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

"Do you want to take part in the battle to save the world’s wildlife? “Animal Watch” is a book which will (1)….. you in the fight for survival that (2)….  many of our endangered animals and show how they struggle on the (3)…. of extinction. As you enjoy the book’s 250 pages and over 150 coloured photographs, you will have the (4)…..  of knowing that part of your purchase money is being used to help animals (5)…. . From the comfort of your armchair, you will be able to observe the world’s animals close-up and explore their habitats. You will aỉso discover the terrible results of human greed for land, flesh and skins.
 “Animal Watch” is packed with fascinating facts. Did you know that polar bears cover their black noses (6)…. their paws so they can hunt their prey in the snow without being seen, for example? Or that for each orangutan which is captured, one has to die?
 This superb (7)…. has so (8)….. Britain’s leading wildlife charity that it has been chosen as Book of the Year, a (9)….. awarded to books which are considered to have made a major contribution to wildlife conservation. You will find “Animal Watch” at a special low introductory at all good bookshops, but hurry while (10)….. last."

1. “Animal Watch” is a book which will (1)….. you in the fight for survival 

Read the passage and answer the questions.

During my last couple of years as a student here at Union High, I have noticed that there is nothing to do during our occasional free periods. Hanging around in the hallways or in the library with friends isn't productive or relaxing. The student body council noticed this as well and brought it to the attention of Mr. Swanson and the rest of the faculty. A meeting to discuss the issue occurred last Friday, February 10th, in the all - school meeting room.

The faculty not only agreed that there wasn't much to do during these free periods, but also seemed determined to find a solution. The student body council and the faculty talked about different ideas for a long time. The faculty had noticed that some students don't like using their free periods for studying. Instead, they spend their time disrupting the students who want to study by being noisy in the library. By the end of the meeting, the faculty had decided to put a pool table and a ping pong table in our student lobby at the start of next semester.

I know some people will be concerned about getting their work done with these potential distractions, but I believe this will help us all in enjoying our time at school. I agree that it's important to complete our work but it is just as important to enjoy ourselves and to relax with our friends. School is already such a stressful place. It makes many students feel worried and anxious. We want our school to be a friendly place so that students want to come every day. Students should remember that this change will make the library a lot quieter. Because of this, the students who want to study will be able to do so in peace.

To all the students at Union High, I sincerely hope that you enjoy the new additions to our lobby. Hopefully, they will make our free periods a lot more relaxing. If you happen to have one of the same free periods as I do, then please challenge me to a game of pool!

What is the text mostly about?

Đọc đoạn văn sau và chọn đáp án đúng cho mỗi câu hỏi:

Species that belong to an area are said to be native species. Typically, they have been part of a given biological landscape for a long period, and they are well adapted to the local environment and to the presence of other native species in the same general habitat. Exotic species are interlopers, foreign elements introduced intentionally or accidentally into new settings through human activities. In one context an introduced species may cause no obvious problems and may, over time, be regarded as being just as "natural" as any native species in the same habitat. In another context, exotics may seriously disrupt delicate ecological balances and create a cascade of unintended consequences. The worst of these unintended consequences arise when introduced species put native species in destruction by preying on them, altering their habitats, or out-competing them in the struggle for food resources. Although biological introductions have affected environments the world over, the most destructive, effects have occurred on islands, where introduced insects, cats, pigs, rats, mongooses, and other nonnative species have caused the grave endangerment or outright extinction of literally hundreds of species during the past 500 years. One of other reason to cause species extinction is overexploitation. This word refers to the utilization of a species at a rate that is likely to cause its extreme endangerment or outright extinction. Among many examples of severe overexploitation, the case of the great whales stands out in special relief. By the middle of the 20th century, unrestricted whaling had brought many species of whales to incredibly low population sizes. In response to public pressure, in 1982 a number of nations, including the USA, agreed to an international moratorium on whaling. As a direct result, some whale species which are thought to have been on extinction's doorstep 25 years ago have made amazing comebacks, such as grey whales in the western Pacific.  Others remain at great risk. Many other species, however, continue to suffer high rates of exploitation because of the trade in animal parts. Currently, the demand for animal parts is centered in several parts of Asia where there is a strong market for traditional medicines made from items like tiger bone and rhino horn.

According to the first paragraph, _______.

The Sun today is a yellow dwarf star. It is fueled by thermonuclear reactions near its center that convert hydrogen to helium. The Sun has existed in its present state for about four billion six hundred million years and is thousands of times larger than the Earth.
By studying other stars, astronomers can predict what the rest of the Sun's life will be like.
About five billion years from now, the core of the Sun will shrink and become hotter. The surface temperature will fall. The higher temperature of the center will increase the rate of thermonuclear reactions. The outer regions of the Sun will expand approximately 35 million miles, about the distance to Mercury, which is the closest planet to the Sun. The Sun will then be a red giant star. Temperatures on the Earth will become too high for life to exist.
Once the Sun has used up its thermonuclear energy as a red giant, it will begin to shrink. After it shrinks to the size of the Earth, it will become a white dwarf star. The Sun may throw off huge amounts of gases in violent eruptions called nova explosions as it changes from a red giant to a white dwarf.
After billions of years as a white dwarf, the Sun will have used up all its fuel and will have lost its heat. Such a star is called a black dwarf. After the Sun has become a black dwarf, the Earth will be dark and cold. If any atmosphere remains there, it will have frozen over the Earth’s surface.

Large amounts of gases may be released from the Sun at the end of its life as a..................

Choose the best answer to complete the passage.

Most people (1) ____ learning with formal education at school, college, university etc. We are all told, from an early age, that we should get a good education'. Generally speaking, it is true that a formal education and the resulting qualifications are important. Education may (2) ____ our potential to find better, more satisfying jobs, earn more and perhaps, become more successful in our chosen career.

However, 'schooling' is only one type of learning. There are many other opportunities to further your (3) ____ and develop the skills you need throughout life. Knowledge can be acquired and skill sets developed anywhere - learning is unavoidable and happens all the (4) ____. However, lifelong learning is about creating and maintaining a positive attitude to learning both for personal and professional development.

Lifelong learners are self-motivated to learn and develop because they want to. (5) ____ learning can enhance our understanding of the world around us, provide us with more and better opportunities and improve our quality of life. People learn for personal development and for professional (6) ____. There are many reasons why people learn for personal development. You may want to increase your knowledge or (7) ____ around a particular hobby or pastime that you enjoy. Perhaps you want to develop some entirely new skill that will in some way enhance your life – take a pottery (8) ____ car mechanic course for example. Perhaps you want to research a medical condition or your ancestry.

If you do find yourself unemployed, then use the time wisely. Learning something new can pay off with new opportunities which might not otherwise have (9) ____. While you are employed, take advantage of training, coaching or mentoring opportunities and work on your continuous professional development as you will likely (10) ____ better at what you do and more indispensable to your current or future employer.

(3) ____

The Sun today is a yellow dwarf star. It is fueled by thermonuclear reactions near its center that convert hydrogen to helium. The Sun has existed in its present state for about four billion six hundred million years and is thousands of times larger than the Earth.
By studying other stars, astronomers can predict what the rest of the Sun's life will be like.
About five billion years from now, the core of the Sun will shrink and become hotter. The surface temperature will fall. The higher temperature of the center will increase the rate of thermonuclear reactions. The outer regions of the Sun will expand approximately 35 million miles, about the distance to Mercury, which is the closest planet to the Sun. The Sun will then be a red giant star. Temperatures on the Earth will become too high for life to exist.
Once the Sun has used up its thermonuclear energy as a red giant, it will begin to shrink. After it shrinks to the size of the Earth, it will become a white dwarf star. The Sun may throw off huge amounts of gases in violent eruptions called nova explosions as it changes from a red giant to a white dwarf.
After billions of years as a white dwarf, the Sun will have used up all its fuel and will have lost its heat. Such a star is called a black dwarf. After the Sun has become a black dwarf, the Earth will be dark and cold. If any atmosphere remains there, it will have frozen over the Earth’s surface.

The Sun will become a black dwarf when  ....................

Probably the most famous film commenting on the twentieth-century technology is Modem Times, made in 1936. Charlie Chaplin was motivated to make the film by a reporter who, while interviewing him, happened to describe the working conditions in industrial Detroit. Chaplin was told that healthy young farm boys were lured to the city to work on automotive assembly lines. Within four or five years, these young men's health was destroyed by the stress of work in the factories.
The film opens with a shot of a mass of sheep making their way down a crowded ramp. Abruptly, the film shifts to a scene of factory workers jostling one another on their way to a factory. However, the rather bitter note of criticism in the implied comparison is not sustained. It is replaced by a gentle note of satire. Chaplin prefers to entertain rather than lecture.
Scenes of factory interiors account for only about one-third of Modern Times, but they contain some of the most pointed social commentary as well as the most comic situations. No one who has seen the film can ever forget Chaplin vainly trying to keep pace with the fast-moving conveyor belt, almost losing his mind in the process. Another popular scene involves an automatic feeding machine brought to the assembly line so that workers need not interrupt their labor to eat. The feeding machine malfunctions, hurling food at Chaplin, who is strapped in his position on the assembly line and cannot escape. This serves to illustrate people's utter helplessness in the face of machines that are meant to serve their basic needs.
Clearly, Modern Times has its faults, but it remains the best film treating technology within  a social context. It does not offer a radical social message, but it does accurately reflect the sentiment of many who feel they are victims of an over - mechanized world

The phrase "jostling one another" in the third paragraph is closest in meaning to ........................

In the West, cartoons are used chiefly to make people laugh. The important feature of all these cartoons is the joke and the element of surprise which is contained. Even though it is very funny, a good cartoon is always based on close observation of a particular feature of life and usually has a serious purpose.
Cartoons in the West have been associated with political and social matters for many years. In wartime, for example, they proved to be an excellent way of spreading propaganda. Nowadays cartoons are often used to make short, sharp comments on politics and governments as well as on a variety of social matters. In this way, the modern cartoon has become a very powerful force in influencing people in Europe and tlie United States.
Unlike most American and European cartoons, however, many Chinese cartoon drawings in the past have also attempted to educate people, especially those who could not read and write. Such cartoons about the lives and sayings of great men in China have proved extremely useful in bringing education to illiterate and semi-literate people throughout China.
Confucius, Mencius and Laozi have all appeared in very interesting Stories presented in the form of cartoons. The cartoons themselves have thus served to illustrate the teachings of the Chinese sages in a very attractive way.
In this sense many Chinese cartoons are different from Western cartoons in so far as they do not depend chiefly on telling jokes. Often, there is nothing to laugh at when you see Chinese cartoons. This is not their primary aim. In addition to commenting on serious political and social matters, Chinese cartoons have aimed at spreading the traditional Chinese thoughts and culture as widely as possible among the people.
Today, however, Chinese cartoons have an added part to play in spreading knowledge.
They offer a very attractive and useful way of reaching people throughout the world, regardless of the particular country in which they live. Thus, through cartoons, the thoughts and teachings of the old Chinese philosophers and sages can now reach people who live in such countries as Britain, France, America, Japan, Malaysia or Australia and who are unfamiliar with the Chinese culture.
Until recently, the transfer of knowledge and culture has been overwhelmingly from the West to the East and not vice versa. By means of cartoons, however, publishing companies in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore are now having success in correcting this imbalance between the East and the West.
Cartoons can overcome language barriers in all foreign countries. The vast increase in the popularity of these cartoons serves to illustrate the truth of Confucius's famous saying "One picture is worth a thousand words.”

Chinese cartoons have been useful as an important means of ......................

Choose the best answer:
After more than fifty years of television, it might seem only obvious to conclude that it is here to (1) ______ . There have been many objections to it during this time, of course, and (2) ______ a variety of grounds. Did it cause eye-strain? Was the (3) ______ bombarding us with radioactivity? Did the advertisements contain subliminal messages, persuading us to buy more? Did children turn to violence through watching it, either because so (4) ______ programmes taught them how to shoot, rob, and kill, or because they had to do something to counteract the hours they had spent glued to the tiny screen? Or did it simply create a vast passive (5) ______ drugged by glamorous serials and inane situation (6) ______ ? On the other hand did it increase anxiety by sensationalizing the news [or the news which was (7) ______ by suitable pictures] and filling our living rooms with war, famine and political unrest? (8) ______ in all, television proved to be the all-purpose scapegoat for the second half of the century, blamed for everything, but above all, eagerly watched. For no (9) ______ how much we despised it, feared it, were bored by it, or felt that it took us away from the old paradise of family conversation and hobbies such as collecting stamps, we never turned it off. We kept staring at the screen, aware that our own tiny (10) ______ was in if we looked carefully.
3.:

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions: 
We are descendents of the ice age. Periods of glaciation have spanned the whole of human existence for the past 2 million years. The rapid melting of the continental glaciers at the end of the last ice age spurred one of the most dramatic climate changes in the history of the planet. During this interglacial time, people were caught up in a cataclysm of human accomplishment, including the development of agriculture and animal husbandry. Over the past few thousand years, the Earth’s climate has been extraordinarily beneficial, and humans have prospered exceedingly well under a benign atmosphere. Ice ages have dramatically affected life on Earth almost from the very beginning. It is even possible that life itself significantly changed the climate. All living organisms pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and eventually store it in sedimentary rocks within the Earth’s crust. If too much carbon dioxide is lost, too much heat escapes out into the atmosphere. This can cause the Earth to cool enough for glacial ice to spread across the land. In general the reduction of the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been equalized by the input of carbon dioxide from such events as volcanic eruptions. Man, however, is upsetting the equation by burning fossil fuels and destroying tropical rain forests, both of which release stored carbon dioxide. This energizes the greenhouse effect and causes the Earth to warm. If the warming is significant enough, the polar ice caps eventually melt. The polar ice caps drive the atmospheric and oceanic circulation systems. Should the ice caps melt, warm tropical waters could circle the globe and make this a very warm, inhospitable planet. Over the past century, the global sea level has apparently risen upwards of 6 inches, mainly because of the melting of glacial ice. If present warming trends continue, the seas could rise as much as 6 feet by the next century. This could flood coastal cities and fertile river deltas, where half the human population lives. Delicate wetlands, where many marine species breed, also would be reclaimed by the sea. In addition, more frequent and severe storms would batter coastal areas, adding to the disaster of the higher seas. The continued melting of the great ice sheets in polar regions could cause massive amounts of ice to crash into the ocean. This would further raise the sea level and release more ice, which could more than double the area of sea ice and increase correspondingly the amount of sunlight reflected back into space. The cycle would then be complete as this could cause global temperatures to drop enough to initiate another ice age.

The word “this” in the third paragraph refers to.....................

Read the following passage and choose the best answer for each blank.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is an international (26) _____- governmental organization for the (27) _____, research, and restoration of the environment. The organization was (28) _____ as a charitable trust on September 11, 1961, in Morges, Switzerland, under the name World Wildlife Fund. It was an initiative of Julian Huxley and Max Nicholson.It is the world's largest independent conservation organization with over 5 million (29) _____ worldwide, working in more (30) _____ 90 countries, supporting 100 conservation and environmental projects around the world. It is a charity, with (31) ____ 9% of its funding coming from voluntary (32) ___ by private individuals and businesses.The group says its mission is "to halt and reverse the (33) _____ of our environment". Currently, much of its work focuses on the conservation of three biomes that contain most of the world's biodiversity: forests, freshwater ecosystems, and oceans and coasts. Among other issues, it is also concerned (34) _____ endangered species, pollution, and climate change. The organization (35) ____ more than 20 field projects worldwide. In the last few years, the organization set up offices and operations around the world.

(26) _____

Choose the best answer

No more polar bear?

We all know that the Earth is growing warmer and warmer. This problem is called “global warming”. We also know that global warming is causing a lot of problems. Ocean levels are getting higher and higher. Because ocean levels are getting higher, storms are getting stronger and stronger. This list of problems goes on and on.

Animals are suffering a lot because of global warming. Polar bears are suffering more than most animals. This is because polar bears live in the North Pole. In the North Pole, global warming is making ice melt. Polar bears hunt from large pieces of floating ice. They jump off the ice and hunt for food. Polar bears have to swim and find these floating pieces of ice. These days, they have to swim farther to find the floating ice. Many of them don’t have enough energy. They get too tired, and they die in the water.

Polar bears are suffering because of other problems, too. Pollution makes their water dirty. Many countries go to the North Pole to look for oil and gas, and they damage the environment of the bears. In addition, when ships sail through the North Pole, they cause a lot of damage. Finally, people hunt and kill too many polar bears. However, melting ice is definitely the biggest problem.

Right now, there are about 25,000 polar bears in the world. If global warming continues, there may be only about 12,000 in the year 2050. By the year 2080, that number might be much smaller.

It is important to study polar bears. When we learn about polar bears, we also learn about the health of the North Pole. If polar bears are doing well, then the environment in the North Pole is probably healthy. If polar bears are suffering then there are probably serious problems in the North Pole.

Right now, governments around the world are working to help polar bears. There are new laws that protect polar bears. However, if global warming continues to get worse, polar bears may disappear forever.

Which of the following is true according to the passage?

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. 
More than 200 reindeer have died of starvation on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, with scientists blaming their deaths on climate change. The wild deer carcasses were found on the Arctic islands this summer by researchers from the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI), which said it had never logged so many deaths at once in 40 years of monitoring the animals’ population level. “It’s scary to find so many dead animals,” project leader Ashild Onvik Pedersen told state broadcaster NRK. “This is an example of how climate change affects nature. It is just sad.”
Svalbard’s capital Longyearbyen, the northernmost town on earth, is thought to be warming quicker than any other settlement on the planet, climate scientists warned earlier this year. The milder temperatures in the region led to unusually heavy rainfall in December, leaving a thick layer of ice when the precipitation froze. This meant the reindeer could not dig through the hardened tundra to reach the vegetation they graze on in their usual pastures, the NPI said. Svalbard’s reindeer have been observed eating seaweed and kelp when food is scarce, but these are less nutritious and cause them stomach problems.
A relatively high number of calves born last year increased the death toll, as the youngest and weakest are often the first to die in harsh conditions. “Some of the mortality is natural because there were so many calves last year. But the large number we see now is due to heavy rain, which is due to global warming,” said Ms Onvik Pedersen.
A team of three scientists spent 10 weeks investigating population of the Svalbard reindeer earlier this year. Researchers warned the decline of reindeer would cause unwanted plant species, currently kept in check by the animals’ grazing, to spread across Arctic ecosystems in Europe, Asia and North America.
Arctic reindeer and caribou populations have declined 56 per cent in the last two decades, a report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said last year. The report said food security was partly to blame for falling herd numbers, while warmer summers could also put the animals at greater risk of diseases spread by flies and parasites. The average temperature in Longyearbyen has risen by 3.7C since 1900, more than three times the global average increase of about 1C. In 2016, the entrance to the town’s “Doomsday” seed vault – which stores specimens of almost all the world’s seeds – was flooded following heavy rainfall.

The word “logged” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ______________.

Read the passage below and decide whether the statements are TRUE or FALSE?

   According to the Academic Ranking of World Universities, more than 30 of the highest-ranked 45 institutions are in the United States, as measured by awards and research output. Public universities, private universities, liberal arts colleges, and community colleges all have a significant role in higher education in the United States. An even stronger pattern is shown by the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities with 103 US universities in the World's Top 200 universities.

   The 2006 American Community Survey conducted by the United States Census Bureau found that 19.5 percent of the population had attended college but had no degree, 7.4 percent held an associate's degree, 17.1 percent held a bachelor's degree, and 9.9 percent held a graduate or professional degree.

   Educational attainment in the United States is similar to that of other developed countries. Colleges and universities in the U.S. vary in terms of goals: some may emphasize a vocational, business, engineering, or technical curriculum while others may emphasize a liberal arts curriculum. Many combine some or all of the above. Students can apply to some colleges using the Common Application. There is no limit to the number of colleges or universities to which a student may apply, though an application must be submitted for each.'

Colleges and universities in the U.S. similar in terms of goals

Choose the best answer:
After more than fifty years of television, it might seem only obvious to conclude that it is here to (1) ______ . There have been many objections to it during this time, of course, and (2) ______ a variety of grounds. Did it cause eye-strain? Was the (3) ______ bombarding us with radioactivity? Did the advertisements contain subliminal messages, persuading us to buy more? Did children turn to violence through watching it, either because so (4) ______ programmes taught them how to shoot, rob, and kill, or because they had to do something to counteract the hours they had spent glued to the tiny screen? Or did it simply create a vast passive (5) ______ drugged by glamorous serials and inane situation (6) ______ ? On the other hand did it increase anxiety by sensationalizing the news [or the news which was (7) ______ by suitable pictures] and filling our living rooms with war, famine and political unrest? (8) ______ in all, television proved to be the all-purpose scapegoat for the second half of the century, blamed for everything, but above all, eagerly watched. For no (9) ______ how much we despised it, feared it, were bored by it, or felt that it took us away from the old paradise of family conversation and hobbies such as collecting stamps, we never turned it off. We kept staring at the screen, aware that our own tiny (10) ______ was in if we looked carefully.
8.

Choose the item among A, B, C or D that best answers the question about the passage:

"Yong Liang, two years old, is the first giant panda raised from birth in the zoo. Last month zoo keepers found the panda was suffering from serious anemia, calling for urgent blood transfusion.
 The best way, according to the zoo’s experts, to save Yong Liang from anemia would have been to transfuse blood from another panda. But it was the breeding season for giant pandas, making such a transfusion very difficult.
 But the experts found that there exists a close consanguinity, relationship by birth in the same family, between giant pandas and black bears, so they decided to try to take blood from black bears in the zoo and transfuse it to Yong Liang.
 With the help of hospitals and the Beijing Blood Donor Station, they made an experiment which proved that the red blood cells in the blood of black bears can be used.
 On the afternoon of February 15th, the first red blood cell transfusion was given to the giant panda, from 600 ml of black bear blood. Immediately the young panda started to recover."

5. The best title of the article should be ……..

Choose the best answer

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is an international (1) ____ governmental organization for the (2) ____, research, and restoration of the environment. The organization was (3) ____ as a charitable trust on September 11, 1961, in Morges, Switzerland, under the name World Wildlife Fund. It was an initiative of Julian Huxley and Max Nicholson. It is the world's largest independent conservation organization with over 5 million (4) ____ worldwide, working in more (5) ____ 90 countries, supporting 100 conservation and environmental projects around the world. It is a charity, with (6) ____ 9% of its funding coming from voluntary, (7) ____ by private individuals and businesses.

The group says its mission is "to halt and reverse the (8) ____ of our environment". Currently, much of its work focuses on the conservation of three biomes that contain most of the world's biodiversity: forests, freshwater ecosystems, and oceans and coasts. Among other issues, it is also concerned (9) ____ endangered species, pollution, and climate change. The organization (10) ____ more than 20 field projects worldwide. In the last few years, the organization set up offices and operations around the world.

(10) ____

Choose the best answer

No more polar bear?

We all know that the Earth is growing warmer and warmer. This problem is called “global warming”. We also know that global warming is causing a lot of problems. Ocean levels are getting higher and higher. Because ocean levels are getting higher, storms are getting stronger and stronger. This list of problems goes on and on.

Animals are suffering a lot because of global warming. Polar bears are suffering more than most animals. This is because polar bears live in the North Pole. In the North Pole, global warming is making ice melt. Polar bears hunt from large pieces of floating ice. They jump off the ice and hunt for food. Polar bears have to swim and find these floating pieces of ice. These days, they have to swim farther to find the floating ice. Many of them don’t have enough energy. They get too tired, and they die in the water.

Polar bears are suffering because of other problems, too. Pollution makes their water dirty. Many countries go to the North Pole to look for oil and gas, and they damage the environment of the bears. In addition, when ships sail through the North Pole, they cause a lot of damage. Finally, people hunt and kill too many polar bears. However, melting ice is definitely the biggest problem.

Right now, there are about 25,000 polar bears in the world. If global warming continues, there may be only about 12,000 in the year 2050. By the year 2080, that number might be much smaller.

It is important to study polar bears. When we learn about polar bears, we also learn about the health of the North Pole. If polar bears are doing well, then the environment in the North Pole is probably healthy. If polar bears are suffering then there are probably serious problems in the North Pole.

Right now, governments around the world are working to help polar bears. There are new laws that protect polar bears. However, if global warming continues to get worse, polar bears may disappear forever.

The word “this” in paragraph 2 refers to ____.

Read the following passage and choose among A, B, C or D the correct answer to each of the questions.

In my experience, freshmen today are different from those I knew when I started as a counselor and professor 25 years ago. College has always been demanding both academically and socially. But students now are less mature and often not ready for the responsibility of being in college.

It is really too easy to point the finger at parents who protect their children from life's obstacle. Parents, who handle every difficulty and every other responsibility for their children writing admission essays to picking college courses, certainly may contribute to their children's lack of coping strategies. But we can look even more broadly to the social trends of today.

How many people do you know who are on medication to prevent anxiety or depression? The number of students who arrive at college already medicated for unwanted emotions has increased dramatically in the past 10 years. We, as a society, don't want to "feel" anything unpleasant and we certainly don't want our children to "suffer".

The resulting problem is that by not experiencing negative emotions, one does not learn the necessary skills to tolerate and negotiate adversity. As a psychologist, I am well aware of the fact that some individuals suffer from depression and anxiety and can benefit from treatment, but I question the growing number of medicated adolescents today.

Our world is more stressful in general because of the current economic and political realities, but I don't believe that the college experience itself is more intense today than that of the past 10 years. What I do think is that many students are often not prepared to be young "adults" with all the responsibilities of life.

What does this mean for college faculty and staff? We are required to assist in the basic parenting of these students - the student who complains that the professor didn't remind her of the due date for an assignment that was clearly listed on the syllabus and the student who cheats on an assignment in spite of careful instructions about plagiarism.

As college professors, we have to explain what it means to be an independent college student before we can even begin to teach. As parents and teachers we should expect young people to meet challenges. To encourage them in this direction, we have to step back and let them fail and pick themselves up and move forward. This approach needs to begin at an early age so that college can actually be a passage to independent adulthood.

Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the passage?

Read the following passage and mark the letter A. B. C or D your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.

CAN ANIMALS TALK?

In 1977, a young Harvard graduate named Irene Pepperberg brought a one-year-old African gray parrot into her lab, and attempted something very unusual. At a time when her fellow scientists thought that animals could only communicate on a very basic level, Irene set out to discover what was on a creature's mind by talking to it. The bird, named Alex, proved to be a very good pupil.

Scientists at the time believed that animals were incapable of any thought. They believed that animals only reacted to things because they were programmed by nature to react that way, not because they had the ability to think or feel. Any pet owner would probably disagree. Pepperberg disagreed, too, and started her work with Alex to prove them wrong.

Pepperberg bought Alex in a pet store. She let the store's assistant pick him out because she didn't want other scientists saying later that she'd deliberately chosen an especially smart bird for her work. Most researchers thought that Pepperberg's attempt to communicate with Alex would end in failure.

However, Pepperberg's experiment did not fail. In fact, over the next few years, Alex learned to imitate almost one hundred and fifty English words, and was even able to reason and use those words on a basic level to communicate. For example, when Alex was shown an object and was asked about its shape, color, or material, he could label it correctly. He could understand that a key was a key no matter what its size or color, and could figure out how the key was different from others.

Pepperberg was careful not to exaggerate Alex's success and abilities. She did not claim that Alex could actually “use” language. Instead, she said that Alex had learned to use a two-way communication code. Alex seemed to understand the turn-taking pattern of communication.

The reading passage is mainly about __________.

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 reason women appear to be at greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease than men might be due to a number of genetic, anatomical and even social influences, researchers have suggested.
      Recent figures show about 65% of those with living with dementia in the UK are women, with a similar statistic seen in the US for Alzheimer’s disease, while dementia is the leading cause of death for women in England. Alzheimer’s disease is only one of the types of dementia, but the most common form. While one explanation is that dementia risk increases with age, and women have longer life expectancies than men, new research suggests there might be more to the matter, including that protein tangles found within neurons and linked to Alzheimer’s disease might spread differently in women’s brains than men’s.
      The study, presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Los Angeles by researchers from Vanderbilt University and which has not yet been peer-reviewed, used scans from a method called positron emission tomography. That allowed them to look at the way clumps of a protein called tau were spread in the brains of 123 men and 178 women without cognitive problems, as well as 101 men and 60 women with mild cognitive problems – although not yet diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Cognitively normal older people often have small amounts of tau in certain areas of their brain.
      From the data the team could build maps showing which areas of the brain show similar signals relating to tau in the scans, suggesting they are somehow connected. “Based on that we kind of try to reconstruct the pattern of spread,” Dr Sepideh Shokouhi, who is presenting the research, told the Guardian. “It is kind of like reconstructing a crime scene.” The team says the results suggest these maps look different in women and men, suggesting tau might be able to spread more rapidly across the female brain.
     Other research presented at the conference – and also not yet peer reviewed – added weight to the idea that there might be differences between men and women that affect dementia risk. Research by scientists at the University of Miami has revealed a handful of genes and genetic variants appear to be linked to Alzheimer’s disease in just one biological sex or the other. While the actual importance of these factors has yet to be unpicked, and the study only looked at white participants, the team says it underscores that there could be a genetic reason for differences in the risk of dementia in men and women, and the way it develops.

What does the word “their” in paragraph 3 refer to?