Choose the best answer:
" I am sorry. I broke the vase," my little son said.

 

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 rules of etiquette in American restaurants depend upon a number of factors the physical location of the restaurant, eg., rural or urban; the type of restaurant, eg., informal or formal; and certain standards that are more universal. In other words, some standards 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 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 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 restaurant determine etiquette appropriate to them, some rules apply to all restaurant.

With what topic is this passage primarily concerned?

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

The Emergence of Megacities

The urban shift over time has led to the emergence of the megacity – a city with a population of 10 million or more. New York City and Tokyo were the first (21)______megacities, both (22)________an urban population of over 10 million by the 1950s. But today they are (23)_________alone in their size. In 2014, there were 28 megacties across the planet – from Sao Paulo, Brazil to Lagos, Nigeria and London, England to Shanghai, China – and all major global regions except Oceania are (24)_______with megacities.

Most of the megacities in recent years are located in Asia and Africa. In fact, it is where seven of wight newest megacities can be found and where 10 of the 12 (25)_________megacities in 2030 will be located. From 2010 to 2015, Kinshasa’s population grew (26)________   over 23 percent, and today over half of 11.6 million residents are under 22 years old. A (27)________of factors has led to this growth including migration from rural areas, high fertility rates, and widening of the city’s boundaries. The population is (28)________almost all support structure in the city (29)_______the threat of food shortages, traffic (30)__________, and insufficient education facilities have become an obvious reality.

Question 24:................

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Throughout the world there are different ways for people to greet each other. In much of the world, a handshake is the (1) _________ form of welcoming and greeting someone. In many countries around the Mediterranean Sea a (2) _________ kiss on the cheek is the appropriate way to welcome friends and family. It can be a very (3) _________ surprise if you expect to shake hands and get a kiss or a hug instead. At times, it is difficult to tell what sort of greeting (4) _________is followed. People may bow, grab another’s arm or even slap the other person on the back. In some places people just smile, look at the other’s face and say nothing. Most people in the world are tolerant of visitors and don’t mind what travellers do that seems wrong as long as the visitors are (5) _________. A big part of the delightfulness of world travel is experiencing different customs

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
Nonrenewable resources include fossil fuels and mineral deposits, such as (1) _______ ore and gold ore. Conservation activities for nonrenewable resources focus (2) _______ maintaining an adequate supply of these resources well into the future. Natural resources are conserved for their biological, economic, and recreational values, (3) _______ their natural beauty and importance to local cultures. (4) _______, tropical rain forests are protected for their important role in both global ecology and the economic livelihood of the local culture; a coral reef may be (5) _______ for its recreational value for scuba divers; and a scenic river may be protected for its natural beauty.

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Some technological developments are the results of years of diligent work. Others are stumbled upon by accident. The discovery of X-rays is in the second category. In 1895, X-ray radiation was accidentally discovered by a physicist named Wilhelm Rontgen, while he was working in his lab. Rontgen discovery greatly advanced medical science. One night in 1895, Wilhelm Rontgen was working with an electric device called a Crookes tube. A Crookes tube is a glass tube with metal components inside it. When turned on, the tube produces a stream of electrons. Rontgen and other scientists observed a new form of energy escaping from the front end of the Crookes tube. Rontgen wanted to be the first to discover this new mysterious energy. To do this, he needed to make sure the tube was covered with black cardboard. This would make the room completely dark and allow him to better see this new form of energy. Rontgen was hoping to observe this new energy on a special screen that would be placed right in front of the Crookes tube. Amazingly, before the screen was placed near the Crookes tube, Rontgen already noticed the screen was glowing. He bought the screen closer, and the glow became brighter. (1) He then placed a book between the end of the tube and the screen-the glow was still there. (2) Rontgen realized that a new and different form of radiation must be causing the screen to glow. (3) As he didn't know what kind of radiation it was, he named it "X". (4) Rontgen soon started studying the new type of radiation. He designed experiments which allowed him to test how far X- rays could penetrate. He also had the bright idea of trying to take photographs with X-rays. One day, he tested his theories by asking his wife to put her hand between a photographic plate and a Crookes Tube. Sure enough, the resulting image of the bones in his wife's hand was the first ever X-ray photograph of the human body. After taking that first photograph, Rontgen understood how X-rays could benefit doctors and patients. He shared his discovery, and soon X-ray machines were appearing in hospitals. X-rays were very useful for medicine because they let doctors see a patient's bones. If a patient had a broken bone, it was made visible by the X-ray image. This let doctors know the right way to repair the fracture. Wilhelm Rontgen's accidental discovery has now been helping people for over one hundred years. Thanks to X-rays, broken bones can be repaired reliably and effectively. We should be grateful to Wilhelm Rontgen for making his discovery freely available and greatly advancing medical science. Because of this, we humans are able to live longer, healthier lives.
5. Which sentence about X-rays is NOT true?

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
Traveling in the Future
These days, if you want to travel from New York to Beijing, the flight takes about 16 hours. You also have to wait at the airport, and sometimes you have to transfer onto a different airplane. If you add all of that extra time, the trip takes at least 20 hours. But in the future, the trip from New York to Beijing might only take two hours. Right now, a private company is developing something called ET3. ET3 stands for “evacuated tube transport technology”. Here is how it works. A tube goes all the way from New York to Beijing. The tube is only a few meters wide. Capsules move through the tube. Six people can sit in one capsule. The capsules use electricity instead of gasoline. For international travel, the capsules can travel at about 6,500 kilometers per hour. That is much faster than airplane – most modern airplanes usually only fly at about 800 kilometers per hour. So how is this possible? How can these capsules travel so fast? The answer is that there is no air inside the tube. When airplanes fly, they have to move through the air. The air slows the airplanes down. Because there is no air in the ET3 tubes, the capsules are able to move at a very high speed. Besides, the capsules are quite light. They only weigh 183 kilograms. There are other advantages to ET3. Because it uses electricity, it is quite clean. In addition, it is much quieter than airplanes and cars. Finally, ET3 tubes and capsules don’t require very much building material. Of course, ET3 doesn’t exist yet. The technology is still being developed. Developers still have to solve a lot of problems. The biggest problem is that right now, ET3 would be far too expensive. In order to make ET3 cheaper, we will need much better technology. It is exciting to think of how ET3 will change travel in the future. Maybe someday, you will be able to have lunch in New York and dinner in Beijing.
3. The word “_works_” in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to _________

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
Will Shortz: Puzzle Maker
When you ask a child what they would like to be when they grow up, common responses might include firefighter, pilot, doctor, or athlete. But those jobs don’t capture the attention of all kids. Take Will Shortz, for example. In eighth grade, at the age of 14, Shortz had to write an essay about what he wanted to do with his life. He wrote about his desire to become a puzzle maker – someone who creates games and puzzles, such as sudoku or crossword puzzles. That same year, he sold his first puzzle to the magazine Venture. By the age of 16, Shortz was regularly contributing puzzles to magazines. In college, Shortz found that there was no traditional way to study puzzles or become a puzzle maker. There were no classes offered on puzzles. Fortunately, after becoming bored with his economics studies, Shortz learned that his university offered a special programme that allowed students to suggest and create unique fields of study. After creating and completing two courses on word and math puzzles, Shortz switched his major to enigmatology – the study of puzzles. Shortz and his professors then created new classes that explored all aspects of puzzle-making. He studied the history, construction, and psychology of puzzles, mostly on his own. Because there were no professors of enigmatology, Shortz realized that he probably was the only student at his university to know more about his field than any of his professors. He did well in school, but upon graduating, Shortz did not know how to get a job creating puzzles. For summer work, he joined the magazine Penny Press, where he realized that he could find work as a puzzle editor. Shortz then found a job creating and editing puzzles for Games magazine. This seemed like a dream job because he could create new kinds of puzzles and be surrounded by great puzzle makers. After 15 years at Games, Shortz accepted a position as the editor of The New York Times’ crossword puzzle. When he first joined, the newspaper’s crossword puzzle was seen as very difficult, and few readers could complete it. Shortz made fundamental changes, such as including everyday language in the clues and answers so that many more people could enjoy it. Today, he credited with making the crossword appealing to a wider audience. Some of Shortz’s most famous puzzles have related to the news for that day, such as the name of the winning president on Election Day, and a love-themed puzzle on Valentine’s Day.
7. At The New York Times, Will Shortz ________

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Glenbrook South (GBS) High School is in a suburb of Chicago, lllinois, in the United States. It is an award-winning school with a highly competent teaching staff. It has over 400 Asian Pacific American students-over 17 percent of the students in the school. Of these, the majority are Korean American. This is very unusual in a state where Korean Americans are less than 1 percent of the population. The interactions of the Korean American students at GBS were the subject of an article in Asian Week magazine. Different Korean American students react differently to being in a high school where most students are white. Professor Pyong Gap Min, an expert on Korean life in America, believes that Korean Americans in this situation can sometimes feel inhibited or ashamed of their Korean identity. Asian Week interviewed a number of GBS students, and each had a different attitude. Eighteen-year-old Alice said that she used to spend time only with Korean American friends. Although she felt secure with those friends, she found herself motivated to form closer relationships with non-Koreans, too. She said that she felt she was missing out on new experiences and challenges. Seventeen-year-old John moved in the opposite direction. In junior high school, most of John's friends were white. After coming to GBS, his sense of his Korean American identity was restored, and he decided to have mainly Korean American friends. He feels that he and his Korean American friends understand each other better. For example, they understand about severe parental pressures to succeed at school; John felt his white friends couldn't really understand. Sixteen-year-old Paul has some Korean American friends, but he says he spends most of his time with his white friends. He is often the only Asian American in the group, but he doesn't mind. What Paul likes about the white culture is that he can be more radical - he can be as loud and funny as he wants to be. He says he doesn't see as much of that among the Asian students. Without belittling the importance of what these students had to say, it's important to remember that their opinions at this phase of their lives are bound to change as they grow into adulthood. But these honest opinions can help US better understand issues of cultural relations, and their honesty might help Americans from different cultural groups to get along better in the future. 
9. What does the word "phase" in the last paragraph mean?

Choose the best answer:
been to/ is/ What/ destination/ exciting/ you/ have/ the most?

Choose the best answer:
The newlywed ______ spent their honeymoon in Hawaii.

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
The Rise of E-books
Over the past decade, e-books have revolutionized the way people consume written formation. It will probably come as no surprise the total global sales number continues to rise each year. There are several reasons why readers are buying more e-books. For starters, reading a lengths e-book in front of your computer isn't the most comfortable thing to do. But since tablet sales have exploded, readers can now relax and read their favourite e-books in bed from the beach. Many e-books are often sold at lower prices than traditional books. Since there is almost zero cost for producing e-books, some authors are offering their novels at lower prices. Another factor is convenience. In the past, keeping a large book collection meant setting aside a lot of extra space in one's home. With e-books, it is now possible for readers to carry a portable library, which contains thousands of books. To really understand e-book market though, it is important to keep up with national trends. Recent data suggests that the e-book market in the US and the UK have matured. In both of these countries, e-book sales account for roughly 20 percent of overall book sales. Although that percentage continues to increase, it is going up at a slower rate than in the past. The popularity of e-books has exploded in Russia. In one poll, 70 percent of Russians claim to have read at least one e-book. However, publishers are not too pleased with this new because approximately 92 percent of e-books in Russia are acquired illegally. In France, consumers don't appear to be loo keen on e-books at this time. Although in 2012, e-book sales comprised about 3 percent of the market, it is predicted that this number will increase at a very slow pace. Some French people believe that reading e-books on small screens is uncomfortable. Others say that the French are a cultural exception, as they like the feeling of holding a dusty old physical book. This demonstrates that no matter how popular e- books get, it is unlikely that traditional books will disappear any time soon.
4. Why are publishers unhappy about the popularity of e-books in Russia?

Read‌ ‌the‌ ‌following‌ ‌passage‌ ‌and‌ ‌mark‌ ‌the‌ ‌letter‌ ‌A,‌ ‌B,‌ ‌C,‌ ‌or‌ ‌D‌ ‌on‌ ‌your‌ ‌answer‌ ‌sheet‌ ‌to‌ ‌indicate‌ ‌the‌ ‌correct‌ ‌word‌ ‌or‌ ‌phrase‌ ‌that‌ ‌best‌ ‌fits‌ ‌each‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌numbered‌ ‌blanks‌ ‌from‌ ‌26‌ ‌to‌ ‌30.‌ ‌
Christ‌ ‌the‌ ‌Redeemer‌ ‌is‌ ‌an‌ ‌Art‌ ‌Deco‌ ‌statue‌ ‌of‌ ‌Jesus‌ ‌Christ‌ ‌in‌ ‌Rio‌ ‌de‌ ‌Janeiro,‌ ‌Brazil,‌ ‌created‌ ‌by‌ ‌Polish-French‌ ‌sculptor‌ ‌Paul‌ ‌Landowski‌ ‌and‌ ‌built‌ ‌by‌ ‌the‌ ‌Brazilian‌ ‌engineer‌ ‌Heitor‌ ‌da‌ ‌Silva‌ ‌Costa,‌ ‌in‌ collaboration‌ ‌with‌ ‌the‌ ‌French‌ ‌engineer‌ ‌Albert‌ ‌Caquot.‌ ‌The‌ ‌face‌ ‌was‌ ‌created‌ ‌by‌ ‌the‌ ‌Romanian‌ ‌(26)‌ ‌______‌ ‌Gheorghe‌ ‌Leonida.‌ ‌The‌ ‌statue‌ ‌is‌ ‌30‌ ‌metres‌ ‌tall,‌ ‌not‌ ‌including‌ ‌its‌ ‌8-metre‌ ‌pedestal,‌ ‌and‌ ‌its‌ ‌arms‌ ‌stretch‌ ‌28‌ ‌metres‌ ‌wide.‌ ‌By‌ ‌(27)‌ ‌______‌ ‌,‌ ‌it‌ ‌is‌ ‌approximately‌ ‌two-thirds‌ ‌the‌ ‌height‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌Statue‌ ‌of‌ ‌Liberty’s‌ ‌height‌ ‌from‌ ‌base‌ ‌to‌ ‌torch.‌ ‌The‌ ‌statue‌ ‌weighs‌ ‌635‌ ‌metric‌ ‌tons‌ ‌(625‌ ‌long,‌ ‌700‌ ‌short‌ ‌tons),‌ ‌and‌ ‌is‌ ‌(28)‌ ‌______‌ ‌at‌ ‌the‌ ‌peak‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌700-metre‌ ‌Corcovado‌ ‌mountain‌ ‌in‌ ‌the‌ ‌Tijuca‌ ‌Forest‌ ‌National‌ ‌Park‌ ‌overlooking‌ ‌the‌ ‌city‌ ‌of‌ ‌Rio.‌ ‌A‌ ‌symbol‌ ‌of‌ ‌Christianity‌ ‌across‌ ‌the‌ ‌world,‌ ‌the‌ ‌statue‌ ‌has‌ ‌also‌ ‌become‌ ‌a‌ ‌cultural‌ ‌icon‌ ‌of‌ ‌both‌ ‌Rio‌ ‌de‌ ‌Janeiro‌ ‌and‌ ‌Brazil,‌ ‌and‌ ‌is‌ ‌listed‌ ‌as‌ ‌(29)‌ ‌______‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌New‌ ‌Seven‌ ‌Wonders‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌World.‌ ‌The‌ ‌statue,‌ ‌(30)‌ ‌______‌ ‌was‌ ‌constructed‌ ‌between‌ ‌1922‌ ‌and‌ ‌1931,‌ ‌is‌ ‌made‌ ‌of‌ ‌reinforced‌ concrete‌ ‌and‌ ‌soapstone.‌ ‌

Question‌ ‌27.....................

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
Strengthening Your Core
If there is one indication that someone is fit, it is a tight and lean stomach. Men and women alike hope that eating right and putting in hard work at the gym will earn them a perfect six-patch. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. The rising popularity of fast food has led to an increase of obesity rates and waistlines around the globe. If someone is out of shape, you will notice the extra weight around their midsection. In both cases, a person’s core muscles seem to tell a lot about their fitness and eating habits. Many people associate the core with just the stomach area, but science actually defines it as our body without arms and legs. Although many people want a solid core to look good, the development of these muscles affects many areas of our lives. In athletics and general life for that matter, we all rely on our core muscles heavily to get things done. Studies have shown that athletes who build a powerful core foundation aren’t injured as much. Meanwhile, the benefits of your average Joe may be even greater. Ordinary people use their core muscles for nearly every task they do. This includes picking things up, sitting in a chair, or tying your shoes. Our core muscles provide stability, so we can keep our balance and easily move in any direction. If we neglect them, life can become much more difficult. As a result, we should always consider our core muscles when designing our workouts. However, if you have been sedentary for years, performing thousands of repetitions will probably get you injured. Instead, start off slowly and gradually build up your numbers. An excellent exercise for both beginners and advanced exercisers is the plank. You simply get in an extended pushup position as if you have just finished a rep. Maintain this position, but place the weight on your forearms instead of your hands. Then, hold the position as long as you can. You should feel your core muscles working hard to help your hands and support the weight of your body. In the beginning, you may only be able to hold it for a few seconds, but keep at it. The Guinness World Record for abdominal planking is three hours and seven minutes.
4. The word “Joe” in paragraph 2 refers to __________

Choose the best answer:
Lan used to go to school _________.

Why is it that flying to New York from London will leave you feeling less tired than flying to London from New York? The answer may be a clear case of biology not being able to keep up with technology. Deep inside the brain there is a "clock" that governs every aspect of the body's functioning: sleep and wake cycles, levels of alertness, performance, mood, hormone levels, digestion, body temperature and so on. It regulates all of these functions on a 24-hour basis and is called the circadian clock (from the Latin, circa "about" + dies "day").

This body clock programmes us to be sleepy twice a day, between 3-5 a.m and again between 3-5 p.m. Afternoon tea and siesta times are all cultural responses to our natural biological sleepiness in the afternoon. One of the major causes of the travelers' malady known as jet lag is the non-alignment of a person's internal body clock with clocks in the external world. Crossing different time zones confuses the circadian clock, which then has to adjust to the new time and patterns of light and activity. To make matters more complex, not all internal body functions adjust at the same rate. So your sleep/wake may adjust to a new time zone at one rate, while your temperature adjusts at a different pace. Your digestion may be on a different schedule altogether.

Though we live in a 24-hour day, the natural tendency of the body clock is to extend our day beyond 24 hours. It is contrary to our biological programming to shrink our day. That is why travelling in a westward direction is more body-clock friendly than flying east. NASA studies of long haul pilots showed that westward travel was associated with significantly better sleep quantity and quality than eastward flights. When flying west, you are "extending" your day, thus travelling in the natural direction of your internal clock. Flying eastward will involve "shrinking" or reducing your day and is in direct opposition to your internal clock's natural tendency.

One of the more common complaints of travelers is that their sleep becomes disrupted. There are many reasons for this: Changing time zones and schedules, changing light and activity levels, trying to sleep when your body clock is programmed to be awake, disruption of the internal circadian clock and working longer hours. Sleep loss, jet lag and fatigue can seriously affect our ability to function well. Judgment and decision-making can be reduced by 50%, attention by 75 percent, memory by 20 percent and communication by 30 percent. It is often suggested that you adjust your watch as soon as you board a plane, supposedly to try to help you adjust to your destination's schedule as soon as you arrive. But it can take the body clock several days to several weeks to fully adjust to a new time zone.

The word "malady" is closest in meaning to

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
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.
5. The phrase “_warm-up time_” in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to _______

Choose the best answer:
__________ energy is produced by collecting sunlight and converting it into electricity.

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
                                                HOME LIFE
"Parents  today  want  their  kids  spending  time  on  things  that  can  bring  them  success,  but (1)......... , we've stopped doing one thing that's actually been a proven predictor of success-and that's household chores," says Richard Rende, a (2)........ psychologist in Paradise Valley, Ariz, and co- author of forthcoming book “Raising Can-Do Kids." Decades of studies show the benefits of chores- academically, emotionally and even professionally. Giving children household chores at an early age (3).................. to build a lasting sense of mastery, responsibility and self-reliance, according to research by Marty Rossmann, professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota. In 2002, Dr. Rossmann analyzed data  from  a  longitudinal study (4)............. followed 84 children across four periods in their lives-in preschool, around ages 10 and 15, and in their mid-20s. She found that young adults who began chores at ages 3 and 4 were more likely to have good relationships with family and friends, to achieve academic and early career success and to be self-sufficient, as (5)........ with those who didn't have chores or who started them as teens. Chores also teach children how to be empathetic and responsive to others' needs, notes psychologist Richard Weissbourd of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

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

Choose the best answer:
A dolphin/ can/ swim/ stay/ underwater/ a long time.

Choose the best answer:
_______ she was not well, she still went to work.