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   Earth is richly supplied with different types of living organisms which co-exist in their environments, forming complex, interrelated communities. Living organisms depend on one another for nutrients, shelter, and other benefits. The extinction of one species can set off a chain reaction that affects many other species, particularly if the loss occurs near the bottom of the food chain. For example, the extinction of a particular insect or plant might seem inconsequential. However, there may be fish or small animals that depend on that resource for foodstuffs. The loss can threaten the survival of these creatures and larger predators that prey upon them. Extinction can have a ripple effect that spreads throughout nature.

   In addition to its biological consequences, extinction poses a moral dilemma for humans, the only species capable of saving the others. The presence of humans on the planet has affected all other life forms, particularly plants and animals. Human lifestyles have proven to be incompatible with the survival of some other species. Purposeful efforts have been made to eliminate animals that prey on people, livestock, crops, or pose any threat to human livelihoods. Some wild animals have been decimated by human desire for meat, hides, fur, or other body parts with commercial value. Likewise, demand for land, water, and other natural resources has left many wild plants and animals with little to no suitable habitat. Humans have also affected nature by introducing non-native species to local areas and producing pollutants having a negative impact on the environment. The combination of these human-related effects and natural obstacles such as disease or low birthrates has proven to be too much for some species to overcome. They have no chance of survival without human help.

   As a result, societies have difficult choices to make about the amount of effort and money they are willing to spend to save imperiled species. Will people accept limits on their property rights, recreational activities, and means of livelihood to save a plant or an animal? Should saving such popular species as whales and dolphins take priority over saving obscure, annoying, or fearful species? Is it the responsibility of humans to save every kind of life form from disappearing, or is extinction an inevitable part of nature, in which the strong survive and the weak perish? These are some difficult questions that people face as they ponder the fate of other species living on this planet.

In paragraph 2, non-native species are mentioned as ______.

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Glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising, and cloud forests are dying. More alarmingly, wildlife is scrambling to keep (1) ________. It's becoming clear that humans have caused most of the past century's warming by (2) _________ heat-trapping gases as we power our modern lives. Called greenhouse gases, their levels are higher now than in the last 650,000 years.
We call the result global warming, but it is causing a set of changes to the Earth's climate, or long-term weather patterns, that varies from place to place. As the Earth spins each day, the new heat swirls with it, (3) __________ up moisture over the oceans, rising here, settling there. It's changing the rhythms of climate that all living things have come to rely upon.
What will we do to slow this warming? How will we cope (4) ____ the changes we've already set into (5) ________? While we struggle to figure it all out, the face of the Earth as we know it-coasts, forests, farms and snow-capped mountains-hangs in the balance. 

(1).......

American movies create myths about college life in the United States. These stories are entertaining, but they are not true. You have to look beyond Hollywood movies to understand what college is really like.
Thanks to the movies, many people believe that college students party and socialize more than they study. Movies almost never show students working hard in class or in the library. Instead, movies show them eating, talking, hanging out, or dancing to loud music at wild parties. While it is true that American students have the freedom to participate in activities, they also have academic responsibilities. In order to succeed, they have to attend classes and study hard.
Another movie myth is that athletics is the only important extracurricular activity. In fact, there is a wide variety of nonacademic activities on campus such as special clubs, service organizations, art, and theater programs. This variety allows students to choose what interests them. Even more important, after graduation, students’ résumés look better to employers if they list a few extracurricular activities.
Most students in the movies can easily afford higher education. If only this were true! While it is true that some American college students are wealthy, most are from families with moderate incomes. Up to 80% of them get some type of financial aid. Students from middle and lower- income families often work part-time throughout their college years. There is one thing that many college students have in common, but it is not something you will see in the movies. They have parents who think higher education is a priority, a necessary and important part of their children's lives.
Movies about college life usually have characters that are extreme in some way: super athletic, super intelligent, super wealthy, super glamorous, etc. Movies use these stereotypes, along with other myths of romance and adventure because audiences like going to movies that include these elements. Of course, real college students are not like movie characters at all.
So the next time you want a taste of the college experience, do not go to the movies. Look at some college websites or brochures instead. Take a walk around your local college campus. Visit a few classes. True, you may not be able to see the same people or exciting action you will see in the movies, but you can be sure that there are plenty of academic adventures going on all around you!

Which of the following is NOT true?

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

What is the result of Eukhtuul's operation?

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Almost all living things ultimately get their energy from the sun. In a process called photosynthesis, plants, algae, and some other organisms capture the sun's energy and use it to make simple sugars such as glucose. Most other organisms use these organic molecules as a source of energy. Organic materials contain a tremendous amount of energy. As food, they fuel our bodies and those of most other creatures. In such forms as oil, gas, and coal, they heat our homes, run our factories and power our cars.
Photosynthesis begins when solar energy is absorbed by chemicals called photosynthetic pigments that are contained within an organism. The most common photosynthetic pigment is chlorophyll. The bright green color characteristic of plants is caused by it. Most algae have additional pigments that may mask the green chlorophyll. Because of these pigments, algae may be not only green but brown, red, blue or even black.
In a series of enzyme-controlled reactions, the solar energy captured by chlorophyll and other pigments is used to make simple sugars, with carbon dioxide and water as the raw materials. Carbon dioxide is one of very few carbon- containing molecules not considered to be organic compounds. Photosynthesis then converts carbon from an inorganic to an organic form. This is called carbon fixation. In this process, the solar energy that was absorbed by chlorophyll is stored as chemical energy in the form of simple sugars like glucose. The glucose is then used to make other organic compounds. In addition, photosynthesis produces oxygen gas. All the oxygen gas on earth, both in the atmosphere we breathe and in the ocean, was produced by photosynthetic organisms. Photosynthesis constantly replenishes the earth's oxygen supply.
Organisms that are capable of photosynthesis can obtain all the energy they need from sunlight and do not need to eat. They are called autotrophs. Plants are the most familiar autotrophs on land. In the ocean, algae and bacteria are the most important autotrophs. Many organisms cannot produce their own food and must obtain energy by eating organic matter. These are called heterotrophs.

The word “fuel” is similar in meaning to     .

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Millions of people tune into the weather forecast each evening on televisions. Most of them imagine that the presenter does little more than arrive at the studio a few minutes before the broadcast, read the weather, and then go home.
In fact, this imagine is far from the truth. The two-minute bulletin which we all rely on when we need to know tomorrow’s weather is the result of a hard day’s work by the presenter, who is actually a highly-qualified meteorologist.
Every morning after arriving at the TV studios, the first task of the days is to collect the latest data from the national Meteorological Office. This office provides up-to-the- minute information about weather conditions throughout the day, both in Britain and around the world. The information is very detailed and includes predictions, satellite and radar pictures, as well as more technical data. After gathering all the relevant material from this office, the forecaster has to translate the scientific terminology and maps into images and word which viewers can easily understand.
The final broadcast is then carefully planned. It is prepared in the same way as other programmes. The presenter decides what to say and in what order to say it. Next, a “story board” is drawn up which lay out the script word for word. What make a weather forecast more complicated than other programmes are the maps and electronic images which are required. The computer has to be programmed so that the pictures appear in the correct order during the bulletin.
The time allocated for each broadcast can also alter. This is because the weather report is screened after the news, which can vary in length. The weather forecaster doesn’t always know how much time is available, which means that he/ she has to be thoroughly prepared so that the material can be adapted to the time available.
Another related complication is that the weather forecast has to be a live broadcast; it cannot be pre- recorded. Live shows are very nerve- racking for the presenter because almost anything can go wrong. Perhaps the most worrying aspect for every weather
forecaster is getting the following day’s predictions wrong. Unfortunately for them this is not an unusual occurrence; the weather is not always possible to predict accurately.
The weather is a national obsession in Britain, Perhaps because it is so changeable. It’s the national talking point, and most people watch at least one daily bulletin. It can be mortifying for a weather man or woman who has predicted rain for the morning to wake up to brilliant sunshine. These days, a weather forecaster’s job is even more complicated because they are replied upon to predict other environmental conditions. For example, in the summer the weather forecast has to include the pollen count for hay fever sufferers. Some also include reports on ultraviolet radiation intensity to help people avoid sunburn.
The job of the weather forecaster is certainly far more complicated than just pointing at a map and describing weather conditions. It’s a job for professionals who can cope with stressful and demanding conditions.

Weather forecasters have to know the material well because

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      In the early 1800s, less than 3% of the world's population lived in cities; today, more than half of the global population is urban and by 2050, the proportion will rise to three quarters. There are thousands of small and medium-sized cities along with more than 30 megacities and sprawling, networked metropolitan areas with 15 million residents or more. Yet despite these massive transformations in how people live and interact, our international affairs are still largely dictated by national states, not cities.
       Cities are beginning to flex their muscles on the international stage. They are already displacing nation states as the central nodes of the global economy, generating close to 80% of global GDP. Cities like New York and Tokyo are bigger in GDP terms than many G-20 countries. Metropolitan regions and special economic zones are linking global cities through transnational supply chains. A growing number of mega-regions, such as those linking cities in Mexico and the U.S., transcend borders. In the process, cities are collectively forging common regional plans, trading partnerships, and infrastructure corridors.
      The spectacular rise of cities did not happen by accident. Cities channel creativity, connect human capital, and when well governed, they drive growth. That many cities and their residents are rolling up their sleeves and getting things done - where nations have failed - are grounds for optimism. In the future, we hope that it is our proximate, accountable, and empowered city leaders who will define our fates. 

Would the following sentence best be placed at the end of which paragraph? This is neither fair nor rational.

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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 co-author 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.

The word “they” in the last paragraph refers to     .

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Some people return to college as mature students and take full- or part-time training courses in a skill will help them to get a job. The development of open learning, (1)................. it possible to study when it is convenient for the students, has increased the opportunities available (2)................. many people. Thistype of study was formerly restricted to book-based learning and (3) ................. course but now includes courses on TV, CD-ROM or the Internet, and self-access courses at language or computer centers.
Americans believe that education is important at all stage of life and should not stop (4)  ................. people get their first job. About 40% of adults take part in some kind of formal education. About half of them are trying to get qualifications and skills to help them with their jobs, the (5)................. are taking recreational subjects for personal satisfaction. Schools and community colleges arrange evening classes, and a catalog of courses is published by local boards of education.

About half of them are trying to get qualifications and skills to help them with their jobs, the (5)................. are taking recreational subjects for personal satisfaction

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Good press photographer must have an ‘eye’ for news, just as journalists must have a nose for a good story. They must be able to interpret a story and decide rapidly how they can take advantage (1)......the best opportunities to take picture. The most difficult part of a press photographer’s job is that he or  she  has  to  be  able to (2)....... a complicated situation with just one photograph. They rarely have second chances and must be able to take the required shot very quickly. Indeed, speed is essential- if the photographs are not ready for the printing deadline, they are very unlikely to be of any use.
Most press photographers begin work with a local newspaper. There, the demand is mostly for material of regional interest. Photographers may be expected to photograph a lot of unexciting events but to (3).....the enthusiasm to put ‘something special’ into every picture.
There is (4)........competition  among those (5)......... want to move from local to national newspapers. Here, the work is much more centered on news. The photographer must work under greater pressure and take more responsibility. Only highly reliable, talented and resourceful photographers make this difficult move. The work is tough and can be dangerous. On an overseas assignment, photographers may have to cope with unfamiliar food and accommodation, physical and mental stress, and extreme difficulty in transporting the pictures from an isolated area to get to the newspaper on time. They also have to beat the competition from other publications.
(5)........................
 

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Grandparents are becoming the forgotten generation, with youngsters now too busy to listen to their stories from the olden days.
A study of 1,000 five to 18 year-olds reveals just 21 per cent will visit their older relatives to hear about how their lives were different in the  past; such as  where they worked, how it was living in the war, and how they met the love of their life. More than half of youths have no idea what job their grandparent did before retirement - admitting they'd never thought to ask. Sadly, one in 10 admitted they are simply not interested in their grandmother's or grandad's previous job or talents and interests, and a quarter only turn up to see  them for pocket money. But 23 per cent claim the reason they don't know  anything about their older relatives is  because they don't really get  the chance to talk properly.
Geoff Bates, spokesman for McCarthy 8/. Stone's Inspirational Generation campaign, said: We know this generation have lived full lives with heroic tales to tell and so much to offer, but how many  of us have actually thought to ask these questions of our older family members? We want to shout about the amazing feats retirees have achieved in their lifetime and put the spotlight on the wonderfully colorful lives of today's older people. We are calling on parents and children to talk to   their grandparents, to find out what they have done in their lives - and continue to do, and tell us all about it so we can give them the credit they deserve."
Researchers found that although 65 per cent of youngsters do see their grandparents every single week, 37 per cent claim this is only because their parents want them to. And while 39 per cent talk to their grandparents on the phone, Facebook or Skype at least once a week -  16  per cent once a day - conversation is rarely focused on what they are doing or have done in  the past.  Four in 10 kids have no idea what their grandparents proudest achievements are, while 30 per cent don't know if they have any special skills or talents. And 42 per cent don't spend any time talking about their grandparent's history -and are therefore clueless about what their grandmother or grandad was like when they were younger. Perhaps due to this lack of communication and respect, just six per cent of children say they look up to their grandparents as a role model and inspiration. However, grandchildren are agreed their grandparents are both loving and friendly, while 43 per cent think they're funny - with 23 per cent admitting they often have more fun with their elderly relatives than their parents.

According to the study in paragraph 2, which information is NOT true?

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After winter months, the days become longer, the buds (1)........ in the trees, birds sing, and the world (2) ...........a  green  dress.  Spring passes (3)........ summer. Everyone knows that summer will not (4)............. . The power of all the wisest men and women in the world cannot keep it for us. The com becomes ripe, the leaves turn brown and then drop to the ground, (5)......... the world changes its green dress for a dress of autumn colors.
(4)...........................

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Educating children at home as an alternative to formal education is an option chosen by families in many parts of the world. The homeschooling movement is popular in the United States, where close to one million Children are educated at home. In Canada, 1 percent of school-age children are homeschooled, and the idea also enjoys growing popularity in Australia, where 20,000 families homeschool their children. The movement is not limited to these countries. Homeschooling families can be found all over the world, from Japan to Taiwan to Argentina to South Africa.
Homeschooling is not a novel idea. In fact, the idea of sending children to spend most of their day away from home at a formal school is a relatively new custom. In the United States, for example, it was not until the latter part of the nineteenth century that state governments began making school attendance compulsory. Before that, the concept of a formal education was not so widespread. Children learned the skills they would need for adult life at home from tutors or their parents, through formal instruction or by working side by side with the adults of the family.
In the modern developed world, where the vast majority of children attend school, families choose homeschooling for a variety of reasons. For people who live in remote areas, such as the Australian outback or the Alaskan Wilderness, homeschooling may be their only option. Children who have exceptional talents in the arts or other areas may be homeschooled so that they have more time to devote to their special interests. Much of the homeschooling movement is made up of families who, for various reasons, are dissatisfied with the schools available to them. They may have a differing educational philosophy, they may be concerned about the safety of the school environment, or they may feel that the local schools cannot adequately address their children's educational needs. Although most families continue to choose a traditional classroom education for their children, homeschooling as an alternative educational option is becoming more popular.

What does the author mean in the last sentence?

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Urban populations interact with their environment. Urban people change their  environment through their consumption of Food, energy, water, and land. And in turn, the polluted urban environment affects the health and quality of life of the urban population. People who live in urban areas have very different consumption patterns than residents in rural areas. For example, urban populations consume much more food, energy, and durable goods than rural populations. In China during the 1970s, the urban populations consumed twice as much pork as the rural populations who were raising the pigs. With economic development,  the difference  in  consumption declined as the rural populations ate better diets. But even a decade later, urban populations had 60 percent more pork in their diets than rural populations. The increasing consumption of meat is a sign of growing affluence in Beijing; in India where  many  urban  residents are vegetarians, greater prosperity is seen in higher consumption of milk.
Urban populations not only consume more food, but they also consume more durable goods, In the early 1990s, Chinese households in urban areas were two times more likely to have a   TV, eight times more likely to have a washing machine, and 25 times more likely to have a refrigerator than rural households. This increased consumption is a function of urban labor markets, wages, and household structure.
Urban consumption of energy helps create heat islands that can change local weather patterns and weather downwind from the heat islands. The heat  island  phenomenon is created because cities radiate heat back into the atmosphere at rate 15 percent to 30 percent less than rural areas. The combination of the increased energy consumption and difference in albedo (radiation) means that cities are warmer than rural areas (0.6 to 1.3 C), And these heat islands become traps for  atmospheric pollutants. Cloudiness and fog occur with greater frequency. Precipitation is 5 percent to 10 percent higher in cities; thunderstorms and hailstorms are much  more frequent, but snow days in cities are less common.
Urbanization also affects the broader regional environments. Regions  downwind  from  large industrial complexes also see increases in the amount of precipitation, air pollution, and the number of days with thunderstorms. Urban areas affect not only the weather patterns, but also the runoff patterns for water. Urban areas generally generate more rain, but they reduce the infiltration of water and lower the water tables. This means that runoff occurs more rapidly with greater peak flows. Flood volumes increase, as do floods and water pollution downstream.
Many of the effects of urban areas on the environment are not necessarily linear. Bigger  urban areas do not always create more environmental problems. And small urban areas can cause large problems. Much of what determines the extent of the environmental impacts is how the urban populations behave - their consumption and living patterns - not just how large they are.

In which paragraph does the writer mention the temperature in urban areas  is  higher than that of rural ones?

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By mid-century, there will likely be 9 billion people on the planet, consuming ever more resources and leading ever more technologically complex lives. What will our cities be like? How much will artificial intelligence advance? Will global warming trigger catastrophic changes, or will we be able to engineer our way out of the climate change crisis?
Making predictions is, by nature, a dicey business, but to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Smithsonian magazine Big Think asked top minds from a variety of fields to weigh in on what the future holds 40 years from now. The result is our latest special series, Life in 20 50. Demographic changes in world population and population growth will certainly be dramatic. Rockefeller University mathematical biologist Joel Cohen says it's likely that by 2050 the majority of the people in the world will live in urban areas, and will have a significantly higher average age than people today. Cities theorist Richard Florida thinks urbanization trends will reinvent the education system of the United States, making our economy less real estate driven and erasing the divisions between home and work.
Large migrations from developing countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Mexico, and countries in the Middle East could disrupt western governments and harm the unity of France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, and the United Kingdom under the umbrella of the European Union.
And rapidly advancing technology will continue ever more rapidly. According to Bill Mitchell, the late director of MIT's Smart Cities research group, cities of the future won't look like "some sort of science -fiction fantasy" or "Star Trek" but it's likely that "discreet, unobtrusive" technological advances and information overlays, i.e. virtual reality and augmented reality, will change how we live in significant ways. Self-driving cars will make the roads safer, driving more efficient, and provide faster transports. A larger version of driverless cars-driverless trucks-may make long haul drivers obsolete.
Meanwhile, the Internet will continue to radically transform media, destroying the traditional model of what a news organization is, says author and former New York Times Public Editor, Daniel Okrent, who believes the most common kinds of news organizations in the future will be "individuals and small alliances of individuals” reporting and publishing on niche topics.

Which of the following predictions in paragraph 2 is NOT true?

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According to research conducted in the US, adult learners are the fastest growing segment of the population (1) _________ lifelong learning. The reason behind this trend is the fact that many professionals are beginning to realize that to remain competitive in the ever-changing world of business they need to stay current and (2) ________.
The markets and the economy are changing at a fast pace, and this means that anyone interested (3) ____ career development needs to be able to keep up. This is especially important since recent graduates will constantly (4) _________ your position as they will be more up-to-date with the changes in the industry.
And it's not as simple as learning a few computer skills here and there. For professionals across all industries to remain current they should closely follow trends and seek to provide depth in their industry knowledge. (5) _________, according to Scott Brinker, a marketing expert, marketers should have started learning to program since the turn of the decade. 

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

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks.
The first question we might ask is: What can you learn in college that will help you in being an employee?  The  schools teach (1)......... many things of value to the future accountant, doctor or electrician. Do they also teach anything of value to the future employee? Yes, they teach the one thing that it is perhaps most valuable for the future employee to know. But very few students bother to learn it. This basic skill is the ability to organize and express ideas in writing and in speaking. This means that your success as an employee will depend on your ability to communicate with people and to (2).......... your own thoughts and ideas to  them so  they  will (3).......... understand what you are driving at and be persuaded.
Of course, skill in expression is not enough by itself. You must have something to say in the first place. The effectiveness of your job depends much on your ability to make other people understand your work as they do on the quality of the work itself.
Expressing  one's  thoughts  is   one   skill  that   the   school  can  (4)......... teach. The foundations for skill in expression have to be laidearly: an interest in and an ear (5)........... language; experience in organizing ideas and data, in brushing aside the irrelevant, and above all the habit of verbal expression. If you do not lay these foundations during your school years, you may never have an opportunity again.
(2)....................................

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Have you ever thought about inventing something? Did you worry that your idea was too strange or unrealistic? Well, maybe you should think again. Strange or unrealistic ideas never stopped Arthur Pedrick. Pedrick was a British inventor. Originally a government clerk, he spent his retirement in the 1960s and 1970s developing new and unusual ideas. Some of these ideas contradicted basic physics, but that didn’t stop Pedrick. One of his strangest ideas was a plan to connect large tubes from the continent of Australia all the way to Antarctica, a distance of 10,000 km! These tubes would carry giant ice balls from Antarctica to Australia. This ice would then melt in the Australian desert, and the water would be used in irrigation. Another of Pedrick’s inventions was a radio-controlled golf ball. A golfer could change the speed and direction of the golf ball by small flaps, controlled by computer chips. Using radio waves, the golfer could also find lost golf balls. Arthur Pedrick had thousands of bizarre ideas for inventions, most of which were never built.
Though many of Pedrick’s inventions were never developed, a lot of other strange ideas were. In 1989, a company designed and sold a theft-prevention device for expensive cars. As part of this device, several tubes were attached to the bottom of a car. If someone tried to steal the car, super hot flames would come out of the tubes and burn the car thief. Some people who were not thieves, however, were seriously injured. They accidentally set off the device by walking past the car. Other strange inventions include underwear for dogs and pens with drinkable ink. The underwear keeps dogs from making a mess when they go out for a walk. Also, if you are ever thirsty during a test, a pen with drinkable ink would be very handy! If you have an idea that seems a little out in left field, don’t let that stop you from trying it. You’ll be in good company.

The words “out in left field” in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to     .

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Expanding the planet's protected natural areas to safeguard vanishing forests and other ecosystems, and the species they protect, is unlikely to be effective on its own as human encroachment into reserves grows, scientists warned Tuesday. A study by Cambridge University researchers, which looked at thousands of conservation areas in more than 150 countries, found that, on average, protected designation is not reducing human encroachment in vulnerable areas. Both chronic underfunding of efforts to protect the land, and a lack of engagement with local communities that live there are hurting conservation efforts, they found.
Creating protected areas is "a type of intervention that we know can work, we know is absolutely essential for conserving biodiversity, at a time in this world's history where it has never been under higher pressure," said lead author Jonas Geldmann. "But despite that we are seeing that some of our protected areas are not managing to mitigate or stop that increasing pressure," said Geldmann, of the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute.
One-sixth of the globe now falls within protected areas, the study noted. Those include national parks, nature reserves and wilderness areas, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's World Database on Protected Areas. Such protected areas are vital for preserving diverse ecosystems, and helping to curb climate change by conserving carbon-sequestering forests and other vegetation. The United Nations Environment Program estimates protected areas hold 15% of the carbon stored on land.
"Protected areas are one of the most important things that we can do to stem the loss of biodiversity and to help solve the climate crisis," said Andrew Wetzler, managing director of the U.S.-based Natural Resources Defense Council's nature program. "The destruction of natural habitat is the single biggest driver of extinction."

The word “it” in paragraph 2 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 questions:
Vietnam’s population is ageing quickly. In 2017, more than 10 per cent of the population will be 60 and older, and in 15-20 years the elderly will account for one third of the total population. This raises concerns about healthcare, welfare and pensions for the elderly at a time when Vietnam is focusing on economic integration and requires a large labor force. So far two solutions have been proposed: to loosen the two-child policy and to increase the retirement age to 58 for women and 62 for men. By ending the two-child policy the government expects to make up for the ageing population within the next 20
years. But its effect could be creating an uncontrollable boom in the Vietnamese population. When the government loosened the two-child policy in 2015 in a trial period, in the first 6 months of 2016 the third child birth rate increased remarkably by 7.5 per cent
Raising the retirement age has been proposed by the Ministry of Labor pending parliamentary evaluation in May 2017. While the policy is beneficial in utilizing the work experience of the elderly while creating savings in the pension budget, it also means fewer job prospects and promotion opportunities for younger generations. It is also not in the interest of all the elderly, especially the 70 per cent of Vietnam's labor force working in manual labor-intensive sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing and construction where working above the age of 50 can be dangerous and unproductive. Despite these drawbacks, raising the retirement age is still considered by policymakers as one of the key solutions to the ageing population problem in Vietnam. However, these are only temporary solutions.

Which statement is probably TRUE according to the information in the paragraph 1?

 Choose the word or phrase among A, B, C or D that best fits the blank space in the following passage:

"Around the age of eighteen, you must make one of the biggest decisions of your life. “Do I stay on at school and hopefully go on to university (1)….. ? Do I leave and start work or beginning a training (2)…… ?”
 The decision is yours, but it may be (3)…… remembering two things: there is more unemployment (4)….. people who haven’t been to university, and people who have the right (5)….. will have a big advantage in the competition for jobs. If you decide to go (6)…. into a job, there are many opportunities for training.
Getting qualifications will (7)…… you to get on more quickly in many careers, and evening classes allow you to learn (8)…. you earn. Starting work and taking a break to study when you are older is (9)…. possibility. This way, you can save up money for your student days, as well as (10)…. practical work experience."

5. and people who have the right (5)….. will have a big advantage in the competition for jobs.