Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
Following up its successful Sushi Workshop in July, the Japan-America Society of Greater Long Island presents sushi chef Maksui from Kenichi for an advanced sushi workshop on Sunday, October 25th at the Tri-fold Clubhouse (410 Guadalupe St.) from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. This workshop will allow attendees of the previous workshop to build on their sushi-making skills. This is not a free event. The cost for current JGA members is $35. If you’re a nonmember, the cost is $40 (Please bring exact change in cash). Although the cost includes all the ingredients necessary to make sushi, you will need to bring your own knife and a towel or cloth of some sort. Please note that registration is required in order to attend this class. Space is limited. Send a registration request to jga-events@jga.org by Thursday, October 22. 48 hour’s notice is required in order to cancel.
3. According to the notice, who is the workshop tailored to?

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Susan and Mike came to work______ bus yesterday.

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:
Glass is a remarkable substance made from the simplest raw materials. It can be colored or colorless, monochrome or polychrome, transparent, translucent, or opaque. It is lightweight impermeable to liquids, readily cleaned and reused, durable yet fragile, and often very beautiful. Glass can be decorated in multiple ways and its optical properties are exceptional. In all its myriad forms - as table ware, containers, in architecture and design - glass represents a major achievement in the history of technological developments.
Since the Bronze Age about 3,000 B.C., glass has been used for making various kinds of objects. It was first made from a mixture of silica, line and an alkali such as soda or potash, and these remained the basic ingredients of glass until the development of lead glass in the seventeenth century. When heated, the mixture becomes soft and malleable and can be formed by various techniques into a vast array of shapes and sizes. The homogeneous mass thus formed by melting then cools to create glass, but in contrast to most materials formed in this way (metals, for instance), glass lacks the crystalline structure normally associated with solids, and instead retains the random molecular structure of a liquid. In effect, as molten glass cools, it progressively stiffens until rigid, but does so without setting up a network of interlocking crystals customarily associated with that process. This is why glass shatters so easily when dealt a blow. Why glass deteriorates over time, especially when exposed to moisture, and why glassware must be slowly reheated and uniformly cooled after manufacture to release internal stresses induced by uneven cooling.
Another unusual feature of glass is the manner in which its viscosity changes as it turns from a cold substance into a hot, ductile liquid. Unlike metals that flow or "freeze" at specific temperatures glass progressively softens as the temperature rises, going through varying stages of malleability until it flows like a thick syrup. Each stage of malleability allows the glass to be manipulated into various forms, by different techniques, and if suddenly cooled the object retains the shape achieved at that point. Glass is thus amenable to a greater number of heat-forming techniques than most other materials.

What must be done to release the internal stresses that build up in glass products during manufacture?

While she _____ breakfast, I set the table.

(510)________

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
The custom of paying a bride price before marriage is still a well-established part of many African cultures. In paying a bride price, the family of the groom must provide payment to the family of the bride before the marriage is allowed. The bride price can vary greatly from culture to culture in Africa. In the Zulu and Swazi tribes of southern Africa, the bride price often takes the form of cattle. In Western African, kola nuts, shells, and other goods are often used for the payment of the bride price. The actual payment of money sometimes takes place, but the payment of goods is more frequent. The amount of paid in a bride price can also vary. In modern times, the bride price is occasionally quite small and its value is mainly symbolic. However, the bride price can still be quite high, especially among prominent or highly traditional families.There are a number of justifications used to explain the payment of bride price. The first is that the bride price represents an acknowledgement of the expense the bride's family has gone in order to raise her and bring her up as a suitable bride for the groom. It also represents payment for the loss of a family member, since the bride will officially become a member of her husband's family and will leave her own. On a deeper level the bride price represents payment for the fact that the bride will bring children into the family of the groom, thereby increasing the wealth of the family. This concept is reinforced by the fact that the bride price must often be returned if the bride fails to bear children.The payment of the bride price has quite a number of effects on African society. First, the payment of bride price acts to increase the stability of African family structures. Sons are dependent on their fathers and older relatives to help them pay the bride price of their wives, and this generally leads to greater levels of obedience and respect. The negotiations between the two families concerning the bride price allow the parents and other family members to meet and get to know one another before the marriage. Finally, since the bride price must often be repaid in case of divorce, the bride's family often works to make sure that any marital problems are solved quickly. Bride prices also work as a system of wealth distribution in African cultures. Wealthier families can afford to support the marriage of their son, and thus their wealth is transferred to other families.Not all of the effects of bride price are so positive, however. One major disadvantage to the system of bride price is that women are often married to men much older than themselves. In many African cultures, the typical age for marriage amongst women is still quite young, lower than in many cases. Yet few men at this age would have the ability to raise the bride price to marry. Thus there is sometimes a significant age gap between husbands and wives. This cuts short the education of many young women. In addition, the husband, being far older, may die whilst the wife is still relatively young, leaving her with the burden of raising the children alone.
2. Why does the author mention “the payment of money” in paragraph 1?

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I think my parents will be _________ when hearing that I passed the exam with flying colours.

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How many states are there in _________ USA?

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Mickey Mouse was not Walt Disney’s first successful cartoon creation, but he is certainly his famous one. It was on a cross-country train trip from New York to California in 1927 that Disney first drew the mouse with the big ears. Supposedly, he took his inspiration from the tame field mice that used to scamper into his old studio in Kansas City. No one is quite sure why he dressed the mouse in the now- familiar shorts with two buttons and gave him the yellow shoes. But we do know that Disney had intended to call him Mortimer until his wife Lillian intervened and christened him Mickey Mouse. Capitalizing on the interest in Charles Lindsborg, Disney planned Mickey’s debut in the short cartoon Plane Crazy, with Minnie as a co-star. In the third short cartoon, Steamboat Willie, Mickey was whistling and singing through the miracle of the modern soundtrack. By the 1930s Mickey’s image had circled the globe. He was a superstar at the height of his career. Although he has received a few minor changes throughout his lifetime, most notably the addition of white gloves and the alterations to achieve the rounder forms of a more childish body, he has remained true to his nature since those first cartoons. Mickey is appealing because he is nice. He may get into trouble, but he takes it on the chin with a grin. He is both good-natured and resourceful. Perhaps that was Disney’s own image of himself. Why else would he have insisted on doing Mickey’s voice in all the cartoons for twenty years? When interviewed, he would say: “There is a lot of the mouse in me.” And that mouse has remained one of the most pervasive images in American popular culture.
7. What did Disney mean when he said, "There is a lot of the mouse in me"?

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She swam strongly and ...... cross the river easily, even though it was swollen by the heavy rain.

Congratulations on your remarkable ---135--- in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Your region has improved its on-time delivery performance for each of the past seven quarters. ---136---. I am pleased to offer you a promotion to Director of European Operations. The position ---137--- in Hamburg, Germany. I realize that relocating may be difficult for you. ---138---, I certainly hope that you will take time to consider this opportunity. Please call me at your earliest convenience so that we can discuss any concerns you may have.

138..................

Choose the best answer:
VTV1 and VTV3 are all ____________ channels

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.
Together, the thousands of scientists and conservation organizations that contribute to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List and other systems of assessment provide the world's largest knowledge base on the global status of species. The aim of these systems is to provide the general public, conservationists, nongovernmental organizations, the media, decision makers, and policy makers with comprehensive and scientifically rigorous information on the conservation status of the world's species and the threats that drive the observed patterns of population decline. Scientists in conservation and protected area management agencies use data on species status in the development of conservation planning and prioritization, the identification of important sites and species for dedicated conservation action and recovery planning, and educational programs. Although the IUCN Red List and other similar species-assessment tools do not prescribe the action to be taken, the data within the list are often used to inform legislation and policy and to determine conservation priorities at regional, national, and international levels. In contrast, the listing criteria of other categorization systems (such as the United States Endangered Species Act, the CITES) are prescriptive; they often require that landowners and various governmental agencies take specific mandatory steps to protect species falling within particular categories of threat It is likely that many undescribed or unassessed species of plants, animals, and other organisms have become or are in the process of becoming extinct. To maintain healthy populations of both known and unknown species, assessments and reassessments are valuable tools. Such monitoring work must continue so that the most current knowledge can be applied to effective environmental monitoring and management efforts. For many threatened species, large well-protected conservation areas (biological reserves) often play major roles in curbing population declines. Such reserves are often cited by conservation biologists and other authorities as the best way to protect individual species as well as the ecosystems they inhabit. In addition, large biological reserves may harbor several undescribed and unassessed species. Despite the creation of several large reserves around the world, poaching and illegal trafficking plague many areas. Consequently, even species in those areas require continued monitored and periodic assessment.
9. It is understood from the passage that ____.

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:
Students working for their first degree at university are called undergraduates. Then they take their degree we say they graduate, and then they are called graduates. If they continue studying at university after they have graduated, they are called post-graduates. Full-time university students spend all their free time studying. They have no other employment. Their course usually lasts for three or four years. Medical students have to follow a course lasting for six or seven years. Then they graduate as doctors. In Britain, full-time university students have three terms of about ten weeks in each year. During these terms they go to lectures or they study by themselves. Many students become members of academic societies and sports clubs and take part in their activities. Between the university terms they have vacations (or holiday periods). Their vacations are long, but of course they can use them to study at home.

Medical students have to follow a course lasting for     .

I like this_______song because it reminds me of my schooldays.
(145)_____

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Chemistry is ....... than Math.

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………….. ? –There’s some meat and some rice.

Mapleshades Medical Center authorizes certain employees to purchase goods and services for company-related business. To purchase a ---135--- item or service, fill out the online request form. Use the form to ---136--- a description of the item needed. Also, briefly explain why the purchase is necessary. Note that your ---137--- may affect subsequent decisions. If the request entails replacing a device that is out of order, bring the matter to the attention of Mr. Rowen, head of the Maintenance Division, before submitting the request. ---138---. Please direct any questions you may have related to the purchase of office supplies and equipment to the Purchasing Department.

136...................

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
One of the most important social developments that helped to make possible a shift in thinking about the role of public education was the effect of the baby boom of the 1950’s and 1960’s on the schools. In the 1920’s, but especially in the Depression conditions of the 1930’s, the United States experienced a declining birth rate – every thousand women aged fifteen to forty-four gave birth to about 118 live children in 1920, 89.2 in 1930, 75.8 in 1936, and 80 in 1940. With the growing prosperity brought on by the Second World War and the economic boom that followed it, young people married and established households earlier and began to raise larger families than had their predecessors during the Depression. Birth rates rose to 102 per thousand in 1946, 106.2 in 1950, and 118 in 1955. Although economics was probably the most important determinant, it is not the only explanation for the baby boom. The increased value placed on the idea of the family also helps to explain this rise in birth rates. The baby boomers began streaming into the first grade by the mid-1940’s and became a flood by 1950. The public school system suddenly found itself overtaxed. While the number of schoolchildren rose because of wartime and postwar conditions, these same conditions made the schools even less prepared to cope with the flood. The wartime economy meant that few new schools were built between 1940 and 1945. Moreover, during the war and in the boom times that followed large numbers of teachers left their profession for better-paying jobs elsewhere in the economy. Therefore, in the 1950’s and 1960’s, the baby boom hit an antiquated and inadequate school system. Consequently, the “custodial rhetoric” of the 1930’s and early 1940’s no longer made sense; that is, keeping youths aged sixteen and older out of the labor market by keeping them in school could no longer be a high priority for an institution unable to find space and staff to teach younger children aged five to sixteen. With the baby boom, the focus of educators and of laymen interested in education inevitably turned toward the lower grades and back to basic academic skills and discipline. The system no longer had much interest in offering nontraditional, new, and extra services to older youths
3. The word “overtaxed” in line 14 is closest in meaning to _________.

Choose the best answer:
Police are reported ...... illegal drugs in a secret hiding place in the star’s home.

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
AvinaNatural Reserve
The Avina Nature Reserve Access (ANRA) card allows you, your passengers, and your vehicle to enter the Avina Nature Reserve at Amber Falls. Daily, weekly, monthly, and annual cards are available. These can be purchased for a fee of $10, $25, $40, and $60, respectively, at the visitor information center located at the park's entrance. Cards can also be ordered online at www.avinapark.com. Online orders will be delivered to your address within approximately a week of your order. As a special courtesy to annual card holders, we currently offer a 50 percent discount on fees charged for facilities and services including camping, swimming, boat rentals, and fishing equipment rentals. Please note that visitors are required to make all payments at the time of purchase using cash or a personal credit card. Please note that proof of purchase of an ANRA card is not sufficient to enter the park; the actual card is required. Once on the premises of the Avina Nature Reserve, please make sure your card is in an area of your car, such as on the dashboard, that is clearly visible from the outside. Also, since the ANRA card carries the license plate number of the vehicle registered with the Avina Nature Reserve, it cannot be used with another vehicle.
3. What is stated about the ANRA card?

The children were eager ............................ their parents.

(531)_______