Choose the letter A, B, C or D to answer these following questions.

"Most of us are interested in one kind of sport or another, even if we don't go in for it actively. Lots of people take up a particular sport at an early age, for example tennis, skiing, or ice-skating. If they get up to a suitably high standard, they may go in for local competitions or even championships. But special training is hard work and most young people don't keep it up. Many of them opt out when they come up against tough competition.

To become a professional in any sport, you have to go through with a strict training schedule. And it's not easy! It means doing without some of life's little pleasures, too. For example, to build up your physical strength you may have to stick to a special diet and give up some of your favorite foods. Smoking and alcohol are out, and to keep fit you have to work out regularly every day.

Sometimes it all pays off, but the road to success is long and there are no guarantees. No wonder that countless young talents decide to settle for a regular job instead, and, as far as professional sport is concerned, for looking on as spectators."

4: To become professional in any sports, your strict training schedule would probably involve _________

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:
After twenty years of growing student enrollments and economic prosperity, business schools in the United States have started to face harder times. Only Harvard’s MBA School has shown a substantial increase in enrollment in recent years. Both Princeton and Stanford have seen decreases in their enrollments. Since 1990, the number of people receiving Masters in Business Administration (MBA) degrees, has dropped about 3 percent to 75,000, and the trend of lower enrollment rates is expected to continue.
There are two factors causing this decrease in students seeking an MBA degree. The first one is that many graduates of four-year colleges are finding that an MBA degree does not guarantee a plush job on Wall Street, or in other financial districts of major American cities. Many of the entry- level management jobs are going to students graduating with Master of Arts degrees in English and the humanities as well as those holding MBA degrees. Students have asked the question, “Is an MBA degree really what I need to be best prepared for getting a good job?” The second major factor has been the cutting of American payrolls and the lower number of entry-level jobs being offered. Business needs are changing, and MBA schools are struggling to meet the new demands.

What is the main focus of this passage?

Thank you for your purchase on September 27. Your package has shipped and is due to arrive on October 1. ---131---. Simply visit www.sprtech.com/shipping/status, enter your order number, and press “Search”.
When you receive your package, we ---132--- you to take a short survey at www.sprtech.com/survey. It is through customer feedback that we are---133---  to monitor our level of service.  Upon ---134--- of the survey, you will receive a 10% discount toward your next order.

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

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 July 16, 1969, America launched the Apollo 11, Lunar Landing Mission from Kennedy Space Center. This was a 363-foot-tall space vehicle, the five engines of which on the Saturn V rocket generated 7.5 million pounds of thrust. Twelve minutes after the launch, the astronauts were in orbit 120 miles above the Earth. At a speed of 17,400 mph, they began their four-day journey to the moon. They had nearly a quarter of a million miles to go.
On July 20, 1969, Neil Amstrong descended from the lunar module ladder. Just prior to taking his first step on the moon, Armstrong pilles on a special ring, causing a TV camera to automatically deploy. as he stepped into the moon’s surface, he proclaimed, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” However, Armstrong inadvertently omitted the “a” before “man”. This error slightly changed the meaning of what was to become known as Armstrong’s famous statement.

The word “they” in the passage refers to      

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions:
Because the low latitudes of the Earth, the areas near the equator, receive more heat than the latitudes near the poles, and because the nature of heat is to expand and move, heat is transported from the tropics to the middle and high latitudes. Some of this heat is moved by winds and some by ocean currents, and some gets stored in the atmosphere in the form of latent heat. The term “latent heat” refers to the energy that has to be used to convert liquid water to water vapor. We know that if we warm a pan of water on a stove, it will evaporate, or turn into vapor, faster than if it is allowed to sit at room temperature. We also know that if we hang wet clothes outside in the summertime, they will dry faster than in winter, when the temperature is lower. The energy used in both cases to change liquid water to water vapor is supplied by heat - supplied by the stove in the first case and by the Sun in the latter case. This energy is not lost. It is stored as vapor in the atmosphere as latent heat. Eventually, the water stored as vapor in the atmosphere will condense to liquid again, and the energy will be released to the atmosphere.
In the atmosphere, a large portion of the Sun’s incoming energy is used to evaporate water, primarily in the tropical oceans. Scientists have tried to quantify this proportion of the Sun’s energy. By analyzing temperature, water vapor, and wind data around the globe, they have estimated the quantity to be about 90 watts per square meter, or nearly 30 percent of the Sun’s energy. Once this latent heat is stored within the atmosphere, it can be transported, primarily to higher latitudes, by prevailing, large - scale winds. Or it can be transported vertically to higher levels in the atmosphere, where it forms clouds and subsequent storms, which then release the energy back to the atmosphere.

The underlined word “it” refers to     .

Read the following passage and mark A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the blanks.
Global warming is the current increase in temperature of the Earth’s surface (both land and water) as well as its atmosphere. Average temperature around the world have risen by 0.75°C (1.4°F) (1)....... the last 100 years. About two thirds of this increase has occured since 1975 in the past, when the Earth experienced increases in temperature it was the result of natural causes, but today it is being caused by accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere produced by human(2)........... .
The natural greenhouse effect maintains the Earth’s temperature at a safe level making it (3)...............for humans and many other life forms to exist. However, since The Industrial Revolution what benefits human has significantly enhanced the greenhouse effect (4)............ the Earth’s average temperature to rise by almost 1°C. This is creating the global warming (5)..............we see today
(4)...................................... 

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks
Most Americans eat three  meals (10)...... the day: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Breakfast begins between 7:00 and 8:00am, lunch between 11:00 am and noon, and dinner between 6:00 and 8:00 pm. On Sundays  "brunch" is  a (11) ..................of breakfast and lunch, typically beginning at 11:00 am. Students often enjoy a "study break" or evening snack around 10:00 or 11:00 pm. Breakfast and lunch tend to be light meals, with only one course. Dinner is the main meal.
For breakfast Americans will eat cereal with milk which are often mixed (12)......... in a bowl, a glass of orange juice, and toasted bread or muffin with jam, butter, or margarine. Another common breakfast meal is scrambled eggs or an omelet with potatoes and breakfast meat (bacon or sausage). People who are on a diet eat just a cup of yogurt. Lunch and dinner are more (13)............ . When eating at a formal dinner, you may be overwhelmed by the number of utensils. How do you (14)..........the difference between a salad fork, a butter fork, and a dessert fork? Most Americans do not know the answer. But knowing which fork or spoon to use first is simple: use the outermost utensils first and the utensils closest to the plate last.

(11)..............................

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:
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.

Which can be used as a synonym of the word "recruitment” ?

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks
               School lunch
Research has shown that over half the childrn in Britain who take their own lunches to school do not eat (1) .......in the middle of the day. In Britain, schools have to (2)...... meals at lunchtime. Children can choose to bring their own food or have lunch at the school canteen.
One shocking finding of the research is that school meals are much healthier than lunches prepared by parents. There are strict (3)..... _ for the preparation of school meals, which have to include one (4)............of fruit and one of vegetables, as well as meat, a dairy item and starchy food like break or pasta. Lunchboxes examined by researchers contained sweet drinks, crisps and chocolate bars. Children consume twice as much sugar as they should at lunchtime.
The research will provide a better understanding (5)......... why the percentage of overweight in Britain has increased in the last decade. Unfortunately, the government can’t criticize parents, but it can remind them of the nutritional value of milk, fruit and vegetables. Small changes in their children’s diet can affect their future health. Children can easily develop bad eating habits at this age, and parents are the only ones who can prevent it.
(1).................

 Choose the option  A, B, C or D that best fits the blank space in the following passage:

"At last it is here: tomorrow is the exam day. There is no more homework to do, you have done lots of (1)…..  and you have had plenty of useful practice with past papers. You have finished the (2)…. . So what should you do now? Probably the least advisable course of (3)…. would be to carry on studying late into the night, trying (4)….. to learn things you should have learned long .ago and (5)…. in the morning with an awful headache.
 A far better idea is to practise, (6)….. a singer or a musician does, what you already knew. In order not to feel (7)…. the next day, go to bed early and get up at your usual (8)….. . You may be a little bit (8)….. but that is probably just a (10)…… of your determination to do will in the exam."

4. trying (4)….. to learn things you should have learned long .

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:
Humans have struggled against weeds since the beginnings of agriculture. Marring our gardens is one of the milder effects of weeds - any plants that thrive where they are unwanted. They clog
waterways, destroy wildlife habitats, and impede fanning. Their spread eliminates grazing areas and accounts for one-third of all crop loss. They compete for sunlight, nutrients, and water with useful plants. The global need for weed control had been answered mainly by the chemical industry. Its herbicides are effective and sometimes necessary, but some pose serious problems, particularly if misused.
Toxic compounds threaten animal and public health when they accumulate in food plants, groundwater, and drinking water. They also harm workers who apply them.
In recent years, the chemical industry has introduced several herbicides that are more ecologically sound. Yet new chemicals alone cannot solve the world's weed problems. Hence, scientists are exploring the innate weed-killing powers of living organisms, primarily insects and microorganisms.
The biological agents now in use are environmentally benign and are harmless to humans. They can be chosen for their ability to attack selected targets and leave crops and other plants untouched. In contrast, some of the most effective chemicals kill virtually all the plants they come in contact with, sparing only those that are naturally resistant or have been genetically modified for resistance. Furthermore, a number of biological agents can be administered only once, after which no added applications are needed. Chemicals typically must be used several times per growing season.

Which of the following terms does the author define in the first paragraph?

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:
As the twentieth century began, the importance of formal education in the United States increased. The frontier had mostly disappeared and by 1910 most Americans lived in towns and cities. Industrialization and the bureaucratization of economic life combined with a new emphasis upon credentials and expertise to make schooling increasingly important for economic and social mobility. Increasingly, too, schools were viewed as the most important means of integrating immigrants into American society.
The arrival of a great wave of southern and eastern European immigrants at the turn of the century coincided with and contributed to an enormous expansion of formal schooling. By 1920 schooling to age fourteen or beyond was compulsory in most states, and the school year was greatly lengthened. Kindergartens, vacation schools, extracurricular activities, and vocational education and counseling extended the influence of public schools over the lives of students, many of whom in the larger industrial cities were the children of immigrants. Classes for adult immigrants were sponsored by public schools, corporations, unions, churches, settlement houses, and other agencies.
Reformers early in the twentieth century suggested that education programs should suit the needs of specific populations. Immigrant women were once such population. Schools tried to educate young women so they could occupy productive places in the urban industrial economy, and one place many educators considered appropriate for women was the home.
Although looking after the house and family was familiar to immigrant women, American education gave homemaking a new definition. In preindustrial economies, homemaking had meant the production as well as the consumption of goods, and it commonly included income-producing activities both inside and outside the home, in the highly industrialized early-twentieth-century United States, however, overproduction rather than scarcity was becoming a problem. Thus, the ideal American homemaker was viewed as a consumer rather than a producer. Schools trained women to be consumer homemakers cooking, shopping, decorating, and caring for children "efficiently" in their own homes, or if economic necessity demanded, as employees in the homes of others. Subsequent reforms have made these notions seem quite out-of-date.

According to the passage, one important change in United States education by the 1920's was that     .

A spokesperson for Brenda Amon ---139--- that the pianist made a sizeable donation toward the expansion of the Grenel City Conservatory of Music. "Without her generous  support,"  said  Marc Diaz, director of facility planning, "we would have  been  limited  in  our  renovation  plans  going forward."---140---. Now, a new wing will be constructed on the south end of the ---141--- conservatory. Once completed, the building will boast a 700-seat auditorium, state-of-the-art recording studios, and new faculty and administrative offices. Additionally, private practice rooms will be located---142--- the current student lounge.

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

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:
The elements other than hydrogen and helium exist in such small quantities that it is accurate to say that the universe is somewhat more than 25 percent helium by weight and somewhat less than 75 percent hydrogen.
Astronomers have measured the abundance of helium throughout our galaxy and in other galaxies as well. Helium has been found in old stars, in relatively young ones, in interstellar gas, and in the distant objects known as quasars. Helium nuclei have also been found to be constituents of cosmic rays that fall on the earth (cosmic rays are not really a form of radiation; they consist of rapidly moving particles of numerous different kinds). It doesn’t seem to make very much difference where the helium is found. Its relative abundance never seems to vary much. In some places, there may be slightly more of it; in others, slightly less, but the ratio of helium to hydrogen nuclei always remains about the same.
Helium is created in stars. In fact, nuclear reactions that convert hydrogen to helium are responsible for most of the energy that stars produce. However, the amount of helium that could have been produced in this manner can be calculated, and it turns out to be no more than a few percent. The universe has not existed long enough for this figure to be significant greater. Consequently, if the universe is somewhat more than 25 percent helium now, then it must have been about 25 percent helium at a time near the beginning.
However, when the universe was less than one minute old, no helium could have existed. Calculations indicate that before this time temperature were too high and particles of matter were moving around much too rapidly. It was only after the one-minute point that helium could exist. By this time, the universe had cooled so sufficiently that neutrons and protons could stick together. But the nuclear reactions that led to the formations of helium went on for only relatively short time. By the time the universe was a few minutes old, helium production had effectively ceased.

Most of the helium in the universe was formed      

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

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:
Industrialization came to the United State after 1790 as North American entrepreneurs increased productivity by reorganizing work and building factories. These innovations in manufacturing boosted output and living standards to an unprecedented extent; the average per capita wealth increased by nearly 1 percent per year - 30 percent over the course of a generation. Goods that had once been luxury items became part of everyday life.
The impressive gain in output stemmed primarily from the way in which workers made goods, since the 1790’s, North American entrepreneurs - even without technological improvements - had broadened the scope of the outwork system that made manufacturing more efficient by distributing materials to a succession of workers who each performed a single step of the production process. For example, during the 1820’s and 1830’s the shoe industry greatly expanded the scale of the outwork system. Tens of thousands of rural women, paid according to the amount they produced, fabricated the “uppers” of shoes, which were bound to the soles by wage-earning journeymen shoemakers in dozens of Massachusetts towns, whereas previously journeymen would have made the enduring shoe. This system of production made the employer a powerful “shoe boss” and eroded workers’ control over the pace and conditions of labor. However, it also dramatically increased the output of shoes while cutting their price.
For tasks that were not suited to the outwork system, entrepreneurs created an even more important new organization, the modem factory, which used power-driven machines and assemblyline techniques to turn out large quantities of well-made goods. As early as 1782 the prolific Delaware inventor Oliver Evans had built a highly automated, laborsaving flour mill driven by water power. His machinery lifted the grain to the top of the milt, cleaned it as it fell into containers known as hoppers, ground the grain into flour, and then conveyed the flour back to the top of the mill to allow it to cool as it descended into barrels. Subsequently, manufacturers made use of new improved stationary steam engines to power their mills. This new technology enabled them to build factories in the nation’s largest cities, taking advantage of urban concentrations of inexpensive labor, good transportation networks, and eager customers.

The author mentions the shoe industry in the second paragraph to provide an example of how

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:
The elements other than hydrogen and helium exist in such small quantities that it is accurate to say that the universe is somewhat more than 25 percent helium by weight and somewhat less than 75 percent hydrogen.
Astronomers have measured the abundance of helium throughout our galaxy and in other galaxies as well. Helium has been found in old stars, in relatively young ones, in interstellar gas, and in the distant objects known as quasars. Helium nuclei have also been found to be constituents of cosmic rays that fall on the earth (cosmic rays are not really a form of radiation; they consist of rapidly moving particles of numerous different kinds). It doesn’t seem to make very much difference where the helium is found. Its relative abundance never seems to vary much. In some places, there may be slightly more of it; in others, slightly less, but the ratio of helium to hydrogen nuclei always remains about the same.
Helium is created in stars. In fact, nuclear reactions that convert hydrogen to helium are responsible for most of the energy that stars produce. However, the amount of helium that could have been produced in this manner can be calculated, and it turns out to be no more than a few percent. The universe has not existed long enough for this figure to be significant greater. Consequently, if the universe is somewhat more than 25 percent helium now, then it must have been about 25 percent helium at a time near the beginning.
However, when the universe was less than one minute old, no helium could have existed. Calculations indicate that before this time temperature were too high and particles of matter were moving around much too rapidly. It was only after the one-minute point that helium could exist. By this time, the universe had cooled so sufficiently that neutrons and protons could stick together. But the nuclear reactions that led to the formations of helium went on for only relatively short time. By the time the universe was a few minutes old, helium production had effectively ceased.

 The word "they" refers to      

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:
A team of Russian scientists has challenged the theory that the woolly mammoths became extinct 10,000 years ago at the end of the Ice Age. The scientists have reported that the beasts may have survived until 2000 B.C. on an island off the coast of Siberia, where researchers uncovered 29 fossilized woolly mammoth teeth ranging in age from 4,000 to 7,000 years. The question to be asked now is, how did these prehistoric pachyderms survive in their island environment? One possibility is that they adapted to their confined surroundings by decreasing their bulk. This theory is based on their smaller tooth size, which  has led scientists to believe that they were only 6 feet tall at the shoulder compared with 10 feet of their full-sized counterpart. But would this be enough to enable them to survive thousands of years beyond that of other mammoths? Researchers are still working to uncover the reasons for this isolated group's belated disappearance.

The author uses the word "counterpart" in line 7 to refer to

Choose the correct answer  A, B, C or D to the blank space in the following passage:

"If you want to (1)…… your best in an exam, you should be relaxed and so one of the best things to do is to take regular (2)….. even if they are only for a few minutes. During revision time, you (3)….. take some time off to go for a walk or play your (4)…..  sport. It is a mistake to (5)….. up all physical activity. Exercise can (6)…. you to relax. You should (7)….  at least twenty minutes doing something different every day. Parents don’t like it when their teenage children spend (8)…..  on the phone, but, in fact, (9)…. to a friend is very good for you; parents think that children are (10)…. time and money; but research says talking to friends gives you a chance to relax, and this will make the time you spend studying more effective."

7. You should (7)….  at least twenty minutes doing something different every day.

Read the following passage and mark A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the blanks.
Global warming is the current increase in temperature of the Earth’s surface (both land and water) as well as its atmosphere. Average temperature around the world have risen by 0.75°C (1.4°F) (1)....... the last 100 years. About two thirds of this increase has occured since 1975 in the past, when the Earth experienced increases in temperature it was the result of natural causes, but today it is being caused by accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere produced by human(2)........... .
The natural greenhouse effect maintains the Earth’s temperature at a safe level making it (3)...............for humans and many other life forms to exist. However, since The Industrial Revolution what benefits human has significantly enhanced the greenhouse effect (4)............ the Earth’s average temperature to rise by almost 1°C. This is creating the global warming (5)..............we see today

(3)...................................