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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. 
4. The word “their” in paragraph 4 refers to _______

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The ability to be independent is something that not everyone possesses. (1)_______, you need to be independent in order to survive in the world. Learning to support yourself is (2) ________ for any success you ever hope to achieve. At the end of the day, you only have yourself to fall back on, so it is exceedingly important to be able to handle things on your own. It is all about being secure with who you are and what you believe in. It is extremely empowering knowing that you are (3)________control of your own life and your own choices. It is much more beneficial to listen to the voice inside yourself rather than the berating (4) ________of others. We rely on others far more than it is necessary. People put their happiness in the hands of a significant other, thinking this will bring them fulfillment. This is a fatal error too many people make these days. Do you always want to feel dependent on someone else? Of course not. Not only are you limiting yourself, you are more than likely becoming a burden to this person. We need to learn how to make decisions on our own. I understand asking your friends their opinion on a fashion decision, but do we really need to consult others on every minimal decision we have to make? Think of things (5)________ are in your best interest and choose that option

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If you want to volunteer to help boost your career, think carefully about the skills and  experience you need. Don’t be afraid to be upfront about this when you apply (1)_________ opportunities – as long as you are willing to show commitment to your voluntary work, most organizations will welcome the fact that it could have benefits for you. Volunteering can give you a broad (2) ________ of learning opportunities:  • Many volunteer placements will allow you to study and develop your “key skills”, (3) _________ skills you need to get on in the workplace, in learning and in life.  • Some volunteers receive vocational training in (4) _________ areas such as social care, working with the elderly, or working with children.  • Some roles require specific training such as volunteering as a special constable with your local police force.  The organization you work for usually covers your training costs and expenses in (5) ________ for your time and commitment.

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Stonehenge, the prehistoric stone circle in southern England, is one of the most distinctive and mysterious monuments in the world. The monument, which attracted more than one and a half million visitors last year, is thought to be up to 5,000 years old, and the heaviest stone weighs 38 tons. No one really knows how the stones got there, or the reason they look the way they do – but a piece removed from one of the stones six decades ago could bring some answers. At first glance, the new “discovery” - a cylinder of rock - might look unremarkable. But for Lewis and Robin Phillips, it meant one thing: their dad, Robert. In 1958, Robert Phillips worked on a major restoration project commissioned by the British government. The goal was to make the monument safer, and help historians better understand what Stonehenge was and why it was there. The team drilled through the largest of the sarsen rocks, removing three stone cores. Robert Phillips was gifted one as a souvenir. At the time, the core sample was considered to be “waste material,” Lewis said. “I think that the standards of the day, in conservation, were a bit different to what they are now,” Robert added. Six decades later, Robert - who’s now in his 90s - asked his sons to return the “waste material.” But what had become a family heirloom for the Phillips’ was “the Holy Grail” of Stonehenge for geologists, according to Susan Greaney, an archaeologist at English Heritage. “When the Phillips family first got in touch with us, we had no idea that this existed,” Greaney said. “We’d just assumed that they’d been thrown away.” In 1958, samples like this couldn’t provide much information - but now, Greaney added, it can help archaeologists understand where the stones were from and how they were transported. It could even provide clues to one of the biggest questions: why move all these rocks to one location? Right now, “we don’t know” is the answer to that, Greaney said. "We think this is a prehistoric temple. It’s aligned with the movements of the sun, so we think it’s some kind of ceremonial space. But exactly what the stones mean, why they built them in this way and set them up in the way we see today, there are lots of mysteries about Stonehenge that we have yet to get to the bottom of. 
8. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

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There is no conflict between big business and the green movement towards the fight  against climate change and the two are “totally compatible”. That’s according to Mike Hughes, Zone President, Schneider Electric UK & Ireland, who believes while there may be differences on how organisations play their part in the move towards the net zero target and the speed at which it happens, the two are “totally aligned”.  Speaking to ELN at the Energy Live Expo event last week, which attracted more than 450 people from across the industry, he said: “Big business goes where there is opportunity. Big business is a force for good. It has to be involved in this transition, in this change, in this climate change. If you look at it, there are two things that have happened in the last five to seven years that have really accelerated this topic. One is the general public getting on board with the whole concept of climate change, the emergency. The second is actually the business community and particularly the financial community starting to look at the financial risks around climate change and moving its money and where it will invest.”  Mr Hughes added the UK’s target for net zero carbon emissions by 2050 is a “hugely ambitious step” and it shows leadership, direction and ambition, enabling businesses to focus on where they can invest. He is also “extremely optimistic” and from a technology point of view, he believes there are technologies available to support the transition. He said: “It’s now around awareness, incentives from government, the right regulations to get people to make the right step and boosting the use of these technologies. I’m extremely positive.”
4. The word “it” in paragraph 3 refers to _______

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For 150 years scientists have tried to determine the solar constant, the amount of solar energy that reaches the Earth. Yet, even in the most cloud-free regions of the planet, the solar constant cannot be measured precisely. Gas molecules and dust particles in the atmosphere absorb and scatter sunlight and prevent some wavelengths of the light from ever reaching the ground. With the advent of satellites, however, scientists have finally been able to measure the Sun's output without being impeded by the Earth's atmosphere. Solar Max, a satellite from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), has been measuring the Sun's output since February 1980. Although a malfunction in the satellite's control system limited its observation for a few years, the satellite was repaired in orbit by astronauts from the space shuttle in 1984. Max's observations indicate that the solar constant is not really constant after all. The satellite's instruments have detected frequent, small variations in the Sun's energy output, generally amounting to no more than 0.05 percent of the Sun's mean energy output and lasting from a few weeks. Scientists believe these fluctuations coincide with the appearance and disappearance of large groups of sunspots on the Sun's disk. Sunspots are relatively dark regions on the Sun's surface that have strong magnetic fields and a temperature about 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than the rest of the Sun's surface. Particularly large fluctuations in the solar constant have coincided with sightings of large sunspot group. In 1980, for example, Solar Max's instrument, registered a 0.3percent drop in the solar energy reaching the Earth. At that time a sunspot group covered about 0.6 percent of the solar disk, an area 20 times larger than the Earth's surface. Long-term variations in the solar constant are more difficult to determine. Although Solar Max's data have indicated a slow and steady decline in the Sun's output, some scientists have thought that the satellite's aging detectors might have become less sensitive over the years, thus falsely indicating a drop in the solar constant. This possibility was dismissed, however, by comparing Solar Max's observations with data from a similar instrument operating on NASA's Nimbus 7 weather satellite since 1978.
1. What does the passage mainly discuss?

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Orbis is an organization which helps blind people of everywhere. It has built an eye  hospital inside an airplane and (1)___________ it all over the world with an international medical team. Samantha Graham, a fourteen-year-old schoolgirl from England, went with the plane to Mongolia. Samantha tells the story of the Eukhtuul, a young Mongolian girl.  ‘Last year, when Eukhtuul was walking home from school, she was attacked by boys with sticks and her eyes were (2) _________ damaged. Dr. Duffey, an Orbis doctor, said that without an operation she would never see again. I thought about all the things I (3)________ that she couldn’t, things like reading schoolbooks, watching television, seeing friends, and I realized how lucky I am.’  ‘The Orbis team agreed to operate (4) ________ Eukhtuul and I was allowed to watch, together with some Mongolian medical students. I prayed the operation would be successful. The next day I waited nervously with Eukhtuul while Dr. Duffey removed her bandages. “In six months your sight will be back to (5)__________,” he said. Eukhtuul smiled, her mother cried, and I had to wipe away some tears, too!’  Now Eukhtuul wants to study hard to become a doctor. Her whole future has changed thanks to a simple operation. We should all think more about how much our sight means to us

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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). 
4. The word “clout” in paragraph is closest in meaning to _______

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Generation gaps form when two age groups begin to see the world from significantly different perspectives. Generation gaps existed long before the 1960s - in the early 19th century, political scientist Alexis de Tocqueville commented, “Among democratic nations, (1) ____ generation is a new people.” But they tend to emerge with greater frequency as the (2) ____ of societal change increases. For example, in the 1800s, chances were that your father’s world looked a lot (3) ____ your own. In the 21st century, even a short span of 20 years can bring radical changes in technology (and the way we use it), moral and religious beliefs, and attitudes about education, work, friends and family life. Longer life spans also increase the prevalence of generation gaps. For babies born in 1920, life (4) ____ in the United States was 56.4 years. For babies born in 2009, it’s 78.7 years. Longer life spans mean that more generations are living and working simultaneously. That means (5) ____ for the first time in history, there are four distinct generations (and four generation gaps) in the workplace

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Is cake a socially awkward person’s reward for having made it through the birthday celebration ritual? Well, not exactly. And actually celebrating the anniversary of one’s birth has not always been the done thing either. What if I told you that having your birthday celebrated is the closest you are getting to be a god(dess)? The first “birthday” celebration goes back to the Egyptians who, each year, would rejoice on the anniversary of the pharaoh’s coronation day. The reason being that you were not really born until you were made into a pharaoh, i.e., after you were transformed into a God. From there, the Greeks contributed to bringing a moon-shaped cake and candles to celebrate the lunar goddess, Artemis, to represent the radiance of the moon and her beauty. But still, what about the cake? We have to thank the Germans for introducing the contemporary birthday celebrations, which included a cake. They started the ‘kinderfeste’, where children were honoured with a celebration on their birthday, especially when it came to the first birthday. Kids also had candles on their cake; one for each year they had been alive, plus one, symbolising the chance of making it through the coming year. Fortunately, we now live at a time where birthday cakes come in various shapes, colours and flavours to please different preferences and dietary requirements, as it is very difficult to imagine a birthday party without a sweet and yummy, treat. Conversely, cake eating is less and less reserved to birthdays only, and personally I really like being able to enjoy a piece of cake whenever I feel like it outside birthday parties. Still, there is something even more special about a birthday cake; it is also about sharing special moments with loved ones
3. According to paragraph 2, on what occasion did the Egyptian residents honour a birthday?

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A new study shows that urbanization shifts this seasonal cue in nuanced ways, with cities in cold climates triggering earlier spring plant growth and cities in warm climates delaying it. The study also found that the urban heat island effect, the phenomenon in which cities are warmer than their surroundings, is not the only culprit behind the shift, suggesting that other aspects of urbanization, such as pollution, changes in humidity and fertilizer runoff, may also influence plants’ seasonal patterns.  Researchers analyzed millions of observations of 136 plant species across the U.S. and Europe to study how regional temperature and the local density of people-a proxy for urbanization—affect when plants sprout leaves and blossoms. Their results revealed a complex story: Separately, warmer temperatures and higher population density each spurred earlier springs. A 3.6-degree Fahrenheit increase in temperature bumped up plants’ production of leaves and flowers by about five and six days, respectively. A fourfold increase in human population density advanced flowering and leaf production dates by about three days. But the team found that when these two factors worked together, local temperature had an outsized influence. In cold regions—areas with an average November-to-May temperature of about 18 degrees-plants produced leaves and flowers about 20 days earlier in locations with about 26,000 people per square mile, compared with equally frigid wildland. When an area’s average November-to-May temperature jumped to 68, however, leaves and flowers appeared four and six days later, respectively, in locations with about 26,000 people per square mile, compared with equally balmy wildland. In New York, for example, plants are likely sprouting leaves about 9.5 days earlier and blossoms eight days earlier than uninhabited regions with the same temperature. Jacksonville, in contrast, is likely pushing leaf production later by about one day and flowers by about half a day, with leaves appearing two days later and flowers a day later in Houston.  Even after accounting for urban heat islands, the team’s models revealed cities significantly affect plants’ springtime growth. “Not only are there other things going on, but they actually matter quite a lot,” said study co-author Brian Stucky, Florida Museum research scientist. Plants may not be the only organisms affected by seasonal shifts, he added. “Seasons are such a big part of our lives. We define our world around seasonal things. Those rhythms are what we think of as the normal way the world works.” 
1. Which best serves as the title for the passage?

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Just as optical fibers have transformed communication, they are also revolutionizing medicine. These ultra - thin, flxible fiers have opened a window into the living tissues of the body. By inserting optical fibers through natural openings or small incisions and the threading them along the body's established pathways, physicians can look into the lungs, intestines, heart and other areas that were formerly inaccessible to them. The basic fiber-optics system is called fiberscope, which consists of two bundles of fibers. One, the illuminating bundle, carries light to the tissues. It is coupled to a high-intensity light source. Light enters the cores of the high-purity silicon glass and travels along the fibers. A lens at the end of the bundle collects the light and focuses it into the other bundle, the imaging bundle. Each fibers in the bundle transmits only a tiny fraction of the total image. The reconstructed image can be viewed through an eyepiece or displayed on a television screen. During the last five years, improved methods of fabricating optical fibers have led to a reduction in fiberscope diameter and an increase in the number of fibers, which in turn has increased resolution. Optical fibers can also be used to deliver laser light. By use of laser beams, physicians can perform surgery inside the body, sometimes eliminating the need of invasive procedures in which healthy tissue must be cut through to reach the site of disease. Many of these procedures do not require anesthesia and can be performed in a physician's office. These techniques have reduced the risk and the cost of medical care.
5. According to the passage, what is the purpose of the illuminating bundle in a fierscope?

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Common methods of deforestation are burning trees and clear cutting. These tactics leave the land completely barren and are controversial practices. Clear cutting is when large swaths of land are cut (1) ______ all at once. A forestry expert quoted by the Natural Resources Defense Council describes clear cutting as “an ecological trauma that has no precedent in nature (2) _____ for a major volcanic eruption.” Burning can be done quickly, in vast swaths of land, or more slowly with the slash-andburn technique. Slash-and-burn agriculture entails cutting down a patch of trees, (3) __________ them and growing crops on the land. The ash from the (4) _____ trees provides some nourishment for the (5) ______ and the land is weed-free from the burning. When the soil becomes less nourishing and weeds begin to reappear over years of use, the farmers move on to a new patch of land and begin the process again

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If you want to improve group productivity, it is advisable that you organize competitions that build morale and teamwork skills for all participants, (1) _______ than just a few star performers. For example, if you (2) _______ a competition between sales teams, you can reward all members of the (3) _______ group with a lunch out at a nice restaurant or a group trip. This way, even the lower-performing members of the team have a reason to try as hard as they can to help the team win. In an individual sales contest, a few top salespeople compete with one another for the top prize, (4) _______ everyone else gives up because they know they can’t win. The productivity of (5) _______ top people increases, but the productivity of the rest of the group does not. In a team competition, even the lowestperforming member of the group can help earn the prize, so all team members put in their best effort and the productivity of the entire group goes up

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:
If you were going to choose a job that involves travel, what would be your first choice? There are many jobs available today that give people opportunities to travel. Although may traveling careers sound fantastic, they also have disadvantages.
Being an au pair is an excellent way to not only go to different countries, but to live in different places around the world and really get a feel for the culture. Au pairs lives with the families they are placed with and take of children. Many parents include au pairs in family events and vacations, so they experience many aspects of the new culture while on the job. However, many of the activities are centered around the children, so they may not get to experience many things that interest adults.
For people who want a bit more freedom working abroad, being an English teacher maybe a good choice. There are English teaching jobs in almost countries in the world. People teaching English in other countries often have a chance to travel on the weekends around the country. One drawback is that many teachers often wind up hanging out with other English teachers, and they don’t have time to learn the country’s language.
The nickname “roadie” implies that this job involves life on the road. Roadies are people who work and travel with bands and provide technical support. Roadies can be lighting and stage crew who set up the stage and break it down before and after events. They can also be technicians helping band members with their instruments. International tours take a band’s crew to cities around the world, often requiring air travel. However, the crew doesn’t get much time off, so they may travel to several countries without seeing much besides concert venues and hotels.
Similarly, flight attendants often travel to cities around the world, but they don’t see much besides the inside of airplanes and hotels. However, when they do have time off, they can often fly at no cost, and family member can sometimes fly free as well. Its is widely thought that a flight attendant job is
glamorous, but flight attendants must deal with travel hassles, as well as security issues.
All jobs gave advantages and disadvantages whether or not you travel for work, so if you have the travel bug, keep these jobs in mind for the future.

The word “they” in paragraph 1 refers to     .

Stop Pollution Now!

Pollution is a really big problem on our planet and it must (1) …. immediately. It must be stopped before our planet goes extinct. There are three main reasons, in my opinion, why pollution should be stopped.

The first reason why we should stop pollution is that pollution is destroying the environment we live in. Carbon dioxide is a big (2) ……….. to pollution. Carbon dioxide affects our climate in many different ways. The way it works is that certain ‘greenhouse gases’ can't escape (3) …….. our atmosphere because they get trapped. The second reason why we should stop pollution is that it also has an influence on us – (4) ……….. Pollution also influences human life and that is a big problem. According to the World Health Organization, indoor air pollution from the burning of coal or biomass fuels like wood risks lives of millions of people. Air pollution causes two million deaths per year, mostly from heart disease and respiratory disorders (5) …….. infections and lung cancer.

The third reason why we should stop pollution is that (6) …………. we do, we can live longer on this planet. If we don’t stop pollution and global warming, something really bad will happen (7) ….. us. Humans have destroyed the planet so quickly. We can live longer and extent our existence on this planet so that our children’s children can live in a planet without worries. In short, pollution must be stopped immediately. The earth is our only home and we must protect it and take care of it as much as we can. Pollution must be stopped before we (8) ………. our planet.

et.

(7) …......

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In today’s fast-paced industry, learning will most likely involve seeking new skills in ways that challenge the norm. But thankfully, there is a promise for such lifelong learning online - the promise that will save your time and money while helping you earn more of both. Provided you have access to a decent computer and the Internet, the barrier to getting started is probably lower than it ever has been. And with those things in place, it is a matter of finding the content you wish to learn. So, to help others who may be looking to maximize their own learning efforts, I have listed some quick tips below. First, set achievable goals. When you start learning, it is a good idea to set goals about what you want to learn or what you might do with your newly acquired knowledge. It might be landing that new job, building a tangible product, or impressing your current management. The goals may vary in size and complexity, but do revisit these goals throughout your learning process. Within a couple weeks, ask yourself: “Am I getting closer to my goal?” or “Am I learning the skills necessary to reach my goals?”. If you are not, then you may need to look elsewhere. Second, learn with others. By yourself, learning anything has a high propensity to become frustrating. Try teaming up with friends or colleagues. They can often be your best resource for maintaining motivation while you learn. Third, make it a habit. Online habits often include scrolling through social media or watching videos on YouTube. If you have the downtime for such activities, then you could spend that downtime learning something. And why not learn something? If you do, then you will have plenty more to talk about on social media anyways. So, make learning your new online habit by making a commitment to learn something new each day. 
3. What is the word “commitment” in the last paragraph closest in meaning to?

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Scuba diving is a sport in (1)__________ you swim underwater for extended (2)_______ using special equipment. The word Scuba is actually an acronym for selfcontained underwater breathing apparatus. Scuba diving is an excellent way to see some very beautiful sites: coral diving sites with their colorful sea life are the most famous but other scuba diving (3)________include shipwrecks and caverns. Scuba diving can also be a very relaxing sport and in many places it’s very beginner friendly. Many dive sites are (4)_________ (under the care of an instructor) after a short briefing and training dive. You can learn to dive far more quickly than you can learn snow sports, for example. It’s also suitable for people with a number of physical disabilities. (5)___________ you can use the breathing equipment and are able to successfully propel yourself underwater you may be able to dive

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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.
1. Which of the following best serves as the title of the passage?

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Are you preparing for a big test? If so, you may want to play some basketball in between hitting the books. Based on information they have collected over the years, researchers have seen an apparent connection between exercise and brain development. Judy Cameron, a researcher at Oregon Health and Science University, studies brain development. According to her research, it seems that exercise can make blood vessels, including those in the brain, stronger and more fully developed. Cameron claims this allows people who exercise to concentrate better. She says, “While we already know that exercise is good for the heart, exercise can literally cause physical changes in the brain.” The effects of exercise on brain development can even be seen in babies. Babies who do things that require a lot of movement and physical activity show greater brain development than babies who are less physically active. With babies, even a little movement can show big results. Margaret Barnes, a pediatrician, believes in the importance of exercise. She thinks that many learning disabilities children have in elementary school or high school can be traced back to a lack of movement as babies. “Babies need movement that stimulates their five senses,” says Barnes. “They need to establish a connection between motion and memory. In this way, as they get older, children will begin to associate physical activity with higher learning.” The benefits of exercise on the brain are not just for babies. Older people can beef up their brains by working out as well. Researchers at Cornell University studied a group of seniors ranging in age from seventy to seventy-nine. Their study showed a short-term memory increase of up to forty percent after exercising just three hours a week. The exercise does not have to be very difficult, but it does have to increase the heart rate. Also, just like the motion for infants, exercise for older people should involve some complexity. Learning some new skills or motions, such as with yoga or tai-chi, helps open up memory paths in the brain that may not have been used for a long time  
2. What does the word “those” in paragraph 1 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:
Music can bring us to tears or to our feet, drive us into battle or lull us to sleep. Music is indeed remarkable in its power over all humankind, and perhaps for that very reason, no human culture on earth has ever lived without it. From discoveries made in France and Slovenia, even Neanderthal man, as long as 53,000 years ago, had developed surprisingly sophisticated, sweet- sounding flutes carved from animal bones. It is perhaps then, no accident that music should strike such a chord with the limbic system – an ancient part of our brain, evolutionarily speaking, and one that we share with much of the animal kingdom. Some researchers even propose that music came into this world long before the human race ever did. For example, the fact that whale and human music have so much in common even though our evolutionary paths have not intersected for nearly 60 million years suggests that music may predate humans. They assert that rather than being the inventors of music, we are latecomers to the musical scene.
Humpback whale composers employ many of the same tricks that human songwriters do. In addition to using similar rhythms, humpbacks keep musical phrases to a few seconds, creating themes out of several phrases before singing the next one. Whale songs in general are no longer than symphony movements, perhaps because they have a similar attention span. Even though they can sing over a range of seven octaves, the whales typically sing in key, spreading adjacent notes no farther apart than a scale. They mix percussive and pure tones in pretty much the same ratios as human composers – and follow their ABA form, in which a theme is presented, elaborated on and then revisited in a slightly modified form. Perhaps most amazing, humpback whale songs include repeating refrains that rhyme. It has been suggested that whales might use rhymes for exactly the same reasons that we do: as devices to help them remember. Whale songs can also be

rather catchy. When a few humpbacks from the Indian Ocean strayed into the Pacific, some of the whales they met there quickly changed their tunes – singing the new whales’ songs within three short years. Some scientists are even tempted to speculate that a universal music awaits discovery.

Which of the following is NOT true about humpback whale music?