Carnegie Hall, the famous concert hall in New York City, has again undergone a restoration. While this is not the first, it is certainly the most extensive in the building’s history. As a result of this new restoration, Carnegie Hall once again has the quality of sound that it had when it was first built.
Carnegie Hall owes its existence to Andrew Carnegie, the wealthy owner of a steel company in the late 1800s. The hall was finished in 1891 and quickly gained a reputation as an excellent performing arts hall where accomplished musicians gained fame. Despite its reputation, however, the concert hall suffered from several detrimental renovations over the years. During the Great Depression, when fewer people could afford to attend performances, the directors sold part of the building to commercial businesses. As a result, a coffee shop was opened in one corner of the building, for which the builders replaced the brick and terra cotta walls with windowpanes. A renovation in 1946 seriously damaged the acoustical quality of the hall when the makers of the film Carnegie Hall cut a gaping hole in the dome of the ceiling to allow for lights and air vents. The hole was later covered with short curtains and a fake ceiling, but the hall never sounded the same afterwards.
In 1960, the violinist Isaac Stern became involved in restoring the hall after a group of real estate developers unveiled plans to demolish Carnegie Hall and build a high-rise office building on the site. This threat spurred Stern to rally public support for Carnegie Hall and encourage the City of New York to buy the property. The movement was successful, and the concert hall is now owned by the city. In the current restoration, builders tested each new material for its sound qualities, and they replaced the hole in the ceiling with a dome. The builders also restored the outer walls to their original appearance and closed the coffee shop. Carnegie has never sounded better, and its prospects for the future have never looked more promising.

Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word “unveiled” in paragraph 3?

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.

According to the passage, a free diver may use any of the following EXCEPT ....................

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions:
The Singapore Science Centre is located on a six-hectare site in Jurong. At the centre, we can discover the wonders of science and technology in a fun way. Clap your hands and colorful bulbs will light up. Start a wheel spinning and it will set off a fan churning. It is a place to answer our curiosity and capture our imagination.
The centre features over four hundred exhibits covering topics like solar radiation, communication, electronics, mathematics, nuclear energy and evolution. It aims to arouse interest in science and technology among us and the general publiC. The centre is the first science one to be established in South East AsiA. It was opened in 1977 and it now receives an average of one thousand, two hundred visitors a day. The exhibits can be found in four exhibition galleries. They are the Lobby, Physical Sciences, Life Sciences and Aviation. These exhibits are renewed annually so as to encourage visitors to make return visits to the centre.
Instead of the usual “Hands off’ notices found in exhibition halls, visitors are invited to touch and feel the exhibits, push the buttons, turn the cranks or pedals. This is an interesting way to learn science even if you hate the subject. A Discovery Centre was built for children between the ages of three and twelve. This new exhibition gallery was completed in 1985. Lately this year a stone-age exhibit was built. It shows us about the animals and people which were extinct.

According to the paragraph 2, which of the following is NOT true about the Singapore Science Centre?

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 day after Thanksgiving is the start of the holiday shopping season. Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday, so the day after is a Friday. This day has come to be known as Black Friday. It has been the busiest shopping day of the year since 2005.
Most stores offer great deals on Black Friday. They open their doors in the wee hours of the morning. They try to attract shoppers with big discounts. Some items like TVs are much cheaper than usual. Stores may even lose money on these items. They hope that shoppers will buy gifts for other people while they are in the store.
Black Friday is a great time to get good deals. The problem is that there are not enough low-priced items to go around. Each store may only have a few. These items are in high demand. People stand in long lines to get such great deals. They may line up hours before a store opens. They may be hoping to get a low price on a TV or laptop, but not everyone who wants one will get one. Some people leave disappointed. The situation can be tense. Some Black Friday events have been Violent. Large, eager crowds have trampled workers. Fights have broken out or people have been cutting in line. People have shot one another over parking spots. But most Black Friday events are safe and fun. Still, if you plan on going, expect large crowds and a bit of shoving.

According to the text, why do stores set prices so low on so they lose money?

Paul Watson is an environmental activist. He is a man who believes that he must do something, not just talk about doing something. Paul believes in protecting endangered animals, and he protects them in controversial ways. Some people think that Watson is a hero and admire him very much. Other people think that he is a criminal.
On July 16th, 1979, Paul Watson and his crew were on his ship, which is called the Sea Shepherd. Watson and the people who work on the Sea Shepherd were hunting on the Atlantic Ocean near Portugal. However, they had a strange prey; instead of hunting for animals, their prey was a ship, the Sierra. The Sea Shepherd found the Sierra, ran into it and sank it. As a result, the Sierra never returned to the sea. The Sea Shepherd, on the other hand, returned to its home in Canada. Paul Watson and his workers thought that they had been successful.
The Sierra had been a whaling ship, which had operated illegally. The captain and crew of the Sierra did not obey any of the international laws that restrict whaling. Instead, they killed as many whales as they could, quickly cut off the meat, and froze it. Later, they sold the whale meat in countries where it is eaten.
Paul Watson tried to persuade the international whaling commission to stop the Sierra. However, the commission did very little, and Paul became impatient. He decided to stop the Sierra and other whaling ships in any way that he could. He offered to pay $25,000 to anyone who sank any illegal whaling ship, and he sank the Sierra. He acted because he believes that the whales must be protected. Still, he acted without the approval of the government; therefore, his actions were controversial.
Paul Watson is not the only environmental activist. Other men and women are also fighting to protect the Earth. Like Watson, they do not always have the approval of their governments, and like Watson, they have become impatient. Yet, because of their concern for the environment, they will act to protect it.

The Sea Shepherd was hunting  ...............

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:
Though Edmund Halley was most famous because of his achievements as an astronomer, he was a scientist of diverse interests and great skill. In addition to studying the skies, Halley was also deeply interested exploring the unknown depths of the oceans. One of his lesser-known accomplishments that was quite remarkable was his design for a diving bell that facilitated exploration of the watery depths.
The diving bell that Halley designed had a major advantage over the diving bells that were in use prior to his. Earlier diving bells could only make use of the air contained within the bell itself, so divers had to surface when the air inside the bell ran low.
Halley's bell was an improvement in that its design allowed for an additional supply of fresh air that enabled a crew of divers to remain underwater for several hours.
The diving contraption that Halley designed was in the shape of a bell that measured three feet across the top and five feet across the bottom and could hold several divers comfortably; it was open at the bottom so that divers could swim in and out at will. The bell was built of wood, which was first heavily tarred to make it water repellent and was then covered with a half-ton sheet of lead to make the bell heavy enough to sink in water. The bell shape held air inside for the divers to breathe as the bell sank to the bottom.
The air inside the bell was not the only source of air for the divers to breathe, and it was this improvement that made Halley's bell superior to its predecessors. In addition to the air already in the bell, air was also supplied to the divers from a lead barrel that was lowered to the ocean floor close to the bell itself. Air flowed through a leather pipe from the lead barrel on the ocean floor to the bell. The diver could breath the air from a position inside the bell, or he could move around outside the bell wearing a diving suit that consisted of a lead bell-shaped helmet with a glass viewing window and a leather body suit, with a leather pipe carrying fresh air from the diving bell to the helmet.

The expression ran low in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to

Read the following text then answer the questions that followed by circling its corresponding letter marked A, B, C or D.
How can a person offend people just because they cross their legs? In Thailand, it is rude for a person to show other people the bottom of their feet. This is considered unclean, and Thais can (1) ………….. serious offense at it. Another thing people do in the West is to touch people on the head especially children. It is very normal to see an old woman walking up to a young boy and (2).....his hair tenderly while saying what a handsome young man he is.
In Thailand, touching a person’s head is strictly taboo because that is the (3) …………… part of the body, and it is where the (4) ……………. is thought to reside in a person. Although very close family members might touch a child on the head, even this is considered rude after a child grows up.
In the Middle East and some parts of Asia, the left hand is used to wash oneself after using a toilet. (5)………….., the left hand can never offered to another person or used to eat with. Food must always be passed with the right hand, and it is considered polite to always use the right hand for social interactions.
(4)..........................

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. 
There are many different metaphors used to describe culture. My favorite one is the iceberg. I think, it demonstrates so vividly what can happen to us if we believe only in the visible and ignore or underestimate the invisible part. The hidden part of our culture is that part which we know instinctively because we absorbed it from childhood on. It's handed down to us from generation to generation. We could also say, it's the "thinking" and "feeling" part of culture: habits, assumptions, attitudes, desires, values, tastes, etc.
Now, if we are in a new culture, our customary evaluations and interpretations are likely not to be on target because we see everything through our own cultural glasses. Imagine yourself in a new city trying to get around with a map from your own hometown. It wouldn't take long for you to get lost and completely frustrated! When we experience an encounter in the new culture that puzzles us, the most common reaction is to judge it through our own cultural glasses. 
I want to propose an alternate approach to our initial gut reaction. Instead of immediately and instinctively judging a situation through our own glasses, we might first just pause and notice what is happening and then realize that this is a cultural learning situation. Remember the iceberg metaphor! The new culture becomes your mirror that shows you a hidden part of your own culture. What an opportunity for personal growth and new insight! You can compare two different approaches, that of the new culture and of your own culture. This gives you a choice. Now you can decide what fits best for you or even take the best from both sides. 

According to paragraph 4, which statement is correct about different generations and their gap?

Choose the item among A, B, c or D that best answers the question about the passage:

"Computer programmer David Jones earns £35,000 a year designing new Computer games, yet he cannot find a bank prepared to let him have a cheque car. Instead he has been told to wait another two years, until he is 18.
 The 16-year-old boy works for a small firm in Liverpool, where the problem of most young people of age is finding a job. David’s firm releases two new games for the expanding home Computer market each month.
 But David’s biggest headache is what to do with his money. Despite his salary, earned by inventing new programmes within tight schedules with bonus payment and profit-sharing, he cannot drive a car, take out a mortgage, or obtain credit cards.
 David got his job with the Liverpool-based company four months ago, a year after leaving school with six O-levels and working for a time in a Computer shop. “I got the job because the people who run the firm knew I had already written some programmes,” he said.
 I suppose £35,000 sounds a lot but actually that’s being pessimistic. I hope it will come to records and clothes and he gives his mother £20 a week. But most of his spare time is spent working. “Unfortunately, computing was not part of our studies at school,” he said. “But I had been studying it in books and magazines for four years in my spare time. I knew what I wanted to do and never considered staying on at school. Most people in this business are fairly young anyway.”
 David added, “I would like to earn a million and I suppose early retirement is a possibility. You never knew when the market might disappear.”"

5. Why does David think he might retire early?

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

After your letter of application and resume, the interview is your best opportunity to (26) _____ the employer - regardless of your background and experience. To do this, use every possible strategy to develop (27) _____ interviewing skills. The best way is to prepare a selective presentation of your background, thoughtful answers to potential interview questions, well-researched questions about the organization, and an effective strategy to introduce yourself. You should also consider your career goals and what the available job offers (28) _____ you can discuss both of these topics with employers. Interviewing is a skill that improves and (29) _____ easier with practice. It is to your advantage to carefully research the job and the organization.                There are many (30) _____ to do this. You can ask for printed materials from the employer, such as annual reports and job descriptions. This is an entirely (31) _____ request, so do not hesitate to make it. Use your library and career center resources. Ask colleagues, friends, and faculty about the organization, and about any personal contacts at the organization they might have. Look at the organization's home page. Knowing about the job will help you prepare a (32) _____ of your qualifications so that you can show, point by point, why you are the best (33) _____. Prepare a clear answer to each of the questions in the interview questions section. Practice answering questions with a friend, or (34) _____ front of a mirror. Ask your friend to give you constructive criticism on your speaking style, mannerisms, and gestures. As you practice, avoid colloquialisms, such as "like" and "you know”. It is (35) _____ to prepare yourself for talking with complete strangers.

(31) _____

Read the following passage and choose A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the following blanks.
The reality of an interview is never as bad as your fears. For some reason people imagine the interviewer is going to jump on every tiny mistake they (1) .................... . In truth, the interviewer is as keen for the meeting to go well as you are. It is what makes his or her job enjoyable.
The secret of a good interview is preparing for it. What you wear is always important as it creates the first impression. So (2).................... neatly, but comfortably. Make sure that you can deal with anything you are asked. Prepare for questions that are certain to come up, for example: Why do you want to become a nurse? What is the most important quality a good nurse should have? Apart from nursing, what other careers have you considered? What are your interest and hobbies?
Answer the questions fully and precisely. For instance, if one of your interests is reading, be prepared to talk about the sort of books you like. (3).................... , do not learn all your answers off (4) .................... heart. The interviewer wants to meet a human being, not a robot. Remember, the interviewer is genuinely interested in you, so the more you relax and are yourself, the more (5)....................  you are to succeed.

For some reason people imagine the interviewer is going to jump on every tiny mistake they (1) ....................

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. 
Expanding the planet's protected natural areas to safeguard vanishing forests and other ecosystems, and the species they protect, is unlikely to be effective on its own as human encroachment into reserves grows, scientists warned Tuesday. A study by Cambridge University researchers, which looked at thousands of conservation areas in more than 150 countries, found that, on average, protected designation is not reducing human encroachment in vulnerable areas. Both chronic underfunding of efforts to protect the land, and a lack of engagement with local communities that live there are hurting conservation efforts, they found.
Creating protected areas is "a type of intervention that we know can work, we know is absolutely essential for conserving biodiversity, at a time in this world's history where it has never been under higher pressure," said lead author Jonas Geldmann. "But despite that we are seeing that some of our protected areas are not managing to mitigate or stop that increasing pressure," said Geldmann, of the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute.
One-sixth of the globe now falls within protected areas, the study noted. Those include national parks, nature reserves and wilderness areas, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's World Database on Protected Areas. Such protected areas are vital for preserving diverse ecosystems, and helping to curb climate change by conserving carbon-sequestering forests and other vegetation. The United Nations Environment Program estimates protected areas hold 15% of the carbon stored on land.
"Protected areas are one of the most important things that we can do to stem the loss of biodiversity and to help solve the climate crisis," said Andrew Wetzler, managing director of the U.S.-based Natural Resources Defense Council's nature program. "The destruction of natural habitat is the single biggest driver of extinction."

The word “stem” in paragraph 4 refers to _______.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks.
In Germany, it's important to be serious in a work situation. They don't mix work and play so you shouldn't make jokes (1) ............... you do in the UK and USA when you first meet people. They work in a very organized way and prefer to do one thing at a time. They don't like interruptions or (2)  ............... changes of schedule. Punctuality is very important so you should arrive on time for appointments. At meeting, it’s important to follow the agenda and not interrupt (3) ............... speaker. If you give a presentation, you should focus (4) ............... facts and technical information and the quality of your company's products. You should also prepare well, as they may ask a lot of questions. Colleagues normally use the family names, and title - for example 'Doctor' or 'Professor', so you shouldn't use first names (5) ............... a person asks you to.

Colleagues normally use the family names, and title - for example 'Doctor' or 'Professor', so you shouldn't use first names (5) ............... a person asks you to.

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

       The (1) _________over vending machines in schools is not new. For a long time, regional governments and public schools have been deliberating on whether or not it is a good idea to have vending machines in schools. In America, (2) ______, only one state has banned these machines in its public schools. Around the country, however, most state schools have different rules about how many and how often vending machines should be accessible to students. Although some people believe that having these drink and snack machines in schools is a good idea, others (3)_________ that there are many disadvantages, too.

      Doctors and other health workers, for instance, suggest that the main disadvantage of having vending machines in schools is based on health and (4)________. They cite statistics that show school – aged children have poorly balanced diets, often due to eating too much fast food. If vending machines are introduced to schools, children will have yet another option for eating unhealthy foods. In a survey of vending machines sales across the country, it was found that sweet drinks like colas and sugary snacks like candy bars were the biggest sellers. Sugary foods and drinks commonly cause obesity in consumers. Opponents of vending machines in schools worry that we are teaching children to be obese. (5)__________the problem of childhood obesity, it is plausible to say that children’s health problems will only get worse if vending machines are followed in schools.

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

 Choose the word or phrase among A, B, C or D that best fits the blank space in the following passage:

"Around the age of eighteen, you must make one of the biggest decisions of your life. “Do I stay on at school and hopefully go on to university (1)….. ? Do I leave and start work or beginning a training (2)…… ?”
 The decision is yours, but it may be (3)…… remembering two things: there is more unemployment (4)….. people who haven’t been to university, and people who have the right (5)….. will have a big advantage in the competition for jobs. If you decide to go (6)…. into a job, there are many opportunities for training.
Getting qualifications will (7)…… you to get on more quickly in many careers, and evening classes allow you to learn (8)…. you earn. Starting work and taking a break to study when you are older is (9)…. possibility. This way, you can save up money for your student days, as well as (10)…. practical work experience."

7. Getting qualifications will (7)…… you to get on more quickly in many careers,

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:
David Beckham is an English footballer who has played for Manchester United and Real Madrid, as well as representing his country 100 times. He moved to the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007  to increase the profile of football in America. He married Spice Girl Victoria Beckham and has become a worldwide celebrity, an advertising brand and a fashion icon. Beckham was  born  in  London in 1975. His parents were fanatical Manchester United supporters. His talent  was  obvious from an early age and he signed with Manchester United on his fourteenth birthday. He helped the youth team win several trophies and made his first team debut in 1995. He helped his team achieve considerable success in his eleven seasons with them.
Beckham has been runner-up twice as world football's best player. He won many trophies with Manchester United, including the Champions League, and won a league title with Real Madrid. He also captained his club and country. He was famously sent off in a match against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup. In 2003, Beckham received an honour for services to football from Britain's Queen. Beckham has many interests off the soccer pitch and is rarely out of the headlines, especially concerning his marriage and children. He has established football academies in Los Angeles and London. In 2006 he was named a judge for the British Book Awards. He lives near Tom Cruise and the two are best buddies. Beckham is also a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador.

The word 'fanatical" 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 questions:
The majority of medium and large companies pay higher wage rates to men than to women, according to the latest government figures. The disparity, known as the gender pay gap, reflects the different average hourly salaries earned by men and women. The government data showed 74% of firms pay higher rates to their male staff. just 15% of businesses with more than 250 employees pay more to women. As many as 11% of firms said there is no difference between the rates paid to either gender.
Unlike pay inequality - which compares the wages of men and women doing the same job - a gender pay difference at a company is not illegal, but could possibly reflect discrimination. The average gender pay gap across all medium and large-sized firms is now 8.2%, as measured by median pay. in other words, men typically earn over 8% more per hour than women. Among those with the largest gender pay gap are airlines such as Tui and Easyjet, and banks including Virgin Money, the Clydesdale and TSB. Easyjet has said its pay gap of 45.5% is down to the fact that most of its pilots are male, while most of its more modestly paid cabin crew are female. Tui Airways - where men earn 47% more than 214women - has the same issue. Many banks also appear to have a gender bias on salaries. The Bank of England's wage rate for men is 24% higher than for its female employees.
By law, all firms with more than 250 staff must report their gender pay gap to the government by 4 April this year. So far only 1,047 firms have complied, leaving another 8,000 to go. Carolyn Fairbairn, director general of the CBI, denied companies were dragging their feet in reporting the data. "I don't see a reluctance," she told the Today programme. "I think this is genuinely quite difficult data to find, it is often sitting on different systems and firms are working very hard towards that deadline.

The best title for this passage could be     .

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:
Volunteering offers many of the same social benefits, with the added bonus of helping others and developing useful skills to put on your CV. Plus, students are in a unique position to help, suggests Tom Fox. "They can take their enthusiasm and excitement for opportunities and share their passions, subject knowledge and experience with people." The idea of giving up time for nothing might seem impractical at first, especially once the pressures of study and coursework or exams begin to mount up. However, Michelle Wright, CEO of charity support organization Cause4, suggests seeing volunteering as a two-way street. "I think it is fine for undergraduates to approach volunteering as a symbiotic relationship where doing good is just one part of the motivation for reaching personal and professional goals."
Katerina Rudiger, head of skills and policy campaigns at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), says: "Volunteering can be a valuable way of gaining that experience, as well as building confidence, broadening your horizons, becoming a better team player and developing those all- important 'employability skills' such as communication and decision making." Amanda Haig, graduate HR manager, agrees that volunteering can help your employment prospects. "Volunteering can demonstrate positive personality traits and skill sets, such as proactivity, and teamwork," she says.
A positive side-effect of volunteering is improving your time at university by getting involved in the local community. Leaving the student bubble can make your time as an undergraduate much more varied. At Bath Spa University, more than 1,000 students volunteered over the past year, doing everything from working on local environmental projects to helping in schools or assisting the elderly. ”Quite often there can be a divide between students and permanent residents," says students' union president Amy Dawson, "but if students invest a little time now, they will be giving something back to the local community and will reap the benefits in the future."
“You might also find that volunteering helps your studies if you choose the right program. At Lancaster, volunteering is linked into academic modules in some cases", explains Fox. "This has multiple
wins. Students get to apply their learning in the classroom and share their interests with children in local schools or community organizations, while schools gain skilled students with a passion for a subject that enthuses their pupils."

What is the most suitable title for this reading?

The ocean bottom - a region nearly 2.5 times greater than the total land area of Earth - is a vast frontier that even today is largely unexplored and uncharted. Until about a century ago, the deep-ocean floor was completely inaccessible, hidden beneath waters averaging over 3,600 meters deep. Totally without light and subjected to intense pressures hundreds of times greater than at the Earth’s surface, the deep-ocean bottom is a hostile environment to humans, in some ways as forbidding and remote as the void of outer space.
Although researchers have taken samples of deep-ocean rocks and sediments for over a century, the first detailed global investigation of the ocean bottom did not actually start until 1968, with the beginning of the National Science Foundation’s Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP). Using techniques first developed for the offshore oil and gas industry, the DSDP’s drill ship, the Glomar Challenger, was able to maintain a steady position on the ocean’s surface and drill in very deep waters, extracting samples of sediments and rock from the ocean floor.
The Glomar Challenger completed 96 voyages in a 15-year research program that ended in November 1983. During this time, the vessel logged 600,000 kilometers and took almost 20,000 core samples of seabed sediments and rocks at 624 drilling sites around the world.. The Glomar Challenger’s core samples have allowed geologists to reconstruct what the planet looked like hundreds of millions of years ago and to calculate what it will probably look like millions of years in the future. Today, largely on the strength of evidence gathered during the Glomar Challenger’s voyages, nearly all earth scientists agree on the theories of plate tectonics and continental drift that explain many of the geological processes that shape the Earth.
The cores of sediment drilled by the Glomar Challenger have also yielded information critical to understanding the world’s past climates. Deep-ocean sediments provide a climatic record stretching back hundreds of millions of years, because they are largely isolated from the mechanical erosion and the intense chemical and biological activity that rapidly destroy much land-based evidence of past climates. This record has already provided insights into the patterns and causes of past climatic change - information that may be used to predict future climates.

The word “they” refers ................

Choose the best answer: 
Today we take electricity for granted and perhaps we do not realize just how useful this discovery has been. Steam was the first invention that replaced wind power. It was used to drive engines and was passed through pipes and radiators to warm rooms. Petrol mixed with air was the next invention that provided power. Exploded in a cylinder, it drove a motor engine. Beyond these simple and direct uses, those forms have not much adaptability. On the other hand, we make use of electricity in thousands of ways. From the powerful voltages that drive our electric trains to the tiny current needed to work a simple calculator, and from the huge electric magnet in steel works that can lift 10 tons to the tiny electric magnet in a doorbell, all are powered by electricity. An electric current can be made with equal ease to heat a huge mass of molten metal in a furnace or to boil a jug for a cup of coffee. Other than atomic energy, which has not as yet been harnessed to the full, electricity is the greatest power in the world. It is flexible, and so adaptable for any task for which it is wanted. It travels so easily and with incredible speed along wires or conductors that it can be supplied instantly over vast distances. To generate electricity, huge turbines or generators must be turned. In Australia they use coal or water to drive this machinery. When dams are built, falling water is used to drive the turbines without polluting the atmosphere with smoke from coal. Atomic power is used in several countries but there is always the fear of an accident. A tragedy once occurred at Chernobyl, in Ukraine, at an atomic power plant used to make electricity. The reactor leaked, which caused many deaths through radiation. Now scientists are examining new ways of creating electricity without harmful effects to the environment. They may harness the tides as they flow in and out of bays. Most importantly, they hope to trap sunlight more efficiently. We do use solar heaters for swimming pools but as yet improvement in the capacity of the solar cells to create more current is necessary. When this happens, electric cars will be viable and the world will rid itself of the toxic gases given off by trucks and cars that burn fossil fuels.

8.Before electricity, what was sometimes passed through pipes to heat rooms?

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word for each of the blanks.
          The Microscope
One of the most important inventions in the development of science and medicine was the microscope. It was (1) ........... the principle that light could be “refracted” or bent, by a glass lens. It was soon discovered that tiny objects could be magnified (2)......... size when viewed through a glass lens that had been ground and polished in a specific (3) ........... Although the principle was known to the Chinese as early as 1000 A.D, it was not until the 13th and 14th centuries in Europe (4)..........it was put to practical use in the form of eyeglasses.
In Europe the first microscope was invented by brothers Zacharias and Hans Janssen, two Dutch eyeglass-makers, around 1590. They built a “compound” microscope, so called because of its two lenses. The most significant development and use of the microscope during this period, however, belongs to another Dutch optician, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek. Bom in Delft, Holland, he became skilled at (5).......... very sharp and accurate magnifying lenses.
(3)........................