Are the years you (i) ________ at school the best years of your life? Personally, I found most lessons rather uninteresting. We had to sit at our desks in silence and (ii) ________ attention. The teachers used to  write on the blackboard and ask US difficult questions. We also had to do lots of homework, and (iii) ________ it in on time. We had to wear a school uniform, and wc had to obey lots of rules. I left school as soon as I could and started work. I read books al the public library, and later I decided to (iv) ________ college. I really enjoyed studying because I was older and knew that I wanted some (v) ________  When I was at school, I was just the wrong age!

(v)_____

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word or phrase that is OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined part in each of the following questions: 

His replies were inconsistent with his previous testimony. 

Based on measurements of the expansion of the universe, of the position of galaxies, as well as of the cosmic microwave background radiation, the birth of the universe is said to (i) _______  13.7 billion years ago, when the early cosmos was a dense gaseous fireball of plasma, with temperatures 100,000 times higher than (ii) _______  of the sun’s core. 10 microseconds after the initial explosion, the universe experienced a period of huge exponential (iii) _______  called cosmic inflation, allowing basic particles such as quarks and gluons to stop moving around willy-nilly without purpose and form strong bonds of protons and neutrons. 100 seconds later, as temperatures dropped even further, these protons and neutrons would form helium and other hydrogen composites in a period cissalled nucleosynthesis. Matter would (iv) _______  to a halt and stop moving, (v) _______  gravitational forces come into play, and after 380,000 years the first atoms would make their appearance.

(iv)______-

In Britain, greetings cards are sold in chain stores and supermarkets, in newsagents’ shops, comer shops and, increasingly, in shops that specialize in the sale of cards and paper for wrapping presents in. The (i)  _______ cards are birthday and Christmas cards. Many Christmas cards are sold in aid of charity and special ‘charily card shops’ are often set up in temporary premises in the weeks before Christmas. A wide (ii) _______ of birthday cards is available to cater for different ages and tastes. Some, especially ones for young children or for people (iii) _________ a particular birthday, have the person’s age on the front. Many have comic, often risque, messages printed on them, and cartoon-style illustrations. Others are more sober, with reproductions of famous paintings or attractive original designs. The usual greeting on a birthday card is ‘Happy Birthday’, ‘Many Happy Returns’ or ‘Best Wishes for a Happy Birthday’. Some people also send special cards for Easter and New Year,Easter cards (iv) _______ portray images of spring, such as chicks, eggs, lambs, spring flowers, etc., or have a religious theme. Cards are produced for every ‘milestone’ in a person’s life. There are special cards for (v) _______ engagement, a marriage, a new home, a birth, success in an examination, retirement, a death in the family, etC. Some are ‘good luck’ or ‘congratulations’ cards. Others, for example ‘get weir cards for people who are ill, express sympathy.

(v)______

The professor (i) _______ the ancient symbol in the course of researeh for a visual history of the 20th century, to be published by the Trecca in Encyclopedia. The first (ii) _______ instance of its use, he says, occurred in a letter written by a Florentine merchant on May 4th, 1536. He says the sign made its (iii) ________  along trade routes to northern Europe, where it came to represent “at the price of” – its contemporary accountancy (iv) _______  . Professor Stabile believes that Italian banks may possess even earlier documents (v) _______ the symbol lying forgotten in their arehives. The oldest example could be of great value. The race is on between the mercantile world and the banking world to sec who has the oldest documentation of @.

(iii)_____

Work engineers are (i) _______ riding with drivers, timing everything from stops at traffic lights, to wait at customer’s doorway, to stairway climbs, to coffee break. And they are not (ii) _______  to pointing out the occasional inefficiency. Additionally, supervisors ride with the least good drivers, noting how they work and constantly (iii) _______ them until their work is up to standard. The (iv) _______ of all this work engineering is efficiency, and UPS has been called one of the most efficient companies anywhere. Il’s also a highly profitable company. Most drivers take the regimentation in stride: many show pride in meeting the UPS standards each day. Others, however, feel that they are constantly being pushed, that it is impossible for them to (v) _______ at work. UPS officials claim that the standards provide accountability. And, they say, employees who work according to UPS standards should feel less tired al the end of the day.

(v)_____-

The town of Bunol in Spain is famous for La Tomatina, the world’s largest vegetable fight. The event takes place during a week-long celebration (i) _______ festivities and with even greater anticipation for the battle ahead. La Tomatina started during the 1940s, when (ii) _______ of friends started a tomato fight and passers-by got dragged into it. From that day forward, the fiesta has been celebrated annually and is expected to draw record numbers this time around. The reason for the fight has never been established and it hardly matters since the point is fun. La Tomatina has blossomed into a huge fiesta that coincides with the festival for the town’s patron saint. This is partly in an effort to draw more tourism into Bunol, and at the same time many more targets. The night before La Tomatina, the narrow’ streets are filled with tomatoes, and in a much (iii) _______ form than the next day. No one can do battle on an empty stomach so huge pans filled with delicious paella are on offer. Then, early Wednesday morning, shopkeepers set about covering windows and doors in preparation for the mess. Large trucks rumble up the streets to arrive in the square and be cheered by the 20,000 strong crows. Men on top of the tracks then begin the attack (iv) _______ soft tomatoes from the four comers of Spain. The victims retaliate against the trackers, each other, and anyone else that strays within their range. When all the tomatoes have been demolished, (v) _______ heads to the river to clean it all off.

(ii)____

He leaned back, exulting _____ the success of his plan. 

(i) ________ November 13rd, 1991, a new animation movie was making waves around the world. This movie that everyone was (ii) ________ about was Beauty and the Beast. It was made by Disney and was the first animation movie ever to (iii) ________  for an Academy Award. The Movie Academy in Hollywood chooses five movies every year to receive the famous Oscar Prize. But in the end only one can win. In 1991, Beauty and the Beast won the Oscar for Best Music and for Best Song in a movie, which was performed (iv) ________ the popular Celine Dion. In the same year, Beauty and the Beast (v) ________ got the prestigious Golden Globe Awards for Best Picture. That was a high honor for an animation film.

(v)_____

Islands are geographical formations that are completely surrounded by water, yet many islands are (i) _______________ a rich assortment of plant life. It may seem surprising that so much plant life exists on many islands, yet there are surprisingly simple explanations as to (ii) _______the vegetation has been able to establish itself there. Some islands were formerly attached to larger bodies of land, (iii) _______others were created on their own. Islands that were created when Hooding or rising water levels cut them off from their neighbors often still have the plant life that they had before they were cut off. In cases where islands formed out of the ocean, they may have plant life from neighboring lands even though they were never actually attached to the neighboring lands. Winds (iv) _______many seeds to islands; some plants produce extremely light seeds that can float thousands of feet above the Earth and then drift down to islands where y can sprout and develop. Birds also carry seeds to islands; as birds move over open stretches of water, they can (v)       _______the transportation system to spread seeds from place to place.

(ii)____

Dear Mr Hill,

With (i) _______ to your advertisement in the Educational Gazette, I would like to (ii) _______ one of the scholarships your Trust is offering to students who wish to continue their studies at a British university. I am 22 years old and have just graduated in English Philology from the Complutense University in Madrid, Spain. I am very interested in doing a Master’s degree in English literature. My (iii) _______ interest is the English playwright Arnold Wesker. However, it is almost impossible for me to study Wesker here in Spain, as he is not very well-known. I would really need to come to Britain. Unfortunately, the (iv) _______ of university fees in your country makes that almost impossible. I would also be living away from home. My parents could contribute so mething towards my keep but that is all. My level of English is good I passed the TOEFL iBT test last year with a score of 106.

I hope you will (v) _______ my application.

Yours sincerely,

(iii)___

Choose the underlined part among A, B, C, or D that needs correcting: Both John and Jim plays football well.

 I ____ a car next year.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or Don your answer sheet to indicate the word(s) CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined word (s) in each of the following questions: 

A woman had a narrow escape when the car came round the corner. 

The violence of the conflict has (i) _______ the attention of the international world, with many labelling it as the (ii) _______ humanitarian crisis since the 2004 Asian tsunami. Members of the United Nations have called upon the rest of the world to put an end to this terrible (iii) _______ and the deliberate and systematic destruction of an ethnic group. In 2004, Chad negotiated a ceasefire agreement between the Sudanese government and the JEM and SLM groups, (iv) _______ would put an end to the hostilities.

Yet, there is an uneasy truce, as the National Movement for Reform and Development (v) _______ away from the JEM during peace negotiations and stills continues its guerrilla war against the Janjaweed in spile of careful peace monitoring done by the African Union and the European Union. A new peace agreement has been proposed in May 2006, but its rejection by a couple of rebel groups docs not bode well for the future of Darfur.

(ii)______

There was no one when I opened the door; someone must be ________. 

Israel and Palestine have been at war with each other (i) _______ many years now. The reason behind the conflict is religion. Palestine is a very old country lying in the Middle East. It is an Arabic nation where most of its population is Muslim. Israel (ii) _______ at the border with Palestine. It is a much younger country formed by Jews (iii) _______ religion is radically and completely different from the Muslim religion. Israel grew stronger after the Second World War, when it became a friend and ally of the United States. It started to occupy land from surrounding countries (iv) _______ on the fact that Jews used to live on that land (v) _______  years ago.

(v)_____

Hwang’s achievement was touted and (i) _______ described as a major breakthrough in medical science and earned the Korean researeher celebrity status all over the world. In May 2005. Hwang came forward to present an (ii) _______ greater achievement when he published his work in the leading scientific magazine of the USA and presented the creation of 11 human embryonic cell lines by using merely 185 eggs. (iii) _______ made this result was so spectacular that unlike his 2004 stem cell line, which used eggs from one single female (iv) _______, this recent line employed the eggs of (v) _______ patients of various age and gender, which would mean that every patient could receive custom-made treatment with no immune reactions.

(v)_____

When (i) _______ people think of sports, the first ones that come to mind are probably football – both American and European soccer – and basketball, hockey, tennis, and baseball. But that knights in shining armour who rode horses and carried sharp swords and lances in their hands to knock (ii) _______ knights off their horses, created the new sport of jousting. The idea of jousting dates back to really times before the 1100s and had its origins in France where jousting was not really a sport. Instead, it was really more of an occupation since jousting tournaments were really warring tournaments held between the families of nobility for the purpose of gaining notoriety and monetary wealth. As jousting became more of a sport, a code of “fair play” was enacted and chivalry entered (iii)  _______  the picture as well as the ideas conveyed in the talcs of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. In addition to the Inaugural code of ethics, the concepts of fair maidens and brave knights continues to (iv) _______  an important role in jousting. And even to this (v) _______ day, the idea of chivalry has an impact on the pageantry and activities of jousting tournaments.

(i)____

The Solar System is (i) _______ the Sun and eight planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The first four planets are (ii) _______ terrestrial planets because they are rocky. They are smaller and denser than the outer planets. They contain a high amount of metals and they have less gas than the outer planets. Mercury has no atmosphere, but Venus, Earth and Mars have atmospheres of varying thicknesses. Their rotation is slower and their orbits are closer together. The outer four planets are known as gas giants. They are also known as Jovian planets, (iii) _______ the planet Jupiter because of their gigantic Jupiter-like (iv) _______. They have a large diameter and a very thick atmosphere. Although their surfaces contain large amounts of gases, their cores are probably solid. All four Jovian planets have rings although only Saturn’s ring system is (v) _______ from Earth.

(i)_____-

It would fall (i) _______ the shoulders of the rulers of the Middle Kingdom to restore Egypt’s former glory and herald the beginning of the classical era. After a century of civil war, the southern warrior princes of Thebes defeated their northern rivals in Hcraklciopolis and were responsible for placing Egypt under one single ruler. Under the 11th Dynasty, Egypt’s capital was moved from Memphis to Thebes, while the local god Amun of Karnak gained significant status and (ii) _______ up replacing Ra as the main god. Pharaoh Mentuhotep (2008 – 1957 BC) continued the tradition of building royal and religious structures With the construction of a funerary temple in Thebes. (iii) _______  pharaohs kept strengthening the royal administration, reclaiming land for agricultural purposes and (iv) _______ art and classical literature. The energetic and capable Amcncmhct III established new trading routes by digging a canal to connect the Nile river with the Red Sea just as Senwosret III consolidated and expanded Egypt’s borders to include (v) _______ fertile territories as Nubia, Sudan and Canaan

(ii)_____