Bài tập trắc nghiệm 60 phút Đoạn văn đọc hiểu - Tiếng Anh 12 - Đề số 4

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Ambient divers are, unlike divers who go underwater in submersible vehicles of pressure resistant suits, exposed to the pressure and temperature of the surrounding ambient water. Of all types of diving, the oldest and simplest is free diving. Free divers may use no equipment at all, but most use a face mask, foot fins, and a snorkel. Under the surface, free divers must hold their breath. Most free divers can only descend 30 to 40 feet, but some skilled divers can go as deep as 100 feet.

Scuba diving provides greater range than free diving. The word scuba stands for self-contained underwater breathing apparatus. Scuba divers wear metal tanks with compressed air or other breathing gases. When using open-circuit equipment, a scuba diver simply breathes air form the tank through a hose and releases the exhaled air into the water. A closed-circuit breathing device, also called a rebreather, filters out carbon dioxide and other harmful gases and automatically adds oxygen. This enables the diver to breathe the same air over and over. In surface-supplied diving, divers wear helmets and waterproof canvas suits. Today, sophiticated plastic helmets have replaced the heavy copper helmets used in the past. These divers get their air from a hose connected to compressors on a boat. Surface-supplied divers can go deeper than any other type of ambient diver.  

Question:  The word “apparatus” in the passage is closet in meaning to _______ .        

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Dodder is an unusual and unwanted plant that attacks other plants. Except for its flowers, the plant looks like spaghetti noodles. Its almost leafless, thread–like stems hang down atop other plants that dodder needs to stay alive. Dodder does not produce its own food. Instead, it steals it from other plants. It feeds by sucking juices from the plant it is wrapped around, often making its host very weak or even killing it. Dodder can find other plants by their smell. When a dodder seedling starts growing, it follows the scent of plants it prefers, like tomato plants, potato plants, or other farm crops. Unlike most plants that usually grow in the direction of light or warmth, a dodder plant will grow in the direction of, for example, tomato odor––if a tomato happens to be growing nearby. However, a young dodder plant must find a host plant quickly. If it cannot catch a whiff of a potential host within a few days, it will dry up and disappear—even if there is plenty of water around. Once it finds a host, the young dodder plant will attach itself to it and start growing faster. At that point, the dodder plant will drop its root. Dodder is thus a difficult weed to manage and a real headache for farmers. When it does get out of hand, dodder can greatly reduce a farmer’s harvest or even destroy crops completely. Before sowing their produce, farmers in warm parts of the world often check to make sure no unwanted dodder seeds have intermingled with their crop seeds. This is a good way to stop dodder plants from sneaking their way into a crop field.

Question: What is the main topic of the passage?             

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Until recently, most American entrepreneurs were men. Discrimination against women in business, the demands of caring for families, and lack of business training had kept the number of women entrepreneurs small. Now, however, businesses owned by women account for more than $40 billion in annual revenues, and this figure is likely to continue rising throughout the 1990s. As Carolyn Doppelt Gray, an official of the Small Business Administration, has noted, "The 1970s was the decade of women entering management, and the 1980s turned out to be the decade of the woman entrepreneur". What are some of the factors behind this trend? For one thing, as more women earn advanced degrees in business and enter the corporateworld, they are finding obstacles. Women are still excluded from most executive suites. Charlotte Taylor, a management consultant, had noted, "In the 1970s women believed if they got an MBA and worked hard they could become chairman of the board. Now they've found out that isn't going to happen, so they go out on their own". In the past, most women entrepreneurs worked in "women's" fields: cosmetics and clothing, for example. But this is changing. Consider ASK Computer Systems, a $22-million-a-year computer software business. It was founded in 1973 by Sandra Kurtzig, who was then a housewife with degrees in math and engineering. When Kurtzig founded the business, her first product was software that let weekly newspapers keep tabs on their newspaper carriers and her office was a bedroom at home, with a shoebox under the bed to hold the company's cash. After she succeeded with the newspaper software system, she hired several bright computer-science graduates to develop additional programs. When these were marketed and sold, ASK began to grow. It now has 200 employees, and Sandra Kurtzig owns $66.9 million of stock. Of course, many women who start their own businesses fail, just as men often do. They still face hurdles in the business world, especially problems in raising money; the banking and finance world is still dominated by men, and old attitudes die hard. Most businesses owned by women are still quite small. But the situation is changing; there are likely to be many more Sandra Kurtzigs in the years ahead.  

Question 46: The author mentions the “shoesbox under the bed” in the passage in order to __________.         

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Ambient divers are, unlike divers who go underwater in submersible vehicles of pressure resistant suits, exposed to the pressure and temperature of the surrounding ambient water. Of all types of diving, the oldest and simplest is free diving. Free divers may use no equipment at all, but most use a face mask, foot fins, and a snorkel. Under the surface, free divers must hold their breath. Most free divers can only descend 30 to 40 feet, but some skilled divers can go as deep as 100 feet.

Scuba diving provides greater range than free diving. The word scuba stands for self-contained underwater breathing apparatus. Scuba divers wear metal tanks with compressed air or other breathing gases. When using open-circuit equipment, a scuba diver simply breathes air form the tank through a hose and releases the exhaled air into the water. A closed-circuit breathing device, also called a rebreather, filters out carbon dioxide and other harmful gases and automatically adds oxygen. This enables the diver to breathe the same air over and over. In surface-supplied diving, divers wear helmets and waterproof canvas suits. Today, sophiticated plastic helmets have replaced the heavy copper helmets used in the past. These divers get their air from a hose connected to compressors on a boat. Surface-supplied divers can go deeper than any other type of ambient diver.  

Question:  The word “apparatus” in the passage is closet in meaning to _______ .        

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A number of factors related to the voice reveal the personality of the speaker. The first is the broad area of communication, which includes imparting information by use of language, communicating with a group or an individual and specialized communication through performance. A person conveys thoughts and ideas through choice of words, by a tone of voice that is pleasant or unpleasant, gentle or harsh, by the rhythm that is inherent within the language itself, and by speech rhythms that are flowing and regular or uneven and hesitant, and finally, by the pitch and melody of the utterance. When speaking before a group, a person’s tone may indicate uncertainty or fright, confidence or calm. At interpersonal levels, the tone may reflect ideas and feelings over and above the words chosen, or may believe them. Here the participant’s tone can consciously or unconsciously reflect intuitive sympathy or antipathy, lack of concern or interest, fatigue, anxiety, enthusiasm or excitement, all of which are usually discernible by the acute listener. Public performance is a manner of communication that is highly specialized with its own techniques for obtaining effects by voice and /or gesture. The motivation derived from the text, and in the case of singing, the music, in combination with the performer’s skills, personality, and ability to create empathy will determine the success of artistic, political, or pedagogic communication. Second, the voice gives psychological clues to a person's self-image, perception of others, and emotional health. Self-image can be indicated by a tone of voice that is confident, pretentious, shy, aggressive, outgoing, or exuberant, to name only a few personality traits. Also the sound may give a clue to the facade or mask of that person, for example, a shy person hiding behind an overconfident front. How a speaker perceives the listener’s receptiveness, interest, or sympathy in any given conversation can drastically alter the tone of presentation, by encouraging or discouraging the speaker. Emotional health is evidenced in the voice by free and melodic sounds of the happy, by constricted and harsh sound of the angry, and by dull and lethargic qualities of the depressed.

Question: What does the author mean by stating that “At interpersonal levels, tone may reflect ideas and feelings over and above the words chosen”?         

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In the West, cartoons are used chiefly to make people laugh. The important feature of all these cartoons is the joke and the element of surprise which is contained. Even though it is very funny, a good cartoon is always based on close observation of a particular feature of life and usually has a serious purpose. Cartoons in the West have been associated with political and social matters for many years. In wartime, for example, they proved to be an excellent way of spreading propaganda. Nowadays cartoons are often used to make short, sharp comments on politics and governments as well as on a variety of social matters. In this way, the modern cartoon has become a very powerful force in influencing people in Europe and the United States. Unlike most American and European cartoons, however, many Chinese cartoon drawings in the past have also attempted to educate people, especially those who could not read and write. Such cartoons about the lives and sayings of great men in China have proved extremely useful in bringing education to illiterate and semi-literate people throughout China. Confucius, Mencius and Laozi have all appeared in very interesting stories presented in the form of cartoons. The cartoons themselves have thus served to illustrate the teachings of the Chinese sages in a very attractive way. In this sense, many Chinese cartoons are different from Western cartoons in so far as they do not depend chiefly on telling jokes. Often, there is nothing to laugh at when you see Chinese cartoons. This is not their primary aim. In addition to commenting on serious political and social matters, Chinese cartoons have aimed at spreading the traditional Chinese thoughts and culture as widely as possible among the people. Today, however, Chinese cartoons have an added part to play in spreading knowledge. They offer a very attractive and useful way of reaching people throughout the world, regardless of the particular country in which they live. Thus, through cartoons, the thoughts and teachings of the old Chinese philosophers and sages can now reach people who live in such countries as Britain, France, America, Japan, Malaysia or Australia and who are unfamiliar with the Chinese culture. Until recently, the transfer of knowledge and culture has been overwhelmingly from the West to the East and not vice versa. By means of cartoons, however, publishing companies in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore are now having success in correcting this imbalance between the East and the West. Cartoons can overcome language barriers in all foreign countries. The vast increase in the popularity of these cartoons serves to illustrate the truth of Confucius’s famous saying “One picture is worth a thousand words.”   Question: According to the passage, which of the following is true?         

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Learning means acquiring knowledge or developing the ability to perform new behaviors. It is common to think of learning as something that takes place in school, but much of human learning occurs outside the classroom, and people continue to learn throughout their lives. Even before they enter school, young children learn to walk, to talk, and to use their hands to manipulate toys, food, and other objects. They use all of their senses to learn about the sights, sounds, tastes, and smells in their environments. They learn how to interact with their parents, siblings, friends, and other people important to their world. When they enter school, children learn basic academic subjects such as reading, writing, and mathematics. They also continue to learn a great deal outside the classroom. They learn which behaviors are likely to be rewarded and which are likely to be punished. They learn social skills for interacting with other children. After they finish school, people must learn to adapt to the many major changes that affect their lives, such as getting married, raising children, and finding and keeping a job. Because learning continues throughout our lives and affects almost everything we do, the study of learning is important in many different fields. Teachers need to understand the best ways to educate children. Psychologists, social workers, criminologists, and other human-service workers need to understand how certain experiences change people’s behaviors. Employers, politicians, and advertisers make use of the principles of learning to influence the behavior of workers, voters, and consumers. Learning is closely related to memory, which is the storage of information in the brain. Psychologists who study memory are interested in how the brain stores knowledge, where this storage takes place, and how the brain later retrieves knowledge when we need it. In contrast, psychologists who study learning are more interested in behavior and how behavior changes as a result of a person’s experiences. There arc many forms of learning, ranging from simple to complex. Simple forms of learning involve a single stimulus. A stimulus is anything perceptible to the senses, such as a sight, sound, smell, touch, or taste. In a form of learning known as classical conditioning, people learn to associate two stimulus that occur in sequence, such as lightning followed by thunder. In operant conditioning, people learn by forming an association between a behavior and its consequences (reward or punishment). People and animals can also learn by observation - that is, by watching others perform behaviors. More complex forms of learning include learning languages, concepts, and motor skills.  

Question: Which of the following can be inferred about the learning process from the passage?         

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Although management principles have been implemented since ancient times, most management scholars trace the beginning of modern management thought back to the early 1900s, beginning with the pioneering work of Frederick Taylor (1856-1915). Taylor was the first person to study work scientifically. He is most famous for introducing techniques of time and motion study, differential piece rate systems, and for systemtically specializing the work of operating employees and managers. Along with other pioneers such as Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, Taylor set the stage, labeling his philosophy and methods “scientific management”. At that time, his philosophy, which was concerned with productivity, but which was often misinterpreted as promoting worker interests at the expense of management, was in marked contrast to the prevailing industrial norms of worker exploitation. The time and motion study concepts were popularized by Frank and Lillian Gilbreth. The Gilbreths had 12 children. By analyzing his children’s dishwashing and bed making chores, this pioneer efficiency expert, Frank Gilbreth, hit on principles whereby workers could eliminate waste motion. He was memorialized by two of his children in their 1949 book called “Cheaper by the Dozen”. The Gilbreth methods included using stop watches to time worker movements and special tools (cameras and special clocks) to monitor and study worker performance, and also involved identification of “therbligs” (Gilbreth spelled backwards) - basic motions used in production jobs. Many of these motions and accompanying times have been used to determine how long it should take a skilled worker to perform a given job. In this way an industrial engineer can get a handle on the approximate time it should take to produce a product or provide a service. However, use of work analysis in this way is unlikely to lead to useful results unless all five work dimensions are considered, physical, psychological, social, cultural, and power.

Question: What is the passage primarily about?         

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A little more than a hundred years ago, a number of European scholars began to record stories being told in peasant cottages and compile them into the first great collection of European folk tales. Written evidence exists to prove that the folk tales they recorded existed long before then thought. Collections of sermons from the 12th to the 15th century show that medieval preachers knew of some of the same stories as those recorded by the 19th century folklorists. The collections of folk tales made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries provide a rare opportunity to make contact with the illiterate masses who have disappeared into the pass without leaving a trace. To reject folk tales as historical evidence because they cannot be dated and situation with precision centuries. But to attempt to penetrate that world is to face a daunting set of obstacles, the greatest of which is the impossibility of listening in on the story tellers. No matter how accurate they may be the versions of the tales recorded in writing cannot convey the effects that the storytellers must have used to bring the stories to life: the dramatic pauses, the sly glances, the use of gestures to set scenes, and the use of sounds punctuate action. All of those devices shaped the meaning of the tales, and all of them elude the historian. He cannot be sure that the limp and lifeless text he holds between the covers of a book provides an accurate account of the performance that took place in earlier times.

Question: The author believes that written versions of folk tales_________         

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Many flowering plants woo insect pollinators and gently direct them to their most fertile blossoms by changing the color of individual flowers from day to day. Through color cues, the plant signals to the insect that it would be better off visiting one flower on its bush than another. The particular hue tells the pollinator that the flower is full of far more pollen than are neighboring blooms. That nectar-rich flower also happens to be fertile and ready to disperse its pollen or to receive pollen the insect has picked up from another flower. Plants do not have to spend precious resources maintaining reservoirs of nectar in all their flowers. Thus, the color-coded communication system benefits both plants and insects. For example, on the lantana plant, a flower starts out on the first day as yellow, when it is rich with pollen and nectar. Influenced by an as-yet-unidentified environmental signal, the flower changes color by triggering the production of the pigment anthromyacin. It turns orange on the second day and red on the third. By the third day, it has no pollen to offer insects and is no longer fertile. On any given lantana bush, only 10 to 15 per cent of the blossoms are likely to be yellow and fertile. But in tests measuring the responsiveness of butterflies, it was discovered that the insects visited the yellow flowers at least 100 times more than would be expected from haphazard visitation. Experiments with paper flowers and painted flowers demonstrated that the butterflies were responding to color cues rather than, say, the scent of the nectar. In other types of plants, blossoms change from white to red, others from yellow to red, and so on. These color changes have been observed in some 74 families of plants.

Question: The word “it” refers to_______         

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In the primary school, a child is in a comparatively simple setting and most of the time forms and relationships with one familiar teacher. On entering secondary school, a new world opens up and frequently it is a much more difficult world. The pupil soon learns to be less free in the way he speaks to teachers and even to his fellow pupils. He begins to lose radually the free and easy ways of the primary school, for he senses the need for a more cautious approach in the secondary school where there are older pupils. Secondary staff and pupils suffer from the pressures of academic work and seem to have less time to stop and talk. Teachers with specialist roles may see hundreds of children in a week, and a pupil may be able to form relationships with very few of the staff. He has to decide which adults are approachable; good schools will make clear to every young person from the first year what guidance and personal help is available - but whether the reality of life in the institution actually encourages requests for help is another matter. Adults often forget what a confusing picture school can offer to a child. He sees a great deal of movement, a great number of people - often rather frightening-looking people - and realizes that an increasing number of choices and decisions have to be made. As he progresses through the school the confusion may become less but the choices and decisions required will increase. The school will rightly expect the pupil to take the first steps to obtain the help he needs, for this is the pattern of adult of life for which he has to be prepared but all the time the opportunities for personal and group advice must be presented in a way which makes them easy to understand and within easy reach of pupils. 

Question: According to the passage, one of the problems for pupils entering secondary school is that ...........         

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Are organically grown foods the best choices? The advantage claimed for such foods over conventionally grown and marketed food products are now being debated. Advocates of organic foods - a term whose meaning varies greatly - frequently proclaim that such products are safer and more nutritious than others. The growing interest of consumers in the safety and nutritional quality of the typical North American diet is a welcome development. However, much of this interest has been sparked by sweeping claims that the food supply is unsafe or inadequate in meeting nutritional evidence, the preponderance of written material advancing. As a result, claims that eating a diet consisting of entirely organically grown foods prevents or cures diseases provides other benefits to health have become widely publicized and form the basis for folklore. Almost daily, the public is besieged by claims for “no - aging” diets, new vitamins, and other wonder foods. There are numerous unsubstantiated reports that natural to unfertilized eggs, that untreated grains are better than fumigated grains, and the like. One thing that most organically grown food products seem to have in common is that they cost more than conventionally grown foods. But in many cases, consumers misled if they believe organic foods can maintain health and provide better nutritional quality than conventionally grown foods. So there is real cause for concern if consumers particularly those with limited incomes, distrust the regular food supply and buy only expensive organic foods instead.

Question 50: What is the author’s attitude toward the claims made by advocates of health foods?         

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There are a number of natural disasters that can strike across the globe. Two that are frequently linked to one another are earthquakes and tsunamis. Both of them can cause a great amount of devastation when they hit. However, tsunamis are the direct result of earthquakes and cannot happen without them.

The Earth has three main parts. They are the crust, the mantle, and the core. The crust is the outer layer of the Earth. It is not a single piece of land. Instead, it is comprised of a number of plates. There are a few enormous plates and many smaller ones. These plates essentially rest upon the mantle, which is fluid. As a result, the plates are in constant - yet slow - motion. The plates may move away from or toward other plates. In some cases, they collide violently with the plates adjoining them. The movement of the plates causes tension in the rock. Over a long time, this tension may build up. When it is released, an earthquake happens.

Tens of thousands of earthquakes happen every year. The vast majority are so small that only scientific instruments can perceive them. Others are powerful enough that people can feel them, yet they cause little harm or damage. More powerful earthquakes, however, can cause buildings, bridges, and other structures to collapse. They may additionally injure and kill thousands of people and might even cause the land to change its appearance.

Since most of the Earth’s surface is water, numerous earthquakes happen beneath the planet’s oceans. Underwater earthquakes can cause the seafloor to move. This results in the displacement of water in the ocean. When this occurs, a tsunami may form. This is a wave that forms on the surface and moves in all directions from the place where the earthquake happened. A tsunami moves extremely quickly and can travel thousands of kilometres. As it approaches land, the water near the coast gets sucked out to sea. This causes the tsunami to increase in height. Minutes later, the tsunami arrives. A large tsunami - one more than ten meters in height - can travel far inland. As it does that, it can flood the land, destroy human settlements, and kill large numbers of people.

Question: Which of the following statements does paragraph 1 support?

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Psychologist have debated a long time about whether a child’s upbringing can give it the ability to do outstandingly well. Some think that it is impossible to develop genius and say that it is simply something a person is born with. Others, however , argue that the potential for great achievement can be develop. The truth lies somewhere between these two extremes. It seems very obvious that being born with the right qualities from gifted parents will increase a child’s ability to do well. However, this ability will be fully realized only with the right upbringing and opportunities. As one psychologist says, “ To have a fast car, you need both a good engine and fuel.’’ Scientists have recently assessed intelligence, achievement, and ability in 50 sets of identical twins that were separated shortly birth and brought up by different parents. They found that achievement was based on intelligence, and later influenced by the child’s environment. One case involving very intelligent twins was quoted. One of the twins received a normal upbringing, and performed well. The other twin, however, was brought up by extremely supportive parents and given every possible opportunity to develop its abilities. That twin, thought starting out with the same degree of intelligence as the other, performed even better. This case reflects the general principle of intelligence and ability. The more favorable the environment, the more a child’s intelligence and ability are developed. However, there is no link between intelligence and socioeconomic level of a child’s family. In other words, it does not matter how poor or how rich a family is , as this does not affect the intelligence. Gifted people can not be created by supportive parents, but they can be developed by them. One professor of music said that outstanding musicians usually started two or three years earlier than ordinary performers, often because their parents had recognized their ability. These musicians then needed at least ten years’ hard work and training in order to reach the level they were capable of attaining. People who want to have very gifted children are given the following advice: Marry an intelligent person. Allow children to follow their own interests rather than the interests of the parents. Start a child’s education early but avoid pushing the child too hard. Encourage children to play; for example, playing with musical instrument is essential for a child who wants to become an outstanding musician.

Question 45: When scientists studied intelligence and ability in twins, they found that____.         

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Psychologist have debated a long time about whether a child’s upbringing can give it the ability to do outstandingly well. Some think that it is impossible to develop genius and say that it is simply something a person is born with. Others, however , argue that the potential for great achievement can be develop. The truth lies somewhere between these two extremes. It seems very obvious that being born with the right qualities from gifted parents will increase a child’s ability to do well. However, this ability will be fully realized only with the right upbringing and opportunities. As one psychologist says, “ To have a fast car, you need both a good engine and fuel.’’ Scientists have recently assessed intelligence, achievement, and ability in 50 sets of identical twins that were separated shortly birth and brought up by different parents. They found that achievement was based on intelligence, and later influenced by the child’s environment. One case involving very intelligent twins was quoted. One of the twins received a normal upbringing, and performed well. The other twin, however, was brought up by extremely supportive parents and given every possible opportunity to develop its abilities. That twin, thought starting out with the same degree of intelligence as the other, performed even better. This case reflects the general principle of intelligence and ability. The more favorable the environment, the more a child’s intelligence and ability are developed. However, there is no link between intelligence and socioeconomic level of a child’s family. In other words, it does not matter how poor or how rich a family is , as this does not affect the intelligence. Gifted people can not be created by supportive parents, but they can be developed by them. One professor of music said that outstanding musicians usually started two or three years earlier than ordinary performers, often because their parents had recognized their ability. These musicians then needed at least ten years’ hard work and training in order to reach the level they were capable of attaining. People who want to have very gifted children are given the following advice: Marry an intelligent person. Allow children to follow their own interests rather than the interests of the parents. Start a child’s education early but avoid pushing the child too hard. Encourage children to play; for example, playing with musical instrument is essential for a child who wants to become an outstanding musician.

Question 47: How were great musicians different from ordinary musicians in their development?         

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                                                        ACADEMICS AREN’T THE PROBLEM

Studies about how students use their time might shed light on whether they face increased academic and financial pressures compared with earlier eras.

Based on data about how students are spending time, academic or financial pressures don’t seem to be greater now than a generation ago.

The data show that full-time students in all types of colleges study much less now than they did a generation ago - a full 10 hours a week less. Students are also receiving significantly higher grades. So it appears that academic pressures are, in fact, considerably lower than they used to be.

The time-use data don’t suggest that students feel greater financial pressures, either. When the time savings and lower opportunity costs are factored in, college appears less expensive for most students than it was in the 1960s. And though there are now full-time students working to pay while in college, they study less even when paid work choices are held constantly.

In other words, full-time students do not appear to be studying less in order to work more. They appear to be studying less and spending the extra time on leisure activities or fun. It seems hard to imagine that students feeling increased financial pressures would respond by taking more leisure.
   

Based on how students are spending their time then, it doesn’t look as though academic or financial pressures are greater now than a generation ago. The time-use data don’t speak directly to social pressures, and it may well be that these have become more intense lately.

In one recent set of data, students reported spending more than 23 hours per week either socializing with friends or playing on the computer for fun. Social activities, in person or on computer, would seem to have become the major focus of campus life. It is hard to tell what kinds of pressures would be associated with this change.

Question: The study's conclusion that students' workload now is not greater than before is based on _______.         

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 The rules of etiquette in American restaurants depend upon a number of factors the physical location of the restaurant, e.g., rural or urban; the type of restaurant, e.g., informal or formal; and certain standards that are more universal. In other words, some standards 5 of etiquette vary significantly while other standards apply almost anywhere. Learning the proper etiquette in a particular type of restaurant in a particular area may sometimes require instruction, but more commonly it simply requires sensitivity and experience. For example, while it is acceptable to read a magazine in a coffee shop, it is 10 inappropriate to do the same in a more luxurious setting. And, if you are eating in a very rustic setting it may be fine to tuck your napkin into your shirt, but if you are in a sophisticated urban restaurant this behavior would demonstrate a lack of manners. It is safe to say, however, that in virtually every restaurant it is unacceptable 15 to indiscriminately throw your food on the floor. The conclusion we can most likely draw from the above is that while the types and locations of restaurants determine etiquette appropriate to them, some rules apply to all restaurants.  

 Question: According to the passage, which of the following is a universal rule of etiquette?           

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It is hard to think of a world without gas or electricity. Both are commonly used for lighting and heating today. We now can instantly flick a lighter or strike a match to make a flame. But it was not long ago that there were no such things as matches or lighters. To make fire, it was necessary to strike a piece of iron on flint for sparks to ignite some tinder. If the tinder was damp, or the flint old, you had to borrow some fire from a neighbor. We do not know exactly when or how people first used fire. Perhaps, many ages ago, they found that sticks would burn if they were dropped into some hole where melted lava from a volcano lay boiling. They brought the lighted sticks back to make their fire in a cave. Or, they may have seen trees catch fire through being struck by lightning, and used the trees to start their own fires. Gradually people learned they could start a fire without traveling far to find flames. They rubbed two pieces of wood together. This method was used for thousands of years. When people became used to making fires with which to cook food and stay warm at night, they found that certain resins or gums from trees burnt longer and brighter. They melted resins and dipped branches in the liquid to make torches that lit their homes at night. Iron stands in which torches used to be fixed can still be seen in old buildings of Europe. There was no lighting in city streets until gas lamps, and then electric lamps were installed. Boys ran about London at night carrying torches of burning material. They were called torch boys, or link boys, and earned a living by guiding visitors to friends' houses at night. For centuries homes were lit by candles until oil was found. Even then, oil lamps were no more effective than a cluster of candles. We read about the splendors and marvels of ancient palaces and castles, but we forget that they must have been gloomy and murky places at night.  

Question: What form of street lighting was used in London when link boys used to work there?         

A number of factors related to the voice reveal the personality of the speaker. The first is the broad area of communication, which includes imparting information by use of language, communicating with a group or an individual and specialized communication through performance. A person conveys thoughts and ideas through choice of words, by a tone of voice that is pleasant or unpleasant, gentle or harsh, by the rhythm that is inherent within the language itself, and by speech rhythms that are flowing and regular or uneven and hesitant, and finally, by the pitch and melody of the utterance. When speaking before a group, a person’s tone may indicate uncertainty or fright, confidence or calm. At interpersonal levels, the tone may reflect ideas and feelings over and above the words chosen, or may believe them. Here the participant’s tone can consciously or unconsciously reflect intuitive sympathy or antipathy, lack of concern or interest, fatigue, anxiety, enthusiasm or excitement, all of which are usually discernible by the acute listener. Public performance is a manner of communication that is highly specialized with its own techniques for obtaining effects by voice and /or gesture. The motivation derived from the text, and in the case of singing, the music, in combination with the performer’s skills, personality, and ability to create empathy will determine the success of artistic, political, or pedagogic communication. Second, the voice gives psychological clues to a person's self-image, perception of others, and emotional health. Self-image can be indicated by a tone of voice that is confident, pretentious, shy, aggressive, outgoing, or exuberant, to name only a few personality traits. Also the sound may give a clue to the facade or mask of that person, for example, a shy person hiding behind an overconfident front. How a speaker perceives the listener’s receptiveness, interest, or sympathy in any given conversation can drastically alter the tone of presentation, by encouraging or discouraging the speaker. Emotional health is evidenced in the voice by free and melodic sounds of the happy, by constricted and harsh sound of the angry, and by dull and lethargic qualities of the depressed.

According to the passage, what does a constricted and harsh voice indicate?         

Read the following passage and mark the letters A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.

Scientists do not yet thoroughly understand just how the body of an individual becomes sensitive to a substance that is harmless or even wholesome for the average person. Milk, wheat, and egg, for example, rank among the most healthful and widely used foods. Yet these foods can cause persons sensitive to them to suffer greatly. At first, the body of the individual is not harmed by coming into contact with the substance. After a varying interval of time, usually longer than a few weeks, the body becomes sensitive to it, and an allergy has begun to develop. Sometimes it's hard to figure out if you have a food allergy, since it can show up so many different ways. Your symptoms could be caused by many other problems. You may have rashes, hives, joint pains, mimicking arthritis, headaches, irritability, or depression. The most common food allergies are to milk, eggs, seafood, wheat, nuts, seeds, chocolate, oranges, and tomatoes. Many of these allergies will not develop if these foods are not fed to an infant until her or his intestines mature at around seven months. Breast milk also tends to be protective. Migraines can be set off by foods containing tyramine, phenathylamine, monosodium glutamate, or sodium nitrate. Common foods which contain these are chocolate, aged cheeses, sour cream, red wine, pickled herring, chicken livers, avocados, ripe bananas, cured meats, many Oriental and prepared foods (read the labels!). Some people have been successful in treating their migraines with supplements of B-vitamins, particularly B6 and niacin. Children who are hyperactive may benefit from eliminating food additives, especially colorings, and foods high in salicylates from their diets. A few of these are almonds, green peppers, peaches, tea, grapes. This is the diet made popular by Benjamin Feingold, who has written the book “Why your Child is Hyperactive”. Other researchers have had mixed results when testing whether the diet is effective. 

Question The topic of this passage is _____________.         

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.

People used to know more or less how their children would live. Now things are changing so quickly that they don’t even know what their own lives will be like in a few years’ time. What follows is not science fiction. It is how experts see the future. You are daydreaming behind the steering wheel; is it too dangerous? No! That’s no problem because you have it on automatic pilot, and with its hi–tech computers and cameras, your car “know” how to get you home safe and sound. What is for lunch? In the old days you used to stop off to buy a hamburger or a pizza. Now you use your diagnostic machine to find out which foods your body needs. If your body needs more vegetables and less fat, your food–preparation machine makes you a salad. After lunch, you go down the hall to your home office. Here you have everything you need to do your work. Thanks to your information screen and your latest generation computer, you needn’t go to the office anymore. The information screen shows an urgent message from a co-worker in Brazil. You can instantly send back a reply to him and go on to deal with other matters.

Question: According to the passage, what do people use a diagnostic machine for?         

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 time when humans crossed the Arctic land bridge from Siberia to Alaska seems remote to us today, but actually represents a late stage in prehistory of humans, an era when polished stone implements and bows and arrows were already being used and dogs had already been domesticated.

 When these early migrants arrived in North America, they found woods and plains dominated by three types of American mammoths. Those elephants were distinguished from today’s elephants mainly by their thick, shaggy coats and their huge, upward-curving tusks. They had arrived on the continent hundreds of thousands of years before their human followers. The wooly mammoth in the North, the Columbian mammoth in middle North America, and the imperial mammoth of the South together with their distant cousins the mastodons, dominated the land. Here, as in the Old World, there is evidence that humans hunted these elephants, as shown by numerous spear points found with mammoth remains.

 Then, at the end of the Ice Age, when the last glaciers had retreated, there was a relatively sudden and widespread extinction of elephants. In the New World, both mammoths and mastodons disappeared. In the Old World, only Indian and African elephants survived.

 Why did the huge, seemingly successful mammoths disappear? Were humans connected with their extinction? Perhaps, but at the time, although they were hunters, humans were still widely scattered and not very numerous. It is difficult to see how they could have prevailed over the mammoth to such an extent.

Question: The passage supports which of the following conclusions about mammoths?           

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions:

                                                  FAMILY LIFE IN THE UNITED STATES

Family life in the United States is changing. Fifty or sixty years ago, the wife was called a “housewife”. She cleaned, cooked, and cared for the children. The husband earned the money for the family. He was usually out working all day. He came home tired in the evening, so he did not do much housework. And he did not see the children very much, except on weekends.

These days, however, more and more women work outside the home. They cannot stay with the children all day. They, too, come home tired in the evening. They do not want to spend the evening cooking dinner and cleaning up. They do not have time to clean the house and do the laundry. So who is going to do the housework now? Who is going to take care of the children?

Many families solve the problem of housework by sharing it. In these families, the husband and wife agree to do different jobs around the house, or they take turns doing each job. For example, the husband always cooks dinner and the wife always does the laundry. Or the wife cooks dinner on some nights and the husband cooks dinner on other nights.

Then there is the question of the children. In the past, many families got help with child care from grandparents. Now families usually do not live near their relatives. The grandparents are often too far away to help in a regular way.

More often, parents have to pay for child care help. The help may be a babysitter or a day-care center. The problem with this kind of help is the high cost. It is possible only for couples with jobs that pay well.

Parents may get another kind of help form the companies they work for. Many companies now let people with children work part-time. That way, parents can spend mo re time with their children. Some husbands may even stop working for a while to stay with the children. For these men there is a new word: they are called “househusbands”. In the USA more and more men are becoming househusbands every year.

These changes in the home mean changes in the family. Fathers can learn to understand their  children better, and the children can get to know their fathers better. Husbands and wives may also find changes in their marriage.

Question: The word “laundry” in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to ___________.  

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following question from 36 to 43:

 A number of factors related to the voice reveal the personality of the speaker. The first is the broad area of communication, which includes imparting information by use of language, communicating with a group or an individual and specialized communication through performance. A person conveys thoughts and ideas through choice of words, by a tone of voice that is pleasant or unpleasant, gentle or harsh, by the rhythm that is inherent within the language itself, and by speech rhythms that are flowing and regular or uneven and hesitant, and finally, by the pitch and melody of the utterance. When speaking before a group, a person's tone may indicate uncertainty or fright, confidence or calm. At interpersonal levels, the tone may reflect ideas and feelings over and above the words chosen, or may belie them. Here the participant’s tone can consciously or unconsciously reflect intuitive sympathy or antipathy, lack of concern or interest, fatigue, anxiety, enthusiasm or excitement, all of which are usually discernible by the acute listener. Public performance is a manner of communication that is highly specialized with its own techniques for obtaining effects by voice and/ or gesture. The motivation derived from the text, and in the case of singing, the music, in combination with the performer's skills, personality, and ability to create empathy will determine the success of artistic, political, or pedagogic communication. Second, the voice gives psychological clues to a person's self-image, perception of others, and emotional health. Self-image can be indicated by a tone of voice that is confident, pretentious, shy, aggressive, outgoing, or exuberant, to name only a few personality traits. Also the sound may give a clue to the facade or mask of that person, for example, a shy person hiding behind an overconfident front. How a speaker perceives the listener's receptiveness, interest, or sympathy in any given conversation can drastically alter the tone of presentation, by encouraging or discouraging the speaker. Emotional health is evidenced in the voice by free and melodic sounds of the happy, by constricted and harsh sound of the angry, and by dull and lethargic qualities of the depressed.  

Question: What does the author mean by staring that "At interpersonal levels, tone may reflect ideas and feelings over and above the words chosen"?         

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 following question from 36 to 43:

 A number of factors related to the voice reveal the personality of the speaker. The first is the broad area of communication, which includes imparting information by use of language, communicating with a group or an individual and specialized communication through performance. A person conveys thoughts and ideas through choice of words, by a tone of voice that is pleasant or unpleasant, gentle or harsh, by the rhythm that is inherent within the language itself, and by speech rhythms that are flowing and regular or uneven and hesitant, and finally, by the pitch and melody of the utterance. When speaking before a group, a person's tone may indicate uncertainty or fright, confidence or calm. At interpersonal levels, the tone may reflect ideas and feelings over and above the words chosen, or may belie them. Here the participant’s tone can consciously or unconsciously reflect intuitive sympathy or antipathy, lack of concern or interest, fatigue, anxiety, enthusiasm or excitement, all of which are usually discernible by the acute listener. Public performance is a manner of communication that is highly specialized with its own techniques for obtaining effects by voice and/ or gesture. The motivation derived from the text, and in the case of singing, the music, in combination with the performer's skills, personality, and ability to create empathy will determine the success of artistic, political, or pedagogic communication. Second, the voice gives psychological clues to a person's self-image, perception of others, and emotional health. Self-image can be indicated by a tone of voice that is confident, pretentious, shy, aggressive, outgoing, or exuberant, to name only a few personality traits. Also the sound may give a clue to the facade or mask of that person, for example, a shy person hiding behind an overconfident front. How a speaker perceives the listener's receptiveness, interest, or sympathy in any given conversation can drastically alter the tone of presentation, by encouraging or discouraging the speaker. Emotional health is evidenced in the voice by free and melodic sounds of the happy, by constricted and harsh sound of the angry, and by dull and lethargic qualities of the depressed.  

Question: According to the passage, an overconfident front may hide______     

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions:

Learning means acquiring knowledge or developing the ability to perform new behaviors. It is common to think of learning as something that takes place in school, but much of human learning occurs outside the classroom, and people continue to learn throughout their lives. Even before they enter school, young children learn to walk, to talk, and to use their hands to manipulate toys, food, and other objects. They use all of their senses to learn about the sights, sounds, tastes, and smells in their environments. They learn how to interact with their parents, siblings, friends, and other people important to their world. When they enter school, children learn basic academic subjects such as reading, writing, and mathematics. They also continue to learn a great deal outside the classroom. They learn which behaviors are likely to be rewarded and which are likely to be punished. They learn social skills for interacting with other children. After they finish school, people must learn to adapt to the many major changes that affect their lives, such as getting married, raising children, and finding and keeping a job. Because learning continues throughout our lives and affects almost everything we do, the study of learning is important in many different fields. Teachers need to understand the best ways to educate children. Psychologists, social workers, criminologists, and other human-service workers need to understand how certain experiences change people’s behaviors. Employers, politicians, and advertisers make use of the principles of learning to influence the behavior of workers, voters, and consumers. Learning is closely related to memory, which is the storage of information in the brain. Psychologists who study memory are interested in how the brain stores knowledge, where this storage takes place, and how the brain later retrieves knowledge when we need it. In contrast, psychologists who study learning are more interested in behavior and how behavior changes as a result of a person’s experiences. There are any forms of learning, ranging from simple to complex. Simple forms of learning involve a single stimulus. A stimulus is anything perceptible to the senses, such as a sight, sound, smell, touch, or taste. In a form of learning known as classical conditioning, people learn to associate two stimulus occur in sequence, such as lightning followed by thunder. In operant conditioning, people learn by forming an association between a behavior and its consequences (reward or punishment). People and animals can also learn by observation - that is, by watching others perform behaviors. More complex forms of learning include learning languages, concepts, and motor skills.

Question:The passage mainly discusses ________.         

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.

People used to know more or less how their children would live. Now things are changing so quickly that they don’t even know what their own lives will be like in a few years’ time. What follows is not science fiction. It is how experts see the future. You are daydreaming behind the steering wheel; is it too dangerous? No! That’s no problem because you have it on automatic pilot, and with its hi–tech computers and cameras, your car “know” how to get you home safe and sound. What is for lunch? In the old days you used to stop off to buy a hamburger or a pizza. Now you use your diagnostic machine to find out which foods your body needs. If your body needs more vegetables and less fat, your food–preparation machine makes you a salad. After lunch, you go down the hall to your home office. Here you have everything you need to do your work. Thanks to your information screen and your latest generation computer, you needn’t go to the office anymore. The information screen shows an urgent message from a co-worker in Brazil. You can instantly send back a reply to him and go on to deal with other matters.

Question: What is the main idea of the passage?          

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions below:

 As heart disease continues to be the number-one killer in the United States, researchers have become increasingly interested in identifying the potential risk factors that trigger heart attacks. High-fat diets and "life in the fast lane" have long been known to contribute to the high incidence of heart failure. But according to new studies, the list of risk factors may be significantly longer and quite surprising.

 Heart failure, for example, appears to have seasonal and temporal patterns. A higher percentage of heart attacks occur in cold weather, and more people experience heart failure on Monday than on any other day of the week. In addition, people are more susceptible to heart attacks in the first few hours after waking. Cardiologists first observed this morning phenomenon in the mid-1980, and have since discovered a number of possible causes. An early-morning rise in blood pressure, heart rate, and concentration of heart stimulating hormones, plus a reduction of blood flow to the heart, may all contribute to the higher incidence of heart attacks between the hours of 8:00 A.M. and 10:00 A.M.

 In other studies, both birthdays and bachelorhood have been implicated as risk factors. Statistics reveal that heart attack rates increase significantly for both females and males in the few days immediately preceding and following their birthdays. And unmarried men are more at risk for heart attacks than their married counterparts. Though stress is thought to be linked in some way to all of the aforementioned risk factors, intense research continues in the hope of further comprehending why and how heart failure is triggered.  

Question: Which of the following could best replace the word "incidence" as used in line 3?         

Scientists have discovered the bones of what may be the largest meat-eating dinosaur ever to walk the earth. The discovery was made by a team of researchers from Argentina and North America in Patagonia, a desert on the eastern slopes of the Andes in South America. Besides the interesting fact that the dinosaur was huge and horrifying, it is even more astounding that the bones of a number of the dinosaurs were found together. This discovery challenges the prior theory that the biggest meat-eaters lived as loners and instead indicates that they may have lived and hunted in packs. The Tyrannosaurus Rex lived in North America and was believed to hunt and live alone. The newly discovered meat-eater appears to be related to the Giganotosaurus family, being as closely related to it as a fox would be to a dog. It is actually not of the same family at all as the Tyrannosaurus Rex, being as different from it as a cat is from a dog. The fossilized remains indicate that the animals lived about 100 million years ago. With needle-shaped noses and razor sharp teeth, they were larger than the Tyrannosaurus Rex, although their legs were slightly shorter, and their jaws were designed to be better able to dissect their prey quickly and precisely. 

Question 39: The author implies that the most interesting fact about the find is that this dinosaur   ______      

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:

An air pollutant is defined as a compound added directly or indirectly by humans to the atmosphere in such quantities as to affect humans, animals, vegetation, or materials adversely. Air pollution requires a very flexible definition that permits continuous change. When the first air pollution laws were established in England in the fourteenth century, air pollutants were limited to compounds that could be seen or smelled – a far cry from the extensive list of harmful substances known today. As technology has developed and knowledge of health aspects of various chemicals has increased, the list of air pollutants has lengthened. In the future, even water vapor might be considered an air pollutant under certain conditions. Many of more important air pollutants such as sulfur oxides, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides, are found in nature. As the Earth developed, the concentrations of these pollutants were altered by various chemical reactions; they became components in biogeochemical cycle. These serve as an air purification scheme by allowing the compounds to move from the air to the water or soil on a global basis, nature's output of these compounds dwarfs that resulting from human activities. However, human production usually occurs in a localized area, such as a city. In this localized regions, human output may be dominant and may temporarily overload the natural purification scheme of the cycle. The result is an increased concentration of noxious chemicals in the air. The concentrations at which the adverse effects appear will be greater than the concentrations that the pollutants would have in the absence of human activities. The actual concentration need not be large for a substance to be a pollutant; in fact the numerical value tells us little until we know how much of an increase this represents over the concentration that would occur naturally in the area. For example, sulfur dioxide has detectable health effects at 0.08 parts per million (ppm), which is about 400 times its natural level. Carbon monoxide, however, as a natural level of 0.1 ppm and is not usually a pollutant until its level reaches about 15 ppm.

Question: It can be inferred from the first paragraph that______         

Read the following pasage and mark the letter A, B, C or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions:

If we believe that clothing has to do with covering the body, and costume with the choice of a particular form of garment for a particular use, then we can say that clothing depend primarily on such physical conditions as climate, health, and textile manufacture, whereas costume reflect social factors such as religious beliefs, aesthetics, personal status, and the wish to be distinguished from or to emulate our fellows.

The ancient Greeks and the Chinese believed that we first covered our bodies for some physical reason such as protecting ourselves from the weather elements. Ethnologists and psychologists have invoked psychological reasons: modesty in the case of ancients, and taboo, magical influence and the desire to please for the moderns.

In early history, costume must have fulfilled a function beyond that of simple utility, perhaps through some magical significance, investing primitive man with the attributes of other creatures. Ornaments identified the wearer with animals, gods, heroes or other men. This identification remains symbolic in more sophisticated societies. We should bear in mind that the theater has its distant origins in sacred performances, and in all period children at play have worn disguises, so as to adapt gradually to adult life.

Costume helped inspire fear or impose authority. For a chieftain, costume embodied attributes expressing his power, while a warrior’s costume enhanced his physical superiority and suggested he was superhuman. In more recent times, professional or administrative costume has been devised to distinguish the wearer and express personal or delegated authority; this purpose is seen clearly in the judge’s robes and the police officer’s uniform. Costume denotes power, and since power is usually equated with wealth, costume came to be an expression of social caste and material prosperity. Military uniform denotes rank and is intended to intimidate, to protect the body and to express membership in a group. At the bottom of the scale, there are such compulsory costumes as the convict’s uniform. Finally, costume can possess a religious significance that combines various elements: an actual or symbolic identification with a god, the desire to express this in earthly life, and the desire to enhance the wearer’s position of respect.

Question 42: The word “denotes” in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to_______.         

Question 46: The word "acknowledged" in the second paragraph could best be replaced by    

Clara Barton became known as “The Angel of the Battlefield” during the American Civil War. Born in Oxford, Massachusetts in 1821, Clara Barton’s interest in helping soldiers on the battlefield began when she was told army stories from her father. Another event that influenced her decision to help soldiers was an accident her brother had. His injuries were cared for by Barton for 2 years. At the time, she was only 11 years old. Barton began teaching school at the age of 15. She taught for 18 years before she moved to Washington, D.C. in 1854. The civil war broke out 6 years later. Immediately, Barton started war service by helping the soldiers with their needs. At the battle of Bull Run, Clara Barton received permission from the government to take care of the sick and hurt. Barton did this with great empathy and kindness. She acknowledged each soldier as a person. Her endurance and courage on the battlefield were admired by many. When the war ended in 1865, she used 4 years of her life to assist the government in searching for soldiers who were missing during the war. The search for missing soldiers and years of hard work made her feeble physically. In 1869, her doctors recommended a trip to Europe for a rest. While she was on vacation, she became involved with the International Red Cross, an organization set up by the Geneva Convention in 1864. Clara Barton realized that the Red Cross would be a big help to the United States. After she returned to the United States, she worked very hard to create an American Red Cross. She talked to government leaders and let American people know about the Red Cross. In 1881, the National Society of the Red Cross was finally established with its headquarters in Washington, D.C. Clara Barton managed its activities for 23 years. Barton never let her age stop her from helping people. At the age of 79, she helped flood victims in Galveston, Texas. Barton finally resigned from the Red Cross in 1904. She was 92 years old and had truly earned her titled “The Angel of the Battlefield”.    

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions:

Many of the most damaging and life-threaling types of weather-torrential rains, severe thunderstorms, and tornadoes-begin quickly, strike suddenly, and dissipate rapidly, devastating small regions while leaving neighboring areas untouched. One such event, a tornado, struck the northeastern section of Edmonton, Alberta, in July 1987. Total damages from the tornado exceeded $250 million, the highest ever for any Canadian storm. Conventional computer models of the atmosphere have limited value in predicting short-live local storms like the Edmonton tornado, because the available weather data are generally not detailed enough to allow computers to discern the subtle atmospheric changes that precede these storms. In most nations, for example, weather balloon observations are taken just once every twelve hours at locations typically separated by hundreds of miles. With such limited data, conventional forecasting models do a much better job predicting general weather conditions over large regions than they do forecasting specific local events. Until recently, the observation-intensive approach needed for accurate, very short range forecasts, or “Nowcasts”, was not feasible. The cost of equipping and operating many thousands of conventional weather stations was prohibitively high, and the difficulties involved in rapidly collecting and processing the raw weather data from such a network were insurmountable. Fortunately, scientific and technological advances have overcome most of these problems. Radar systems, automated weather instruments, and satellites are all capable of making detailed, nearly continuous observation over large regions at a relatively low cost. Communications satellites can transmit data around the world cheaply and instantaneously, and modern computers can quickly compile and analyzing this large volume of weather information. Meteorologists and computer scientists now work together to design computer programs and video equipment capable of transforming raw weather data into words, symbols, and vivid graphic displays that forecasters can interpret easily and quickly. As meteorologists have begun using these new technologies in weather forecasting offices, Nowcasting is becoming a reality.  

Question: Which of the following would best illustrate Nowcasting?         

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:

Most languages have several levels of vocabulary that may be used by the same speakers. In English, at least three have been identified and described. Standard usage includes those words and expressions understood, used, and accepted by a majority of the speakers of a language in any situation regardless of the level of formality. As such, these words and expressions are well defined and listed in standard dictionaries. Colloquialisms, on the other hand, are familiar words and idioms that are understood by almost all speakers of a language and used in informal speech or writing, but not considered acceptable for more formal situations. Almost all idiomatic expressions are colloquial language. Slang, however, refers to words and expressions understood by a large number of speakers but not accepted as appropriate formal usage by the majority. Colloquial expressions and even slang may be found in standard dictionaries but will be so identified. Both colloquial usage and slang are more common in speech than in writing. Colloquial speech often passes into standard speech. Some slang also passes into standard speech, but other slang expressions enjoy momentary popularity followed by obscurity. In some cases, the majority never accepts certain slang phrases but nevertheless retains them in their collective memories. Every generation seems to require its own set of words to describe familiar objects and events. It has been pointed out by a number of linguists that three cultural conditions are necessary for the creation of a large body of slang expressions. First, the introduction and acceptance of new objects and situations in the society; second, a diverse population with a large number of subgroups; third, association among the subgroups and the majority population. Finally, it is worth nothing that the terms “standard”, “colloquial”, and “slang” exist only as abstract levels for scholars who study language. Only a tiny number of the speakers of any language will be aware that they are using colloquial or slang expressions. Most speakers of English will, during appropriate situations, select and use all three types of expressioins.

Question 43: How is slang defined by the author?         

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 from 43 to 50:

 Psychologist have debated a long time about whether a child’s upbringing can give it the ability to do outstandingly well. Some think that it is impossible to develop genius and say that it is simply something a person is born with. Others, however , argue that the potential for great achievement can be develop. The truth lies somewhere between these two extremes. It seems very obvious that being born with the right qualities from gifted parents will increase a child’s ability to do well. However, this ability will be fully realized only with the right upbringing and opportunities. As one psychologist says, “ To have a fast car, you need both a good engine and fuel.’’ Scientists have recently assessed intelligence, achievement, and ability in 50 sets of identical twins that were separated shortly birth and brought up by different parents. They found that achievement was based on intelligence, and later influenced by the child’s environment. One case involving very intelligent twins was quoted. One of the twins received a normal upbringing, and performed well. The other twin, however, was brought up by extremely supportive parents and given every possible opportunity to develop its abilities. That twin, thought starting out with the same degree of intelligence as the other, performed even better. This case reflects the general principle of intelligence and ability. The more favorable the environment, the more a child’s intelligence and ability are developed. However, there is no link between intelligence and socioeconomic level of a child’s family. In other words, it does not matter how poor or how rich a family is , as this does not affect the intelligence. Gifted people can not be created by supportive parents, but they can be developed by them. One professor of music said that outstanding musicians usually started two or three years earlier than ordinary performers, often because their parents had recognized their ability. These musicians then needed at least ten years’ hard work and training in order to reach the level they were capable of attaining. People who want to have very gifted children are given the following advice: Marry an intelligent person. Allow children to follow their own interests rather than the interests of the parents. Start a child’s education early but avoid pushing the child too hard. Encourage children to play; for example, playing with musical instrument is essential for a child who wants to become an outstanding musician.

Question 49: When encourage their gifted children, parents should avoid________.         

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions:

Because writing has become so important in our culture, we sometimes think of it as more real than speech. A little thought, however, will show why speech is primary and writing secondary to language. Human beings have been writing (as far as we can tell from surviving evidence) for at least 5000 years; but they have been talking for much longer, doubtless ever since there have been human beings.

When writing did develop, it was derived from and represented speech, although imperfectly. Even today there are spoken languages that have no written form. Furthermore, we all learn to talk well before we learn to write; any human child who is not severely handicapped physically or mentally will learn to talk: a normal human being cannot be prevented from doing so. On the other hand, it takes a special effort to learn to write. In the past many intelligent and useful members of society did not acquire the skill, and even today many who speak languages with writing systems never learn to read or write, while some who learn the rudiments of those skills do so only imperfectly.

To affirm the primacy of speech over writing is not, however, to disparage the latter. One advantage writing has over speech is that it is more permanent and makes possible the records that any civilization must have. Thus, if speaking makes us human, writing makes us civilized.

Question: We sometimes think of writing as more real than speech because ______.      

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 New York Times is a daily newspaper published in New York City. For a long time, it has been a newspaper of record in the United State and one of the world’s great newspapers. Its strength is in its editorial excellence; it has never been the largest newspaper in terms of circulation. The Times was established in 1851 as a penny paper whose editors wanted to report the news in a restrained and objective fashion. It enjoyed early success as its editors set a pattern for the future by appealing to a cultured, intellectual readership instead of a mass audience. However, in the late nineteenth century, it came into competition with more popular, colorful, if not lurid, newspapers in New York City. Their publishers ran sensational stories, not because they were true, but because they sold newspapers. Despite price increases, the time was losing £1,000 a week when Adolph Simon Ochs bought it in 1896. Ochs built the Times into an internationally respected daily. He hired Carr Van Anda as editor. Van Anda placed greater stress than ever on full reporting of the news of the day, and his reporters maintained and emphasized existing good coverage of international news. The management of the paper decided to eliminate fiction from the paper, added a Sunday magazine section, and reduced the paper’s price back to a penny. In April 1912, the paper took many risks to report every aspect of the sinking of the Titanic. This greatly enhanced its prestige, and in its coverage of two world wars, the Times continued to enhance its reputation for excellence in world news. In 1971, the Times was given a copy of the so-called “Pentagon Papers” a secret government study of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam war. When it published the report, it became involved in several lawsuits. The U.S. Supreme Court found that the publication was protected by the freedom-of-the-press clause in the First Amendment of the U.S Constitution. Later in the 1970s, the paper, under Adolph Ochs’s grandson, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, introduced sweeping changes in the organization of the newspaper and its staff and brought out a national edition transmitted by satellite to regional printing plants.

Question: What word or phrase does the word “his” 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 that follow.

In the primary school, a child is in a comparatively simple setting and most of the time forms and relationships with one familiar teacher. On entering secondary school, a new world opens up and frequently it is a much more difficult world. The pupil soon learns to be less free in the way he speaks to teachers and even to his fellow pupils. He begins to lose radually the free and easy ways of the primary school, for he senses the need for a more cautious approach in the secondary school where there are older pupils. Secondary staff and pupils suffer from the pressures of academic work and seem to have less time to stop and talk. Teachers with specialist roles may see hundreds of children in a week, and a pupil may be able to form relationships with very few of the staff. He has to decide which adults are approachable; good schools will make clear to every young person from the first year what guidance and personal help is available - but whether the reality of life in the institution actually encourages requests for help is another matter. Adults often forget what a confusing picture school can offer to a child. He sees a great deal of movement, a great number of people - often rather frightening-looking people - and realizes that an increasing number of choices and decisions have to be made. As he progresses through the school the confusion may become less but the choices and decisions required will increase. The school will rightly expect the pupil to take the first steps to obtain the help he needs, for this is the pattern of adult of life for which he has to be prepared but all the time the opportunities for personal and group advice must be presented in a way which makes them easy to understand and within easy reach of pupils. 

Question: In secondary schools every pupil having problems should................         

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Scientists do not yet thoroughly understand just how the body of an individual becomes sensitive to a substance that is harmless or even wholesome for the average person. Milk, wheat, and egg, for example, rank among the most healthful and widely used foods. Yet these foods can cause persons sensitive to them to suffer greatly. At first, the body of the individual is not harmed by coming into contact with the substance. After a varying interval of time, usually longer than a few weeks, the body becomes sensitive to it, and an allergy has begun to develop. Sometimes it's hard to figure out if you have a food allergy, since it can show up so many different ways. Your symptoms could be caused by many other problems. You may have rashes, hives, joint pains, mimicking arthritis, headaches, irritability, or depression. The most common food allergies are to milk, eggs, seafood, wheat, nuts, seeds, chocolate, oranges, and tomatoes. Many of these allergies will not develop if these foods are not fed to an infant until her or his intestines mature at around seven months. Breast milk also tends to be protective. Migraines can be set off by foods containing tyramine, phenathylamine, monosodium glutamate, or sodium nitrate. Common foods which contain these are chocolate, aged cheeses, sour cream, red wine, pickled herring, chicken livers, avocados, ripe bananas, cured meats, many Oriental and prepared foods (read the labels!). Some people have been successful in treating their migraines with supplements of B-vitamins, particularly B6 and niacin. Children who are hyperactive may benefit from eliminating food additives, especially colorings, and foods high in salicylates from their diets. A few of these are almonds, green peppers, peaches, tea, grapes. This is the diet made popular by Benjamin Feingold, who has written the book “Why your Child is Hyperactive”. Other researchers have had mixed results when testing whether the diet is effective. 

Question Which of the following was a suggested treatment for migraines in the passage?         

Read the following andmark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 37 to 43:

 In early civilization, citizens were educated informally, usually within the family unit. Education meant simply learning to live. As civilization became more complex, however, education became more formal, structured, and comprehensive. Initial efforts of the ancient Chinese and Greek societies concentrated solely on the education of males. The post-Babylonian Jews and Plato were exceptions to this pattern. Plato was apparently the first significant advocate of the equality of the sexes. Women, in his ideal state, would have the same rights and duties and the same educational opportunities as men. This aspect of Platonic philosophy, however, had little or no effect on education for many centuries, and the concept of a liberal education for men only, which had been espoused by Aristotle, prevailed.

 In ancient Rome, the availability of an education was radually extended to women, but they were taught separately from men. The early Christians and medieval Europeans continued this trend, and single-sex schools for the privileged through classes prevailed through the Reformation period. Gradually, however, education for women, in a separate but equal basis to that provided for men, was becoming a clear responsibility of society. Martin Luther appealed for civil support of schools for all children. Al the Council of Trent in the 16th century, the Roman Catholic Church encouraged the establishment of free primary schools for children of all classes. The concept of universal primary education, regardless of sex, had been born, but it was still in the realm of the single-sex school.

 In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, co-education became a more widely applied principle of educational philosophy. In Britain, Germany, and the Soviet Union the education of boys and girls in the same classes became an accepted practice. Since World War II, Japan and the Scandinavian countries have also adopted relatively universal co-educational systems. The greatest negative reaction to co-education has been felt in the teaching systems of the Latin countries, where the sexes have usually been separated at both primary and secondary levels, according to local conditions.

 A number of studies have indicated that girls seem to perform better overall and in science in particular. In single-sex classes, during the adolescent years, pressure to conform to stereotypical female gender roles may disadvantage girls in traditionally male subjects, making them reluctant to volunteer for experimental work while taking part in lessons. In Britain, academic league tables point to high standards achieved in girls’ schools. Some educationalists, therefore, suggest segregation of the sexes as a good thing, particularly in certain areas, and a number of schools are experimenting with the idea.  

Question 37: Ancient education generally focused its efforts on __________.