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We all want to live in a clean and green world and breathe pollution free air. For this kind of environment we desperately need a fossil fuel free world. Scientists are toiling hard to come up (1)______ alternative fuels which can replace conventional fuels. One such study was presented at the 237th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society. This study throws interesting light on the first economical, eco-friendly process to (2)______ algae oil into biodiesel fuel. The scientists are quite hopeful that one day America will become independent (3)______ fossil fuels. Ben Wen is the (4)______ researcher and vice president of United Environment and Energy LLC, Horseheads, N.Y. According to him, “This is the first economical way to produce biodiesel from algae oil. It costs much less than conventional processes because you would need a much smaller factory, there (5)______ no water disposal costs, and the process is considerably faster.”

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NASA is developing the capabilities needed to send humans to an asteroid by 2025 and Mars in the 2030s – goals outlined in the bipartisan NASA Authorization Act of 2010 and in the U.S. National Space Policy, also issued in 2010. Mars is a rich destination for scientific discovery and robotic and human exploration as we expand our presence into the solar system. Its formation and evolution are comparable to Earth, helping us learn more about our own planet’s history and future. Mars had conditions suitable for life in its past. Future exploration could uncover evidence of life, answering one of the fundamental mysteries of the cosmos: Does life exist beyond Earth? While robotic explorers have studied Mars for more than 40 years, NASA’s path for the human exploration of Mars begins in low-Earth orbit aboard the International Space Station. Astronauts on the orbiting laboratory are helping us prove many of the technologies and communications systems needed for human missions to deep space, including Mars. The space station also advances our understanding of how the body changes in space and how to protect astronaut health. Our next step is deep space, where NASA will send a robotic mission to capture and redirect an asteroid to orbit the moon. Astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft will explore the asteroid in the 2020s, returning to Earth with samples. This experience in human spaceflight beyond low-Earth orbit will help NASA test new systems and capabilities, such as Solar Electric Propulsion, which we’ll need to send cargo as part of human missions to Mars. Beginning in FY 2018, NASA’s powerful Space Launch System rocket will enable these “proving ground” missions to test new capabilities. Human missions to Mars will rely on Orion and an evolved version of SLS that will be the most powerful launch vehicle ever flown. A fleet of robotic spacecraft and rovers already are on and around Mars, dramatically increasing our knowledge about the Red Planet and paving the way for future human explorers. The Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover measured radiation on the way to Mars and is sending back radiation data from the surface. This data will help us plan how to protect the astronauts who will explore Mars. Future missions like the Mars 2020 rover, seeking signs of past life, also will demonstrate new technologies that could help astronauts survive on Mars. Engineers and scientists around the U.S. are working hard to develop the technologies astronauts will use to one day live and work on Mars, and safely return home from the next giant leap for humanity. NASA also is a leader in a Global Exploration Roadmap, working with international partners and the U.S. commercial space industry on a coordinated expansion of human presence into the solar system, with human missions to the surface of Mars as the driving goal.  
8. It can be inferred from the passage that ___________

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Automated manufacture arose out of the intimate relationship of such economic forces and technical innovations as the division of labor, power transfer and the mechanization of the factory, and the development of transfer machines and feedback systems as explained below. The division of labor (that is, the reduction of a manufacturing or service process into its smallest independent steps) developed in the latter half of the 18th century and was first discussed by the Scottish economist Adam Smith in his book An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776). In manufacturing, the division of labor results in increased production and a reduction in the level of skills required of workers. Mechanization was the next step necessary in the development of automation. The simplification of work made possible by the division of labor also made it possible to design and build machines that duplicated the motions of the worker. As the technology of power transfer evolved, these specialized machines were motorized and their production efficiency was improved. The development of power technology also gave rise to the factory system of production, because all workers and machines had to be located near the power source. The transfer machine is a device used to move a workpiece from one specialized machine tool to another, in such a manner as to properly position the workpiece for the next machining operation. Industrial robots, originally designed only to perform simple tasks in environments dangerous to human workers, are now extremely dexterous and are being used to transfer, handle, and index (that is, to position) both light and heavy workpieces, thus performing all the functions of a transfer machine. In actual practice, a number of separate machines are integrated into what may be thought of as one large machine. In the 1920s the auto industry combined these concepts into an integrated system of production. The goal of this assembly-line system was to make automobiles available to people who previously could not afford them. This method of production was adopted by most automobile manufacturers and rapidly became known as Detroit automation. Despite more recent advances, it is this system of production that most people think of as automation.
2. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

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As cases of coronavirus infection proliferate around the world and governments take extraordinary measures to limit the spread, there is still a lot of confusion about what exactly the virus does to people’s bodies. The symptoms — fever, cough, shortness of breath — can signal any number of illnesses, from flu to strep to the common cold. The virus is spread through droplets transmitted into the air from coughing or sneezing, which people nearby can take in through their nose, mouth or eyes. The viral particles in these droplets travel quickly to the back of your nasal passages and to the mucous membranes in the back of your throat, attaching to a particular receptor in cells, beginning there. Coronavirus particles have spiked proteins sticking out from their surfaces, and these spikes hook onto cell membranes, allowing the virus’s genetic material to enter the human cell. That genetic material proceeds to “hijack the metabolism of the cell and say, in effect, ‘Don’t do your usual job. Your job now is to help me multiply and make the virus,’” said Dr. William Schaffner. As copies of the virus multiply, they burst out and infect neighboring cells. The virus then “crawls progressively down the bronchial tubes,” Dr. Schaffner said. When the virus reaches the lungs, their mucous membranes become inflamed. That can damage the alveoli or lung sacs and they have to work harder to carry out their function of supplying oxygen to the blood that circulates throughout our body and removing carbon dioxide from the blood so that it can be exhaled. The swelling and the impaired flow of oxygen can cause those areas in the lungs to fill with fluid, pus and dead cells. Pneumonia, an infection in the lung, can occur  
5. According to paragraph 3, what is the described organ system that the coronavirus affect?

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Since 2015, the annual Women in the Workplace benchmarking report has covered over 600 of the largest U.S. companies employing more than 20 million people, and has individually surveyed more than a quarter-million employees. That research base shows us how better sponsorship and improved training to counter unconscious bias can speed our progress to gender equality. And it reveals the changes that have—and haven’t—happened over the past few years. There are some bright spots. In 2019, nearly 90% of respondent companies say that gender equality is a top priority. Almost half report having at least three women on their leadership team And greater openness to flexible working is allowing many more women— and men—to work remotely. But some areas are proving stubbornly difficult to improve. Most strikingly, it’s much harder for women than men to achieve their first promotion. Indeed, for every 100 men who step up from an entry level position to a management role, only 78 women—and just 52 black women—will receive the same promotion. Over five years, that gap adds up to a difference of one million promoted women, with lasting repercussions further along the talent funnel: only 1 in 5 C-suite members are women, and only 1 in 25 are women of color. Moving up the ladder, the 21% figure for women in the C-suite is also less encouraging than it seems. Women are much more likely to have a staff role—chief human resources officer, general counsel, or CFO—while men take more of the line roles, running the largest business units with their own P&L lines. It’s rare for any leader in a staff role to be promoted to CEO.  
4. The word “it” in paragraph 3 refers to _______

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There’s a direct link between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction.  Employees are the driving factor behind customer satisfaction. Employee interactions set the tone for a positive or negative customer experience. When employees aren’t happy at work, their interactions with customers can, and almost always will, suffer. Over the course of time, this can have serious repercussions for a business. The place where this becomes the most critical is any business where employees are directly interacting with customers, such as retail or food service. Historically underpaid and overworked, employees in these jobs are tasked with spending their entire shifts serving customers.  This is where employee experience comes in. If even a fraction of a customer experience budget was spent on employee experience, there would be a huge return on investment. One of the easiest ways to enhance employee experience is to ask for and welcome employees’ feedback. They have great insight into customer needs. After all, they’re the ones who are directly interacting with customers and hearing their criticisms and compliments firsthand. Employees can be your biggest asset when it comes to customer satisfaction.  A large part of employee experience revolves around understanding what employees need and want and gaining insight into their work preferences. Another critical piece of the employee experience is training and development. Employees should be equipped with the skills they need to excel at their jobs and have opportunities to continue to learn and develop. They should be able to check in and touch base with their managers to keep track of their progress and discuss any questions or concerns as they arise. Showing employees that you value the work they’re doing is one of the easiest ways to boost their motivation. It can be as simple as saying thank you, to publicly acknowledging and celebrating their contributions. It’s not just the younger generations who crave recognition - no one likes to feel like the work they’re doing is going unnoticed.  It’s time to shift the mindset from employees working just to work, to acknowledging that they’re valuable contributors to a company’s success. Employees need to understand how important their role is and how their work fits into the bigger picture. They need to feel like their voices are being heard and they have respect from their managers. Most importantly, they need to be able to come to work and know that the next eight hours won’t be pure torture. 
4. The word “asset” in paragraph 2 can be replaced by _______

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Where humans have planted crops for food, unless they are organic, poisonous chemicals have been sprayed on them; insecticides are used to kill insect pests and herbicides are used to kill weeds. Fungicides fight off fungal diseases. Artificial fertilizers are added to the soil to increase the yield of the crops. If these chemicals are used in excess, some of them dissolve in rainwater and drain into rivers, streams and ponds, polluting the water and killing the wildlife. The “weeds” competing with the farmers’ crops include wild flowers and many of these have become endangered through the use of herbicides. Insects rely on plants for food and breeding sites so the number of these are affected by a reduction in the number of plants. Many birds depend on insects for food so the numbers of birds may be affected by the use of both insecticides and herbicides. One of the reasons why the Barn Owl is endangered is due to a shortage of insects and it may also be poisoned by eating insects affected by chemical sprays. The case of DDT and other chemicals known as organo-chlorines is well known. These were first used extensively in the 1950s, sprayed onto crops to kill insect pests. Unfortunately, after a few years, it was noticed that birds of prey were rapidly declining in numbers and thousands of seed-eating birds were dying. By the 1960s, the once common sparrow hawk was a rare bird in Britain. The sparrow hawk’s prey was the seed-eating birds which were carrying the poisonous insecticides in their bodies. Consequently, many sparrow hawks and other birds of prey were being indirectly poisoned by the chemical sprays. The organo-chlorines also caused many birds to lay thin shelled eggs, which cracked easily. Research showed that the chemicals were entering the food chains and being stored in the fat of the animals’ bodies. For example, a thrush may eat snails which have eaten a sprayed cabbage plant. The thrush may not have eaten enough poison to be actually killed but a sparrowhawk eating several thrushes accumulates so much of the poison that it is killed. The chemicals become more concentrated as they travel up the food chain. Even most humans still have small amounts of organo-chlorines in their fatty tissues although these chemicals had been withdrawn from use by 1976. They are still used, however, in some Third World countries. By the 1980s, the sparrowhawk population had recovered dramatically and it is once again a common bird. This example shows just how dangerous the use of chemicals in the environment can be. As mentioned earlier, some plants are endangered through collectors such as the Venus fly-trap and some tropical orchids, but most threatened plants have become so through the destruction of their habitat. Once very common plants have almost disappeared because of the way humans have changed the land. For example, the Egyptian Papyrus, a type of reed, had been used for thousands of years for all sorts of things such as paper, medicine, boats, baskets, food etc. Then, when changes in the irrigation methods on the river Nile were introduced, this valuable plant almost completely disappeared. It was thought to be extinct until 1968 when a few plants were found in an undisturbed waterway. Orchids have been also collected from rainforests to become household favourites, causing many species to become endangered.  
1. Which of the following could best reflect the purpose of the author in the passage?

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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.

7. What is NOT mentioned as a cause of soil erosion?

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Scientist and inventor George Washington Carver was born into slavery during the American Civil War. After the war, he worked diligently to get an education. He managed to get an advanced degree in Botany, which is the study of plants. After he finished his college degree, he worked in the South. He taught people about botany and about how it could be used to improve farming. Carver learned that there was a problem with cotton farming in the South. Cotton takes nutrients from the soil. If cotton is planted year after year, the quality of the soil decreases. Carver knew that plants like peanuts and sweet potatoes are different from cotton. They add nutrients to the soil rather than take nutrients from the soil. Carver told farmers that it was a bad idea to grow only cotton and no other crops each year. He told them that they should also grow plants like peanuts and sweet potatoes, which improve the quality of the  soil. Many farmers followed the advice that Carver offered them. The result was that the production on their farms increased. This increased production of peanuts and sweet potatoes improved the quality of the soil. However, when production of peanuts and sweet potatoes increased, a new problem developed. The new problem was that there were too much peanuts and sweet potatoes. To solve this problem, Carver began working in a laboratory to find new uses for peanuts and sweet potatoes. He developed hundreds of products that could be made from peanuts and sweet potatoes. These hundreds of products included food products, medicines, plastics and fertilizer  
2. From the passage, we know that in botany, one might NOT study ____________

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Thousands of emergency service workers battling out of control fires across New South Wales, Australia are bracing for worsening conditions next week. Stopping the spread of fires around the state will be the top priority on Sunday, with weather conditions expected to deteriorate after that.  “Tuesday, particularly, will be a day of concern,” Rural Fire Service spokesman Greg Allan said. “There will be high temperatures, very strong winds, and low humidity.” While no fires reached emergency level on Saturday, Mr Allan stressed that people needed to remain alert. “It’s still a very dangerous situation,” he said.  More than 2 million hectares of bush land has been destroyed by flames this fire season. With RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons warning the worst might still be ahead. Mr Fitzsimmons said there may not be much respite for tiring firefighters, with no signs of significant rainfall until late January or early February. Over 100 bushfires burned across the state on Saturday, and almost half of them were out of control, with a huge – larger than Sydney – having formed north-west of the city. Another fire at Green Wattle Creek, southwest of Sydney, is still burning uncontrollably, having already destroyed 5400 hectares of bush land. Efforts are being made to keep the situation from getting out of hand. More than 2100 personnel are fighting the fires across the state and a group of 21 specialty firefighters form the US has arrived in Australia, following 21of their Canadian counterparts. While the Canadians are being distributed to the north of the state, the Americans will be assigned to areas in the Sydney Basin or southern New South Wales. Additionally, a total fire ban was in place for eight regions across the state, including Sydney, Far North Coast, Greater Hunter, the Illawarra and Central Rangers. “Right across all fire grounds, our crews, although exhausted, are working extremely hard to slow the spread of fire,” said Mr. Allan. 
2. According to the passage, all of the following are mentioned by Mr. Greg Allan as weather conditions in Australia on Tuesday EXCEPT __________

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Modern society has given significant attention to the promises of the digital economy over the past decade. But it has given little attention to its negative environmental footprint. Our smartphones rely on rare earth metals, and cloud computing, data centers, artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies consume large amounts of electricity, often sourced from coal-fired power plants. These are crucial blind spots we must address if we hope to capture the full potential of the digital economy. Without urgent system-wide actions, the digital economy and green economy will be incompatible with each other and could lead to more greenhouse gas emissions, accelerate climate change and pose great threats to humanity. The world’s data centers-the storehouses for enormous quantities of information - consume about three percent of the global electricity supply (more than the entire United Kingdom), and produce two percent of global greenhouse gas emissions-roughly the same as global air travel. A report by Greenpeace East Asia and the North China Electric Power University found that China’s data centers produced 99 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2018, the equivalent of about 21 million cars driven for one year. Greenhouse gases aren’t the only type of pollution to be concerned about.Electronic waste (e-waste), which is a byproduct of data center activities, accounts for two percent of solid waste and 70 percent of toxic waste in the United States. Globally, the world produces as much as 50 million tonnes of electronic e-waste a year, worth over US$62.5 billion and more than the GDP of most countries. Only 20 percent of this e-waste is recycled. The world and its intractable challenges are not linear-everything connects to everything else. We must raise awareness about these major blind spots, embrace systems leadership (leading across boundaries), boost circular economy ideas (decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources), leverage an eco-economics approach (an environmentally sustainable economy) and encourage policy-makers to explore the interrelationships between government-wide, system-wide and societal results. We must also consider collective problem-solving by bringing together diverse perspectives from both the Global North and the Global South. We should take an inventory of the global and local damages caused by electronic devices, platforms and data systems, and frame issues about the digital economy and its environmental impact in broad societal terms.
2. The word “it” in paragraph 1 refers to ____

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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.
2. Which of the following might make the Kolibree toothbrush fun?

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Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. (1) ____, at the current time, 1 in 5 women and girls between the ages of 15-49 have reported experiencing physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner within a 12-month period and 49 countries currently have no laws (2) ____ women from domestic violence. Progress is occurring regarding harmful practices such as child marriage and FGM (Female Genital Mutilation), which has declined by 30% in the past decade, but there is still much work to be (3) ____ to completely eliminate such practices. Providing women and girls with equal (4) ____ to education, health care, decent work, and representation in political and economic decision-making processes will fuel sustainable economies and benefit societies and humanity at large. Implementing new legal frameworks regarding female equality in the workplace and the eradication of harmful practices (5) ____ at women is crucial to ending the gender-based discrimination prevalent in many countries around the world

Dirty Britain

Before the grass has thickened on the roadside verges and leaves have started growing on the trees is a perfect time to look around and see just how dirty Britain has become. The pavements are stained with chewing gum that has been spat out and the gutters are full of discarded fast food cartons. Years ago I remember travelling abroad and being saddened by the plastic bags, discarded bottles and soiled nappies at the edge of every road. Nowadays, Britain seems to look at least as bad. What has gone wrong?

The problem is that the rubbish created by our increasingly mobile lives lasts a lot longer than before. If it is not cleared up and properly thrown away, it stays in the undergrowth for years; a semi-permanent reminder of what a tatty little country we have now.

Firstly, it is estimated that 10 billion plastic bags have been given to shoppers. These will take anything from 100 to 1,000 years to rot. However, it is not as if there is no solution to this. A few years ago, the Irish government introduced a tax on non-recyclable carrier bags and in three months reduced their use by 90%. When he was a minister, Michael Meacher attempted to introduce a similar arrangement in Britain. The plastics industry protested, of course. However, they need not have bothered; the idea was killed before it could draw breath, leaving supermarkets free to give away plastic bags.

What is clearly necessary right now is some sort of combined initiative, both individual and collective, before it is too late. The alternative is to continue sliding downhill until we have a country that looks like a vast municipal rubbish tip. We may well be at the tipping point. Yet we know that people respond to their environment. If things around them are clean and tidy, people behave cleanly and tidily. If they are surrounded by squalor, they behave squalidly. Now, much of Britain looks pretty squalid. What will it look like in five years?

The writer thinks ___________.

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Birds are even more disrupted by their noisy neighbours than had been thought  previously, researchers have found. And human activities could be preventing birds from reproducing and even developing normal social behaviour and keeping the peace.  A study by Queen’s University Belfast found that when European robins were subjected to human produced noises their behaviour changed. Background noise appeared to mask the communication of crucial information between birds. While aggressive communication is common and birds respond to it, interference through noise can lead to the birds mistaking the signals.  Birds can end up in situations all too familiar to humans. “The birds receive incomplete information on their opponent’s intent and do not appropriately adjust their response,” explained Arnott. “Where song is disguised by background noise, in some cases the male ends up fighting more vigorously than he should, but at other times gives in too easily.”Arnott said the purpose of birdsong was twofold – to attract mates and defend territory. Birds already face an array of human-made dangers, from pesticides and intensive farming to shooting and poisoning. But noise had often been overlooked, the paper in Biology Letters found. A spokesperson for the RSPB said: “Everyone is becoming increasingly concerned that nature is in crisis in the UK, with one in 10 of our wildlife species at threat of extinction. Many of our birds’ populations are already facing a serious crisis as a result of habitat loss, climate change and other human activities. This report is a good reminder that the way we live and our lifestyle has an impact on our natural world, and that we need to protect our natural world if we want to let nature sing.”  For birds, the extra burden of noise pollution adds to extraordinary decline in species, including among once common birds, in recent decades due to such activities as agricultural practice and pesticide use. In the experiment the team used playbacks of robin song to stimulate responses from birds who were territory holders. Simple or complex songs were used in either the presence or absence of noise. The researchers found that song complexity  was used as a signal of aggressive intent; birds demonstrated higher aggressive intent towards complex rather than simple song. This process was disrupted by the presence of added noise.
7. Which of the following statements is TRUE, according to the passage?

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Even though it’s sometimes hard for parents to think about letting go of their child, the best relationships are the ones that teens come back to, as adults, recognizing how their parents have helped them into adulthood by not clinging or pushing them away too soon. We recommend that parents look for opportunities to teach independence, starting in childhood. Encourage your teen to be responsible for his or her own time. “How much time do you need for homework?” “How long to do you need to unwind after school?” If the answers to these questions are “None” and “Until midnight”, then your teen needs some help making a schedule. Many teens can come up with a reasonable time for getting things done, with some practice and initial limits from you. You may want to let her try out her schedule through, say, one grading period. If grades go down, the schedule needs work and maybe more supervision from you. Not knowing basic financial skills can be one the first things to trip up a newly independent young adult. Look for chances to teach basic money skills. Some parents give their teen a set amount of money and let her plan the weekly grocery shopping or family vacation. Have her help you pay utility bills and budget for expenses. Explain carefully about credit cards and limit access to credit. Teens are impulsive, and easily get stuck in the trap of  charging more than they can pay off. An after-school job is a great opportunity for your teen to start practicing. More than anything else, teens learn from making mistakes. As a parent, your job is to try to make sure that the mistakes your teen makes aren’t life-threatening, like getting into the car with a drunk driver. Most mistakes, though, will not fall into that category. No one is perfect, especially parents. It’s important that teen see that you do not expect perfection from him or from yourself, and that you can admit your mistakes when you make them. Letting your teen make mistakes, and letting him suffer the consequences of a mistake, can be hard to do. But when you give your teen permission to make mistakes, and let him know you love him anyway, you tell him that you believe in his ability to take a fall, get up and learn from it  
2. The word “them” in paragraph 1 refers to _____

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Every summer, when the results of university entrance exam come out, many newspaper stories are published about students who are top-scorers across the country. Most portray students as hard-working, studious, smart and, generally, from low-income families. They are often considered heroes or heroines by their families, communes, villages and communities. And they symbolise the efforts made to lift them, and their relatives, out of poverty. The students are often too poor to attend any extra-classes, which make their achievements more illustrious and more newsworthy. While everyone should applaud the students for their admirable efforts, putting too much emphasis on success generates some difficult questions. If other students look up to them as models, of course it’s great. However, in a way, it contributes to society’s attitude that getting into university is the only way to succeed. For those who fail, their lives are over. It should be noted that about 1.3 million high school students take part in the annual university entrance exams and only about 300,000 of them pass. What’s about the hundreds of thousands who fail? Should we demand more stories about those who fail the exam but succeed in life or about those who quit university education at some level and do something else unconventional? “I personally think that it’s not about you scoring top in an entrance exam or get even into Harvard. It’s about what you do for the rest of your life,” said Tran Nguyen Le Van, 29. He is the founder of a website, vexere.com, that passengers can use to book bus tickets online and receive tickets via SMS. His business also arranges online tickets via mobile phones and email. Van dropped out of his MBA at the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Arizona in the United States. His story has caught the attention of many newspapers and he believes more coverage should be given to the youngsters who can be role-models in the start-up community. Getting into university, even with honours, is just the beginning. "We applaud them and their efforts and obviously that can give them motivation to do better in life. However, success requires more than just scores," Van said. Van once told a newspaper that his inspiration also came from among the world’s most famous drop-outs, such as Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook or Bill Gates who also dropped out of Harvard University. Alarming statistics about unemployment continues to plague us. As many as 162,000 people with some kind of degree cannot find work, according to Labour Ministry’s statistics this month. An emphasis on getting into university does not inspire students who want to try alternative options. At the same time, the Ministry of Education and Training is still pondering on how to reform our exam system, which emphasises theories, but offers little to develop critical thinking or practice. Vu Thi Phuong Anh, former head of the Centre for Education Testing and Quality Assessment at Viet Nam National University in HCM City said the media should also monitor student successes after graduation. She agreed there were many success stories about young people, but added that it was imbalanced if students taking unconventional paths were not also encouraged. Viet Nam is, more than ever, in desperate need of those who think outside the box. Time for us to recognise talent, no matter where it comes from or how.
5. The word “them” in paragraph 3 refers to _________________.

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Long life expectancy can be attributed to a person’s diet - a healthy, balanced diet has been proven to improve longevity. Experts recommend eating at least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables every day, basing meals on higher starchy foods like potatoes, bread and rice, having some dairy or dairy alternatives, eating some protein, choosing unsaturated oils and spreads, and drinking plenty of fluids. But new research, published this week, has found the times of day a person eats holds the most benefits. Dr Mark Mattson, a professor of neuroscience at John Hopkins University School of Medicine, in the US, has said “intermittent fasting could be part of a healthy lifestyle.” Intermittent fasting diets usually involve daily time-restricted feeding, which narrows eating times to six to eight hours per day and so-called 5:2 intermittent fasting, in which people limit themselves to one moderate-sized meal two days each week. A range of human and animal studies have shown that alternating between times of fasting and eating supports cellular health, probably by triggering an age-old adaptation to periods of food scarcity called metabolic switching. Such a switch occurs when cells use up their stores of rapidly accessible, sugar-based fuel, and begin converting fat into energy in a slower metabolic process. Dr Mattson says studies have shown that this switch improves blood sugar regulation, increases resistance to stress and suppresses inflammation. Because most Americans eat three meals plus snacks each day, they do not experience the switch, or the suggested benefits. In an article in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr Mattson said four studies in both animals and people found intermittent fasting also decreased blood pressure, blood lipid levels and resting heart rates.  
1. Which best serves as the title for the passage? 

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

 Read the following passage and then choose the best answer.

Communication in general is process of sending and receiving messages that enables humans to share knowledge, attitudes, and skills. Although we usually identify communication with speech, communication is composed of two dimensions - verbal and nonverbal.

Nonverbal communication has been defined as communication without words. It includes apparent behaviors such as facial expressions, eyes, touching, tone of voice, as well as less obvious messages such as dress, posture and spatial distance between two or more people.

Activity or inactivity, words or silence all have message value: they influence others and these others, in turn, respond to these communications and thus they are communicating.

Commonly, nonverbal communication is learned shortly after birth and practiced and refined throughout a person's lifetime. Children first learn nonverbal expressions by watching and imitating, much as they learn verbal skills.

Young children know far more than they can verbalize and are generally more adept at reading nonverbal cues than adults are because of their limited verbal skills and their recent reliance on the nonverbal to communicate. As children develop verbal skills, nonverbal channels of communication do not cease to exist although become entwined in the total communication process.

Which is not included in nonverbal communication?

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
While many behaviors and practices associated with going green are designed to save  money, there are certain ways in which green living can actually be moderately to very expensive. Much of the technology associated with green living (1) ____________ provide benefits to the environment but often at a much higher cost than their traditional counterparts. For instance, the use of solar panels can potentially save you money on your energy bills, but they can (2) ______________ thousands of dollars to install. Energy-efficient appliances are designed to use less electricity and water but they often come with a high price tag.  Going green can also potentially have a negative effect on the environment. For (3) __________, the development of alternative fuels is an innovation in the green movement in an effort to reduce reliance on (4) ___________ natural resources. While these fuels are intended to reduce the toxic emissions caused by the burning of traditional gasoline, they may have unintentionally caused the opposite effect. One of these alternative fuels, E85, actually (5) ___________ more ozone into the atmosphere than traditional fuel. While ozone is a natural part of the Earth’s upper atmosphere, if it becomes concentrated in the lower atmosphere, it can potentially increase air pollution in areas where smog is a concern, which can in turn impact the health of those living in these areas