ASEAN’s aims include the acceleration of economic growth, _____ progress, cultural development among its members, and the promotion of regional peace.

(493)______

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 :
If you are like most students, you probably started this new academic year with a resolution to study harder. Now, science can you help you keep your resolution. Recent discoveries in brain research (1) _______ to better ways to learn. How does the brain (2) _______ new information? Think of the last time someone told you their phone number. Could you remember that number five minutes later? Probably not! That’s because it was in your short-term memory. Our memory actually has three components. Sensory memory takes (3) _______  information from our five senses and is stored for just a few seconds while our brain processes it. Short-term memory works like a “holding area” for new information – that’s where you keep the phone number while you dial it. but if you can put the phone number into long-term memory, you’ll remember that same phone number next week. This part of your memory  (4) _______ everything from irregular verbs to the names of all your cousins. When you study, you transfer new information into long-term memory. Every time we learn something new, the structure of the brain actually changes as we build new connections to information that we (5) _______ know. When there are more connections to the new information, it’s easier to find it again​

Choose the best answer:
I have a little sister. …………. is very cute.

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Do you need to be that stressed______?

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The Film and the Novel: Twilight
When a popular book gets made into a movie, there will always be a debate about whether the novel or film is better. The filmmakers always have to consider certain things: do they want to follow the book closely to please dedicated readers, or do they want to change parts of the book if they don’t translate well on-screen? No matter what they do, there will always be people who feel the movie will never be as good as the book, people who will love the movie without ever reading the book, and people who enjoy both. The vampire series Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer, became so popular that movie companies wanted to produce it for the big screen. Most Twilight fans were excited about seeing characters such as Edward and Bella “come to life,” but there were other fans who did not trust the movie script. They assumed the scriptwriters would change parts of the story to make it seem more interesting as a movie. By the time the first Twilight movie was released, millions of people had read the series. Many of these people went on to watch the film, which made $35.7 million just on its opening day. While many fans and critics liked it and said the movie more or less followed the book’s storyline, some fans were not impressed. One change that angered them was that certain sound effects were added to the movie, such as a “whooshing” sound when the vampires jumped. This was not mentioned in the book, and many fans felt that it was too distracting. Those who liked the movie said that they enjoyed the light mood and excitement. This was very different from the book. The writing in Twilight is dark and gloomy, like many vampire novels. The movie, however, added more energy to the story and more personality to the characters. For example, many characters in the book are portrayed as being quiet, and they spend most of their time at school. But in the movie, the characters are cooler and funnier – one scene even shows them going surfing together. The director of the first movie, Catherine Hardwicke, thought it was important for the characters to be believable. She wanted them to have a wide variety of emotions, since the series is for, and about, teenagers. In the end, the films were considered a success, even if there were both happy and unhappy fans. It’s a great accomplishment to make films that are watched by millions of people, and you can’t expect to be able to please everyone all of the time.
3. The passage discusses vampires jumping________

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The Life of a Food Critic
You’ve seen restaurant reviews in newspapers, or perhaps in magazines or on the Internet. People read these reviews when they want to know about the quality and price of the food at a restaurant. Or maybe they’re looking for a restaurant with a distinctive atmosphere – dark and romantic, bright and cheerful, or modern and sophisticated. But who writes the articles? Who gets paid to eat? Those lucky people are food critics. Food critics are journalists who eat at restaurants and write reviews that give readers the feeling that they have visited the restaurant themselves. The articles almost always include a description of the restaurant, for example, whether it is nicely decorated or has a beautiful view of the ocean. The menu, prices, and service are generally described as well, but a food critic’s main task is to write about their opinion of the food. For “foodies” – people who love and study food and cooking – dining is a feast for the senses, not just for the stomach. Food critics may tell readers about the colours of fresh vegetables, the silky texture of a soup, or the rich aroma of a perfectly cooked chicken. They will mention whether they were listening to soft music while they ate, or the noises of pots and pans being washed in the restaurant’s kitchen and ending with the dessert. Every detail of the meal is important. All of this may sound easy enough, but food critics do face some challenges. First, food critics must be excellent writers. Their job is to give accurate information in an entertaining way because newspapers and other publications want the restaurant review to be an enjoyable feature. It is also important for food critics to be very observant by nature, and to have an excellent memory, since taking notes at the table is not something typical customers do. Looking like a typical customer is essential for remaining anonymous, but is perhaps the most difficult challenge. Food critic Ruth Reichl, former editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine, used to go to restaurants wearing disguises so that she received the same food and service as any other diner. Despite the challenges, a career as a food critic appeals to many people. Anyone who is thinking about becoming a food critic should start by developing strong writing skills and learning as much about food and cooking as possible. 
2. Which of the following would probably NOT be included in a restaurant review?

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:
At 7pm on a dark, cold November evening, thousands of people are making their way across a vast car park. They’re not here to see a film, or the ballet, or even the circus. They are all here for what is, bizarrely, a global phenomenon: they are here to see Holiday on Ice. Given that most people don’t seem to be acquainted with anyone who’s ever been, the show’s statistics are extraordinary: nearly 300 million people have seen Holiday on Ice since it began in 1943; it is the most popular live entertainment in the world.
But what does the production involve? And why are so many people prepared to spend their lives travelling round Europe in caravans in order to appear in it? It can't be glamorous, and it's undoubtedly hard work. The backstage atmosphere is an odd mix of gym class and workplace. A curtained-off section at the back of the arena is laughably referred to as the girls' dressing room, but is more accurately described as a corridor, with beige, cracked walls and cheap temporary tables set up along the length of it. Each girl has a small area littered with pots of orange make-up, tubes of mascara and long false eyelashes.
As a place to work, it must rank pretty low down the scale: the area round the ice-rink is grey and mucky with rows of dirty blue and brown plastic seating and red carpet tiles. It's an unimpressive picture, but the show itself is an unquestionably vast, polished global enterprise: the lights come from a firm in Texas, the people who make the audio system are in California, but Montreal supplies the smoke effects; former British Olympic skater Robin Cousins is now creative director for the company and conducts a vast master class to make sure they're ready for the show's next performance.
The next day, as the music blares out from the sound system, the cast start to go through their routines under Cousins’ direction. Cousins says, The aim is to make sure they're all still getting to exactly the right place on the ice at the right time - largely because the banks of lights in the ceiling are set to those places, and if the skaters are all half a metre out they'll be illuminating empty ice. Our challenge, ‘he continues, ‘is to produce something they can sell in a number of countries at the same time. My theory is that you take those things that people want to see and you give it to them, but not in the way they expect to see it. You try to twist it. And you have to find music that is challenging to the skaters, because they have to do it every night.’
It may be a job which he took to pay the rent, but you can't doubt his enthusiasm. “The only place you'll see certain skating moves is an ice show,” he says, “because you're not allowed to do them in competition. It's not in the rules. So the ice show world has things to offer which the competitive world just doesn't.” Cousin knows what he's talking about because he skated for the show himself when he stopped competing - he was financially unable to retire. He learnt the hard way that you can't put on an Olympic performance every night. “I'd be thinking, these people have paid their money, now do your stuff, and I suddenly thought”, “I really can't cope. I'm not enjoying it”. The solution, he realised, was to give 75 per cent every night, rather than striving for the sort of twice-a-year excellence which won him medals.
To be honest, for those of us whose only experience of ice-skating is watching top-class Olympic skaters, some of the movements can look a bit amateurish, but then, who are we to judge? Equally, it's impossible not to be swept up in the whole thing; well, you'd have to try pretty hard not to enjoy it.

Which of the following adjectives can be used to describe the backstage area?

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Wikipedia is an encyclopaedia that is available on the Internet and what people love about it is that it can be edited by absolutely everybody. When and how did it start? It was founded in 2001 by a guy called Jimmy Wales. It started as a fancy idea, a kind of a hobby and everybody is surprised how popular it has become and how many computer scientists it has attracted. It has got a collection of about 1.8 mln articles, the majority of which are in English; however, one can find some articles in over 200 languages. If it was a business, it would earn lots of money. How is it possible that articles that can be changed by anyone are correct? The Wikipedia is based on wikis - a special software which lets everyone modify a webpage and it is true that anyone can change the information on the page if they think it's incorrect. But, the Wikipedia has a team of over 13,000 people who are experts in different fields and who correct any inaccurate information sent by people. Is it error-free? One may say so. Recently, for example, the British journal Nature looked at the scientific information in Wikipedia and confirmed it was very reliable and that they didn't find many errors. It was very good news for the founder as well as for all the users. Why is it becoming so popular? Like the whole idea of the Internet, it's also quick and available to everyone. The greatest thing of all is that it is free. Some people also stress that it's fun to be able to add what you know to the information on the net. IT specialists believe it has a very bright future and most claim it's the most brilliant invention ever.
1. Wikipedia ......

Choose the best answer:
I am very fond of _______.

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William Sydney Porter (1862-1910), who wrote under the pseudonym of O. Henry, was born in North Carolina. His only formal education was to attend his Aunt Lina’s school until the age of fifteen, where he developed his lifelong love of books. By 1881 he was a licensed pharmacist. However, within a year, on the recommendation of a medical colleague of his Father’s, Porter moved to La Salle County in Texas for two years herding sheep. During this time, Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary was his constant companion, and Porter gained a knowledge of ranch life that he later incorporated into many of his short stories. He then moved to Austin for three years, and during this time the first recorded use of his pseudonym appeared, allegedly derived from his habit of calling “Oh, Henry” to a family cat. In 1887, Porter married Athol Estes. He worked as a draftsman, then as a bank teller for the First National Bank. In 1894 Porter founded his own humor weekly, the “Rolling Stone”, a venture that failed within a year, and later wrote a column for the Houston Daily Post. In the meantime, the First National Bank was examined, and the subsequent indictment of 1886 stated that Porter had embezzled funds. Porter then fled to New Orleans, and later to Honduras, leaving his wife and child in Austin. He returned in 1897 because of his wife’s continued ill-health, however she died six months later. Then, in 1898 Porter was found guilty and sentenced to five years imprisonment in Ohio. At the age of thirty five, he entered prison as a defeated man; he had lost his job, his home, his wife, and finally his freedom. He emerged from prison three years later, reborn as O. Henry, the pseudonym he now used to hide his true identity. He wrote at least twelve stories in jail, and after re-gaining his freedom, went to New York City, where he published more than 300 stories and gained fame as America’s favorite short Story writer. Porter married again in 1907, but after months of poor health, he died in New York City at the age of forty-eight in 1910. O. Henry’s stories have been translated all over the world.
5: The author implies which of the following is true?

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The LED Lighting Revolution
If you have picked up any electronics magazines recently, you have probably heard about LEDs; yet chances are, you probably don’t realize why they are so special. The truth is that these tiny light bulbs are helping to improve watches, remote controls, televisions, and a host of other projects. Diodes are components that enable energy to flow in one direction, while simultaneously blocking the current from the opposite direction. This is similar to how a valve works on a faucet. If electronic manufacturers require currents to flow in several directions, then multiple diodes will be included in the circuit design. With LEDs, every time a current passes through them, a light is emitted. LED is short for light-emitting diode. Although they have only recently waves in the past decade or so, early models have been around since 1962. There are several benefits that LEDs offer when compared to incandescent or fluorescent lighting. For starters, they have extremely long-life spans in the range of l00,000 hours even in the toughest conditions. They also require far less energy than power sources, which can save users money over the long run. Since LEDs don’t contain moving parts like other bulbs, they can withstand heavy impacts without getting damaged. Finally, they don’t require any _warm-up time_ so they instantly light up when switched on. The only drawback is that they are still a more expensive to purchase at the moment. LEDs were first used on digital clocks, but they have come a long way since then. They have certainly done a lot to improve TV technology. LED TVs have been a hit because they can be built extremely thin, yet also offer power-saving benefits. LED TVs also provide a wider range of colour, which allows for more lifelike and vivid images. In the future, organic LEDs, or OLEDs, will bring additional benefits for viewers. OLEDs are even more flexible than LEDs, so manufacturers will be able to create bent display screens and lights. Therefore, you will be able to roll up your living room TV set and pack it in your suitcase. In other words, LED and OLED technology will likely be lighting up your life for years to come.
3. What is the third paragraph mainly about?

The growth of population has its problems as we shall see. As there are more and more mouths (1)_____, there comes a great strain (2)_____ the resources of a country; this is real in the case of developing countries with the result they are unable to push ahead economically. As food is not sufficient there is chronic malnutrition in these countries especially in women and children resulting in weaker population (3)_____ would only economically be a drain on the country as their productive years will be short. As health and education are the State's (4)_____, they affect the country's finances. So in developing countries health and illiteracy continue to be the problem. The unwieldy growth of population leads to the problem of housing and sanitation. In many countries the slums are a (5)_____ to the eyes. Slums grow round big cities and are found with all the drawbacks. These are the areas of disease, filth and crime.

(10) _________

Choose the best answer:
No other student in my class is taller than him.

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
According to Vietnamese legend, (1) ____ giant turtle in Hanoi's Hoan Kiem Lake reclaimed a magic sword given to King Le Loi in the 15th century that he used to win independence (2) ____ China's Ming Dynasty. The lake was thereafter named 'Ho Hoan Kiem', or 'Lake of the Returned Sword', and Hanoi has been built up (3) ____ it. Margie Mason of Associated Press wrote: "(4) ____ once was a magic golden turtle that lived in Hanoi's most enchanted lake. The giant turtle was believed so powerful, it snatched a divine sword from a warrior king and returned it to the gods of the depths nearly six centuries (5) ____. That tale has long been a (6) ____ among young and old Vietnamese living in the capital city, but folklorists soon may have to rewrite the story to (7) ____ a very sad ending. In real life, the last giant soft-shell turtle (8) ____ in Hoan Kiem Lake probably will die alone, and at least one biologist says the species (9) ____ then be extinct. The elusive creature - with a shell as big as a desk - occasionally pokes its wrinkled head out of the murky waters of the downtown lake to (10) ____ a breath, but few Vietnamese are lucky enough to glimpse it. And certainly no one knows its age."

Julie has a guitar _____ she plays it really well.

(350)_______

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Cities develop as a result of functions that they can perform. Some functions result directly from the a great city regardless of the disadvantageous ingenuity of the citizenry, but most functions activity. result from the needs of the local area and of the surrounding hinterland (the region that supplies goods to the city and to which the city furnishes services and other goods). Geographers often make a distinction between the situation and the site of a city. Situation refers to the general position in relation to the surrounding region, whereas site involves in physical characteristics of the specific location. Situation is normally much more important to the continuing prosperity of a city. If a city is well situated in regard to its hinterland, its development is much more likely to continue. Chicago, for example, possesses an almost unparalleled situation: it is located at the southern end of a huge lake that forces East-West transportation lines to be compressed into its vicinity, and at a meeting of significant land and water transport routes. It also overlooks what is one of the world's fiest large farming regions. These factors ensured that Chicago would become characteristics of the available site, such as being prone to floding during thunderstorm Similarly, it can be argued that much of New York City's importance stems from its early and continuing advantage of situation. Philadelphia and Boston both originated at about the same time as New York and shared New York's location at the Western end of one of the world's most important oceanic trade routes, but only New York possesses an easy-access functional connection (the Hudson-Mohawk lowland) to the vast Midwestern hinterland. This account does not alone explain New York's primacy, but it does include several important factors. Among the many aspects of situation that help to explain why some cities grow and others do not, original location on a navigable waterway seems particularly applicable. Of course, such characteristics as slope, drainage, power resources, river crossings, coastal shapes, and other physical characteristics help to determine city location, but such factors are normally more signifiant in early stages of city development than later.
10. The word "it" in paragraph 2 refers to: 

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Psychology recognizes two types of research, experimental and differential. The former is concerned mainly with the overall processes governing human activities, and the latter sets out to establish individual differences in performance. More recent studies have demonstrated the need for a third type of psychological study, namely, that which has to do with human development. Rather than considering this aspect of human performances as a part of the first two types, scientists have noted that developmental research indeed belongs in a separate category in and of itself. Piaget's work would indisputably fall in the area of developmental theories that have had great impact on both experimental and differential research. When examining Piaget's studies, it is necessary to keep in mind that, while his theories have been highly influential, his methodology has been strongly criticized. The primary shortfall of his work had to do with a lack of definition and standardization in his data and experiment design.
7. In the passage, the word "namely" is closest in meaning to: 

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People must be well-prepared ………….. they want to climb Mount Everest.

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 travel for a lot of reasons: Some tourists go to see battlefields or religious shrines. Others are looking for culture, or simply want to have their pictures taken in front of famous places. But most European tourists are looking for a sunny beach to lie on.

Northern Europeans are willing to pay a lot of money and put up with a lot of inconveniences for the sun because they have so little of it. Residents of cities like London, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam spend a tot of their winter in the dark because the days are so short, and much of the rest of the year in the rain. This is the reason why the Mediterranean has always attracted them. Every summer, more than 25 million people travel to Mediterranean resorts and beaches for their vacation. They all come for the same reason, sun!

The huge crowds mean lots of money for the economies of Mediterranean countries. Italy’s 30,000 hotels are booked solid every summer. And 13 million people camp out on French beaches, parks and roadsides. Spain’s long sandy coastline attracts more people than anywhere else. 37 million tourists visit yearly, or one tourist for every person living in Spain.

But there are signs that the area is getting more tourists than it can handle. The Mediterranean is already one of the most polluted seas on earth. And with increased tourism, it’s getting worse. The French can’t figure out what to do with all the garbage left by campers around St. Tropez. And in many places, swimming is dangerous because of pollution.

None of this, however, is spoiling anyone’s fun. The Mediterranean gets more popular every year with tourists. Obviously, they don’t go there for clean water and solitude. They tolerate traffic jams and seem to like crowded beaches. They don’t even mind the pollution. No matter how dirty the water is, the coastline still looks beautiful. And as long as the sun shines, it’s still better than sitting in the cold rain in Berlin, London, or Oslo.

The word “solid” in paragraph 3 means most nearly the same as     .

Choose the best answer:
Lucia/ said/ they/ be not/ going to/ the/ cinema/ that night.