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Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452, in the small Tuscan town of Vinci,  near Florence. Leonardo was the son of a wealthy Florentine public official and a peasant woman. In the mid- 1460s, the family settled in Florence, where Leonardo was given the best education that Florence could offer. He rapidly advanced socially and intellectually. He was handsome, persuasive in conversation and a fine musician and improviser. About in 1466, he apprenticed as a studio boy to Andrea Del Verrocchio. In Verrocchio’s workshop, Leonardo was introduced to many activities, from the painting of altarpieces and panel pictures to the creation of large sculptural projects. In 1472, he was entered in the painter’s guild of Florence, and in 1476, he was still mentioned as Verrocchio’s assistant. In Verrocchio’s Baptism of Christ, the kneeling angel at the left of the painting is by Leonardo.  In 1478, Leonardo became an independent master. His first commission, to paint an altarpiece for the chapel of the Palazzo Vecchino, the Florentine town hall, was never executed. His first large painting, The Adoration of the Magi, left unfinished, was ordered in 1481 for the Monastery of San Donato a Scopeto, Florence. Other works ascribed to his youth are the so-called Benois Madonna, the portrait Ginerva de’ Benci, and the unfinished Saint Jerome.  In 1482, Leonardo’s career moved into high gear when he entered the service of the duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, having written the duke an astonishing letter in which he stated that he could build portable bridges; that he knew the techniques of constructing bombardments and of making cannons; that he could build ships as well as armored vehicles, catapults, and other war machines; and that he could execute sculpture in marble, bronze, and clay. He served as a principal engineer in the duke’s numerous military enterprises and was so active also as an architect. In addition, he assisted the Italian mathematician Luca Pacioli in the celebrated work Divina Proportione.  Evidence indicates that Leonardo had apprentices and pupils in Milan, for whom he probably wrote the various texts later compiled as Treatise on Painting. The most important of his own paintings during the early Milan period was The Virgin of the Rocks, two versions of which exist; he worked on the compositions for a long time, as was his custom, seemingly unwilling to finish what he had begun.  From 1495 to 1496, Leonardo labored on his masterpiece, The Last Super, a mural in the refectory of the Monastery of Santa Maria Delle Grazie, Milan. Unfortunately, his experimental use of oil on dry plaster was technically unsound, and by 1500 its deterioration had begun. Since 1726 attempts have been made, unsuccessfully, to restore it; a concerted restoration and conservation program, making use of the latest technology, was begun in 1977 and is reversing some of the damage. Although much of the original surface is gone, the majesty of the composition and the penetrating characterization of the figures give a fleeting vision of its vanished splendor.  During his long stay in Milan, Leonardo also produced other paintings and drawings, most of which have been lost theater designs, architectural drawings, and models for the dome of Milan Cathedral. His largest commission was for a colossal bronze monument to Francesco Sforza, father of Ludovico, in the courtyard of Castello Sforzesco. In December 1499, however, the Sforza family was driven from Milan by French forces; Leonardo left the statue unfinished and he returned to Florence in 1500.
6. What is NOT mentioned as a creation of Leonardo da Vinci’s while he was in Milan?

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In fact, two out of three working Americans are not (1)______ in their work,  according to a Gallup survey. People who send résumés and go to interviews think that they care only about salaries and (2)______. These are important, yes, but they are not enough. To identify a satisfying job, people should be thinking about office morale and doing work that is interesting and fun.  To demonstrate this point, my colleague Kaitlin Woolley and I asked a large group of employees what made them like their present jobs, along with what factors would (3)_____ them to like future jobs.  Unsurprisingly, we found that promotions and raises were important for people both in their current job and in applying for future jobs. What was interesting, (4)______, was that the majority cared a lot about present benefits (such as doing something interesting with people they like) in their current job, but they expected not to care very much about those things in their future jobs. When envisioning themselves in the future, they predicted that they would almost solely be driven by delayed benefits like salaries.  Why are people (5)______ aware that present benefits are important in their current job, and yet expect not to care about those benefits in the future? Why, for example, does a student who cannot sit through a boring two-hour lecture think she would be satisfied by a boring but well-paying job?

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

Lake Tahoe’s deep of 1,600 feet prevents it from freezing in the winter

Find synonym:
The government's interference in the strike has been widely criticised

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In the last five decades or so, the media and its influence on the societies, has grown (1)_______ with the advance of technology. First there was the telegraph and the post offices, then the radio, the newspaper, magazines, television and now the internet and the new media including palmtops, cell phones etc. There are positive and negative influences of mass media, which we must understand as a responsible person of a society. Before (2)___________ the influence of mass media on society it is imperative to explain the three basic functions of mass media; they are providing news/information, entertainment and education. The first and foremost function of the media in a society is to provide news and information to the masses, that is why the present era is some time termed as the information age (3)__________. People need news/information for various reasons, on one hand it can be used to socialize and on the other to make decisions and formulate opinions. Entertainment would be the other function of the mass media (4)______ it is mostly used by the masses to amuse them in present day hectic environment. Educating the masses about their rights, moral, social and religious obligations is another important function of mass media, which needs no emphasis. In present era of (5)__________ , majority of people in the society depends on information and communication to remain connected with the world and do our daily activities like work, entertainment, health care, education, socialization, travelling and anything else that we have to do

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Parents usually decide on given names for their children before they are born. In some  families the oldest boy is given the same name as his father. In the US the word junior or senior, or a number, is added after the name and surname to make (1) ____ clear which persons is being referred to. For example, the son of William Jones Sr (Senior) (2) ____ be called William Jones Jr (Junior), and his son would be called William Jones III (“William Jones the third”).  Many popular names come from the Bible, e.g. Jacob, Joshua, Matthew, Mary, Rebecca and Sarah, (3) ____ this does not imply that the people who choose them are (4) ____. Other people give their children the name of somebody they admire, such as a famous sports personality, or a film or pop star. In Britain, the name William and Harry became common again after the sons of Prince Charles were given these names. In the US Chelsea was not a common name for a girl (5) _____President Bill Clinton’s daughter Chelsea came to public attention

Each sentence has a mistake. Find it bychosing A B C or D

 Mathematics have taken centuries to develop the methods that we now use in arthmetic

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In 1988, a year before the Soviet Union collapsed, the 13th National Congress of the  Communist Party of Vietnam adopted a resolution to have “more friends and fewer enemies”. So it was not surprising when Vietnam expressed interest in joining ASEAN as early as 1992, or when it did in fact join in July 1995.   Vietnam’s membership of the grouping integrated its security with the whole of Southeast Asia and created a favourable environment for economic development. This, in turn, raised Vietnam’s global image, leading to increased cooperation with multiple players in the region and greater bargaining clout with super powers like the United States and China. As an ASEAN member, Vietnam has worked hard to secure peace and reconciliation among Southeast Asian nations, which were once deeply divided by war. Vietnam was the first Indochinese country to join ASEAN, and its move helped end confrontation between the Indochinese bloc and ASEAN. Vietnam has also helped ASEAN partner with non-regional players.  Vietnam also led efforts within ASEAN to ensure regional security. Soon after becoming a member, Vietnam signed the Treaty on the Southeast Asian Nuclear-WeaponFree Zone and was one of the founding members of the ASEAN Regional Forum. But the most proactive steps by Hanoi towards regional stability have revolved around disputes in the South China Sea. A direct claimant in the dispute, Vietnam, along with the Philippines, has made constant efforts to put the South China Sea on ASEAN’s agenda, ensuring conflict is dealt with in a constructive way. Vietnam has shown constant support for the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, ASEAN’s Six-Point Principles on the East Sea, and the soon-to-be-concluded Code of Conduct of Parties in the East Sea. Vietnam calls for the settlement of disputes by peaceful means on the basis of international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea — including through regulations on respecting exclusive economic zones and the continental shelf of coastal countries. Vietnam has remained committed to ASEAN since it joined in 1995 and Vietnam is beginning to integrate further with the global community, and  cooperation with ASEAN will always be an important pillar in its foreign policy. But Vietnam’s interest in ASEAN is not
limited to security issues. Its leadership also drives efforts toward an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). 
2. The word “it” in paragraph 1 refers to _____

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My children can’t live without media. At age 14, 15 and 18, my daughters Sussy and Anni and my son Bill don’t use media. They inhabit media. And they do so exactly as fish inhabit a pond. Gracefully, and without consciousness and curiosity as to how they got there. They don’t remember a time before email or instant messaging or Google. When my children laugh, they don’t say “Ha, ha”. They say “LOL”. These are children who shrug indifferently when they lose their iPods, with all 5000 tunes plus video clips, feature films, and TV shows (like who watches TV on a television anymore?). “There is plenty more where that came from”, their attitude says. And they seem right. The digital content that powers their world can never truly be destroyed. As a social scientist, journalist, and mother, I’ve always been an enthusiastic user of information technology. But I’d noticed that the more we seemed to communicate as individuals, the less we seemed to function together as a family. And on a broader scale, that the more facts we have at our fingertips, the less we seem to know. That the “convenience” of messaging media (email, SMS, IM) consumes ever larger amounts of our time. That as a culture we are practically swimming in entertainment, yet remain more depressed than any people who have ever lived. Our family’s self-imposed exile from the information age changed our lives infinitely for the better. I watched as my children became more focused. I watched as their attention spans increased, allowing them to read for hours at a time; to hold longer and more complex conversations with adults and among themselves. They probably did no more homework during The Experiment than they had done before, but they all completed it far more efficiently and far more quickly The Experiment also forced us to notice food more. Before, eating had been a side dish. Now it was the main course, or at least one of them. Our approach to cooking changed, too, especially for the girls. They’d started out as reasonably competent cooks, but by the end of The Experiment they were capable of turning out entire meals with ease The Experiment also confirmed my strong suspicion that media has been robbing Sussy of sleep for years. Unplugged, the changes to her sleep patterns were dramatic. The evidence strongly suggests she is no isolated case. One study found that children who spend more time online also drink more caffeinated beverages, with a resulting effect on their prospects of sleeping well  
7. The highlighted word "that" in the passage refers to

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Living things include both the visible world of animals and plants as well as the invisible world of (1) __________ and viruses. On a basic level, we can say that life is ordered. Organisms have an enormously complex organization. Life can also “work”. Living creatures can take in energy from the environment. This energy, in the form of food, is changed to maintain (2) __________ processes and for survival. Life grows and develops. This means more than just getting larger in size. Living organisms also have the ability to rebuild and repair themselves when injured. Life can reproduce. Life can only come from other living creatures. Life can respond. Think about the last time you accidentally stubbed your toe. (3 )____________ instantly, you moved back in pain. Finally, life can adapt and respond to the demands placed on it by the environment. There are three basic types of adaptations that can occur in higher organisms. Reversible changes occur as a response to changes in the environment. Let’s say you live near sea level and you travel to a mountainous area. You may begin to experience difficulty breathing and an increase in heart rate (4) __________ the change in height. These signs of sickness go away when you go back down to sea level. Body- related changes happen as a result of (5) ___________ changes in the environment. Using the previous example, if you were to stay in the mountainous area for a long time, you would notice that your heart rate would begin to slow down and you would begin to breath normally. These changes are also reversible

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Today, population growth largely means urban population growth. UN projections  show the world’s rural population has already stopped growing, but the world can expect to add close to 1.5 billion urbanites in the next 15 years, and 3 billion by 2050. How the world meets the challenge of sustainable development will be intimately tied to this process.  For many people, cities represent a world of new opportunities, including jobs. There is a powerful link between urbanization and economic growth. Around the world, towns and cities are responsible for over 80 per cent of gross national product. While urban poverty is growing around the world, this is largely because many people – including the poor – are moving to urban areas.  The opportunities there extend beyond just jobs. Cities also offer greater opportunities for social mobilization and women’s empowerment. Many young people, especially young women, regard the move to cities as an opportunity to escape traditional patriarchy and experience new freedoms. Urban areas also offer greater access to education and health services, including sexual and reproductive health care, further promoting women’s empowerment and the realization of their reproductive rights. This contributes to significantly reduced fertility in urban areas, changing the trajectory of overall population growth.  The urbanization process – which is particularly pronounced in Africa and Asia, where much of the world’s population growth is taking place – is also an enormous opportunity for sustainability, if the right policies are put in place. Urban living has the potential to use resources more efficiently, to create more sustainable land use and to protect the biodiversity of natural ecosystems. Still, the face of inequality is increasingly an urban one. Too many urban residents grapple with extreme poverty, exclusion, vulnerability and marginalization. Urban land is expanding much faster than urban population, a phenomenon known as urban sprawl. It is driven in part by increasing urban land consumption by the wealthy and the increasing separation of rich and poor communities within cities. Sprawl undermines the efficiencies of urban living, and it marginalizes poor people in remote or peripheral parts of cities, often in dense informal settlements or slums.  This phenomenon can eliminate the very opportunities people seek when they move to cities. Many people in slums lack ready access to health facilities. Others rely on private, unregulated providers for health services that are free in rural areas. In some urban slums, poor women have fertility rates closer to those of rural women. The urban poor also face risky and unhealthy living conditions, such heavy pollution or high vulnerability to disasters.  The total estimated number of slum dwellers is rising – from over 650 million in 1990 to about 863 million in 2012. Almost 62 per cent of the urban population in sub-Saharan Africa lived slums in 2010, the highest proportion of any region. But slum growth is not the same as urbanization. Most evidence suggests that global urbanization is an inevitable trend, while slum growth results from the decisions to limit poor people’s access to cities, through limited service provision to informal settlements or by forced evictions and resettlement of the urban poor to peripheral or under-serviced areas. 
4. What does author imply in the third paragraph?

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Nature photographer Joel Sartore is passionate about endangered species. He uses his  camera to make people aware of environmental problems. They tell the stories of animals that may disappear unless we work fast to save them.  Sartore’s latest project is called Photo Ark. The goal of the project is to make a photographic record of the world’s biodiversity. As Sartore says, “For many of Earth’s creatures, time is running out.”  When asked how he became interested in saving endangered species, Joel said “When I was a child, I read about Martha, the very last passenger pigeon. Martha died in 1914. I was shocked. In the past, there were 5 billion passenger pigeons – probably more than any other bird. But here was the last one, and there was no way to save it. How did we let this happen? I couldn’t understand it. I still feel the same way. I want to prevent this from ever happening again.” Photography is the best way to show problems to the world. It gets people to care about the problem. It’s not enough to just show pretty animals in a beautiful landscape. Now, we must show the threats to these animals as well. The good news is that there are many ways to publish stories and photographs on environmental issues. Self-publishing on the Web is one way to do this. Even nonprofessional photographers can help to make us aware of these problems
2. The word “them” in paragraph 1 refers to _________

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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.  
4. The word “affinity” in paragraph 3 refers to _______

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What results in good health and longevity? It’s good genes, good lifestyle and good luck. But since we can’t choose our parents, or know what fate holds in store for us, we must treat lifestyle with tender, loving care. Now, a report “Circulation” proves that a sound lifestyle adds 12 to 14 more years to life. For instance, a woman, aged 50, who follows these lifestyle rules can expect to live to 93 years. This compares to a woman who indulges in an unhealthy lifestyle and dies at 79. In men, the increase in longevity from a healthy lifestyle is from 76 to 88 years. In the general population, the U.S. spends more money on health care than any other country. So why are so many people in North America suffering from ill health? It is quite apparent that the epidemic of obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart attack will continue to be the big killers. At the moment there is little evidence this battle is being won. But a study that followed both staff and students at the University of Liverpool shows it’s not an impossible dream. In its first experiment, female diners were randomly divided to receive either a small or large quiche for lunch. The next day, the same group were all allowed to serve themselves any portion they desired. Researchers discovered the ones who had been served the smaller portion, tended to choose the smaller portion. A second experiment tested male diners and it produced the same result. In the third experiment both sexes were included, but it was done one week later. This time diners were asked to look at various photos of portion size and asked which looked normal. Those who were previously given the smaller portions considered the smaller ones normal.  These studies showed that it is possible to shift people from what they think is a normal portion to what is actually the proper amount to eat. And that the perception of what is normal lasts at least to one week later. Remember, a voyage of a thousand miles begins with the first step. The same philosophy applies to longevity. So, gradually incorporate one thing at a time into your lifestyle. Don’t forget the importance of smaller portions, add more fruits and vegetables, buy a pedometer to check the number of steps taken each day, and to measure your progress, step on the scale every day  
3. According to paragraph 2, what is the current situation for North America’s general health?

Find synonym:
Life expectancy for both men and women has improved greatly in the past twenty years.

Find mistake:
These companies were accused on having released a large amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

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

 Plants and animals require water that are moderately pure, and they cannot survive if  water is loaded with toxic chemicals

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Esperanto is what is called a planned, or artifiial, language. It was created more than a century ago by Polish eye doctor Ludwik Lazar Zamenhof. Zamenhof believed that a common language would help to alleviate some of the misunderstandings among cultures. In Zamenhof's fist attempt at a universal language, he tried to create a language that was as uncomplicated as possible. This fist language included words such as ab, ac, ba, eb, be, and ce.This did not result in a workable language in that these monosyllabic words, though short, were not easy to understand or to retain. Next, Zamenhof tried a different way of constructing a simplified language. He made the words in his language sound like words that people already knew, but he simplifid the grammar tremendously. One example of how he simplifid the language can be seen in the suffies: all nouns in this language end in o, as in the noun amiko, which means "friend", and all adjectives end in -a, as in the adjective bela, which means "pretty". Another example of the simplifid language can be seen in the prefi mal-, which makes a word opposite in meaning;theword malamiko therefore means "enemy", and the word "malbela" therefore means "ugly" in Zamenhof's language. In 1887, Zamenhof wrote a description of this language and published it. He used a pen name, Dr. Esperanto, when signing the book. He selected the name Esperanto because this word means "a person who hopes" in his language. Esperanto clubs began popping up throughout Europe, and by 1950, Esperanto had spread from Europe to America and Asia. In 1905, the First World Congress of Esperanto took place in France, with approximately 700 attendees from 20 different countries. Congresses were held annually for nine years, and 4,000 attendees were registered for the Tenth World Esperanto Congress scheduled for 1914, when World War I erupted and forced its cancellation. Esperanto has had its ups and downs in the period since World War I. Today, years after it was introduced, it is estimated that perhaps a quarter of a million people are flent in it. This may seem like a large number, but it is really quite small when compared with the billion English speakers and billion Mandarin Chinese speakers in in today's world. Current advocates would like to see its use grow considerably and are taking  steps to try to make this happen.
1. The topic of this passage is.....

Rewrite the sentence:
Niggli first visited Viet Nam in 1999. He has been a generous sponsor of underprivileged Vietnamese children since then.

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We live in a world of tired, sleep deprived people. In his book Counting Sheep, Paul Martin - a behavioral biologist - describes a society which is just too busy to sleep and which does not give sleeping the importance it deserves. Modern society has invented reasons not to sleep. We are now a 24/7 society where shops and services must be available all hours. We spend longer hours at work than we used to, and more time getting to work. Mobile phones and email allow us to stay in touch round the clock and late-night TV and the Internet tempt us away from our beds. When we need more time for work or pleasure, the easy solution is to sleep less. The average adult sleeps only 6.2 hours a night during the week, whereas research shows that most people need eight or even eight and a half hours’ sleep to feel at their best. Nowadays, many people have got used to sleeping less than they need and they live in an almost permanent state of “sleep debt”.  Until the invention of the electric light in 1879 our daily cycle of sleep used to depend on the hours of daylight. People would get up with the sun and go to bed at nightfall. But nowadays our hours of sleep are mainly determined by our working hours (or our social life) and most people are woken up artificially by an alarm clock. During the day caffeine, the world’s most popular drug, helps to keep us awake. 75% of the world’s population habitually consume caffeine, which up to a point masks the symptoms of sleep deprivation. What does a chronic lack of sleep do to us? As well as making us irritable and unhappy as humans, it also reduces our motivation and ability to work. This has serious implications for society in general. Doctors, for example, are often chronically sleep deprived, especially when they are on “night call”, and may get less than three hours’ sleep. Lack of sleep can seriously impair their mood, judgment, and ability to take decisions. Tired engineers, in the early hours of the morning, made a series of mistakes with catastrophic results. On our roads and motorways lack of sleep kills thousands of people every year. Tests show that a tired driver can be just as dangerous as a drunken driver. However, driving when drunk is against the law but driving when exhausted isn’t. As Paul Martin says, it is very ironic that we admire people who function on very little sleep instead of criticizing them for being irresponsible. Our world would be a much safer, happier place if everyone, whatever their job, slept eight hours a night  
5. Which of the following is TRUE, according to the last paragraph?

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There is a new type of advertisement becoming increasingly common in newspaper classified columns. It is sometimes placed among “situations vacant”, although it does not offer anyone a job, and sometimes it appears “situations wanted”, although it is not placed by someone looking for a job, either. What it does is to offer help in applying for a job. “Contact us before writing your application”, or "Make use of our long experience in preparing your curriculum vitae or job history”, is how it is usually expressed. The growth and apparent success of such a specialized service is, of course, a reflection on the current high levels of unemployment. It is also an indication of the growing importance of the curriculum vitae (or job history), with the suggestion that it may now qualify as an art form in its own right. There was a time when job seekers simply wrote letters of application. “Just put down your name, address, age and whether you have passed any exams”, was about the average level of advice offered to young people applying for their first jobs when I left school. The letter was really just for openers, it was explained, everything else could and should be saved for the interview. And in those days of full employment, the technique worked. The letter proved that you could write and were available for work. Your eager face and intelligent replies did the rest. Later, as you moved up the ladder, something slightly more sophisticated was called for. The advice then was to put something in the letter which would distinguish you from the rest. It might be the aggressive approach. “Your search is over. I am the person you are looking for,” was a widely used trick that occasionally succeeded. Or it might be some special feature specially designed for the job in view  
1. What does the phrase “Make use of” in the second paragraph probably mean?