Choose the best answer:
Where brainpower is concerned, the old edict of 'use it, or lose it' holds true from the start. Babies who receive love and encouragement from their parents develop the neural connections they need to get on in life. But what happens to those who fail to get this support? Do they grow up to be less bright than their nurtured peers? It would be comforting to believe that deprived children escape long-term damage by being too young to speak, or know any different, but the evidence suggests otherwise. At a recent meeting of the Royal Society of Medicine, medics were shown slides taken with a powerful scanner comparing the brains of 'normal' three-year-olds with those who had been raised in deprivation or in orphanages. The work was done by Dr Bruce Perry of the Child Trauma Academy in Houston, Texas. The scans showed that the frontal-temporal areas of the brain, those responsible for personality and enabling a person to display and regulate emotions, showed little activity. For years, scientists have known that animals reared in enriched environments have larger and more complex brains than animals that grow up in deprivation, so experts like Perry anticipated that the same would hold true for humans. However, it is only now, thanks to powerful scanners that allow this theory to be put to the test, that the damage is clearly visible. Perry explains the reason for the abnormality is that the brain develops in a 'use-dependent' way, growing, organising and working according to experience. With the right stimulation, the brain makes the connections it needs. Without it, synapses, junctions between the neurons used to transport the brain's messages, literally dissolve. “Adverse experiences play a vital role in organising the neural system in the developing brain,” says Perry; in other words, ill- treatment in infancy leads to faulty wiring in the brain. Significantly, the rate at which new synapses form is greatest in the first eight months of life. Fortunately, different parts of the brain develop at different rates, so the damage may be confined to the parts that were actively organising at the time of stress or neglect. Perry describes these times as “windows of opportunity” that exist for different brain functions. If the connections between neurons are not developed at the critical period, they may not develop at all. Synapses associated with vision are most active when a child to eight months. A baby born with cataracts, removed at the age of two, will remain blind, as the window of opportunity has passed. Interaction between the child and its carers is vital to teach the brain to function normally. By playing with and talking to her child, the mother distracts the infant from a bombardment of competing noises. This communication trains a section of the brain to regulate emotions so the child is able to function day- to-day without being a hostage to impulses and feelings. Yet, despite the damage caused by stress and trauma in childhood, Perry, like most clinicians, is optimistic that intervention can help, as the cortex, the grey matter responsible for high level brain function, is malleable and capable of changing. He is supported in this belief by child psychiatrist Dr Dora Black, founder of the Traumatic Stress Clinic in London, who works with severely traumatized children. She claims neurological evidence is available that shows that, although trauma can affect the speech area in the brain, this function can return if the child receives help early enough. “Unfortunately,” admits Perry, “what we don’t know is how much deprivation is needed to prevent the recovery of normal expression of various emotional, cognitive or social skills.
6. Which of the following is true, according to the passage?

Choose the best answer:
Books are normally thought of in terms of the pages that are looked at. They are simple, two-dimensional objects that we read. There are words on the page and occasionally (1)_________ that help us see more clearly what the words are being used to describe. They are sources of knowledge, but more often than not they aren’t considered very special. Some books take it another steps further, though, and their pages jump (2)_________ and form three-dimensional objects. These books can make adults smile and cause children to be wide-eyed with (3)__________. Called pop-up books in our times, they have been around longer than most people think they have. Pop-up books were originally called mechanical books, and these paper (4)________ took a lot of work to make. They were not for children at all, although centuries ago there were practically no books made for children. The mechanical books helped illustrate (5)__________ things as the phases of the moon or were used to teach complex theories.

Choose the best answer:
Pablo Picasso is considered to be one of the most (26)_______painters in the twentieth century.(27)_______ was born in Malaga, Spain on October 20, 1881.(28)______painting, Picasso also tried (29)______ kinds of job such as a printmaker, ceramicist, stage designer, poet and playwright. From the age of seven, Picasso received formal artistic training from his father in figure drawing and oil painting. On one occasion, the father found his son painting over his unfinished sketch of a pigeon. Observing the (30)______ of his son’s technique, the father felt that the thirten-year-old Picasso had surpassed him, and vowed to (31)______ painting. Picasso grew up to become one of the greatest (32)______most influential artists of the 20th century, he is known (33)______ co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture, the co-invention of collage, and for (34)_____ styles that he helped develop and explore. Picasso is now regarded as one of the artists (35)______ most defined the revolutionary developments in the plastic arts in the opening decades of the 20th century

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
Air pollutant emission factors are (1) ___________ representative values that attempt to relate the quantity of a pollutant released to the ambient air with an activity associated (2) ___________ the release of that pollutant. These factors are usually expressed as the weight of (3) ___________ divided by a unit weight, volume, distance, or duration of the activity emitting the pollutant. Such factors facilitate estimation of emissions from (4) ___________ sources of air pollution. In most cases, these factors are simply averages of all available data acceptable quality, and are generally assumed to be representative of (5) ___________ averages. (6) ___________ are 12 compounds in the list of persistent organic pollutants. Dioxins and furans are two of them and (7) ___________ created by combustion of organics, like open burning of plastics. These compounds are also endocrine disruptors and can mutate the human genes. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (8) ___________ published a complication of air pollutant emission factors for a wide range of industrial sources. (9) ___________ United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and many other countries have published similar compilations, (10) ___________ well as the European Environmental Agency.

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
Every Saturday Minh and his family have dinner in a (1) ….. They eat chicken or (2) …… with peas and beans. Sometimes Minh’s mother (3) … fish. Minh also has a big (4) …. Minh’s (5)…… drink is fruit juice, but his father and mother like (6) … They listen to (7) …… while they are having (8) …… dinner

Choose the best answer:
The Industrial Revolution in Britain was built on the use of machines in factories. Since the 1950s, Britain's (24)......industries have replaced machine operators with computers, and this (25)......has led to a decline in the number of (26).......in many factories. Goods are bought and used much more than ever before but a lot of these goods are imported. By the beginning of the 20th century, other. industrial countries like the USA were (27).......with Britain's exports, and countries in the Far East have been able to provide cheaper (28)......since the 1970s. Areas located with heavy industries are suffering high unemployment. During the last 30 years, there has been a constant rise in smaller industries (29).........as "light industries". These ones use electricity and are not (30) .........on raw materials such as coal so they are "footloose", i.e. they can be located anywhere. They produce such things as washing machines or spare (31) .......... Some of these industries produce nothing at all, but provide services like distribution. The consumer boom of the 1980s and the increased leisure time of most Britons have led to rapid (32) ........ in service industries like banking, tourism, retailing and information processing, and in industries which distribute, maintain, and repair (33)............consumer goods

Choose the best answer:
The oceans of the world are precious because of (31) _________ they do for all life on the Earth. They help regulate the temperature of the planet, and they are home to a myriad of sea creatures - many of which we depend on (32) _________ sources of food. However, due to our consumption and improper disposal of plastic items, human beings have created a swirling mess of garbage. The one located in the Pacific now known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and it is not a pretty sight. In an ideal world, all of the plastic would be recycled and there would be zero waste. This is not the case, however, and a huge amount of the plastic ends up making its (33) _________ to our oceans due to carelessness. (34) _________ the plastic is part of rain runoff coming from a landfill or just a thoughtless discard of a piece of plastic onto the ground, if it ends up in the Pacific Ocean, it will eventually become part of the disgusting patch of garbage. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch may be impossible to (35) _________, but it is doing a lot of harm to sea life. If anything, we can do our best to avoid over-using plastic

Choose the best answer:
Further education in Britain means education after the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQ) exam taken around the age of 16. It includes courses of study leading to A levels which students take at their school or sixth-form college. Some students go straight to a college of further education which offers a wider range of full- and part-time courses. Further education also includes training for professional qualifications in nursing, accountancy and management, and in fields such as art and music. The term higher education is used in Britain and the US to refer to degree courses at universities.  In the US further education usually means any other education after secondary school. It can mean study at college, or any study towards a professional qualification, and it can have a meaning similar to that of adult education or continuing education, i.e. something that people do after completing their main education, often for personal interest and satisfaction.  Many students in Britain take vocational training courses in fields such as building, engineering, hair-dressing or secretarial skills. Colleges of further education offer courses leading to National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) and other certificates and diplomas. Work-related courses are designed with advice from industry, with the aim of producing students who will have the skills employers require. On longer courses students may do placement (AmE internships) (= periods of work) lasting several months with companies. On other courses, called sandwich courses, students divide their time between periods of paid work and periods of study. A common arrangement is for students to get day release from their work to attend college one or two days a week over several years. Some students do a formal apprenticeship, learning their skills on the job and attending college part-time.  The British government is keen to persuade more young people to remain in education as long as possible to build up a more highly skilled, better educated workforce. About 3.9 million people take part-time further education courses, while another 1.1 million are full-time students.   
1. The best title for the passage could be ____

Choose the best answer:
Hi! I’m Susan and I’ve decided to start this blog to document my Life in Lockdown. We’ve been in Lockdown now for a week in the UK. That means we have to stay at home almost all the time. We’re allowed out once a day to exercise and we can go to the supermarket to buy essentials. You have to try and stay two meters away from other people when you go out. I’m starting to get used to the situation now but it still feels like a dream sometimes. It’s pretty surreal when I look outside and there’s no one around. My mum is a nurse, so she is classed as a key worker and is still going to work every day. The company where my dad works has had to close its stores and furlough all of their employees - that means my dad is still employed but he is not allowed to go to work until his company say he can return. I went to school before and I was studying for exams, so my life has changed quite a lot. I found the situation a bit overwhelming at first. The hardest part has been social distancing. I really miss seeing my friends in person but we chat every day online. I also have to study a lot by myself now and I find that really challenging. My little brother sometimes distracts me when I’m trying to study because he always wants to play. However, one of the positives of the lockdown has been spending more time with my family. I try to stick to a routine each day that also includes time for exercise, some online socializing and something fun or creative like playing a board game with my family. This is helping me make the best of it! I’d love to know what you are doing to stay positive during the lockdown. Let me know in the comments!
3. What is NOT true about the life in Lockdown?

Read the following dialogue and then choose the best answer A, B, C, D:

"Teacher: Good morning. Minh. Do you (1).....................      in town?
Minh : Yes, I live in (2).....................        apartment.
Teacher: Is (3)...................... a supermarket near the apartmenr?
Minh : Yes, there’s also a bank, a clinic (4)       ........... a hotel.
Teacher: Are there any (5).............. near it?
Minh Yes, there (6)............... a toy store, a bakery, a drugstore and two bookstores.                   
Teacher: Is it (7) ....... there? 
Minh No, it’s very (8) ................"

4. Yes, there’s also a bank, a clinic (4)       ........... a hotel.

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
George Orwell did not expect to be a successful writer. In fact, he spent much of his life anticipating failure. In an essay about his schooldays, he wrote that until he was about thirty he always planned his life with the (1)____that any major undertaking was bound to fail. He wanted success and worked hard to (2) ____it but he was never quite able to give up the notion that his efforts would always come up short. At the age of 46, (3)____before he died, he confided in his private notebook that a deep sense of inadequacy had haunted him throughout his career. He stated that there had been literally not one day in which he did not feel that he was being lazy, that he was behind with his current job and that his rate of work was miserably small. Even in the first months after the tremendous success of “Animal Farm”, he was quick discount his achievement, declaring that his next book was bound to be a failure. Of course, no conscientious author is ever completely (4)____with their work, but Orwell’s doubts were so (5)____that he often appeared more comfortable (6)____defeat than acknowledging success. In 1940, after the publication of his eighth book, he (7)____to an admiring letter from another writer by (8)____ out of his way to show the man why he was not (9)____of his praise. “It makes me laugh,” he wrote, “to see you referring to me as “famous” and “successful”. I wonder if you (10)____ how little my books sell!

Choose the best answer:
Scientists have identified two ways in which species disappear. The first is through ordinary or “background” extinctions, where species that fail to adapt are slowly replaced by more adaptable life forms. The second is when large numbers of species go to the wall in relatively short periods of biological time. There have been five such extinctions, each provoked by cataclysmic evolutionary events caused by some geological eruption, climate shift, or space junk slamming into the Earth. Scientists now believe that another mass extinction of species is currently under way – and this time human fingerprints are on the trigger. How are we are doing it? Simply by demanding more and more space for ourselves. In our assault on the ecosystems around us we have used a number of tools, from spear and gun to bulldozer and chainsaw. Certain especially rich ecosystems have proved the most vulnerable. In Hawaii more than half of the native birds are now gone – some 50 species. Such carnage has taken place all across the island communities of the Pacific and Indian oceans. While many species were hunted to extinction, others simply succumbed to the „introduced predators’ that humans brought with them: the cat, the dog, the pig, and the rat. Today the tempo of extinction is picking up speed. Hunting is no longer the major culprit, although rare birds and animals continue to be butchered for their skin, feathers, tusks, and internal organs, or taken as savage pets. Today the main threat comes from the destruction of the habitat of wild plants, animals, and insects need to survive. The draining and damming of wetland and river courses threatens the aquatic  food chain and our own seafood industry. Overfishing and the destruction of fragile coral reefs destroy ocean biodiversity. Deforestation is taking a staggering toll, particularly in the tropics where the most global biodiversity is at risk. The shinking rainforest cover of the Congo and Amazon river basins and such place as Borneo and Madagascar have a wealth of species per hectare existing nowhere else. As  those precious hectares are drowned or turned into arid pasture and cropland, such species disappear forever.
9. It can be inferred from the passage that: 

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

Choose the best answer:
All native peoples create artworks that use what is (1)_________ to them in terms of local resources. In the Americas, the aboriginal people created handicrafts that had both a cultural and an artistic significance. These beautiful crafts were made by master Native American craftsmen, and their skills have been (2)_________ down through countless generations. Religious or spiritual beliefs can play a major role in the arts and handicrafts of all people. One example of a Native American handicraft is made of a willow branch and thin strips of leather. The branch is formed into a circular (3)_________ that is meant to hang in a person’s living area. Often (4)_________ with feathers on the outside of the circle, it is called a dream catcher. It is related to the belief that these special crafts could catch bad dreams sent by the spirits. To Native Americans, dreams were special (5)_________ sent from the great beyond. The dream catcher would allow good dreams to pass through it; however, nightmares would be caught and then released with the first morning light.

Choose the best answer:
Why do people like to chew gum? Some people say they like the taste.(31)________say they can think better if they chew gum. Some people chew it when they have some boring work to do. Others chew gum when they are nervous. Gum is a mixture of things. For many years gum companies made gum from chicle. Chicle is a natural gum from a tree in Mexico and Central America. Now companies use plastic and rubber made from petroleum (32)________of chicle. Gum must be soft so that you can chew it. A softener keeps it soft. The gum company makes the softener from vegetable oil. A sweetener makes the gum sweet. The sweetener is usually sugar. Then the company (33)________the flavor. Thomas Adams made the first gum from chicle in 1836. However , chewing gum was not new. The Greeks chewed gum from a tree (34)________2,000 years ago. Mayan Indians in Mexico chewed chicle. Indians in the Northeastern United States taught Europeans to chew gum from a tree there. People first made bubble gum in 1928. Children like to (35)________bubble with bubble gum. Some university students do too

Choose the best answer:
Many children have an imaginary friend - that is a friend they have invented. It was once thought that only children (26) _______ had difficulty in creating relationships with others had imaginary friends. In fact, having an imaginary friend is probably a common aspect of a normal childhood (27) _______ many children with lots of real friends also have an imaginary friend. The imaginary friend may help some children cope with emotional difficulties, but for (28) _______, having an imaginary friend is just fun. There is no firm evidence to say that having an imaginary friend (29) _______ us anything about what a child will be like in the future. One (30) _______ of research, though, has suggested that adults who once had imaginary friends may be more creative than those who did not.

In England, when the schoolchildren come to school, they first (1)             to the cloakroom. They take (2)                 their coats and raincoats, their caps and hats, and then go to (3)                classroom.Some of the students go to the laboratories and workshops where they (4)            physics, chemistry and art. When a student is (5)           duty, he comes to (6)                     very early. He has to open (7)                 the windows, water the flowers and clean the blackboard so everything is ready for the first lesson. At seven thirty the teacher comes into the room and the lesson (8)              .iểu

In England, when the schoolchildren come to school, they first (1)             to the cloakroom.

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
July 19, 2008
GERALD PEMBERTON
5725 Delphi Drive
Troy, Michigan 48098-2815 USA
Dear Mr. Pemberton,
We would like to thank you for booking exhibit space at the annual Electronics World Convention in
Saginaw, Michigan. We anticipate more than 10,000 electronics enthusiasts to attend this year, so you can be (1)------- that the convention will be an ideal place to display your products. To make sure that your exhibit will be ready on the first day, we are enclosing instructions for setting up your booth. Along with your requested space, a table and one chair are included with the price of your booth. Other equipment and services such as an Internet connection are available for an (2) -------fee. For more information, please visit our Web site at www.electronicsworld.com/convention. To simplify preparation, an events coordinator (3)------- available to provide support during the booth set-up period. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us at the contact numbers or e-mail address listed on our Web site.
Sincerely yours,
JILL COLTRAINE
PRESIDENT
Electronics World Associates

Choose the best answer:
People of every culture tell each other fairy tales but the same story often takes a variety of forms in different parts of the world. In the story of Little Red Riding Hood that European children are familiar with, a young girl on the way to see her grandmother meets a wolf and tells him where she is going. The wolf runs on ahead and disposes of the grandmother, then gets into bed dressed in the grandmother’s clothes to wait for Little Red Riding Hood. You may think you know the story – but which version? The universal appeal of these tales is frequently attributed to the idea that they contain cautionary messages: in the case of Little Red Riding Hood, to listen to your mother, and avoid talking to strangers. ‘It might be what we find interesting about this story is that it’s got this survival-relevant information in it,’ says anthropologist Jamie Tehrani at Durham University in the UK. But his research suggests otherwise. ‘We have this huge gap in our knowledge about the history and prehistory of storytelling, despite the fact that we know this genre is an incredibly ancient one,’ he says. That hasn’t stopped anthropologists, folklorists and other academics devising theories to explain the importance of fairy tales in human society. Tehrani’s analysis focused on Little Red Riding Hood in its many forms, which include another Western fairy tale known as The Wolf and the Kids. Checking for variants of these two tales and similar stories from Africa, East Asia, and other regions, he ended up with 58 stories recorded from oral traditions. First, he tested some assumptions about which aspects of the story alter least as it evolves, indicating their importance. Folklorists believe that what happens in a story is more central to the story than the characters in it. However, Tehrani found no significant difference in the rate of evolution of incidents compared with that of characters. Neither did his analysis support the theory that the central section of a story is the most conserved part. But the really big surprise came when he looked at the cautionary elements of the story. ‘Studies on hunter-gatherer folk tales suggest that these narratives include really important information about the environment and the possible dangers that may be faced there – stuff that’s relevant to survival. Yet in his analysis such elements were just as flexible as seemingly trivial details. What, then, is important enough to be reproduced from generation to generation? The answer, it would appear, is fear – blood-thirsty and gruesome aspects of the story, such as the eating of the grandmother by the wolf, turned out to be the best preserved of all. Why are these details retained by generations of storytellers, when other features are not? Tehrani has an idea: ‘In an oral context, a story won’t survive because of one great teller. It also needs to be interesting when it’s told by someone who’s not necessarily a great storyteller.’ Maybe being swallowed whole by a wolf, then cut out of its stomach alive is so gripping that it helps the story remain popular, no matter how badly it’s told. Mathias Clasen at Aarhus University in Denmark isn’t surprised by Tehrani’s findings. ‘Habits and morals change, but the things that scare us, and the fact that we seek out entertainment that’s designed to scare us – those are constant,’ he says. Clasen believes that scary stories teach us what it feels like to be afraid without having to experience real danger, and so build up resistance to negative emotions
4. The word “conserved” in paragraph 4 mostly means ________

Choose the best answer:
Despite the wealth of information campaigns telling people about global warming and its causes, most people have yet to realize how severe the problem is. Coming climate changes could alter as (1) ____ as one third of plant and animal habitats (2) ____ the end of the 22nd century. These changes could in (3) ____ cause widespread extinctions among plant and animal (4) ____ around the globe.  Coastal and island habitats are perhaps in the greatest danger (5) ____ they face the combined threats of warming oceans and rising sea (6) ____. As habitats change, many animals will come (7) ____ intense pressure to find more suitable homes for themselves. Mass (8) ____ of at least some animals are certainly to be expected, but the fact remains that many animals will simply not be able to move fast enough.  Such dire predictions may sound alarmist, but they are based on the rather moderate estimate that the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will double by 2100. Many scientists believe, however, that this figure is actually very conservative, and they claim that a tripling is (9) ____ more realistic. If they are (10) ____, the effects on nature will be even more dramatic

Choose the best answer:
It can be shown in facts and figures that cycling is the cheapest, most convenient, and most environmentally desirable form of transport (26)______ towns, but such cold calculations do not mean much on a frosty winter morning. The real appeal of cycling is that it is so (27)______. It has none of the difficulties and tensions of other ways of travelling so you are more cheerful after a ride, even through the rush hour.             The first thing a non-cyclist says to you is: “But isn’t it (28) ______ 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 (29) ______ of accidents involving cyclists. However, although police records (30) ______ 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. ut such cold calculations do not mean much on a frosty winter morning. The real appeal of cycling is that it is so (27)______. It has none of the difficulties and tensions of other ways of travelling so you are more cheerful after a ride, even through the rush hour.