Find synonym:
In spite of poverty and dreadful conditions, they still manage to keep their self-respect.

 

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Nowadays, dozens of interventions are known that extend the lifespan of various living organisms ranging from yeast to mammals. They include chemical compounds, genetic interventions, and diets. Some targets of these interventions have been discovered. However, there is still no clear understanding of the systemic molecular mechanisms leading to lifespan extension. A group of scientists from Skoltech, Moscow State University and Harvard University decided to fill this gap and identify crucial molecular processes associated with longevity. To do so, they looked at the effects of various lifespan-extending interventions on the activity of genes in a mouse, a commonly used model organism closely related to humans. “In our lab, we subjected mice of different sexes and ages to 8 longevity interventions and analyzed gene expression changes induced by these treatments. After aggregating our data with the datasets published by other groups, we obtained gene activity profiles of 17 interventions. Although in general the effects produced by individual treatments turned out to be rather specific, a certain group of genes changed its expression in a similar way in response to different lifespan-extending interventions,” says the first author of the study, Alexander Tyshkovskiy. The scientists then applied the discovered biomarkers to search for other interventions with the same effect on their activity and, therefore, high potential for lifespan extension "Currently, we are validating these hits by testing their effect on the mouse lifespan. We hope that our biomarkers will significantly facilitate the search for new longevity interventions and help improve the healthspan and lifespan in rodents and, in the long term, in humans," says Alexander. 
3. According to paragraph 3, what is the most decisive information obtained from the experiment?

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Books have been around for thousands of years. When ancient civilizations first started developing writing systems, they would write on just about anything, from stone to tree bark. Ancient Egyptians were the first to use paper-like materials, called “papyrus”, which they made by pounding flat the woven stems of the papyrus plant. It was not long before the ancient Egyptians began gluing together papyrus sheets to form scrolls, which were the first steps toward books as you know. The birthplace of bookbinding is considered to be India in the 2nd century B.C., where Hindi scribes would bind palm leaves that were etched with religious texts between two wooden boards using twine. The technique became popular in the Middle East and Eastern Asia, and spread to the Romans by the 2nd century A.D. In the mid-15th century, German Johannes Gutenberg invented the first mechanical printing press. His invention was revolutionary because it enabled mass production of booksfor the first time. Before the printing press, a few pages per day could be produced by handcopying. Afterward, printing presses could produce as many as 3,600 pages per day. Today, modern publishers take advantage of incredible advances in technology to produce books in many sizes and shapes very quickly. Although there are many types of processes and machines available, most processes involve similar steps. Printers print the text of a book on large sheets of paper, sometimes as large as a newspaper page. Working with large volumes of paper allows printers to lower costs and produce books more efficiently.The large sheets are then cut into smaller pages that are still about twice the size of a finished book. The smaller pages are then divided into small groups, folded in half, and sewn together. Lastly, the folded and sewn pages are cut down to their finished size and glued to the spine of the final book’s cover. Depending on the quality of the book, additional finishing touches may be added, such as blank pages at the front and back of the book or special tape around the edges of the cover to increase durability. Although printed books may never go away completely, today’s readers will most certainly soon become more familiar with e-books. “E-book” refers to an electronic book, which is simply the text of a book displayed electronically, either via the Internet, a CD-ROM, a tablet, an e-book reader, or even a mobile phone. As electronic devices, such as tablets and mobile phones, become more commonplace, e-books are expected to become more and more popular. One of the benefits of e-books is that they save paper, which helps the environment by reducing the demand for trees  
2. Ancient Egypt was mentioned in paragraph 1 as the place where _____.

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Thirty years after ghostwriting Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal, Tony Schwartz described the experience as like putting lipstick on a pig. He felt a “deep sense of remorse” at helping bring the man who would become president gain wider attention. This week, the writer Natalie Beach joined the grand tradition of ghostwriters speaking out about their subjects, with a deeply intimate essay in the Cut laying out how she used to ghost everything for her former friend and controversial “influencer” Caroline Calloway: from Instagram captions to the aborted book that once attracted a $375,000 (£300,000) publishing deal, until their relationship broke down irretrievably. Beach’s account says that after the pair put the book proposal together, the influencer felt unable to write it. Beach says she “bought us time with the publishers by writing a quarter of the manuscript by myself”. As a ghostwriter himself, Crofts questions the ethics of speaking out about his subjects’ lives. “I do think Tony Schwartz shouldn’t have come out and said anything about Trump, because you’ve taken the money. It’s like a lawyer: if you find that the person you’re representing is a murderer you can’t then go around bewailing the fact you defended them – that was your job,” he said. “But I think he made Trump, I don’t think Trump would be president if he hadn’t written that book for him, because he’d never have got The Apprentice without the book, and the presidency without The Apprentice. So it must be weighing heavily on his conscience.”  Ghostwriters must be good at several things – being amenable to being steered by a subject, while also being firm enough to guide them away from tangents and uninteresting details. But the most important thing in ghostwriting, says Crofts, is absence of ego. “Which is maybe what went wrong [with Calloway] – Natalie isn’t a born ghost, she’s a writer herself. She was really young and well out of her depth, completely swamped by this girl’s flamboyance,” he says. “Ghostwriters do attract a lot of fantasists and people who have ideas way above the likelihood of success. They always think their story is fantastically interesting and going to be a bestseller. You’re always dealing with people with larger-than-life egos, so there’s always a danger you’re going to run up against someone who is impossible to manage.”  
7. The word “amenable” in paragraph 4 most likely means _______

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   The White House, the official home of the United States president, was not built in time for George Washington to live in it. It was begun in 1792 and was ready for its first inhabitants. President and Mrs.John Adams, who moved in on November 1, 1800. When the Adamses moved in, the White House was not yet complete, and the Adamses suffered many inconveniences; for example, the main staircase was incomplete, which hindered movement from floor to floor, and the future laundry yard was merely a pool of mud, so wet laundry was hung in the unfinished East Room to dry. Thomas Jefferson, the third president, improved the comfort of the White House in many respects and added new architectural features such as the terraces on the east and west ends.

   When the British forces burned the White House on August 24, 1814, President Madison was forced to leave.All the remained after the fire was the exterior walls, the interior was completely destroyed. It was not until December of 1817 that the following president, James Monroe, was able to move into a rebuilt residence. Since then, the White House has continued to be modified but has been continuously occupied by each succeeding U.S president.

The word “inhabitants” in line 2 is closest meaning to:

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Like the revolutions that preceded it, the Fourth Industrial Revolution has the potential to raise global income levels and improve the quality of life for populations around the world. To date, those who have gained the most from it have been consumers able to afford and access the digital world; technology has made possible new products and services that increase the efficiency and pleasure of our personal lives. Ordering a cab, booking a flight, buying a product, making a payment, listening to music, watching a film or playing a game — any of these can now be done remotely. In the future, technological innovation will also lead to a supply-side miracle, with long-term gains in efficiency and productivity. Transportation and communication costs will drop, logistics and global supply chains will become more effective and the cost of trade will diminish, all of which will open new markets and drive economic growth. At the same time, as the economists Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee have pointed out, the revolution could yield greater inequality, particularly in its potential to disrupt labor markets. As automation substitutes for labor across the entire economy, the net displacement of workers by machines might exacerbate the gap between returns to capital  and returns to labor. On the other hand, it is also possible that the displacement of workers by technology will, in aggregate, result in a net increase in safe and rewarding jobs. We cannot foresee at this point which scenario is likely to emerge, and history suggests that the outcome is likely to be some combination of the two. However, I am convinced of one thing — that in the future, talent, more than capital, will represent the critical factor of production. This will give rise to a job market increasingly segregated into “low-skill/low-pay” and “highskill/high-pay” segments, which in turn will lead to an increase in social tensions. In addition to being a key economic concern, inequality represents the greatest societal concern associated with the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The largest beneficiaries of innovation tend to be the providers of intellectual and physical capital — the innovators, shareholders and investors — which explains the rising gap in wealth between those dependent on capital versus labor. Technology is therefore one of the main reasons why incomes have stagnated, or even decreased, for a majority of the population in high-income countries: the demand for highly skilled workers has increased while the demand for workers with less education and lower skills has decreased. The result is a job market with a strong demand at the high and low ends, but a hollowing out of the middle. This helps explain why so many workers are disillusioned and fearful that their own real incomes and those of their children will continue to stagnate. It also helps explain why middle classes around the world are increasingly experiencing a pervasive sense of dissatisfaction and unfairness. A winnertakes-all economy that offers only limited access to the middle class is a recipe for democratic malaise and dereliction.  
1. Which of the following could be the best title of the passage?

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During the past half-century, our species has embarked on a remarkable social  experiment. For the first time in human history, great numbers of people – at all ages, in all places, of every political persuasion – have begun settling down as singletons. Until the second half of the last century, most of us married young and parted only at death. If death came early, we remarried quickly; if late, we moved in with family, or they with us. Now we marry later. We divorce, and stay single for years or decades.  The rise of living alone has produced significant social benefits, too. Young and middle-aged solos have helped to revitalise cities, because they are more likely to spend money, socialise and participate in public life. Contemporary solo dwellers in the US are primarily women: about 18 million, compared with 14 million men. The majority, more than 16 million, are middle-aged adults between the ages of 35 and 64. The elderly account for about 11 million of the total. Young adults between 18 and 34 number increased more than 5 million, compared with 500,000 in 1950, making them the fastest-growing segment of the solo-dwelling population.  Despite fears that living alone may be environmentally unsustainable, solos tend to live in apartments rather than in big houses, and in relatively green cities rather than in cardependent suburbs. There’s good reason to believe that people who live alone in cities consume less energy than if they coupled up and decamped to pursue a single-family home.
1. The best title for this passage could be ___________

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The climate crisis is poised to deliver a severe blow to America’s most threatened animals, with a new study finding that almost every species considered endangered is vulnerable in some way to global heating. Of the 459 animal species listed as endangered by the US government, researchers found that all but one, or 99.8%, have characteristics that will make it difficult for them to adapt to rising temperatures. The California condor, once close to being completely wiped out, faces increased risk of contamination in hotter conditions. Key deer, found only in the Florida Keys, face losing habitat to the rising seas. Whole classes of animals including amphibians, mollusks and arthropods are sensitive to the greatest number of climate-related threats, such as changes in water quality, shifting seasons and harmful invasive species that move in as temperatures climb. Mammals, such as the north Atlantic right whale and Florida panther, also face increased hardships, albeit on fewer fronts than amphibians, mollusks and arthropods.  Despite the overwhelming peril faced by America’s endangered species due to the climate crisis, the report, published in Nature Climate Change, found a patchy response from the US government. Federal agencies consider just 64% of endangered species to be threatened by the climate crisis, while just 18% of listed species have protection plans in place. Astrid Caldas, a study co-author and a climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists said: “While agencies have increasingly listed climate change as a growing threat to species whose survival is already precarious, many have not translated this concern into tangible actions, meaning a significant protection gap still exists.” Nearly half of Australian species are threatened by the climate crisis, researchers have found. A spokesman for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees the endangered species list, said that while a species may be sensitive to changes in the climate, this sensitivity may not be so severe as to warrant being put on the list. “Our process for determining this looks at five factors: threats to a species’ habitat, overutilization, disease or predation, existing regulatory mechanisms, and other factors that may affect its continued existence,” he said. “Through this scientifically rigorous process we examine and account for the effects of climate change.  
3. According to paragraph 2, what did the author imply when listing several species and their situation?

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Because writing has become so important in our culture, we sometimes think of it as more real than speech. A little thought, however, will show why speech is primary and writing secondary to language. Human beings have been writing at least 5,000 years, but they have been talking for much longer, doubtless ever since there have been human beings. When writing developed, it was derived from and represented speech, although imperfectly. Even today, there are spoken languages that have no written form. Furthermore, we all learn to talk well before we learn to write; any child who is not severely handicapped physically or mentally will learn to talk: a normal man cannot be prevented from doing so. On the other hand, it takes a special effort to learn to write; in the past, many intelligent and useful members of society did not acquire the skill, and even today many who speak languages with writing systems never learn to read or write while some who learn the rudiments of those skills do so imperfectly.
To affirm the primacy of speech over writing is not to disparage the later. One advantage writing has over speech is that it is more permanent and makes possible the records that any civilization must have. Thus, if speaking makes us human, writing makes us civilized.

In the author's judgment     .

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There are about 3,000 plants __________ values as medicines against cancer, AIDS, heart disease and many other sicknesses.

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A friend once boasted to me that she had seen the film The Sound of Music no fewer than 17 times. Personally, I cannot imagine any greater (1) ______of one’s time (once was enough for me), but I have to confess there are films I, too, have watched on multiple occasions without ever growing tired of them. Indeed, some films have benefited (2)______ a second viewing, in exactly the same way that one’s enjoyment of a novel can improve on the second, third or fourth reading. It often feels like a different experience. And a recent study has shown that it actually is different, that reading books, watching films again or revisiting places (3)_____ you have been happy, ‘results in a new or renewed appreciation’ of the experience. (4)______study says that doing something again enables people not only to relieve the past experience, but also to discover new details. “Therefore, the experience is different, (5) _______ it is repeated,” the research concludes. “By doing it again, people get more out of it.”

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Climate change, also called global warming, refers to the rise in average surface temperatures on Earth. An overwhelming scientific consensus maintains that climate change is due primarily to the human use of fossil fuels, which (1) __________ carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the air. The gases trap heat within the atmosphere, which can have a range of effects on ecosystems, (2) __________ rising sea levels, severe weather events, and droughts that render landscapes more susceptible to wildfires. While consensus among nearly all scientists, scientific organizations, and governments is (3)__________ climate change is happening and is caused by human activity, a small minority of voices questions the validity of such assertions and prefers to cast doubt on the preponderance of evidence. Climate change deniers often claim that recent changes (4) __________ to human activity can be seen as part of the natural variations in Earth’s climate and temperature, and that it is difficult or impossible to establish a direct connection between climate change and any single weather event, such as a hurricane. While the latter is generally true, decades of data and analysis support the reality of climate change and the human factor in this process. In any case, economists agree that acting to reduce fossil fuel emissions would be far less expensive than (5) __________ with the consequences of not doing so

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Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are now considered the future of lighting due to a lower energy requirement to run, a lower monthly price tag, and a longer life than traditional incandescent light bulbs. Nick Holonyak, an American scientist at General Electric, accidently invented the red LED light while trying to create a laser in the early 1960s. As with other inventors, the principle that some semiconductors glowed when an electric current was applied had been known since the early 1900s, but Holonyak was the first to patent it for use as a light fixture. Within a few years, yellow and green LEDs were added to the mix and used in several applications including indicator lights, calculator displays, and traffic lights, according to the DOE. The blue LED was created in the early 1990s by Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano, and Shuji Nakamura, a group of Japanese and American scientists, and for which they won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics. The blue LED allowed scientists to create white LED light bulbs by coating the diodes with phosphor Today, lighting choices have expanded and people can choose different types of light bulbs, including compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs work by heating a gas that produces ultraviolet light and LED bulbs. Several lighting companies are pushing the boundaries of what light bulbs can do, including Phillips and Stack. Phillips is one of several companies that have created wireless light bulbs that can be controlled via smartphone app. The Phillips Hue uses LED technology that can quickly be turned on or off or dimmed by a flick on a smart phone screen and can also be programmed. The higher-end Hue light bulbs can even be set to a large range of colors (only about sixteen million) and synced with music, movies, and video games. Stack, begun by engineers from Tesla and NASA, developed a smart light bulb using LED technology with a wide range of functions. It can automatically sense the ambient lighting and adjust as needed, it turns off and on via motion sensor when someone enters the room, can be used as a wake up alert, and even adjusts color throughout the day to fit with human’s natural circadian cycles and patterns of natural light. The light bulbs also have a built-in learning program that adapts to inputs given by residents over time. And all of these functions can be programmed or monitored from any smart phone or tablet. It is estimated that Stack smart light bulbs can use about sixty percent less energy than a typical LED light bulb and lasts between twenty and thirty thousand hours depending on the model . These light bulbs are compatible (or soon will be) with many of the options for turning an entire home into a smart home including usage with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomeKit.
5. According to paragraph 5, what can be done with the higher-end Hue light bulbs?

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For hundreds of years, giving flowers have been a social means of communication. In the United States, flowers are often given during rites of passage, for commemorating special occasions or as a heartfelt gift between loved ones and friends. Flower gifting also occurs in most countries around the world. However, the meanings and traditions often vary. While students traditionally gave their favorite teacher an apple in past years, in China, teachers are given flowers. Peonies are by far the flower most often given in China. They are also quite popularly used for weddings. Strangely, potted plants are not considered a pleasant gift among Asian cultures. The people believe that like a plant confined by a pot, the gift symbolizes a binding or restriction. In Russia, in lieu of giving birthday presents, the guest of honor receives a single flower or an unwrapped bouquet. Floral arrangements or baskets are not given. Russians celebrate a holiday known as Woman’s Day. Traditional gifts include red roses, hyacinths or tulips. When there is a funeral or other occasion where someone wishes to express sympathy, carnations, lilies or roses are given in circular configurations, which signify the transition of birth, life and death to rebirth. In this instance, the color of choice is commonly yellow. For joyous occasions, arrangements and bouquets generally contain an odd number of flowers In the times of ancient Rome, brides carried flowers to scare away evil spirits and encourage fertility. The Dutch believed that flowers were food for the soul. When invited to someone’s home in Great Britain, it is tradition to bring a gift of flowers. All types are acceptable except white lilies, which are usually seen at funerals. Not unlike the United States, red roses are a symbol of love. Flowers are generally gifted in odd numbered increments regardless of the occasion. However, the Brits also have superstitions regarding the number 13, so the number is avoided. In the southern region of the continent, flowers are traditionally given during Christmas. Egyptians are much more conservative and restrict flower gifting to funerals and weddings. While certain flowers may have significant meanings for some, flowers in Las Vegas and across the United States flowers are an accepted gift for any reason desired.  
2. What does the word “They” in paragraph 2 refer to?

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the undelined part that needs correction in each of the following questions:
These days, most people in Britain and the US do not wear very formal clothes. But sometimes it is important to wear the right thing.
Many British people don't think about clothes very much. They just like to be comfortable. When they go out to enjoy themselves, they can wear almost anything. At theatres, cinemas and concerts you can put on what you like from elegant suits and dresses to jeans and sweaters. Anything goes, as long as you look clean and tidy.
But in Britain, as well as in the US, men in offices usually wear suits and ties, and women wear dresses or skirts (not trousers). Doctors, lawyers and business people wear quite formal clothes. And in some hotels and restaurants men have to wear ties and women wear smart dresses.
In many years, Americans are more relaxed than British people, but they are more careful with their clothes. At home, or on holiday, most Americans wear informal or sporty clothes. But when

they go out in the evening, they like to look elegant. In good hotels and restaurants, men have to wear jackets and ties, and women wear pretty clothes and smart hairstyles.
It is difficult to say exactly what people wear informal or formal in Britain and the US, because everyone is different. If you are not sure what to wear, watch what other people do and then do the same. You'll feel more relaxed if you don't look too different from everyone else.

Many British people wear freely when they     .

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Automated manufacture arose out of the intimate relationship of such economic forces and technical innovations as the division of labor, power transfer and the mechanization of the factory, and the development of transfer machines and feedback systems as explained below. The division of labor (that is, the reduction of a manufacturing or service process into its smallest independent steps) developed in the latter half of the 18th century and was first discussed by the Scottish economist Adam Smith in his book An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776). In manufacturing, the division of labor results in increased production and a reduction in the level of skills required of workers. Mechanization was the next step necessary in the development of automation. The simplification of work made possible by the division of labor also made it possible to design and build machines that duplicated the motions of the worker. As the technology of power transfer evolved, these specialized machines were motorized and their production efficiency was improved. The development of power technology also gave rise to the factory system of production, because all workers and machines had to be located near the power source. The transfer machine is a device used to move a workpiece from one specialized machine tool to another, in such a manner as to properly position the workpiece for the next machining operation. Industrial robots, originally designed only to perform simple tasks in environments dangerous to human workers, are now extremely dexterous and are being used to transfer, handle, and index (that is, to position) both light and heavy workpieces, thus performing all the functions of a transfer machine. In actual practice, a number of separate machines are integrated into what may be thought of as one large machine. In the 1920s the auto industry combined these concepts into an integrated system of production. The goal of this assembly-line system was to make automobiles available to people who previously could not afford them. This method of production was adopted by most automobile manufacturers and rapidly became known as Detroit automation. Despite more recent advances, it is this system of production that most people think of as automation.
3. It can be understood that the key factor of mechanization is ____

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Our parents play an important role in what we’re today and in what we’ll be in future. It’s our parents who make us (1)_____ in all sphere of life, they guides us, supports us, teaches us, and propels us in all phases of your life. The biggest role is of our mother; most cherished and admired relation in the world. She is special for everyone and should be. She is one (2)____ teaches us everything from how to speak to what to speak, from how to eat to what to eat, from how to (3)____ up for school to college. She is with us from happiness to sorrow. She teaches us from what is right to what is wrong. Definitely she is one who brings smiles on our faces when we take a walk down memory (4)_____ from our childhood till now. But when I recall my childhood, what I have is her faint memory; unfortunately, probably when I was about 5 years old she left this world. When I look around I realize how lucky they are who have someone under whose feet lies the paradise. So realize importance of her presence in your life and love her (5)______ the way she loves you unconditionally; dedicate every day of your life to her and don’t wait for mother day; celebrate everyday a mother day

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The comings and goings of teenagers, while a frequent source of tension in the  parent–child relationship, are a crucial experience in the construction of social identities. For this age group, mobility is not just a practice that is socially determined – by social background, residential environment and schooling – but also a specific experience that durably shapes their relationships with the spaces and the social world they encounter.  Although mobility is a socialised practice, based on habits forged in the domestic, residential and school environments, it is itself a specific experience in teenage socialisation. At this age, mobility plays an important role in individuals’ learning of behaviours and ways of being, gradually reshaping the dispositions acquired during primary socialisation.  First of all, mobility affects teenagers’ ways of being and behaving within their peer group, which play an increasingly important role in teenage socialisation. At this age, peers become more and more involved in mobility practices: they are one of the key reasons for mobility but, above all, they become preferred partners in self-mobility situations.  Furthermore, the movements of teenagers, alone or in groups, gradually reshapes their dispositions vis-à-vis mobility, particularly those acquired in the domestic sphere. At this age, experiences in mobility have lasting effects on the future practices of teenagers. They sometimes help modify the dispositions of teenagers regarding transport modes. We could cite, among other examples, the case of a girl whose fear of the metro gradually diminished as a result of occasional trips with her best friend, who was more familiar with this mode of transport. These experiences also influence the spatial amplitude of future mobility, in particular preferences for travel within or outside one’s area of residence.  Lastly, mobility allows teenagers to discover the public domain, when it gives rise to interactions that take place under the gaze of an incidental audience and which are therefore subject to specific rules. In the course of their travels, teenagers gradually become familiar with these rules, and they mutually adapt their behaviours to those of other citizens so as to eventually find their place within the public domain. Listening to music on mobile phones on public transport, for example, is appropriate to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the circumstances at the time.
5. The word “this” in paragraph 4 refers to _____

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Last week, China declared “mission accomplished” after landing a spacecraft, Chang’e-4, on the far side of the Moon. It was a remarkable endeavour. As the far side of the Moon never faces the Earth, mission control cannot communicate directly with the spacecraft, but only via an orbiting satellite. The terrain is more broken and cratered than the near side, so landing a craft is that much more difficult. Even Nasa was impressed: “a first for humanity and an impressive accomplishment!”. Yet mixed with admiration was trepidation. China, a latecomer to the space race, is now beginning to threaten the supremacy of America and Russia. But then Russia and America have long played their space exploration programmes for propaganda purposes. From the beginning, the space race was intimately bound up with the needs of the cold war. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first human craft to orbit the Earth. Four years later, Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. Eight years later, on 21 July 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to tread on the Moon. Their journey may have been fuelled in part by cold war desperation, but it was also an extraordinary triumph of knowledge and will, an act of the technological sublime. Once America was satisfied that the Soviet Union had been put in its place, space exploration became politically less important. As America downgraded its space ambitions, Chinese aspirations took flight. In 1992, the Chinese government approved the Shenzhou manned spaceflight programme. Eleven years later, Yang Liwei became the first Chinese astronaut in space. Fears about Chinese ambitions have been heightened by the changing context of the space race. During the cold war, America feared the Soviet Union, but was determined to thwart Moscow’s aims. Today, American apprehension stems from the worry that China’s emergence as the dominant global force cannot be checked, nor Beijing’s brutal despotism challenged. As liberal democracy frays in the west and authoritarian capitalism becomes entrenched in the east, self-doubt shapes US attitudes to China. Space exploration has long been fuelled by a mixture of humanistic dreams, technological leaps and tawdry politics. The Chang’e-4 mission is no different. How the space race will play out over the next decade, and what role China will adopt in global politics, remains uncertain. In the meantime, let us celebrate our new perspective of the dark side of the Moon.
6. The word “thwart” in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to _______

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Carols were first sung in Europe thousands of years ago, but these were not Christmas Carols. They were pagan songs, sung at the Winter Solstice celebrations as people danced round stone circles. Carols used to be written and sung during all four seasons, but only the tradition of singing them at Christmas has really survived. Early Christians took over the pagan solstice celebrations for Christmas and gave people Christian songs to sing instead of pagan ones. However, not many people liked them as they were all written and sung in Latin, a language that the normal people couldn’t understand. This was changed by St. Francis of Assisi when, in 1223, he started his Nativity Plays in Italy. The people in the plays sang songs or ‘canticles’ that told the story during the plays. Sometimes, the choruses of these new carols were in Latin; but normally they were all in a language that the people watching the play could understand and join in! The new carols spread to France, Spain, Germany and other European countries. The earliest carol, like this, was written in 1410. Sadly only a very small fragment of it still exists. Most Carols from this time and the Elizabethan period are untrue stories, very loosely based on the Christmas story, about the holy family and were seen as entertaining rather than religious songs. They were usually sung in homes rather than in churches! Traveling singers or Minstrels started singing these carols and the words were changed for the local people wherever they were traveling. Before carol singing in public became popular, there were sometimes official carol singers called ‘Waits’. These were bands of people led by important local leaders who had the only power in the towns and villages to take money from the public. Also, at this time, many orchestras and choirs were being set up in the cities of England and people wanted Christmas songs to sing, so carols once again became popular. New carols services were created and became popular, as did the custom of singing carols in the streets. Both of these customs are still popular today! One of the most popular types of Carols services are Carols by Candlelight services. At this service, the church is only lit by candlelight and it feels very Christmassy! Carols by Candlelight services are held in
countries all over the world.
2. The word “them” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to _______

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
The Moon is our close cosmic neighbor, and humans have been exploring its surface ever since they first developed telescopes. The first lunar exploration vehicles of the 1950s were primitive pioneers. But aerospace technology developed so rapidly that only about a decade separated the first flyby forays and Neil Armstrong’s history-making steps on the Moon’s surface. In January 1959, a small Soviet sphere bristling with antennas, dubbed Luna 1, flew by the Moon at a distance of some 3,725 miles (5,995 kilometers). Though Luna 1 did not impact the Moon’s surface, as was likely intended, its suite of scientific equipment revealed for the first time that the Moon had no magnetic field. The craft also returned evidence of space phenomena, such as the steady flow of ionized plasma now known as solar wind. Later in 1959, Luna 2 became the first spacecraft to land on the Moon’s surface when it impacted near the Aristides, Archimedes, and Autolycus craters. A third Luna mission subsequently captured the first blurry images of the far–or dark–side of the Moon. In 1962 NASA placed its first spacecraft on the Moon—Ranger 4. The Ranger missions were kamikaze missions; the spacecraft were engineered to streak straight toward the Moon and capture as many images as possible before crashing onto its surface. Unfortunately, Ranger 4 was unable to return any scientific data before slamming into the far side of the Moon. Two years later, however, Ranger 7 streaked toward the Moon with cameras blazing and captured more than 4,000 photos in the 17 minutes before it smashed onto the surface. Images from all the Ranger missions, particularly Ranger 9, showed that the Moon’s surface was rough. They spotlighted the challenges of finding a smooth landing site on its surface. In 1966 the Soviet spacecraft Luna 9 overcame the Moon’s topographic hurdles and became the first vehicle to soft-land safely on the surface. The small craft was stocked with scientific and communications equipment and photographed a ground level lunar panorama. Luna 10 launched later that year and became the first spacecraft to successfully orbit the  Moon. The Surveyor space probes (1966-68) were the first NASA craft to perform controlled landings on the Moon’s surface. Surveyor carried cameras to explore the Moon’s surface terrain, as well as soil samplers that analyzed the nature of lunar rock and dirt. In 1966 and 1967 NASA launched lunar orbiters that were designed to circle the Moon and chart its surface in preparation for future manned landings. In total, five lunar orbiter missions photographed about 99 percent of the Moon’s surface. On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the first people to reach the Moon when their Apollo 11 lunar lander touched down in the Sea of Tranquility. Later missions carried a lunar rover that was driven across the satellite’s surface, and saw astronauts spend as long as three days on the Moon. Before the Apollo project ended in 1972, five other missions and a dozen men had visited the Moon. After the dramatic successes of the 1960s and 1970s, the major space programs turned their attention elsewhere for a period of several decades. 
4. The phrase “slamming into” in the second paragraph is closest in meaning to _________.