It is _________ funniest book that I have ever read.

Choose the word(s) CLOSEST in meaning to the folllowing word(s). " Life expectancy"

Today large sums of money go into the search for treatments for a whole range of diseases. Three hundred years ago, when European explorers returned from distant lands with unfamiliar substances they’d found there, the problem was how to (i) _____ the illnesses for which these new imports could possibly be a cure. When the brown chocolate bean was first (ii) _____  into Britain from Mexico, it was thought to have medicinal qualities. Sir Hans Sloane was the man who is said to have (iii) _____  with the idea of mixing the powdered bean with milk. Sloane was an important figure in eighteenth-century London, a landowner whose name lives on in some of the city’s most fashionable streets and squares. Less appreciated is his contribution to the beginning of a national addiction; the (iv) _____ Briton gets through eight kilograms of chocolate a year, a level of consumption exceeded only by the Swiss. Today, when almost every pleasure is regarded as addictive, the name ‘chocoholics” is given to people who can’t get enough of the stuff. (v) _____ of its fat and sugar content, chocolate is usually an enemy of slender elegance.

(ii)_______

Alex is in Boston studying for _____ MBA. 

 Carol's father works as _____ electrician. 

People love to complain. Moaning to friends can be a source of relief from the stresses and strains of work, study or relationships. But when it comes to protesting to a retailer about faulty good and services, many of US find we don’t have nerve and choose to (i) _____ in silence. By the time we do eventually summon up the courage to make our point, we have generally already allowed the problem to get to us, and we are angry. In this stale, we can all too (ii) _____ become aggressive, gearing up for battle and turning what should be a rational discussion into a conflict. To complain effectively, you need to be specific about your problem and communicate it clearly using words which are objective and fair. (iii) _____ over the top with emotional language and unreasonable claims will get you nowhere.

Good negotiators tend to be calm and logical. They start by explaining situation and stating their requirements clearly, without threat. Most complains prompt a defensive (iv) _____ from the other person, but by being reasonable yourself, you stand more chance of achieving the positive (v) _____ you want.

(iii)_______

Stories about how people somehow know when they are being watched have been going around for years. However, lew (i) _______ have been made to investigate the phenomenon scientifically. Now, with the completion of the largest ever study of the so-called staring effect, there is impressive evidence that this is a recognizable and genuine sixth sense. The study involved hundreds of children. For the experiments, they sat with their eyes covered and with their backs to other children, who were told to either stare at them or look away. The results consistently showed that the children who could not see were able to (ii) _______ when they were being stared at. In a total of 18,000 trials (iii) _______ worldwide, the children correctly sensed when they were being watched almost 70% of the time. The experiment was repeated with the added precaution of putting the children who were being watched outside the room, separated from the starers by the windows. This was done just in case there was some (iv) _______ going on, with the children telling each other whether they were looking or not. This prevented the possibility of sounds being transmitted between the children. The results, though less impressive, were more or less the same. Dr. Sheldrake, the biologist who designed the study, believes that the results are (v) _______ enough to find out through further experiments precisely how the staring effect might actually come about.

(i)_______

What does an elephant eat on typical day? Layang – Layang, an elephant at London Zoo, has a good appetite. Her keeper describes what she ate yesterday. “Breakfast (i) _____ of a kilo of dog biscuits mixed with 750g of dried horse food with extra vitamins, hay, bread, bananas apples, oranges, potatoes, carrots and cabbage. Zoo food is always of a (ii) _____standard! “During the morning, the daily supply of branches is delivered. Layang -Layang is particularly fond of cherry and apple, so she was given four big (iii) _____. She chewed the twiggy bits and used the rest as toys. Lunch was another kilo of dog biscuits, more bread, vegetables and fruit. Most of this comes from local supermarkets who give us stock that otherwise they would (iv) _____. After lunch she ate more branches. We have to make sure she doesn’t run out of these. Some visitors to the zoo aren’t very sensible and feed laying- Layang unsuitable things. If she swallows paper and plastic, her stomach hurts. “Supper was another kilo of dog biscuits, 750g of dried horse food, 350g of linseed oil to (v) _____ healthy skin and hair and 500g of vitamin E. Layang-Layang cats a lot but she never puts onweight. “If she feels like a snack during the night, Layang-Layang has some hay and more branches.”

(i)______

Earthquakes are amongst the most destructive natural disasters. They usually (i) _____ without any warning and result in a great (ii) _____ of life and an enormous demolition of buildings. Additionally, they may cause devastating landslides or create gigantic tidal waves which, in fact, are colossal walls of water smashing into seashores with such force that they are (iii) _____ of destroying coastal cities.

However, the vast majority of fatalities and serious injuries come about when buildings collapse. Most frequently, the earthquake lasts 30 to 60 seconds, so usually there is no time to avert the mortal (iv) _____ once the shaking starts. The savage forces of an earthquake trigger (v) _____ a complex chain reaction in the building structure when it is shaken, lifted, pushed or pulled. A building’s height, its shape and construction materials are the most significant factors deciding about the survival or collapse of the structure and, consequently, about the life or death of its inhabitants.

(v)_______

 She always said that when she grew up she wanted to be _________. 

Carefully conducted studies that have followed the children of working mothers have not been able to shown any long-term problems, compared with children of working mothers stayed at home. My personal (i) _______  is that mothers should be allowed to work if they wish. Whether we like it or not, there a number of mothers who just have to work. There are those who have invested such a big part of their lives in establishing a career that they cannot expect to see it lost. Then there are many who must work out of pure economic necessity. Many mothers are not (ii) _______ out to be full-time parents. After a few months at home with a much loved infant, they feel trapped and isolated. There are a number of options when it refers to choosing childcare. These range from child minders and nannies through to Granny or the kind lady (iii) _______ the street. In reality, however, many parents don’t have any choice; they have to accept anything they can get. Be prepared! No matter how good the childcare may be, some children are going to protest wildly if they are left. This is a (iv) _______ normal stage of child development.Babies separate well in the first six months, but soon after that, they start to get a crush on Mum and close family members. Make sure that in first week, you allow plenty of time to help your child settle in. All children are different. Some are independent, while others are more attached to their mothers. Remember that if you want to do the best for your children, it’s not the quantity of time you spend with them, it’s the (v) _______ that matters.

(iv)_____-

Today the police are able to make use of all kinds of scientific and technological achievements in their fight against crime. This was not always the (i) _______ , however. In the early days of the British police force, during the nineteenth century, the police office’s whistle was his main way of calling for help if he got into (ii) _______ . Gradually, in the twentieth century, things (iii) _______ _ to improve.

Those police officers who were lucky enough to be given a patrol car rather than a bicycle could also took (iv) _______ of radio communications. In 1903, a new system for identifying people by their fingerprints was discovered. (v) _______ it soon proved to be one of the most significant developments in crime investigation, a seareh of the national fingerprint collection could take days, if not weeks, until computers were introduced in the 1970s.

(v)_________

In the future, people could live in “smart homes” that will tell them when to wake up or remind them to (i) _____  the front door. These homes will be equipped with electronic sensors connected to a computer that will remind people to take their medicine or turn off the oven. This computerized system, with about thirty sensors will be (ii) _____ to talk and negotiate with the tenant. It will also have the ability to (iii)  out if it is doing something that might be harmful. The aim of the “smart home” is to allow the elderly to live independently in their own homes for as long as possible, instead of moving into nursing homes. The number of people living into their 80s is expected to increase dramatically in the next few decades. As a result, there will probably be a great demand for these homes, which will enable the elderly to keep their independence and privacy. In addition to reminding them about things they may have forgotten to do, the system would contact a volunteer in (iv) _____ of illness or danger. At the moment a bioengineer at Brunei University near London is working with several housing associations, communication companies and charities in order to make this (v)     _____ home a reality. Although he is planning to put up new homes and apartments with the system, he says that it would also be possible to change existing homes, too.

(iv)______-

Sainsbury’s, one of Britain’s leading supermarkets, are deeply concerned about (i) _____  out theirresponsibilities regarding the environment. They claim that many of their customers want to buy products that don’t have a negative environmental (ii) _____. Due to this, more than 50 per cent of their own­ brand products are environmentally friendly. Furthermore, Sainsbury’s have been using recycled cardboard packaging for years on such things as breakfast cereals and biscuits. Many of their stores also offer customers the opportunity to recycle their own packaging. They have (iii) _____ them with special recycling bins for paper, glass and even shoes. These bins are supplied by the local authority and are in display at the front of most major stores. (iv) _____ from many other environmental projects which they are involved in, Sainsbury’s also encourage their customers not to use plastic carrier bags, with their Bag for life and Penny Back offers. In the first scheme, the orange reusable Bag for life bags cost lOp, and when they wear out, customers can take them back to the store and (v) _____ a free bag in return. In the second scheme, customers get a penny back for every plastic carrier bag they reuse. Via this second scheme, they gave 640,000 penny back to customers last year, of which more than half ended up in Sainsbury’s charity boxes.

(v)______

Can you imagine what life would be like if there were no telephone? You could not call up your friends on the phone and talk to them. If fire (i) _______   out in your house you could not call the fire department. If somebody was sick, you could not call a doctor. In our daily life, we need to (ii) _______ with one another. We need do this mostly by speaking to other people and listening to what they have to say to us, and when you are close (iii) _______ them you can do this very easily. However, our voices will not travel very far even when we shout. The man who made this possible was Alexander Graham Bell, a Scotsman, bom in Edinburgh in 1847. Bell, a teacher of visible speech who later moved to Canada, (iv) _______ all his spare time experimenting. So enthusiastic was he in his researeh for a means of sending speech by electricity that he left much time for his day – to – day work and at one lime was (v) _______ penniless.

(iii)______-

It is difficult to imagine a world without tomatoes. High in the Andes mountain of modern-day Peru, the local inhabitants have ben cultivating and eating tomatoes since prehistoric times, but the food has only become (i) _____ in the rest of the world relatively recently. These days, the bright red fruit plays an important role in the cooking of many cultures and is key ingredient in many types of fast food, (ii) _____ both taste and colour to dishes that otherwise would be rather ordinary. The tomato belongs to the nightshade family of plants, many members of which are poisonous. When they were first imported into North America, therefore, tomatoes were viewed with (iii) _____ and people tended to use them as table decorations rather than as food. In Europe, the tomato was first grown in Italy in 1555, although it wasn’t combined with pasta until much later. The first recipe for tomato ketchup dated from 1727 and in the 1800s, tomatoes began to be used more (iv) _____ in sauces and soups. These days, as well as tasting good, tomatoes are known to contain substances which are good lor our heath. Nutritionists (v) _____ out, however, that many processed tomato products also contain additives such as salt and sugar which can reduce the beneficial effects of the fruit.

(v)_______

These flowers only come…………at night 

There’s extensive historical evidence that our ancestors may have witnessed a massive invasion of Unidentified Flying Objects encroaching on their territories. These extraterrestrials are (i) _______ to have come into touch with the ancient earthly populations and helped them erect numerous magnificent structures or even establish glamorous empires. However, the present – day fascination with UFO was only instigated by the first widely (ii) _______ American sighting in Idaho in 1947. Since that time, countless other close encounters have been reported both by highly credible witnesses such as top – class pilots and less credible ones such as ordinary civilians. Thousands of people around the world maintain having come (iii) _______ to the visitors from outer space or to have been abducted for a scientific study inside their flying saucers. Although most of theseaccounts have been dismissed as fantasy or hallucinations, there’s (iv) _______ criticism from the public and media for ignoring the subject for too long. To many people, rejecting even the most inexplicable sightings or UFO encounters as luminous artificial objects, natural phenomena like auroras or even as meteorological balloons and satellites seems to be an irresponsible approach. Most of us would prefer to believe that there extraterrestrial guests are arriving from some remote galaxies to establish a peaceful relationship and possibly give us a fair warning against the consequences of our wasteful lifestyles. Yet, there’s another theory (v) _______ that the visitors’ attitude towards mankind isn’t so conciliatoryas the terrestrial populations. Doubtless, flying saucers still continue to be observed in many places of the world, triggering the imagination of UFO – maniacs. But, a large percentage of such sightings will remain beyond explanation until more convincing evidence is supplied by the true experts.

(v)______-

I would have been here sooner but the rain kept me ......

Since it’s important, would you attend ………..that matter right away? 

Sainsbury’s, one of Britain’s leading supermarkets, are deeply concerned about (i) _____  out theirresponsibilities regarding the environment. They claim that many of their customers want to buy products that don’t have a negative environmental (ii) _____. Due to this, more than 50 per cent of their own­ brand products are environmentally friendly. Furthermore, Sainsbury’s have been using recycled cardboard packaging for years on such things as breakfast cereals and biscuits. Many of their stores also offer customers the opportunity to recycle their own packaging. They have (iii) _____ them with special recycling bins for paper, glass and even shoes. These bins are supplied by the local authority and are in display at the front of most major stores. (iv) _____ from many other environmental projects which they are involved in, Sainsbury’s also encourage their customers not to use plastic carrier bags, with their Bag for life and Penny Back offers. In the first scheme, the orange reusable Bag for life bags cost lOp, and when they wear out, customers can take them back to the store and (v) _____ a free bag in return. In the second scheme, customers get a penny back for every plastic carrier bag they reuse. Via this second scheme, they gave 640,000 penny back to customers last year, of which more than half ended up in Sainsbury’s charity boxes.

(i)______