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Environment is the first casualty for increase in pollution whether in air or water. The increase in the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere leads to smog which can restrict sunlight from reaching the earth. Thus, preventing plants in the process of photosynthesis. Gases like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide can cause acid rain. Water pollution in terms of oil spill may lead to death of several wildlife species. Moreover, the decrease in quality of air leads to several respiratory problems including asthma or lung cancer. Chest pain, congestion, throat inflammation, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease are some of diseases that can be causes by air pollution. Water pollution occurs due to contamination of water and may pose skin related problems including skin irritations and rashes. Similarly, noise pollution leads to hearing loss, stress and sleep disturbance. Additionally, the emission of greenhouse gases particularly CO2 is leading to global warming. Every other day new industries are being set up, new vehicles come on roads and trees are cut to make way for new homes. All of them, in direct or indirect way lead to increase on CO2 in the environment. The increase in CO2 leads to melting of polar ice caps which increases the sea level and pose danger for the people living near coastal areas. It should be reminded that ozone layer is the thin shield high up in the sky that stops ultra violet rays from reaching the earth. As a result of human activities, chemicals, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), were released into the atmosphere which contributed to the depletion of ozone layer. Last but not least, due to constant use of insecticides and pesticides, the soil may become infertile. Plants may not be able to grow properly. Various forms of chemicals produced from industrial waste in releases into the flowing water which also affects the quality of soil. In conclusion, pollution not only affects humans by destroying their respiratory, cardiovascular and neurological systems; it also affects the nature, plants, fruits, vegetables, rivers, ponds, forests, animals, etc, on which they are highly dependent for survival. It is crucial to control pollution as the nature, wildlife and human life are precious gifts to the mankind. 
7. What does the word “it” in the last paragraph refer to?

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Alzheimer's disease impairs a person's ability to recall memories, both distant and as a few hours before. Although there is no yet a cure for the illness, there may be hope for a cure with a protein called nerve growth factor. The protein is produced by nerve cells in the same region of the brain where Alzheimer's occurs. Based on this relationship, scientists from the University of Lund in Sweden and the University of California at San Diego designed an experiment to test whether doses of nerve growth factor could reverse the effects of memory loss caused by Alzheimer's. Using a group of rats with impaired memory, the scientists gave half of the rats doses of nerve growth factor while giving the other half a blood protein as a placebo, thus creating a control group. At the end of the four-week test, the rats given the nerve growth factor performed equally to rats with normal memory abilities. While the experiment do not show that nerve growth factor can stop the general process of deterioration caused by Alzheimer's, they do show potential as a means to slowing the process significantly.
9. Which of the following could best replace the word "significantly"?

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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. 
7. Which of the following is NOT true about the Moon exploration at the end of 1960s?

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There are many types of family systems around the world. In North America and  northern Europe, the nuclear family (with two generations - a father, a mother and one or more children) is often seen as the most typical. In contrast, in most other parts of the world, extended families, which include other family members such as grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, are seen as the norm.  The common view is that the nuclear family has become the norm in many Western societies as a result of industrialization and urbanization. This trend began in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when people were forced to move to cities to find work in the factories that sprang up during the Industrial Revolution. In the twentieth century, greater industrialization resulted in even more people leaving their large extended families. Urbanization also meant that people lived in much smaller houses, which were not big enough for an extended family.  The trend towards nuclear families meant that many of the duties and responsibilities of a family, such as providing food and shelter, cleaning the home, preparing the food, caring for children and their education, and caring for the sick and elderly are no longer shared among the members of the extended family. The parents (or parent) now have to do this, with some help from the state. However, this is the price that people pay for the higher standard of living that may come from living in a city.  We may think we know what we mean by a ‘nuclear’ family and an extended family, but reality is more complicated than most people believe. Most nuclear families are part of extended families: children have grandparents and, in many cases, aunts, uncles and cousins as well. Part of what makes them ‘nuclear’ is that they live in their own separate household, but it is not the whole story. In Greece or Italy, for example, a nuclear family may live in its own flat, but the extended family may live in the same apartment block or in the same street and family members see each other and even eat together every day. There is at least one more factor to consider. Family members may be separated from each other by geographical distance, but they may have close emotional ties. Even in North America and northern Europe, grandparents usually have close bonds with their grandchildren, and families often travel long distances so that they can see each other. Grandparents often help their adult children, for example, by cooking and looking after their children in emergencies. In the same way, when their parents become too old to live on their own, adult children may take them into their own homes. As a result, they turn their nuclear family into an extended family.  The structure of families changes over time. The effects of urbanization and industrialization are enormous, but they are not the only reasons for the changes. People marry, have children, become widowed, divorce and die. Children grow up and adults grow old. Nuclear families become extended families and extended families become nuclear families. Family ties stay strong or become weak. One thing is certain: in a changing world, the family will continue to change, but ultimately, it is likely to continue to be the basic unit of society
7.  In what way can a nuclear family be turned into an extended household?

Is the competition open to children among ten and fifteen years of age?

A.    B.     C.    D. 

Each sentence has a mistake. Findit by chosing A B C or D

 In his early days as a direct, Charlie Chaplin produced 62 short, silent comdedy films in four years

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Vietnamese .................... is now available to purchase online.

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Political and economic reforms launched in 1986 have transformed the country from  one of the poorest in the world, with per capita income around US $100, to lower middle income status within a quarter of a century with per capita income of around US$ 2,100 by the end of 2015.  Vietnam’s per capita GDP growth since 1990 has been among the fastest in the world, averaging 5.5 percent a year since 1990, and 6.4 percent per year in the 2000s. Vietnam’s economy continued to strengthen in 2015, with estimated GDP growth rate of 6.7 percent for the whole year.  The Vietnamese population is also better educated and has a higher life expectancy than most countries with a similar per capita income. The maternal mortality ratio has dropped below the upper-middle-income country average, while under-five mortality rate has fallen by half, to a rate slightly above that average. Access to basic infrastructure has also  improved substantially. Electricity is now available to almost all households, up from less than half in 1993. Access to clean water and modern sanitation has risen from less than 50 percent of all households to more than 75 percent.  Vietnam’s Socio-Economic Development Strategy (SEDS) 2011-2020 gives attention to structural reforms, environmental sustainability, social equity, and emerging issues of macroeconomic stability. It defines three “breakthrough areas”: promoting human resources/skills development (particularly skills for modern industry and innovation), improving market institutions, and infrastructure development. In addition, the five-year Socio-Economic Development Plan 2011-2015 focused on three critical restructuring areas - the, banking sector, state-owned enterprises and public investment that are needed to achieve these objectives. The recent draft of the SEDP 20162020 acknowledges the slow progress of the reform priorities of the SEDP 2011-2015. With agriculture still accounting for almost half the labor force, and with significantly lower labor productivity than in the industry and services sectors, future gains from structural transformation could be substantial. The transformation from state to private ownership of the economy is even less advanced. The state also wields too much influence in allocating land and capital, giving rise to heavy economy wide inefficiencies. So, adjusting the role of the state to support a competitive private sector-led market economy remains a major opportunity. This will be important for enhancing productivity growth which has been stagnating for a long time.
3. Which of the followings is NOT mentioned as an example of development in Vietnam?

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The “balance of nature” is not an empty phrase. Nature provides a population to  occupy a suitable environment and cuts down surplus on population to fit the available food supply. One means of reducing surplus population is predators; others are parasites and diseases. Also, population density produces nervous disorders and even drivers animals to mass migrations, like the lemmings of Norway who plunge into the sea.  That predator populations increase to control other animals has long been known. Many years ago, the Hudsons Bay Company records revealed that the fox population went up and down about a year after the rabbit population had gone up and down.  Sometimes a situation occurs in which the predator population is reduced to a level below that which nature can readily replace. On Valcour Island in Lake Champlain (New York), a costly campaign resulted in the elimination of predatory animals only to have birds and small animals (including grouse and hares, popular game) increase for four years afterward. Then, lacking predator control, nature resorted to disease to cut down on these populations.  Jamaica had an example of natures persistence in providing animals for existing habits. Sugar planters, about 75 years ago, imported mongooses to control rats. The mongooses killed off the rats and, with plentiful food, multiplied. Rats became scarce and the mongooses ate lambs, puppies, and wildlife. Eventually, food became scarce and the mongooses’ population declined.
3. When predators control fails, nature brings animal population into balance by ____

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It’s probably the most painstaking, heart wrenching, and stress inducing test of dedication a marriage can face. But the reward at the end is pretty sweet. At the annual Wife Carrying World Championships in Sonkajärvi, Finland, male competitors race around a track hauling their female partners on their backs. Winner takes home his wife’s weight in beer. It’s no ordinary racetrack, either. Competitors must wade through a neck-deep pool of water, climb over hurdles, and run through pits of sand before crossing the finish line. While some participants don crazy costumes for the pre-race, the actual event is pretty straightlaced. Wives must weigh at least 49 kilograms (108 pounds). Any woman lighter than that is required to carry a heavy rucksack until she reaches this minimum. A participant who drops his wife will be penalized 15 seconds. But there is one catch: contestants don’t have to carry their own wives. A friend’s wife, stranger’s wife, or even a random grandmother will do – as long as she’s over 17. Contestants flock from 47 countries across the globe to show their stuff in this epic display of brute strength. This year, Finnish couple Taisto Miettinen and Kristiina Haapanen captured the title for the fourth consecutive year. The 46-year-old lawyer and his wife completed the 235-meter course in one minute and four seconds. Like any dedicated athlete, Miettinen reported that he’d been training for a while. “In last autumn, I started running in the track, one hundred, two hundred and four hundred meters,” Miettinen said in a post-race interview. He also practiced the course in ski boots to build leg strength. The competition, which began in 1992, is supposedly rooted in the legend of Ronkainen the Robber — a hardnosed gang leader who hazed potential members by making them lug sacks of grain or live pigs over a similar course. He and his comrades also made a habit of stealing women from neighboring villages as a nod to this practice, many men “steal” friends’ wives for the competition. If you want to compete but can’t make it to Finland, there’s a North American version of the contest held in October at Sunday River Resort in Maine. With 100-plus pounds of brewski on the line, you might want to tell your significant other to start shaping up.
6. The word “who” in paragraph 4 refers to ______

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

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

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Nikola Tesla led an extraordinary life. He is a man who came from nowhere yet became world famous; claimed to be devoted solely to discovery but relished the role of a showman; attracted the attention of many women but never married; and generated ideas that transformed daily life and created multiple fortunes but died nearly penniless. In the popular imagination, Tesla played the part of a mad scientist. He claimed that he had developed a motor that ran on cosmic rays; that he was working on a new nonEinsteinian physics that would supply a new form of energy; that he had discovered a new technique for photographing thoughts; and that he had developed a new ray, alternately labeled the death ray and the peace ray, with vastly greater military potential than Nobel’s munitions. His money long gone, Tesla spent his later years moving from place to place, leaving behind unpaid bills. Eventually, he settled in at a New York hotel. Always living alone, he frequented the local park, where he was regularly seen feeding and tending to the pigeons,  with which he claimed to share a special affinity. On the morning of Jan. 7, 1943, he was found dead in his room by a hotel maid at age 86. Today the name Tesla is still very much in circulation. The airport in Belgrade bears his name, as does the world’s best-known electric car, and the magnetic field strength of MRI scanners is measured in Teslas. Tesla was a real-life Prometheus: the mythical Greek titan who raided heaven to bring fire to mankind, yet in punishment was chained to a rock where each day an eagle ate his liver.  
3. According to paragraph 2, which is NOT mentioned as one of the ideas proposed by Nikola Tesla?

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 following questions:
We have all had bad experiences with restaurants, stores, or hotels. Maybe you have gone to a restaurant that served terrible food. Perhaps you have gone to a store that had high prices or bad service. Or maybe you have booked a hotel and found out later that the room was nothing like the advertisement.
These days, we have a better chance of preventing these unpleasant surprises. We can do this by using apps. “App” is short for “application”. An app is a computer programme on a smartphone. You can use apps to do almost anything. Apps can help you play games, get directions, talk to friends, and so on.
If f you want to find information about a store or a hotel, you can use a review app. Review apps help us evaluate services and products before we hand over our money. The idea is very simple. After you go to a restaurant or stay in a hotel, you can post a review with one of your apps. You can say anything you want. If you like a hotel you stayed in, you can tell people that it was wonderful. If you think that the food in a certain restaurant was bad, then you tell people not to eat there. Other people can use their apps to read your reviews.
Plenty of people prefer not to use these review apps. Many of these people prefer to go out and decide for themselves whether or not a service is good. However, review apps are getting more and more popular every day. Some apps are for specific services. For example, Tripadvisor focuses on travel, and Goodreads focuses on books. There are also other, larger apps that provide information for just about every service that you can think of. 5

If you want to book a hotel, how can a review app help you?

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Alexander Hamilton was born on January 11, 1755 or 1757 in the West Indies. Due to his mother’s lack of marital status, Hamilton was not seen as a legitimate child and was thus denied access to church schools. When his mother died he was adopted by a merchant in Nevis, where he worked as a clerk. During his time in Nevis, Hamilton continued to write; one of his essays impressed the community leaders so much that they worked together and collected funds to send Hamilton to the colonies. Hamilton served in the revolutionary war, during which time he worked his way through battles and earned himself a place aiding General Washington. After the war, Hamilton was elected into the Congress of the Confederation. He was dissatisfied with the decentralized government that was set up and the inability to raise money from the states to pay the soldiers. Hamilton was involved in the Constitution Convention but did not fully agree with the document; despite his disagreements, he promoted the document because he believed it was a vast improvement over the Articles of Confederation. He pushed the ratification of the Constitution, teaming up with John Jay and James Madison to write the Federalist papers, which were often cited when pushing for the Constitution’s ratification. Alexander Hamilton was appointed as the country’s first Secretary of The Treasury on September 11, 1789. During his time as Secretary of the Treasury Hamilton helped write economic policies, develop the funding of state debts, establish the national bank, create a national currency, a system of tariffs, and a peaceful trade relationship with Britain. After his time in politics finished, Alexander Hamilton went back to New York to practice law. He died in a duel with Aaron Burr in Weehawken, New Jersey on July 12, 1804  
2. According to paragraph 1, what can be concluded from Alexander Hamilton’s childhood?

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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.
2. What does the word “principle” in paragraph 2 mostly mean?

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I ............... him to sell that old motorbike.

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Preschool offers many benefits. It can be a great place for kids to interact with peers and learn valuable life lessons such as how to share, take turns, and follow rules. But going to preschool does come with some emotions, for both the parent and the child. For a child, entering a new preschool environment (1) ___________ with unfamiliar teachers and kids can cause both anxiety and excitement. Parents might have mixed emotions about (2) ___________ their child is ready for preschool. When you enter the classroom on the first day, calmly reintroduce the teacher to your child, then step back to allow the teacher to begin (3) __________ a relationship with your child. Your endorsement of the teacher will show your child that he or she will be happy and safe in the teacher’s care. If your child clings to you or refuses to participate in the class, don’t get upset — this may only upset your child more. Always say a loving goodbye to your child, but once you do, leave (4)________. Don’t sneak out. Leaving without saying goodbye can make kids feel abandoned. A long farewell, on the other hand, might only reinforce a child’s sense that preschool is a bad place. A consistent and predictable farewell routine can make leaving easier. Some parents wave from outside the classroom window or make a funny goodbye face, while others have a special handshake before parting. Transitional objects — a family picture, a special doll, or a favorite blanket — can also help comfort a child. Also, (5)___________ in mind that most kids do well after their parents leave.

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"I have never been to Russia. I think I shall go there next year.” said Bill.

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The understanding of friendship in children tends to be more heavily focused on areas such as (1)___________ activities, physical proximity, and shared interests. These friendships provide opportunity (2)____________ playing and practicing self-regulation. Most children tend to describe friendship in terms of things like sharing, and children are more likely to share with someone they consider to be a friend. As children mature, they become less individualized and are more aware of others. They gain the ability to (3)_________ with their friends, and enjoy playing in groups. They also experience peer rejection as they move through the middle childhood years. Establishing good friendships at a young age (4)________________ a child to be better acclimated in society later on in their life. Potential benefits of friendship include the opportunity to learn about empathy and problem solving. Coaching from parents can be useful in helping children to make friends. Eileen Kennedy-Moore describes three key ingredients of children’s friendship formation: (1) openness, (2) similarity, and (3) shared fun. Parents can also help children understand social guidelines they haven’t learned on their (5)____________

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Egypt’s 100 millionth citizen was born last week, undoubtedly a happy occasion for one family, but a moment filled with foreboding for a country struggling to contain a population explosion. In the past year the government has scrambled to stem the birth rate with a new program called “Two is Enough.” It is establishing family planning clinics throughout the country, where Egyptians can purchase heavily subsidized contraceptives. But many doctors and activists fear that this is too little, and comes too late to reverse the uptick in population growth. Doctors complain that the new “Two is Enough” program lacks in a clear strategy to bring down birthrates. The financial resources deployed thus far have been a fraction of previous efforts; some family-planning clinics have reportedly run out of contraceptives. While clinics funded by the campaign to provide some reproductive health education, sexual education remains taboo in Egyptian schools. There is also a lack of adequate services for the poor and pensioners. Many Egyptians opt to have more children in the hope they will look after them as they age, a phenomenon common in countries with high levels of poverty and inadequate safety nets. While over 30 million Egyptians live in poverty, only 9.4 million receive means-tested cash transfers from the government’s welfare programs. Economic reforms undertaken as part of a recently completed International Monetary Fund program have cut subsidies in a number of areas, contributing a spike in inflation that at one point exceeded 30%. For newborns like the 100-millionth Egyptian, the outlook is grim. A burgeoning population exacerbates many problems. Despite Egypt’s limited supply - it depends almost exclusively on the Nile - there has been a systemic failure to adequately address water waste. From wasteful megaprojects draining the Nile to literally dumping waste in the river, Egyptian officials have consistently failed to prudently protect what is perhaps the country’s most vital natural resource. In 2018, Egypt temporarily reduced the farming of rice, a water intensive crop - only to expand cultivation the following year. The New Administrative Capital that Sisi has set out to erect is projected to need 650,000 cubic meters of water per day when finished. Failure to quickly and dramatically improve water management practices in Egypt could be disastrous, and the risk is the greater for the country’s rapid population growth  
2. The word “foreboding” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to _______