This shopping center gets _________crowded with shoppers at the weekend.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer for each of the blanks .
In the late 1930s, a group of leading American scientists seeking dinosaur fossils made some noteworthy (1).... . Although one of their expeditions discovered no fossils, it proved nonetheless historic expedition, which took place along the banks of the Paluxy river in Texas, something extraordinary was revealed: a dinosaur track, clearly distinguishable in the rock. These dinosaur footprints (2).....  their preservation to the salts and mud that covered them and then hardened into rock, before coming to light 100 million years later. Tracks like these are (3)... to experts. There have been great gaps in scientists’ understanding of dinosaur behavior, and so such footprints are useful since they  provide  direct  evidence  of  how  dinosaurs  actually  moved.  Scientists  have  used  these  and  (4)......footprints to determine how quickly different species walked, concluding that many kinds of dinosaur must have travelled in (5)..........

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

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 from 81 to 92.

Setting up and running a car company was an expensive business and required a lot of workers. A company that makes its money out of a smart app requires less capital, doesn't have to pay (81)       storage or transport in the way that car companies do and (82)     virtually no extra costs as the number of users increases.

In the jargon of economics, the marginal costs per unit of output tend towards zero and the returns to scale are high. This explains why tech entrepreneurs can get very rich very young. Technological change has always been (83)     There was a polarization of income and wealth in the first wave of industrialization at the beginning of the 19th century, and this gave rise to political and institutional change over the 100 years between 1850 and 1950: the spread of democracy; the emergence of trade unions; progressive taxation and the development of social safety nets. These helped create bigger markets for the consumer goods that were spawned by the second Industrial Revolution: TVs, radios, vacuum cleaners and the like. (84)         over the past four decades a political model that both facilitated the spread of technology and provided some protection against its disruptive consequences has come under attack. Welfare states have become less generous, levels of long-term unemployment are much higher, taxation has become less progressive, and politics has increasingly been dominated by those with the deepest pockets (85)         can lobby the loudest.

(81).......................

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. 
Modern technologies have changed the way that people communicate with one another. These technologies provide new and innovative ways for people to communicate -- text messaging, email, chat and social networks. They allow faster and more efficient communication and can help build relationships. However, modern technologies can also have negative effects such as limiting personal contact and straining relationships. The nature of the effect depends in large part on the type of relationship.
Modern technologies limit the amount of separation between work and home. With the advent of computers, the Internet and cell phones people can -- and are often expected to -- address work issues from home. This can limit family interactions and cause conflict between family members. The use of Internet and television by children and teenagers also limits the amount time spent with family and can increase conflict between children and their parents.
Young people use modern technologies in increasing numbers to communicate with their friends. Text messaging and online chats have become the preferred method of youth communication. A California State University and UCLA study indicates that for young people face-to-face interactions are less desirable than modern modes of communication. This preference could cause an inability to form lasting friendships or difficulty understanding social cues. Others believe that modern technologies increase communication and therefore strengthen friendships.
Starting new relationships -- romantic and otherwise -- can be difficult. Modern technologies allow people to make new connections without the fears characteristic of face-to-face contact. The anonymity and low risk is what makes Internet dating and social networks popular ways of meeting people. However, this anonymity can also be dangerous. In April 2011, a woman sued an online dating site after allegedly being raped by a man she met online.
Modern technologies allow couples to be in contact with each other more than ever before. This can lead to increased expectations and conflict. With the increasing use of cell phones and email, people often expect an instant reply to communication. A delayed reply -- or none at all -- can lead to suspicion and anger. The use of social networks can also affect relationships. Information that was once private -- such as relationship conflicts -- is now part of the public sphere.

What does the phrase “this preference” in paragraph 3 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:
Where one stage of child development has been left out, or not sufficiently experienced, the child may have to go back and capture the experience of it. A good home makes this possible
- for example, by providing the opportunity for the child to play with a clockwork car or toy railway train up to any age if he still needs to do so. This principle, in fact, underlies all psychological treatment of children in difficulties with their development, and is the basic of work in child clinics.
The beginnings of discipline are in the nursery. Even the youngest baby is taught by gradual stages to wait for food, to sleep and wake at regular intervals and so on. If the child feels the world around him is a warm and friendly one, he slowly accepts its rhythm and accustoms himself to conforming to its demands. Learning to wait for things, particularly for food, is a very important element in upbringing, and is achieved successfully only if too great demands are not made before the child can understand them. Every parent watches eagerly the child's acquisition of each new skill: the first spoken words, the first independent steps, or the beginning of reading and writing. It is often tempting to hurry the child beyond his natural learning rate, but this can set up dangerous feelings of failure and states of anxiety in the child. This might happen at any stage. A baby might be forced to use a toilet too early, a young child might be encouraged to learn to read before he knows the meaning of the words he reads. On the other hand, though, if a child is left alone too much, or without any learning opportunities, he loses his natural zest for life and his desire to find out new things for himself.
Learning together is a fruitful source of relationship between children and parents. By playing together, parents learn more about their children and children learn more from their parents. Toys and games which both parents and children can share are an important means of achieving this co-operation. Building-block toys, jigsaw puzzles and crosswords are good examples.
Parents vary greatly in their degree of strictness or indulgence towards their children. Some may be especially strict in money matters; others are severe over times of coming home at night, punctuality for meals or personal cleanliness. In general, the controls imposed represent the needs of the parents and the values of the community as much as the child's own happiness and well-being.
With regard to the development of moral standards in the growing child, consistency is very important in parental teaching. To forbid a thing one day and excuse it the next is no foundation for morality. Also, parents should realize that“Example is better than precept”. If they are hypocritical and do not practice what they preach, their children may grow confused and emotionally insecure when they grow old enough to think for themselves, and realize they have been, to some extent, deceived. A sudden awareness of a marked difference between their parents' ethics and their morals can be a dangerous disillusion.

The encouragement of children to achieve new skills .

Câu 1:

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.

(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 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 author mentioned the Internet in the last paragraph as a tool that

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks.
               KEEPING FIT
Bodies are  made to move! They are   not (1) ............. for sitting around in front of the television or reading magazines. Keeping fit doesn't mean have to be a super-athlete, and even (2)...exercise can give you a lot of fun. When you are fit and healthy, you will find you look better and feel better. You will develop more energy and self-confidence.
Every time you move, you are exercising. The human body is designed to bend, stretch, run, jump  and climb. (3)........ it does, the stronger and fitter it will become. Best of all, exercise is fun. It's what your body likes doing most-keeping on the move.
Physical exercise is not only good for your body. People who take regular exercise are usually happier, more relaxed and more alert than people who sit around all day. Try an experiment-next time you are in a bad mood, go for a walk or play a ball game in the park. See how much better you feel after an hour.
A good (4)......... of achievement is yet another benefit of exercise. People feel good about themselves when they know they have improved their fitness. People who exercise regularly will tell you that they find they have more energy to enjoy life. So  have (5)....... you'll soon see and feel the benefits.

(5)..................................

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer for each of the blanks .
In the late 1930s, a group of leading American scientists seeking dinosaur fossils made some noteworthy (1).... . Although one of their expeditions discovered no fossils, it proved nonetheless historic expedition, which took place along the banks of the Paluxy river in Texas, something extraordinary was revealed: a dinosaur track, clearly distinguishable in the rock. These dinosaur footprints (2).....  their preservation to the salts and mud that covered them and then hardened into rock, before coming to light 100 million years later. Tracks like these are (3)... to experts. There have been great gaps in scientists’ understanding of dinosaur behavior, and so such footprints are useful since they  provide  direct  evidence  of  how  dinosaurs  actually  moved.  Scientists  have  used  these  and  (4)......footprints to determine how quickly different species walked, concluding that many kinds of dinosaur must have travelled in (5)..........
(4).....................................

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.
In an experiment in Canada, ten-year-old children were put in classes of four sizes: 16, 23, 30 and 37 children in (1)...... class. Their teachers said that the smaller classes would result in more individual attention and better marks. However, when the children were (2)....... , those in the smaller classes didn’t get higher marks than the others, except in mathematics. Moreover, children in the larger classes said they liked school (3)........   as much. Perhaps the most surprising result   was the difference between what teachers expected and the actual results obtained. More than 90% of the teachers expected the smaller classes to (4)......... well. After teaching these smaller classes, over 80% of the teachers thought the pupils had done better. However, according to the researchers, nothing of the (5)........ happened. Class size seemed to make a difference only to the teachers’ own attitudes - and not to the results they obtained.

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

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. 
THE RISE OF OLDER CITIES
        Many older cities are having modern makeovers and they are being given a new (1) ______. Sometimes the impetus for this type of change comes from the need to provide new facilities for particular events being held in the city - a sporting event, or something similar. On other occasions the change just seems to take place almost naturally. 
        Take Birmingham, for instance, (2) ________ it was previously an unfashionable place to live, it has now become trendy, and this change has been brought about largely by the new-look architecture that can be found everywhere in the city. The old shopping centre has been knocked down and completely rebuilt, and new shopping malls are (3) ________ to attract shoppers with the high quality of their services and goods. The area located around the canal, once hidden away and surrounded by decaying factories was often used as a rubbish tip, but it has now become a trendy place made up of modern offices, bars, sought-after apartments and restaurants. To (4)_________ up, Birmingham has become the place to be. Even in what was formerly the poorest part of the city an old factory has been converted into a lively complex of studios, galleries and coffee bars. With its theatres, museums and football teams Birmingham is (5) _______ worth visiting and has something for everyone. 

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

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks.

All living things require energy to do the work necessary for survival and reproduction. But what is energy? Energy is simply the ability to do work, (1) _______ work is done when a force moves an object. Let's consider your own needs for a moment. You need energy to turn on and turn off your computer. You need energy to (2) _______ of bed in the morning. And, yes, you need energy to reproduce. So where does energy come from and how do we use it? On Earth, energy ultimately comes from the sun. Plants use the sun's energy to make sugar. Organisms, in turn, use sugar as a (3) _______ of energy to do work.

Plants use energy from sunlight to make sugar and oxygen from carbon dioxide and water. The process by which carbon dioxide and water are (4) _______ to sugar and oxygen using sunlight is referred to as photosynthesis. This is an endergonic reaction, meaning energy is required by the reaction. Specifically, energy is required to put the carbon dioxide and the water molecules together to form sugar. Sun (5) _______ the energy needed to drive photosynthesis, and some of the energy used to make the sugar is stored in the sugar molecule.

(25).............

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

Here's some advice for trying to find the university that works for you.

1. You need to examine (26) _____ and your reasons for going to university before you start your search. Why are you going? What are your abilities and strengths? What are your weaknesses? What do you want out of life? Are you socially self-sufficient (27) _____ do you need warm, familial (28) _____? Talk with your family, friends and high-school counselors as you ask these questions. The people (29) _____ know you best can help you the most with these important issues.

2. Very few high-school students have enough information or (30) _____ to choose a major. You need to be well (31) _____ to determine your interest and aptitude. Many students (32) _____ their minds two or three times before they settle on a major.

3. If you do not have to go to university right (33) _____ it is never too late. There is no such thing as the perfect time to start university. Some students benefit from a year off to work, study or travel, and these experiences (34) _____ them to be better, more engaged students. Some students choose to apply to university and gain admission and then defer their entrance, while others wait to apply until after they have had (35) _____ alternative experience.

(34) _____

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 modern comic strip started out as ammunition in a newspapaer war between giants of the American press in the late nineteenth century. The first full-color comic strip appeared in January 1894 in
the New York World, owned by Joseph Pulitzer. The first regular weekly full-color comic supplement, similar to today’s Sunday funnies, appeared two years later, in William Randolph Hearst’ rival New York paper, the Morning Journal.
Both were immensely popular and publishers realized that supplementing the news with comic relief boosted the sale of papers. The Morning Journal started another feature in 1896, the “Yellow Kid”, the first continuous comic character in the United States, whose creator, Richard Outcault, had been lured away from the World by the ambitious Hearst. The “Yellow Kid” was in many ways a pioneer. Its comic dialogue was the strictly urban farce that came to characterize later strips, and it introduced the speech baloon inside the strip, usually placed above the characters’ heads.
The first strip to incorporate all the elements of later comics was Rudolph Dirks’s “Katzenjammer Kids”, based on Wilhelm Busch’s Max and Moritz, a European satire of the nineteenth century. The “Kids” strip, first published in 1897, served as the prototype for future American strips. It contained not only speech baloons, but a continuous cast of characters, and was divided into small regular panels that did away with the larger panoramic scenes of earlier comics.
Newspaper syndication played a major role in spreading the popularity of comic strips throughout the country. Though weekly colored comics came first, daily black-and-white strips were not far behind. The first appeared in the Chicago American in 1904. It was followed by many imitators, and by 1915 black-and-white comic strips had become a staple of daily newspapers around the country.

According to the passage, the “Yellow Kid” was the first comic strip to do all of the following EXCEPT     .

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:
Recreational diving or sport diving is a type of diving that uses scuba equipment for the purpose of leisure and enjoyment. In some diving circles, the term "recreational diving" is used in contradistinction to "technical diving", a more demanding aspect of the sport  which  requires greater levels of training, experience and equipment.
Recreational scuba diving grew out of related activities such as snorkeling and underwater hunting. For a long time, recreational underwater excursions were limited by the  amount of  breath that could be held. However, the invention of the aqualung in 1943 by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and its development over subsequent years led to a revolution in recreational diving. However, for much of the 1950s and early1960s, recreational scuba diving was a  sport limited to  those who were able to afford or make their own kit, and prepared to undergo intensive training to use it. As the sport became more popular, manufacturers became aware of the potential market, and equipment began to appear that was easy to use, affordable and reliable. Continued advances in' SCUBA technology, such as buoyancy compensators, modern diving regulators, wet or dry suits,  and dive computers, increased the safety, comfort and convenience of the gear encouraging more people to train and use it.
Until the early 1950s, navies and other organizations performing professional diving were   the only providers of diver training, but only for their own personnel and only using their own    types of equipment. There were no training courses available to civilians who bought the  first  scuba equipment. Professional instruction started in 1959 when the non-profit National Association of Underwater Instructors was formed.
Further developments in technology have reduced the cost of training and diving. Scuba- diving has become a popular leisure activity, and many diving locations have some form of  dive  shop presence that can offer air fills, equipment and training. In tropical and sub-tropical parts of the world, there is a large market in holiday divers, who train and dive while on holiday, but rarely dive  close to home. Generally, recreational diving depths are limited to a maximum of between 30 and 40 meters (100 and 130 feet), beyond which a variety of safety issues make it unsafe to dive using recreation diving equipment and practices, and specialized training and equipment for technical diving are needed.

Recreational underwater excursions used to be limited    _.

Attention Students
This Saturday, October 20, is the registration deadline for the winter terns.
Complete your registration form in the Administrative Office on the second floor between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Payment must be made at the time of registration, so bring your credit card, a money order, or cash with you. Personal cheques will not be accepted. No late exceptions. Classes begin Monday, October 22.

What is true about the Administrative Office?

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 tropical cyclone is a violent low pressure storm that usually occurs over warm oceans of over 80°F or 27°C. It winds counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as it is described for the term, cyclone itself. This powerful storm is fueled by the heat energy that is released when water vapor condenses at high altitudes, the heat ultimately derived from the Sun.
The center of a tropical cyclone, called the eye, is relatively calm and warm. This eye, which is roughly 20 to 30 miles wide, is clear, mainly because of subsiding air within it. The ring of clouds around the eye is the eyewall, where clouds reach highest and precipitation is heaviest. The strong wind, gusting up to 360 kilometers per hour, occurs when a tropical cyclone’s eyewall passes over land.
There are various names for a tropical cyclone depending on its location and strength. In Asia, a tropical cyclone is named according to its strength. The strongest is a typhoon; its winds move at more than 117 kilometers per hour. In India, it is called a cyclone. Over the North Atlantic and in the South Pacific, they call it a hurricane.
On average, there are about 100 tropical cyclones worldwide each year. A tropical cyclone peaks in late summer when the difference between temperature in the air and sea surface is the greatest. However, it has its own seasonal patterns. May is the least active month, while September is the most active.
The destruction associated with a tropical cyclone results not only from the force of the wind, but also from the storm surge and the waves it generates. It is born and sustained over large bodies of warm water, and loses its strength over inland regions that are comparatively safe from receiving strong winds. Although the tract of a tropical cyclone is very erratic, the Weather Service can still issue timely warnings to the public if a tropical cyclone is approaching densely populated areas. If people ever experience a cyclone, they would know how strong it could be.

What can be inferred about typhoons, cyclones and hurricanes?

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:
Baseball evolved from a number of different ball-and stick games (paddle ball, trap ball, one-old- cat, rounders, and town ball) originating in England. As early as the American Revolution, it was noted that troops played “baseball” in their free time. In 1845 Alexander Cartwright formalized the New York Knickerbockers’ version of the game: a diamond shaped infield, with bases ninety feet apart, three strikers - you’re - out, batter out on a caught ball, three outs per inning, a nine-man team. “The New York Game” spread rapidly, replacing earlier localized forms. From its beginnings, baseball was seen as a way of satisfying the recreational needs of an increasingly urban - industrial society. At its inception it was it was played by and for gentlemen. A club might consist of 40 members. The president would appoint two captains who would choose teams from among the members. Games were played on Monday and Thursday afternoons, with the losers often providing a lavish evening’s entertainments for the winners.
During the 1850 - 70 period the game was changing, however, with increasing commercialism (charging admission), under - the - table payments to exceptional players, and gambling on the outcome of games. By 1868 it was said that a club would have their regular professional ten, an amateur first - nine, and their “muffins” (the gentlemanly duffers who once ran the game). Beginning with the first openly all - salaried team (Cincinnati’s Red Stocking Club) in 1869, the 1870- 1890 period saw the complete professionalization of baseball, including formation of the National Association of Professional baseball players in 1871. The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs was formed in 1876, run by business-minded invertors in joint-stock company clubs. The 1880s has been called Major League Baseball’s “Golden Age”. Profits soared, player’s salaries rose somewhat, a season of 84 games became one of 132, a weekly periodical “The sporting News” came into being, wooden stadiums with double- deck stands replaced open fields, and the standard refreshment became hot dogs, soda pop and peanuts. In 1900 the Western League based in the growing cities of the Mis west proclaimed itself the American League.

Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a feature of the 1880s “Golden Age”?

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.
In a small village in North Yorkshire, there is a big old farmhouse  (1) .......three families live    together. Alice and George and their three children, Joe and Pam and their two children, and Sue and her baby daughter. The adults divide up the work between them. George does the cooking, Joe and Sue do almost the housework. Pam looks after the shopping and (2)..... the repairs, and Alice takes care of the garden.
Alice, George and Sue go out to work. Joe works at home (3)...... computer systems, and Pam, who is a painter, looks after the baby during the day. Two of the children go to school in the village, but the three oldest ones go by bus to the secondary school in the nearest town, ten miles away.
The three families get (4)...... well, and enjoy their way of life. There are a few difficulties, of course. Their biggest worry at the moment is money- one of the cars needs replacing, and the roof needs some expensive repairs. But this isn't too serious- the bank has agreed to a loan, which they expect to be able to pay back in three years. And they all say they would much rather go on living in their old farmhouse (5)....... move to a luxury flat in a big city
(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.

Although noise, commonly defined as unwanted sound, is a widely recognized form of pollution, it is very difficult to measure because the discomfort experienced by different individuals is highly subjective and, therefore, variable. Exposure to lower levels of noise may be slightly irritating, whereas exposure to higher levels may actually cause hearing loss. Particularly in congested urban areas, the noise produced as a byproduct of our advancing technology causes physical and psychological harm, and detracts from the quality of life for those who are exposed to it.

Unlike the eyes, which can be covered by the eyelids against strong light, the ear has no lid, and is, therefore, always open and vulnerable; noise penetrates without protection. Noise causes effects that the hearer cannot control and to which the body never becomes accustomed. Loud noises instinctively signal danger to any organism with a hearing mechanism, including human beings. In response, heartbeat and respiration accelerate, blood vessels constrict, the skin pales, and muscles tense. In fact, there is a general increase in functioning brought about by the flow of adrenaline released in response to fear, and some of these responses persist even longer than the noise, occasionally as long as thirty minutes after the sound has ceased.

Because noise is unavoidable in a complex, industrial society, we are constantly responding in the same way that we would respond to danger. Recently, researchers have concluded that noise and our response may be much more than an annoyance. It may be a serious threat to physical and psychological health and well-being, causing damage not only to the ear and brain but also to the heart and stomach. We have long known that hearing loss is America‟s number one nonfatal health problem, but now we are learning that some of us with heart disease and ulcers may be victims of noise as well. Fetuses exposed to noise tend to be overactive, they cry easily, and they are more sensitive to gastrointestinal problems after birth. In addition, the psychic effect of noise is very important. Nervousness, irritability, tension, and anxiety increase affecting the quality of rest during sleep, and the efficiency of activities during waking hours, as well as the way that we interact with each other.

Why is noise difficult to measure?

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.

   We get great pleasure from reading. The more advanced a man is, the greater delight he will find in reading. The ordinary man may think that subjects like philosophy or science are very difficult and that if philosophers and scientists read these subjects, it is not for pleasure. But this is not true. The mathematician finds the same pleasure in his mathematics as the school boy in an adventure story. For both, it is a play of the imagination, a mental recreation and exercise.

   The pleasure derived from this activity is common to all kinds of reading. But different types of books give us different types of pleasure. First in order of popularity is novel-reading. Novels contain pictures of imaginary people in imaginary situations, and give us an opportunity of escaping into a new world very much like our world and yet different from it. Here we seem to live a new life, and the experience of this new life gives us a thrill of pleasure.

   Next in order of popularity are travel books, biographies and memoirs. These tell us tales of places we have not seen and of great men in whom we are interested. Some of these books are as wonderful as novels, and they have an added value that they are true. Such books give us knowledge, and we also find immense pleasure in knowing details of lands we have not seen and of great men we have only heard of.

   Reading is one of the greatest enjoyments of life. To book-lovers, nothing is more fascinating than a favorite book. And, the ordinary educated man who is interested and absorbed in his daily occupation wants to occasionally escape from his drudgery into the wonderland of books for recreation and refreshment.

What does the passage mainly discuss?