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:
It is often the case with folktales that they develop from actual happenings but in their development lose much of their factual base; the story of Pocahontas quite possibly fits into this category of folktale. This princess of the Powhatan tribe was firmly established in the lore of early America and has been made even more famous by the Disney film based on the folktale that arose from her life. She was a real-life person, but the actual story of her life most probably different considerably from the folktale and the movie based on the folktale. Powhatan, the chief of a confederacy of tribes in Virginia, had several daughters, none of whom was actually named Pocahontas. The nickname means “playful one,” and several of Powhatan’s daughters were called Pocahontas. The daughter of Powhatan who became the subject of the folktale was named Matoaka. What has been verified about Matoaka, or Pocahontas as she has come to be known, is that she did marry an Englishman and that she did spend time in England before she died there at a young age. In the spring of 1613, a young Pocahontas was captured by the English and taken into Jamestown. There she was treated with courtesy as the daughter of chief Powhatan. While Pocahontas was at Jamestown, English gentlemen John Rolfe fell in love with her and asked her to marry. Both the governor of the Jamestown colony and Pocahontas’s father Powhatan approved the marriage as a means of securing peace between Powhatan’s tribe and the English at Jamestown. In 1616, Pocahontas accompanied her new husband to England, where she was royally received. Shortly before her planned return to Virginia in 1617, she contracted an illness and died rather suddenly.
A major part of the folktale of Pocahontas that is unverified concerns her love for English Captain John Smith is the period of time before her capture by the British and her rescue of him from almost certain death. Captain John Smith was indeed at the colony of Jamestown and was acquainted with Powhatan and his daughters, he even described meeting them in 1612 journal. However, the story of his rescue by the young maiden did not appear in his writing until 1624, well after Pocahontas had aroused widespread interest in England by her marriage to an English gentlemen and her visit to England. It is the discrepancy in dates that has caused some historians to doubt the veracity of the tale. However, other historians do argue quite persuasively that this incident did truly take place.aa

Why are some historians doubtful about the portion of the Pocahontas folktale dealing with John Smith?

Choose the best answer: 
It is often considered that the schoolyard is where bullies go to make other kids a miserable school life, but a new study suggests that classrooms are another popular place.
    The study, presented recently at the American Public Health Association’s yearly meeting in Philadelphia, is based on the results of the research from more than 10,000 middle school students who answered questions online.
    Of those researched, 43% said they’d been physically bullied within the last month. A bit more than half said they had been laughed at in an unfriendly way, and half reported being called hurtful names. About one third said groups had excluded them to hurt their feelings. 28% said their belongings had been taken or broken; 21% said someone had threatened to hurt them. According to the results, two-thirds of the students said they had been bullied in more than one way over the previous month.
 The study authors mentioned that 8% of the students who answered said they had missed school at least once during the school year because of fear of being bullied, 25% said they had taken other actions, such as missing recess, not going to the bathroom or lunch, missing classes, or staying away from some area of the school to escape from experiencing a bully. Bullies did too much to the school life.
Question 30. Which of the following might some students do to protect themselves from bullies?

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In young language learners, there is a critical period of time beyond which it becomes increasingly difficult to acquire a language. Children generally attain proficiency in their first language by the age of five and continue in a state of relative linguistic plasticity until puberty. [A] Neurolinguistic research has singled out the lateralization of the brain as the reason for this dramatic change from fluidity to rigidity in language function. Lateralization is the process by which the brain hemispheres become dominant for different tasks. The right hemisphere of the brain controls emotions and social functions, whereas the left hemisphere regulates the control of analytical functions, intelligence, and logic. [B] For the majority of adults, language functions are dominant on the left side of the brain. [C] Numerous studies have demonstrated that it is nearly impossible to attain a nativelike accent in a second language, though some adults have overcome the odds, after lateralization is complete. [D]
Cognitive development also affects language acquisition, but in this case adult learners may have some advantages over child learners. Small children tend to have a very concrete, here- and-now view of the world around them, but at puberty, about the time that lateralization is complete, people become capable of abstract thinking, which is particularly useful for language. Generally speaking, adults can profit from grammatical explanations, whereas children cannot. This is evidenced by the fact that children are rather unreceptive to correction of grammatical features and instead tend to focus on the meaning of  an utterance rather than its form. However, language learning theory suggests that for both adults and children, optimal language acquisition occurs in a meaning centered context. Though children have the edge over adult language learners with respect to attaining a nativelike pronunciation, adults clearly have an intellectual advantage which greatly facilitates language learning.

The word “unreceptive” 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 word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks .
A recent (1)....... of a language learning magazine has consulted a number of experts in the field of second language acquisition. Their advice may prove invaluable for those considering a language course. One suggestion is that you access whether you are likely to be successful (2)........ learning a language. Did you enjoy studying language at school, for example? Do you have enough time to learn a language ? The major cost will be your own time and effort. Therefore, you must make sure that course on  offer  leads  to  a  recognized  qualification.  Also,  be  realistic  in your (3).......... If you don’t set achievable aims, you are more likely to give up. Don’t be deceived into thinking that the most expensive courses are the best. Shop around to get the best possible value for money. You should also bear in your mind that the quicker you learn a language, the more quickly you forget it. Sandra Miller, a French teacher, tried to teach herself German by enrolling on a crash course. Already fluent in four languages and with a sound knowledge of teaching methodology her chances of (4)........ progress were high. Three years on she remembers very little. She feels her biggest mistake was not to follow up her first experience.  "I  think  the  teacher’s  role  is  important.  It's  so  nice  to  have  somebody  give  you  a/an (5) ........... ”.
(4)................................
 

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:
Neil Armstrong started flying at an early age. He became interested in airplanes at the age of 2. At 15, he took flying lessons. He got a license to fly at 16. He learned how to fly before he learned how to drive a car. At university, he studied aeronautical engineering. This is the study of designing and making aircraft.
After Armstrong became an astronaut in 1962, he was trained for 4 years for the Apollo program. The Apollo mission was to put a man on the moon in ten years. On July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 landed on the moon. Because Armstrong was the leader, he became the first man to step on the moon. He said, "This is one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." He and his fellow astronaut, Buzz Aldrin, walked on the moon for two and a half hours. They collected rocks and did some experiments.

What is the main idea of 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:
Public holidays in the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as bank holidays, are days where most businesses and non – essential services are closed although an increasing number of retail businesses (especially the larger ones) do open on some of the public holidays. There are restrictions on trading on Sundays and Christmas Day. Four public holidays are common to all countries of the United Kingdom. These are: New Year's Day, the first Monday in May, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. Some banks open on some bank holidays. In Scotland, while New Year's Day and Christmas Day are national holidays, other bank holidays are not necessarily public holidays, since the Scots instead observe traditional local customs and practice for their public holidays. In Northern Ireland, once again, bank holidays other than New Year's
Day and Christmas Day are not necessarily public holidays. Good Friday and Christmas Day are common law holidays, except in Scotland, where they are bank holidays. In Scotland the holiday on 1 January (or 2 January if 1 January is Sunday) is statutory, and 25 December is also a statutory holiday (or 26 December if Christmas Day falls on a Sunday). Boxing Day is a holiday traditionally celebrated  the day following Christmas Day, when servants and tradesmen would receive gifts, known as a "Christmas box", from their bosses or employers. Today, Boxing Day is the bank holiday that generally takes place on 26 December. And 28 December only is given if Boxing Day is Saturday.
Like Denmark, the United Kingdom has no national day holiday marked or celebrated for its formal founding date. Increasingly, there are calls for public holidays on the patron saints' days in England, Scotland and Wales. An online petition sent to the Prime Minister received 11,000 signatures for a public holiday in Wales on St. David's Day; the Scottish Parliament has passed a bill creating a public holiday  on St. Andrew's Day although it must be taken in place of another public holiday; campaigners in England are calling for a bank holiday on St. George's Day; and in Cornwall, there are calls for a public holiday on St. Piran's Day.

Which place has made a patron saint’s day a holiday?

The Robots Are Doing the Thinking

Some robots may take care of the dishes, do your laundry, keep the house clean, or even go to the store to do your shopping. Robots that use artificial intelligence are the ones that a lot of people are holding out for. Not only will these robots be able to take care of (1)__________, but they will be able to learn as well.

There are some types of robots that already use a form of artificial intelligence called “swarm intelligence”. As a(n) (2)___________ of how this works, scientists have created underwater robots that will be used to repair coral reefs that have been damaged. What these robots do is work together to rebuild damaged reefs. As they (3)__________, each one knows what has been done in one area of a reef and can help build other areas or build onto something that another robot has done. Working together, the robots create a new reef that can then be (4)__________ to grow and thrive on its own.

Amazon, the major electronic commerce company, has recently come (5)_________ an ingenious idea. Instead of having a package delivered to a customer via delivery truck, Amazon will send out flying drones that will bring a package to a person’s house for delivery almost immediately. 

(2)__________

Read the following passage and choose among A, B, C or D the correct answer to each of the questions.

There has been much debate over the past few decades concerning fears that nation will

lead to robots replacing human workers on a massive scale.

The increasing use of robotics, computers and artificial intelligence is a reality, but its full

implications are far from cut and dried. Some forecasts present the future in a utopian way,

claiming that robots will take over the tedious heavy work thus freeing up human time and

potential, allowing for more creativity and innovation,  the other end of spectrum are those who

foresee an employment apocalypse, predicting that almost fifty percent of all American jobs

could vanish within the next few decades. Former Microsoft chairman Bill Gates states that in 20

years robots could be in place in a number of job categories, particularly those at lower end of

the scale in terms of skills. The bottom line is that while the future is always uncertain, robots are a fixture of our society, which is not going to disappear. As with the Industrial Revolution, where machines were utilized in many tasks in place of manual laborers and social upheaval followed, the Digital Revolution is likely to place robots in various jobs. In spite of that, many of today's jobs were not in existence before the Industrial Revolution, such as those of programmers, engineers and data scientists. This leads other experts to criticize this alarmist approach of robot scare-mongering, which is invariably compared to the 19th -century "Luddites". This group was textile workers who feared being displaced by machines and resorted to violence, burning down factories and destroying industrial equipment - their rejection of inevitable progress has come to symbolize mindless ignorance.

Needless to say, exactly what new kinds of jobs might exist in the future is difficult to envision at present. Therefore, the crux of the issue is not whether jobs will be lost, but whether the creation of new vacancies will outpace the ever-increasing number of losses and what skills will be required in the future.

It is clearly not all doom and gloom, as demand for employees with skills in data analysis, coding, computer science, artificial intelligence and human-machine interface is rising and will continue to do so. Furthermore, the demand for skills in Jobs where humans surpass computers, such as those involving care, creativity and innovative craftmanship, are likely to increase considerably. Ultimately, the key lies in the adaptation of the workforces, through appropriate education and training, to keep pace with our world's technological progress.

What is the main idea of this article?

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:
The problem of cardiac arrest has become a major problem these days. A lot of patients have acute pain after suffering from a stroke. There are plenty of medicines, surgical methods developed in the field of medicine to treat such cardiac problems. These solutions are time consuming and costly. In the process of rehabilitation, the medicines also have a lot of side effects on the human body and take time to give relief. Therefore, a lot of people go for alternative therapies that help in rehabilitation of patients who suffer from cardiac stroke. The alternative therapies help in relieving pain, stress and make the body healthy and fit through exercise, yoga as well as meditation.
Those who have the cardiac complaint have to take a good care of their diet.
Also, they must look after their regular exercise in order to stay fit and make sure that they do not take undue stress. These are some of the precautions that you need to take while you are in the process of rehabilitation. The cardiac rehabilitation can be carried out at the rehabilitation centers as well as at the residence of the patients. Once the patient learns all the exercise and techniques of meditation and understands what diet he or she should include in their meals as the instructions of the doctor’s and dieticians, then it is possible to accomplish the rehabilitation process at home with little guidance and monitoring. But the best results are seen at the center, where the program is given to a group of patients together.
The alternative therapies used for cardiac rehabilitation are stress management, physical exercises and diet. Stress management is very much essential in the rehabilitation process because it has a lot of effects on the patient’s body. A lot of relaxation techniques are taught to the patients that helps them in stress management, among them meditation is one of the main focuses.
The various rehabilitation programs also give you information on how to have a stress free lifestyle. The patients are supported and encouraged to discuss their problems with the counselor or fellow patients. This helps them to vent their feelings and feel comforted. Breathing exercises are also of great help for the patients who are undergoing cardiac rehabilitation.
In addition to stress management, physical exercises are also given a lot of importance in the rehabilitation program. The patients are asked to perform various forms of physical exercise which are suitable to them depending on their age and the severity of their problems. These activities include activities like walking, jogging, cycling, and some other sports like badminton, tennis etc., to maintain their health and keep their muscles, bones, and body tissues in a good state. Cardio exercise in a gymnasium is also encouraged. This helps in strengthening the muscles and managing weight.
The diet of these patients also needs to be looked upon very carefully. Such people should stay away from alcohol and tobacco consumption in order to improve their health. Make sure that their meals include plenty of organic foodstuffs as well as fruits and juices. Do not include junk and oily foodstuffs in your diet because they are very difficult to digest. The intake of calories should also be done at required level. It is a significant fact that the patients have to understand and work accordingly.

Which is one of the main areas focused in the stress management program?

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   Becoming a teacher demands not only knowledge in an academic field but also a personal commitment to lifelong learning, and enthusiasm for sharing knowledge with other people. To become one of those noble educators in the USA, one has to satisfy several basic requirements.

   First and foremost, it is a prerequisite to have bachelor's degree in education. In the event that a candidate already has a bachelor's degree in another field, a teacher preparation program is needed. But that is not all. Almost every school in the USA understands that real classroom teaching experience is a vital part of a teacher's training. Before taking over a class, a person typically needs to complete a training program, including working as a supervised student teacher.

   People who want to become university teachers need master's degrees. Getting a master's degree is a necessity, but if it is gained too early, there may be concerns that the candidate lacks the real-world experience to go with it. In fact, very few schools want to hire novices with little or no classroom experience and even if they are accepted, they are usually ill-paid. One wise solution to the issue is for future post graduates to start working as teachers before going on to gain their master's degree.

   Besides knowledge and experience, certain personal qualities are also required. A teacher should be positive, prepared, focused, and most importantly, patient. Being a teacher involves being aware of the fact that learning sometimes be hard work, even for the most motivated students. Also, teaching can at times be tiring and frustrating, so teaching candidates have to practice being patient with themselves. In short, as in other careers, teaching requires a combination of qualifications, experience, and personal qualities. Teaching candidates meeting mandatory requirements are always in demand in the USA.

According to the text, the most important quality of a teacher is _______.

The attraction of gold is as old as history. Since ancient times, gold has been the object of dreams and obsessions. Western literature is full of characters who kill for gold or hoard it, from King Midas in the ancient Greek myths, to Fagin in Dickens' Oliver Twist. These characters go to evil extremes to get or keep their gold and they get the punishment they deserve. Most people would not be willing to go to such extremes, of course, but they would not question the assumption that gold has lasting value above and beyond any local currency. Societies change over time, customs and currencies evolve, but gold remains. A wedding ring, for example, must be gold, and so should any serious gift of jewelry. In fact, giving and wearing gold is still a mark of prestige in our post-industrial society, though gold is no longer valued as it used to be thousands of years ago.
Why is gold so valuable? True, it is shiny, durable, and rare, but it is far less useful than many other minerals or metals. It is also not like stock in a company, where the value of the stock depends on the performance of the company. Gold, on the contrary, like any currency, is valuable precisely because people believe it is valuable. That is, if people were willing to accept seashells for their labor and could use them to pay for food, fuel, and other commodities, then seashells would become a valuable currency. Thus, the value of gold depends on the collective belief that gold will continue to be valuable. As long as demand for gold remains steady, the price will hold steady; if demand is high, it will continue to increase in value. But if people should someday lose faith in gold, the price of gold could fall sharply.
Another factor that has affected the price of gold has been the increasing difficulty in acquiring it. Today, most of the gold left in the grounds is in microscopic pieces mixed with rock. To get it, miners must dig up tons and tons of rock, and then spray it with chemicals to separate out the gold. For one ounce of gold - a wedding ring, for example - the mine processes about 30 tons of rock. This is already a costly operation. But there are also hidden social and environmental costs. The mining and processing of gold is ruinous to the environment and to the health of people living nearby. Most of these mines are in poor regions where the people have had little voice in whether there should be mines and how the mines should be run. The large multinational mining companies simply bought the land and opened the mines. However, as people and governments begin to realize the extent of the damage caused by the mines, the situation might change.
Indeed, if the mining companies ever have to pay the full environmental and social costs of mining gold, the price of gold is likely to climb yet higher.

According to the passage, what is people’s behavior towards gold?

Read the following passage and choose the best answer for each blank.

Vietnam is considered a third world country, its people live (26) _____ poverty by the millions. After the (27) _____, Vietnam's economy remained dominated by small-scale production, low labor productivity, (28) _____, material and technological shortfalls, and insufficient food and (29) _____ goods. The Doi Moi reforms that were instated in 1986 have shed new light and added new features to the Vietnamese economy. (30) ____ Vietnamese Communist Party plays a leading role in establishing the foundations and principles of communism, mapping strategies for economic development, setting growth targets, and (31) _____ reforms. Doi Moi combined government planning with free-market incentives and (32) _____ the establishment of private businesses and foreign investment, including foreign-owned enterprises. By the late 1990s, the success of the business and agricultural reforms ushered in under Doi Moi was evident. (33) _____ than 30,000 private businesses had been created, and the economy was growing at an annual (34) _____ of more than 7 percent. Farming systems research and the international development projects are a source of new hope for the people of Vietnam. If these recent projects are successful and Doi Moi continues on its current path the Vietnamese people may (35) _____ a new standard of living. More reforms like Doi Moi need to take place in order to create a more stable Vietnamese future.

(30) _____

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The pain of a migraine headache can virtually disable a person who suffers from it. Millions and millions of people suffer from migraines, although many of them do not even recognize that a migraine is different from a regular headache. A migraine is not at all the same as a normal headache, and it seems to have a very physical cause.
One symptom of a migraine is a precursor, which is a visual aura before an attack. Yet only about a third of patients actually experience that, and it is therefore not a requirement in the diagnosis. Other symptoms include increased pain when a person moves, nausea, and sensitivity to light and sound. Scientists now believe that migraines are caused, not by abnormal blood vessels as previously believed, but instead by a unique electrical disorder of brain cells. Physicians used to treat migraines with medicine to constrict blood vessels because of the belief that dilated blood vessels were the cause.
The new research has been enhanced by imaging devices that allow scientists to watch patients' brains during an attack. The results show that sufferers have abnormally excitable neurons, or brain nerve cells. Prior to the attack, the neurons suddenly fire off electrical pulses at the back of the brain, which ripple like waves on a lake after a stone hits the water. They ripple across the top and then the back of the brain, ultimately affecting the brain stem where the pain centers are located. The pain then generates possibly from the brain stem itself or from blood vessels inflamed by the rapidly changing blood flow, or perhaps from both.
Scientists have experimented by applying a powerful magnet to stimulate the neurons and discovered that some people's brains react differently than others'. When stimulation was applied to the brains of people who had suffered migraines, they saw the initial aura, and some actually suffered migraines. When the same stimulation was applied to the brains of people who had never suffered migraines, they realized no effect and the neurons showed no change.
Scientists and doctors continue to work on the research in an attempt to find the perfect treatment. It is considered important to treat migraines because it is believed that prolonged untreated attacks could cause physical changes in the brain leading to chronic pain.

The best title for this passage would be what?

Iron production was revolutionized in the early eighteenth century when coke was first used instead of charcoal for refining iron ore. Previously the poor quality of the iron had restricted its use in architecture to items such as chains and tie bars for supporting arches, vaults, and walls. With the improvement in refining ore, it was now possible  to  make  cast-iron beams, columns, and girders. During the nineteenth century further advances were made, notably Bessemer’s process for converting iron into steel, which made the material more commercially viable.
Iron was rapidly adopted for the  construction  of  bridges,  because  its  strength was far greater  than that of stone or timber, but its use in the architecture of buildings developed more slowly. By 1800 a complete internal iron skeleton for buildings had been developed in industrial architecture replacing traditional timber beams, but it generally remained concealed. Apart from its low cost, the appeal of iron as a building material lay in its strength, its resistance to fire, and its potential to span vast areas. As a result, iron became increasingly popular as a structural material for more traditional styles of architecture during the nineteenth century, but it was invariably concealed.
Significantly, the use  of  exposed  iron  occurred  mainly  in  the  new  building types spawned by the Industrial Revolution: in factories, warehouses, commercial offices, exhibition hall, and railroad stations, where its  practical  advantages  far  outweighed  its  lack of status. Designers of the railroad stations of the new age explored the potential of iron, covering huge areas with spans that surpassed the great vaults of medieval churches and cathedrals. Paxton’s Crystal Palace, designed to house the Great Exhibition of 1851, covered an area of 1.848 feet by 408 feet in prefabricated units of glass set in iron frames. The Paris Exhibition of 1889 included both the widest span and the  greatest height achieved so far with the Halle Des Machines, spanning 362 feet, and the Eiffel Tower 1,000 feet high. However, these achievements were mocked by the artistic elite of Paris as expensive and ugly follies. Iron, despite its structural advantages, had little aesthetic status. The use of an exposed iron structure in the more traditional styles of architecture was slower to develop.

It can be inferred that the delayed use of exposed iron structures in traditional  styles  of architecture is best explained by the .............

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.
Loneliness is a curious thing. Most of us can remember feeling most lonely when we were not in fact alone at all, but when we were surrounded by people. Everyone has experienced, at some time, that utter sense of isolation that comes over you when you are at a party, in a room full of happy laughing people, or in an audience at a theatre or a lecture. It suddenly seems to you as if everybody knows everybody else, everybody is sure of himself, everybody knows what is going on; everybody, that is, except you. This feeling of loneliness which can overcome you when are in a crowd is very difficult to get rid of. People living alone - divorced, widowed or single people - are advised to tackle their loneliness by joining a club or society, by going out and meeting people. Does this really help? And what do you do if you are already surrounded by people? There are no easy solutions. Your first day at work, or at a new school or university, is a typical situation in which you are likely to feel lonely. You feel lonely because you feel left out of things. You feel that everybody else is full of confidence and knows what to do, but you are adrift and helpless. The fact of the matter is that, in order to survive, we all put on a show of self-confidence to hide our uncertainties and doubts. So it is wrong to assume that you are alone. In a big city it is particularly easy to get the feeling that everybody except you is leading a full, rich, busy life. Everybody is going somewhere, and you tend to assume that they are going somewhere nice and interesting, where they can find life and fulfilment. You are also going somewhere, and there is no reason at all to believe that your destination is any less, or, for that matter, any more exciting than the next man's. The trouble is that you may not be able to hide the fact that you are lonely, and the miserable look on your face might well put people off. After all, if you are at a party you are not likely to try to strike up a conversation with a person who has a gloomy expression on his face and his lips turned down at the comers. So trying to look reasonably cheerful is a good starting point in combating loneliness, even if you are choking inside. The next thing to avoid is finding yourself in a group where in fact you are a stranger, that is, in the sort of group where all the other people already know each other. There is a natural tendency for people to stick together, to form 'cliques'. You will do yourself no good by trying to establish yourself in a group which has so far managed to do very well without you. Groups generally resent intrusion, not because they dislike you personally, but because they have already had to work quite hard to turn the group into the functioning unit. To include you means having to go over a lot of ground again, so that you can learn their language, as it was, and get involved in their conversation at their level. Of course if you can offer something the group needs, such as expert information, you can get in quickly. In fact the surest way of getting to know others is to have an interest in common with them. There is no guarantee that you will then like each other, but at least part of your life will be taken up with sharing experiences with others. It is much better than always feeling alone. If all this seems to be a rather pessimistic view of life, you have to accept the fact that we are all alone when it comes down to it. When the most loving couple in the world kiss and say goodnight, as soon as the husband falls asleep, the wife realizes that she is alone, that her partner is as far away as if he were on another planet. But it is no cause for despair: there is always tomorrow.

The word “fulfilment” in the passage is closest meaning to.....................

No educational medium better as means of spatial communication than the atlas. Atlases deal with such invaluable information as population distribution and density. One of the best, Pennycooke's World Atlas, has been widely accepted as a standard owing to the quality of its maps and photographs, which not only show various settlements but also portray them in a variety of scales. In fact, the very first map in the atlas is a cleverly designed population cartogram that projects the size of each country if geographical size were proportional to population. Following the proportional layout, a sequence of smaller maps shows the world’s population density, each country’s birth and death rates, population increase or decrease, industrialization, urbanization, gross national product in terms of per capita income, the quality of medical care, literacy, and language. To give readers a perspective on how their own country fits in with the global view, additional projections depict the world's patterns in nutrition, calorie and protein consumption, health care, number of physicians per unit of population, and life expectancy by region. Population density maps on a subcontinental scale, as well as political maps. Convey the diverse demographic phenomena of the world in a broad array of scales.

Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks.
            Finding Beauty in the City
Cities are known to have lives of their own, and photographers are able to (1).............. some of it. Whether taking shots of people walking on a crowded street or time-lapse shots of cars driving at night, the (2).......photos can be breathtaking. Because many of the shots taken are of man-made objects like architecture, many emotions that come into (3)........ wouldn’t be found in nature photography. Photos can show the wonder of a child staring at a fountain as water shoots upward in the sunlight. They can also show the sadder side, such as a camp of homeless people living in terrible poverty. (4)............ of what they show, there is always beauty to be found, even if it is beauty in something that is showing an ugly truth. Depending on the time of the day, photos taken in an urban environment can change drastically. To see the (5)............ of a building as its shadow is cast on the lawn of a park is always amazing to see.
(4).........................

Choose the letter A, B, C or D to answer these following questions

According to futurist Ray Kurzweil human civilisation will be unavoidably transformed in the year 2045 by an event that he call The Singularity. He suggests that exponential technological development will lead to the inevitable rise of artificial intelligence (A.I.). Such advanced technology may make humanity insignificant.

Kurzweil says that technologies are double-edged swords and envisions the possibility that an artificial intelligence might decde to put an end to humanity simply because it surpasses human intelligence. Kurzweil does have faith in mankind, however. He suggests that people are wise to accept that technological progress is unavoidable and that such acceptance will make the process of transition easier.

Kurzweil has personal reasons to hope for the coming of The Singularity, because he wants his life to be extended by it. Kurzweil envisions that future medical advances could invent tiny computerised machines, or nanobots, which operate inside the body to enhance the immune system. In addition ne believes that future technology might be able to resurrect his deceased father.

Looking at the state of current technological advances in many fields such as medicine, navigation and communication, Kurzweil's visions may not be unbelievable.The critical issue, however, is whether genuine artificial intelligence can ever be truly realised. Kurzweil suggests that critics of his theories, who believe that the human brain is too complex to duplicate, are underestimating what the exponential growth in technology can eventually accomplish.

What is The Singularity?

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:
Satoru Iwata is not a household name, but he should be. Most people, however, would recognize his brain children, the Nintendo DS and the Wii. These two game systems completely changed the world of gaming. It’s hard to imagine gaming without them, but amazingly, the DS and Wii almost didn’t happen! It is only thanks to the innovative ideas of Iwata that we have these systems today.
Satoru Iwata was made the CEO of Nintendo in 2002. At that time, the video game market was suffering, and Nintendo was having trouble with its sales. Iwata thought that a change in strategy was  due. Previously, the strategy in the game industry was to keep making the same kinds of games and consoles but just improve their power and complexity. However, Iwata didn’t just want to attract dedicated gamers. He wanted to bring in new kinds of players to video gaming. How was he going to do that? He decided to change the very concept of video games.
Iwata wanted to make video games easier to pick up and more relevant to people’s lives. Out of this idea came the Nintendo DS. People interacted more directly with the game by using a touch screen instead of just a set of buttons. Iwata took this idea to the extreme with the motion-based Wii. Now, just by using natural body movements, players can enjoy playing all sorts of games.
The kinds of games produced changed as well. Along with the regular role-playing game (RPG), action, and sport games, new kinds of “games” were designed. Some of these new games, like Brain Age, improved thinking abilities. Others, like Wii Fit, improved fitness. This has brought in a new age of gaming. Everyone from grandparents to their grandchildren seems to be playing Nintendo products. With all that we have seen so far, we can only wonder what is next for Iwata. Surely it will be something groundbreaking.

The word “that” in paragraph 2 refer 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:
In young language learners, there is a critical period of time beyond which it becomes increasingly difficult to acquire a language. Children generally attain proficiency in their first language by the age of five and continue in a state of relative linguistic plasticity until puberty. [A] Neurolinguistic research has singled out the lateralization of the brain as the reason for this dramatic change from fluidity to rigidity in language function. Lateralization is the process by which the brain hemispheres become dominant for different tasks. The right hemisphere of the brain controls emotions and social functions, whereas the left hemisphere regulates the control of analytical functions, intelligence, and logic. [B] For the majority of adults, language functions are dominant on the left side of the brain. [C] Numerous studies have demonstrated that it is nearly impossible to attain a nativelike accent in a second language, though some adults have overcome the odds, after lateralization is complete. [D]
Cognitive development also affects language acquisition, but in this case adult learners may have some advantages over child learners. Small children tend to have a very concrete, here- and-now view of the world around them, but at puberty, about the time that lateralization is complete, people become capable of abstract thinking, which is particularly useful for language. Generally speaking, adults can profit from grammatical explanations, whereas children cannot. This is evidenced by the fact that children are rather unreceptive to correction of grammatical features and instead tend to focus on the meaning of  an utterance rather than its form. However, language learning theory suggests that for both adults and children, optimal language acquisition occurs in a meaning centered context. Though children have the edge over adult language learners with respect to attaining a nativelike pronunciation, adults clearly have an intellectual advantage which greatly facilitates language learning.

The word “its” refers to     .