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Let’s _________ water by turning off tapes when not using.

 

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

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empty/ cleaned/ milk/ People/ and/ bottles/ refilled/ milk/ with.

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The dragon _____ the enemies of the Church.

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She had worked as a tourist guide before __________ a teaching career.

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I have been ………… many beautiful places in Viet Nam.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that is closest in meaning to each of the following questions:
Alison bought the big house because she wanted to open a hotel

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Raising a Child Athlete
In many countries, children with sporting potential are identified early and encouraged to achieve athletic greatness by training for hours every day. While some people see this as a great opportunity for kids to be healthy, others argue that too much focus on training can hurt young people. How parents should raise child athletes has become a big topic of their debate. People who are against such serious commitment to sport say that there are many negatives to training so intensively. Here are some of their arguments: The long hours spent training can distant the child from his or her family. thletes who spend too much time training miss out on education. The child may not be prepared for other real world activities, such as going to college and having a non-athletic job. Pressure from parents and coaches to win can be psychologically damaging for the child. Parents may also become too pushy and end up caring more about athletic achievements than the child. Dr. Christine Carr, a psychologist, suggests that parents take some important steps to make sure that their kids are getting the most out of sports. Carr says that the focus should be on the child’s happiness and about learning life lessons. Self-discipline, determination, and learning to deal with failure are some of the important life skills and lessons kids can learn from sports. Other experts point to the importance of letting children make their own decisions. Top athletes Tiger Woods and Michael Phelps have said that they appreciated their parents letting them decide how much or how little they wanted to train. In fact, according to Phelps’ mother, he had trouble focusing in the classroom until he found a sport that he was passionate about. By allowing Michael to focus on his sport, his mother also saw him improve as a student. Another thing that many parents and doctors agree on is the importance of developing a close relationship with the family. Dr. Carr suggests eating dinner together and says it is a simple way to remind children that family is important, and that support can always be found at home. Woods and Phelps both had supportive families and made it public, with parents attending their many competitions. Raising an athlete is not easy. By balancing life and training, parents can set their children up for success and help them become winners in sports and in life.
4. What is said about failure in the third paragraph?

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Braille _________ a system of raised dots that can be read with the fingers by people who are blind.

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She used __________ to a special school for deaf-mute students.

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A World without Wires
We are lucky to live in a world that is full of incredible technology. Our living rooms are packed with computers, LCD TVs, video game systems, and Blue-ray players that help us enjoy the latest entertainment. Although these items bring us joy and convenience, they also create a lot of clutter. Each device needs its own plug and adaptor to keep its batteries recharged, and over time these wires get _tangled_. Thankfully, something has come along to help get rid our homes of this mess while still supplying these devices with the power they need. It’s called wireless charging and this trend is just starting. Wireless charging, also known as inductive charging, has a lot of potential for smartphones and other electronic devices. Coils are used to create a magnetic field. Electronic devices can then absorb the electricity once they are placed on a special charging pad. There are several advantages that wireless charging offers over traditional methods. For starters, cords have a tendency to wear out with use. Wireless charging eliminates this hassle so users never have to worry about buying replacement cords. Wireless charging is also far more convenient for medical implants, as patients won’t need to recharge their devices through the skin using cords. In turn, this cuts down on the risks of infection. Wireless charging can also bring safety benefits, as wired charging devices that come in contact with water can increase the chances of getting an electric shock. Wireless charging eliminates that danger completely. Still, there are a few drawbacks to wireless charging. The first is speed. It takes a bit longer to charge devices wirelessly than it does if the device is plugged in. The process also requires more heat, so devices tend to get a bit hotter, which could create other safety issues. Also, since devices must be left on a special pad while charging, it is harder to operate them while they are powering up. This limitation may be eliminated in the future, as researchers are developing transmitters that can charge several different devices in a room without the need to connect to a charging pad. Although wireless-charging technology may be far from perfect, it seems like a step in the right direction as we move towards a less-tangled future.
4. How does the author seem to feel about wireless charging?

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The position of sport in today’s society has changed out of all recognition. People no longer seem to think of sports as ‘just a game’ – to be watched or played for the (1) _________ of enjoyment. Instead, it has become big business worldwide. It has become accepted practice for leading companies to provide sponsorship. TV companies pay large sums of money to screen important matches or competitions. The result has been huge rewards for athletes, some of (2) _________ are now very wealthy, particularly top footballers, golfers and tennis players. (3) ________ , it is not unusual for some athletes to receive large fees on top of their salary, for advertising products or making personal appearances. A trend towards shorter working hours means that people generally tend to have more free time, both to watch and to take in sporting activity; sport has become a significant part of the recreation industry that we now rely (4) _________ to fill our leisure hours. Professional sport is a vital part of that industry, providing for millions of (5) _________ people all over the world.

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 is the writer’s conclusion of Holiday on Ice?

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___students required to wear uniforms at all times?

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A Microchip in Your Body
In 1998, a British scientist named Kevin Warwick did an experiment. He inserted a small microchip into his left arm. He used the microchip to turn on lights, work with his computer, and even start the water for his hath. After only nine days, Warwick removed the microchip from his arm. Nine days is not a long time, but it was enough to give the world a very important message. It is possible to have a microchip in your body. Many people think that someday, we all will have microchips. There are all kinds of things that a microchip could do. It could be useful for simple, everyday things. You might not have to carry keys, because you could use your microchip to open the front door of your house. You might not need cash, because you could use your microchip to buy things. A microchip might be able to do more important things. For example, a microchip could contain all of your important health information. If you had an emergency and wert to hospital, doctors could read your microchip and learn all of your health history. Some scientists even believe that someday a microchip could help cure diseases. Many people dislike the idea of a microchip in their body. They have a lot of concerns. Is it safe? Could a microchip make you sick? Besides, would other people be able to read your microchip and steal your personal information? People are especially worried about personal freedom. This is probably the biggest reason why so many people are against these microchips. What if your government could use your microchip to watch you? What if your government could use your microchip to find your location? Do you want the government to have that information about you? Again, for most people the answer is “no". Nobody has microchips in their body yet. We don't know if this will ever happen. If we ever do have microchips, we don't know what they would look like or what they would do. What do you think? Would you like to have a microchip inserted into your body?
7. All of the following are concerns about the idea of inserting a microchip into a human body EXCEPT that________

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This price reduction is due to ………… among suppliers.

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The children seem to be totally capable ________ working by themselves.

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Although only a small percentage of the electromagnetic radiation that is emitted by the Sun is ultraviolet (UV) radiation, the amount that is emitted would be enough to cause severe damage to most forms of life on Earth were it all to reach the surface of the Earth. Fortunately, all of the Sun’s ultraviolet radiation does not reach the Earth because of a layer of oxygen, called the ozone layer encircling the Earth in the stratosphere at an altitude of about 15 miles above the Earth. The ozone layer absorbs much of the Sun’s ultraviolet radiation and prevents it from reaching the Earth. Ozone is a form of oxygen in which each molecule consists of three atoms (O3) instead of the two atoms (O2) usually found in an oxygen molecule. Ozone forms in the stratosphere in a process that is initiated by ultraviolet radiation from the Sun. UV radiation from the Sun splits oxygen molecules with two atoms into free oxygen atoms, and each of these unattached oxygen atoms then joins up with an oxygen molecule to form ozone. UV radiation is also capable of splitting up ozone molecules; thus, ozone is constantly forming, splitting, and reforming in the stratosphere. When UV radiation is absorbed during the process of ozone formation and reformation, it is unable to reach Earth and cause damage there. Recently, however, the ozone layer over parts of the Earth has been diminishing. Chief among the culprits in the case of the disappearing ozone, those that are really responsible, are the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). CFCs meander up from Earth into the stratosphere, where they break down and release chlorine. The released chlorine reacts with ozone in the stratosphere to form chlorine monoxide (ClO) and oxygen (O2). The chlorine then becomes free to go through the cycle over and over again. One chlorine atom can, in fact, destroy hundreds of thousands of ozone molecules in this repetitious cycle, and the effects of this destructive process are now becoming evident.
10. The paragraph following the passage most likely discusses: 

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Getting Focused and Flexible with Yoga
In a small room, men and women are getting a great workout. However, there are no weights in this gym. The only piece of equipment is a small rubber mat. On it, they strike unusual poses which are held for minutes at a time. An instructor goes from student to student urging them to relax and breathe deeply, while inspecting their posture. In the end, through the art of yoga they hope to balance their body, mind, and spirit. Yoga originated in India over 2,000 over years ago. The first yogis weren’t looking to lose weight or get themselves in great shape. Instead, they practise yoga to help them achieve liberation. Yoga became an important part of Hindu culture, and it is mentioned in nearly all of the religion’s ancient scriptures. It wasn’t until the 19th century, however, that Westerners took notice of yoga. In the 1890s, Swami Vievekananda became the first yoga teacher to take on Western students when he toured the US and Europe. His lessons focused primarily on the spiritual aspects, and his speeches intrigued many intellectuals, but it would take some time before yoga would catch on with the masses. That didn’t happen until the 1980s when many Americans and Europeans embraced yoga during a worldwide exercise boom. Yet once it took hold, yoga has increased popularity year by year. It is estimated that over 20 million Americans now practice yoga regularly. A main reason why contemporary people are hooked on yoga is that it helps to relieve work-related stress. Students are taught to breathe slowly and deeply while concentrating on the present moment and letting go of the past. The challenging postures help to balance the negative effects people experience from sitting in chairs all day. The poses also help people to regain flexibility and improve circulation, which is particularly useful to the elderly. As yoga became commercialized in the West, many new branches were formed. Ashtanga yoga moves at a fairly quick pace, flowing from pose to pose, power yoga, on the other hand, offers workouts that are designed to increase strength. Another popular style, hot yoga, has students practise in hot environments to help them burn more calories. If you are thinking of studying yoga, try them all and let your heart decide which one is best for you.
3. The word “that” in paragraph 2 refers to __________

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Viet/ said/ he/ would/ be doing/ experiment/ 10 o’clock/ following day.

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It’s in Your Genes
Every human being has about 25,000 genes. Your genes are part of your DNA. They give your body instructions on how to develop. For example, if your genes tell your body to build long, thin fingers, then you will have long, thin fingers. Your genes come from your parents, and they decide everything about you. They decide your hair colour, your eye colour, your height, and so on. Genes are still a bit of a mystery to scientists, but they are learning new things about them all the time. One issue that people often debate is this: Do our genes influence our personalities? These days, most people agree that the answer to this question is yes. Recent studies have shown that genes especially influence our self-control and our sense of purpose. Your sense of purpose is your desire to have goals in your life. If a person really wants to accomplish something and do well in life, he or she has a sense of purpose. A person who does not care about goals has no sense of purpose. Although scientists agree that our genes influence our personalities, there is another question. How much do they influence us? Can we control ourselves, or do our genes control us? People everywhere are still debating this issue. So far, we don’t really have an answer. Genes also affect your health. If a gene has a problem, it is called a mutated gene. Some mutated genes can cause diseases. That is why if a person has a certain health problem, his or her child is more likely to have that same problem. The child also has the mutated gene. As scientists and doctors learn more about genes, they are also developing a new kind of medicine: gene therapy. Therapy is help for a mental or a physical problem. Gene therapy means fixing or replacing mutated genes. Scientists are still experimenting on gene therapy. It is possible that in the future, gene therapy will help doctors prevent and cure diseases that are caused by mutated genes.
1. What does the passage say about genes and personality?