Choose the underlined word or phrase (A, B, C or D) that is incorrect and needs to be changed: The new computer made easier for the students to finish the project

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:
Pollution emitted in industrial areas represents a threat to human health and the surrounding natural resources. We have a tendency to  believe that the  production processes are  the only source of environmental damage, and often forget about the possible long-term effects of harmful production practices. We may think that the closure of these huge industrial areas would improve the quality of the environment. Unfortunately, this ignores the threat of the remaining waste, which is abandoned and poorly stored. It  represents an even bigger danger because it  stands neglected as it degrades and leaks into the earth without any control at all.
Changes in the water chemistry due to surface water contamination can affect all levels of an ecosystem. It can affect the health of lower food chain organisms and, consequently, the availability of food up through the food chain. It can damage the health of wetlands and damage  their ability to support healthy ecosystems, control flooding, and filter pollutants from storm water runoff. The health of animals and humans are affected when they drink or bathe in contaminated water. In addition water-based organisms, like fish and shellfish, can pile up and concentrate contaminants in their bodies. When other animals or humans eat  these organisms,  they receive a much higher dose of contaminant than they would have if they had been directly exposed to the original contamination.
Contaminated groundwater can badly affect animals, plants and humans if it is removed from the ground by manmade or natural processes. Depending on the study of rocks of the area, groundwater may rise to the surface through springs or seeps, flow sideways into nearby rivers, streams, or ponds, or sink deeper into the earth. In many parts of fhe world, groundwater is pumped  out of the ground to be used for drinking, bathing, other household uses, agriculture, and industry.
Contaminants in the soil can harm plants when they take up the contamination through  their roots. Eating, breathing in, or touching contaminated soil, as well as eating plants or animals that have piled up soil contaminants can badly affect the health of humans and animals.
Air pollution can cause breathing-related problems and other bad health effects as contaminants are absorbed from the lungs into other parts of the  hody. Certain air  contaminants  can also harm animals and humans when they contact the skin. Plants rely on breathing for their growth and can also be affected by exposure to contaminants moved in the air.

According to the passage, which of the followings supports healthy ecosystems?

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. 
      Urbanization degrades the environment, according to conventional wisdom. This view has led many developing countries to limit rural - urban migration and curb urban expansion. But this view is incorrect. There are a number of reasons urbanization can be good for the environment, if managed properly.
      First, urbanization brings higher productivity because of its positive externalities and economies of scale. Asian urban productivity is more than 5.5 times that of rural areas. The same output can be produced using fewer resources with urban agglomeration than without. In this sense, urbanization reduces the ecological footprint. The service sector requires urbanization because it needs a concentration of clients. As services generally pollute less than manufacturing, this aspect of urbanization is also beneficial to the environment.
      Second, for any given population, the high urban density is benign for the environment. The urban economics literature shows that compactness is a key determinant of energy use. High density can make public transport more viable and reduce the length of trips. Urban living encourages walking and cycling rather than driving. Third, environment-friendly infrastructure and public services such as piped water, sanitation, and waste management are much easier and more economical to construct, maintain, and operate in an urban setting. Urbanization allows more people to have access to environment-friendly facilities and services at affordable prices.
     Fourth, urbanization drives innovation, including green technologies. In the long term, environment-friendly equipment, machines, vehicles, and utilities will determine the future of the green economy. Green innovations in Asia's cities will be supported by the region's vast market as the billions of people who will be buying energy-efficient products will create opportunities and incentives for entrepreneurs to invest in developing such products. Finally, the higher standard of living associated with urbanization provides people with better food, education, housing, and health care. Urban growth generates revenues that fund infrastructure projects, reducing congestion and improving public health. Urbanization fosters a pro-environment stance among property owners and the middle class, which is crucial for the introduction and enforcement of environmental laws and regulations.
      Of course, urbanization also comes with costs. Millions of people are migrating to Asian cities and companies are locating there to employ them. Urban sprawl and industrial activities, such as power generation, transportation, construction, garbage and waste disposal, harm the environment. An assessment of the impact of urbanization on the environment must balance its benign and adverse effects.

The word “them” in paragraph 5 refers to _____.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer for each of the blanks .
In the late 1930s, a group of leading American scientists seeking dinosaur fossils made some noteworthy (1).... . Although one of their expeditions discovered no fossils, it proved nonetheless historic expedition, which took place along the banks of the Paluxy river in Texas, something extraordinary was revealed: a dinosaur track, clearly distinguishable in the rock. These dinosaur footprints (2).....  their preservation to the salts and mud that covered them and then hardened into rock, before coming to light 100 million years later. Tracks like these are (3)... to experts. There have been great gaps in scientists’ understanding of dinosaur behavior, and so such footprints are useful since they  provide  direct  evidence  of  how  dinosaurs  actually  moved.  Scientists  have  used  these  and  (4)......footprints to determine how quickly different species walked, concluding that many kinds of dinosaur must have travelled in (5)..........
(1).....................................

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks.
       Early writing and Alphabets
When people first began to write, they did not use an alphabet. Instead, they drew small pictures to (1)........  the objects they were writing about. This was very slow because there was a different picture for every word.
The  Ancient  Egyptians  had a (2).......... of picture writing that was called hieroglyphics. The meaning of this writing was forgotten for a very long time but in 1799 some scientists (3)............ a stone near Alexandria, in Egypt. The stone had been there for over a thousand years. It had both Greek and hieroglyphics on it and researchers were finally able to understand what the hieroglyphics meant.
An alphabet is quite different from picture writing. It (4)............ of letters or symbols that represent a sound and each sound is just  part  of  one  word.  The  Phoenicians,  who  lived  about  3,000 years ago, developed the modern alphabets. It was later improved by the Roman's and this alphabet is now used (5)........... throughout the world.
(4)...........................

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:
No sooner had the first intrepid male aviators safely returned to Earth than it seemed that women, too, had been smitten by an urge to fly. From mere spectators, they became willing passengers and finally pilots in their own right, plotting their skills and daring line against the hazards of the air and the skepticism of their male counterparts. In doing so they enlarged the traditional bounds of a women's world, won for their sex a new sense of competence and achievement, and contributed handsomely to the progress of aviation.
But recognition of their abilities did not come easily. "Men do not believe us capable." The famed aviator Amelia Earhart once remarked to a friend. "Because we are women, seldom are we trusted to do an efficient job." Indeed old attitudes died hard: when Charles Lindbergh visited the Soviet Union in 1938 with his wife, Anne–herself a pilot and gifted proponent of aviation – he was astonished to discover both men and women flying in the Soviet Air Force.
Such conventional wisdom made it difficult for women to raise money for the up – to – date equipment they needed to compete on an equal basis with men. Yet they did compete, and often they triumphed finally despite the odds.
Ruth Law, whose 590 – mile flight from Chicago to Hornell, New York, set a new nonstop distance record in 1916, exemplified the resourcefulness and grit demanded of any woman who wanted to fly. And when she addressed the Aero Club of America after completing her historic journey, her plainspoken wordstestified to a universal human motivation that was unaffected by gender: "My flight was done with no expectation of reward," she declared, "just purely for the love of accomplishment."

According to the passage, who said that flying was done with no expectation of reward?

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. 
      Though the conservation movement had European roots, many observers maintain that the United States has emerged as the world's leader in environmentalism.
       The transcendentalism of the early 1800s and its celebration of the natural world arrived just in time to be trampled underfoot by the ravages of the Industrial Revolution. As forests disappeared under the ax of reckless timber barons, coal became a popular source of energy. Unfettered use of coal in homes and factories resulted in horrific air pollution in cities like London, Philadelphia, and Paris.
      In the 1850s, a carnival huckster named George Gale heard about an immense California redwood that was over 600 years old when Jesus was born. Upon seeing the magnificent tree, nicknamed The Mother of the Forest, Gale hired men to cut the tree down so that its bark could be displayed in his sideshow. The reaction to Gale's stunt, however, was swift and ugly: "To our mind, it seems a cruel idea, a perfect desecration, to cut down such a splendid tree ... what in the world could have possessed any mortal to embark in such a speculation with this mountain of wood?," wrote one editor.
       The growing realization that human industry was obliterating irreplaceable wilderness -- and endangering human health -- resulted in the earliest efforts at managing natural resources. In 1872, Yellowstone National Park was created, the first of what became one of America's best ideas: a network of national parks that were strictly off-limits to exploitation.

According to paragraph 3, what made George Gale want to destroy such a holy tree?

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:
Pollution emitted in industrial areas represents a threat to human health and the surrounding natural resources. We have a tendency to  believe that the  production processes are  the only source of environmental damage, and often forget about the possible long-term effects of harmful production practices. We may think that the closure of these huge industrial areas would improve the quality of the environment. Unfortunately, this ignores the threat of the remaining waste, which is abandoned and poorly stored. It  represents an even bigger danger because it  stands neglected as it degrades and leaks into the earth without any control at all.
Changes in the water chemistry due to surface water contamination can affect all levels of an ecosystem. It can affect the health of lower food chain organisms and, consequently, the availability of food up through the food chain. It can damage the health of wetlands and damage  their ability to support healthy ecosystems, control flooding, and filter pollutants from storm water runoff. The health of animals and humans are affected when they drink or bathe in contaminated water. In addition water-based organisms, like fish and shellfish, can pile up and concentrate contaminants in their bodies. When other animals or humans eat  these organisms,  they receive a much higher dose of contaminant than they would have if they had been directly exposed to the original contamination.
Contaminated groundwater can badly affect animals, plants and humans if it is removed from the ground by manmade or natural processes. Depending on the study of rocks of the area, groundwater may rise to the surface through springs or seeps, flow sideways into nearby rivers, streams, or ponds, or sink deeper into the earth. In many parts of fhe world, groundwater is pumped  out of the ground to be used for drinking, bathing, other household uses, agriculture, and industry.
Contaminants in the soil can harm plants when they take up the contamination through  their roots. Eating, breathing in, or touching contaminated soil, as well as eating plants or animals that have piled up soil contaminants can badly affect the health of humans and animals.
Air pollution can cause breathing-related problems and other bad health effects as contaminants are absorbed from the lungs into other parts of the  hody. Certain air  contaminants  can also harm animals and humans when they contact the skin. Plants rely on breathing for their growth and can also be affected by exposure to contaminants moved in the air.

Which of the followings is the flow of water from the ground to the surface

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 human criterion for perfect vision is 20/20 for reading the standard lines on a Snellen eye chart without a hitch. The score is determined by how well you read lines of letters of different sizes from 20 feet away. But being able to read the bottom line on the eye chart does not approximate perfection as far as other species are concerned. Most birds would consider us very visually handicapped. The hawk, for instance, has such sharp eyes that it can spot a dime on the sidewalk while perched on top of the Empire State Building.
It can make fine visual distinctions because it is blessed with one million cones per square millimeter in its retina. And in water, humans are farsighted, while the kingfisher, swooping down to spear fish, can see well in both the air and water because it is endowed with two foveae - areas of the eye, consisting mostly of cones, that provide visual distinctions. One fovea permits the bird, while in the air, to scan the water below with one eye at a time. This is called monocular vision. Once it hits the water, the other fovea joins in, allowing the kingfisher to focus both eyes, like binoculars, on its prey at the same time.
A frog’s vision is distinguished by its ability to perceive things as a constant motion picture. Known as “bug detectors”, a highly developed set of cells in a frog’s eyes responds mainly to moving objects. So, it is said that a frog sitting in a field of dead bugs wouldn’t see them as food and would starve. The bee has a “compound” eye, which is used for navigation. It has 15,000 facets that divide what it sees into a pattern of dots, or mosaic. With this kind of vision, the bee sees the sun only as a single dot, a constant point of reference. Thus, the eye is a superb navigational instrument that constantly measures the angle of its line of flight in relation to the sun. A bee’s eye also gauges flight speed. And if that is not enough to leave our 20/20 “perfect vision” paling into insignificance, the bee is capable of seeing something we can’t - ultraviolet light.
Thus, what humans consider to be “perfect vision” is in fact rather limited when we look at other species. However, there is still much to be said for the human eye. Of all the mammals, only humans and some primates can enjoy the pleasures of color vision.

What does the passage mainly discuss?

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:
If you could travel back in time five centuries, you'd encounter a thriving Aztec empire in Central Mexico, a freshly painted "Mona Lisa" in Renaissance Europe and cooler temperatures across the Northern Hemisphere. This was a world in the midst of the Little Ice Age (A.D. 1300 to   1850) and a period of vast European exploration now known as  the Age of  Discovery. But what if  we could look 500 years into the future and glimpse the Earth of the 26th century? Would the  world seem as different to us as the 21st century would have seemed to residents of the 16th century? For starters, what will the weather be like?
Depending on whom you ask, the 26th century will either be a little chilly or infernally hot.
Some solar output models suggest that by the 2500s, Earth's climate will have cooled back down to near Little Ice Age  conditions. Other studies predict that ongoing climate change and fossil fuel use will render much of the planet too hot for human life by 2300.
Some experts date the beginning of human climate change back to the Industrial Revolution  in the 1800s, others to slash-and-burn agricultural practices in prehistoric times. Either way, tool- wielding humans alter their environment -- and our 26th century tools might be quite impressive indeed.
Theoretical physicist and futurist Michio Kaku predicts that in a mere 100 years, humanity will make the leap from a type zero civilization to a type I civilization on the Kardashev Scale. In  other words, we'll become a species that can harness the entire sum of a planet's energy. Wielding such power, 26th-century humans will be masters of clean energy technologies such as fusion and solar power. Furthermore, they'll be able to manipulate planetary energy in order to control global climate. Physicist Freeman Dyson, on the other hand, estimates the leap to a type I civilization would occur within roughly 200 years.
Technology has improved exponentially since the 1500s, and this pace will likely continue in   the centuries to come. Physicist Stephen Hawking proposes that by the  year 2600, this growth  would see 10 new theoretical physics papers published every 10  seconds. If  Moore's Law holds  true and both computer speed and complexity double every 18 months, then some of  these  studies may be the work of highly intelligent machines.
What other technologies will shape the world of the 26th century? Futurist and author Adrian Berry believes the average human life span will reach 140 years and that the digital  storage of human personalities will enable a kind of computerized immortality. Humans will farm the oceans, travel in starships and reside in both lunar and Martian colonies while robots explore the outer cosmos.

It can be inferred from the passage 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:
Buying a house is the single largest financial investment an individual makes. Yet, in India this act is fraught with risk and individuals depend on weak laws for justice. Occasionally, deviant promoters are called to account as was the case in the detention of Unitech’s promoters. This incident shows up the fallout of an absence of proper regulation to cover contracts between buyers and real estate promoters. A real estate bill, which is presently pending in Rajya Sabha, seeks to fill this gap. It has been debated for over two years and should be passed by Parliament in the budget session.
India is in the midst of rapid urbanization and urban population is expected to more than double to about 900 million over the next three decades. Unfortunately, even the current population does not have adequate housing. A government estimate in 2012 put the shortage at nearly 19 million units. If this shortage is to be alleviated quickly, India’s messy real estate sector needs reforms.
The real estate bill seeks to set standards for contracts between buyers and sellers. Transparency, a rare commodity in real estate, is enforced as promoters have to upload project details on the regulators’ website. Importantly, standard definitions of terms mean that buyers will not feel cheated after taking possession of a house. In order to protect buyers who pay upfront, a part of the money collected for a real estate project is ring-fenced in a separate bank account. Also, given the uncertainty which exists in India on land titles, the real estate bill provides title insurance. This bill has been scrutinized by two parliamentary committees and its passage now brooks no delay.
This bill is an important step in cleaning up the real estate market, but the journey should not end with it. State governments play a significant role in real estate and they are often the source of problems. Some estimates suggest that real estate developers have to seek approvals of as many as 40 central and state departments, which lead to delays and an escalation in the cost of houses. Sensibly, NDA government’s project to provide universal urban housing forces states to institute reforms to access  central funding. Without real estate reforms at the level of states, it will not be possible to meet the ambition of making housing accessible for all urban dwellers.

According to the passage, which of the following is the pending in Raiya Sabha?

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word for each of the blanks.
The application (1)....... for volunteers for the 15th Asian Games Doha 2006 is now closed. Organizers have been flooded with interest and have now filled all available roles. Any further (2)......... will have their details stored on file and will only be contacted in the event of any vacancies unexpectedly arising.
Over 30,000 men and women, not only from Qatar, but also from the Gulf (3)....... and even further afield, have volunteered to help out at Doha 2006 after more than two years of meetings and interviews. First of all, a big “thank you” to everyone for your enthusiasm and commitment in volunteering to give up some of your precious free time to become part of the Games of your Life. The (4)...... has been quite overwhelming and has far exceeded expectations.
“It shows that the Qatar public has embraced the (5)........ of the Games”, says Khaled Helaly, manager of the Doha 2006 Volunteers Programme
(4)..............................

Read the passage carefully and choose the correct answer.

University Entrance Examination is very important in Vietnamese students. High school graduates have to take it and get high results to be admitted to universities. The pressure on the candidates remains very high despite the measures that have been taken to reduce the heat around these exams, since securing a place in a state university is considered a major step towards a successful career for young people, especially those from rural areas or disadvantaged families. In the year 2004, it was estimated that nearly 1 million Vietnamese students took the University Entrance Examination, but on average only 1 out of 5 candidates succeeded.  Normally, candidates take 3 exam subjects, and each lasts; 180 minutes for the fixed group of subjects they choose. There are 4 fixed groups of subjects: Group A: Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry; Group B: Mathematics, Biology, and Chemistry; Group C: Literature, History, and Geography; Group D: Literature, Foreign Language, and Mathematics.

In addition to universities, there are community colleges, art and technology institutes; professional secondary schools, and vocational schools which offer degrees or certificates from a-few-month to 2-year courses. According to Vietnam's Ministry of Education and Training, there are currently 23 non-public universities, accounting for 11% of the total number of universities. These non-public universities are currently training 119,464 students, or 11.7% of the total number of students. The government is planning to increase the number of non-public universities to 30% by 2007.

Which sentence refers to the University Entrance Examination in Vietnam?

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:
Lighthouses are towers with strong lights that help mariners plot their position, inform them that  land is near, and warn them of dangerous rocks and reefs. They are placed at prominent points on the coast and on islands, reefs, and sandbars.
Every lighthouse has a distinctive pattern of light known as its characteristic. There are five basic characteristics: fixed, flashing, occulting, group flashing, and group occulting. A fixed signal is a steady beam. A flashing signal has periods of darkness longer than periods of light, while an occulting signal’s periods of light are longer. A group-flashing light gives off two or more flashes at regular intervals, and a group - occulting signal consists of a fixed light with two or more periods of darkness at regular intervals. Some lighthouses use lights of different colors as well, and today, most lighthouses are also equipped with radio beacons. The three types of apparatus used to produce the signals are the catoptric, in which metal is used to reflect the light; the dioptric, in which glass is used; and the catadioptric, in which both glass and metal are used.
In the daytime, lighthouses can usually be identified by their structure alone. The most typical structure is a tower tapering at the top, but some, such as the Bastion Lighthouse on the Saint Lawrence River, are shaped like pyramids, and others, such as the Race Rock light, look like wooden houses sitting on high platforms. Still others, such as The American Shoal lighthouse off the Florida Coast, are skeletal towers of steel. Where lighthouses might be contused in daylight, they can be distinguished by day- marker patterns - designed of checks and stripes painted in vivid colors on lighthouse walls.
In the past, the job of lighthouse keeper was lonely and difficult if somewhat romantic. Lighthouse keepers put in hours of tedious work maintaining the lights. Today, lighthouses are almost entirely automated with humans supplying only occasional maintenance. Because of improvements in navigational technology, the importance of lighthouses has diminished. There are only about 340
functioning lighthouses in existence in the United States today, compared to about 1,500 in 1900, and there are only about 1,400 functioning lighthouses outside the United States. Some decommissioned lighthouses have been preserved as historical monument.

According to the passage, what kind of signal has long periods of light that are regularly broken by two or more periods of darkness?

The end of December and the beginning of January are the busiest times for the Japanese post offices. (1) _________ Japanese have a custom of sending New Year’s Day postcards to their friends and relatives, (2) __________ to the Western custom of sending Christmas cards. Their original purpose was to give your faraway friends and relatives tidings of yourself and your immediate family. (3) __________, this custom existed for people to tell others whom they did not often meet that they were alive and well.

Japanese people send these postcards so that they arrive (4) ___________ 1st January. The post office guarantees (5) ______ the greeting postcards on 1st January if they are posted within a time limit. To deliver these cards (6) _________ time, the post office usually hires students part-time to help deliver the letters.

It is (7) _________ not to send these postcards when one has had a death in the family during the year. In this case, a family member sends a simple postcard (8) ____mochi hagaki (mourning postcards) to inform friends and relatives they should send New Year’s cards, out of respect for the deceased.

(6) _________

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:
One of the factors contributing to the intense nature of twenty-first-century stress is our continual exposure to media – particularly to an overabundance of news. If you feel stressed out by the news, you are far from alone. Yet somehow many of us seem unable to prevent ourselves from tuning in to an extreme degree.
The further back we go in human history, the longer news took to travel from place to place, and the less news we had of distant people and lands altogether. The printing press obviously changed all that, as did every subsequent development in transportation and telecommunication.
When television came along, it proliferated like a poplulation of rabbits. In 1950, there were 100,000 television sets in North American homes; one year later there were more then a million. Today, it’s not unusual for a home to have three or more television sets, each with cable access to perhaps over a hundred channels. News is the subject of many of those channels, and on several of them it runs 24 hours a day.
What’s more, after the traumatic events of Sptember 11, 2001, live newcasts were paired with perennial text crawls across the bottom of the screen – so that viewers could stay abreast of every story all the time.
Needless to say, the news that is reported to us is not good news, but rather disturbing images and sound bytes alluding to diasater (natural and man-made), upheaval, crime, scandal, war, and the like. Compounding the proplem is that when actual breaking news is scarce, most broadcasts fill in with waistline, hairline, or very existence in the future. This variety of story tends to treat with equal alarm a potentially lethal flu outbreak and the bogus claims of a wrinkle cream that overpromises smooth skin.
Are humans meant to be able to process so much trauma – not to mention so much overblown anticipation of potetial trauma – at once? The human brain, remember, is programmed to slip into alarm mode when danger looms. Danger looms for someone, somewhere at every moment. Exposing ourslves to such input without respite and without perspective cannot be anything other than a source of chronic stress.

What is probably the best title for this passage?

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:
A tropical cyclone is a violent low pressure storm that usually occurs over warm oceans of over 80°F or 27°C. It winds counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as it is described for the term, cyclone itself. This powerful storm is fueled by the heat energy that is released when water vapor condenses at high altitudes, the heat ultimately derived from the Sun.
The center of a tropical cyclone, called the eye, is relatively calm and warm. This eye, which is roughly 20 to 30 miles wide, is clear, mainly because of subsiding air within it. The ring of clouds around the eye is the eyewall, where clouds reach highest and precipitation is heaviest. The strong wind, gusting up to 360 kilometers per hour, occurs when a tropical cyclone’s eyewall passes over land.
There are various names for a tropical cyclone depending on its location and strength. In Asia, a tropical cyclone is named according to its strength. The strongest is a typhoon; its winds move at more than 117 kilometers per hour. In India, it is called a cyclone. Over the North Atlantic and in the South Pacific, they call it a hurricane.
On average, there are about 100 tropical cyclones worldwide each year. A tropical cyclone peaks in late summer when the difference between temperature in the air and sea surface is the greatest. However, it has its own seasonal patterns. May is the least active month, while September is the most active.
The destruction associated with a tropical cyclone results not only from the force of the wind, but also from the storm surge and the waves it generates. It is born and sustained over large bodies of warm water, and loses its strength over inland regions that are comparatively safe from receiving strong winds. Although the tract of a tropical cyclone is very erratic, the Weather Service can still issue timely warnings to the public if a tropical cyclone is approaching densely populated areas. If people ever experience a cyclone, they would know how strong it could be.

What can be inferred about typhoons, cyclones and hurricanes?

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.

Although noise, commonly defined as unwanted sound, is a widely recognized form of pollution, it is very difficult to measure because the discomfort experienced by different individuals is highly subjective and, therefore, variable. Exposure to lower levels of noise may be slightly irritating, whereas exposure to higher levels may actually cause hearing loss. Particularly in congested urban areas, the noise produced as a byproduct of our advancing technology causes physical and psychological harm, and detracts from the quality of life for those who are exposed to it.

Unlike the eyes, which can be covered by the eyelids against strong light, the ear has no lid, and is, therefore, always open and vulnerable; noise penetrates without protection. Noise causes effects that the hearer cannot control and to which the body never becomes accustomed. Loud noises instinctively signal danger to any organism with a hearing mechanism, including human beings. In response, heartbeat and respiration accelerate, blood vessels constrict, the skin pales, and muscles tense. In fact, there is a general increase in functioning brought about by the flow of adrenaline released in response to fear, and some of these responses persist even longer than the noise, occasionally as long as thirty minutes after the sound has ceased.

Because noise is unavoidable in a complex, industrial society, we are constantly responding in the same way that we would respond to danger. Recently, researchers have concluded that noise and our response may be much more than an annoyance. It may be a serious threat to physical and psychological health and well-being, causing damage not only to the ear and brain but also to the heart and stomach. We have long known that hearing loss is America‟s number one nonfatal health problem, but now we are learning that some of us with heart disease and ulcers may be victims of noise as well. Fetuses exposed to noise tend to be overactive, they cry easily, and they are more sensitive to gastrointestinal problems after birth. In addition, the psychic effect of noise is very important. Nervousness, irritability, tension, and anxiety increase affecting the quality of rest during sleep, and the efficiency of activities during waking hours, as well as the way that we interact with each other.

Why is noise difficult to measure?

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks.

All living things require energy to do the work necessary for survival and reproduction. But what is energy? Energy is simply the ability to do work, (1) _______ work is done when a force moves an object. Let's consider your own needs for a moment. You need energy to turn on and turn off your computer. You need energy to (2) _______ of bed in the morning. And, yes, you need energy to reproduce. So where does energy come from and how do we use it? On Earth, energy ultimately comes from the sun. Plants use the sun's energy to make sugar. Organisms, in turn, use sugar as a (3) _______ of energy to do work.

Plants use energy from sunlight to make sugar and oxygen from carbon dioxide and water. The process by which carbon dioxide and water are (4) _______ to sugar and oxygen using sunlight is referred to as photosynthesis. This is an endergonic reaction, meaning energy is required by the reaction. Specifically, energy is required to put the carbon dioxide and the water molecules together to form sugar. Sun (5) _______ the energy needed to drive photosynthesis, and some of the energy used to make the sugar is stored in the sugar molecule.

(25).............

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 geologists have long indicated that fossil fuels will not last indefinitely, the U.S government finally acknowledged that sooner or later other energy sources would be needed and, as a result, turned its attention to nuclear power. It was anticipated that nuclear power plants could supply electricity in such large amounts and so inexpensively that they would be integrated into an economy in which electricity would take over virtually all fuel-generating functions at nominal cost. Thus, the government subsidized the promotion of commercial nuclear power plants and authorized their construction by utility companies. In the 1960s and early 1970s, the public accepted the notion of electricity being generated by nuclear power plants in or near residential areas. By 1975, 54 plants were fully operational, supplying 11 percent of the nation’s electricity, and another 167 plants were at various stages of planning and construction. Officials estimated that by 1990 hundreds of plants would be on line, and by the turn of the century as many as 1000 plants would be in working order.
Since 1975, this outlook and this estimation have changed drastically, and many utilizes have cancelled existing orders. In some cases, construction was terminated even after billions of dollars had already been invested. After being completed and licensed at a cost of almost $6 billion, the Shoreham Power Plant on Long Island was turned over to the state of New York to be dismantled without ever having generated electric power. The reason was that residents and state authorities deemed that there was no possibility of evacuating residents from the area should an accident occur.
Just 68 of those plants under way in 1975 have been completed, and another 3 are still under construction. Therefore, it appears that in the mid1990s 124 nuclear power plants in the nation will be in operation, generating about 18 percent of the nation’s electricity, a figure that will undoubtedly decline as relatively outdated plants are shut down.

In line 14, the word “terminated” is closet 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:
The blue whale is the largest animal ever known to  have existed. During the 20th century,  the species was almost exterminated due to commercial whaling. The species has slowly recovered following the global whaling ban but it remains endangered and faces a  number of  serious threats including ship strikes and the impact of climate change.
Blue whales are simply enormous with most ranging in length from 24-30 m. The largest  ever recorded was a gargantuan 33.5 m long. Females are up to 10 m longer than males. And they can weigh up to 200 tonnes. Just to put that in perspective: an adult male African elephant weighs 6 tonnes. The blue whale's heart is the size of a small car and its beat can be detected two miles away. But that's nothing compared to their calls. Blue whales are the loudest animals on earth and their calls are louder than a jet engine: reaching 188 decibels, while a jet's engine hit 'just' 140 decibels. Apart from their gigantic size, blue whales can be identified by their relatively small dorsal fin, a fairly rounded rostrum (anterior part of the skull), and approximately 90 ventral  grooves, which reach the navel. They also have row of 300-400 baleen plates on each side of the mouth, which are black in color and range in length from 50 cm in front to 100 cm in back.
Blue whales mostly travel alone or in groups of 2-3. Larger groups of up to 60 whales have been reported and are probably associated with feeding grounds. However, the blue whale has the most powerful voice in the animal kingdom and its low-frequency sounds can travel in deep water over hundreds, or even thousands, of miles. Under these circumstances, animals which may appear to us to be traveling alone may actually be in constant contact with one another.
At birth, a blue whale calf is the largest baby on earth: approximately 8m long and weighing about 4 tonnes. They grow at a rate of 90 kg per day and wean after 7-8 months, once they have reached about 15 m in length, and are able to follow the normal migration pattern alone. They reach sexual maturity at 5-10 years. This growth rate is astonishing and is probably the fastest in the animal kingdom.  From  conception to weaning, it represents a several billion-fold increase in tissue in just over a year and a half. Like other baleen whales, the blue whale has no teeth so it is hard to tell its age but scientists believe they live until at least 50.
Like other large whales, blue whales are threatened by chemical and sound pollution, habitat loss, overfishing of krill, ship strikes and becoming entangled in fishing gear. Climate change could also have a major impact on its food supply, since global warming and associated ocean acidification may impact krill populations. In addition, frontal zones - critical whale habitats - are projected to move further south due to climate change. Frontal zones are boundaries between different water masses, where water can rise from the depths, bringing with it large amounts of nutrients that stimulate the growth of phytoplankton and support substantial populations of prey species for whales. Blue whales would have to migrate further (perhaps 200-500 km more) to reach and feed at these food-rich areas where they build up reserves to sustain themselves for the rest of the year. These longer migration paths could increase the energy costs  of migration and reduce the duration of the main feeding season. As frontal zones move southward, they also move closer together, reducing the overall area of foraging habitat available.

It can be inferred from the  passage that    _.