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Over the past fifty years or so, the methods used for collecting money from the public to aid the developing world have changed out of all recognition, along with the gravity of the problems (1) ____, and the increasing awareness among the population that something must be done. At the beginning of this period, it would have been common to put money in a collecting box, perhaps on the street or at church. The 1960s saw the (2) ____ of shops which sold second-hand goods, donated by the public, and which also began to sell articles manufactured in the developing world in charitable projects set up to guarantee a fair income to local people. The next development was probably the charity 'event', in which participants were (3) ____ to run, cycle, swim or what have you, and collected money from friends and relatives (4) ____ how far or long they managed to keep going. The first hint of what was to become the most successful means of (5) ____ money was the charity record, where the artists donated their time and talent, and the (6) ____ from the sales went to a good cause. This was perhaps a (7) ____ of the fact that young people felt increasingly concerned about the obvious differences between life in Europe and the United States, and that in most of Africa, for example. A feeling of frustration was building up. Why was so little being done? The huge success of Band Aid, and (8) ____ televised concerts, showed the power of the media, and of music in particular, to inspire and shock. It differed significantly in style from other events. People phoned up in their thousands on the day and pledged money by (9) ____ their credit card numbers. (10) ____ if you have enough money to buy an MP3 player, you can afford something for the world's starving children

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One of my favorite movies is When Harry Met Sally. I can watch it again and again and love it every single time - maybe even more than I did before. There’s a scene that will be familiar to any of the movie’s fans: Harry and Sally have just set off on their drive to New York City and Harry starts telling Sally about his dark side. He mentions one thing in particular: whenever he starts a new book, he reads the last page first. That way, in case he dies while reading it, he’ll know how it ends. Harry will know how it ends, true, but doesn’t that also ruin the book? If you know the ending, how can you enjoy the story? As it turns out, easily. A study in this month’s issue of Psychological Science comes to a surprising conclusion: spoilers don’t actually spoil anything. In fact, they may even serve to enhance the experience of reading. Over 800 students from the University of California San Diego took part in a series of three experiments, where they read one of three types of short story: a story with an ironic twist (such as Roald Dahl), a mystery (such as Agatha Christie), and a literary story (such as Raymond Carver). For each story, there was a spoiler paragraph that revealed the outcome. The students read the stories either with or without the spoiler. Time to reconsider, it seems, what we call a spoiler. The so-called “spoiled” stories were actually rated as more enjoyable than those that were “unspoiled,” no matter what type of story was being read. Knowing the ending, even when suspense was part of the story’s goal, made the process of reading more, not less, pleasurable. Why would this be the case? Perhaps, freed from following the plot, we can pay more attention to the quality of the writing and to the subtleties of the story as a whole. Perhaps we can be more attuned to those signs that foreshadow the unfolding of the action and take pleasure in our ability to identify them. Whatever the case may be, it may not be as urgent as we think it is to avoid spoilers. Indeed, it might be just fine to embrace them openly. Harry might have the right idea after all. In fact, he might be getting at the very thing that lets me watch him meet Sally over and over and over again, and enjoy the process every single time.
7. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

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Stephen Hawking was 21 years old and just embarking upon his career as a researcher in cosmology at the University of Cambridge when his father noticed he was tripping and falling frequently. After a series of tests, Hawking was (26) _______ with 50 ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) and doctors estimated he had two and a half years left to live. The news was, of course, devastating, but Hawking avoided an emotional (27) _______ by taking new interest in his studies and his research. His disease continued to progress, (28) _______, and by the mid-1970s he needed more care and his speech was so slurred only his family could understand him. In 1985, Hawking came down with pneumonia and needed a tracheotomy, (29) _______ left him without the ability to speak at 60 all. He did make a full recovery, however, allowing him to finish writing A Brief History of Time, which sold 10 million copies around the world. Although it would be easy to dwell on what ALS has cost him, Hawking has chosen to focus on (30) _______ that he still has in life. His brilliant mind remains unaffected by the disease and as a result Hawking has 65 made significant breakthroughs in his field and has received twelve honorary degrees, as well as multiple awards, medals and prizes

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Fathers in today families are spending more time with their children than at any point in the past 100 years. (1) ____ the number of hours the average woman spends at home with her children has declined since the early 1900s, as more and more women enter the workforce, there has been a decrease in the number of children per family and an increase in (2) ____ attention to each child. As a result, mothers today in the United States, (3) ____ those who work part- or full-time, spend almost twice as much time with each child as mothers did in the 1920s. People (4) ____ raised children in the 1940s and 1950s typically report that their own adult children and grandchildren communicate far better with their kids and spend more time (5) ____ with homework than they did. America's children are also safer today than they've (6) ____ been. An infant was four times more likely to die in the 1950s than today. A parent then was 27 per cent more likely to lose an older teen (7) ____ death. If we look back over the last millennium, we can see that families have always been diverse. In each period, families have solved one set of problems only to face new (8) ____. What works for a family in one economic and cultural setting doesn't work for a family in another. What's helpful (9) ____ one stage of a family's life may be (10) ____ at the next stage. If there is one lesson to be (11) ____ from the last millennium of family history, it's that families always have to (12) ____ with a changing world.

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People often find that success eludes them. But how often is this their own fault. One thing that we are all good at doing is procrastinating. Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a prime example of someone (26) _______ failed to act and, in fact, was rendered incapable of action by his need to put things off – in other words, to procrastinate. And because this is such a universal failing, it may be that it is that very quality that (27) _______ him to us all. But it’s not a good thing. We should force ourselves to get over it. Procrastinators are less wealthy and less healthy and regret their inability to make quick decisions. So why so many of you like it? What is it that prevents us from fulfilling our true potential? Are we attempting to become perfectionists, claiming that we need time to polish our work – or even that we can only do our best work under pressure? The latter is untrue, as work done at the last minute contains more mistakes than that done on time. Our procrastinating behaviour (28) _______ others and leaves us feeling flustered and guilty. Social scientists are struggling to understand the causes of this malaise and from that knowledge work out strategies to overcome it. There are various suggestions they have come up with for (29) having trouble getting things done. They say we should consider breaking a task down into manageable chunks so that it seems less daunting and keep on trying to accept why we are delaying in the first place: is it fear, wishing to produce something perfect or boredom with the task? (30) _______ , knowing the reason means we can do with it. As for me, I’m off to have a rest and think about it all

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The Great Barrier Reef is alrealy in a critical state. Rising sea temperatures are killing corals faster than they can recover. As temperatures continue to increase, more and more of the reef will die, along with the rich variety of life and the AUS$6 billion tourism industry that depend on it. The heating of the planet will push many struggling species over the brink. Some will just have no place left to go. For biodiversity, climate change is, in military jargon, a threat multiplier. Worse still, measures to limit warming often don’t take biodiversity into account. Some, such as the push for biofuels, directly harm it. The world has warmed around 1˚C since pre-industrial times. That is already having a dramatic effect on wildlife. In the Arctic, for example, the loss of more and more sea ice each summer is affecting many animals, from walruses to polar bears. Polar inhabitants have nowhere colder to go, but many creatures elsewhere are already moving to stay in their comfort zone. Some marine species, including mammals, birds, fish and plankton, have shifted their ranges by hundreds of kilometres. Rising sea levels, meanwhile, could wipe out species as low-lying islands are inundated. Mainland species are also at risk, such as the few hundred Bengal tigers in the Sundarbans, a network of mangrove forests along the coast of Bangladesh and north-east India. The effects of habitat destruction and rising water levels mean there will probably be no suitable habitat left there for these tigers by 2070. Some threats to biodiversity can’t be forecast with any certainty. For instance, people forced from their homes by disasters or conflict can have a severe impact on biodiversity in the places they flee to, rapidly deforesting vast areas and greatly reducing wildlife populations. Floods and storms displaced 15 million people in 2018 alone, and these numbers will rise as extreme weather keeps on getting more extreme. For all these reasons, there is growing awareness that climate change and biodiversity are inextricably linked, and that we need joined-up policies to tackle both. Many initiatives and studies around the world show that we can protect biodiversity and tackle climate change while offering a better and fairer future for people.
1. Which best serves as the title for the passage?

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I live in a small village called Northville. There are about 2000 people here. I love the village (34)__________ it is very quiet and life is slowly and easy. The village is always clean; people look (35)_____________ it with great care. The air is always clean, too. People are much more friendly here than in city because everyone (36)_________ the others, and if someone has a problem, there are always people who can help.
There are only a few things that I don’t like about Northville. One thing is that we have  not  got  many  things  to  do  in  the  evening;  we  haven’t  got  (37)___________ cinemas or theaters. The other thing is that people always talk about (38)___________, and everyone knows what everyone is doing. But I still prefer village life to life in a big city

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A row of mangrove trees sticking out of the sand, exposed by low tide off Kutubdia island in the Bay of Bengal, is all that remains of a coastal village that for generations was home to 250 families. The villagers were forced to flee as their land, which had been slowly eroding for decades, was finally engulfed by the ever-rising tide five years ago. For the embattled people, the distant trees serve as a bittersweet reminder of what they have lost. They also act as a warning of what is to come  UN scientists predict some of the worst impacts of climate change will occur in south-east Asia, and that more than 25 million people in Bangladesh will be at risk from sea level rise by 2050. It is well known that many of the countries most vulnerable to climate change are among those who contribute to it the least, and here that’s certainly true. The carbon footprint of Kutubdia’s 100,000 islanders is small - most do not even have access to a regular electricity supply. But they fear that for them, time is already running out. So far, members of the fishing community of Ali Akbar Dail, perched precariously on a strip of coast next to the embankment, have learnt to adapt to the many natural disasters thrown at them. When the cyclones hit, they hoist their children on to their shoulders and head for the network of cyclone shelters. These shelters, along with the country’s early warning system, have dramatically reduced fatalities. However, after a year that they say has brought more - and more powerful -storms than before, the fishermen are engaged in a battle for survival against their only asset: the ocean. Scientists say the sinking of islands in the Bay in Bengal is due to natural and possibly man-made climate change. Erosion linked to storm surges, for instance, predate global warming. But sea surface temperatures, linked to sea level rise, have risen in the Bay of Bengal. In a report published last month, scientists said they believed the higher surface temperatures in the Indian Ocean were causing cyclones to increase their frequency and intensity. There are too many challenges. People are losing their ancestral land, and they are having to migrate to other places. There, they have to adapt to a new environment. But in their new home, they are still anxious and uncertain about the future.
5. The word “precariously” in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to _______ 

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Sometimes our parents don't understand us. They don't understand some problems and things which are very important in teens' life; for example, the lifestyles of young people, piercing, tattoos, drugs, sex, relationship with friends and teachers. So, sometimes teens can't tell them about their private life. Some parents don't want to understand modern views, ideals and system of values.  Elderly people usually compare their childhood and youth with the present, and regard old times as better, always talking about "the good old days”. The young people, on the other hand, tend to think their times as the best. Teens look at the world with fresh eyes. Everything is new, interesting to them. Sometimes they cannot solve their everyday problems. But they want to cope with them by themselves. So, adults shouldn't prevent them from making their own mistakes.  People are said to become wiser with age. Sometimes, it is true and sometimes it is not. I think that you can meet a wise man among the old as often as among the young. It is false that when old age wisdom has come, useless illusions have disappeared. Sometimes when we talk to adults, a monologue is a preferred form of expressing your ideas in such talks. That's why some teens don't like to talk to adults.  I think that it's in people's nature to give advice. It seems to people that giving advice they can help somebody or put somebody on the right track. But if a person takes their advice and fails, he can blame an adult all of his life.  Our parents have their own ideas and views that their children don't share and understand. They think that their children won't find their place in life. They often say that now teens are very difficult to socialize with and dumpy. But children should settle all problems peacefully because they are their parents. They brought them up with loving care. And if children come to their parents for advice and help, they will do their best and help children to cope with problems and difficulties.
2. The word "them" in the passage refers to ____

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Success, like beauty, lies in the eye of their beholder. How one person chooses to define it can be very different from how others perceive it. For some people, it’s earning a fortune, while for (26) _______ it’s working in a voluntary position helping those less fortunate. It’s also relative rather than absolute because the person who masters a new skill has achieved success in their terms just as much as the self-made millionaire. Ironically, there may also be a(n) 27 _______ contradiction in the term. After all, an actress who has a glamorous life and seems to have everything she wants may actually be troubled by the loss of her private life as paparazzi (28) _______ her personal space. It also has something to do with the length of time success lasts. Many young people are happy with short-term fame but (29) ______ it’s true that reaching that one goal might be comparatively straightforward, maintaining that success is often much harder. And surely, it’s long-term success (30) _____ is ultimately the most satisfying and also the most enviable?

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Social media can be a way of keeping in touch with people you already know, and can sometimes be used to expand your network. Some people limit who they will connect with using these sites. There are a growing number of professional networking sites that will help you to expand your network. Following are some sites that can help expand your network: Facebook - is a social networking site that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. One third of employers check the Facebook page of potential candidates. Many people use Facebook for private use only, but employers also look at Facebook to get a broader understanding of the people they are considering hiring. LinkedIn - strengthens and extends your existing network of trusted contacts. LinkedIn is a professional networking tool that helps you develop inside connections to a company or sector and is primarily used for professional jobs. On LinkedIn you create a professional profile, similar to a resume that includes employment history, education, and keywords and skills. You can invite people to join your network on LinkedIn or ask a mutual contact to introduce you to someone in your field. You can sign up for sector specific groups and add to the discussion to build your professional profile and develop a broader network. A Working Centre Employment Counsellor can help you to build your profile if you are having difficulty completing this task. Additionally, you can tie your work on the internet into your professional profile. Create a website or blog where you discuss issues related to your profession. Tweet links to articles and events that others in your sector may find useful. You can integrate your blogging and tweeting with your LinkedIn profile to create a more prominent, professional online profile.
2. The word "potential" in paragraph two is closest in meaning to ____.

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Increasing numbers of parents in the U.S. are choosing to teach their children at home. In fact, the U.S. Department of Education has estimated that in 1999, about 850,000 children were being homeschooled. Some educational experts say that the real number is double this estimate, and the ranks of home-schooled children seem to be growing at the average rate of about eleven percent every year. At one time, there was a theory accounting for home-schooling: it was traditionally used for students who could not attend school because of behavioral or learning difficulties. Today, however, more parents are taking on the responsibility of educating their own children at home due to their dissatisfaction with the educational system. Many parents are unhappy about class size, as well as problems inside the classroom. Teacher shortages and lack of funding mean that, in many schools, one teacher is responsible for thirty or forty students. The children are, therefore, deprived of the attention they need. Escalating classroom violence has also motivated some parents to remove their children from school. Although there have been a lot of arguments for and against it, home-schooling in the U.S. has become a multi-million dollar industry, and it is growing bigger and bigger. There are now plenty of websites, support groups, and conventions that help parents protect their rights and enable them to learn more about educating their children. Though once it was the only choice for troubled children, homeschooling today is an accepted alternative to an educational system that many believe is failing. 
2. According to some experts, the exact number of home-schooled children then must be _______.

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Although digital cameras and camera phones have made it easier to capture newsworthy events, it is social media that have revolutionized citizen photography. With news regularly breaking on social networks, some journalists are now turning to them as (26) _______ of images as fast-moving events occur. Unfortunately, (27) _______ reporters have published user-generated content (UGC) without permission. Despite official guide (28) _______ images posted on social media can be used without permission if there are exceptional circumstances or strong public interest, debate continues about whether this is (29) _______. With research indicating that around one in ten people would film or photograph a news event, it is clear that UGC has a major role to play in the future of the media. (30) _______, if the media is to prevent its relationship with the public from souring, steps must be taken to ensure that people are properly rewarded for their work and that permission is always sought

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Vietnam is a (1) ____, developing country that in the last 34 years has had to recuperate from the ravages of war. Substantial progress was (2) ____ from 1986 to 1997 in moving forward from an extremely low level of development and significantly reducing poverty.  Since 2001, Vietnamese authorities have reaffirmed their (3) ____ to economic liberalization and international (4) ____. They have moved to implement the structural reforms needed to modernize the economy and to produce more competitive, (5) ____ industries.  Vietnam's membership in the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) and entry (6) ____ force of the US-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement in December 2001 have (7) ____ to even more rapid changes in Vietnam's trade and economic regime. Vietnam's exports to the US doubled in 2002 and again in 2003. Vietnam joined the WTO (World Trade Organization) in January 2007, following over a decade long (8) ____. This should provide an important boost to the economy and should help to ensure the continuation of liberalizing reforms.  Vietnam is working to create jobs to meet the challenge of a (9) ____ that is growing by more than one million people every year. Vietnamese authorities have tightened monetary and fiscal (10) ____ to stem high inflation

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In many countries of Northern Europe, including Scandinavia, Finland, Northern Russia, and the Baltic states, ice swimming is closely connected with the tradition of sauna, (25) _____ has led to the creation of a new activity where stays in the sauna are (26) _____ with quick 'pauses' in ice water. In Russia, ice swimmers are called what can be literally translated as 'walruses '. The north of Europe, (27) _____, is not the only place where winter swimming is practised regularly. A large ice swimming movement exists in the UK, based in a famous location: the Serpentine Lake in Hyde Park in London. In Harbin, Northern China, about 200,000 people ice-swim in the Songhua River every winter. The oldest ice swimming club in the United States, the Coney Island Polar Bear Club of New York, organises an annual (28) _____ on New Year's Day. In Canada, 'Polar Bear Swims; 'Plunges' or 'Dips' are a New Year's Day tradition in (29) _____ communities as well, the biggest one taking place in Vancouver since 1920

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We're all faced with difficult problems on a regular basis. In fact, sometimes you might feel like you'll be crushed by the weight of your problems. But how many of us use special creative problem-solving techniques to tackle these problems? "I didn't know there were special techniques," you say. Believe it or not, many experts have given a lot of thought to the problem of problem solving. The obvious first step to solving a problem is to churn out possible solutions, right? Well, some experts say that the first thing you should do is define the problem in detail, even if it seems obvious. Write the problem down on a piece of paper and start asking yourself questions about it: Why is this a problem for me? What is the source of the problem? What will happen if I don't solve the problem? What do I really want to accomplish? Keep asking questions until the well has run dry. Once you've asked these questions and answered them, potential solutions may start popping up like popcorn. Or they may not. If you're still stuck, some experts recommend going for a walk. That's right- you should literally walk away from the problem. A change of scenery can inspire new ideas, and not focusing on the problem can actually open your mind to new possibilities. If you still come up empty-handed at this point, you might try an unusual technique that some experts recommend. Open a dictionary, or any book or magazine, and pick out the first word you see. Write down anything that word makes you think of. Then look at your problem again. Something that you've written down may change your perspective and help you see the problem in a different light.
3. According to paragraph 2, what is said about the nature of problem-solving?

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The traffic light signal was invented by a railway signaling engineer. It was installed (26)_________The House of Parliament in 1868. It (27)_________like any railway signal of the time, and was operated by gas. (28)_________, it exploded and killed a policeman, and the accident (29)_________further development until cars became common.             (30)_________traffic lights are an American invention. Red-green (31)_________were installed in Cleveland in 1914. Three-color signals, (32)_________by hand from a tower in the (33)_________of the street, were installed in New York in 1918. The (34)________lights of this type to (35)________in Britain were in London, on the junction between St James’s street and Piccadilly in 1925.

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Unlike previous generations, millennials look further than job stability, competitive salaries and benefits to be committed and loyal to a company. They are driven by a sense of shared purpose, (25) _____ means they need to have a strong sense of their part in the „bigger picture’ to bring their best results to the workplace. And (26) _____ until now businesses are mostly focused on (27) _____ key consumer needs, what becomes clear when examining the global workforce trends by 2020 is that employee experience is equally important for company success . This is easily seen in a number of tech giants and industry leaders like Google, Facebook, SAP, Tumblr, Intuit, and others. These brands build their entire (28) _____ structure and organizational ethos around the experience of their employees. State-of-the-art office campuses, flexible hours and resting rooms are only some of the methods these enterprises leverage to keep their employee experience great. And more importantly, all of these are fast becoming the norm in (29) _____ to today’s workplace trends for companies that understand millennials and know that the 2020 workplace needs to be more dynamic, purpose-driven and versatile

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Life span usually is measured in units of time. Although this may seem eminently logical, certain difficulties may arise. In cold blooded animals in general, the rate of metabolism that determines the various life processes varies with the temperatures to which they are exposed. If aging depends on the expenditure of a fixed amount of vital energy, an idea first proposed in 1908, life span will vary tremendously depending on temperature or other external variables that influence life span. There is considerable evidence attesting at least to the partial cogency of this argument. So long as a certain range is not exceeded, cold blooded invertebrates do live longer at low than at high temperalures. Rats in the laboratory live longest on a somewhat restricted diet that does not permit maximum metabolic rate. Of perhaps even greater significance is the fact that many animals undergo dormant periods. Many small mammals hibernate; a number of arthropods have life cycles that include periods during which development is arrested. Under both conditions the metabolic rate becomes very low. It is questionable whether such periods should be included in computing the life span of a particular organism. Comparisons between species, some of which have such inactive periods while others do not, are dangerous. It is possible that life span could be measured more adequately by total metabolism; however, the data that are necessary for this purpose are almost entirely lacking.  Length of life is controlled by a multitude of factors, which collectively may be termed environment, operating on a genetic system that determines how the individual will respond. It is impossible to list all the environmental factors that may lead to death. For analytical purposes it is, however, useful to make certain formal separations. Every animal is exposed to (1) a pattern of numerous events, each with a certain probability of killing the individual at any moment and, in the aggregate, causing a total probability of death or survival; (2) climatic and other changes in the habitat, modifying the frequency with which the various potentially fatal events occur; and (3) progressive systemic change, inasmuch as growth, reproduction, development, and senescence are characteristics intrinsic in the organism and capable of modifying the effects of various environmental factors. 
7. The word "collectively" in the passage is closest in meaning to ____

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:

The story of gold is an adventure involving kings, queens, pirates, explores, conquerors, andthe native peoples they conquered. Throughout history, gold had (1)_____a magic spellover those it touch. Gold is beautiful and rare; a soft shiny metal that can be moulded intomany(2)_____.It has been used for money, jewellery, and to decorate special buildings suchas palaces and places of worship. (3)_____the precious metal was discovered, prospectorsrushed to mine it, starting new cities and countries as they went. Gold and the people who love it have helped shape the world we live in today. Gold is one of many elements, orsubstances that cannot be changed by normal chemical (4)_____, that are found in theEarth’s crust. Gold has a warm, sunny colour and (5)_____it does not react (6)_____air,water, and most chemicals, its shine never fades. In its natural (7) _____, gold is soft andeasily shaped. When heated to 1,062 Celsius it melts and can be poured(8)_____ moulds toform coins, gold bars, and other objects. Stories have been told, movies (9)_____andlegends born about the (10)_____of the world’s great gold deposits. It is a saga of dreams,greed, ambition and exploration.

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
There are many reasons (1) ____ it is important to have a hobby. First of all, a hobby can be a remedy for your (2) ____. Because it is the activity you choose for yourself, it will always give you pleasure and (3) ____ you relax. Even if you just spend a little time enjoying your hobby, you can see the difference (4) ____ your spirit. Second, some hobbies can also (5) ____ you financially. Many old people enjoy gardening. They grow a lot of trees and vegertable, so they can sell them for some money. In (6) ____, a hobby can help you connect with other people. If you like colecting stamps, you can (7) ____ a stamp club to share your albums with other collectors. If your hobby is caving eggshells, you can give your products to your friends (8) ____ gifts