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The concept of exotic holidays is not new. Cruises and other travel packages to tropical locations have long been popular and are more (1) ____ now than ever. The wealthy have gone on trips to exotic places since the 19th century, but now ordinary people have enough money for this kind of holiday. Holidaymakers are increasingly interested in doing something different and want more exciting (2) ____. A number of tour companies have responded with a new range of options, including African safaris. Going on a safari is a totally (3) ____ form of holiday. Accompanied by a safari guide, groups travel into the African wilderness to experience close up the thrill of the wild. Being so close to the animals is an once-in-a-lifetime experience. (4) ____ species, which are rarely seen outside the zoo, provide a great (5) ____
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Lời giải:
Báo saiGiải thích: Endangered /ɪnˈdeɪn.dʒəd/ (a): sắp bị tuyệt chủng, đang bị đe dọa
Tạm dịch: Trở nên quá gần gũi với động vật là một trải nghiệm một lần trong đời. Những loài sắp bị tuyệt chủng, loài mà
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An American game that has traveled well is basketball, now played by more than 250 million people worldwide in an organized fashion, as well as by countless others in “pick-up” games. Basketball originated in 1891 when a future Presbyterian minister named James Naismith (1861-1939) was assigned to teach a physical education class at a Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) training school in Springfield, Massachusetts. The class had been noted for being disorderly, and Naismith was told to invent a new game to keep the young men occupied. Since it was winter and very cold outside, a game that could be played indoors was desirable. Naismith thought back to his boyhood in Canada, where he and his friends had played “duck on a rock,” which involved trying to knock a large rock off a boulder by throwing smaller rocks at it. He also recalled watching rugby players toss a ball into a box in a gymnasium. He had the idea of nailing up raised boxes into which players would attempt to throw a ball. When boxes couldn’t be found, he used peach baskets. According to Alexander Wolff, in his book 100 Years of Hoops, Naismith drew up the rules for the new game in “about an hour.” Most of them still apply in some forms today. Basketball caught on because graduates of the YMCA school traveled widely, because Naismith disseminated the rules freely, and because there was a need for a simple game that could be played indoors during winter. Naismith’s legacy included the first great college basketball coach, Forrest “Phog” Allen (1885-1974), who played for Naismith at the University of Kansas and went on to win 771 games as a coach at Kansas himself. Among Allen’s star players was Wilt Chamberlain, who became one of professional basketball’s first superstars – one night in 1962, he scored a record 100 points in a game. The first professional basketball league was formed in 1898; players earned $2.50 for home games, $1.25 for games on the road. Not quite 100 years later, Juwan Howard, a star player for the Washington Bullets (now called the Washington Wizards), had competing offers of more than $100 million over seven seasons from the Bullets and the Miami Heat. Many teams in the National Basketball Association now have foreign players, who return home to represent their native countries during the Olympic Games. The so-called Dream Team, made up of the top American professional basketball players, has represented
the United States in recent Olympic Games. In 1996 the Dream Team trailed some opponents until fairly late in the games. In Athens in 2004 Argentina took home the gold, the first time a Latin American country won the basketball honor.
2. According to paragraph 1, a new game must be invented by Naismith because _____ -
Each sentence has a mistake. Find it by chosing A B C or D
An extend family consists not only of parents and children but also of other relatives, such as grandparents and unmarried aunts and uncles
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How fit are your teeth? Are you lazy about brushing them? Never fear: An inventor is on the case. An electric toothbrush senses how long and how well you brush, and it lets you track your performance on your phone. The Kolibree toothbrush was exhibited at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. It senses how it is moved and can send the information to an Android phone or iPhone via a Bluetooth wireless connection The toothbrush will be able to teach you to brush right (don’t forget the insides of the teeth!) and make sure you’re brushing long enough. “It’s kind of … like having a dentist actually watch your brushing on a day-to-day basis,” says Thomas Serval, the French inventor. The toothbrush will also be able to talk to other applications on your phone, so developers could, for instance, create a game controlled by your toothbrush. You could score points for beating monsters among your teeth. “We try to make it smart but also fun.” Serval says he was inspired by his experience as a father. He would come home from work and ask his kids if they had brushed their teeth. They said “yes,” but Serval would find their toothbrush heads dry. He decided he needed a brush that really told him how well his children brushed. The company says the Kolibree will go on sale this summer, for $99 to $199, developing on features. The U.S. is the first target market. Serval says that one day, it’ll be possible to replace the brush on the handle with a brushing unit that also has a camera. The camera can even examine holes in your teeth while you brush.
3. The underlined word "They” in the passage refers to ____ -
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Set aside time each day Most of us can find 15 minutes or half an hour each day for some specific regular activity. It may be a free period or a regular wait, stay in the queue for a bus or meal - even while eating breakfast. One famous surgeon always made it a rule to spend at least 15 minutes on general reading before he went to sleep each night. Whether he went to bed at 10:00 p.m or 2:30 a.m. made no difference. Even if you cannot keep to this kind of discipline, it is a good idea to make sure you always have a general interest book in your pocket. Don’t forget it should be a book which entertains you and the English must not be too difficult for you. Checking your progress through pacing Nearly all speed reading courses have a "pacing element - some timing device which lets the student know how many words a minute he is reading. You can do this simply by looking at your watch every 5 or 10 minutes and noting down the page number you have reached. How do you know when 5 minutes have passed on your watch if you are busy reading the book? Well, this is difficult at first. A friend can help by timing you over a set period. Pace yourself every three or four days, always with the same kind of easy, general interest book. You should soon notice your habitual w. p. m rate creeping up. Check comprehension Obviously there is little point in increasing your w. p. m rate if you do not understand what you are reading. When you are consciously trying to increase your reading speed, stop after every chapter (if you are reading a novel) or every section or group of ten or twelve pages (if it is a textbook) and ask yourself a few questions about what you have been reading. If you find you have lost the thread of the story, or you cannot remember clearly the details of what was said, re-read the section or chapter. “Lightening speed” exercise Take 4 or 5 pages in the general interest book you happen to be reading at the time. Read them as fast as you possibly can. Do not bother about whether you understand or not. Now go back and read them at what you feel to be your normal w. p. m rate, the rate at which you can comfortably understand. After a “lightening speed” read through (probably around 6 w. p. m) you will usually find that your normal speed has increased - perhaps by as much as 50 -100 w. p. m.
5. Looking at your watch every 5 or 10 minutes ____ -
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A generation gap in the workplace can make workers both young and old feel inferior, as well as hamper productivity and teamwork. Differences between generations can be seen in work ethics, habits and communication styles. Younger workers might fear not being taken seriously by their older colleagues, while older workers might fear that their experience is not valued but replaced by workers with knowledge of more current technology. However, members of each generation can close the gap between them if they’re willing to meet one another halfway. Older workers can show respect to the younger set by asking for their opinions and recognizing their contributions to the workplace as valid, or complimenting them on a job well done. Younger workers can show their elders respect by asking for advice on how to manage a situation with work, based on the older worker’s many years of experience. It’s important for both entry- and senior-level workers to see each other as equals, regardless of the type of position in which they work. No one wants to feel inferior or irrelevant just because of their age. Rather, a generation gap at work can be a learning opportunity. Workers can also put themselves in their colleagues’ shoes to determine what might be bothering them about their generational age difference. If a person is much older than another, perhaps it is bitterness about fewer job opportunities, or fear that a younger worker might seem more relevant and edge him out of his job. If workers open their minds to understand where co-workers are coming from, it can help ease any tension between them and appreciate each other’s work contributions. If age seems to be a problem for someone at the workplace, it can be helpful to do the very opposite of what a co-worker might expect from someone of a different age set due to stereotypes. For example, if a worker is considerably younger such as right out of college, she can share researched information to indicate that she knows what she’s doing, or show curiosity instead of upset to indicate emotional maturity if the person makes a disparaging remark about her youth. Older workers can maintain an enthusiastic attitude about work instead of showing boredom or bitterness from past experiences. Workers can, moreover, directly address the concern of age differences at work with the colleague at odds with them by asking the person for constructive advice on how to handle the issue. For example, older workers who are unfamiliar with new software that younger colleagues understand might acknowledge to them that they did the same tasks differently in years past but show interest in learning the program to keep up with modern technology. Learning to speak their technological language can make them feel more connected. Likewise, a younger worker can admit to being green on the work scene, but eager to gain experience by learning from senior colleagues.
7. The word “acknowledge” is closest in meaning to ___________ -
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For many years, scientists have speculated that the cataclysmic impact of an asteroid with the earth was responsible for the demise of the dinosaurs approximately 65 million years ago. Previous discoveries and results have hinted that an asteroid two kilometers in diameter struck the Yucatan peninsula in Eastern Mexico. This impact, stronger than one thousand nuclear explosions, is speculated to have cast a cloud of dust and debris into the atmosphere, covering the entire surface of the earth and blocking out the sun and consequently lowering the surface temperature of the earth. With such a radical change in the earth's environment, scientists believe that over 99% of all animal and plant species were eradicated. Only after millions of years did plants and animals even begin to recover and develop into forms that were better adapted to survive changes in their environment. But, the reign of the dinosaurs had ended and the age of mammals had begun. The crucial link that has held this theory together has been the element iridium. Iridium is not commonly found on either the surface of the earth or inside the crust. It is more commonly found in asteroids or meteorites throughout the solar system. Scientists have hypothesized that after the asteroid impacted the Earth, an even layer of iridium sediment settled over the globe and eventually became part of its surface. The theory, of course, has depended on the discovery of such an existing layer of iridium. Unfortunately, scientists have never been able to offer absolute proof that this asteroid impact ever occurred. Recently, however, a discovery may go a long way toward validating these scientists 'theories. In 1996, a team of marine biologists excavated samples of rock from the Atlantic Ocean just off the cost of Bermuda. Found thousands of meters below the sea, these samples contain iridium similar to those found in the Yucatan peninsula thousands of kilometers away. At first, scientists were skeptical whether the samples were from the same time period. But since carbon dating placed them to 65 million years ago, their doubts were quickly alleviated. Since then many of the other theories for the demise of the dinosaur have been finally laid to rest.
2. According to the passage, approximately how large was the asteroid that scientists believe struck the Earth? -
Rewrite the sentence:
My mother permitted me to go out at night. -
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With 13,000 floral species and over 15,000 faunal species, three newly discovered big animal species, and a ratio of country/world species of 6.3%. Vietnam has enormous tourismparticularly ecotourism-potential. In fact, since 1986, when Renovation Reforms began the shift from a centrally planned to a socialist-oriented market, or multi-sectoral, economy, tourism has been an sector of primary concern to the government. In May 1995, the prime minister of Vietnam approved a master plan of tourism development for the period 1995- 2010. In February 1999, the state decree on tourism was part of the socio-economic development strategy for the period 2001-2010 approved at the IX National Congress of the Party: “Tourism development has become a spearhead economic industry indeed. It is necessary to improve the quality and effectiveness of tourism activities, bringing into full play the natural conditions, and cultural and historical tradition to meet the domestic and international demand for tourism and to catch up with tourism development in the region” (Document of the IX National Congress 2001). Tourism has so far brought great benefits to the economy, but it has also contributed to environmental degradation, especially biodiversity deterioration. Thus, the concept of “sustainable development”-development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs - must be factored into tourism development. This consideration is reflected in the term “ecotourism,” which is referred to variously as ecological or environmental tourism, nature or green tourism, sustainable or responsible tourism. Ecotourism involves travel to relatively undisturbed natural areas with the specific object of studying, admiring, and enjoying scenery, plants, and animals, as well as any cultural features found in these areas. It is distinguished from mass or resort tourism by its lower impact on the environment, lower infrastructure requirements, and its role in educating tourists about natural environments and cultural values. Fully aware of its significance, the government of Vietnam has prioritized ecotourism in its strategy for tourism development to ensure both sustainability and economic benefits. Though ecotourism in Vietnam is at a beginning stage of development, it is expected to grow strongly through support from government and international organizations.
2. When has tourism officially contributed to socio-economic development? -
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Under certain circumstances, the human body must cope with gases at greater-than-normal atmospheric pressure. For example, gas pressures increase rapidly during a drive made with scuba gear because the breathing equipment allows divers to stay underwater longer and dive deeper. The pressure exerted on the human body increases by 1 atmosphere for every 10 meters of depth in seawater, so that at 39 meters in seawater a diver is exposed to pressure of about 4 atmospheres. The pressure of the gases being breathed must equal the external pressure applied to the body,otherwise breathing is very difficult. Therefore all of the gases in the air breathed by a scuba diver at 40 meter are present at five times their usual pressure. Nitrogen, which composes 80 percent of the air we breathe, usually causes a balmy feeling of well-being at this pressure. At a depth of 5 atmospheres, nitrogen causes symptoms resembling alcohol intoxication, known as nitrogen narcosis. Nitrogen narcosis apparently results from a direct effect on the brain of the large amounts of nitrogen dissolved in the blood. Deep dives are less dangerous if helium is substituted for nitrogen, because under these pressures helium does not exert a similar narcotic effect.
As a scuba diver descends, the pressure of nitrogen on the lungs increases. Nitrogen then diffuses from the lungs to the blood, and from the blood to body tissues. Nitrogen then diffuses from the lungs to the blood, and from the blood to body tissues The reverse occurs when the diver surfaces, the nitrogen pressure in the lungs falls and the nitrogen diffuses from the tissues into the blood, and from the blood into the lungs. If the return to the surface is too rapid, nitrogen in the tissues and blood cannot diffuse out rapidly enough and nitrogen bubbles are formed. They can cause severe pains, particularly around the joints.
Another complication may result if the breath is held during ascent. During ascent from a depth of 10 meters, the volume of air in the lungs will double because the air pressure at the surface is only half of what it was at 10 meters. This change in volume may cause the lungs to distend and even rupture. This condition is called air embolism.
To avoid this event, a diver must ascend slowly, never at a rate exceeding the rise of the exhaled air bubbles, and must exhale during ascent.The word “exert” in bold in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to .
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Most researchers agree that artificial intelligence (AI) peaked around 1985. A public (1) _______ science-fiction movies and excited by the growing power of computers had high expectations. For years, Al researchers had implied that a breakthrough was just (2) ____ the corner. Marvin Minsky said in 1967 that within a generation the problem of creating AI would be (3) ____ solved. Prototypes of medical-diagnosis programs and speech recognition software appeared to be making progress. It proved to be a false dawn. Thinking computers and household robots failed to (4) ______, and a backlash ensued. "There was undue optimism in the early 1980s’, says David Leaky, a researcher at Indiana University. “Then when people realised these were hard problems, there was retrenchment’. By the late 1980s, the term AI was being avoided by many researchers, who opted instead (5) ____ themselves with specific subdisciplines such as neural networks, agent technology, case-based reasoning -
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Air pollution is the most prominent and dangerous form of pollution. It occurs dues to many reasons. Excessive burning of fuel which is a necessity of our daily lives for cooking, driving and other industrial activities releases a huge amount of chemical substances in the air every day; as a result, these pollute the air. Smoke from chimneys, factories, vehicles or burning of wood basically occurs due to coal burning. This releases sulphur dioxide into the air making it toxic. The effects of air pollution are evident too. Release of sulphur dioxide and hazardous gases into the air causes global warming and acid rain which in turn have increased temperatures, erratic rains and droughts worldwide making it tough for animals to survive. We breathe in every polluted particle from the air, the result is an increase in asthma and cancer in the lungs. Another effect of air pollution is ozone layer depletion. Ozone layer is the thin shield high up in the sky that prevents ultra violet rays from reaching the Earth. As a result of human activities, chemicals, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which play a key role, were released into the atmosphere which contributed to the destruction of ozone layer. Water pollution has taken toll of all the surviving species of the earth. Almost 60% of the species live in water bodies. It occurs due to several factors; the industrial wastes dumped into the rivers and other water bodies cause an imbalance in the water leading to its severe contamination and death of aquatic species. If you suspect that nearby water sources have been contaminated by a corporation then it might be a good idea to hire an expert to see you options. Moreover, spraying insecticides, pesticides like DDT on plants also pollutes the ground water system and oil spills in the oceans have caused irreparable damage to the water bodies. Eutrophication is another big source; it occurs due to daily activities like washing clothes or utensils near lakes, ponds or rivers; this forces detergents to go into water which blocks sunlight from penetrating, thus reducing oxygen and making it inhabitable. Water pollution not only harms the aquatic beings but it also contaminates the entire food chain by severely affecting humans dependents on these. Waterborne disease like cholera, diarrhea have also increased in all places. Another type of pollution common in the countryside is soil pollution. Soil pollution occurs due to the incorporation of unwanted chemicals in the soil due to human activities. Insecticides and pesticides absorb the nitrogen compounds in the soil making it unfit for plants to derive nutrition. Release of industrial waste, mining and deforestation also damages the soil. Since plants can’t grow properly, they can’t hold the soil and this leads to soil erosion.
2. What is NOT mentioned as a consequence of the increase in air pollution? -
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Traditional media come from the people and antecede the mass media; their appeal has historically been both functional and aesthetic. Whether of roughly hewn folk origins or of classifically rigid moulds, they have always served to entertain, educate to reinforce existing ideas or ideologies or to change existing values and attitudes. In other words, it is a means of changing values, attitudes and norms in order to provide a proper climate for social and economic progress. It is also a method of promoting certain behavioural acts or patterns. The aim is to get people to perform specific acts to achieve objectives of national policy (e.g. visiting clinics, investing in bonds, using fertilizer). Moreover, it is a channel for conveying information about available techniques and facilities which people may use to solve problems. Being close to people at the local level, these channels are potentially useful in the service of social concerns, as determined by local, provincial or national authorities themselves. They are, moreover, abundantly present in areas where mass media technology has not been fully or effectively developed to capture sustained interest at local, provincial or national levels. Folk media are personal forms of entertainment and communication. This is important because behavioural changes are most easily brought about by personal interaction. These forms of art are a part of the way of life of a community and provide acceptable means of bringing development issues into the community in its own-terms. They are capable of reaching intimate social groups, thus making use of already established communication networks in the audience.
5. What is the word "hewn” in Paragraph 1 closest in meaning to? -
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Scientists believe that something very serious is happening to the Earth. It is becoming warmer. Scientists predict that there will be major changes in the climate during the 21st century. Coastal waters will have higher temperatures. This will have a serious effect on agriculture. Farmers will have trouble producing good crops. In warm regions, the weather will be too dry. The amount of water could decrease by 50 per cent. This would cause a large decrease in agricultural production. World temperatures could increase from 1.5 to 5.6 degrees Celsius by the middle of the 21st century. And the increase in temperature could be even greater in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. A rise in temperature could cause the great ice sheets to melt, which, in turn would raise the level of oceans by one to two meters. Many coastal cities would be underwater. Why is all this happening? The Earth and its atmosphere are kept warm by the Sun. The atmosphere lets most of the light from the Sun pass through to warm the Earth. The Earth is warmer by the sunlight and sends heat energy back into the atmosphere. Much of this energy escapes from the Earth’s atmosphere. However, some of it remains. Gases such as carbon dioxide, ozone and water vapor absorb this energy and create more heat. Then, this heat is sent back down to Earth, and the Earth becomes warmer. Recently, however, an increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is causing serious problems. Too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere prevents heat energy from escaping. Too much heat is sent back down to the Earth, and the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere continues to increase. When oil, gas, and coal burn, they create large amounts of carbon dioxide. The destruction of rain forests that absorb carbon dioxide also helps to increase the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Some scientists believe that the amount of carbon dioxide in the air will double by the late 2000s. Scientists call this warming of the Earth and its atmosphere “the greenhouse effect”. A greenhouse, made of glass and plastic, is a special place where plants are grown. The sunlight passes through the glass or plastic and warms the air inside. The heat inside escapes very slowly, so the greenhouse remains very warm. This is exactly what is happening on the Earth. Another reason why the Earth is growing warmer is because of the amount of ozone in our atmosphere. Ozone is a form of oxygen. In the upper atmosphere, very far from the Earth, a layer of ozone helps to protect the Earth from 95 percent of the harmful light that comes from the sun. If your skin receives too much of this light, you would develop skin cancer. We need the ozone layer to protect ourselves. But the ozone layer is in trouble. Scientists have observed that the ozone layer is becoming thin, and above Antarctica there is a hole. This allows too much of the sun’s dangerous light into our atmosphere and makes the Earth warmer. Scientists say we must start making changes and planning now. We need to continue to do research, so we can predict what will happen in the future. We must burn less coal, oil, and gas. Other scientists believe that the problem is not so serious. They think that the Earth is growing warmer naturally, that we don’t need to worry about it now, and that we should just get ready for life in the warmer climate. Most scientists agree that the causes of the world’s climate are very complicated. They say that we must continue to measure the amount of carbon dioxide and ozone in the atmosphere. Scientists also encourage people to learn about the changes that are occurring in the world and how we can all help protect our atmosphere
5. When the rainforests are destroyed ____ -
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There have never been so many people living in cities in quake zones because the worse the damage can be from a big quake, bringing fires, tsunamis, and the loss of life, property, and maybe an entire city. We understand how earthquakes happen but not exactly where or when they will occur. Until recently, quakes seemed to occur at random. In Japan, government research is now showing that quakes can be predicted. At the Earthquake Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Koshun Yamaoka says earthquakes do follow a pattern—pressure builds in a zone and must be released. But a colleague, Naoyuki Kato, adds that laboratory experiments indicate that a fault slips a little before it breaks. If this is true, predictions can be made based on the detection of slips. Research in the U.S. may support Kato’s theory. In Parkfield, California earthquakes occur about every 22 years on the San Andreas fault. In the 1980s, scientists drilled into the fault and set up equipment to record activity to look for warning signs. When an earthquake hit again, it was years off schedule. At first the event seemed random but scientists drilled deeper. By 2005 they reached the bottom of the fault, two miles down, and found something. Data from two quakes reported in 2008 show there were two “slips’—places where the plates widened—before the fault line broke and the quakes occurred. We are learning more about these destructive events every day. In the future we may be able to track earthquakes and design an early-warning system. So if the next great earthquake does happen in Tokai, about 100 miles southwest of Tokyo, as some scientists think, the citizens of Tokai may have advance warning
1. What is the main idea of the passage? -
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The United States has had approximately a thousand lights as well as light towers, range lights, and pier head lights. Michigan has the most lights of any state with over 150 past and present lights. Most of the lights in the United States have been built and maintained by the Coast Guard. As navigation has declined and as public interest in them has increased, the Coast Guard has been handing over ownership to other parties. The first navigational lights in the New World were probably lanterns hung at harbor entrances. The first lighthouse was put up by the Massachusetts Bay Colony In 1766 on Little Brewster Island at the entrance to Boston Harbor. Paid for and maintained by light dues levied on ships, the original beacon was blown up in 1776. By then there were only a dozen or so true lighthouses in the colonies. Little over a century later, there were 700 lighthouses. The first eight erected on the West Coast in the 1850’s featured the same basic New England design: a Cape Cod dwelling with the tower rising from the center or standing close by. In New England and elsewhere, though, lighthouses reflected a variety of architectural styles. Since most stations in the Northeast were built on rocky eminences, enormous towers were not the rule. Some were made of stone and brick, others of wood or metal. Some stood on pilings or stilts: some were fastened to rock with iron rods. Farther south, from Maryland through the Florida Keys, the coast was low and sandy. It was often necessary to build tall towers there - massive structures like the majestic Cape Hatteras, North Carolina lighthouse, which was lit in 1870. At 190 feet, it is the tallest brick lighthouse in the country. Notwithstanding differences in appearance and construction, most American lighthouses shared several features: a light, living quarters, and sometimes a bell (or, later, a foghorn). They also had something else in common: a keeper and, usually, the keeper’s family. The keeper’s essential task was trimming the lantern Nick in order to maintain a steady bright flame. The earliest keepers came from every walk of life-they were seamen. Farmers, mechanics, rough mill hands-and appointments were often handed out by local customs commissioners as political plums. After the administration of lighthouses was taken over in 1852 by the United States Lighthouse 803rd, an agency of the Treasury Department, the keeper corps gradually became highly professional.
2. Why does the author mention the Massachusetts Bay Colony? -
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Improving girls’ educational levels has been demonstrated to have clear impacts on the health and economic future of young women, which in turn improves the prospects of their entire community. The infant mortality rate of babies whose mothers have received primary education is half that of children whose mothers are illiterate. In the poorest countries of the world, 50% of girls do not attend secondary school. Yet, research shows that every extra year of school for girls increases their lifetime income by 15%. Improving female education, and thus the earning potential of women, improves the standard of living for their own children, as women invest more of their income in their families than men do. Yet, many barriers to education for girls remain. In some African countries, such as Burkina Faso, girls are unlikely to attend school for such basic reasons as a lack of private latrine facilities for girls. Higher attendance rates of high schools and university education among women, particularly in developing countries, have helped them make inroads to professional careers with better-paying salaries and wages. Education increases a woman’s (and her partner and the family’s) level of health and health awareness. Furthering women’s levels of education and advanced training also tends to lead to later ages of initiation of sexual activity and first intercourse, later age at first marriage, and later age at first childbirth, as well as an increased likelihood to remain single, have no children, or have no formal marriage and alternatively, have increasing levels of long-term partnerships. It can lead to higher rates of barrier and chemical contraceptive use (and a lower level of sexually transmitted infections among women and their partners and children), and can increase the level of resources available to women who divorce or are in a situation of domestic violence. It has been shown, in addition, to increase women’s communication with their partners and their employers, and to improve rates of civic participation such as voting or the holding of office.
8. What can be the best title of the reading passage? -
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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.
1. What does the passage mainly discuss? -
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The Moon is the Earth’s only natural satellite and was formed 4.6 billion years ago around some 30–50 million years after the formation of the solar system. Science has told us so (1) ____ about the Moon that it is fairly easy to imagine what it would be like to go there. It is certainly not a friendly place. As there is no air or water, there can be no (2) ____ of any kind. There is no variety of scenery (3) ____ . For mile after mile there are only flat plains of dust with mountains around them. Above, the Sun and stars shine in a black sky. If you step out of the mountain shadows, it will (4) ____ moving from severe cold into great heat. This extreme (5) ____ continually breaks rocks away from the surface of the mountains. The Moon is also a very silent world, for sound waves can only travel through air. But beyond the broken horizon, you see a friendly sight, our earth is shining more brightly than the stars. From this distance, it looks like an immense ball, colored blue and green and brown. -
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The Internet has truly transformed how students do their homework. (1)______ homework today still means spending time in the library, it’s for a different reason. Rather than using books for research, students today are (2)______ to the Internet to download enormous amounts of data available online. In the past, students were limited to their school’s (3)______ of books. In many cases, they got to the school library and found out that someone had already taken the books they needed. Nowadays, such inconvenience can be avoided since the Internet never runs out of information. Students, however, do have to (4)______ sure that the information they find online is true. Teachers have also benefited from the homework which is done on the Internet. They do not need to carry students’ papers around with them any more. This is because online (5)______ allow students to electronically upload their homework for their teachers to read and mark. Of course, this also means that students can no longer use the excuse that the dog ate their homework! -
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Advances in mobile technology and social networking websites mean we spend more time online than ever before. If Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest in the world by population (The Economist, 2010). It is (1) ______ not surprising that so many psychologists, sociologists, and others are eager to give their thoughts on how this is impacting negatively on our society. The biggest criticism levelled at social networking is that young people are losing their offline friends to online friends (2) ______ are unable to provide the same deep connection and emotional support. However, a lot of research shows these criticisms are generally (3) ______. Allen et al. (2010) discovered that it is socially adjusted adolescents who are more likely to have a networking profile than those who are not. One study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project (2009) found that people are not (4) ______ offline friends with online companions but are using them to support their offline relationships. The study also found that social networks allow us to have discussions with a much more diverse set of people than in the real world, so we share knowledge with people from a wide (4) ______ of backgrounds