given conversation can drastically alter the tone of presentation, by encouraging or discouraging the speaker. Emotional health is evidenced in the voice by free and melodic sounds of the happy, by constricted and harsh sound of the angry, and by dull and lethargic qualities of the depressed.

What does the passage mainly discuss?

Choose the best answer:
English is also an ________ language here in Singapore.

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:
Translators and interpreters for tech jobs of the future are expected to be one of the fastest growing occupations in the nation, according to a just released survey by Vietnamworks. Almost all positions for programmers, application developers, database and network administrators, engineers, designers, architects, scientists, technicians, and tech support will require bilingual or multilingual fluency. In just the last two years the demand for tech professionals with foreign language skills has increased more than two and one-half fold, said the survey, and the uptick shows no signs of abating anytime soon. Roughly 400,000 jobs are expected to open for interpreters (who focus on spoken language) and translators (who focus on written language) in the tech segment, between 2017 and 2020, says Tran Anh Tuan. Tuan, who works for the Centre for Forecasting Manpower Needs and Labour Market Information in Ho Chi Minh City doesn't include other industries in his prediction,
which are also recruiting ferociously for more people with these same language skills.
While that claim might seem a bit overblown (and amounts to little more than a guess by Tuan), it is clear that innovative technologies like robotics, 3D printing, drones, artificial intelligence   and virtual reality will create major upheavals in all sorts of labor markets, not just technology over     the next few years. In the last month alone, most every job posted on employment websites throughout Vietnam included the word bilingual. Far higher salaries go to people who work in high    tech positions and can speak a foreign language such as English in addition to Vietnamese, says Tran Quang Anh from the Posts and Telecommunications Institute of Technology.
Unfortunately, the surveys show that most graduating Vietnamese students are unable to do more than understand a few basic phrases of foreign languages, and practically none of them  can speak any foreign language coherently, The good paying jobs with high salaries and benefits are only available to translators and interpreters who specialize in high tech jobs, says Anh. But it's    not just English— graduates are needed with fluency in middle eastern languages like  Arabic, Farsi and Pashto (Afghani) as well as German, Japanese and Korean to name just a few. Spanish is  also in high demand in Vietnam, primarily because it is the second most common language in the US after English.
A recent tech expo in Hanoi sponsored by Vietnamworks and the Navigos Group attracted nearly 4,000 young tech graduates and recruiters from 14 leading companies looking to fill job  vacancies with skilled bilingual workers. The job applicants were young and industrious, said the recruiters. However, missing were candidates with the requisite language skills and most lacked  basic 'soft skills' such as written and verbal communication abilities to effectively communicate  even in their native Vietnamese language.
Notably, the recruiters said they considered language abilities and soft skills just as, if not more important, than academic ability. Yet virtually all the prospective academically qualified employees lacked even the most basic of interpersonal communication abilities.

What does the word "them" in paragraph 4 refer to?

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It is not surprising that the birthplace of cola was the hot and humid American South. This region had long specialized in creating delicious soft drinks. A druggist in Atlanta, Georgia named John Pemberton created the most well–known drink brand in the world in the 1880s. However, it seems clear that he had no idea how big it would become.
Like many American pharmacists of the day, Pemberton was opposed to the drinking of alcohol and wanted to produce a stimulating soft drink. First, he made "the French Wine of Coca," made from the coca leaf. Then he began to experiment with the cola nut. Eventually, he managed to make a combination of the two that he thought was sweet, but not too sweet. Deciding that "the two C's would look well in advertising," he named it Coca–Cola.
Pemberton's invention caught on fairly quickly. By 1905, "Coke" was being advertised all over the country as "The Great Natural Temperance Drink." The drink enjoyed additional success since there was a large and popular temperance movement in the US at that time. In the 1920s, alcohol was outlawed, and sales of Coke rose significantly. However, they continued to rise even after the law was repeated.
Another reason for Coke's popularity was good business sense. A year after he invented it, Pemberton had sold Coca–Cola to Asa Griggs Candler for only $283.26! Candler was a marketing genius, and by the time he sold the Coca–Cola Company in1919, it was worth $25 million.

All of the followings are true of Pemberton EXCEPT that     .