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We found it very difficult ............... with Gamma.

 

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Love covers a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest interpersonal affection to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of (1) ____________________ is that the love of a mother differs from the love of a wife, which also differs from the love of food. Most commonly, it (2) ______________ to a feeling of strong attraction and deep emotional attachment. Love is considered to be both positive and negative; with its virtue representing human kindness, compassion, and affection, as “the unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another”; and its vice representing human moral flaw, (3) ______________ to vanity, selfishness, amour-propre, and egotism, as it potentially leads people into a type of mania, obsessiveness or codependency. It may also describe compassionate and affectionate actions (4) _____________________ other humans, one’s self or animals. In its various forms, love acts as a major facilitator of interpersonal relationships and, owing to its central psychological importance, is one of the most common themes in creative arts. Love has, supposedly, a function to keep human beings (5) ___________________ against menaces and to facilitate the continuation of the human species

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If you want to volunteer to help boost your career, think carefully about the skills and  experience you need. Don’t be afraid to be upfront about this when you apply (1)_________ opportunities – as long as you are willing to show commitment to your voluntary work, most organizations will welcome the fact that it could have benefits for you. Volunteering can give you a broad (2) ________ of learning opportunities:  • Many volunteer placements will allow you to study and develop your “key skills”, (3) _________ skills you need to get on in the workplace, in learning and in life.  • Some volunteers receive vocational training in (4) _________ areas such as social care, working with the elderly, or working with children.  • Some roles require specific training such as volunteering as a special constable with your local police force.  The organization you work for usually covers your training costs and expenses in (5) ________ for your time and commitment

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:
It is said that George Washington was one of the first to realize how important tire building of canals would be to the nation’s development. In fact, before he became the President, he headed the first company in the United States to build a canal, which was to connect the Ohio and Potomac rivers. It was never completed, but it showed the nation the feasibility of canals. As the country expanded westward, settlers in western New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio needed a means to ship goods. Canals linking natural waterways seemed to supply an effective method.
In 1791, engineers commissioned by the state of New York investigated the possibility of a canal between Albany on the Hudson River and Buffalo on Lake Eric to link the Great Lakes area with the Atlantic seacoast. It would avoid the mountains that served as a barrier to canals from the Delaware and Potomac rivers.
The first attempt to dig the canal, to be called the Eric Canal, was made by private companies but only a comparatively small portion was built before the project was halted for lack of funds. The cost of the prospect was estimated $5 million, an enormous amount for those days. There was some on-again-off-again federal funding, but this time the War of 1812 put an end to construction. In 1817, DeWitt Clinton was elected Governor of New York and persuaded the state to finance and build the canal. It was completed in 1825, costing S2 million more than expected.
The canal rapidly lived up to its sponsors’ faith, quickly paying for itself through tolls. It was far more economical than any other form of transportation at the time. It permitted trade between the Great Lake region and the East coast, robbing the Mississippi River of much of its traffic. It allowed New York to supplant Boston, Philadelphia, and other eastern cities as the chief center of both domestic and foreign commerce. Cities sprang up along the canal. It also contributed in a number of ways to the Norths victory over the South in the Civil War.
An expansion of the canal was planned in 1849. Increased traffic would undoubtedly have warranted its construction had it not been for the railroads.

What can be inferred about railroads in 1849 from the information in the last paragraph?

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Kissing under sprigs of mistletoe is a well-known holiday tradition, but this little plant’s history as a symbolic herb dates back thousands of years. Many ancient cultures prized mistletoe for its healing properties. The plant’s romantic overtones most likely started with the Celtic Druids of the 1st century A.D. Because mistletoe could blossom even during the frozen winter, the Druids came to view it as a sacred symbol of vivacity, and they administered it to humans and animals alike in the hope of restoring fertility. Another famous chapter in mistletoe folklore comes from Norse mythology. As the story goes, when the god Odin’s son Baldur was prophesied to die, his mother Frigg, the goddess of love, went to all the animals and plants of the natural world to secure an oath that they would not harm him. But Frigg neglected to consult with the unassuming mistletoe, so the scheming god Loki made an arrow from the plant and saw that it was used to kill the otherwise invincible Baldur. According to one sunnier version of the myth, the gods were able to resurrect Baldur from the dead. Delighted, Frigg then declared mistletoe a symbol of love and vowed to plant a kiss on all those who passed beneath it. Mistletoe’s associations with fertility and vitality continued through the Middle Ages, and by the 18th century it had become widely incorporated into Christmas celebrations. Just how it made the jump from sacred herb to holiday decoration remains up for debate, but the kissing tradition appears to have first caught on among servants in England before spreading to the middle classes. As part of the early custom, men were allowed to steal a kiss from any woman caught standing under the mistletoe, and refusing was viewed as bad luck.  
3. According to paragraph 2, what was the Achilles heel of the mighty Baldur?

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Graphic novels, as the name suggests, are books written and illustrated in the style of a comic book. Adults may feel that graphic novels do not help children become good readers. They believe that this  type of  reading material  somehow prevents  "real"   reading. (1)_____ , many quality graphic novels are now being seen as a method of storytelling on the same level as novels, films or audiobooks. Many librarians and teachers are now accepting graphic novels as proper literature for children as they (2)____ young people and motivate them to read. This has been especially true with children who are not (3)_________to read, especially boys.Language learners are also motivated by graphic novels because the pictures provide clues to the meaning of the words. Therefore, they will (4)______ new vocabulary more quickly. Many teachers have reported great success when they used graphic novels with their students, especially in the areas of English, social studies and art. The idea that graphic novels are too simple to be regarded as serious reading is no longer valid. Reading them can, undoubtedly, help students develop the skills (5) _____ are necessary to read more challenging works

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Peter can just get ____________ in German.

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Saving the planet is very much in vogue. It’s also in Harper’s Bazaar, Elle and Mademoiselle. It’s the message on fashion runways, in marketing strategies, in jewelry and accessory designs, on shopping bags and totes, in advertisements and on price tags. A naked fashion model wearing a hat of birch branches and lichen, as shown in Vogue this month, may not be everyone’s idea of environmental awareness. But the pervasiveness of ecological themes in the images and marketing of fashion is undeniable. It is also somewhat paradoxical. The fashion industry, whose driving philosophy involves encouraging consumers to discard the old and embrace the new, is now trying to push itself to the forefront of efforts to conserve and preserve. The environmental theme in fashion began as wispy touches and graphic exhortations in designer collections, not as some well-thought-out strategy of “green” marketing in which the environmental advantages of a product become part of the sales approach. Tendrils of ivy dangled from the ceiling at a Paris fashion show; a carpet of grass covered a runway in New York; models marched along in T-shirts or carrying signs all bearing slogans like “Clean Up or Die,” “Save the Sphere,” and “Environmental Protection Agents”.  The environmental spin on fashion has now moved into the mass market, where ‘’clothes with conscience’‘ make an extra tug at the buyer’s self-image. Bonjour, a jeans and sportswear company based in New York, has embarked on a program to ’‘change the individual’s outlook toward saving the environment’’ through educational tags. This summer, the first wave of what Bonjour executives said would be 50 million fashion items a year are to arrive in stores carrying tags with environmental tips from how to save water to how to reduce pollutants. Whether these tributes to nature will benefit the environment or even raise environmental awareness, with concomitant changes in individual behavior, is not clear. There is some skepticism. Professor Ewen says the new environmental symbolism should be viewed as part of an overall change in America’s economy, from one built on industrial production of hard goods to one based on “pure representation”. “Going back to fashion, the environment has become a commercial cliche separated from real concerns. What can be attached to this year’s fashion is merely the symbolism of environmental sanity.” 
3. According to paragraph 2, why is the green effort of fashion world so much of an irony?

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NASA continues to plan a flight to Mars. The technological challenge is immense, first  of all, because it will be very difficult to carry tons of material for the construction of a habitat. This is why NASA is looking for alternative solutions, such as the possibility of growing structures out of fungi to become our future homes in the stars. The concept of these “houses” is based on three distinct layers. The first is made of ice. It must protect people from radiation, but also provide the resources necessary for the second layer. This is made of photosynthesizing microbes or cyanobacteria, which produce oxygen for astronauts and nutrients for the final layer of mycelia. That last layer of mycelia is what organically grows into a sturdy home, first activated to grow in a contained environment and then baked to kill the lifeforms.  Researchers have already experimented with creating objects using mycelia. A team from Stanford and Brown universities grew a stool as part of a myco-architecture project at NASA’s Ames research center in 2018. After two weeks of growth, the stool looked like something that would have been long forgotten in a refrigerator. It was then baked that leads to a clean and functional piece of furniture. From the point of view of space conquest, mushrooms could also be used to filter water for future explorers and extract minerals. Once these prototypes are designed for other worlds, we can bring them back to ours. Building this kind of housing could reduce the huge carbon footprint of the construction industry. This research project is still in its infancy, but it shows us how scientists are able to broaden horizons, and it’s exciting.
5. According to paragraph 2, what is correct about the developing materials project?

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The knock–on effect of volunteering on the lives of individuals can be profound. Voluntary work helps foster independence and imparts the ability to deal with different situations, often simultaneously, thus teaching people how to (1) _______ their way through different systems. It therefore brings people into touch with the real world, and hence, equips them for the future. Initially, young adults in their late teens might not seem to have the expertise or knowledge to impart to athare that attencher or an ariculturalist or a nurse would have, (2) ________ they do have many skills can help others. And in the absence of any particular talent, their energy and enthusiasm can be harmes the benefit (3) _______ their fellow human beings, and ultimately themselves. From all this, the gain to any community no matter how many volunteers are involved is (4)_______ . Employers will generally look favorably on people (5) _______have shown an ability to work as part of team. It demonstrates a willingness to learn and an independent spirit, which would be desirable qualities in any employee.

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“Evidence has piled up to show that our relationships, including friendships, affect  our health at a much deeper level, tweaking not just our psychology and motivation but the function and structure of our organs and cells,” writes science journalist Lydia Denworth in the book “Friendship: The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life’s Fundamental Bond” (W.W. Norton), out now. The average American claims to have about four close friends, and the great majority of us have between two and six. Only 5 percent of those studied had more than eight, while 5 percent had no close friends.  Still, 20 percent of us call ourselves lonely — and the health implications are overwhelming. We’ve known about the fallout of loneliness since a 1988 Science paper concluded that being lonely “constitute[s] a major risk factor for health” equivalent to obesity, smoking and lack of physical exercise. According to Denworth’s research, lack of social contact in the elderly costs Medicare $6.7 billion a year. There are purely positive relationships, which make up about half of our social networks, and then purely negative ones, which are rare. And then there are the uncomfortably ambivalent ones that land in-between — aka “frenemies.” These ambivalent bonds make up about half of our social networks, but the research on them is pretty stark: “Ambivalent relationships are bad for us,” writes Denworth. These relationships are reportedly causing levels of inflammation, aging, blood pressure and even greater artery calcification. This is true for even not so intimate relationships, such as colleagues and neighbors, too. Sadly, about 50 percent of married view their spouses ambivalently, according to Brigham Young University researchers. According to the book, it takes between 40 and 60 hours to create a casual friendship and over 200 hours to become a “best friend.”
4. According to paragraph 3, what is NOT true about friendships?

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My mom is a pretty talented pianist. She reads music very well and loves to play  Chopin and various other classical artists. One of my earliest memories involves sitting under her piano bench while she played. It gave her a lot of joy and a lot of personal pride, I think. I trust that she naturally wanted those things for me when she enrolled me in piano lessons when I was about seven years old.  I hated them. I was scared of my teacher. I hated practicing. I hated the songs I was being forced to learn. I hated reading music. I was a young kid, and there were other things I wanted to do instead. It just didn’t interest me, and no amount of begging and pleading on my mother’s part could get me to enjoy practicing. One thing in particular that she used to say as she was begging me to practice was, “One day, when you’re older, you will cherish the ability to sit down and play.” Nevertheless, after a couple years of once-a-week torture, she finally allowed me to quit.  Years went by. I switched schools when I was 11 years old, got a new best friend, and got interested in music. This was a critical turning point. My best friend loved the band Bush and lots of other alternative bands of the ‘90s, and listening to them unlocked a whole new sonic world for me. I fell in love, fell completely and totally in love, with rock music.  My friend taught me the form for a power chord on her acoustic guitar. If you know how to play a power chord, you can play or at least convincingly fake pretty much every single rock song in the world. It was like someone had given me my first hit of a powerful opiate.  I spent hours practicing in my room. Hours sounding out my favourite songs. More hours playing along with those songs in front of my mirror, pretending I was Scott Weiland, Dolores O’Riordan, Chris Cornell, or my personal favourite Louise Post (of Veruca Salt). I unlocked a talent within myself that had gone obscenely undiscovered and undeveloped when I was a young child banging my head against a piano keyboard, trying and failing to read a piece of music - I could play the guitar by ear. I just hadn’t had the time to figure that out because my mom was trying so hard to get me to do something that did not come naturally to me and that I had no desire to do.
5. What does the word "opiate” in Paragraph 4 closest in meaning to?

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We live in a world of tired, sleep deprived people. In his book Counting Sheep, Paul Martin - a behavioral biologist - describes a society which is just too busy to sleep and which does not give sleeping the importance it deserves. Modern society has invented reasons not to sleep. We are now a 24/7 society where shops and services must be available all hours. We spend longer hours at work than we used to, and more time getting to work. Mobile phones and email allow us to stay in touch round the clock and late-night TV and the Internet tempt us away from our beds. When we need more time for work or pleasure, the easy solution is to sleep less. The average adult sleeps only 6.2 hours a night during the week, whereas research shows that most people need eight or even eight and a half hours’ sleep to feel at their best. Nowadays, many people have got used to sleeping less than they need and they live in an almost permanent state of “sleep debt”.  Until the invention of the electric light in 1879 our daily cycle of sleep used to depend on the hours of daylight. People would get up with the sun and go to bed at nightfall. But nowadays our hours of sleep are mainly determined by our working hours (or our social life) and most people are woken up artificially by an alarm clock. During the day caffeine, the world’s most popular drug, helps to keep us awake. 75% of the world’s population habitually consume caffeine, which up to a point masks the symptoms of sleep deprivation. What does a chronic lack of sleep do to us? As well as making us irritable and unhappy as humans, it also reduces our motivation and ability to work. This has serious implications for society in general. Doctors, for example, are often chronically sleep deprived, especially when they are on “night call”, and may get less than three hours’ sleep. Lack of sleep can seriously impair their mood, judgment, and ability to take decisions. Tired engineers, in the early hours of the morning, made a series of mistakes with catastrophic results. On our roads and motorways lack of sleep kills thousands of people every year. Tests show that a tired driver can be just as dangerous as a drunken driver. However, driving when drunk is against the law but driving when exhausted isn’t. As Paul Martin says, it is very ironic that we admire people who function on very little sleep instead of criticizing them for being irresponsible. Our world would be a much safer, happier place if everyone, whatever their job, slept eight hours a night  
2. The writer mentions the Internet in the passage as ______.

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Cyberbullying is the use of technology to harass, threaten, embarrass, or target another person. Online threats and mean, aggressive, or rude texts, tweets, posts or messages all count. So (1) _______ posting personal information, pictures or videos designed to hurt or embarrass someone else. Cyberbullying also includes photos, messages or pages that don’t get taken (2) ______, even after the person has been asked to do so. In (3) _______ words, it’s anything that gets posted online and is meant to hurt, harass or upset someone else. Intimidation or mean comments that focus on things like a person’s gender, religion, sexual orientation, race or physical differences count as discrimination, which is against the law in many states. That means the police could get involved, and bullies may face serious penalties. Online bullying can be particularly damaging and upsetting because it’s usually anonymous or hard to trace. It’s also hard to control, and the person being victimized has no idea how many people (or hundreds of people) have seen the messages or posts. People can be tormented nonstop (4) _________ they check their device or computer. Online bullying and harassment can be easier to commit than other acts of bullying because the bully doesn’t have to confront his or her target in (5) _______

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Paul Watson is an environmental activist. He is a man who believes that he must do something, not just talk about doing something. Paul believes in protecting endangered animals, and he protects them in controversial ways. Some people think that Watson is a hero and admire him very much. Other people think that he is a criminal. On July 16th, 1979, Paul Watson and his crew were on his ship, which is called the Sea Shepherd. Watson and the people who work on the Sea Shepherd were hunting on the Atlantic Ocean near Portugal. However, they had a strange prey, instead of hunting for animals, their prey was a ship, the Sierra. The Sea Shepherd found the Sierra, ran into it and sank it. As a result, the Sierra never returned to the sea. The Sea Shepherd, on the other hand, returned to its home in Canada. Paul Watson and his worked thought that they had been successful. The Sierra had been a whaling ship, which had operated illegally. The captain and the crew of the Sierra did not obey any of the international laws that restrict whaling. Instead, they killed as many whales as they could, quickly cut off the meat, and froze it. Later, they sold the whale meat in countries where it is eaten. Paul Watson tried to persuade the international whaling commission to stop the Sierra. However, the commission did very little, and Paul became impatient. He decided to stop the Sierra and whaling ships in any way that he could. He offered to pay $25,000 to an one who sank any illegal whaling ship, and he sank the Sierra. He acted because he believed that the whales must be protected. Still, he acted without the approval of the government; therefore, his action controversial. Paul Watson is not the only environmental activist. Other men and women are also fighting to protect the Earth. Like Paul Watson, they do not always have the approval of their governments, and like Watson, they have become impatient. Yet, because of their concern for the environment, they will act to protect it.
8. In paragraph 3 the phrase "and froze it" refers to: 

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I wondered ............... the right thing.

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Marianne Moore (1887-1972) once said that her writing could be called poetry only because there was no other name for it. (1)_______________ her poems appear to be extremely compressed essays that happen to be printed in jagged lines on the page. Her subject were (2)_____________: animals, laborers, artists, and the craft of poetry. Marianne Moore grew up in Kirkwood, Missouri, near St. Lois. After graduation from Bryn Mawr College in 1909, she taught commercial subjects at the Indian School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Later she became a librarian in New York City. During the 1920’s she was editor of The Dial, an important literary magazine of the period. She lived quietly all her life, (3)____________ in Brooklyn, New York. She spent a lot of time at the Bronx Zoo, fascinated by animals. Her admiration of the Brooklyn Dodgers-before the team moved to Los Angeles-was widely known. Her first book of poems was published in London in 1921 by a group of friends associated (4)____________ the Imagist movement. From that time on her poetry has been read with interest by succeeding generations of poets and readers. In 1952 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her Collected Poems. She wrote that she did not write poetry for money or fame. To earn a living is needful, but it can be done in routine ways. One writes because one has a (5)_________ desire to objectify what it is indispensable to one’s happiness to express

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Business dealings are becoming more and more commonplace in Vietnam, as the  country’s economy is expanding at an unprecedented rate. In order to gain the respect and favour of any prospective business partners in the country, it is important to familiarise yourself with practices and etiquette that are integral to successful commerce. Doing so will communicate not only your familiarity with their way of life, but also your suitability as a partner and will underline your business acumen.  Regarding business meeting, the first meeting should not discuss business and should be seen only as an opportunity to get to know your counterpart and cultivate a good working relationship with them. While placing hands together and bowing your head is the traditional form of greeting in Vietnam, it has been all but eradicated by the westernisation of society. As a result, you should always shake the hand of a person you are meeting for the first time - especially if they are of the same sex. When meeting a female, you should wait for her to extend her hand first; if she does not, simply nod your head. Follow your new colleague’s lead in all matters. If they shake with both hands (left hand placed upon top of right), do the same.  The next important point is that the exchange of business cards is an important ritual in Vietnamese culture. Because of this, always make sure you bring a business card to exchange at any meeting, no matter how small or trivial it may seem. Ideally, this will be printed in both English and Vietnamese and you should always offer it using both hands. When receiving a card from someone else, accept it with both hands and study it thoroughly before putting it away to show respect. The translation of all documents into Vietnamese will demonstrate your regard for your prospective partners and your preparation in the business world.  
5. Who is probably interested in this passage?

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Carols were first sung in Europe thousands of years ago, but these were not Christmas Carols. They were pagan songs, sung at the Winter Solstice celebrations as people danced round stone circles. Carols used to be written and sung during all four seasons, but only the tradition of singing them at Christmas has really survived. Early Christians took over the pagan solstice celebrations for Christmas and gave people Christian songs to sing instead of pagan ones. However, not many people liked them as they were all written and sung in Latin, a language that the normal people couldn’t understand. This was changed by St. Francis of Assisi when, in 1223, he started his Nativity Plays in Italy. The people in the plays sang songs or ‘canticles’ that told the story during the plays. Sometimes, the choruses of these new carols were in Latin; but normally they were all in a language that the people watching the play could understand and join in! The new carols spread to France, Spain, Germany and other European countries. The earliest carol, like this, was written in 1410. Sadly only a very small fragment of it still exists. Most Carols from this time and the Elizabethan period are untrue stories, very loosely based on the Christmas story, about the holy family and were seen as entertaining rather than religious songs. They were usually sung in homes rather than in churches! Traveling singers or Minstrels started singing these carols and the words were changed for the local people wherever they were traveling. Before carol singing in public became popular, there were sometimes official carol singers called ‘Waits’. These were bands of people led by important local leaders who had the only power in the towns and villages to take money from the public. Also, at this time, many orchestras and choirs were being set up in the cities of England and people wanted Christmas songs to sing, so carols once again became popular. New carols services were created and became popular, as did the custom of singing carols in the streets. Both of these customs are still popular today! One of the most popular types of Carols services are Carols by Candlelight services. At this service, the church is only lit by candlelight and it feels very Christmassy! Carols by Candlelight services are held in
countries all over the world.
8. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

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The advantages of this plan ________ its disadvantages.

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The director _______ for the meeting by the time I got to his office.