The resort was full of people. I wish it _________less crowded.

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:
Bitcoins are a form of virtual currency. In other words, they are a type of money that does not exist in the actual world. However, they can be used to purchase actual products and services from real companies.
The bitcoin system was created in 2009 by an enigmatic person named Satoshi Nakamoto. In fact, no one is sure if Satoshi Nakamoto is an actual person or a group of people. Bitcoins are designed to serve as an alternative to national currencies, such as dollars and euros, They can be used to pay for things instead of cash or credit cards. When bitcoins are transferred from a buyer to a seller, the transaction is recorded in a public database.
Governments are concerned that bitcoins can easily be stolen by hackers. It has dawned on them that they might be used for illegal purposes. For example, stolen goods could be purchased without the government's knowledge. Although more and more companies are beginning to accept bitcoins, the percentage of purchases made using bitcoins is minuscule compared to other online payment methods, such as credit cards. Instead, many bitcoin owners simply keep them as an investment since more valuable in the future.
This may or may not be a wise approach. Currently, the value of bitcoins is fluctuating wildly, especially when compared to highly stable national currencies, Bitcoin Investors are gambling on the hope that as this high-tech money becomes more widely accepted, its value will soar.

The word “they” in paragraph 1 refers to

Fill in each numbered blank with one suitable word or phrase.

The University of Oxford, informally called "Oxford University", or simply "Oxford", (1) ______ in the city of Oxford, in England, is (2) ______ oldest university in the English-speaking world.  It is also considered as one of the world's leading (3) ______ institutions. The university traces, its roots back to at least the end of the 11th century, (4) ______ the exact date of foundation remains unclear. Academically, Oxford is consistently ranked in the world's top ten universities. The University is also open (5) ______ overseas students, primarily from American universities, who may (6) _____ in study abroad programs during the summer months for more than a century, it has served as the home of the Rhodes Scholarship, (7) ______ brings highly accomplished students from a number of countries to study at Oxford as (8) ______ The University of Oxford is also a place where many talented leaders from all over the world used to study. Twenty-five British Prime Ministers attended Oxford, including Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair. At (9) ______ 25 other international leaders have been educated at Oxford, and this number includes King Harald V of Norway and King Abdullah II of Jordan. Bill Clinton is the first American President to attend Oxford.  Forty-seven Nobel (10) __ winners have studied or taught at Oxford.

(5) ______

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the answer to each of the question. 
A report from the United Nations given at the conference unveils how worrying the pollution caused by plastic utensils, especially plastic bags, is becoming. In a single minute, the world consumes one million plastic bottles; in a year, the world consumes five billion single-use plastic bags, according to Vietnamplus. The scary fact is that such plastic bottles and bags are not properly treated, as each year, the world discharges 300 million tons of plastic waste, accounting for some 10% of all solid waste, putting the environment and human health under tenterhooks, according to the news site.
The conference also drew attention to another fact: “For a plastic bag that can be used for five minutes, it takes five seconds to produce, one second to discard, but 500 to 1,000 years to become totally decomposed,” says Vietnamplus.
In another message given by the UN General Secretary and delivered at the conference, it is reported that since more than eight million tons of plastic bags end up in the oceans each year, “microplastics in the seas now outnumber stars in our galaxy.” “If present trends continue, by 2050 our oceans will have more plastic than fish,” Dan Tri reports, quoting Caitlin Wiesen, country director of the UN Development Programme in Vietnam.
These above-mentioned fearful facts, however, are not merely global issues, but domestic problems as well, according to local media. Many local news outlets, when relating data from the conference, point out that white pollution – a term used to indicate the overwhelming discharge of plastic bags into the environment – is even getting worse in Vietnam than elsewhere.

Which of the following could be the main idea of the passage?

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The blue whale is the largest animal ever known to  have existed. During the 20th century,  the species was almost exterminated due to commercial whaling. The species has slowly recovered following the global whaling ban but it remains endangered and faces a  number of  serious threats including ship strikes and the impact of climate change.
Blue whales are simply enormous with most ranging in length from 24-30 m. The largest  ever recorded was a gargantuan 33.5 m long. Females are up to 10 m longer than males. And they can weigh up to 200 tonnes. Just to put that in perspective: an adult male African elephant weighs 6 tonnes. The blue whale's heart is the size of a small car and its beat can be detected two miles away. But that's nothing compared to their calls. Blue whales are the loudest animals on earth and their calls are louder than a jet engine: reaching 188 decibels, while a jet's engine hit 'just' 140 decibels. Apart from their gigantic size, blue whales can be identified by their relatively small dorsal fin, a fairly rounded rostrum (anterior part of the skull), and approximately 90 ventral  grooves, which reach the navel. They also have row of 300-400 baleen plates on each side of the mouth, which are black in color and range in length from 50 cm in front to 100 cm in back.
Blue whales mostly travel alone or in groups of 2-3. Larger groups of up to 60 whales have been reported and are probably associated with feeding grounds. However, the blue whale has the most powerful voice in the animal kingdom and its low-frequency sounds can travel in deep water over hundreds, or even thousands, of miles. Under these circumstances, animals which may appear to us to be traveling alone may actually be in constant contact with one another.
At birth, a blue whale calf is the largest baby on earth: approximately 8m long and weighing about 4 tonnes. They grow at a rate of 90 kg per day and wean after 7-8 months, once they have reached about 15 m in length, and are able to follow the normal migration pattern alone. They reach sexual maturity at 5-10 years. This growth rate is astonishing and is probably the fastest in the animal kingdom.  From  conception to weaning, it represents a several billion-fold increase in tissue in just over a year and a half. Like other baleen whales, the blue whale has no teeth so it is hard to tell its age but scientists believe they live until at least 50.
Like other large whales, blue whales are threatened by chemical and sound pollution, habitat loss, overfishing of krill, ship strikes and becoming entangled in fishing gear. Climate change could also have a major impact on its food supply, since global warming and associated ocean acidification may impact krill populations. In addition, frontal zones - critical whale habitats - are projected to move further south due to climate change. Frontal zones are boundaries between different water masses, where water can rise from the depths, bringing with it large amounts of nutrients that stimulate the growth of phytoplankton and support substantial populations of prey species for whales. Blue whales would have to migrate further (perhaps 200-500 km more) to reach and feed at these food-rich areas where they build up reserves to sustain themselves for the rest of the year. These longer migration paths could increase the energy costs  of migration and reduce the duration of the main feeding season. As frontal zones move southward, they also move closer together, reducing the overall area of foraging habitat available.

According to the last paragraph, how does climate change affect the blue whale?

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A generation gap in the workplace can make workers both young and old feel inferior, as well as hamper productivity and teamwork. Differences between generations can be seen in work ethics, habits and communication styles. Younger workers might fear not being taken seriously by their older colleagues, while older workers might fear that their experience is not valued but replaced by workers with knowledge of more current technology. However, members of each generation can close the gap between them if they're willing to meet one another halfway.
Older workers can show respect to the younger set by asking for their opinions and recognizing their contributions to the workplace as valid, or complimenting them on a job well done. Younger workers can show their elders respect by asking for advice on how to manage a situation with work, based on the older worker's many years of experience. It's important for both entry- and senior-level workers to see each other as equals, regardless of the type of position in which they work. No one wants to feel inferior or irrelevant just because of their age. Rather, a generation gap at work can be a learning opportunity.
Workers can also put themselves in their colleagues' shoes to determine what might be bothering them about their generational age difference. If a person is much older than another, perhaps it is bitterness about fewer job opportunities, or fear that a younger worker might seem more relevant and edge him out of his job. If workers open their minds to understand where co-workers are coming from, it can help ease any tension between them and appreciate each other's
work contributions.
If age seems to be a problem for someone at the workplace, it can be helpful to do the very opposite of what a co-worker might expect from someone of a different age set due to stereotypes. For example, if a worker is considerably younger such as right out of college, she can share researched information to indicate that she knows what she's doing, or show curiosity instead of upset to indicate emotional maturity if the person makes a disparaging remark about her youth. Older workers  can maintain an enthusiastic attitude about work instead of showing boredom or bitterness from past experiences.
Workers can, moreover, directly address the concern of age differences at work with the colleague at odds with them by asking the person for constructive advice on how to handle the issue. For example, older workers who are unfamiliar with new software that younger colleagues understand might acknowledge to them that they did the same tasks differently in years past but show interest in learning the program to keep up with modern technology. Learning to speak their technological language can make them feel more connected. Likewise, a younger worker can admit to being green on the work scene, but eager to gain experience by learning from senior colleagues.

It can be inferred 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 word for each of the blanks.
The application (1)....... for volunteers for the 15th Asian Games Doha 2006 is now closed. Organizers have been flooded with interest and have now filled all available roles. Any further (2)......... will have their details stored on file and will only be contacted in the event of any vacancies unexpectedly arising.
Over 30,000 men and women, not only from Qatar, but also from the Gulf (3)....... and even further afield, have volunteered to help out at Doha 2006 after more than two years of meetings and interviews. First of all, a big “thank you” to everyone for your enthusiasm and commitment in volunteering to give up some of your precious free time to become part of the Games of your Life. The (4)...... has been quite overwhelming and has far exceeded expectations.
“It shows that the Qatar public has embraced the (5)........ of the Games”, says Khaled Helaly, manager of the Doha 2006 Volunteers Programme
(5)..............................

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:
A generation gap in the workplace can make workers both young and old feel inferior, as well as hamper productivity and teamwork. Differences between generations can be seen in work ethics, habits and communication styles. Younger workers might fear not being taken seriously by their older colleagues, while older workers might fear that their experience is not valued but replaced by workers with knowledge of more current technology. However, members of each generation can close the gap between them if they're willing to meet one another halfway.
Older workers can show respect to the younger set by asking for their opinions and recognizing their contributions to the workplace as valid, or complimenting them on a job well done. Younger workers can show their elders respect by asking for advice on how to manage a situation with work, based on the older worker's many years of experience. It's important for both entry- and senior-level workers to see each other as equals, regardless of the type of position in which they work. No one wants to feel inferior or irrelevant just because of their age. Rather, a generation gap at work can be a learning opportunity.
Workers can also put themselves in their colleagues' shoes to determine what might be bothering them about their generational age difference. If a person is much older than another, perhaps it is bitterness about fewer job opportunities, or fear that a younger worker might seem more relevant and edge him out of his job. If workers open their minds to understand where co-workers are coming from, it can help ease any tension between them and appreciate each other's
work contributions.
If age seems to be a problem for someone at the workplace, it can be helpful to do the very opposite of what a co-worker might expect from someone of a different age set due to stereotypes. For example, if a worker is considerably younger such as right out of college, she can share researched information to indicate that she knows what she's doing, or show curiosity instead of upset to indicate emotional maturity if the person makes a disparaging remark about her youth. Older workers  can maintain an enthusiastic attitude about work instead of showing boredom or bitterness from past experiences.
Workers can, moreover, directly address the concern of age differences at work with the colleague at odds with them by asking the person for constructive advice on how to handle the issue. For example, older workers who are unfamiliar with new software that younger colleagues understand might acknowledge to them that they did the same tasks differently in years past but show interest in learning the program to keep up with modern technology. Learning to speak their technological language can make them feel more connected. Likewise, a younger worker can admit to being green on the work scene, but eager to gain experience by learning from senior colleagues.

What is the synonym of the word “stereotypes” in paragraph 4?

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Most people can remember a phone number for up to thirty seconds. When this short amount of time elapses, however, the numbers are erased from the memory. How did the information get there in  the first place? Information that makes its way to the short term memory (STM) does so via the sensory storage area. The brain has a filter which only allows stimuli that is of immediate interest to pass on to the STM, also known as the working memory.
There is much debate about the capacity and duration of the short term memory. The most accepted theory comes from George A. Miller, a cognitive psychologist who suggested that humans can remember approximately seven chunks of information. A chunk is defined as a meaningful unit of information, such as a word or name rather than just a letter or number. Modern theorists suggest that one can increase the capacity of the short term memory by chunking, or classifying similar information together. By organizing information, one can optimize the STM, and improve the chances of a memory being passed on to long term storage.
When making a conscious effort to memorize something, such as information for an exam, many people engage in "rote rehearsal". By repeating something over and over again, one is able to keep a memory alive. Unfortunately, this type of memory maintenance only succeeds if there are no interruptions. As soon as a person stops rehearsing the information, it has the tendency to disappear. When a pen and paper are not handy, people often attempt to remember a phone number by repeating it aloud. If the doorbell rings or the dog barks to come in before a person has the opportunity to make a phone call, he will likely forget the number instantly. Therefore, rote rehearsal is not an efficient way to pass information from the short term to long term memory. A better way is to practice "elaborate rehearsal". This involves assigning semantic meaning to a piece of information so that it can be filed along with other pre-existing long term memories.
Encoding information semantically also makes it more retrievable. Retrieving information can be done by recognition or recall. Humans can easily recall memories that are stored in the long term memory and used often; however, if a memory seems to be forgotten, it may eventually be retrieved by prompting. The more cues a person is given (such as pictures), the more likely a memory can be retrieved. This is why multiple choice tests are often used for subjects that require a lot of memorization.

The word “This” in paragraph 3 most probably refers to     .

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The Internet is very much like television, in which it takes time away from other pursuits, provides entertainment and information, but in no way can compare with the warm, personal experience of reading a good book. This is not the only reason why the Internet will never replace books, for books provide the in-depth knowledge of a subject that sitting in front of a computer monitor cannot provide. We can download text from an Internet source, but the aesthetic quality of sheets of downloaded text leave much to be desired. A well-designed book enhances the reading experience.
The book is still the most compact and inexpensive means of conveying a dense amount of knowledge in a convenient package. The easy portability of the book is what makes it the most user-friendly format for knowledge ever invented. The idea that one can carry in one's pocket a play by Shakespeare, a novel by Charles Dickens or Tom Clancy, Plato's Dialogues, or the Bible in a small paperback edition is mind-boggling. We take such uncommon convenience for granted, not realizing that the book itself has undergone quite an evolution since the production of the Gutenberg Bible in 1455 and Shakespeare's First Folio in 1623, just three years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth to colonize the New World.
Not only has the art and craft of printing and book manufacturing been greatly improved over the centuries, but the great variety of subject matter now available in books is astounding, to say the least. In fact, the Internet requires the constant input of authors and their books to provide it with the information that makes it a useful tool for exploration and learning.
Another important reason why the Internet will never replace books is because those who wish to become writers want to see their works permanently published as books - something you can hold, see, feel, skim through, and read at one's leisure without the need for an electric current apart from a lamp. The writer may use a word processor instead of a typewriter or a pen and pad, but the finished product must eventually end up as a book if it is to have value to the reading public. The writer may use the Internet in the course of researching a subject just as he may use a library for that purpose, but the end product will still be a book.

The word “aesthete” is closest in meaning to ______

Read the passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D to complete the passage. 
Some doctors think that you should drink a glass of water each morning. You should drink this water first thing before doing anything else. The (25) ______ of the water should be similar to body temperature; (26) ______ too hot nor too cold. Why should you drink this water? Water helps your body in many ways. It helps clean out your kidneys. It prepares your stomach for (27) ______, Water can also help your intestines work better. After drinking water, the intestines can more easily take out nutrients from our food. Water also helps us go to the bathroom more easily,
Scientists suggest that people (28) ______ 1,600 milliliters of water each day. But don't drink all of that water in one sitting. If you do, your kidneys will have to work much harder to eliminate it. It's better to drink some in the morning and some in the afternoon. Some people think it's better to drink between meals and not during meals. They think water dilutes the juices produced in our stomachs, (29) ______ can interfere with normal digestion. Are you drinking enough water every day? Check the color of your urine. If it is light yellow, you are probably drinking enough. If your urine is very dark yellow, you probably need to drink more water. A little more water each day could make you much healthier!

(27)..........................

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the answer to each of the question. 
Though gambling is typically associated with casino games, strategic sports betting is rapidly gaining in popularity – and that's a whole other ball game, Prof. Dannon explains. "Sports gamblers seem to believe themselves the cleverest of all gamblers. They think that with experience and knowledge – such as player's statistics, manager's habits, weather conditions, and stadium capacity – they can predict the outcome of a game better than the average person."
But in a study published in the journal Psychopathology, Prof. Dannon and Dr. Ronen Huberfeld of the Beer Yaakov Mental Health Center determined that neither betting experience nor knowledge of the arcane details of the game is connected to successful betting outcomes. Indeed, he says, the two most successful gamblers in their study had no prior experience in gambling or knowledge of the sport in question. This should inform how psychologists approach sports gamblers, who need to be treated using different methods than their casino-addicted counterparts. For their study, the researchers focused on the field of soccer betting, one of the most popular and growing forms of sports gambling. They recruited three groups of participants, including 53 professional sports gamblers, 34 soccer fans who were knowledgeable about the sport but had never gambled, and finally, 78 non-gamblers with no prior knowledge of soccer at all. All participants were asked to place bets on the final scores of the 16 second-round matches of the Champion's League, organized by the Union of European Football Associations. This model mimics how gamblers actually put their money on the games, where they need to bet on exact scores to win.
Although those who had prior knowledge of soccer were expected to have a higher success rate, the researchers discovered that, in fact, their success rate was no better than those of the other two groups. Interestingly, the two participants with the most successful record, correctly betting on seven out of the 16 games each, hailed from the group with no prior understanding of the sport.
This doesn't indicate that there is an advantage to inexperience, says Prof. Dannon – many others in the third group were unable to predict any of the results correctly. But the outcome exposes the myth of knowledge as a powerful betting advantage. The sense of control that encourages sports gamblers in their betting is just an illusion.

According to paragraph 2, what element can help sport gamblers win their bet?

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.

BRITPOP

       In the early to mid-1990s Britpop artists, influenced by British guitar sounds of the 1960s and 70s, wrote about topics that were considered purely British and relevant to their generation. The music style with its (1) ____ songs was considered as a reaction against the grunge music that was arriving from the States and, in fact, it did not have a huge commercial success in the USA.

       Britpop bands included Suede, Pulp, Blur and Oasis but it was the (2) ____ two that really dominated the market. In 1994 Blur released their album Parklife (3) ____ had a strong retro feel from the 70s and Oasis released Definitely Maybe, again with a retro feel reminiscent of John Lennon.

       The two bands were often seen (4) ____ rivals and this was exaggerated by the media who emphasized their differences in origins and class: Oasis from the north of England, Blur from the south. This culminated in both bands releasing singles on the same day in 1985, with Blur's single Country House reaching number one in the charts and Oasis's Roll With It number two. Oasis, however, went on to have greater commercial success, particularly with the album (What's the story) Morning Glory? (1985) which sold 412 million (5) ____ in the UK.

(1)..........................

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No sooner had the first intrepid male aviators safely returned to Earth than it seemed that women, too, had been smitten by an urge to fly. From mere spectators, they became willing passengers and finally pilots in their own right, plotting their skills and daring line against the hazards of the air and the skepticism of their male counterparts. In doing so they enlarged the traditional bounds of a women's world, won for their sex a new sense of competence and achievement, and contributed handsomely to the progress of aviation.
But recognition of their abilities did not come easily. "Men do not believe us capable." The famed aviator Amelia Earhart once remarked to a friend. "Because we are women, seldom are we trusted to do an efficient job." Indeed old attitudes died hard: when Charles Lindbergh visited the Soviet Union in 1938 with his wife, Anne–herself a pilot and gifted proponent of aviation – he was astonished to discover both men and women flying in the Soviet Air Force.
Such conventional wisdom made it difficult for women to raise money for the up – to – date equipment they needed to compete on an equal basis with men. Yet they did compete, and often they triumphed finally despite the odds.
Ruth Law, whose 590 – mile flight from Chicago to Hornell, New York, set a new nonstop distance record in 1916, exemplified the resourcefulness and grit demanded of any woman who wanted to fly. And when she addressed the Aero Club of America after completing her historic journey, her plainspoken wordstestified to a universal human motivation that was unaffected by gender: "My flight was done with no expectation of reward," she declared, "just purely for the love of accomplishment."

The word ‘skepticism’ is closest in meaning to     .

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The Roman alphabet took thousands of years to develop, from the picture writing of the ancient Egyptians through modifications by Phoenicians, Greek, Romans, and others. Yet in just a dozen years, one man, Sequoyah, invented an alphabet for the Cherokee people. Bom in eastern Tennessee, Sequoyah was a hunter and a silversmith in his youth, as well as an able interpreter who knew Spanish, French and English.
Sequoyah wanted his people to have the secret of the “talking leaves” as he called his books of white people, and so he set out to design a written form of Cherokee. His chief aim was to record his people’s ancient tribal customs. He began by designing pictographs for every word in the Cherokee vocabulary. Reputedly his wife, angry with him for his neglect of garden and house, burned his notes, and he had to start over. This time, having concluded that picture-writing was cumbersome, he made symbols for the sounds of Cherokee language. Eventually he refined his system to eighty-five characters, which he borrowed from the Roman, Greek, and Hebrew alphabets. He presented this system to the Cherokee General Council in 1821, and it was wholeheartedly approved. The response was phenomenal. Cherokees who had stmggled for months to leam English lettering school picked up the new system in days. Several books were printed in Cherokee, and in 1828, a newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, was first published in the new alphabet. Sequoyah was acclaimed by his people.
In his later life, Sequoyah dedicated himself to the general advancement of his people. He went to Washington, D.C, as a representative of the Western tribes. He helped settled bitter differences among Cherokee after their forced movement by the federal government to the Oklahoma territory in the 1930s.
He died in Mexico in 1843 while searching for groups of lost Cherokee. A statue of Sequoyah represents Oklahoma in the Statuary Hall in the Capitol building of Washington, DC. However, he is probably chiefly remembered today because Sequoias, the giant redwood trees of California, are named of him.

According to the passage, how long did it take to develop the Cherokee’s alphabet?

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One of the factors contributing to the intense nature of twenty-first-century stress is our continual exposure to media – particularly to an overabundance of news. If you feel stressed out by the news, you are far from alone. Yet somehow many of us seem unable to prevent ourselves from tuning in to an extreme degree.
The further back we go in human history, the longer news took to travel from place to place, and the less news we had of distant people and lands altogether. The printing press obviously changed all that, as did every subsequent development in transportation and telecommunication.
When television came along, it proliferated like a poplulation of rabbits. In 1950, there were 100,000 television sets in North American homes; one year later there were more then a million. Today, it’s not unusual for a home to have three or more television sets, each with cable access to perhaps over a hundred channels. News is the subject of many of those channels, and on several of them it runs 24 hours a day.
What’s more, after the traumatic events of Sptember 11, 2001, live newcasts were paired with perennial text crawls across the bottom of the screen – so that viewers could stay abreast of every story all the time.
Needless to say, the news that is reported to us is not good news, but rather disturbing images and sound bytes alluding to diasater (natural and man-made), upheaval, crime, scandal, war, and the like. Compounding the proplem is that when actual breaking news is scarce, most broadcasts fill in with waistline, hairline, or very existence in the future. This variety of story tends to treat with equal alarm a potentially lethal flu outbreak and the bogus claims of a wrinkle cream that overpromises smooth skin.
Are humans meant to be able to process so much trauma – not to mention so much overblown anticipation of potetial trauma – at once? The human brain, remember, is programmed to slip into alarm mode when danger looms. Danger looms for someone, somewhere at every moment. Exposing ourslves to such input without respite and without perspective cannot be anything other than a source of chronic stress.

What is probably the best title for this passage?

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Social parasitism involves one species relying on another to raise its young. Among vertebrates, the best known social parasites are such birds as cuckoos and cowbirds; the female lays egg in a nest belonging to another species and leaves it for the host to rear
The dulotic species of ants, however, are the supreme social parasites. Consider, for example, the unusual behavior of ants belonging to the genus Polyergus. All species of this ant have lost the ability to care for themselves. The workers do not forage for food, feed their brood or queen, or even clean their own nest. To compensate for these deficits, Polyergus has become specialized at obtaining workers from the related genus Formica to do these chores
In a raid, several thousand Polyergus workers will travel up to 500 feet in search of a Formica nest, penetrate it, drive off the queen and her workers, capture the pupal brood, and transport it back to their nest. The captured brood is then reared by the resident Formica workers until the developing pupae emerge to add to the Formica population, which maintains the mixed- species nest. The Formica workers forage for food and give it to colony members of both species. They also remove wastes and excavate new chambers as the population increases
The true extent of the Polyergus and dependence on the Formica becomes apparent when the worker population grows too large for existing nest. Formica scouts locate a new nesting site, return to the mixed-species colony, and recruit additional Formica nest mates. During a period that may last seven days, the Formica workers carry to the new nest all the Polyergus eggs, larvae, and pupae, every Polyergus adult, and even the Polyergus queen
Of the approximately 8000 species of ants in the world, all 5 species of Polyergus and some 200 species in other genera have evolved some degree of parasitic relationship with other ants

The word “excavate” is closest in meaning to      

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Body language is a vital form of communication. In fact, it is believed that the various forms of body language contribute about 70 percent to our comprehension. It is important to note, however, that body languages varies in different cultures. Take for example, eye movement. In the USA a child is expected to look directly at a parent or teacher who is scolding him/her. In other cultures the opposite is true. Looking directly at a teacher or parent in such a situation is considered a sign of disrespect.
Another form of body language that is used differently, depending on the culture, is distance. In North America people don’t generally stand as close to each other as in South America. Two North Americans who don’t know each other well will keep a distance of four feet between them, whereas South Americans in the same situation will stand two to three feet apart. North Americans will stand closer than two feet apart only if they are having a confidential conversation or if there is intimacy between them.
Gestures are often used to communicate. We point a finger, raise an eyebrow, wave an arm – or move any other part of the body - to show what we want to say. However, this does not mean that people all over the world use the same gestures to express the same meanings. Very often we find that the same gestures can communicate different meanings, depending on the country. An example of a gesture that could be misinterpreted is sticking out the tongue. In many cultures it is a sign of making a mistake, but in some places it communicates ridicule.
The dangers of misunderstanding one another are great. Obviously, it is not enough to learn the language of another culture. You must also learn its non-verbal signals if you want to communicate successfully.

What is the passage mainly about?

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word that best fits each of the numbered blanks.
Seeking a new life and hoping a significant (1)..... in their standard of living, foreign workers began flocking into Western Europe during the 1950s. In Britain, some of the first immigrants arriving from the West Indies and the Indian subcontinent were welcomed by brass bands, but the dream of a new life soon (2).....sour for many.
 Attracted by the promise to earn good money and learn new skills, the reality they found was often one of low wages and, in many case, unemployment. Some did not  adapt (3)...... to life in a country of cold weather and discrimination.  The (4).......... of West Indian immigrants moved into the inner cities, areas that were already fraught with social tensions caused by poverty and poor housing. There were cases of open hostility towards the newcomers; riots (5)....... out in Notting Hill, West London in 1958, when gangs of white youths began taunting immigrants.
Yet despite the numerous difficulties they encountered, many foreign workers did manage to adjust to their new conditions, settling in their new adopted country and prospering. Their contribution had the effect of not only speeding up the pace of economic change in the postwar period, but also transforming Western Europe into a multiracial society.
(2)............................

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 green building movement, started in the 1970s as a way to reduce environmental destruction, is changing the way buildings are constructed. In the early years, green builders were a small minority, and their goals of reducing the environmental impact of buildings were considered unrealistic. Now, however, the movement is growing, as builders have been able to take advantage of new technology.
Green builders try to make use of recycled materials, which means less waste in dumps. Also, they reduce environmental impact by reducing the energy requirements of a building. One way is to provide an alternative, non-polluting source of energy. First, with solar panels, it is possible to produce electricity from the rays of the sun. Once installed, they provide energy at no cost and with no pollution.
Another solution is to reduce the amount of energy required in a building. It is possible to cut electricity use noticeably by improving natural lighting and installing low-energy light bulbs. To reduce the amount of fuel needed for heating or cooling, builders also add insulation to the walls so that the building stays warmer in winter and cooler in summer.
One example of this advanced design is the Genzyme Center of Cambridge, the most environmentally responsible office building in America. Every aspect of the design and building had to consider two things: the need for a safe and pleasant workplace for employees and the need to lessen the negative environmental impact. 75 percent of the building materials were recycled materials, and the energy use has been reduced by 43 percent and water use by 32 percent, compared with other buildings of the same size.
In other parts of the world, several large-scale projects have recently been developed according to green building principles. One of these is in Vauban, Germany, in an area that was once the site of army housing. The site has been completely rebuilt with houses requiring 30 percent less energy than conventional ones. These houses, heated by special non-polluting systems, are also equipped with solar panels.
A larger project is under way in China. The first phase of this project will include houses for 400 families built with solar power, non-polluting bricks, and recycled wall insulation. In a second phase, entire neighborhoods in six cities will be built. If all goes well, the Chinese government plans to copy these ideas in new neighborhoods across China.
Green building ideas, on a small or large scale, are spreading. Individuals, companies, and governments are beginning to see their benefits. Not only are they environmentally friendly, green buildings improve living and working conditions and also save money in the long run.

The word “they” in paragraph 2 refers to     .

Read the passage carefully and choose the correct answer.

University Entrance Examination is very important in Vietnamese students. High school graduates have to take it and get high results to be admitted to universities. The pressure on the candidates remains very high despite the measures that have been taken to reduce the heat around these exams, since securing a place in a state university is considered a major step towards a successful career for young people, especially those from rural areas or disadvantaged families. In the year 2004, it was estimated that nearly 1 million Vietnamese students took the University Entrance Examination, but on average only 1 out of 5 candidates succeeded. Normally, candidates take 3 exam subjects, and each lasts; 180 minutes for the fixed group of subjects they choose. There are 4 fixed groups of subjects: Group A: Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry; Group B: Mathematics, Biology, and Chemistry; Group C: Literature, History, and Geography; Group D: Literature, Foreign Language, and Mathematics.

In addition to universities, there are community colleges, art and technology institutes; professional secondary schools, and vocational schools which offer degrees or certificates from a-few-month to 2-year courses.

According to Vietnam's Ministry of Education and Training, there are currently 23 non-public universities, accounting for 11% of the total number of universities. These non-public universities are currently training 119,464 students, or 11.7% of the total number of students. The government is planning to increase the number of non-public universities to 30% by 2007.

The word those refers to _______.