Choose the best answer:
What is the ____________ invention of the past hundred years?

Read the passage and decide whether the statement is true or false.

The Owners of the "News”

The role of the media is essentially defined by the manipulation of information-oriented towards the control of "public opinion", but their goals are not social as described in the mythology of "journalistic objectivity".

The famous ethical flags of journalism: fairness, objectivity and freedom of expression, are nothing more than myths concealing the billionaire media business that moves daily market information on a global scale. The process of manufacturing and distributing information is not motivated by the need to "inform" but by the capitalist need to sell news. To do this, the media, like any capitalist company, generates massive consumer needs in society and plots information strategies aimed at encouraging business growth, positioning themselves in order to successfully compete in the market.

First, information is a commodity to produce economic returns like any other commercial product offered in the capitalist market. In functional terms (and beyond the legend that is produced around it) the newspaper businesses are not guided by social purposes but for the pursuit of economic gain. Secondly, in the light of the strategic nature of the communication function to develop from the point of view of preservation of the "governance", system the media is a key tool for the control and manipulation of the economic, political and social processes.

In the news business, like any business venture, the media only works for those who can pay for their "informative" services. This is why a relationship of mutual survival between the media, governments and major economic groups exists. These groups decide what is news and what is not and use this strategy to control political, economic and social trends.

True or False:

According to the article, the main objective of the media is the distribution of information.

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:
Because the low latitudes of the Earth, the areas near the equator, receive more heat than the latitudes near the poles, and because the nature of heat is to expand and move, heat is transported from the tropics to the middle and high latitudes. Some of this heat is moved by winds and some by ocean currents, and some gets stored in the atmosphere in the form of latent heat. The term “latent heat” refers to the energy that has to be used to convert liquid water to water vapor. We know that if we warm a pan of water on a stove, it will evaporate, or turn into vapor, faster than if it is allowed to sit at room temperature. We also know that if we hang wet clothes outside in the summertime, they will dry faster than in winter, when the temperature is lower. The energy used in both cases to change liquid water to water vapor is supplied by heat - supplied by the stove in the first case and by the Sun in the latter case. This energy is not lost. It is stored as vapor in the atmosphere as latent heat. Eventually, the water stored as vapor in the atmosphere will condense to liquid again, and the energy will be released to the atmosphere.
In the atmosphere, a large portion of the Sun’s incoming energy is used to evaporate water, primarily in the tropical oceans. Scientists have tried to quantify this proportion of the Sun’s energy. By analyzing temperature, water vapor, and wind data around the globe, they have estimated the quantity to be about 90 watts per square meter, or nearly 30 percent of the Sun’s energy. Once this latent heat is stored within the atmosphere, it can be transported, primarily to higher latitudes, by prevailing, large - scale winds. Or it can be transported vertically to higher levels in the atmosphere, where it forms clouds and subsequent storms, which then release the energy back to the atmosphere.

he word “they” in the second paragraph refers to    .

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:
In the twentieth - century, people depend on unlimited energy to power their everyday lives. A wide range of energy-run devices and modern conveniences are taken for granted, and although it may seem that we will never be in danger of living without those conveniences, the fact is that many supplies of energy are dwindling rapidly. Scientists are constantly searching for new sources of power to keep modern society running. Whether future populations will continue to enjoy the benefits of abundant energy will depend on the success of this search.
Coal, oil, and natural gas supply modern civilization with most of its power. However, not only are supplies of these fuels limited, but they are a major source of pollution. If the energy demands of the future are to be met without seriously harming the environment, existing alternative energy sources must be improved or further explored and developed. These include nuclear, water, solar, wind, and geothermal power, as well as energy from new, nonpolluting types of fuels. Each of these alternatives, however, has advantages and disadvantages.
Nuclear power plants efficiently produce large amounts of electricity without polluting the atmosphere; however, they are costly to build and maintain, and they pose the daunting problem of what to do with nuclear waste. Hydroelectric power is inexpensive and environmentally safe, but impractical for communities located far from moving water. Harnessing energy from tides and waves has similar drawbacks. Solar power holds great promise for the future but methods of collecting and concentrating sunlight are as yet inefficient, as are methods of harnessing wind power.
Every source of energy has its disadvantages. One way to minimize them is to use less energy. Conservation efforts coupled with renewable energy resources, such as a combination of solar, water, wind, and geothermal energy and alternative fuels, such as alcohol and hydrogen, will ensure supplies of clean, affordable energy for humanity's future.

From the passage, it can be inferred that to solve our energy problems     .

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:
Dark matter in the universe is believed by some scientists to be a substance that is not readily observable because it does not directly refract light or energy. Its existence can only be deduced because of the effect that it has on surrounding matter. In fact, some members of the scientific community have argued that dark matter does not actually exist. Others, however, believe in its existence, in part because the scientific community does not have a complete understanding of gravita science. On the other hand, some would argue that it is the understanding of gravitational science that leads most scientists to believe in the existence of dark matter, because without dark matter, there are many cosmological phenomena
that are difficult to explain.
For example, dark matter in the universe may have a peculiar effect on the Milky Way galaxy. Some scientists believe that the interaction between dark matter and other smaller, nearby galaxies is causing the Milky Way galaxy to take on a warped profile. It has been asserted that not only does dark matter exist, it may also be responsible for the Milky Way’s unusual shape. The interaction referenced involves two smaller galaxies near the Milky Way, called Magellanic clouds, moving through an enormous amount of dark matter, which, in effect, enhances the gravitational pull that the two Magellanic clouds could have on the Milky Way and other surrounding bodies. Without the existence of the dark matter, the Magellanic clouds would not have sufficient mass to have such a strong effect on the bend of the Milky Way galaxy.
The strongest evidence for the validity of this hypothesis rests in Newtonian physics, and the hypothesis that anything with mass will exert a gravitational pull. The Milky Way and other galaxies with peculiar warped shapes are being molded by a gravitational force. However, there is nothing readily observable with sufficient mass that could cause such a high level of distortion via gravitational pull in the vicinity of the Milky Way. Therefore, something that is not easily observed must be exerting the necessary force to create the warped shape of the galaxy.
Aaron Romanowsky and several colleagues have questioned the effect that dark matter might have on galaxies. They point to the existence of several elliptical galaxies surrounded by very little dark matter as evidence that dark matter is not, in fact, the cause of the warped galaxies. While they do not claim that their findings should be interpreted to conclude that dark matter does not exist, they apparently believe that the results of their studies cast doubt on some of the conventional theories of galaxy formation and manipulation.
Several models constructed by researchers from the University of California at Berkeley, however, point to the idea that dark matter is the most likely explanation for the distorted shape of the Milky Way and other galaxies. Using computer models, they have mapped the likely interactions between certain galaxies and the surrounding dark matter, and those models have shown not only the possibility that dark matter is responsible for the warped shape of the Milky Way, but that the relationship between the dark matter and the Magellanic clouds is dynamic; the movement of the clouds through the dark matter seems to create a wake that enhances their gravitational influence on the Milky Way.

The word conventional paragraph 4 most nearly means:

A.     B.   C. 

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:
It can be shown in facts and figures that cycling is the cheapest, most convenient, and most environmentally desirable term of transport in towns, but such cold calculations do not mean much on a frosty winter morning. The real appeal of cycling is that it is so enjoyable. It has none of the difficulties and tensions of other ways of traveling so you are more cheerful after a ride, even though the rush hour.
The first thing a non-cyclist says to you is: "But isn't it terribly dangerous?" It would be foolish to deny the danger of sharing the road with motor vehicles and it must be admitted that there are an alarming number of accidents involving cyclists. However, although police records indicate that the car driver is often to blame, the answer lies with the cyclist. It is possible to ride in such a way as to reduce risks to a minimum.
If you decide to join the thousands in Britain who are now returning to cycling as a cheap, satisfying form of transport your first problem will be trying to decide what bike to buy. Here are three simple rules for buying a bike:
Always buy the best you can afford. Of course there has to be a meeting point between what you would really like and economic reality, but aim as high as you can and you will get the benefit not only when you ride but also if you want to sell. Well-made bikes keep the value very well. And don't forget to include in your calculations the fact that you'll begin saving money on fares and petrol the minute you leave the shop.
Get the best frame, the main structure of the bicycle, for your money as you can. Cheap brakes, wheels or gears can easily be replaced by more expensive ones, but the frame sets the    upper limit on any transformation. You should allow for the possibility our cycling ambitions will grow with practice. When you begin, the four miles to work may the most you ever dream of, but after a few months a Sunday ride into the country begins to look more and more desirable. The best thing is to buy a bike just a little bit better than you think you'll need, and then grow into it. Otherwise, try to get a model that can be improved.
The fit is vital. Handlebars and seat height can be adjusted but you must get the right sized frame. On the whole it is best to get the largest size you can manage. Frame sizes are measured in inches and the usual adult range is from 21 inches to 25 inches, though extreme sizes outside those measurements can be found. Some people say if you take four inches off from your inside leg measurement you will end up with the right size of bike. The basic principle though is that you should be able to stand with legs either side of the crossbar (the bar that goes from the handlebars to the seat) with both feet comfortably flat on the ground.

As regards road safety, the author thinks that     .

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.
When John Mills was going to fly in an airplane for the first time, he was frightened. He did not like the idea of being thousands of feet up in the air. "I also didn't like the fact that I wouldn't  be in control," says John.
"I'm a terrible passenger in the car. When somebody else is driving, I tell them what to so. It drives everybody crazy."
However John couldn't avoid flying any longer. It was the only way he could visit his grandchildren in Canada.
"I had made up my mind that I was going to do it, I couldn't let my son, his wife and their three children travel all the way here to visit me. It would be so expensive for them and I know Tom's business isn't doing so well at the moment - it would also be tiring for the children - it's a nine-hour flight!" he says.
To get ready for the flight John did lots of reading about airplanes. When he booked his seat, he was told that he would be flying on a Boeing 747, which is better known as a jumbo jet. "I  needed to know as much as possible before getting in that plane. I suppose it was a way of making myself feel better. The Boeing 747 is the largest passenger aircraft in the world at the moment.
The first one flew on February 9th 1969 in the USA. It can carry up to 524 passengers and 3.400 pieces of luggage. The fuel for airplanes is kept in the wings and the 747's wings are so big that they can carry enough fuel for an average car to be able to travel 16,000 kilometers a year for 70 years. Isn't that unbelievable? Even though I had discovered all this very interesting information about the jumbo, when I saw it for the first time, just before I was going to travel to Canada, I still couldn't believe that something so enormous was going to get up in the air and fly. I was even more impressed when I saw how big it was inside with hundreds of people!"
The biggest surprise of all for John was the flight itself. "The take-off itself was much smoother than I expected although I was still quite scared until we were in the air. In the end, I managed to relax, enjoy the food and watch one of the movies and the view from the window was spectacular. I even managed to sleep for a while!
"Of course," continues John, "the best reward of all was when I arrived in Canada and saw my son and his family, particularly my beautiful grandchildren. Suddenly, I felt so silly about all the years when I couldn't even think of getting on a plane. I had let my fear of living stop me from seeing the people I love most in the world. I can visit my son and family as often as I like now!" Question 24: Why did John Mills fly in an airplane?

How did John feel when the airplane was taking off?

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 development of genetically modified (GM) plants and animals had led to a huge global controversy. Opponents say that GM “Franken foods” are a threat to our well-being, and proponents say that the risks are minimal. There is one aspect of the war over GM that is often overlooked. Anyone who wears a cotton shirt these days is using a GM crop. Cotton is the only major non-food GM crop at present, but others are coming.
GM cotton plants that is not food has not stopped the most passionate GM opponents from objecting. If GM cotton is grown in a field next to fields of non-GM cotton, they argue, then how to keep genes from being transferred from field to field. This danger, however, is not as compelling to the public as possible health hazards in food, so there is no great fury over GM cotton.
GM cotton seeds produce higher yields, and they do without the need for pesticides. Planting of  GM cotton has increased five fold since 1997; three-quarter of cotton in America, and over half in China, is now GM. Farmers like it because it increases their profits.
Other options for non-food GM include new variety of flowers with different colors or scents, tougher grasses for lawns, and plants designed to soak up pollutants from the soil. The paper industry provides another example of potential for GM to help produce better and cheaper products. Paper is made from pulp, and pulp is generally made from trees. Researchers in New Zealand and Chile have been working on insect-resistant pines, and a Japanese firm has combined carrot genes with tree genes to make them grow better in poor soil.
Another interesting case is that of tobacco. It is not food crop, but it is consumed, and GM tobacco plants with both more and less nicotine have been created. The tobacco plant, however, is an ideal target for GM, since its genetics are very well understood and it produces a lot of leaves. The value of the drugs that could be produced by GM tobacco is so high, many farmers could switch from growing tobacco for cigarettes to growing it for medicine. Since medical cost is rising, consumers would also be happy to use drugs produced in bulk by GM tobacco.

What is the topic of the paragraph?

Fill in each numbered blank with one suitable word or phrase.

Children in (1) _____ Netherlands must be at least four years old to (2) _____ primary education. Almost all 4-year-olds (99. 3%) in the country indeed attend primary school, (3) _____ this is not compulsory until children reach the age (4) _____5 . Primary school is free of charge. In most schools, children are grouped by (5) _____ in mixed ability classes, with one teacher for all subjects. Primary school (6) _____ of 8 groups, thus schooling (7) _____ for 8 years. During the first two years, which (8) _____ kindergarten, children receive an average of 22 hours of (9) _____, during the last 6 years children receive an average of 25 hours per week. Schools are open 5 days a week, but children are free on Wednesday afternoon. At the end of primary school, or in group 8, schools advice on secondary school choice. Most schools use a national test to support this advice, for instance the 'Citotoets', a test (10) ____ by the Central Institute for Test development.

(2) _____

Choose the option A, B, C or D that best answers the question about the passage:

"Students must apply for a place before attending any class. Applications, whether by post or in persons, are dealt with strictly in the order they are received at the Adult Education Office. You can apply:

 + By post: use the card provided with the exact fee. You will be accepted on the course unless it is full, in which case we will inform you. An acknowledgement will not be made nor a receipt sent unless you provide a stamped addressed envelope. Receipts will normally be given out at the first class.
 + In person: Call at the Adult Education Office (ground floor, Block C) between approximately 9.00 am and 3.30 pm (2.30 pm on Fridays) or at the College Reception Desk (at the main entrance) at other times (in the evenings until about 7.30 pm, not on Fridays).
 Students should note that popular classes may be full well before the course is due to start, so early application is strongly advised to avoid disappointment.
 => For the autumn term, applications will be accepted by post or in person from 1st August.
=> For the spring term, applications will be accepted from 1st December.
=> For the summer term, applications will be accepted from 1st April."

1. Students who apply to the College by post will …..

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.

In my experience, freshmen today are different from those I knew when I started as a counselor and professor 25 years ago. College has always been demanding both academically and socially. But students now are less mature and often not ready for the responsibility of being in college.

It is really too easy to point the finger at parents who protect their children from life’s obstacle. Parents, who handle every difficulty and every other responsibility for their children writing admission essays to picking college courses, certainly may contribute to their children’s lack of coping strategies. But we can look even more broadly to the social trends of today.

How many people do you know who are on medication to prevent anxiety or depression? The number of students who arrive at college already medicated for unwanted emotions has increased dramatically in the past 10 years. We, as a society, don’t want to “feel” anything unpleasant and we certainly don’t want our children to “suffer”.

The resulting problem is that by not experiencing negative emotions, one does not learn the necessary skills to tolerate and negotiate adversity. As a psychologist, I am well aware of the fact that some individuals suffer from depression and anxiety and can benefit from treatment, but I question the growing number of medicated adolescents today.

Our world is more stressful in general because of the current economic and political realities, but I don’t believe that the college experience itself is more intense today than that of the past 10 years. What I do think is that many students are often not prepared to be young “adults” with all the responsibilities of life.

What does this mean for college faculty and staff? We are required to assist in the basic parenting of these students – the student who complains that the professor didn’t remind her of the due date for an assignment that was clearly listed on the syllabus and the student who cheats on an assignment in spite of careful instructions about plagiarism.

As college professors, we have to explain what it means to be an independent college student before we can even begin to teach. As parents and teachers we should expect young people to meet challenges. To encourage them in this direction, we have to step back and let them fail and pick themselves up and move forward. This approach needs to begin at an early age so that college can actually be a passage to independent adulthood.

According to the writer, students’ difficulties to cope with college life are partly due to ____________.

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 development of genetically modified (GM) plants and animals had led to a huge global controversy. Opponents say that GM “Franken foods” are a threat to our well-being, and proponents say that the risks are minimal. There is one aspect of the war over GM that is often overlooked. Anyone who wears a cotton shirt these days is using a GM crop. Cotton is the only major non-food GM crop at present, but others are coming.
GM cotton plants that is not food has not stopped the most passionate GM opponents from objecting. If GM cotton is grown in a field next to fields of non-GM cotton, they argue, then how to keep genes from being transferred from field to field. This danger, however, is not as compelling to the public as possible health hazards in food, so there is no great fury over GM cotton.
GM cotton seeds produce higher yields, and they do without the need for pesticides. Planting of  GM cotton has increased five fold since 1997; three-quarter of cotton in America, and over half in China, is now GM. Farmers like it because it increases their profits.
Other options for non-food GM include new variety of flowers with different colors or scents, tougher grasses for lawns, and plants designed to soak up pollutants from the soil. The paper industry provides another example of potential for GM to help produce better and cheaper products. Paper is made from pulp, and pulp is generally made from trees. Researchers in New Zealand and Chile have been working on insect-resistant pines, and a Japanese firm has combined carrot genes with tree genes to make them grow better in poor soil.
Another interesting case is that of tobacco. It is not food crop, but it is consumed, and GM tobacco plants with both more and less nicotine have been created. The tobacco plant, however, is an ideal target for GM, since its genetics are very well understood and it produces a lot of leaves. The value of the drugs that could be produced by GM tobacco is so high, many farmers could switch from growing tobacco for cigarettes to growing it for medicine. Since medical cost is rising, consumers would also be happy to use drugs produced in bulk by GM tobacco.

Why does the author mention a cotton shirt in paragraph 1?

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 term "Hudson River school" was applied to the foremost representatives of nineteenth–century North American landscape painting. Apparently unknown during the golden days of the American landscape movement, which began around 1850 and lasted until the late 1860's, the Hudson River school seems to have emerged in the 1870's as a direct result of the struggle between the old and the new generations of artists, each to assert its own style as the representative American art. The older painters, most of whom were born before 1835, practiced in a mode often self–taught and monopolized by landscape subject matter and were securely established in and fostered by the reigning American art organization, the National Academy of Design. The younger painters returning home from training in Europe worked more with figural subject matter and in a bold and impressionistic technique; their prospects for patronage in their own country were uncertain, and they sought to attract it by attaining academic recognition in New York. One of the results of the conflict between the two factions was that what in previous years had been referred to as the "American", "native", or, occasionally, "New York" school–the most representative school of American art in any genre–had by 1890 become firmly established in the minds of critics and public alike as the Hudson River school.
The sobriquet was first applied around 1879. While it was not intended as flattering, it was hardly inappropriate. The Academicians at whom it was aimed had worked and socialized in New York, the Hudson's port city, and had painted the river and its shores with varying frequency. Most important, perhaps, was that they had all maintained with a certain fidelity a manner of technique and composition consistent with those of America's first popular landscape artist, Thomas Cole, who built a career painting the Catskill Mountain scenery bordering the Hudson River. A possible implication in the term applied to the group of landscapists was that many of them had, like Cole, lived on or near the banks of the Hudson. Further, the river had long served as the principal route to other sketching grounds favored by the Academicians, particularly the Adirondacks and the mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire.

According to the passage, what was the function of the National Academy of Design for the painters born before 1835?

Choose the best answer:
We need air for our ___________.

Choose the best answer:
Future homes will ________ advantage of robots to do chores such as cleaning, cooking and washing.

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:
Less than a year ago marketing director, David Smith, 33 was behaving like a secet agent. He used to secretly taped all his conversations, he refused to sign his name and he would ask his secretary to check all his emails. Anything he wrote was photocopied and kept as “evidence”. But David isn’t mad, or even mildly eccertric. He suffers from ‘resposibility OCD’, one of more common form of obsessive compulsive disorder, or OCD, as it is usually known.
OCD is now recognized as the second most prevalent mental-health problem, after depression – and the number of reported cases is soaring. Experts estimate that 2% - 3% of the population suffer from the full-blown syndrome, with as many as one in five suffering from a milder form.
OCD sufferers are tortured by obsessional thoughts, such as worrying that their hands are contaminated by germs. The terrible anxiety is only relieved by performing a particular set of behaviours. Unfortunately, any sense of relief is short-lived, which is why the behaviour must be repeated again and again. OCD sufferers know their behavior is irrational, yet feel powerless to stop.
Common treatments are either antidepressants or behavioral therapy with a psychologist, but only 60% of patients show some improvement. However, a new treatment from America is bringing fresh hope to sufferers.
One of the OCD gurus and neuropsychiatrists, Jeffrey Schwartz, has designed the Four Steps program which employs meditation teachniques with the aim of teaching sufferers to manage their symptoms by themselves. “The goal is to learn to override false brain messages”, explains Schwartz.
There are different theories about what causes the disorder. Most experts recognize a genetic element that can be triggered by a stressful event. Schwartz believes that the OCD ‘worry circuit’ is a
direct result of faulty brain chemistry. ‘When someone experiences an OCD thought, one part of the brain knows quite clearly that the hand are not dirty’, explains Schwartz ‘Some part of the brain is standing apart from the symptoms, reflecting on the sheer bizarreness of it all. The objective is to harness this impartial spectator so that patients can use this healthy part of their brain to resist the compulsions.’
David Smith is delighted with the results of Schwartz’s treatment. ‘Now I can sign cheques without a problem’, he says brightly. ‘And I don’t photocopy them either. OCD used to feel like a huge stigma, but I don’t feel handicapped by it any more. You just deal with it.’

What is the word “mildly” in paragraph 1 closest in meaning to?

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:
By adopting a few simple techniques, parents who read to their children can considerably increase their children’s language development. It is surprising, but true. How parents talk to their children makes a big difference in the children’s language development. If a parent encourages the child to actively respond to what the parent is reading, the child’s language skills increase.
A study was done with two or three-year-old children and their parents. Half of the thirty children participants were in the experimental study; the other half acted as the control group. In the experimental group, the parents were given a two-hour training session in which they were taught to ask open-ended questions rather than yes-no questions. For example, the parent should ask, “What is the doggy doing?” rather than, “Is the doggy running away?” Experimental parents were also instructed how to expand on their children’s answer, how to suggest alternative possibilities, and how to praise correct answers.
At the beginning of the study, the children did not differ on levels of language development, but at the end of one month, the children in the experimental group were 5.5 months ahead of the control group on a test of verbal expression and vocabulary. Nine months later, the children in the experimental group still showed an advance of 6 months over the children in the control group.

During the training session, experimental parents were taught to     .

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:
During the second half of the nineteenth century, the production of food and feed crops in the United States rose at an extraordinarily rapid rate. Com production increased by four and a half times, hay by five times, oats and wheat by seven times. The most crucial factor behind this phenomenal upsurge in productivity was the widespread adoption of labor-saving machinery by northern farmers. By 1850 horse- drawn reaping machines that cut grain were being introduced into the major grain-growing regions of the country. Horse-powered threshing machines to separate the seeds from the plants were already in general use. However, it was the onset of the Civil War in 1861 that provided the great stimulus for the mechanization of northern agriculture. With much of the labor force inducted into the army and with grain prices on the rise, northern farmers rushed to avail themselves of the new labor-saving equipment. In 1860 there were approximately 80,000 reapers in the country; five years later there were 350,000.
After the close of the war in 1865, machinery became ever more important in northern agriculture, and improved equipment was continually introduced. By 1880 a self-binding reaper had been perfected that not only cut the grain, but also gathered the stalks and bound them with twine. Threshing machines were also being improved and enlarged, and after 1870 they were increasingly powered by steam engines rather than by horses. Since steam-powered threshing machines were costly items-running from $ 1,000 to $4,000 - they were usually owned by custom thresher owners who then worked their way from farm to farm during the harvest season. “Combines” were also coming into use on the great wheat ranches in California and the Pacific Northwest. These ponderous machines - sometimes pulled by as many as 40 horses - reaped the grain, threshed it, and bagged it, all in one simultaneous operation.
The adoption of labor-saving machinery had a profound effect upon the sale of agricultural operations in the northern states-allowing farmers to increase vastly their crop acreage. By the end of century, a farmer employing the new machinery could plant and harvest two and half times as much com as a farmer had using hand methods 50 years before.

What aspect of farming in the United States in the nineteenth century does the passage mainly discuss?

Lakeview Railway Onboard Bicycle Policy

Would you like to use your bicycle to explore the Lakeview Corridor Scenic Area? Our trains have the ---131--- you need to safety transport your bike. When booking your ticket, just remember that reservations ---132--- for both you and your bicycle. Reserve your bicycle spot-----133---. There are a limited number of storage racks on each train. You are responsible for stowing your bike securely.
---134---. Lakeview Railway does not take responsibility for bicycles lost or damaged aboard our trains.

133................

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:
In the early 1800s, to reach the jump-off point for the West, a family from the East of the United States could either buy a steamboat passage to Missouri for themselves, their wagons and their livestock or, as happened more often, simply pile everything into a wagon, hitch up a team, and begin their overland trek right in their front yard.
Along the macadamized roads and turnpikes east of the Missouri River, travel was comparatively fast, camping easy, and supplies plentiful. Then, in one river town or another, the neophyte emigrants would pause to lay in provisions. For outfitting purposes, the town of Independence had been preeminent ever since 1827, but the rising momentum of pioneer emigration had produced some rival jump-off points. Westport and Fort Leavenworth flourished a few miles upriver. St. Joseph had sprung up 55 miles to the northwest; in fact, emigrants who went to Missouri by riverboat could save four days on the trail by staying on the paddle wheelers to St. Joe before striking overland.
At whatever jump-off point they chose, the emigrants studied guide books and directions, asked questions of others as green as themselves, and made their final decision about outfitting. They had various, sometimes conflicting, options. For example, either pack animals or two -wheel carts or wagons could be used for the overland crossing. A family man usually chose the wagon. It was the costliest and slowest of the three, but it provided space and shelter for children and for a wife who likely as not was pregnant. Everybody knew that a top-heavy covered wagon might blow over in a prairie wind or be overturned by mountain rocks, that it might mire in river mud or sink to its hubs in desert sand, but maybe if those things happened on this trip, they would happen to someone else. Anyway, most pioneers, with their farm background, were used to wagons.

What is the topic of this passage?

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks.
Because an increasing number of people are opting to work outside the traditional office, notebook PCs are becoming more and more popular. However, you should know that notebook PCs aren't for everyone. As  you (6)........ up the pros and cons of your desktop PC with a new system, you should bear (7)...........mind that you may get better profit for your money by investing in a faster, more powerful desktop PC.
Portability comes at a price. Leave your laptop unattended for any length of time in any sort of public place and you will quickly discover that it has been stolen. You could even lose it without any intentional neglect on your area; laptops (and all the business and personal information they  contain)  are easy (8)..... for skilled thieves. So, yes, there are definitely serious security issues. Also, if you are prone to tossing your laptop around as you do your purse, workout bag or umbrella, you'll probably break it before you get your money's worth. Guarantees are getting better and longer, but they still won‘t cover a simple slip, let alone (9)........ carelessness. So, before you (10) ........ out to get yourself the latest technological appliance, think long and hard as to whether a notebook PC is really suitable for you.
(9)..............................