Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
The Sahara Desert is the world’s largest hot desert. The Sahara is in North Africa and is as large as the United States. Many people think that an area like this has no animals or plant life, but they are (1) __________. In fact, the Sahara Desert has many different ‘ecoregions’. Each ecoregion has different plants and animals (2)_________there. The biggest ecoregion is called the ‘Sahara Desert ecoregion.’ In this area, the climate is extremely dry and extremely hot. The landscape is sandy and dusty with many high dunes. Because the Sahara Desert ecoregion is so hot and dry, there are very few plants and animals. Scientists estimate that there are only 500 species of plants. This is not very much when thinking of (3)_________ enormous the region is. These plants include acacia trees, palms, spiny shrubs, and grasses. The Sahara is also home to 70 species of mammals. Twenty of these are large mammals. There are about 90 species of birds and around 100 reptiles. The biggest threat to plants and animals in this environment is drying (4)_______. Because of this, plants have the ability to recover their health after their leaves have dried out completely. Animals can lose 30-60% of their body mass and still survive. Most animals do not get their water from drinking like other ecosystems. Instead, they have adapted to get their water through metabolic processes. This is why they can survive in a place (5)______ the Sahara Desert ecosystem

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Families can function well if everyone is able to communicate their needs and wants to communicate with each other in a respectful way. This can be hard if you are feeling frustrated, angry, hurt or sad. Sometimes it can be better to wait until intense feelings have (1)_____ , so that you can more calmly communicate what is going on for you and what you need and want. You may not always get what you want straight away and you might have to be patient and/ or learn the (2)______of negotiation and compromise. Learning to negotiate is a great way to (3)_____things out so everyone come out winning. For example, you might agree to help with chores around the house so you can go to the movies. It’s important to stick to your side of the agreement - this builds trust and respect. Talking things (4)_______can be really helpful, particularly if you are worried about your family relationships. It’s important to identify someone in your family who you feel is understanding and supportive. This could be a parent, brother, sister, cousin, aunty, uncle, a grandparent or a (5) ______family friend.

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D)
Chances are that your next CEO will be a she and your next congressman will be a congresswoman. After thousands of years of oppression, women across the world are occupying key positions in all spheres of society. The ever-evolving human desire drives the development of men and women alike. Over the past 60 years, we have witnessed a conspicuous change in women’s desire. Women wish to be less and less involved in household management and child care, and are increasingly expanding their involvement in other areas of society. At the same time, the world is pushing towards greater equality, and women assume roles and responsibilities previously only filled by men. Technology also plays a significant role in helping free up women’s time. Just as diapers and baby formula were a tremendous help for mothers, emerging robotics and artificial intelligence solutions will reduce the burden of household management to a level we have never seen. As the world becomes more interdependent, it demands the intervention of women, as though it were asking them to put their unique qualities into practice. A woman’s character is much more responsible, stable and consistent. She is capable of absorbing many changes and coping with long-term challenges — a quality that comes from her natural ability to carry an embryo and develop life within her. A man, on the other hand, is better at short-term moves. A woman is capable of holding onto a large number of tasks as well as carry them out successfully. A man, on the other hand, is more successful in linear processes aimed at a narrow goal. This is why most scientific breakthroughs, for example, manifest through the male brain. Men and women are also different in their attitude to failure in life. Figuratively speaking, a man can be as strong as iron — and yet one blow can break him. The woman is easier to bend — but like a flexible tree branch, she is much harder to break. The mutual completion of each other’s qualities is the key to building a healthy society in the new era. The integration of women in the leadership of society and other systems of human life is becoming necessary. The maternal qualities are expanding from the personal home to the global home. The female nature and drive to create a supportive and embracing environment will be expressed in society in creating healthy and proper conditions for bonding between people.  
4. The word “linear” in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to _______

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:
It’s often said that we team things at the wrong time. University students frequently do the minimum of work because they’re crazy about a good social life instead. Children often scream before their piano practice 5 because it’s so boring. They have to be given gold stars and medals to be persuaded to swim, or have to be bribed to take exams. But the story is different when you’re older.
Over the years, I’ve done my share of adult learning. At 30, I went to a college and did courses in History and English. It was an amazing experience. For starters, I was paying, so there was no reason to be late - I was the one frowning and drumming my fingers if the tutor was late, not the other way round. Indeed, if I could persuade him to linger for an extra five minutes, it was a bonus, not a nuisance. I wasn’t frightened to ask questions, and homework was a pleasure not a pain. When I passed an exam, I had a big meal, not for my parents or my teachers. The satisfaction I got was entirely personal.
Some people fear going back to school because they worry that their brains have got rusty. But the joy is that, although some parts have rusted up, your brain has learnt all kinds of other things since you were young. It has learnt to think independently and flexibly and is much better at relating one thing to another. What you lose in the rust department, you gain in the maturity department.
In some ways, age is a positive plus. For instance, when you’re older, you get less frustrated. Experience has told you that, if you’re calm and simply do something carefully again and again, eventually you’ll get the hang of it. The confidence you have in other areas - from being able to drive a car, perhaps - means that if you can’t, say, build a chair instantly, you don’t, like a child, want to destroy your first pathetic attempts. Maturity tells you that you will, with application, eventually get there.
I hated piano lessons at school, but I was good at music. And coming back to it, with a teacher who could explain why certain exercises were useful and with musical concepts that, at the age of ten. I could never grasp, was magical. Initially, I did feel a bit strange, thumping out a piece that I’d played for my school exams, with just as little comprehension of what the composer intended as I’d had all those years before. But soon, complex emotions that I never knew poured out from my fingers, and suddenly I could understand why practice makes perfect.

All of the following are true about adult learning EXCEPT     .

Choose the best answer:
How many .................... of leaves does a Hue’s conical hat have?

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
An important point to remember if you like spending time out in the open air is that the human head doesn’t work very well outdoors if it becomes too hot, cold or wet. That’s why a hat is a good investment, whenever you are planning to go out and about. Surprisingly, a single waterproof hat with a brim will do the (34)______ adequately in most conditions. In cold climates, the problem is that the head is (35)______ heat all the time. As much as fifty to sixty per cent of your body’s heat is lost through the head and neck, (36)______ on which scientist you believe. Clearly this heat loss needs to be prevented, but it’s important to remember that hats don’t actually keep you warm, they simply stop heat escaping. Just as important is the need to protect your neck from the effects of bright sunlight, and the brim of your hat will do this. If you prefer a baseball cap, (37)______ buying one that has a drop down ‘tail’ at the back to stop your neck getting sunburnt. And in wet weather (38)______, hats are often more practical than pooling up the hood of your waterproof coat because when you turn your head, the hat goes with you, whereas the hood usually does not.

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
The annual mortality burden in the UK from exposure to outdoor air pollution is equivalent to around 40,000 deaths. To this can be (1) ____ further impacts from exposure to indoor air pollutants such as radon and second-hand smoke. The health problems resulting from exposure to air pollution also have a (2) ____ cost to society and business, our health services, and people who suffer from illness and premature death. In the UK, these costs add up to more than £20 billion every year. Vulnerable people are prisoners of air pollution, having to stay indoors and limit their (3) ____when pollution levels are high. This is not only unjust; it carries a cost to these individuals and the community from missed work and school, from more health problems (4) ____ lack of exercise, and from social isolation. Taking action will reduce pain, suffering and demands on the National Health Service (NHS), while (5) ____ people back to work, learning, and an active life. The value of these benefits far exceeds the cost of reducing emissions

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
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  
6. Which of the following statements is TRUE, according to the passage?

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 questions:
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the American educational system was desperately in need of reform. Private schools existed, but only for the very rich. There were very
few public schools because of the strong sentiment that children who would grow up to be laborers should not “waste” their time on education but should instead prepare themselves for their life’s work. It was in the face of this public sentiment that educational reformers set about their task. Horace Mann, probably the most famous of the reformers, felt that there was no excuse in a republic for any citizen to be uneducated. As Manager of Education in the state of Massachusetts from 1837 to 1848, he initiated various changes, which were soon matched in other school districts around the country. He extended the school year from five to six months and improved the quality of teachers by instituting teacher education and raising teacher salaries. Although these changes did not bring about a sudden improvement in the educational system, they at least increased public awareness as to the need for a further strengthening of the system.

The passage implied that to go to a private school, a student needed     

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Pick any day in the Piazza del Duomo in the Italian city of Pisa, and you will  undoubtedly spot a bunch of tourists posing for the same photo: hands outstretched towards the cathedral’s conspicuously tilting bell tower, as if they are supporting it with their sheer strength. The so-called Leaning Tower of Pisa is one of the most famous buildings in the world, although maybe not for the reasons its original architects would have wanted.  In 1173, construction began on a white marble bell tower for the cathedral complex in Pisa, located between the Arno and Serchio rivers in Tuscany, central Italy. By the time builders had finished the third of eight planned stories about five years later, the tower’s foundation had begun to settle unevenly on the ground beneath it, a dense mixture of clay, sand and shells. As a result, the structure had begun to tilt visibly toward the south. Shortly after that, war broke out between Pisa and Genoa, another Italian city-state, halting construction for nearly a century. This delay allowed the foundation to settle further, likely prevented the bell tower’s premature collapse.  When construction resumed, chief engineer Giovanni di Simone tried to compensate for the lean by adding extra masonry to the short side, but the additional weight caused the structure to tilt even further. The tower was officially completed around 1370, but its lean only increased over the next six centuries, becoming an integral part of the monument’s quirky appeal. Despite various attempts to reinforce it, Pisa’s tower continued to subside at a rate of some 0.05 inches per year, placing it in increasing danger of collapse. By 1990, it was leaning 5.5 degrees (or some 15 feet) from the perpendicular–the most extreme angle yet. That year, the monument was closed to visitors and the bells removed as engineers started extensive reparations to stabilize it. By siphoning earth from beneath and adding counterweights to the tower’s north end, they were able to reduce the lean to 13.5 feet, or 4.0 degrees from perpendicular. The straightening continued after the tower reopened in 2001, and in 2008 sensors showed the subsiding motion had stopped, after a total improvement of some 19 inches. Engineers now believe the Leaning Tower of Pisa will remain stable for some 200 years, barring an earthquake or other unpredictable disaster. 
2. The word “conspicuously” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to _______

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
The original Olympics were always held in Olympia, Greece but now, each modern Olympiad is held in or near a different city of the world. The earlier games were open only to Greek citizens and athletes from Mediterranean countries. The modern games (1)________all nations to compete. Another big difference is that events for women have become a major part of the modern games. And female winners receive the same (2)________as the men who win In the ancient games, there were honors for cultural achievements. Modern competition is almost entirely athletic. Many of the contests held in modern Olympics were (3)________in early times. These include bicycle, canoe and yacht racing; soccer, basketball; judo, rifle shooting and swimming. One of the most popular events of the modern Olympic is the marathon. This very tiring 26-mile foot race over an open course is the supreme test of the runners’ (4)_______. The marathon was not part of the ancient Olympics although it originates in Greece. And finally, a more recent development in the Olympics are the winter games, (5)_______were started in 1924. They are held separately from the summer games but in the same year

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
In all the debate about conservation of natural landscapes, we must not forget that the 19th century also saw the development of interest in the cultural past. Although archaeology was around 100 years old at this point, at least in the Old World, it was largely an exercise in treasure hunting - digging up the treasures of the past as curiosities for museums or for the private collections of those who funded the dig. Changes in attitudes and law throughout the 19th century meant that monuments and artefacts were becoming part of the study of the past, no longer merely trinkets and curiosities, but indicators of a culture’s development and identity. Modern archaeology would not arrive until the 20th century and the concept of an archaeological landscape is younger still. The first laws to protect and conserve cultural heritage came into place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the developed countries. In the US, the first such law was the Antiquities Act in 1906 which gave the office of president the power to set aside areas of land as protected cultural assets, known as “National Monuments”. This law was in place until 1979 when it was replaced with the Archaeological Resources Protection Act but several other laws came into place before then that  required archaeologists to label and give proper contexts to monuments and artefacts. There was also a global movement to protect by law and provide resources and funds for monuments that were nationally important, but also those deemed significant to human civilization as a whole. Founded in 1945, has many responsibilities, one of the most important as far as archaeological conservation is concerned is the World Heritage List. The list began in 1975 as a recognition of globally important sites. The first 12 added on that first day included: L’Anse Aux Meadows in Canada, The Galapagos Islands, Quito in Ecuador, Krakow, and Mesa Verde National Park in the US. Today, there are over 1,000 cultural monuments and natural landscapes on this list. In the 21st century, it is common for countries to have laws in place to protect monuments, sites, and landscapes of cultural or historical importance and governmentestablished charities or government departments assigned to their management, upkeep or conservation. The threats to them and their conservation go beyond the issues of the 19th century (plunder and theft)
8. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
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  
6. According to the passage, negative environmental outcomes _______________?

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Scientists have uncovered a new threat to the world’s endangered coral reefs. They  have found that most are incapable of growing quickly enough to compensate for rising sea levels triggered by global warming. The study suggests that reefs – which are already suffering serious degradation because the world’s seas are warming and becoming more acidic – could also become overwhelmed by rising oceans.  The research – led by scientists at Exeter University and published in Nature this week – involved studying growth rates for more than 200 tropical western Atlantic and Indian Ocean reefs. It was found only 9% of these reefs had the ability to keep up with even the most optimistic rates of sea-level rises forecast by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “For many reefs across the Caribbean and Indian Ocean regions, where the study focused, rates of growth are slowing due to coral reef degradation,” said Professor Chris Perry, of Exeter University. “Meanwhile, rates of sea-level rise are increasing – and our results suggest reefs will be unable to keep up. As a result, water depths above most reefs will increase rapidly through this century.”  Sea levels rose by several inches over the past century and measurements indicate the speed of this increase is now rising significantly. Two key factors are involved: climate change is making ocean water warmer and so it expands. And as ice sheets and glaciers melt, they increase amounts of water in the oceans.  At the same time, reefs are being weakened by ocean warming and also by ocean acidification, triggered as the seas absorb more and more carbon dioxide. These effects lead to bleaching events that kill off vast stretches of coral and limits their ability to grow.  “Our predictions, even under the best case scenarios, suggest that by 2100, the inundation of reefs will expose coastal communities to significant threats of shoreline change,” said co-author Prof Peter Mumby of Queensland University. This point was backed by US marine scientist Ilsa Kuffner writing in a separate comment piece for Nature. “The implications of the study are dire. Many island nations and territories are set to quickly lose crucial natural resources.” 
7. The author implies in the last paragraph that _____________

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Generation gap refers to a vast difference in cultural norms between a younger generation and their elders. It’s a distressing thing for the phenomenon (1) ____ occurs around the world. The (2) ____ of communication, different views on certain problems and different attitudes towards life may cause the generation gap or even widen it. First, one of the major factors for this misunderstanding between two generations is that parents and children lack communication. Young people (3) ____ reveal their feelings to their parents, and often complain that their parents are out of (4) ____ with modern days, that they are dominant, that they do not trust their children to deal with crises, and that they talk too much about certain problems. So when young people meet some problems, they would rather (5) ____ to their classmates or their friends for help. The lack of communication widens the generation gap Another factor is that parents and their children see almost everything from different (6) ____. Take choosing career as an example. Parents generally believe it is their responsibility to plan the career for their children. Some hope their children will (7) ____ professions that will bring them greatest prestige and economic benefits. Some hope children will have a stable job with a regular income. But the youth may think they should be free to (8) ____ their own decisions as to their future career. Young people explain that true success is not a matter of money or position, instead, it is a matter of self-fulfillment. Finally, with the change of the world over decades, the attitude of the young has altered too. There are differences in (9) ____ matters as musical tastes, fashions, drug use, sex and politics between the young people and their elders. Nowadays long hair on young males is viewed as fashion by the young, but it is frequently considered a shocking act of rebellion against (10) ____ norms by parents

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Light, litter and noise from boating and water sports are all major stressors on marine  life, a new study aims to enhance our knowledge of the effects of these stressors. Researchers will be gathering data from sporting events, leisure boating, tourism and beach activities. The project will assess the impact that these activities have on the environment and marine life in order to offer further guidance to organisers and water sports enthusiasts.  Mike Laflin said: “I’ve worked in the sports industry for 30 years, providing market intelligence and information services and a few years ago I started to measure the impact of sporting events on host cities and nations. I’m excited to support this new research so that we can understand more about how our activities impact the environment and how we can mitigate against any negative effects.” Theresa Laflin said: “We are very excited to be able to support all the wonderful work that the university is doing in the area of marine research, and for increasing our awareness of the detrimental impact we have on our environment.”  The PhD project will be supervised by Tamara Galloway, Professor of Ecotoxicology at Exeter, who conducts research into the human health effects of pollutants, particularly micro-plastics in water; and Steve Simpson, Associate Professor in Marine Biology and Global Change at the University of Exeter, who has shown that man-made noise is having a detrimental effect on the marine world. Simpson said: “Noise from offshore construction, shipping and motorboats all change the ocean soundscape, disrupting acoustic communication, robbing animals of fundamental sensory information and causing stress. However, working with industry we have found that by managing when and where noise is made, and developing new technology to reduce the noise, we can mitigate the impacts of noise. Finding solutions to reduce the impacts of sporting activities will further help to protect the marine environment.” Galloway said: “We’ll be looking at all forms of pollution both from everyday leisure activities and major sporting events. Investigating specific events gives us the opportunity to measure environmental quality before and after the event, and to return after a period of time to assess recovery. Such an event could be seen as an ‘acute stressor’. Then we’ll also assess ongoing sporting activities, akin to a ‘chronic stressor’ and will try to compare and contrast different types of impact.” 
7. Which of the following statements is TRUE, according to the passage?

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

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

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Despite the fact that humans haven’t returned to the Moon since the cancellation of the Apollo program in 1972, there have nonetheless been incredible advances in space exploration in recent years. All across the world, human time is the most valuable commodity – particularly when it comes to solving problems. Far from stealing jobs, the majority of advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning are designed to automate relatively “simple” processes and free up time for humans to do what they do best. Already we have had a taste of what AI can achieve from space, even as far back as the early 2000s with the launch of the Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite, which helps analyse and inform the appropriate response in the event of a disaster, such as hurricanes and volcanic eruptions. In some cases, the systems in place on EO-1 began capturing satellite images of disaster zones before ground personnel were even aware that a disaster had occurred. More recently, AI has been used on the Mars Curiosity rover, where AEGIS software is able to identify intriguing rock or soil patches that should be targeted for analysis. This significantly expedites the process of collecting data from the surface of Mars as the robot isn’t relying solely on human commands. Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic – which hopes to soon begin conducting commercial flights – charges between $200,000 to $250,000 per ticket for a flight where passengers will experience just several minutes of weightlessness beyond the Karman line where space officially begins. Therefore, previous space missions have always needed to consider very carefully which astronauts they send to space, with the ultimate decision often coming down to an astronaut’s ability to act as a ‘jack-of-all-trade’. In future, it should be possible to automate the computing and engineering tasks that historically astronauts have had to train for. This would mean sending individuals with specialised expertise in science and research in place of the all-rounder astronauts of yesteryear. For success in space exploration in the years to come, we will need to continue along the exponential curve of open source uptake and see advances in the approach to how spacecraft software, hardware and infrastructure is developed and deployed. With this baseline in place, advances in AI-driven scientific research have the potential to propel us forwards.
1. Which best serves as the title for the passage?

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
The era of “smart cities”, controlled by an ecosystem of sensors, cameras and  algorithms, is fast approaching. In China, state media claim 500 are under construction. In Canada, Alphabet has plans for turning parts of Toronto into a timber-framed tech town as a prototype. Incremental steps are also making cities smarter. Last week, Transport for London announced plans to track Tube passengers through WiFi to monitor congestion. In the US, fast-food drive-throughs will trial number plates scanners to make ordering faster. Individually these services can improve daily life. Integrating them will create something more powerful than the sum of its parts.  Though convenience and safety are the end goals, serious questions about how city authorities will both store and share vast bodies of data must be answered. The fact that surveillance is built into key transport infrastructure will also make it increasingly difficult to avoid without disrupting daily life. The smart city risks creating a panopticon in the name of an easier and better life. The risks of anonymity disappearing will be increased by the use of different data sets, making it more likely that identifiable characteristics may appear. Closely linked to this is the question of data storage and sharing. The treasure trove of personal information will be a tempting target for hackers. This information might also be used by law enforcement, feeding into the existing dangers of mass surveillance and profiling, as is already the case in China.  These concerns have long been levelled at social media and internet-enabled home appliances. Smart city surveillance can be even more insidious. Users can avoid Facebook or hardware such as Alexa. Avoiding basic infrastructure will be near impossible without seriously affecting day-to-day life. TfL has put up signs warning customers of the WiFi tracking, yet the only choice is between tracking and having no signal. Reports on the facial recognition at airports in America suggest that avoiding being automatically scanned will be tough as well. As these systems become more closely enmeshed, avoiding snooping will become increasingly tricky.  The inevitable rise of smart cities is not inherently negative. Harnessing the power of technology and data can potentially help urban environments adapt to challenges such as climate change and overcrowding. Politicians, programmers and academics must work to ensure that does not come at the cost of all-seeing, 24-hour surveillance. 
3. The word “them” in paragraph 1 refers to _____

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Many of us experience multiple queues on an average day. If the move quickly,  they’re soon forgotten. But a slow line can be extremely annoying. What separated a good queuing experience from a bad one, however, is not just the speed of the line. In fact, how the wait makes us feel can have a greater impact on our perception of a queues than how much time we spend in it.  To understand how, consider the story of an airport getting complaints for the long waits at the baggage carousel. After trying fruitlessly to make baggage delivery faster, the airport simple moved the arrival gates outside of the main terminal, making people walk six times longer. Time was spent walking instead of waiting around and complaints dropped to almost zero as a result. A similar example can be observed during the postwar boom in high rise buildings in many elevator halls, where mirrors are installed to give people a chance to adjust their clothes and make sure that they look great, which distracts them from the long wait for their elevator.
For many people, the golden standard of line design and management can be found in theme parks, where waiting lines are such as integral part that companies are not afraid to invest. Some of the tricks theme parks use to make waits more bearable are hiding the line behind corners or walls to make it appear shorter and inflating the waiting times announced at each attraction. If the sign says the wait is an hour, often it will actually be more like 45 minutes, which will make people feel like they’re 15 minutes ahead of schedule. At Disneyland, designers and engineers also add games and other activities in order to give guests plenty to do, which keeps them from measuring the passage of time. According to Larson, Disney lines are so entertaining that on rainy days, when attendance is low, rides in the parks may fill up too slowly because families linger in the queue for too long.  Clever line design can also be found in supermarkets. Multiple parallel lines, each in front of a checkout, can be great if you’re in a fast one, but can feel very unfair if you’re stuck in a slow one. That’s why businesses are increasingly switching to the serpentine line, in which all customers are funneled into a single queue and then sent to the first available checkout. Compared to parallel lines, the serpentine triumphs in the key department of fairness: it’s strictly first come, first served, so no one arriving after you can be served before you
1. The word “fruitlessly” in paragraph 2 is closet in meaning to _______________