Mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the word or phrase that is CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined part in each of the following questions.
There has been a significant increase in the number of crimes reported this year

 Choose the best answer:
'Would you mind if I brought a friend to the party?' said Peter.

MANCHESTER (10 April) – Sparkle Pro Enterprises, a leading Belgium-based ---143--- of cleaning products, is expanding its territory. The company has just opened its first plant in the United States, in Indianapolis. For more than forty years, Sparkle Pro has been making and distributing household and industrial cleaners to a wide range of vendors, including retail outlets and hotel chains, throughout Europe. ---144---.
The Indianapolis facility will require the company to hire 300 additional employees ---145--- the end of this year in order for it to achieve full capacity. According to Egan Bretz, the new director of North American operations, Sparkle Pro is confident that it will be able to train a large number of personnel quickly. Mr. Bretz expects no significant ---146--- in meeting these needs.

143....................

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 :
Of the many sports that people play, most have evolved over time from simpler games or a combination of different games. Basketball is different in this (1)________ because it was a game specifically invented to be an indoor sport. Its purpose was not to be just fun and challenging. (2)_________, it was invented fortrack and field athletes to use in order to stay in shape during the winter, while also being relatively safe to play. The person who made up the game was a physical education teacher at a school in Springfield, Massachusetts named Dr. James Naismith. It only took Naismith two weeks to come (3)__________ the game. He took a basket that had originally held peaches and nailed it high up on the walls of a gymnasium. The players then used a soccer ball and to get it in the basket while being blocked by other players. Naismith’s reason for putting the basket high up on the wall came from his (4)_________ that more injuries in other games happened near where a goal was. In this case, the goal was the basket, so he believed the higher up it was, the safer the players would be. Eventually, the game progress like so many other sports did, and it became quite popular. A second basket was added, rules of play were (5)_________, and the sport of basketball as we know today was born

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
Will Shortz: Puzzle Maker
When you ask a child what they would like to be when they grow up, common responses might include firefighter, pilot, doctor, or athlete. But those jobs don’t capture the attention of all kids. Take Will Shortz, for example. In eighth grade, at the age of 14, Shortz had to write an essay about what he wanted to do with his life. He wrote about his desire to become a puzzle maker – someone who creates games and puzzles, such as sudoku or crossword puzzles. That same year, he sold his first puzzle to the magazine Venture. By the age of 16, Shortz was regularly contributing puzzles to magazines. In college, Shortz found that there was no traditional way to study puzzles or become a puzzle maker. There were no classes offered on puzzles. Fortunately, after becoming bored with his economics studies, Shortz learned that his university offered a special programme that allowed students to suggest and create unique fields of study. After creating and completing two courses on word and math puzzles, Shortz switched his major to enigmatology – the study of puzzles. Shortz and his professors then created new classes that explored all aspects of puzzle-making. He studied the history, construction, and psychology of puzzles, mostly on his own. Because there were no professors of enigmatology, Shortz realized that he probably was the only student at his university to know more about his field than any of his professors. He did well in school, but upon graduating, Shortz did not know how to get a job creating puzzles. For summer work, he joined the magazine Penny Press, where he realized that he could find work as a puzzle editor. Shortz then found a job creating and editing puzzles for Games magazine. This seemed like a dream job because he could create new kinds of puzzles and be surrounded by great puzzle makers. After 15 years at Games, Shortz accepted a position as the editor of The New York Times’ crossword puzzle. When he first joined, the newspaper’s crossword puzzle was seen as very difficult, and few readers could complete it. Shortz made fundamental changes, such as including everyday language in the clues and answers so that many more people could enjoy it. Today, he credited with making the crossword appealing to a wider audience. Some of Shortz’s most famous puzzles have related to the news for that day, such as the name of the winning president on Election Day, and a love-themed puzzle on Valentine’s Day.
7. At The New York Times, Will Shortz ________

Choose the best answer:
It was ___________easy for him to learn baseball because he had been a cricket player.

Choose the best answer:
I observed a blue car ...................... very fast towards the motorway.

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
GIL DURDIN Director
Newline Shopping Center
Dear Mr. Durdin,
In high-traffic establishments such as yours, floors are used around the clock as deliverymen bring goods and people come and go into the building. Given the (1)------- use, the floors must be very durable to remain usable over the years. To (2)------- this matter, Floorbest, Inc. has designed a special protective floor system specially for supermarkets and commercial centers like yours. We are the speediest installer in your region! After you make an order, a Floorbest installer will visit your location within two business days to take the exact specifications for your business. Installation of the new flooring system (3)------- within four weeks. To request a free estimate, please call today at 373-4555.
CLYDE PARKER Manager Floorbest, Inc

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
World Wide Web (WWW), computer-based (1) _______ of information resources that combines text and multimedia. The information on the World Wide Web can be accessed and searched through the (2) _______, a global computer network. The World Wide Web is often (3) _______ to simply as “the Web.” The Web started to become a (4) _______ resource after 1993 when the first widely distributed browser provided a convenient way to (5) _______ a variety of information on the Internet

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
What Is Heritage Protection?
Heritage is traditional beliefs, customs, and culture. We use the word “heritage” in many different ways. People talk about their family’s heritage, their city’s heritage, and their country’s heritage. Here are some examples of heritage. During Chinese New Year, people in China give red envelopes. That is part of Chinese heritage. Every year in the American city New Orleans, there is a huge party called Mardi Gras. That is a part of New Orleans’ heritage. Heritage can also be more private and personal. If your family has a big dinner every Sunday night, that’s part of your family’s heritage. Today, heritage is changing. The Internet connects people around the world. In many ways, this is a good thing, because we can learn about the heritage of other countries, and we can show our own heritage to the world. However, some people worry that traditional heritage is disappearing. Think about it. In many ways, countries are becoming more and more alike. In just about every country around the world, you can find McDonald’s, Nike shoes, Starbucks coffee, and American films. Some people think this is a good change, but others don’t like it. You can decide whether or not you think it is a good thing. However, almost everyone wants to protect their traditional heritage, and sometimes this is hard. For example, when a new McDonald’s opens in your town, a traditional restaurant might have to close. This is why heritage protection is so important. Heritage protection is a simple idea. It means keeping your country’s or your city’s heritage alive. People do this in many ways. The biggest part of heritage protection is probably preserving old buildings. A few other examples of heritage protection are making sure your children speak your traditional language, and teaching your heritage to children. The world is changing very fast. This change brings a lot of good things. But as the world is changing, it is important to remember the heritage of our parents and our grandparents.
6. The word “_beliefs_” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to _________

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that is closest in meaning to each of the following questions:
Alison bought the big house because she wanted to open a hotel

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
Microtrends: It’s a Small World After All
In today’s world, it seems like everyone is focused on “the big picture”. However, coming up with large-scale solutions is not always what is needed. Sometimes it pays to think small – and that is exactly what many people are doing these days. By thinking small, lots of big minds have created some pretty amazing things. One example of this is microloans. Microloans are tiny loans, in some cases just a few dollars, which are available to people in developing countries. Although this may not seem like a lot of money, microloans can help workers to escape poverty and start their own businesses. The person behind the modern microloan movement is a Bangladeshi man named Muhammad Yunus. He started the project in the 1970s by offering villagers low-interest loans using his own money. Yunus wanted to offer poor people access to small loans so they wouldn’t be forced to turn to gangsters if they needed funds. In 1983, he founded the Grameen Bank and soon after, similar organizations started popping up around the globe. Although there are still some issues with microloans, at the very least they offer everyone the potential of becoming an entrepreneur. For most of the 20th century, companies required large sums of money and plenty of manpower to compete at the highest levels. In the late 1990s, the Internet changed this and many microenterprises came about. Microenterprises are smaller companies that employ less than 10 people and only require small sums of money to start. Being small offers lots of flexibility to these companies as they can react more quickly than corporate giants when a business opportunity arises. Many technology companies that produce mobile apps and websites fall into this category. Keep in mind that having a small staff doesn’t mean small profits, as microenterprises can earn hundreds of millions of dollars per year. Thinking small can also lead to a tremendous improvement in quality. One example of this is microbreweries, which are smaller-sized breweries that produce far less beer than traditional breweries. Since microbreweries don’t have to target large markets and make millions of sales to stay open, they can monitor the brewing process carefully to make sure everything is perfect. In addition, microbreweries can experiment with unique flavours that many traditional brewers would shy away from. So the next time you are asked to “think big”, remember that good things may also come in small packages.
5. The type of businesses which is most interested in microloans may be _________

Rewrite sentences without changing the meaning
He likes to listen to pop music than to watch TV after school.

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
The Greatest Light Show on the Earth
If you are a fan of amazing visual displays, planetariums around the world offer some entertaining laser-light shows that are often accompanied by popular music. Yet if you want to see the world’s greatest light show, you won’t be able to catch it indoors. Instead, you will have to head to one of the Poles. In certain spots, you will be treated to colourful streaks of light dancing across the sky. This incredible display is the aurora borealis, and every year people from all corners of the globe flock to witness its wonders firsthand. The Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, got its official name in 1621. The name combines the name of the Roman goddess of the dawn, Aurora, and the Roman god of the north wind, Boreas. In ancient times, the aurora completely baffled people’s minds, as science was far more primitive than it is today. Nevertheless, they created many myths to explain them. The Vikings believed the lights were the reflection of dead maidens. The Scots thought they were supernatural beings battling in heaven. Meanwhile, Eskimos thought that the lights were dead souls, and when the colours changed, it was their attempt to contact living friends and relatives. It was not until 2008 that a team of scientists from ULCA finally concluded with certainty what the true cause of these dancing light is. The process begins when solar winds carry charged particles from the Sun through space and into the Earth’s atmosphere. When these charged particles enter the Earth’s atmosphere, they are magnetically attracted to the Earth’s poles. During their journey to these points, they come in contact with nitrogen and oxygen atoms in the sky. These collisions are what cause the aurora. The heights at which the collisions occur determine the colours of the individual lights. For example, when the solar winds collide with nitrogen at least than 96 kilometres above the Earth’s surface, the lights will be blue. If the same collision occurs above 96 kilometres, however, the light will be purple. Or, if the solar wind particles collide with oxygen, the colours produced will be either red or green. However, merely understanding how the aurora works does not do this phenomena justice. To truly appreciate the full splendor of the aurora, you will have to see this Natural Wonder of the World in person.
4. The word “baffled” in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to _________.

Choose the best answer:
The comedy was so interesting that all ____________ clapped their hands.

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:
People travel for a lot of reasons: Some tourists go to see battlefields or religious shrines. Others are looking for culture, or simply want to have their pictures taken in front of famous places. But most European tourists are looking for a sunny beach to lie on.

Northern Europeans are willing to pay a lot of money and put up with a lot of inconveniences for the sun because they have so little of it. Residents of cities like London, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam spend a tot of their winter in the dark because the days are so short, and much of the rest of the year in the rain. This is the reason why the Mediterranean has always attracted them. Every summer, more than 25 million people travel to Mediterranean resorts and beaches for their vacation. They all come for the same reason, sun!

The huge crowds mean lots of money for the economies of Mediterranean countries. Italy’s 30,000 hotels are booked solid every summer. And 13 million people camp out on French beaches, parks and roadsides. Spain’s long sandy coastline attracts more people than anywhere else. 37 million tourists visit yearly, or one tourist for every person living in Spain.

But there are signs that the area is getting more tourists than it can handle. The Mediterranean is already one of the most polluted seas on earth. And with increased tourism, it’s getting worse. The French can’t figure out what to do with all the garbage left by campers around St. Tropez. And in many places, swimming is dangerous because of pollution.

None of this, however, is spoiling anyone’s fun. The Mediterranean gets more popular every year with tourists. Obviously, they don’t go there for clean water and solitude. They tolerate traffic jams and seem to like crowded beaches. They don’t even mind the pollution. No matter how dirty the water is, the coastline still looks beautiful. And as long as the sun shines, it’s still better than sitting in the cold rain in Berlin, London, or Oslo.

The writer seems to imply that Europeans travel mostly for the reason that     .

You can meet Mr. Pike, who is ____ behalf _____ the university to solve the problems of foreign students.

(232)_____

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:
Fish that live on the sea bottom benefit by being flat and hugging the contours. There are two very differcent types of flatfish and they have evolved in very separate ways. The skates ad rays, relatives of the rharks, have become flat in what might be called the obivious way. Their bodies have grown out sideways to form grat “wings”. They look as though they have been flattened but have remained symmetrical and “the right way up”. Conversely, fish such sas plaice, sole, and halibut have become flat in a different way. There are bony fish which have a marked tendency to be flattened in a vertical direction; they are much “taller” than they are wide. They use their whole, vertically flattened bodies as swimming surfaces, which undulat through the water as they move. Therefore, when their ancestors migrate to the seabed, they lay on one side than on their bellies. However, this raises the problem that one eye was always looking down into the sand and was effectively useless – In evolution this problem was soleved by the lower eye “moving” around the other side. We see this process off moving around enacted in the development of every young bony flatfish. It starts life swimming near the surface, and is symmetrical and vertically flattened, but then the skull starts to grow in a strange asymmetrical twisted fashion,, so that one eye, for instance the left, moves over the top of the head upwards, an old Picasso – like vision. Incidentally, some species of 20 flatfish settle on the right side, others on left, and others on either side.

The author mentions skates and rays as examples of fish that     .

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
Voluntary work helps foster independence and imparts the ability to deal with different situations, often simulaneously, thus teaching people how to (1)____ their way through different systems. It therefore brings people into touch with the real worls; and, hence, equips them for the future. Initially, young adults in their late teens might not seem to have the expertise or knowledge to impart to others that say a teacher or an agriculturalist or a nurse would have, (2)____ they do have many skills that can help others. And in the absence of any particular talent, their energy and enthusiasm can be harnessed for the benefit (3) ____ their fellow human beings, and ultimately themselves. From all this, the gain to any community no matter how many voluntees are involved is (4)_____ Employers will generally look favorably on people (5)_____ have shown an ability to work as part of a team. It demonstrates a willingness to learn and an independent spirit, which would be desirable qualities in any employee.

The concept of urban agriculture may conjure up images of rooftop, backyard or community gardens scattered among downtown city streets and surrounding neighborhoods. But in the Seattle area, and within and beyond the Puget Sound region, it means a great deal more. "Urban agriculture doesn't necessarily equate to production that occurs only in a metropolitan urban area, "says Jason Niebler, who directs the Sustainable Agriculture Education (SAgE) initiative at Seattle Central Community College. "It means we are providing for growing population food needs from surrounding rural landscapes, as well as from the core urban landscape."

Picture a series of concentric circles, with an urban core that produces some food at varying capacities, surrounded by a series of outlying rings of small farms that become increasingly more rural with distance. The hope is that such land use planning, from the inner core to the outer rings, will encourage local ecologically sound sustainable food production. This, in turn, will create local jobs and decrease reliance on distant food products that originate from petroleum-intensive large scale farms.

That's the idea behind SAgE, believed to be the nation's first metropolitan-based community college sustainable agriculture program that emphasizes farming practices across diverse landscape types from urban centers to surrounding rural environs. "It's small scale agriculture with an urban focus" Niebler says. "Any urban population, large or small, can practice sustainable agriculture, improve food security and protect the environment, which ultimately results in resilient food systems and communities."

SAgE is a part of National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Program, which is providing the project with $157,375 over two years. ATE's goal is to support projects that strengthen the skills of technicians who work in industries regarded as vital to the national's prosperity and security. The support largely goes to community colleges that work in partnership with universities, secondary schools, businesses and industries, as well as government agencies, which design and implement model workforce initiatives.

The SAgE project focuses on the environmental, socioeconomic, political and cultural issues related to sustainable food systems, within Puget Sound watersheds through student and community education and research, and technological innovation. The curriculum offers courses that cover such issues as agricultural ecology, urban food systems, food politics and ethics, soil science, sustainable food production and technology, the integration of food and forests, and career opportunities.

"We've created a curriculum that is fundamental in nature, addressing the principles of sustainable agriculture and what a food system is - how it functions both locally and globally," Niebler says. "These courses are challenging, robust and inspirational. One of the really wonderful things about them is that we offer service learning opportunities, where students volunteer a portion of their time to working with local partner organizations. They can do a research project, or a service learning option. The ideal would be to prompt students into careers that involve sustainable practices in an urban agriculture setting."

Adapted from "Promoting Sustainable Agriculture" by Mariene Cimons

In Niebler's opinion, the courses offered by the SAgE project are________.

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 oceans of the world are precious because of (1)_________ they do for all life on the Earth. They help regulate the temperature of the planet and they are home to a myriad of sea creatures – many of which we depend on (2)________ sources of food. However, due to our consumption and improper disposal of plastic items, human beings have created a swirling mess of garbage. The one located in the Pacific now known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and it is not a pretty sight. In an ideal world, all of the plastic would be recycled and there would be zero waste. This is not the case, however, and a huge amount of the plastic ends up making its (3)_________ to our oceans due to carelessness. (4)__________ the plastic is part of rain runoff coming from a landfill or just a thoughtless discard of a piece of plastic onto the ground, if it ends up in the Pacific Ocean, it will eventually become part of the disgusting patch of garbage. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch may be impossible to (5)__________ but it is doing a lot of harm to sea life. If anything, we can do our best to avoid over-using plastic