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……………..the time passes, …………….I feel ! The deadline of my thesis is coming, but I have just finished half of it.

 

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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. 
2. According to the first paragraph, what makes GBS an unusual high school?

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John.............tennis once or twice a week.

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 three valid arguments to support the preservation of endangered species. Aesthetic justification contends that biodiversity contributes to the quality of life because many of the endangered plants and animals are particularly appreciated for their unique physical beauty. The aesthetic role of nature in all its diverse forms is reflected in the art and literature of every culture attaining symbolic status in the spiritual life of many groups. According to the proponents of the aesthetic argument, people need nature in all its diverse and beautiful forms as part of the experience of the world.
Another argument that has been put forward, especially by groups in the medical and pharmacological fields, is that of ecological self-interest. By preserving all species, we retain a balance of nature that is ultimately beneficial to humankind. Recent research on global ecosystems has been cited as evidence that every species contributes important or even essential functions that may be necessary to the survival of our own species. Some advocates of the ecological argument contend that important chemical compounds derived from rare plants may contain the key to a cure for one of the diseases currently threatening human beings. If we do not protect other species, then they cannot protect us.
Apart from human advantage in both the aesthetic and ecological arguments, the proponents of a moral justification contend that all species have the right to exist, a viewpoint stated in the United Nations World Charter for Nature, created in 1982. Furthermore, if humankind views itself as the stewards of all the creatures on Earth, then it is incumbent upon human beings to protect them, and to ensure the continued existence of all species. Moral justification has been extended by a movement called “deep ecology,” the members of which rank the biosphere higher than people because the continuation of life depends on this larger perspective. To carry their argument to its logical conclusion, all choices must be made for the biosphere, not for people.

Which of the following is the main topic of the passage?

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Most people can remember a phone number for up to trirty seconds. When this short amount of time elapses, however, the numbers are eerased from the memory. How did the information get there in the first place? Information that makes its way to the short term memory (STM) does so via the sensory storage area. The brain has a filter which only allows atimuli that is of immediate interest to pass on to the STM, also known as the working memory.
There is much debate about the capacity an duration of the short term memory. The most accepted theory comes from George A.Miller, a cognitive psychologist who suggested that humans can remember approximately seven chunks of information. A chunk is defined as a meaningful unit of information, such as a word or nam rather than just a letter or number. Modern theorists suggest that one can increase the capacity of the short term memory by chunking or classifying similar information together. By organizing information, one can optimize the STM, and improve the chances of a memory being passed on to long term storage.
When making a conscious effort to memorize something, such as information for an exam, many people engage in “rote rehearsal”. By repeating something over and over again, one is able to keep a memory alive. Unfortunately, this type of memory maintenance only succeeds if there are no interruptions. As soon as a person stops rehearsing the information, it has the tendency to disappear. When a pen and paper are not handy, people often attempt to remember a phone number by repeating it aloud. If the doorbell rings or the dog barks to come in before a person has the opportunity to make a phone call, he will likely forget the number instantly. Therefore, rote rehearsal is not an efficient way to pass information from the short term to long term memory. A better way is to practice “elaborate rehearsal”. This involves assigning semantic meaning to a piece of information so that it can be filed along with other pre-existing long term memories.
Encoding information semantically also makes it more retrievable. Retrieving information can be done by rocognition or recall. Humans can easily recall memories that are stored in the long term memory and used often; however, if a memory seems to be forgotten, it may eventually be retrieved by prompting. The more cues a person is given (such as pictures), the more likely a memory can be retrieved. This is why multiple choise tests are often used for subjects that require a lot of memorization.

All of the following are mentioned as places in which memories are stored EXCEPT the     .

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I am thirsty. I need something ……….

____ players are not allowed to interfere with the opponent’s movements unless the player is holding the ball. 

(407)_______

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D): The term "dyslexia” is used to describe a number of problems associated with reading, writing or spelling. Short-term memory, mathematics, concentration, personal organization and sequencing may also be affected. We do not know exactly what causes dyslexia, but we do know that it tends to run in the family. We also know that more boys suffer from dyslexia than girls and that dyslexia is more common in urban areas than in rural. One of the most common signs of dyslexia is “reversals”. People with this kind of problem often confuse letters like “b” and "a" when reading and writing or they sometimes read and write words like "tip" and "won" as “pit” and “now”. Other common characteristics are lack of punctuation, misspelling, mixed-up sentence structure and poor grammatical construction. People are born with dyslexia, but it is only when they begin to learn to write that it becomes a noticeable problem. For children with dyslexia, going to school can be a traumatic experience. Poor achievement can make them feel frustrated and insecure. They are reluctant to go to school and sometimes even skip school together, Cheating, stealing and experimenting with drugs can also occur when children regard themselves as failures. It is a common misconception that dyslexic people are of inferior intelligence. Yet Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison and Hans Christian Andersen were apparently all dyslexic. There is no total cure for dyslexia; however, the effects of dyslexia can be lessened with the guidance of skilled specialists and a lot of determination.
4. The purpose of this passage is to inform readers that

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She said “ I have lived here for ten years”. She told me _____ .

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The Brain: Myths and Facts
There are a lot of myths about the human brain. We are going to tell you a little about these myths, and we are also going to give you the truth. One of the biggest myth is that we only use 10 percent of our brains. The next part of that myth is that if we can learn to use the rest of our brains, then we will be much smarter. People say this all the time, but it is absolutely not true. The truth is that although we don’t know everything about the human brain, we know that each part of it has an important function. Modern scientists call the “10 percent myth” ridiculous. The other most popular myth is about being “right brained” or “left brained”. According to this myth, people who use the right side of their brains tend to be more artistic and creative. People who use the left side of their brains tend to be better at maths and science. This myth is as popular as the 10 percent myth, and it is also wrong. In 2013, a study at an American university examined the right brain and left brain myth. According to the study, we use both sides of our brains equally. It is true that we use different parts of our brains for different things: We use our left side for language more, and our right side when we need to pay attention. But there is no evidence that creative people use the right side more, or that scientific people use the left side more. We have talked about myths, so let’s look at a few interesting facts about the brain. First of all, the brain feels no pain. Second, about 75 percent of the brain is made of water. It is also the fattest organ in your body. Another interesting fact about the brain is that around the time you turn 18 years old, it stops growing.
6. What did the study at the American university say?

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the undelined part that needs correction in each of the following questions:
Early peoples had no need of engineering works to supply their water. Hunters and nomads camped near natural sources of fresh water, and populations were so sparse that pollution of the water supply was not a serious problem. After community life developed and agricultural villages became urban centres, the problem of supplying water became important for inhabitants of a city, as well as for irrigation of the farms surrounding the city. Irrigation works were known in prehistoric times, and before 2000 BC the rulers of Babylonia and Egypt constructed systems of dams and canals to impound the flood waters of the Euphrates and Nile rivers, controlling floods and providing irrigation water throughout the dry season. Such irrigation canals also supplied water for domestic purposes. The first people to consider the sanitation of their water supply were the ancient Romans, who constructed a vast system of aqueducts to bring the clean waters of the Apennine Mountains into the city and built basins and filters along these mains to ensure the
clarity of the water. The construction of such extensive water-supply systems declined when the Roman Empire disintegrated, and for several centuries local springs and wells formed the main source of domestic and industrial water. The invention of the force pump in England in the middle of the 16th century greatly extended the possibilities of development of water-supply systems. In London, the first pumping waterworks was completed in 1562; it pumped river water to a reservoir about 37 m above the level of the River Thames and from the reservoir the water was distributed by gravity, through lead pipes, to buildings in the vicinity. Increased per-capita demand has coincided with water shortages in many countries. Southeast England, for example, receives only 14 per cent of Britain's rainfall, has 30 per cent of its population, and has experienced declining winter rainfall since the 1980s.
In recent years a great deal of interest has been shown in the conversion of seawater to fresh water to provide drinking water for very dry areas, such as the Middle East. Several different processes, including distillation, electrodialysis, reverse osmosis, and direct-freeze evaporation, have been developed for this purpose. Some of these processes have been used in large facilities in the United States. Although these processes are successful, the cost of treating seawater is much higher than that for treating fresh water.

The word “ vicinity” in paragraph 2 refers to “     ”

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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.
6. All of the following are the advantages of wireless charging EXCEPT ________

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:................

______ books are ones in which the story is told or illustrated with pictures.

(387)_________

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.

      Centuries ago, man discovered that removing moisture from food helped to preserve it, and that the easiest way to do this was to expose the food to sun and wind. In this way the North American Indians produced pemmican (dried meat ground into powder and made into cakes), the Scandinavians made stockfish and the Arabs dried dates and apricots.

      All foods contain water - cabbage and other leaf vegetables contain as much as 93% water, potatoes and other root vegetables 80%, lean meat 75% and fish anything from 80% to 60% depending on how fatty it is. If this water is removed, the activity of the bacteria which cause food to go bad is checked.

      Fruit is sun-dried in Asia Minor, Greece, Spain and other Mediterranean countries, and also in California, South Africa and Australia. The methods used vary, but in general the fruit is spread out on trays in drying yards in the hot sun. In order to prevent darkening, pears, peaches and apricots are exposed to the fumes of burning sulphur before drying. Plums for making prunes, and certain varieties of grapes for making raisins and currants, are dipped in an alkaline solution in order to crack the skins of the fruit slightly and remove their wax coating, so increasing the rate of drying.

      Nowadays most foods are dried mechanically; the conventional method of such dehydration is to put food in chambers through which hot air is blown at temperatures of about 110oC at entry to about 45oC at exit. This is the usual method for drying such things as vegetables, minced meat, and fish.

      Liquids such as milk, coffee, tea, soups and eggs may be dried by pouring them over a heated horizontal steel cylinder or by spraying them into a chamber through which a current of hot air passes. In the first case, the dried material is scraped off the roller as a thin film which is then broken up into small, though still relatively coarse flakes. In the second process it falls to the bottom of the chamber as a fine powder. Where recognizable pieces of meat and vegetables are required, as in soup, the ingredients are dried separately and then mixed.

      Dried foods take up less room and weigh less than the same food packed in cans or frozen, and they do not need to be stored in special conditions. For these reasons they are invaluable to climbers, explorers and soldiers in battle, who have little storage space. They are also popular with housewives because it takes so little time to cook them.

What does the word “which” in the fourth paragraph refer to?

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
As teenagers approach university level, a decision has to be made on what course to pursue. In this world of diversity, (1) ______ such a choice is not easy for both children and parents. In the old days, it was not much a problem to do the task because there were not so many diverse learning areas to choose from. Besides, there were only a few distinctive professional careers like doctor, engineer, accountant, nurse, teacher,etc.  to think about. Most higher learning usually led to a financially successful life. (2) ______, the cost of education was not so high. Today’s world is entirely different from the things (3) ______ have just been described.  The job market is constantly changing due to innovative technology and new (4) ______. Meanwhile, most teenagers have difficulty in identifying their own interests. There are a variety of well- organized career talks and student counseling workshop to guide and help teenagers (5) ______ what course to take. Furthermore, psychological tests are also used.  Certain instruments such as surveys, interviews and computer software can help to find out preferences, interests, or learning styles of the students.

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Why is it that many teenagers have the energy to play computer games until late at night but can't find the energy to get out of bed (1) _____ time for school? According to a new report, today’s generation of children are in danger of getting so (2) _____  sleep that they are putting their mental and physical health at (3) ________. Adults can easily survive on seven to eight hours' sleep a night, (4)_____ teenagers require nine or ten hours. According to medical experts, one in five youngsters (5) ______ by on between two and five hours/ sleep a night, less than their parents did at their age

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Some Amazing Apps for Your Smartphone
It is hard to imagine life in modern society without smartphones. These handy little devices keep us entertained and enable us to manage important tasks on the go. Although smartphones feature powerful hardware, they wouldn’t be so useful without thousands of handy applications. Here are a few free and helpful apps that you can download to help you throughout the day. If you have a habit of forgetting things and want to organize your life, give Evernote a try. It promises to help users remember everything. With a few clicks, you can send all of your photos, documents, and audio notes to Evernote. Then, your digital information can be stored in folders or tagged with useful keywords. When you need to access this data, you can perform a simple search and it will appear in seconds. Evernote is available on smartphones, tablets, and computers, so you can access your data from everywhere. Imagine this scenario. You are watching a TV show and you hear a cool song in the background. You want to buy it but there is one problem. You don’t know the name of the song. SoundHound is an app that will make this problem a thing of the past. It enables users to quickly identify songs by launching the app and holding their phone in the air. The app takes the song playing and compares it to thousands of other songs until it finds a match. Within seconds, it can tell you the name, artist, and album of the song you just heard. Another spectacular app is Lookout. Hopefully, you won’t have to use it often, but when you do need it. Lookout can be a lifesaver. Its main function is to help you find your phone if it goes missing. Lookout does this by using your smartphone’s data connection to locate your lost device. To see where your phone is on a map, simply log into Lookout from any web browser. In the worst-case situation, if someone steals your phone and you fear it has gone for good, you can wipe out all of its data with a few clicks. This will ensure no one will see any private information on your phone. These helpful apps are just the tip of the iceberg. If you do some searching online, you are certain to find many other apps that will make your life more convenient.
5. The word “it” in paragraph 4 refers to _________.

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Harvard University, today recognized as part of the top echelon of the world's universities, came from very inauspicious and humble beginning. This oldest of American universities was founded in 1636, just sixteen years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. Included in the Puritan emigrants to the Massachusetts colony during this period were more than 100 graduates of England's prestigious Oxford and Cambridge universities, and these universities graduates in the New Word were determined that their sons would have the same educational opportunities that they themselves had had. Because of this support in the colony for an institution of higher learning, the General Court of Massachusetts appropriated 400 pounds for a college in October of 1636 and early the following year decided on a parcel of land for the school; this land was in an area called Newetowne, which was later renamed Cambridge after its English cousin and is the site of the present-day university. When a young minister named John Harvard, who came from the neighboring town of Charlestown, died from tuberculosis in 1638, he willed half of his estate of 1,700 pounds to the fledgling college. In spite of the fact that only half of the bequest was actually paid, the General Court named the college after the minister in appreciation for what he had done. The amount of the bequest may not have been large, particularly by today's standard, but it was more than the General Court had found it necessary to appropriate in order to open the college. Henry Dunster was appointed the first president of Harvard in 1640, and it should be noted that in addition to serving as president, he was also the entire faculty, with an entering freshmen class of four students. Although the staff did expand somewhat, for the first century of its existence the entire teaching staff consisted of the president and three or four tutors.
8. The word "fledgling" in paragraph 3 could best be replaced by which of the following?

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 :
How is global warning affecting you? Many people in the world would not know how to answer this question as they do not see any sort of change in climate. The people who do not notice it tend to live in cities where the climates are already (1) _______. In essence, they mostly live indoors. If it is raining, they stay inside. If it is too cold or too hot, they turn on the heat or their air conditioning (2) _______. For farmers and others who live closer to the land; however, global warming is not something they are (3) _______ from. Although they cannot prove on any given day that the weather, extreme or mild, has anything to do with climate change, they can say over time that things are beginning to seem different. They notice that flowers and other plants are blooming earlier in northern regions of the world’s continents. This causes them to change planting (4) _______ for crops in some cases. (5) _______ farmers are facing more floods and droughts in our country and elsewhere

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 beautiful white bears found in the Arctic are in grave danger, and human beings are very (1) _______ the cause of this danger. As we bum fossil fuels to generate electricity or get us around town in our cars and trucks. We create a massive amount of carbon dioxide. This gas has increased in (2) _______. so much over the past few centuries that it is causing global warming. Polar bears need sea ice in order to live because this ice is their hunting (3) _______, The bears’ main source of food is the meat and blubber of seals. These animals come to the surface holes in the ice to breathe. It is there that the polar bears have (4) _______to ambush the seals. Without any ice, there is nowhere for the bears to stalk their prey. The seals rarely venture onto land and spend their time out on the sea ice. In recent years, the sea ice has disappeared in the Arctic during the late summer. This is dangerous for the polar bears, as they rely almost exclusively on seals for food. (5) _______ brown and black bears, polar bears do not hibernate during the winter.