Choose the best answer:
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

Choose the best answer:
The beautiful white bears found in the Arctic are in grave danger, and human beings are very (31) _________ 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 (32) _________ 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 (33) _________. 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 (34) _________ 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. (35) _________ brown and black bears, polar bears do not hibernate during the winter

Choose the best answer:
Amy Tan was born on February 19, 1952 in Oakland, California. Tan grew up in Northern California, (25) _____ when her father and older brother both died from brain tumors in 1966, she moved with her mother and younger brother to Europe, where she attended high school in Montreux, Switzerland. She returned to the United States for college. After college, Tan worked as a language development consultant and as a corporate freelance writer. In 1985, she wrote the story "Rules of the Game" for a writing workshop, which laid the early (26) _____ for her first novel The Joy Luck Club. Published in 1989, the book explored the (27) _____ between Chinese women and their Chinese– American daughters, and became the longest–running New York Times bestseller for that year. The Joy Luck Club received numerous awards, including the Los Angeles Times Book Award. It has been translated into 25 languages, including Chinese, and was made into a major motion picture for (28) _____ Tan co–wrote the screenplay. Tan's other works have also been (29) _____ into several different forms of media.

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According to fossil fuel records, roses are over 35 million years old and they were cultivated in China about 5,000 years ago. A Chinese emperor in the 6th century B.C. apparently had over 600 books on roses in his library, and oil was extracted from those grown in his gardens. (33) _______, only the highest members of society were allowed to use it. If anyone else was found with even a small amount, they were (34) _____ to death. Roses were also popular with the Romans, who used their petals as medicine, a source of perfume and as confetti at weddings. Cultivated rose were only introduced to Western Europe in the 18th century. Napoleon’s wife, Josephine, started a botanical garden near Paris, (35) _____ she collected all the known varieties of rose and encouraged the breeding of new ones. This led to the flowers becoming increasingly popular, and in Britain at that time roses became so (36) _____ that they were often used as currency in local markets. All roses in Europe used to be pink or white until the first red ones arrived from China 200 years ago. These now (37) _____ love and are the world’s most common cut flower

Choose the best answer:
Musicians who want to make it in the world have a lot of options, but the best one to (1)_________ them obscurity to fame might be rock ’n’ roll. Especially in the days when other forms of music are waning, rock ’n’ roll (2)__________ in the memory. Nevertheless, it is music that transcends cultures and keeps the youth of many nations invigorated.
Before rock ’n’ roll, there were many different forms of popular music. If looking at a timeline, the music of African Americans created both jazz and blues. These (3)_________ into what is known as rhythm and blues, which is often just called R&B. With the invention of the electric guitar, rock ’n’ roll came (4)_________ as musicians experimented with what they could do with the sounds this new style of instrument could make. Musicians were quick to see the possibilities that rock ’n’ roll offered. Early musicians like Chuck Berry (5)__________ the way for the likes of Elvis Presley, who would go on to become known as the King of Rock ’n’ Roll.

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The (31) _________ for many young people today is to communicate with others over the Internet and have a life online. The way they do this is through social networking web sites such as Facebook and Twitter. However, the people who (32) _________ their lives online are also putting themselves at risk, and they may not even understand how they are doing so. The key to limiting risk is to keep certain pieces of information private. If you do any banking online, for example, it is important to note that dates of birth are often used as a(n) (33) _________ feature by banks. They will need to know your identification number and possibly your address as well, but to (34) _________ your identity, they might ask you for your date of birth. If a criminal were to gain access to your account number at a bank, and then obtain your address from public records, the one thing that he would not have would be your birth date. These days, however, a lot of people list their dates of birth openly on Facebook (35) _________ their friends can wish them well on their birthdays. Unfortunately, doing so could end up being a recipe for disaster

Read the email, choose the best answer A, B, c or D and write.

From: an@fastmail.com
To: nick@fastmail.com
Subject: My best friend
Hi Nick,

It’s great to hear from you. I want to tell you about my best friend.

My grandma is my best friend. She’s 68 years old. She lives with our family. She was a Maths teacher at a secondary school. She likes getting up early and watering the flowers in our garden, she usually helps me with my homework. In the evening, she tells me interesting stories. She also listens to me when I’m sad, which makes me love her the most.

I love my grandma very much. What about you? Who’s your best friend?

Please write to me soon.

Bye bye,

.......................................... is his grandma’s hobby.

Choose the best answer:
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has issued a stark warning about the future of the world's natural World Heritage sites. It says half of the sites are at (1) ____ from different industries. The WWF warned that harmful industrial (2) ____ such as mining, dredging or drilling for oil are endangering the future of 114 of 229 sites. (3) ____ factors adding to the risk include illegal logging and unsustainable water use. All of these are in addition to the damage being (4) ____ by climate change. The WWF says the sites affected include Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the Grand Canyon National Park in the USA, and China's Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries, which are home (5) ____ more than 30 per cent of the world's endangered pandas.  The director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre said it was (6) ____ everyone to protect these sites. She said: "World Heritage is humankind's (7) ____ heritage, and the responsibility for its conservation is shared by everyone." She welcomed government efforts at reducing what they take from the Earth, saying: "The WWF's report comes at a time (8) ____ governments and the private sector around the world are stepping up their action against harmful extractive uses." However, the WWF said that more than 11 million people worldwide (9) _____ on World Heritage sites for food, water, shelter, jobs and medicine, and that non-stop development could harm (10) ____ as well as the environment

Choose the best answer:
Birds that feed in flocks commonly retire together into roosts. The reasons for roosting communally are not always obvious, but there are some likely benefits. In winter especially, it is important for birds to keep warm at night and conserve precious food reserves. One way to do this is to find a sheltered roost. Solitary roosters shelter in dense vegetation or enter a cavity – horned larks dig holes in the ground and ptarmigan burrow into snow banks - but the effect of sheltering is magnified by several birds huddling together in the roosts, as wrens, swifts, brown creepers, bluebirds, and anis do. Body contact reduces the surface area exposed to the cold air, so the birds keep each other warm. Two kinglets huddling together were found to reduce their heat losses by a quarter, and three together saved a third of their heat. The second possible benefit of communal roosts is that they act as “information centers”. During the day, parties of birds will have spread out to forage over a very large area. When they return in the evening some will have fed well, but others may have found little to eat. Some investigators have observed that when the birds set out again next morning, those birds that did not feed well on the previous day appear to follow those that did. The behavior of common and lesser kestrels may illustrate different feeding behaviors of similar birds with different roosting habits. The common kestrel hunts vertebrate animals in a small, familiar hunting ground, whereas the very similar lesser kestrel feeds on insects over a large area. The common kestrel roosts and hunts alone, but the lesser kestrel roosts and hunts in flocks, possibly so one bird can learn from others where to find insect swarms. Finally, there is safety in numbers at communal roosts since there will always be a few birds awake at any given moment to give the alarm. But this increased protection is partially counteracted by the fact that mass roosts attract predators and are especially vulnerable if they are on the ground. Even those in trees can be attacked by birds of prey. The birds on the edge are at greatest risk since predators find it easier to catch small birds perching at the margins of the roost.
6. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage as an advantage derived by birds that huddle together while sleeping?

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Bodies are made to move! They are not (31) _____ for sitting around in front of the television or reading magazines. Keeping fit doesn't mean have to be a super-athlete, and even (32) _____ exercise can give you a lot of fun. When you are fit and healthy, you will find you look better and feel better. You will develop more energy and self-confidence. Every time you move, you are exercising. The human body is designed to bend, stretch, run, jump and climb. (33) _____it does, the stronger and fitter it will become. Best of all, exercise is fun. It's what your body likes doing most-keeping on the move. Physical exercise is not only good for your body. People who take regular exercise are usually happier, more relaxed and more alert than people who sit around all day. Try an experiment-next time you are in a bad mood, go for a walk or play a ball game in the park. See how much better you feel after an hour. A good (34) _____of achievement is yet another benefit of exercise. People feel good about themselves when they know they have improved their fitness. People who exercise regularly will tell you that they find they have more energy to enjoy life. So have (35) _____you'll soon see and feel the benefits

Choose the best answer:
Environmental pollution is a term that refers to all the ways by which man pollutes his surroundings. Man dirties the air with gases and smoke,. the water with chemicals and other substances, and damages the many fertilizers and pesticides. Man also pollutes his (31) _________ soil with (32) surroundings in various other ways. For example, people ruin natural beauty by (33) _________ garbage and waste products on the land and in the water. They death. Polluted water kills fish life. Pollution of soil reduces the amount of land that is operate machines and motor vehicles that fill the air with disturbing noise. Badly polluted air can cause illness, and (34) _________ and other (35) available for growing food

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Most of us own modern gadgets such as mobile phones, or digital cameras. We may carry them round in our pockets, or attach them to our bodies. But not for much longer! So far designers have succeeded in (4) _____ tiny bits of technology di–rectly into our clothing. In actual fact “cyberfashion” is the latest trend! One example, the Musical Jacket, is already in the shops and stores. This jacket is silk. It is (5) _____ by a keyboard, also manufactured from fabric, which is connected to a tiny device (6) _____ plays music. At present, you have to touch a shoulder pad to hear the music. But in the future, you will be able to operate the device just by turning your wrist or walking! For many athletes, scientists have invented a smart shirt which measures your heart rate, body temperature and respiration rate! (7) _____, the most romantic piece of cyberfashion must be the Heartthrob Brooch. This item of jewellery, made from diamonds and rubies, has two miniature transmitters. They make the brooch glow in time to the beating of its wearer’s heart. If you meet someone (8) _____, your heart will beat faster – and your brooch will let everyone know how you feel!

Choose the best answer:
Coincident with concerns about the accelerating loss of species and habitats has been a growing appreciation of the importance of biological diversity, the (18) _______ of species in a particular ecosystem, to the health of the Earth and human well-being. Much has been written about the diversity of terrestrial organisms, particularly the exceptionally rich life associated tropical rainforest habitats. Relatively little has been said, (19) _______ , about the diversity of life in the sea even though coral reef systems are comparable to rain forest in terms of richness of life.
An alien exploring Earth would probably (20) _______ priority to the planet's dominants – most distinctive feature - the ocean. Humans have a bias toward land (21) _______ sometimes gets in the way of truly examining global issues. Seen from far away, it is easy to realize that landmasses occupy only one-third of the Earth's surface. Given that two thirds of the Earth's surface is water and that marine life lives at all levels of the ocean, the total three-dimensional living space of the ocean is perhaps 100 times (22) _______ than that of land and contains more than 90 percent of all life on Earth even though the ocean has fewer distinct species

Choose the best answer:
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has issued a stark warning about the future of the world's natural World Heritage sites. It says half of the sites are at (1) ____ from different industries. The WWF warned that harmful industrial (2) ____ such as mining, dredging or drilling for oil are endangering the future of 114 of 229 sites. (3) ____ factors adding to the risk include illegal logging and unsustainable water use. All of these are in addition to the damage being (4) ____ by climate change. The WWF says the sites affected include Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the Grand Canyon National Park in the USA, and China's Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries, which are home (5) ____ more than 30 per cent of the world's endangered pandas.  The director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre said it was (6) ____ everyone to protect these sites. She said: "World Heritage is humankind's (7) ____ heritage, and the responsibility for its conservation is shared by everyone." She welcomed government efforts at reducing what they take from the Earth, saying: "The WWF's report comes at a time (8) ____ governments and the private sector around the world are stepping up their action against harmful extractive uses." However, the WWF said that more than 11 million people worldwide (9) _____ on World Heritage sites for food, water, shelter, jobs and medicine, and that non-stop development could harm (10) ____ as well as the environment

Choose the best answer:
Laughing is good for the body and the mind. When we laugh, we breathe more oxygen into our body, (46) _______ helps to keep us healthy. Endorphins, or happy chemicals, are released in the body, and you feel more relaxed and happier. Laughter also brings people together to (47) _______ some fun. Companies who have (48) _______ laughter yoga workshops find that they have advantages for both employers and employees. People who are happy at work are more hard-working and make more money for the company. Also, people who can laugh together communicate more successfully. (49) _______, people do better at work when they feel happy and relaxed. A Danish company who used Laughter Yoga for (50) _______ year reported an increase in sales of 40 percent over the previous year. Following Laughter Yoga session, a Hawaiian timeshare company reported the highest sales of the year - double their target figures.

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A recent issue of a language learning magazine has consulted a number of experts in the (16)_______ of second language acquisition. Their advice may prove invaluable for those (17)_______ a language course. One suggestion is that you (18)_______ whether you are likely to be successful at learning a language. Did you enjoy studying languages at school, for example? Do you have enough time to learn a language? The major (19)_______ will be your own time and effort. If proof of your level of proficiency is important you must make sure that the course on offer leads to a (20)_______ qualification. Also, be realistic in your (21)_______ . If you don't set achievable aims you are more likely to give up. Do not be deceived (22)_______ thinking that the most expensive courses are the best. (23)_______ around to get the best possible value for money. You should also bear in mind that the quicker you learn a language the more quickly you forget it. Sandra Miller, a French teacher, tried to teach herself German by enrolling on a (24)_______ course. Already fluent in four languages and with a sound knowledge of teaching methodology her chances of making progress were high. Three years on she remembers very little. She feels her biggest mistake was not to follow (25)_______ her first experience. "I should have consolidated what I'd learn by continuing to study, even if it were by myself."

Choose the best answer:
In 1960, Americans spent 10% of their healthcare dollar on medicines. Most of the money came from their own pockets, and was spent on drugs that largely treated infections heart disease, arthritis and depression. Beyond that, there was little that science could offer. Today, the range of diseases for which medical research has some partial treatment is vast. Despite this, and the double digit increase in drug spending - 75%-90% of which is paid for by insurance companies - prescription drugs now account for 9% of total health expenditures.  Similarly, claims by insurers and corporations - that drug costs are driving insurance costs up in general - are overstated. According to health analyst J.D. Kleinke, since pharmacy costs represent only 9% of all spending, even increases of 20% could not be responsible for insurance premium increases of 10%-15% over the last two years: Premiums have been increasing far out of proportion to increasing total medical costs over the past three years.  The fact is we should spend more on newer, more expensive medicines because they are worth the investment. Medical innovation creates what Harvard economist David Cutler calls health capital — the ability of people to stay well early and consistently throughout their lives, and remain that way at an increasingly older age. In fact, under the most conservative assumption, the U.S would have needed only about 30% of the improvement in medical progress over the period in time. In the case of congestive heart failure, Mr. Cutler found that increased consumption of new and more expensive drugs and other innovative technologies generated longer life, more productivity and lower health costs that offset the cost of their development and consumption.  
3. The way to invest in health capital is to ____

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For more than a century, Western philosophers and psychologists have based their discussions of mental life on a cardinal assumption: that the same basic processes underlie all human thought, whether in the mountains of Tibet or the grasslands of the Serengeti. Cultural differences might dictate what people thought about. Teenage boys in Botswana, for example, might discuss cows with the same passion that New York teenagers reserve for sports cars. But the habits of thought - the strategies people adopted in processing information and making sense of the world around them - were, Western scholars assumed, the same for everyone, exemplified by, among other things, a devotion to logical reasoning, a penchant for categorization and an urge to understand situations and events in linear terms of cause and effect. Recent work by a social psychologist at the University of Michigan, however, is turning this long-held view of mental functioning upside down. In a series of studies comparing European Americans to East Asians, Dr. Richard Nisbett and his colleagues have found that people who grow up in different cultures do not just think about different things: they think differently. We used to think that everybody uses categories in the same way, that logic plays the same kind of role for everyone in the understanding of everyday life, that memory, perception, rule application and so on are the same," Dr. Nisbett said. "But we're now arguing that cognitive processes themselves are just far more malleable than mainstream psychology assumed." In many respects, the cultural disparities the researchers describe mirror those described by anthropologists, and may seem less than surprising to Americans who have lived in Asia. And Dr. Nisbett and his colleagues are not the first psychological researchers to propose that thought may be embedded in cultural assumptions: Soviet psychologists of the 1930's posed logic problems to Uzbek peasants, arguing that intellectual tools were influenced by pragmatic circumstances. Still, to the extent that the studies reflect real differences in thinking and perception, psychologists may have to radically revise their ideas about what is universal and what is not, and to develop new models of mental processes that take cultural influences into account.
5. The word “malleable” in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to flexible:

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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.
6. Which of the following is true, according to the passage?

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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

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
Background, in relation to computers, on the screen, the color on which characters are displayed. (1)For example , a white background may be used for black characters. In a windowing environment in which more than one program or document can be available to the user, open but currently inactive windows   are said to be in the background. In the context of operating systems and program execution, background refers to a process, or task, assigned a lower priority in the microprocessor's share of time to tasks other than the task running in the background. A background process thus often performs (4)_____________ work, such as printing or checking for arriving messages on an electronic mail network, invisibly unless the user requests an update or brings the task to the foreground. (5) _______, only multitasking operating systems are able to support background processing