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The history of American newspapers begins in the early 18th century with the publication of the first colonial newspapers. American newspapers began as modest affairs-a sideline for printers. They became a political force in the campaign for American independence. After independence, the first article of U.S. Constitution guaranteed freedom of the press. The U.S. Postal Service Act of 1792 provided substantial subsidies: Newspapers were delivered up to 100 miles for a penny and beyond for 1.5 cents, when first class postage ranged from six cents to a quarter. The American press grew rapidly during the First Party System (1790s-1810s) when both parties sponsored papers to reach their loyal partisans. From the 1830s onward, the Penny press began to play a major role in American journalism and its interests seemed to remarkably surprised the management board in the journal industry. Technological advancements such as the telegraph and faster printing presses in the 1840s also helped to expand the press of the nation as it experienced rapid economic and demographic growth. Editors typically became the local party spokesman, and hard-hitting editorials were widely reprinted. By 1900 major newspapers had become profitable powerhouses of advocacy, muckraking and sensationalism, along with serious, and objective news-gathering. During the early 20th century, prior to rise of television, the average American read several newspapers per-day. Starting in the 1920s, changes in technology again morphed the nature of American journalism as radio and later, television, began to play increasingly important competitive roles. In the late 20th century, much of American journalism became housed in big media chains. With the coming of digital journalism in the 21st century, all newspapers faced a business crisis as readers turned to the Internet for sources and advertisers followed them  
1. What is the main idea of the passage?

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It's a nice day. Does anyone fancy ____ for a walk?

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Of course you can come to the party ...............

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Aging is the process of growing old. It occurs eventually in every living thing provided, of course, that an illness or accident does not kill it prematurely. The most familiar outward signs of aging may be seen in old people, such as the graying of the hair and the wrinkling of the skin. Signs of aging in a pet dog or cat include loss of playfulness and energy, a decline in hearing and eyesight, or even a light graying of the coat. Plants are too, but the signs are much harder to detect. Most body parts grow bigger and stronger, and function more effiiently during childhood. They reach their peak at the time of maturity, or early adulthood. After that, they begin to decline. Bones, for example, gradually become lighter and more brittle. In the aged, the joints between the bones also become rigid and more inflxible. This can make moving very painful. All the major organs of the body show signs of aging. The brain, for example, works less effiiently, and even gets smaller in size. Thinking processes of all sorts are slowed down. Old people often have trouble in remembering recent events. One of the most serious changes of old age occurs in the arteries, the blood vessels that lead from the heart. They become thickened and constricted, allowing less blood to flw to the rest of body. This condition accounts, directly or indirectly, for many of the diseases of the aged. It may, for example, result in heart attack. Aging is not a uniform process. Different parts of the body wear out at the different rates. There are differences among people in their rate of aging. Even the cell of the body differ in the way they age. The majority of cells are capable of reproducing themselves many times during the course of a lifetime. Nerve cells and muscle fiers can never be replaced once they wear out. Gerontologists - scientists who study the process of aging - believe this wearing out of the body is controlled by a built-in biological time-clock. They are trying to discover how this clock works so that they can slow down the process. This could give man a longer life and a great number of productive years.
6. According to the passage, what condition is responsible for many of the diseases of the old?

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Environmentalists often fear that tourists will trample all over sensitive natural resource areas, but tourism may bring the needed and only economic incentives to help drive conservation, said Bynum Boley. Ecotourism and natural resource conservation already have a mutually beneficial relationship that is ideal for creating a sustainable partnership. “Ecotourism destinations benefit in the form of enhanced tourism competitiveness from the protection of quality natural resources,” he said. "Meanwhile, the conservation of these natural resources is increasingly valued since these pristine natural resources are the foundation of the ecotourism industry and the driver of all economic benefits associated with ecotourism." Tourism is a $7.6 trillion global industry, provides 277 million jobs and is a primary income source for 20 of the world’s 48 least-developed countries. It also subsidizes environmental protection and helps protect, conserve and value cultural resources that might otherwise be undervalued by the host community, Boley said. In the newpaper, Boley and coauthor Gary Green said that despite past tension between the tourism industry and environmentalists, the two should team up as allies to fight off increasing conversion of land away from its natural state. Ecotourists not only provide a boost to the economy in such places, they can also motivate landowners into keeping the environment in its natural state instead of converting it into something unsustainable. They could also influence the public perception of conservation, Boley explained, which does not often favor environmental protection. “The public has become increasing less prone to respond to environmental messages,” he said. “Economic messages are needed in order to attract the public’s interest.” Too often, Boley and Green said, unique natural resource areas are converted into urban, suburban and agricultural developments without considering their ecotourism potential. In addition to the lost ecotourism revenue, there are a host of negative environmental consequences such as biodiversity loss, water and food shortages and the land being unable to mitigate the effects of climate change. These areas are not valued for their unique attributes or the valuable natural resources they provide, Green said, “so we lose them.” Tourists have historically been seen as having a negative impact on the environment. Critics complain that they violate fragile and threatened natural environments while contributing to greenhouse gases from the increased number of flights to these exotic and often remote locales. While these criticisms are justified, Boley and Green said responsible programs promote education of ecological conservation and environmental sustainability, fostering a greater understanding and appreciation of these exotic areas  
8. As mentioned in paragraph 4, responsible programs promote education of ecological conservation and environmental sustainability, _______

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Trees are useful to man in three very important ways: they provide him with wood and other products; they give him shade; and they help to prevent droughts and floods.  Unfortunately, in many parts of the world, man has not realized that the third of these services is the most important. In his eagerness to draw quick profit from the trees, he has cut them down in large numbers.  Two thousand years ago, a rich and powerful country cut down its trees to build warships, with which to gain itself an empire. It gained the empire but, without its trees, its soil became bare and poor. When the empire fell to pieces, the country found itself faced by floods and starvation.  Even though government realizes the importance of a plentiful supply of trees, it is difficult sometimes to make the people realize this. They cut down the trees but are too careless to plant and look after new trees. So, unless the government has a good system of control, or can educate the people, the forests will slowly disappear.  This does not only mean that there will be fewer trees. The results are even more serious: for where there are trees, their roots break the soil up, allowing the rain to sink in, and also bind the soil. This prevents the soil from being washed away. But where there are no trees, the rain falls on hard ground and flows away on the surface, and this causes floods and the rain carries away the rich topsoil in which crops grow. When all the topsoil is gone, nothing remains but worthless desert.
5. Which title best fits the passage?

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Graphic novels, as the name suggests, are books written and illustrated in the style of a comic book. Adults may feel that graphic novels do not help children become good readers. They believe that this  type of  reading material  somehow prevents  "real"   reading. (1)_____ , many quality graphic novels are now being seen as a method of storytelling on the same level as novels, films or audiobooks. Many librarians and teachers are now accepting graphic novels as proper literature for children as they (2)____ young people and motivate them to read. This has been especially true with children who are not (3)_________to read, especially boys.Language learners are also motivated by graphic novels because the pictures provide clues to the meaning of the words. Therefore, they will (4)______ new vocabulary more quickly. Many teachers have reported great success when they used graphic novels with their students, especially in the areas of English, social studies and art. The idea that graphic novels are too simple to be regarded as serious reading is no longer valid. Reading them can, undoubtedly, help students develop the skills (5) _____ are necessary to read more challenging works

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Malaysia’s/ its/ Kuala Lumpur/ and/ is/ largest city/ capital.

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200 years ago there were less than one billion humans living on earth. Today, according to UN calculations there are over 7 billion of us. Recent estimates suggest that today’s population size is roughly equivalent to 6.9% of the total number of people ever born. This is the most conspicuous fact about world population growth: for thousands of years, the population grew only slowly but in recent centuries, it has jumped dramatically. Between 1900 and 2000, the increase in world population was three times greater than during the entire previous history of humanity—an increase from 1.5 to 6.1 billion in just 100 years. How the world population is changing is of great importance for humanity’s impact on the Earth’s natural environment, but it also gives reasons to hope for a good future. This is because we have a bigger team of better educated people who can contribute to the solutions that improve global well-being. A picture of the world population in the very long-run shows extremely rapid growth. Indeed, for a long time the world population grew at an increasing rate. However, if we focus on the last couple of decades, we see that this pattern no longer holds, as the annual rate of population growth has been recently going down. 1962 saw the growth rate peak at 2.1%, and it has since fallen to almost half. A long historical period of accelerated growth has thus come to an end. Based on these observations, world history can be divided into three periods marked by distinct trends in population growth. The first period, pre-modernity, was a very long age of very slow population growth. The second period, beginning with the onset of modernity— which was characterized by rising standards of living and improving health—had an increasing growth rate that continued to rise through 1962. Today, the second period is over, and the third period is unfolding; the population growth rate is falling and will likely continue to fall, leading to an end of population growth towards the end of this century.  
8. According to the passage, which of the following statements about the world population is TRUE?

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Why is it that many teenagers have the energy to play computer games until late at night but can’t find the energy to get out of bed (1) ________ for school? According to a new report, today’s generation of children are in danger of getting so (2)_______ sleep that they are putting their mental and physical health at (3)_______. Adults can easily survive on seven to eight hours’ sleep a night, (4)_______teenagers require nine or ten hours. According to medical experts, one in five youngsters (5)________ anything between two and five hours’ sleep a night less than their parents did at their age.

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:
In the USA, the UK and many other countries, a lot of babies were born in the “baby boom” of the late 1940s and 1950s; after that the birth-rate fell. Baby boomers have now retired, or are approaching retirement, and this is causing headaches for many organizations: there are not enough people to succeed their top managers when they retire.
Does your organization have key staff who can’t easily be replaced? A CEO or financial director, perhaps, or a technical expert with knowledge that nobody else in the organization has. If your answer is “yes”, what will happen when they retire, or leave for another company? Will you wait until the last moment before looking for someone to replace them? Or is your organization thinking about likely future changes now, as it should be, and making plans, so that there is likely to be someone ready to replace the person leaving? If the answer is that you are planning ahead, your organization is carrying out succession planning.
Succession planning means looking inside the organization for “high-fliers” - current staff members with the potential to fill key positions - and planning the training, responsibilities and promotion they need, to make them ready when a senior vacancy occurs - which may not be for several years. The company benefits by being able to make an internal promotion when a key person leaves, and in the meantime it benefits by developing the skills of its high-fliers and encouraging them to stay. And the high-fliers benefit, because they achieve their full potential, a career is planned for them within the organization, and they can look forward to a senior post in time.
The training program planned for the high-fliers will help them to develop the leadership skills they need for more senior roles, skills such as planning long-term strategies. A career path is also planned, so that each high-flier moves into a number of different positions over a few years, to gain the experience and know ledge they need.
Sometimes a staff member is chosen as a potential successor to a particular senior manager, but a better method is for organizations to select a number of high-fliers, and prepare them for a range of senior roles. An organization can’t be certain when a particular senior manager will leave. Having a group of people being prepared fee top positions makes it easier to replace someone who leaves unexpectedly, and also means that there are other people available if a high-flier leaves the company.

What can be inferred from the passage?

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The knock–on effect of volunteering on the lives of individuals can be profound. Voluntary work helps foster independence and imparts the ability to deal with different situations, often simultaneously, thus teaching people how to (1) _______ their way through different systems. It therefore brings people into touch with the real world, and hence, equips them for the future. Initially, young adults in their late teens might not seem to have the expertise or knowledge to impart to athare that attencher or an ariculturalist or a nurse would have, (2) ________ they do have many skills can help others. And in the absence of any particular talent, their energy and enthusiasm can be harmes the benefit (3) _______ their fellow human beings, and ultimately themselves. From all this, the gain to any community no matter how many volunteers are involved is (4)_______ . Employers will generally look favorably on people (5) _______have shown an ability to work as part of team. It demonstrates a willingness to learn and an independent spirit, which would be desirable qualities in any employee.

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The past fifty years or so have seen the gradual disappearing of animals from this earth, fishes from the sea, trees and plants from the land. Many factors result in this unpleasant phenomenon. Among them, hunting is the main factor that endangers wildlife. Some people kill wildlife for sport. They take pleasure in collecting heads and hides. Yet others specialize in commercial hunting like killing whales. Apart from this, the rapidly growing human population threatens wildlife on land, too. Towns expand and roads have to be built, so forests are burnt and trees are chopped down. It seems that man needs every inch of land within his reach, so he moves on to the natural habitat of wildlife. Tigers, lions and leopards slowly die off without the food and shelter that the forests provide. In addition, rapid urbanization means industrial expansion. Very often, poisonous chemicals, industrial wastes and oil are dumped into the rivers and seas. Fish and birds are threatened. Man depends greatly on animals for survival. He needs their flesh, hides and furs. Thus, man cannot do without wildlife; or he himself would become extinct. The public should be made aware that it would be better to shoot the animals with a camera than with a gun. In this way, they can preserve and help wildlife to continue living rather than to remove all signs of it. Man must learn to farm the sea as he does the land. He should regulate the amount and the frequency of his catch. He should allow fish to breed and multiply before netting them. Man also needs to build forest reserves, and to pass laws prohibiting the killing of animals, especially those that are already rare. To retain the present animal kingdom, the least that man can do is to clean the seas and rivers and to prevent pollution. The cycle of nature is such that it forms a vicious circle. The insecticides and pesticides that we spray on crops can kill the birds and animals that feed on them. When man eats these poisoned animals, he himself can die. We must therefore test the chemicals to be used before they are sprayed or it might mean the death of man!
1. The author’s purpose in writing the passage is to __________

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While good grades are important and should be something every student strives for, they do not necessarily correlate with a student’s intelligence. Students should worry less about their grades and instead care more about retaining the content they are learning and gaining actual knowledge. David Thomas, a principal lecturer at ASU, said there are varying theories about intelligence. One of them is the entity theory of intelligence, which describes intelligence as being stable throughout someone’s life. Thomas said there are also people who think just the opposite, and that a person can become more intelligent throughout their life. While there are varying theories on what intelligence is and whether it can improve, you can gain knowledge throughout the course of your life. This principle should be the focus of education, not a person’s grades. Every student at ASU is preparing for a career and learning the necessary skills to do well in their desired industry. Getting an “A” on a test will not mean anything if you cannot apply the material you learned to real-life situations. Just because someone gets an “A” in a class or is in Barrett, the Honors College, it doesn’t define intelligence. Similarly, someone who gets a “D” in a class is not necessarily unintelligent, as there are other factors that play into grades. Take Bill Gates for example, a very wealthy and successful man who dropped out of Harvard University two years into his degree and later became the co-founder of Microsoft. He is intelligent, and yet he did not have a college degree when he started his company. Additionally, Thomas said motivation plays a big part in a person’s grades. A student with mastery-oriented motivation approaches a class with curiosity and an interest in the subject, whereas a student with performance-orientated motivation does so solely from a grade standpoint. If people spent the same amount of time working to ensure they retain important information as they did pulling all-nighters to cram for finals, they could become be more intelligent. Students should focus on developing their critical thinking and problemsolving skills rather than simply memorizing information for a test. A transcript only shows a student’s motivation, dedication and work ethic — not their personality, humor, work or life experiences. While grades still matter, we need to stop weighing our intelligence through grades and instead recognize that intelligence comes in all forms.
6. Which of the following statements is TRUE, according to the passage?

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I close friend gave me a wonderful present on my birthday.

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Although television was first regarded by many as “radio with pictures,” public reaction to the arrival of TV was strikingly different from that afforded the advent of radio. Radio in its early days was perceived as a technological wonder rather than a medium of cultural significance. The public quickly adjusted to radio broadcasting and either enjoyed its many programs or turned them off. Television, however, prompted a tendency to criticize and evaluate rather than a simple on-off response. One aspect of early television that can never be recaptured is the combined sense of astonishment and glamour that greeted the medium during its infancy. At the midpoint of the 20th century, the public was properly agog about being able to see and hear actual events that were happening across town or hundreds of miles away. Relatively few people had sets in their homes, but popular fascination with TV was so pronounced that crowds would gather on the sidewalks in front of stores that displayed a working television set or two. The same thing happened in the typical tavern, where a set behind the bar virtually guaranteed a full house. Sports events that might attract a crowd of 30,000 or 40,000 suddenly, with the addition of TV cameras, had audiences numbering in the millions. By the end of television’s first decade, it was widely believed to have greater influence on American culture than parents, schools, churches, and government-institutions that had been until then the dominant influences on popular conduct. All were superseded by this one cultural juggernaut. The 1950s was a time of remarkable achievement in television, but this was not the case for the entire medium. American viewers old enough to remember TV in the ’50s may fondly recall the shows of Sid Caesar, Jackie Gleason, Milton Berle, and Lucille Ball, but such high-quality programs were the exception; most of television during its formative years could be aptly described, as it was by one Broadway playwright, as “amateurs playing at home movies.” The underlying problem was not a shortage of talented writers, producers, and performers; there were plenty, but they were already busily involved on the Broadway stage and in vaudeville, radio, and motion pictures. Consequently, television drew chiefly on a talent pool of individuals who had not achieved success in the more popular media and on the young and inexperienced who were years from reaching their potential. Nevertheless, the new medium ultimately proved so fascinating a technical novelty that in the early stages of its development the quality of its content seemed almost not to matter. Fortunately, the dearth of talent was short-lived. Although it would take at least another decade before areas such as news and sports coverage approached their potential, more than enough excellence in the categories of comedy and drama emerged in the 1950s to deserve the attention of discriminating viewers. They are the most fondly remembered of the Golden Age genres for both emotional and intellectual reasons. Live TV drama was, in essence, the legitimate theatre’s contribution to the new medium; such shows were regarded as “prestige” events and were afforded respect accordingly. The comedies of the era are remembered for the same reason that comedy itself endures: human suffering and the everelusive pursuit of happiness render laughter a necessary palliative, and people therefore have a particular fondness for those who amuse them  
1. Which of the following best serves as the title for the passage?

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Overpopulation is an undesirable condition where the number of existing human population exceeds the carrying capacity of Earth. Overpopulation is caused by number of factors. Reduced mortality rate, better medical facilities, depletion of precious resources are few of the causes which results in overpopulation. It is possible for a sparsely populated area to become densely populated if it is not able to sustain life. The effects of overpopulation are quite severe. The first of these is the depletion of resources. The Earth can only produce a limited amount of water and food, which is falling short of the current needs. Most of the environmental damage being seen in the last fifty odd years is because of the growing number of people on the planet. They are cutting down forests, hunting wildlife in a reckless manner, causing pollution and creating a host of problems. Those engaged in talking about overpopulation have noticed that acts of violence and aggression outside of a war zone have increased tremendously while competing for resources. With the overuse of coal, oil and natural gas, it has started producing some serious effects on our environment. Rise in the number of vehicles and industries have badly affected the quality of air. Rise in amount of CO2 emissions leads to global warming  Overpopulation is an undesirable condition where the number of existing human population exceeds the carrying capacity of Earth. Overpopulation is caused by number of factors. Reduced mortality rate, better medical facilities, depletion of precious resources are few of the causes which results in overpopulation. It is possible for a sparsely populated area to become densely populated if it is not able to sustain life. The effects of overpopulation are quite severe. The first of these is the depletion of resources. The Earth can only produce a limited amount of water and food, which is falling short of the current needs. Most of the environmental damage being seen in the last fifty odd years is because of the growing number of people on the planet. They are cutting down forests, hunting wildlife in a reckless manner, causing pollution and creating a host of problems. Those engaged in talking about overpopulation have noticed that acts of violence and aggression outside of a war zone have increased tremendously while competing for resources. With the overuse of coal, oil and natural gas, it has started producing some serious effects on our environment. Rise in the number of vehicles and industries have badly affected the quality of air. Rise in amount of CO2 emissions leads to global warming  
1. Which of the following does the passage mainly discuss?

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks.
It is terrible but we are not (1).................. against crime. The first step towards preventing crime is understanding its nature. Most crime is against property, not people, and most crime is not carried out by professionals; nor is it carefully planned. Property crimes (2).............. on the easy opportunity. They are often committed by adolescents and young men, the majority of whom stop offending as they grow older.(3)............ages for offending are 15 to 18. Also, and not surprisingly, the risk of being a victim of crime (4)...........greatly depending on where you live. This reliance by criminals on the easy opportunity is the key to much crime prevention. Motor cars, for example, are a sitting target for the criminal. Surveys have shown that approximately one in five drivers do not always bother to secure their cars by locking all the doors and shutting all the windows, and in 30 percent of domestic burglaries, the burglar simply walks in without having to use (5)...................... If opportunities like these did not exist, criminals would have a much harder time. The chances are that many crimes would not be committed, which would release more police time for tackling serious crimes.

(2)..............................................

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

 Do you know that reading can keep your mind acted and engaged well when you get old?

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Once restricted to luxury or super-tech buildings, home automation is proving to be an increasingly fundamental and affordable addition to architectural projects. The idea is to connect devices, which in turn connect and talk through a centralized control unit, accessible by computers, tablets, and mobile phones. For example, home automation users can turn the lights on or off at specific times each day, adjust the heater or air conditioner to turn on a few minutes before they arrive home. In addition to these immediate effects, monitoring applications can also provide accurate home information by generating detailed reports on equipment that could be working better or spending less. That is, in addition to smartphones and personal computers, appliances and sensors are able to identify patterns, process information, and perform tasks both through commands and automatically. Although it sounds like a science fiction script, these are technologies that are not so far from us.  Artificial intelligence can be used to automate threat detection and perhaps more proactively alert us if something looks wrong, such as heat sensors and video cameras setting off alarms and calling firefighters in the event of a short circuit. Through facial recognition algorithms on social media, the system itself can tell if someone outside your circle of acquaintances is trying to access your space and send a message to your mobile phone. This type of technology can improve the efficiency of security systems and reduce false alarms. Automation can be useful for people with disabilities and for the elderly. People with Parkinson’s disease or other motor diseases can trigger switches without touching them, and motion sensors can trigger safety lights automatically. Blood pressure sensors and blood sugar levels can be incorporated into these systems, providing peace of mind to close relatives. The ability to automate repetitive housekeeping can free time for more important things. For example, an internet-connected refrigerator can check for missing items and make purchases online. It is important to mention that these systems must be highly protected, as a single attempt to break into this centralized system can lead to the invasion of privacy and the loss of valuable confidential information. Still, most people who have experienced life in an automated space will likely be uncomfortable returning to traditional systems  
7. The word “confidential” in paragraph 5 can be replaced by _______

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:
Foot racing is a popular activity in the United States. It is seen not only as a competitive sport but also as a way to exercise, to enjoy the camaraderie of like-minded people, and to donate money to a good cause. Though serious runners may spend months training to compete, other runners and walkers might not train at all. Those not competing to win might run in an effort to beat their own time or simply to enjoy the fun and exercise. People of all ages, from those of less than one year (who may be pushed in strollers) to those in their eighties, enter into this sport. The races are held on city streets, on college campuses, through parks, and in suburban areas, and they are commonly 5 to 10 kilometers in length.
The largest foot race in the world is the 12-kilometer Bay to Breakers race that is held in San Francisco every spring. This race begins on the east side of the city near San Francisco Bay and ends on the west side at the Pacific Ocean. There may be 80,000 or more people running in this race through the streets and hills of San Francisco. In the front are the serious runners who compete to win and who might finish in as little as 34 minutes. Behind them are the thousands who take several hours to finish. In the back of the race are those who dress in costumes and come just for fun. One year there was a group of men who dressed like Elvis Presley, and another group consisted of firefighters who were tied together in a long line and who were carrying a fire hose. There was even a bridal party, in which the bride was dressed in a long white gown and the groom wore a tuxedo. The bride and groom threw flowers to bystanders, and they were actually married at some point along the route.

Which of the following best describes the organization of this passage?