Early Teachers
All of you are enrolled in this introductory education course because you want to become teachers. I'd like to introduce this course with a little information about the life of a teacher a century ago. I hope you'll understand this information about early teachers, and I think you'll appreciate how much the life of a teacher has changed over the past century.
Early in the twentieth century, the life of a teacher was quite different from what it is now. There were very strict rules that governed every aspect of the teacher's life. The rules weren't just about how a teacher could conduct herself in the classroom and on the school grounds. There were also numerous rules that governed just about everything a teacher did.
Here are some of the rules. Teachers had to follow strict rules about their appearance; they were sometimes told not to wear colourful clothing, not to dye their hair or wear it loose, and not to wear their skirts above the ankle. Teachers' whereabouts during after-school hours were also strictly regulated; there were rules forbidding teachers to go to bars and to ice-cream parlors; there were rules requiring teachers to be home after 7:00 in the evening, and there were some rules forbidding them to leave town without permission. Just about any action a teacher wanted to take could be regulated. Teachers could be forbidden to smoke or to drink; they were also sometimes forbidden to spend time with men or to marry if they wanted to remain teachers.
What rules about clothing are discussed in the lecture?
Suy nghĩ và trả lời câu hỏi trước khi xem đáp án
Lời giải:
Báo saiB - par.3: ... they were sometimes told not to wear colorful clothing. (đôi khi họ được yêu cầu không được mặc quần áo sặc sỡ).
Thông tin trong các lựa chọn A và D không được đưa ra. Lựa chọn C không chính xác vì quy tắc là về độ dài của váy chứ không phải về phom dáng.
Câu hỏi liên quan
-
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:
Social parasitism involves one species relying on another to raise its young. Among vertebrates, the best known social parasites are such birds as cuckoos and cowbirds; the female lays egg in a nest belonging to another species and leaves it for the host to rear
The dulotic species of ants, however, are the supreme social parasites. Consider, for example, the unusual behavior of ants belonging to the genus Polyergus. All species of this ant have lost the ability to care for themselves. The workers do not forage for food, feed their brood or queen, or even clean their own nest. To compensate for these deficits, Polyergus has become specialized at obtaining workers from the related genus Formica to do these chores
In a raid, several thousand Polyergus workers will travel up to 500 feet in search of a Formica nest, penetrate it, drive off the queen and her workers, capture the pupal brood, and transport it back to their nest. The captured brood is then reared by the resident Formica workers until the developing pupae emerge to add to the Formica population, which maintains the mixed- species nest. The Formica workers forage for food and give it to colony members of both species. They also remove wastes and excavate new chambers as the population increases
The true extent of the Polyergus and dependence on the Formica becomes apparent when the worker population grows too large for existing nest. Formica scouts locate a new nesting site, return to the mixed-species colony, and recruit additional Formica nest mates. During a period that may last seven days, the Formica workers carry to the new nest all the Polyergus eggs, larvae, and pupae, every Polyergus adult, and even the Polyergus queen
Of the approximately 8000 species of ants in the world, all 5 species of Polyergus and some 200 species in other genera have evolved some degree of parasitic relationship with other antsWhich of the following statements best represents the main idea of the passage?
-
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer for each of the blanks .
In the late 1930s, a group of leading American scientists seeking dinosaur fossils made some noteworthy (1).... . Although one of their expeditions discovered no fossils, it proved nonetheless historic expedition, which took place along the banks of the Paluxy river in Texas, something extraordinary was revealed: a dinosaur track, clearly distinguishable in the rock. These dinosaur footprints (2)..... their preservation to the salts and mud that covered them and then hardened into rock, before coming to light 100 million years later. Tracks like these are (3)... to experts. There have been great gaps in scientists’ understanding of dinosaur behavior, and so such footprints are useful since they provide direct evidence of how dinosaurs actually moved. Scientists have used these and (4)......footprints to determine how quickly different species walked, concluding that many kinds of dinosaur must have travelled in (5)..........
(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:
One of the factors contributing to the intense nature of twenty-first-century stress is our continual exposure to media – particularly to an overabundance of news. If you feel stressed out by the news, you are far from alone. Yet somehow many of us seem unable to prevent ourselves from tuning in to an extreme degree.
The further back we go in human history, the longer news took to travel from place to place, and the less news we had of distant people and lands altogether. The printing press obviously changed all that, as did every subsequent development in transportation and telecommunication.
When television came along, it proliferated like a poplulation of rabbits. In 1950, there were 100,000 television sets in North American homes; one year later there were more then a million. Today, it’s not unusual for a home to have three or more television sets, each with cable access to perhaps over a hundred channels. News is the subject of many of those channels, and on several of them it runs 24 hours a day.
What’s more, after the traumatic events of Sptember 11, 2001, live newcasts were paired with perennial text crawls across the bottom of the screen – so that viewers could stay abreast of every story all the time.
Needless to say, the news that is reported to us is not good news, but rather disturbing images and sound bytes alluding to diasater (natural and man-made), upheaval, crime, scandal, war, and the like. Compounding the proplem is that when actual breaking news is scarce, most broadcasts fill in with waistline, hairline, or very existence in the future. This variety of story tends to treat with equal alarm a potentially lethal flu outbreak and the bogus claims of a wrinkle cream that overpromises smooth skin.
Are humans meant to be able to process so much trauma – not to mention so much overblown anticipation of potetial trauma – at once? The human brain, remember, is programmed to slip into alarm mode when danger looms. Danger looms for someone, somewhere at every moment. Exposing ourslves to such input without respite and without perspective cannot be anything other than a source of chronic stress.Which of the following is NOT true, according to the passage?
-
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or II to indicate the answer to each of the question.
Having a hobby that you enjoy—whether that’s crocheting a sweater for your beastie’s new baby, hitting the slopes to enjoy some fresh powder, or practicing pirouettes in ballet class—has all sorts of well-documented benefits, from lower levels of stress to an increased sense of belonging and purpose. Clearly, hobbies can make a serious impact on your quality of life. But they can also improve your work performance. According to licensed professional counselor Rebecca Weiler, when you’re engaged and fulfilled in your life outside of work like you are when you’re pursuing meaningful hobbies, that happiness spills over. It can make you more focused and enthusiastic when you’re on the job.
And depending on the hobby, the skills you gain as a result of your leisurely pursuits can also make you better at your job and make you a more appealing candidate for potential employers. “For example, someone who performs in an improvisational group as a hobby could be attractive to an employer because they can think quickly on their feet and may also be more comfortable presenting in front of a group of people,” Weiler says.
So, having a hobby that you love can do good things for your life and your job. But what if you don’t actually have a hobby you enjoy? You’re not alone. According to Weiler, trying to find meaningful hobbies is one of the primary reasons her clients—especially young people—seek counseling. Clearly, there are plenty of people out there who don’t have, or don’t know how to find, a hobby. But that doesn’t mean they can’t find one. It doesn’t matter if you’re 25 or 85 years old—it’s not too late to hop on board the hobby train!The word “improvisational” in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to ______.
-
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or II to indicate the answer to each of the question.
Having a hobby that you enjoy—whether that’s crocheting a sweater for your beastie’s new baby, hitting the slopes to enjoy some fresh powder, or practicing pirouettes in ballet class—has all sorts of well-documented benefits, from lower levels of stress to an increased sense of belonging and purpose. Clearly, hobbies can make a serious impact on your quality of life. But they can also improve your work performance. According to licensed professional counselor Rebecca Weiler, when you’re engaged and fulfilled in your life outside of work like you are when you’re pursuing meaningful hobbies, that happiness spills over. It can make you more focused and enthusiastic when you’re on the job.
And depending on the hobby, the skills you gain as a result of your leisurely pursuits can also make you better at your job and make you a more appealing candidate for potential employers. “For example, someone who performs in an improvisational group as a hobby could be attractive to an employer because they can think quickly on their feet and may also be more comfortable presenting in front of a group of people,” Weiler says.
So, having a hobby that you love can do good things for your life and your job. But what if you don’t actually have a hobby you enjoy? You’re not alone. According to Weiler, trying to find meaningful hobbies is one of the primary reasons her clients—especially young people—seek counseling. Clearly, there are plenty of people out there who don’t have, or don’t know how to find, a hobby. But that doesn’t mean they can’t find one. It doesn’t matter if you’re 25 or 85 years old—it’s not too late to hop on board the hobby train!The word “they” in paragraph 2 refers to _______.
-
Fill in each numbered blank with one suitable word or phrase.
The University of Oxford, informally called "Oxford University", or simply "Oxford", (1) ______ in the city of Oxford, in England, is (2) ______ oldest university in the English-speaking world. It is also considered as one of the world's leading (3) ______ institutions. The university traces, its roots back to at least the end of the 11th century, (4) ______ the exact date of foundation remains unclear. Academically, Oxford is consistently ranked in the world's top ten universities. The University is also open (5) ______ overseas students, primarily from American universities, who may (6) _____ in study abroad programs during the summer months for more than a century, it has served as the home of the Rhodes Scholarship, (7) ______ brings highly accomplished students from a number of countries to study at Oxford as (8) ______ The University of Oxford is also a place where many talented leaders from all over the world used to study. Twenty-five British Prime Ministers attended Oxford, including Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair. At (9) ______ 25 other international leaders have been educated at Oxford, and this number includes King Harald V of Norway and King Abdullah II of Jordan. Bill Clinton is the first American President to attend Oxford. Forty-seven Nobel (10) __ winners have studied or taught at Oxford.
(8) ______
-
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:
Information technology is influencing the way many of us live and work today. We use the Internet to look and apply for jobs, shop, conduct research, make airline reservations, and explore areas of interest. We use e-mail and the Internet to communicate instantaneously with friends and business associates around the world. Computers are commonplace in homes and the workplace.
Although the number of Internet users is growing exponentially each year, most of the world’s population does not have access to computers or the Internet. Only 6 percent of the population in developing countries are connected to telephones. Although more than 94 percent of
U.S. households have a telephone, only 42 percent have personal computers at home and 26 percent have Internet access. The lack of what most of us would consider a basic communications necessity –the telephone –does not occur just in developing nations. On some Native American reservations only 60 percent of the residents have a telephone. The move to wireless connections may eliminate the need for telephone lines, but it does not remove the barrier to equipment costs.
Who has Internet access? Fifty percent of the children in urban households with an income over $75,000 have Internet access, compared with 2 percent of the children in low-income, rural households. Nearly half of college-educated people have Internet access, compared to 6 percent of those with only some high school education. Forty percent of households with two parents have access; 15 percent of female, single-parent households do. Thirty percent of white households, 11 percent of black households, and 13 percent of Hispanic households have access. Teens and children are the two fastest-growing segments of Internet users. The digital divide between the populations who have access to the Internet and information technology tools is based on income, race, education, household type, and geographic location. Only 16 percent of the rural poor, rural and central city minorities, young householders, and single parent female households are connected..
Another problem that exacerbates these disparities is that African-Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans hold few of the jobs in information technology. Women hold about 20 percent of these jobs and are receiving fewer than 30 percent of the computer science degrees. The result is that women and members of the most oppressed ethnic groups are not eligible for the jobs with the highest salaries at graduation. Baccalaureate candidates with degrees in computer science were offered the highest salaries of all new college graduates in 1998 at $44,949.
Do similar disparities exist in schools? More than 90 percent of all schools in the country are wired with at least one Internet connection. The number of classrooms with Internet connections differs by the income level of students. Using the percentage of students who are eligible for free lunches at a school to determine income level, we see that nearly twice as many of the schools with more affluent students have wired classrooms as those with high concentrations of low-income students.
Access to computers and the Internet will be important in reducing disparities between groups. It will require greater equality across diverse groups whose members develop knowledge and skills in computer and information technologies. If computers and the Internet are to be used to promote equality, they will have to become accessible to populations that cannot currently afford the equipment which needs to be updated every three years or so. However, access alone is not enough. Students will have to be interacting with the technology in authentic settings. As technology becomes a tool for learning in almost all courses taken by students, it will be seen as a means 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:
The ability of falling cats to right themselves in midair and land on their feet has been a source of wonder for ages. Biologists long regarded it as an example of adaptation by natural selection, but for physicists it bordered on the miraculous.
Newton's laws of motion assume that the total amount of spin of a body cannot change unless an external torque speeds it up or slows it down. If a cat has no spin when it isreleased and experiences no external torque, it ought not to be able to twist around as it falls.
In the speed of its execution, the righting of a tumbling cat resembles a magician's trick. The gyrations of the cat in midair are too fast for the human eye to follow, so the process is obscured. Either the eye must be speeded up, or the cat's fall slowed down for the phenomenon to be observed. A century ago the former was accomplished by means of high-speed photography using equipment now available in any pharmacy. But in the nineteenth century the capture on film of a falling cat constituted a scientific experiment.
The experiment was described in a paper presented to the Paris Academy in 1894. Two sequences of twenty photographs each, one from the side and one from behind, show a white cat in the act of righting itself. Grainy and quaint though they are, the photos show that the cat was dropped upside down, with no initial spin, and still landed on its feet. Careful analysis of the photos reveals the secret; as the cat rotates the front of its body clockwise, the rear and tail twist counterclockwise, so that the total spin remains zero, in perfect accord with Newton's laws. Halfway down, the cat pulls in its legs before reversing its twist and then extends them again, with the desired end result. The explanation was that while nobody can acquire spin without torque, a flexible one can readily change its orientation, or phase. Cats know this instinctively, but scientists could not be sure how it happened until they increased the speed of their perceptions a thousandfold.What does the passage mainly discuss?
-
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.
Modern technologies have changed the way that people communicate with one another. These technologies provide new and innovative ways for people to communicate -- text messaging, email, chat and social networks. They allow faster and more efficient communication and can help build relationships. However, modern technologies can also have negative effects such as limiting personal contact and straining relationships. The nature of the effect depends in large part on the type of relationship.
Modern technologies limit the amount of separation between work and home. With the advent of computers, the Internet and cell phones people can -- and are often expected to -- address work issues from home. This can limit family interactions and cause conflict between family members. The use of Internet and television by children and teenagers also limits the amount time spent with family and can increase conflict between children and their parents.
Young people use modern technologies in increasing numbers to communicate with their friends. Text messaging and online chats have become the preferred method of youth communication. A California State University and UCLA study indicates that for young people face-to-face interactions are less desirable than modern modes of communication. This preference could cause an inability to form lasting friendships or difficulty understanding social cues. Others believe that modern technologies increase communication and therefore strengthen friendships.
Starting new relationships -- romantic and otherwise -- can be difficult. Modern technologies allow people to make new connections without the fears characteristic of face-to-face contact. The anonymity and low risk is what makes Internet dating and social networks popular ways of meeting people. However, this anonymity can also be dangerous. In April 2011, a woman sued an online dating site after allegedly being raped by a man she met online.
Modern technologies allow couples to be in contact with each other more than ever before. This can lead to increased expectations and conflict. With the increasing use of cell phones and email, people often expect an instant reply to communication. A delayed reply -- or none at all -- can lead to suspicion and anger. The use of social networks can also affect relationships. Information that was once private -- such as relationship conflicts -- is now part of the public sphere.The following are benefits of modern technologies mentioned in the passage, EXCEPT __________.
-
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions:
The Internet started out as a limited network called the ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network). It was a network of computers that allowed communication even if computer became non- functioning. It was the academic and scientific community that adopted Internet, using a protocol called TCP/IP. TCP/IP allows a number of different network computers to be connected together. This is called the Internet. The Internet allows the creation the World Wide Web or the Web for short. The Web consists of Internet sites that allow data to be shared by others. Aside from making the Web possible, the Internet also makes e-mail, chat rom and file-sharing and telephoning possible. It even allows people to watch media and play games.
The Web can be read in a browser. A browser is simply a software program that uses HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) data transmission. This will allow you to view Web pages. HTTP let you browser read the text, graphics, animation, video and music that are on the Web page. It also enables you to click on a link on the page using the mouse. The links on a Web page that guide you to go from one Web page to another are called hyperlinks. A Web page usually contains many hyperlinks so that you can “browse” the Internet. It is much like reading a book. You can go from page to page and get new information. One example of a browser is Internet Explorer. In the address box of your browser, you can type in an address called a URL for “uniform resource locator”.
To be able to use the Internet, you must have a computer with an Internet connection and software that lets you view that Web pages. Internet connection is called a dial-up connection. It needs the use of your telephone to connect your computer to an Internet service. A faster type of connection is called broadband. This requires a cable or some other equipment. If you turn on the computer with a broadband connection, it connects you the Internet at a time.The word “adopted” in paragraph 1 is closet in meaning 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:
At 7 pm on a dark, cold November evening, thousands of people are making their way across a vast car park. They're not here to see a film, or the ballet, or even the circus. They are all here for what is, bizarrely, a global phenomenon: they are here to see Holiday on Ice. Given that most people don’t seem to be acquainted with anyone who's ever been, the show's statistics are extraordinary: nearly 300 million people have seen Holiday on Ice since it began in 1943; it is the most popular live entertainment in the world.
But what does the production involve? And why are so many people prepared to spend their lives travelling round Europe in caravans in order to appear in it? It can't be glamorous, and it's undoubtedly hard work. The backstage atmosphere is an odd mix of gym class and workplace. A curtained-off section at the back of the arena is laughably referred to as the girls' dressing room, but is more accurately described as a corridor, with beige, cracked walls and cheap temporary tables set up along the length of it. Each girl has a small area littered with pots of orange make-up, tubes of mascara and long false eyelashes.
As a place to work, it must rank pretty low down the scale: the area round the ice-rink is grey and mucky with rows of dirty blue and brown plastic seating and red carpet tiles. It's an unimpressive picture, but the show itself is an unquestionably vast, polished global enterprise: the lights come from a firm in Texas, the people who make the audio system are in California, but Montreal supplies the smoke effects; former British Olympic skater Robin Cousins is now creative director for the company and conducts a vast master class to make sure they're ready for the show's next performance.
The next day, as the music blares out from the sound system, the case start to go through their routines under Cousins' direction. Cousins says, 'The aim is to make sure they're all still getting to exactly the right place on the ice at the right time - largely because the banks of lights in the ceiling are set to those places, and if the skaters are all half a metre out they'll be illuminating empty ice. Our challenge, ' he continues, 'is to produce something they can sell in a number of countries at the same time. My theory is that you take those things that people want to see and you give it to them, but not in the way they expect to see it. You try to twist it. And you have to find music that is challenging to the skaters, because they have to do it every night.'
It may be a job which he took to pay the rent, but you can’t doubt his enthusiasm. 'They only place you'll see certain skating moves is an ice show,' he says, 'because you're not allowed to do them in competition. It's not in the rules. So the ice show word has things to offer which the competitive world just doesn't. Cousins knows what he's talking about because he skated for the show himself when he stopped competing - he was financially unable to retire. He learnt the hard way that you can't put on an Olympic performance every night. I'd be thinking, these people have paid their money, now do your stuff, and I suddenly thought, "I really can't cope. I'm not enjoying it".' The solution, he realized, was to give 75 per cent every night, rather than striving for the sort of twice-a-year excellence which won him medals.
To be honest, for those of us whose only experience of ice-skating is watching top-class Olympic skaters, some of the movements can look a bit amateurish, but then, who are we to judge? Equally, it's impossible not to be swept up in the whole thing; well, you'd have to try pretty hard not to enjoy it.The word blares out in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning 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:
The tourist looking at the African savannah on a summer afternoon might be excused for thinking that the wide yellow grass plain was completely deserted of life, almost a desert. With only a few small thorn trees sticking out through the veldt, there seems to be almost no place for a living creature to hide.
However, under those trees you might find small steenbok, sleeping in the shade, and waiting for the night to fall. There may even be a small group of lions somewhere, their bodies exactly the same shade as the tall grass around them. In the holes in the ground a host of tiny creatures, from rabbits and badgers to rats and' snakes are waiting for the heat to finish.
The tall grass also hides the fact that there may be a small stream running across the middle of the plain. One clue that there may be water here is the sight of a majestic Marshall eagle circling slowly over the grassland. When he drops, he may come up with a small fish, or maybe a grass snake that has been waiting at the edge of a pool in the hope of catching a frog.
The best time to see the animals then, is in the evening, just as the sun is setting. The best time of the year to come is in late September, or early August, just before the rains. Then the animals
must come to the waterholes, as there is no other place for them to drink. And they like to come while it is still light; so they can see if any dangers are creeping up on them.
So it is at sunset, and after the night falls, that the creatures of the African veld rise and go about their business.By "go about their business" the writer means:
-
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:
Reading to oneself is a modern activity which was almost unknown to the scholars of the classical and medieval worlds, while during the fifteenth century the term “reading” undoubtedly meant reading aloud. Only during the nineteenth century did silent reading become commonplace.
One should be wary, however, of assuming that silent reading came about simply because reading aloud was a distraction to others. Examinations of factors related to the historical development of silent reading have revealed that it became the usual mode of reading for most adults mainly because the tasks themselves changed in character.
The last century saw a steady gradual increase in literacy and thus in the number of readers. As the number of readers increases, the number of potential listeners decline and thus there was some reduction in the need to read aloud. As reading for the benefit of listeners grew less common, so came the flourishing of reading as a private activity in such public places as libraries, railway carriages and offices, where reading aloud would cause distraction to other readers.
Towards the end of the century, there was still considerable argument over whether books should be used for information or treated respectfully and over whether the reading of materials such as newspapers was in some mentally weakening. Indeed, this argument remains with us still in education. However, whatever its virtues, the old shared literacy culture had gone and was replaced by the printed mass media on the one hand and by books and periodicals for a specialized readership on the other.
By the end of the twentieth century, students were being recommended to adopt attitudes to books and to use reading skills which were inappropriate, if not impossible, for the oral reader.
The social, cultural and technological changes in the century had greatly altered what the term “reading” implied.The word “commonplace” in the first paragraph mostly means “ .”
-
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:
Deforestation is the clearing, destroying, or otherwise removal of trees through deliberate, natural or accidental means. It can occur in any area densely populated by trees and other plant life, but the majority of it is currently happening in the Amazon rainforest. The loss of trees and other vegetation can cause climate change, desertification, soil erosion, fewer crops, flooding, increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and a host of problems for indigenous people.
Deforestation occurs for a number of reasons, including: farming, mostly cattle due to its quick turn around; and logging for materials and development. It has been happening for thousands of years, arguably since man began converting from hunter/gatherer to agricultural based societies, and required larger, unobstructed tracks of land to accommodate cattle, crops, and housing. It was only after the onset of the modern era that it became an epidemic.
One of the most dangerous and unsettling effects of deforestation is the loss of animal and plant species due to their loss of habitat; not only do we lose those known to us, but also those unknown, potentially an even greater loss. Seventy percent of Earth's land animals and plants live in forests, and many cannot survive the deforestation that destroys their homes. The trees of the rainforest that provide shelter for some species also provide the canopy that regulates the temperature, a necessity for many others. Its removal through deforestation would allow a more drastic temperature variation from day to night, much like a desert, which could prove fatal for current inhabitants.
In addition to the loss of habitat, the lack of trees also allows a greater amount of greenhouse gases to be released into the atmosphere. Presently, the tropical rainforests of South America are responsible for 20% of Earth's oxygen and they are disappearing at a rate of 4 hectares a decade. If these rates are not stopped and reversed, the consequences will become even more severe.
The trees also help control the level of water in the atmosphere by helping to regulate the water cycle. With fewer trees left, due to deforestation, there is less water in the air to be returned to the soil. In turn, this causes dryer soil and the inability to grow crops, an ironic twist when considered against the fact that 80% of deforestation comes from small-scale agriculture and cattle ranching.
Further effects of deforestation include soil erosion and coastal flooding, In addition to their previously mentioned roles, trees also function to retain water and topsoil, which provides the rich nutrients to sustain additional forest life. Without them, the soil erodes and washes away, causing farmers to move on and perpetuate the cycle. The barren land which is left behind in the wake of these unsustainable agricultural practices is then more susceptible to flooding, specifically in coastal regions. Coastal vegetation lessens the impact of waves and winds associated with a storm surge. Without this vegetation, coastal villages are susceptible to damaging floods.The paragraph following the last paragraph in the passage may probably discuss .
-
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.
Although noise, commonly defined as unwanted sound, is a widely recognized form of pollution, it is very difficult to measure because the discomfort experienced by different individuals is highly subjective and, therefore, variable. Exposure to lower levels of noise may be slightly irritating, whereas exposure to higher levels may actually cause hearing loss. Particularly in congested urban areas, the noise produced as a byproduct of our advancing technology causes physical and psychological harm, and detracts from the quality of life for those who are exposed to it.
Unlike the eyes, which can be covered by the eyelids against strong light, the ear has no lid, and is, therefore, always open and vulnerable; noise penetrates without protection. Noise causes effects that the hearer cannot control and to which the body never becomes accustomed. Loud noises instinctively signal danger to any organism with a hearing mechanism, including human beings. In response, heartbeat and respiration accelerate, blood vessels constrict, the skin pales, and muscles tense. In fact, there is a general increase in functioning brought about by the flow of adrenaline released in response to fear, and some of these responses persist even longer than the noise, occasionally as long as thirty minutes after the sound has ceased.
Because noise is unavoidable in a complex, industrial society, we are constantly responding in the same way that we would respond to danger. Recently, researchers have concluded that noise and our response may be much more than an annoyance. It may be a serious threat to physical and psychological health and well-being, causing damage not only to the ear and brain but also to the heart and stomach. We have long known that hearing loss is America‟s number one nonfatal health problem, but now we are learning that some of us with heart disease and ulcers may be victims of noise as well. Fetuses exposed to noise tend to be overactive, they cry easily, and they are more sensitive to gastrointestinal problems after birth. In addition, the psychic effect of noise is very important. Nervousness, irritability, tension, and anxiety increase affecting the quality of rest during sleep, and the efficiency of activities during waking hours, as well as the way that we interact with each other.
Look at the verb accelerate in paragraph 3. Which of the following is the closest in meaning to _____.
-
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the answer to each of the question.
Covering more than 70 percent of our planet, oceans are among the earth’s most valuable natural resources. They govern the weather, clean the air, help feed the world, and provide a living for millions. They also are home to most of the life on earth, from microscopic algae to the blue whale, the largest animal on the planet. Yet we’re bombarding them with pollution. By their very nature—with all streams flowing to rivers, all rivers leading to the sea—the oceans are the end point for so much of the pollution we produce on land, however far from the coasts we may be. And from dangerous carbon emissions to choking plastic to leaking oil to constant noise, the types of ocean pollution humans generate are vast. As a result, collectively, our impact on the seas is degrading their health at an alarming rate. Here are some ocean pollution facts that everyone on our blue planet ought to know.
When we burn fossil fuels, we don’t pollute just the air but the oceans, too. Indeed, today’s seas absorb as much as a quarter of all man-made carbon emissions, which changes the pH of surface waters and leads to acidification. This problem is rapidly worsening—oceans are now acidifying faster than they have in some 300 million years. It’s estimated that by the end of this century, if we keep pace with our current emissions practices, the surface waters of the ocean could be nearly 150 percent more acidic than they are now.
The majority of the garbage that enters the ocean each year is plastic—and here to stay. That’s because unlike other trash, the single-use grocery bags, water bottles, drinking straws, and yogurt containers, among eight million metric tons of the plastic items we toss (instead of recycle), won’t biodegrade. Instead, they can persist in the environment for a millennium, polluting our beaches, entangling marine life, and getting ingested by fish and seabirds.
Where does all this debris originate? While some is dumped directly into the seas, an estimated 80 percent of marine litter makes its way there gradually from land-based sources―including those far inland―via storm drains, sewers, and other routes. Oil from boats, airplanes, cars, trucks, and even lawn mowers is also swimming in ocean waters. Chemical discharges from factories, raw sewage overflow from water treatment systems, and storm water and agricultural runoff add other forms of marine-poisoning pollutants to the toxic brew.
The ocean is far from a “silent world.” Sound waves travel farther and faster in the sea’s dark depths than they do in the air, and many marine mammals like whales and dolphins, in addition to fish and other sea creatures, rely on communication by sound to find food, mate, and navigate. But an increasing barrage of human-generated ocean noise pollution is altering the underwater acoustic landscape, harming—and even killing—marine species worldwide.The word “persist” in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning 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:
Rachel Carson was bom in 1907 in Springsdale, Pennsylvania. She studied biology in college and zoology at Johns Hopkins University, where she received her master’s degree in 1933. In 1936, she was hired by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, where she worked most of her life.
Carson’s first book, Under the Sea Wind, was published in 1941. It received excellent reviews, but sales were poor until it was reissued in 1952. In that year, she published The Sea Around Us, which provided a fascinating look beneath the ocean’s surface, emphasizing human history as well as geology and marine biology. Her imagery and language had a poetic quality. Carson consulted no less than 1, 000 printed sources. She had voluminous correspondence and frequent discussions with experts in the field. However, she always realized the limitations of her non-technical readers.
In 1962, Carson published Silence Spring, a book that sparked considerable controversy. It proved how much harm was done by the uncontrolled, reckless use of insecticides. She detailed how they poison the food supply of animals, kill birds, and contaminate human food. At that time, spokesmen for the chemical industry mounted personal attacks against Carson and issued propaganda to indicate that her findings were flawed. However, her work was vindicated by a 1963 report of the President’s Science Advisory Committee.Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word “flawed”?
-
Read the passage and mark A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the blanks.
ROSES
According to fossil fuel records, roses are over 35 million years old and they were cultivated in China about 5,000 years ago. A Chinese emperor in the 6th century B.C. apparently had over 600 books on roses in his library, and oil was extracted from those grown in his gardens. (1)........ , only the highest members of society were allowed to use it. If anyone else was found with even a small amount, they were (2)............ to death. Roses were also popular with the Romans, who used their petals as medicine, a source of perfume and as confetti at weddings.
Cultivated rose were only introduced to Western Europe in the 18th century. Napoleon’s wife, Josephine, started a botanical garden near Paris, (3)........... she collected all the known varieties of rose and encouraged the breeding of new ones. This led to the flowers becoming increasingly popular, and in Britain at that time roses became so (4)........ that they were often used as currency in local markets.
All roses in Europe used to be pink or white until the first red ones arrived from China 200 years ago. These now (5)........ love and are the world’s most common cut flower.
(1)......................
-
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 Atmosphere of Venus
Venus, also called the Morning Star and Evening Star, is the second-closest planet to the sun and the brightest object in the night sky. The planet orbits the sun every two hundred and twenty four Earth-days and is sometimes referred to as Earth’s sister planet because the two share both a similar size and bulk. What is not similar, however, is Venus’s atmosphere in comparison to Earth’s atmosphere.
The atmosphere on Venus is much heavier and has a higher density than that of Earth. Venus’s atmosphere also expands significantly higher than Earth’s atmosphere although a thick cloud cover makes the surface of Venus nearly impossible to see unless observed through radar mapping.
While the pressure and temperature of Venus’s upper atmosphere are comparable to those of Earth, the heat and pressure of the lower atmosphere are not unlike a furnace. Venus’s atmosphere is very thick due to a composition consisting mainly of carbon dioxide, and a small amount of nitrogen. If man could survive the extreme heat of Venus’s surface (400 degrees Celsius), then he would have to contend with a surface pressure that is more than 90 times that of Earth. Venus’s extremely high temperature is thanks to the greenhouse effect caused by such a large amount of carbon dioxide. The greenhouse effect is a process by which the sun’s infrared radiation is more readily absorbed by the atmosphere. Just like in a real greenhouse used to grow plants years round, the proliferation of carbon dioxide traps radiation and warms Venus’s atmosphere. Due to this phenomenon, Venus boasts a higher atmospheric temperature than Mercury, even though Venus is twice the distance from the sun.
However, scientists postulate that Venus’s atmosphere was not always so hot. Studies show that large bodies of water were once on Venus’s surface but that eventually evaporation of all the water caused the runaway greenhouse effect which regulates the planet today.Thus Venus has become a critical study for today’s scientists, as human being are only beginning to struggle with the early stages of the greenhouse effect. Our problems do not stem from evaporated water supplies but from a propagation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases due to industrial and automobile emissions.
Another interesting characteristic to note regarding Venus’s atmosphere is that its daytime temperatures and nighttime temperatures are not that far removed from each other. This is due to the thermal inertia, the ability of a substance to store heat despite changing temperatures and the transfer of heat by Venus’s strong winds. Although winds on the surface of Venus move slowly in comparison with Earth’s winds, Venus’s air is so dense that a slow-moving there can move large obstructions and even skip stones along the planet’s surface.
In 1966, humankind made its first attempt at sending a recording instrument into Venus’s atmosphere. The Venera 3 probe did collide with Venus surface; however, the abrupt impact caused its communication system to fail, and it was unable to send and feedback. In 1967, Venera 4 successfully enter Venus’s atmosphere and was able to take many readings, one of which recorded that Venus’s atmosphere was between ninety and ninety-five percent carbon dioxide. Subsequent Venera probes were sent into Venus’s atmosphere, but most of them succumbed to the crushing air pressure.According to paragraph 1, Venus is named the Morning Star and Evening Star because
-
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:
Recreational diving or sport diving is a type of diving that uses scuba equipment for the purpose of leisure and enjoyment. In some diving circles, the term "recreational diving" is used in contradistinction to "technical diving", a more demanding aspect of the sport which requires greater levels of training, experience and equipment.
Recreational scuba diving grew out of related activities such as snorkeling and underwater hunting. For a long time, recreational underwater excursions were limited by the amount of breath that could be held. However, the invention of the aqualung in 1943 by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and its development over subsequent years led to a revolution in recreational diving. However, for much of the 1950s and early1960s, recreational scuba diving was a sport limited to those who were able to afford or make their own kit, and prepared to undergo intensive training to use it. As the sport became more popular, manufacturers became aware of the potential market, and equipment began to appear that was easy to use, affordable and reliable. Continued advances in' SCUBA technology, such as buoyancy compensators, modern diving regulators, wet or dry suits, and dive computers, increased the safety, comfort and convenience of the gear encouraging more people to train and use it.
Until the early 1950s, navies and other organizations performing professional diving were the only providers of diver training, but only for their own personnel and only using their own types of equipment. There were no training courses available to civilians who bought the first scuba equipment. Professional instruction started in 1959 when the non-profit National Association of Underwater Instructors was formed.
Further developments in technology have reduced the cost of training and diving. Scuba- diving has become a popular leisure activity, and many diving locations have some form of dive shop presence that can offer air fills, equipment and training. In tropical and sub-tropical parts of the world, there is a large market in holiday divers, who train and dive while on holiday, but rarely dive close to home. Generally, recreational diving depths are limited to a maximum of between 30 and 40 meters (100 and 130 feet), beyond which a variety of safety issues make it unsafe to dive using recreation diving equipment and practices, and specialized training and equipment for technical diving are needed.These following sentences are true EXCEPT _.