Each sentence has a mistake. Find it bychosing A B C or D

 Building thousands of years ago, the ancient palace is popular with modern tourists.

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A Tidal Stream Generation system reduces some of the environmental effects of tidal barrages by using turbine generators beneath the surface of the water. Major tidal flows and ocean currents, like the Gulf Stream, can be exploited to extract its tidal energy using underwater rotors and turbines. Tidal stream generation is very similar in principle to wind power generation. Water currents flow across a turbines rotor blades which rotates the turbine, much like how wind currents turn the blades for wind power turbines. In fact, tidal stream generation areas on the sea bed can look just like underwater wind farms. Unlike off-shore wind power which can suffer from storms or heavy sea damage, tidal stream turbines operate just below the sea surface or are fixed to the sea bed. Tidal streams are formed by the horizontal fast flowing volumes of water caused by the ebb and flow of the tide as the profile of the sea bed causes the water to speed up as it approaches the shoreline. As water is much more denser than air and has a much slower flow rate, tidal stream turbines have much smaller diameters and higher tip speed rates compared to an equivalent wind turbine. Tidal stream turbines generate tidal power on both the ebb and flow of the tide. One of the disadvantages of Tidal Stream Generation is that as the turbines are submerged under the surface of the water they can create hazards to navigation and shipping. Other forms of tidal energy include tidal fences which use individual vertical-axis turbines that are mounted within a fence structure, known as the caisson, which completely blocks a channel and force water through them. Another alternative way of harnessing tidal power is by using an “oscillating tidal turbine”. This is basically a fixed wing called a Hydroplane positioned on the sea bed. The hydroplane uses the energy of the tidal stream flowing past it to oscillate its giant wing, similar to a whales flipper, up and down with the movement of the tidal currents. This motion is then used to generate electricity. The angle of the hydroplane to the flow of the tide can be varied to increase efficiency. Tidal energy is another form of low-head hydro power that is completely carbon neutral like wind and hydro energy. Tidal power has many advantages compared to other forms of renewable energy with its main advantage being that it is predictable. However, like many other forms of renewable energy, tidal energy also has its disadvantages such as its inflexible generation times dependant upon the tides and the fact that it operates in the hostile conditions of the oceans and seas
7. The word “renewable” in the last paragraph mostly means ______

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Many people believe the glare from snow causes snow-blindness. Yet, dark glasses or not, they find themselves suffering from headaches and watering eyes, and even snowblindness, when exposed to several hours of “snow light”. The United States Army has now determined that the glare from snow does not cause snow-blindness in troops in a snow-covered country. Rather, a man’s eyes frequently find nothing to focus on in a broad expanse of a snow-covered area. So his gaze continually shifts and jumps back and forth over the entire landscape in search of something to look at. Finding nothing, hour after hour, the eyes never stop searching and the eyeballs become sore and the eye muscles ache. Nature balances this annoyance by producing more and more liquid which covers the eyeballs. The liquid covers the eyeballs in increasing quantity until vision blurs. And the result is total, even though temporary, snow-blindness. Experiments led the Army to a simple method of overcoming this problem. Scouts ahead of a main body of troops are trained to shake snow from evergreen bushes, creating a dotted line as they cross completely snow-covered landscape. Even the scouts themselves throw lightweight, dark-colored objects ahead on which they too can focus. The men following can then see something. Their gaze is arrested. Their eyes focus on a bush and having found something to see, stop searching through the snow-blanketed landscape. By focusing their attention on one object at a time, the men can cross the snow without becoming hopelessly snow-blind or lost: In this way the problem of crossing a solid white area is overcome
3. According to the passage, snow-blindness may be avoided by ____

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Commentary from researchers in the College of Pharmacy at The University of Texas at Austin in the journal Science provide new findings in alcohol use disorder (AUD) research The article, “Compelled to drink: Why some cannot stop,” considers recent findings by researchers Siciliano et al. that discovered individual differences in the activity of neurons in a frontal cortex to brain stem circuit that predicts the later escalation of alcohol drinking to compulsive intake in a mouse model. “These researchers not only defined a new brain circuit involved in compulsive drinking, but showed individual differences at the level of electrical activity in the neurons that comprise this circuit,” Nixon said. “The individual differences in electrical activity predicted which mice would go on to drink compulsively after a binge-like drinking episode despite drinking the same amount of alcohol during that episode.” The research group previously found that this circuit is important for responses to aversive events, and they have now asked why aversive outcomes don’t deter everyone from drinking alcohol. These new findings point to a neurological explanation for why only some mice continue to drink alcohol even when it comes with negative consequences. “They found these differences in circuit activity before mice developed compulsive drinking behavior,” Mangieri said. “In other words, some mice had a biological predisposition that made them susceptible to developing alcohol drinking behaviors that are similar to humans with AUD.” The researchers said the work has important implications. It has potential as a biomarker of propensity to develop severe AUD based on electrical activity. Also, the discovery of this circuit’s role in compulsive drinking suggests that there may be novel pharmacological targets that could be identified and developed for the treatment of AUDs
1. Which best serves as the title for the passage?

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National parks protect the best of our natural heritage: stunning landscapes,  extraordinary wildlife and majestic forests. Together with other protected areas they form the basis of our economic and social wellbeing, attract millions of visitors annually, and help to protect Australia’s unique wildlife by acting as a refuge for threatened species. Future generations deserve the right to see these natural values intact and protected as we do today.  Our national parks form the cornerstone of biodiversity conservation in Australia, containing vital habitat that provides safe havens in which animals and plants can survive and thrive. Together with other protected areas, they provide a ‘backbone’ of core conservation areas that can be linked by conservation efforts across different tenures, supporting a diverse, healthy and resilient environment. A well-connected landscape is essential for saving NSW’s 1,000 threatened species, 70% of which occur in our national parks. In addition our protected areas provide life-sustaining services vital for the wellbeing of our environment and society, such as protection of urban water catchments and climate amelioration.  National Parks provide a major boost to Australia’s economy, with nature-based tourism bringing $23 billion into the country every year. Regional communities in particular benefit from the 35.5 million people who visit NSW’s national parks each year, through job creation and money spent on accommodation, fuel and food. The Great Barrier Reef alone attracts more than $6 billion a year in tourist-spending and supports over 63,000 jobs. Furthermore, from ancient aboriginal rock-art sites, to the buildings left over from early European settlements, our national parks also serve as a natural history book dating back thousands of years. Our national parks protect these vital and fragile places; areas where the traces of a history extending back more than 22,000 years can remain undisturbed.  Natural areas have a profound effect on our physical and emotional health and wellbeing. In our increasingly frenetic world, our national parks are important sanctuaries where people can take time out, enjoy nature, get fit, relax and revitalise, whilst nature’s inherent beauty serves as a source of artistic, creative and spiritual inspiration. Research on the benefits of contact with the natural environment show that it is likely to have a significant positive psychological effect, serving to reduce stress, anger, frustration and aggression, providing an opportunity for social bonding, and serving as a place for learning and mental stimulation. Children in particular display long-term benefits of playing outdoors.
7. The following statements are true, EXCEPT ________

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Aging is the process of growing old. It occurs eventually in every living thing provided, of course, that an illness or accident does not kill it prematurely. The most familiar outward signs of aging may be seen in old people, such as the graying of the hair and the wrinkling of the skin. Signs of aging in a pet dog or cat include loss of playfulness and energy, a decline in hearing and eyesight, or even a light graying of the coat. Plants are too, but the signs are much harder to detect. Most body parts grow bigger and stronger, and function more effiiently during childhood. They reach their peak at the time of maturity, or early adulthood. After that, they begin to decline. Bones, for example, gradually become lighter and more brittle. In the aged, the joints between the bones also become rigid and more inflxible. This can make moving very painful. All the major organs of the body show signs of aging. The brain, for example, works less effiiently, and even gets smaller in size. Thinking processes of all sorts are slowed down. Old people often have trouble in remembering recent events. One of the most serious changes of old age occurs in the arteries, the blood vessels that lead from the heart. They become thickened and constricted, allowing less blood to flw to the rest of body. This condition accounts, directly or indirectly, for many of the diseases of the aged. It may, for example, result in heart attack. Aging is not a uniform process. Different parts of the body wear out at the different rates. There are differences among people in their rate of aging. Even the cell of the body differ in the way they age. The majority of cells are capable of reproducing themselves many times during the course of a lifetime. Nerve cells and muscle fiers can never be replaced once they wear out. Gerontologists - scientists who study the process of aging - believe this wearing out of the body is controlled by a built-in biological time-clock. They are trying to discover how this clock works so that they can slow down the process. This could give man a longer life and a great number of productive years.
4. What does "Aging is not a uniform process" mean?

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 White House, the official home of the United States president, was not built in time for George Washington to live in it. It was begun in 1792 and was ready for its first inhabitants. President and Mrs.John Adams, who moved in on November 1, 1800. When the Adamses moved in, the White House was not yet complete, and the Adamses suffered many inconveniences; for example, the main staircase was incomplete, which hindered movement from floor to floor, and the future laundry yard was merely a pool of mud, so wet laundry was hung in the unfinished East Room to dry. Thomas Jefferson, the third president, improved the comfort of the White House in many respects and added new architectural features such as the terraces on the east and west ends.

   When the British forces burned the White House on August 24, 1814, President Madison was forced to leave.All the remained after the fire was the exterior walls, the interior was completely destroyed. It was not until December of 1817 that the following president, James Monroe, was able to move into a rebuilt residence. Since then, the White House has continued to be modified but has been continuously occupied by each succeeding U.S president.

The word “forces” in line 9 could best be replaced by:

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The climate crisis is poised to deliver a severe blow to America’s most threatened animals, with a new study finding that almost every species considered endangered is vulnerable in some way to global heating. Of the 459 animal species listed as endangered by the US government, researchers found that all but one, or 99.8%, have characteristics that will make it difficult for them to adapt to rising temperatures. The California condor, once close to being completely wiped out, faces increased risk of contamination in hotter conditions. Key deer, found only in the Florida Keys, face losing habitat to the rising seas. Whole classes of animals including amphibians, mollusks and arthropods are sensitive to the greatest number of climate-related threats, such as changes in water quality, shifting seasons and harmful invasive species that move in as temperatures climb. Mammals, such as the north Atlantic right whale and Florida panther, also face increased hardships, albeit on fewer fronts than amphibians, mollusks and arthropods.  Despite the overwhelming peril faced by America’s endangered species due to the climate crisis, the report, published in Nature Climate Change, found a patchy response from the US government. Federal agencies consider just 64% of endangered species to be threatened by the climate crisis, while just 18% of listed species have protection plans in place. Astrid Caldas, a study co-author and a climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists said: “While agencies have increasingly listed climate change as a growing threat to species whose survival is already precarious, many have not translated this concern into tangible actions, meaning a significant protection gap still exists.” Nearly half of Australian species are threatened by the climate crisis, researchers have found. A spokesman for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees the endangered species list, said that while a species may be sensitive to changes in the climate, this sensitivity may not be so severe as to warrant being put on the list. “Our process for determining this looks at five factors: threats to a species’ habitat, overutilization, disease or predation, existing regulatory mechanisms, and other factors that may affect its continued existence,” he said. “Through this scientifically rigorous process we examine and account for the effects of climate change.  
6. The word “its” in paragraph 4 refers to _____

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Most languages have several levels of vocabulary that may be used by the same speakers. In English, at least three have been identified and described. Standard usage includes those words and expressions understood, used, and accepted by a majority of the speakers of a language in any situation regardless of the level of formality. As such, these words and expressions are well defined and listed in standard dictionaries. Colloquialisms, on the other hand, are familiar words and idioms that are understood by almost all speakers of a language and used in informal speech or writing, but not considered acceptable for more formal situations. Almost all idiomatic expressions are colloquial language. Slang, refers to words and expressions understood by a large number of speakers but not accepted as appropriate formal usage by the majority. Colloquial expressions and even slang may be found in standard dictionaries but will be so identified. Both colloquial usage and slang are more common in speech than writing. Colloquial speech often passes into standard speech. Some slang also passes into standard speech, but other slang expressions enjoy momentary popularity followed by obscurity. In some cases, the majority never accepts certain slang phrases but nevertheless retains them in their collective memories. Every generation seems to require its own set of words to describe familiar objects and events. It has been pointed out by a number of linguists that three cultural conditions are necessary for the creation of a large body of slang expressions. First, the introduction and acceptance of new objects and situations in the society; second, a diverse population with a large number of subgroups; third, association among the subgroups and the majority population. Finally, it is worth noting that the terms "standard", "colloquial", and "slang" exist only as abstract labels for scholars who study language. Only a tiny number of the speakers of any language will be aware that they are using colloquial or slang expressions. Most speakers of English will, during appropriate situations, select and use three types of expressions.
6. Which of the following is true of standard usage?

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In the past, technology and progress was very slow. People “invented” farming 12,000 years ago but it took 8,000 years for the idea to go around the world. Then, about 3,500 years ago, people called “potters” used round wheels to turn and make plates. But it took hundreds of years before some clever person thought, if we join two wheels together and make them bigger, we can use them to move things. In the last few centuries, things have begun to move faster. Take a 20th-century invention like the aeroplane, for example. The first aeroplane flight on 17 December 1903 only lasted 12 seconds, and the plane only went 37 metres. It can’t have been very exciting to watch, but that flight changed the world. Sixteen years later, the first plane flew across the Atlantic, and only fifty years after that, men walked on the moon. Technology is now changing our world faster and faster. So what will the future bring? One of the first changes will be the materials we use. Scientists have just invented an amazing new material called grapheme, and soon we will use it to do lots of things. With grapheme batteries in your mobile, it will take a few seconds to charge your phone or download a thousand gigabytes of information! Today, we make most products in factories, but in the future, scientists will invent living materials. Then we won’t make things like cars and furniture in factories - we will grow them! Thirty years ago, people couldn’t have imagined social media like Twitter and Facebook. Now we can’t live without them. But this is only the start. Right now, scientists are putting microchips in some disabled people’s brains, to help them see, hear and communicate better. In the future, we may all use these technologies. We won’t need smartphones to use social media or search the internet because the internet will be in our heads! More people will go into space in the future, too. Space tourism has already begun, and a hundred years from now, there may be many hotels in space. One day, we may get most of our energy from space too. In 1941, the writer Isaac Asimov wrote about a solar power station in space. People laughed at his idea then, but we should have listened to him. Today, many people are trying to develop a space solar power station. After all, the sun always shines above the clouds!  
3. What does the writer say about the future of communication?

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Spend just a minute watching the world population counter tick up on Worldometers and you’ll see just how quickly we’re swelling in numbers. The current figure stands at around 7.7 billion, and this is projected to become 9.8 billion by 2050, according to the UN. More people means more carbon footprints - more cars, waste and emissions, more houses and infrastructure to be constructed using the world’s limited resources, more mouths to be fed using more water and energy in food production. Governments recognise the severity of the situation and have mostly come together over global policies like the UN’s Paris Agreement, to limit carbon emissions and their impact on climate change. In addition, new technologies are being developed to make our use of resources more efficient. As for controlling population growth, the education of women is one key factor. Research shows the higher level to which a woman is educated, the fewer children she is likely to have. In Ghana, for example, women who have been to high school, have a fertility rate of between two and three children, compared with six for those who have no education. This could be for several reasons including learning about desired family size and understanding child health better. This means that the mother is more confident her children will survive. She is also likely to hold more sway within the family, arguing for fewer children if that is what she wants.  There is also plenty that individuals can do to reduce their personal footprint. Earth Overshoot Day is defined as the day when humanity has used up nature’s resource budget for the year. The Global Footprint Network calculates that moving Earth Overshoot day back by five days every year would mean that, by 2050, we’d be using the resources of less than one planet. Just eating 50% less meat and replacing it with vegetarian alternatives could save the planet five days. As David Attenborough says, if we want to save Earth, we can no longer afford to keep eating meat: “We are omnivores, so biologically, if you could have a biological morality, you can say, yes we evolved to eat pretty well everything. But now we’ve got to a stage in our own social evolution in which that is no longer practical.” Sir David says he himself now eats less meat and is bolstered by the knowledge that it’s helping the planet.  
8. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

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When Gustave Eiffel’s company built Paris’ most recognizable monument for the 1889 World’s Fair, many regarded the massive iron structure with skepticism. Today, the Eiffel Tower, which continues to serve an important role in television and radio broadcasts, is considered an architectural wonder and attracts more visitors than any other paid tourist attraction in the world. In 1889, Paris hosted an Exposition Universelle (World’s Fair) to mark the 100-year anniversary of the French Revolution. More than 100 artists submitted competing plans for a monument to be built on the Champ-de-Mars, located in central Paris, and serve as the exposition’s entrance. The commission was granted to Eiffel et Compagnie, a consulting and construction firm owned by the acclaimed bridge builder, architect and metals expert Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel. While Eiffel himself often receives full credit for the monument that bears his name, it was one of his employees - a structural engineer named Maurice Koechlin—who came up with and fine-tuned the concept. Several years earlier, the pair had collaborated on the Statue of Liberty’s metal armature. Eiffel reportedly rejected Koechlin’s original plan for the tower, instructing him to add more ornate flourishes. The final design called for more than 18,000 pieces of puddle iron, a type of wrought iron used in construction, and 2.5 million rivets. Several hundred workers spent two years assembling the framework of the iconic lattice tower, which at its inauguration in March 1889 stood nearly 1,000 feet high, and was the tallest structure in the world - a distinction it held until the completion of New York City’s Chrysler Building in 1930. In 1957, an antenna was added that increased the structure’s height by 65 feet, making it taller than the Chrysler Building but not the Empire State Building, which had surpassed its neighbor in 1931. Initially, only the Eiffel Tower’s second-floor platform was open to the public; later, all three levels, two of which now feature restaurants, would be reachable by stairway or one of eight elevators. Millions of visitors during and after the World’s Fair marveled at Paris’ newly erected architectural wonder. Not all of the city’s inhabitants were as enthusiastic, however: Many Parisians either feared it was structurally unsound or considered it an eyesore. The novelist Guy de Maupassant, for example, allegedly hated the tower so much that he often ate lunch in the restaurant at its base, the only vantage point from which he could completely avoid glimpsing its looming silhouette.  
7. The word “allegedly” in the last paragraph can best be replaced by _____

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At a time when the younger generation, hooked to the mobiles, TV and internet, is fast-moving away from books, Sundargarh Collector Nikhil Pasan Kalyan has taken it upon himself this particular sacred responsibility. Kalyan on Thursday launched a campaign ‘Sundargarh Bahi Padha’ to promote reading by distributing books among the people in Sundargarh town. He reached out to the people at roadside stalls and engaged with them over cups of tea. While motivating them to read, he gifted books to them. The district administration plans to extend the initiative to schools and villages in the coming six months with focus on improving school and public libraries, and equipping all offices and waiting rooms with books. Further, reading sessions have been scheduled to be conducted every week at the Collector’s residence campus and other places involving people of all ages including students. “Books are the best teachers. To improve morality and openness in the society, everyone has to read. They could be in any genre. Reading is the starting point,” said Kalyan. Chief District Medical and Public Health Officer (CDM-PHO) Dr SK Mishra commented on the present situation: “Youths and students confine themselves to prescribed courses of study and refuse to go beyond that,” he said. Undoubtedly, internet connection and electronic gadgets like computers, laptops and mobile phones provide a sea of information and ready-made knowledge but simultaneously decrease the creativity in individuals, Mishra added. “Social media kills time, creativity and the urge to pick up a book. It may be noted that people with reading habits have lesser chances of suffering from Alzheimer’s,” he said. Presently, of the four Government-run public libraries in the district three are functional, albeit with few readers. Kalyan has sought collective participation to make the initiative a success  
3. The word “conducted” in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to _____

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Pick any day in the Piazza del Duomo in the Italian city of Pisa, and you will  undoubtedly spot a bunch of tourists posing for the same photo: hands outstretched towards the cathedral’s conspicuously tilting bell tower, as if they are supporting it with their sheer strength. The so-called Leaning Tower of Pisa is one of the most famous buildings in the world, although maybe not for the reasons its original architects would have wanted.  In 1173, construction began on a white marble bell tower for the cathedral complex in Pisa, located between the Arno and Serchio rivers in Tuscany, central Italy. By the time builders had finished the third of eight planned stories about five years later, the tower’s foundation had begun to settle unevenly on the ground beneath it, a dense mixture of clay, sand and shells. As a result, the structure had begun to tilt visibly toward the south. Shortly after that, war broke out between Pisa and Genoa, another Italian city-state, halting construction for nearly a century. This delay allowed the foundation to settle further, likely prevented the bell tower’s premature collapse.  When construction resumed, chief engineer Giovanni di Simone tried to compensate for the lean by adding extra masonry to the short side, but the additional weight caused the structure to tilt even further. The tower was officially completed around 1370, but its lean only increased over the next six centuries, becoming an integral part of the monument’s quirky appeal. Despite various attempts to reinforce it, Pisa’s tower continued to subside at a rate of some 0.05 inches per year, placing it in increasing danger of collapse. By 1990, it was leaning 5.5 degrees (or some 15 feet) from the perpendicular–the most extreme angle yet. That year, the monument was closed to visitors and the bells removed as engineers started extensive reparations to stabilize it. By siphoning earth from beneath and adding counterweights to the tower’s north end, they were able to reduce the lean to 13.5 feet, or 4.0 degrees from perpendicular. The straightening continued after the tower reopened in 2001, and in 2008 sensors showed the subsiding motion had stopped, after a total improvement of some 19 inches. Engineers now believe the Leaning Tower of Pisa will remain stable for some 200 years, barring an earthquake or other unpredictable disaster. 
7. Which of the following statements is TRUE, according to the passage?

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The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded annually and the first woman to win this prize was Baroness Bertha Felicie Sophie von Suttner in 1905. In fact, her work inspired creation of the Prize. The first American woman to win the prize was Jane Addams, in 1931. However, Addams is best known as the founder of Hull House.
Jane Addams was born in 1860, into a wealthy family. She was one of a small number of women in her generation to graduate from college. Her commitment to improving the lives of those around her led her to work for social reform and world peace. In the 1880s Jane Addams travelled to Europe. While she was in London, she visited a “settlement house” called Toynbee Hall. Inspired by Toynbee Hall, Addams and her friends, Ellen Gates Starr, opened Hull House in a neighborhood of slums in Chicago in 1899. Hull House provided a day care center for children of working mothers, a community kitchen, and visiting nurses. Addams and her staff gave classes in English literacy, art and other subjects. Hull House also became a meeting place for clubs and labor unions. Most of the people who worked with Addams in Hull House were well educated, middle-class women. Hull House gave them an opportunity to use their education and it provided a training ground for careers in social work.
Before World War I, Addams was probably the most beloved woman in America. In a newspaper poll that asked, “Who among our contemporaries are of the most value to the community?” Jane Addams was rated second, after Thomas Edison. When she opposed America’s involvement in World War I, however, newspaper editors called her a traitor and a fool, but she never changed her mind. Jane Addams was a strong champion of several other causes. Until 1920, American women could not vote. Addams joined in the movement for women’s suffrage and was a 7 vice president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. She was a founding member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and was president of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Her reputation was gradually restored during the last years of her life. She died of cancer in 1935.

Jane Addams was inspired to open Hull House because     .

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As communities across the U.S. replace forests and woodlands with housing developments and other new construction, researchers are noting an increase in Lyme disease. To help prevent the spread of Lyme disease, Dr. Ivan Castro-Arellano, a disease ecologist and wildlife researcher at Texas State University, is exploring how urbanization and its effects on mammals impact the spread of pathogens.  Lyme disease, which spreads from animals to humans, is one of the fastest growing zoonotic diseases in the United States. Counties considered high-risk for Lyme disease grew 300% between 1993 and 2012. Caught quickly, Lyme disease is easily treated with antibiotics, but if it goes untreated it can lead to chronic issues such as Lyme arthritis, facial palsy and impaired memory. Many such zoonotic diseases have been increasing globally, researchers say, partially because of the displacement of animals. While medium- and large-sized mammals are displaced or eradicated by the removal of forested areas, whitefooted mice and deer thrive in small patches of green space. Mice and deer are contributing to favorable conditions for an increase in the ticks that spread the pathogens causing Lyme disease. Although East Texas has a similar pattern of woodland space compared to new construction as the northeast United States, Texas contract the disease at lower rates. This fact piqued the interest of Castro-Arellano. In addition to studying the area where the disease is prevalent, he decided to study where the disease is not prevalent to find keys to prevention. Castro-Arellano is part of a team of biologists, veterinarians and biomedical researchers that have been collecting samples and trying to understand what makes East Texas different. He believes that the climate, or certain species of East Texas mammals who kill ticks, could be contributing to the reduced tick population in East Texas.
4. The word “palsy” in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to ______

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Just as optical fibers have transformed communication, they are also revolutionizing medicine. These ultra - thin, flxible fiers have opened a window into the living tissues of the body. By inserting optical fibers through natural openings or small incisions and the threading them along the body's established pathways, physicians can look into the lungs, intestines, heart and other areas that were formerly inaccessible to them. The basic fiber-optics system is called fiberscope, which consists of two bundles of fibers. One, the illuminating bundle, carries light to the tissues. It is coupled to a high-intensity light source. Light enters the cores of the high-purity silicon glass and travels along the fibers. A lens at the end of the bundle collects the light and focuses it into the other bundle, the imaging bundle. Each fibers in the bundle transmits only a tiny fraction of the total image. The reconstructed image can be viewed through an eyepiece or displayed on a television screen. During the last five years, improved methods of fabricating optical fibers have led to a reduction in fiberscope diameter and an increase in the number of fibers, which in turn has increased resolution. Optical fibers can also be used to deliver laser light. By use of laser beams, physicians can perform surgery inside the body, sometimes eliminating the need of invasive procedures in which healthy tissue must be cut through to reach the site of disease. Many of these procedures do not require anesthesia and can be performed in a physician's office. These techniques have reduced the risk and the cost of medical care.
2. The author uses the expression "have opened a window" to indicate that the use optical fibers .

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Cultural beliefs differ as to whether directness or indirectness is considered positive.  In the mainstream American culture, the ideal (1) ____ of communication includes being direct rather than indirect (“ideal” here means that the culture values this style, although not everyone speaks directly). There are several expressions in English (2) ____ emphasize the importance of being direct: “Get to the point! Don’t beat around the bush! Let’s get down to business!” These sayings all indicate the importance of dealing directly with issues rather than (3) ____ them. One way to determine whether a culture favors a direct or indirect style in communication is to find out how the people in that culture express disagreement or how they say, “No”. In Japan, there are at least fifteen ways of saying “No”, without actually saying the word. Similarly, in Japan, it would be (4) ____ rude to say directly “I disagree with you” or “You’re wrong”.  Many Americans believe that “honesty is the best policy” and their communication style reflects this. Honesty and directness in communication are strongly related. It is not a (5) ____, then, to find out that cultural groups misjudge each other based on different beliefs about directness and honesty in communication

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Although the “lie detectors” are being used by governments, police departments, and businesses that all want guaranteed ways of detecting the truth, the results are not always accurate. Lie detectors are properly called emotion detectors, for their aim is to measure bodily changes that contradict what a person says. The polygraph machine records changes in heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, and the electrical activity of the skin (galvanic skin response, or GSR). In the first part of the polygraph test, you are electronically connected to the machine and asked a few neutral questions (“What is your name?”, “Where do you live?”). Your physical reactions serve as the standard (baseline) for evaluating what comes next. Then you are asked a few critical questions among the neutral ones (“When did you rob the bank?”). The assumption is that if you are guilty, your body will reveal the truth, even if you try to deny it. Your heart rate, respiration, and GSR will change abruptly as you respond to the incriminating questions. That is the theory; but psychologists have found that lie detectors are simply not reliable. Since most physical changes are the same across all emotions, machines cannot tell whether you are feeling guilty, angry, nervous, thrilled, or revved up form an exciting day. Innocent people may be tense and nervous about the whole procedure. They may react physiologically to a certain word (“bank”) not because they robbed it, but because they recently bounced a check. In either case the machine will record a “lie”. The reverse mistake is also common. Some practiced liars can lie without flinching, and others learn to beat the machine by tensing muscles or thinking about an exciting experience during neutral questions
5. The word “it” in paragraph 1 refers to ______

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Are you preparing for a big test? If so, you may want to play some basketball in between hitting the books. Based on information they have collected over the years, researchers have seen an apparent connection between exercise and brain development. Judy Cameron, a researcher at Oregon Health and Science University, studies brain development. According to her research, it seems that exercise can make blood vessels, including those in the brain, stronger and more fully developed. Cameron claims this allows people who exercise to concentrate better. She says, “While we already know that exercise is good for the heart, exercise can literally cause physical changes in the brain.” The effects of exercise on brain development can even be seen in babies. Babies who do things that require a lot of movement and physical activity show greater brain development than babies who are less physically active. With babies, even a little movement can show big results. Margaret Barnes, a pediatrician, believes in the importance of exercise. She thinks that many learning disabilities children have in elementary school or high school can be traced back to a lack of movement as babies. “Babies need movement that stimulates their five senses,” says Barnes. “They need to establish a connection between motion and memory. In this way, as they get older, children will begin to associate physical activity with higher learning.” The benefits of exercise on the brain are not just for babies. Older people can beef up their brains by working out as well. Researchers at Cornell University studied a group of seniors ranging in age from seventy to seventy-nine. Their study showed a short-term memory increase of up to forty percent after exercising just three hours a week. The exercise does not have to be very difficult, but it does have to increase the heart rate. Also, just like the motion for infants, exercise for older people should involve some complexity. Learning some new skills or motions, such as with yoga or tai-chi, helps open up memory paths in the brain that may not have been used for a long time  
2. What does the word “those” in paragraph 1 refer to?

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Thirty years after ghostwriting Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal, Tony Schwartz described the experience as like putting lipstick on a pig. He felt a “deep sense of remorse” at helping bring the man who would become president gain wider attention. This week, the writer Natalie Beach joined the grand tradition of ghostwriters speaking out about their subjects, with a deeply intimate essay in the Cut laying out how she used to ghost everything for her former friend and controversial “influencer” Caroline Calloway: from Instagram captions to the aborted book that once attracted a $375,000 (£300,000) publishing deal, until their relationship broke down irretrievably. Beach’s account says that after the pair put the book proposal together, the influencer felt unable to write it. Beach says she “bought us time with the publishers by writing a quarter of the manuscript by myself”. As a ghostwriter himself, Crofts questions the ethics of speaking out about his subjects’ lives. “I do think Tony Schwartz shouldn’t have come out and said anything about Trump, because you’ve taken the money. It’s like a lawyer: if you find that the person you’re representing is a murderer you can’t then go around bewailing the fact you defended them – that was your job,” he said. “But I think he made Trump, I don’t think Trump would be president if he hadn’t written that book for him, because he’d never have got The Apprentice without the book, and the presidency without The Apprentice. So it must be weighing heavily on his conscience.”  Ghostwriters must be good at several things – being amenable to being steered by a subject, while also being firm enough to guide them away from tangents and uninteresting details. But the most important thing in ghostwriting, says Crofts, is absence of ego. “Which is maybe what went wrong [with Calloway] – Natalie isn’t a born ghost, she’s a writer herself. She was really young and well out of her depth, completely swamped by this girl’s flamboyance,” he says. “Ghostwriters do attract a lot of fantasists and people who have ideas way above the likelihood of success. They always think their story is fantastically interesting and going to be a bestseller. You’re always dealing with people with larger-than-life egos, so there’s always a danger you’re going to run up against someone who is impossible to manage.”  
4. The word “it” in paragraph 2 refers to _____