Mary: “Would you mind if I use your computer for an hour?” Tony:"_____”

(101)______

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
The custom of paying a bride price before marriage is still a well-established part of many African cultures. In paying a bride price, the family of the groom must provide payment to the family of the bride before the marriage is allowed. The bride price can vary greatly from culture to culture in Africa. In the Zulu and Swazi tribes of southern Africa, the bride price often takes the form of cattle. In Western African, kola nuts, shells, and other goods are often used for the payment of the bride price. The actual payment of money sometimes takes place, but the payment of goods is more frequent. The amount of paid in a bride price can also vary. In modern times, the bride price is occasionally quite small and its value is mainly symbolic. However, the bride price can still be quite high, especially among prominent or highly traditional families.There are a number of justifications used to explain the payment of bride price. The first is that the bride price represents an acknowledgement of the expense the bride's family has gone in order to raise her and bring her up as a suitable bride for the groom. It also represents payment for the loss of a family member, since the bride will officially become a member of her husband's family and will leave her own. On a deeper level the bride price represents payment for the fact that the bride will bring children into the family of the groom, thereby increasing the wealth of the family. This concept is reinforced by the fact that the bride price must often be returned if the bride fails to bear children.The payment of the bride price has quite a number of effects on African society. First, the payment of bride price acts to increase the stability of African family structures. Sons are dependent on their fathers and older relatives to help them pay the bride price of their wives, and this generally leads to greater levels of obedience and respect. The negotiations between the two families concerning the bride price allow the parents and other family members to meet and get to know one another before the marriage. Finally, since the bride price must often be repaid in case of divorce, the bride's family often works to make sure that any marital problems are solved quickly. Bride prices also work as a system of wealth distribution in African cultures. Wealthier families can afford to support the marriage of their son, and thus their wealth is transferred to other families.Not all of the effects of bride price are so positive, however. One major disadvantage to the system of bride price is that women are often married to men much older than themselves. In many African cultures, the typical age for marriage amongst women is still quite young, lower than in many cases. Yet few men at this age would have the ability to raise the bride price to marry. Thus there is sometimes a significant age gap between husbands and wives. This cuts short the education of many young women. In addition, the husband, being far older, may die whilst the wife is still relatively young, leaving her with the burden of raising the children alone.
8. Why are women often married to older men, according to the passage?

Choose the best answer:
After working hard for hours, the farmers sat down and ___________ a short rest.

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
Danger!
If you are walking through the woods and you see a bear, you know that you are in danger. The same is true if you see a snake or a beehive. However, these aren’t the only dangerous things in nature. When you are having a good time outside, you also need to be careful of plants. In some ways, plants are more dangerous than animals. This is because dangerous plants often look normal. Sometimes they even look pretty. If you try to touch one of these nice-looking plants, you could be in a lot of trouble. Take the angel’s trumpet flower, for example. This beautiful white flower is full of poison. A person who touches it can get headaches, confusion, and a very fast heartbeat. Very often, the poison can kill you. All parts of the angel’s trumpets are poisonous, but the most dangerous parts are the seeds and leaves. Here is another dangerous and somewhat creepy plant: doll’s eyes. This plant got its name because its berries look just like doll’s eyes. The berries from these plants can stop a person’s heart. In fact, most berries that you see in nature are poisonous. You should never eat wild berries that you find when you are outside. Some plants can sting you. Stinging needles don’t look dangerous, but they have many tiny hairs on them. If you touch a stinging needle, those hairs will put a weak poison onto your skin. The poison won’t kill you, but it will make your skin itch for a while and it might drive you crazy. One of the more common dangerous plants is poison ivy. This plant produces a clear liquid that will cause all kinds of problems to anyone who touches it. Most people who touch poison ivy get a red and very painful rash on their skin. The rash often itches very badly, and sometimes it creates large blisters. If you see a green plant that has three leaves growing from every branch, stay away from it. It could be poison ivy.
2. What does the passage say about wild berries?

Choose the best answer:
Why .............at me like that? What's the matter?

Parents whose children show a special interest in a particular sport have a difficult decision to (1) ______ about their children’s career. Should they allow their children to train to become top sportsmen and women? For many children it (2) ______starting very young and school work, going out with friends and other interests have to take second place. Another problem is of course money. In many countries money for training is (3) ______ from the government for the very best young sportsmen and women. Many parents are understandably concerned that it is dangerous to start serious training in a sport (4)_____ an early age. What is clear is that very (5) _______ people reach the top and both parents and children should be prepared for failure even after many years of training.

(5) _________

Rewrite the sentence:
No mount in the world is higher than Mount Everest.

Choose the best answer:
It’s boring and tiring to do housework.

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.

      Centuries ago, man discovered that removing moisture from food helped to preserve it, and that the easiest way to do this was to expose the food to sun and wind. In this way the North American Indians produced pemmican (dried meat ground into powder and made into cakes), the Scandinavians made stockfish and the Arabs dried dates and apricots.

      All foods contain water - cabbage and other leaf vegetables contain as much as 93% water, potatoes and other root vegetables 80%, lean meat 75% and fish anything from 80% to 60% depending on how fatty it is. If this water is removed, the activity of the bacteria which cause food to go bad is checked.

      Fruit is sun-dried in Asia Minor, Greece, Spain and other Mediterranean countries, and also in California, South Africa and Australia. The methods used vary, but in general the fruit is spread out on trays in drying yards in the hot sun. In order to prevent darkening, pears, peaches and apricots are exposed to the fumes of burning sulphur before drying. Plums for making prunes, and certain varieties of grapes for making raisins and currants, are dipped in an alkaline solution in order to crack the skins of the fruit slightly and remove their wax coating, so increasing the rate of drying.

      Nowadays most foods are dried mechanically; the conventional method of such dehydration is to put food in chambers through which hot air is blown at temperatures of about 110oC at entry to about 45oC at exit. This is the usual method for drying such things as vegetables, minced meat, and fish.

      Liquids such as milk, coffee, tea, soups and eggs may be dried by pouring them over a heated horizontal steel cylinder or by spraying them into a chamber through which a current of hot air passes. In the first case, the dried material is scraped off the roller as a thin film which is then broken up into small, though still relatively coarse flakes. In the second process it falls to the bottom of the chamber as a fine powder. Where recognizable pieces of meat and vegetables are required, as in soup, the ingredients are dried separately and then mixed.

      Dried foods take up less room and weigh less than the same food packed in cans or frozen, and they do not need to be stored in special conditions. For these reasons they are invaluable to climbers, explorers and soldiers in battle, who have little storage space. They are also popular with housewives because it takes so little time to cook them.

Nowadays the common method for drying vegetables and minced meat is ______.

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
Clean and Popular
Wind power is a very clean source of energy. This is how wind power works. Wind makes windmills spin. When the windmills spin, they make electricity. Then we can use the electricity. Many people think that wind power is new, but that is not true. For thousands of years, people have used wind to sail boats and move water. We still do those things today, but these days we mostly use wind power to make electricity. Wind power is a very popular source of energy. Most people think that should use it more and more. First of all, it is clean. Windmills don’t pollute the environment at all. Second, we can use wind power forever. After all, we will always have wind. In addition, wind power is cheap, and it is getting even cheaper. A lot of people don’t understand wind power very well. They believe that there are problems with wind power, but many of those problems are not real. For example, some people say that windmills are dangerous for birds. That used to be true, but it isn’t true anymore. Old windmills killed birds because they spun very fast. New windmills spin slowly, and they aren’t dangerous for birds. However, there are real problems with windmills. One problem is that many people think windmills are very ugly. This is a problem for some people, because windmills are often in very pretty areas. Besides, wind doesn’t blow all the time, so we can’t use wind power all year round. Finally, windmills are noisy. Wind power is becoming more and more common. Right now, more than 80 countries use wind power. About 2.5 percent of the world’s power comes from the wind. For some countries, that number is a lot higher. Wind power gives Denmark more than 25 percent of its electricity.
4. Which of the following is NOT true about wind power?

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
Raising a Child Athlete
In many countries, children with sporting potential are identified early and encouraged to achieve athletic greatness by training for hours every day. While some people see this as a great opportunity for kids to be healthy, others argue that too much focus on training can hurt young people. How parents should raise child athletes has become a big topic of their debate. People who are against such serious commitment to sport say that there are many negatives to training so intensively. Here are some of their arguments: The long hours spent training can distant the child from his or her family. thletes who spend too much time training miss out on education. The child may not be prepared for other real world activities, such as going to college and having a non-athletic job. Pressure from parents and coaches to win can be psychologically damaging for the child. Parents may also become too pushy and end up caring more about athletic achievements than the child. Dr. Christine Carr, a psychologist, suggests that parents take some important steps to make sure that their kids are getting the most out of sports. Carr says that the focus should be on the child’s happiness and about learning life lessons. Self-discipline, determination, and learning to deal with failure are some of the important life skills and lessons kids can learn from sports. Other experts point to the importance of letting children make their own decisions. Top athletes Tiger Woods and Michael Phelps have said that they appreciated their parents letting them decide how much or how little they wanted to train. In fact, according to Phelps’ mother, he had trouble focusing in the classroom until he found a sport that he was passionate about. By allowing Michael to focus on his sport, his mother also saw him improve as a student. Another thing that many parents and doctors agree on is the importance of developing a close relationship with the family. Dr. Carr suggests eating dinner together and says it is a simple way to remind children that family is important, and that support can always be found at home. Woods and Phelps both had supportive families and made it public, with parents attending their many competitions. Raising an athlete is not easy. By balancing life and training, parents can set their children up for success and help them become winners in sports and in life.
1. What is this passage mainly about?

Choose the best answer:
We managed to ...... over $4,000 through donations and other events.

Rewrite sentences without changing the meaning
 My mother permitted me to go out at night.

Peter has been working for 10 hours. He _______ be very tired now.

(366)______

Choose the best answer:
The steamer/ under/ sink, between/ the saucepan/ the frying pan.

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:
As working women continue to receive better and better wages, housewives still work at home without receiving pay – checks. Should a woman who works at home, doing the housework and caring for children, be paid for her service? In a 1986 study at Cornell University, sociologists found that the value of the services of a housewife averaged $ 11,600 a year. This rate was based on a family composed of a husband, wife, and three young children. The $ 11,600 is what the husband would have to pay if he hired others to take over his wife’s household chores. The researchers concluded that it would be fair for husbands to pay wives according to federal guidelines for minimum wages.
Another plan for rewarding women who work at home has been suggested by a former Secretary of Health and Human Services. He says that full-time housewives should be allowed to pay social security taxes, with their employers contributing part of the payment. He feels that the present system is unfair. He said, “ If you stay at home and raise a family, nobody will give you credit for it.”

According to the researchers, husbands should     .

Choose the best answer:
When _______ is not known.

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
The life of a Professional Gamer
Gordon Hayward has a pretty cool job – he plays basketball for the team Utah Jazz in the American National Basketball Association (NBA). But in his free time, he also works as a professional gamer, competing in StarCraft 2 tournaments. Even as a top – level athletes, Gordon is impressed with the amount of commitment needed for these competitions. “These guys are professionals”, he says. “They play this game for their job, so they take this as seriously as I take playing basketball for a living.” Competitive gaming has been around for almost as long as video games themselves, but it’s only recently that people have started earning money from it. This is because companies sponsor gamers, and tournaments. The gaming industry is now worth about $6 billion, and it is growing every year. Michel Masquelier, President of IMG Media (one of the world’s largest entertainment companies), called gaming the number one activity in the world for men aged 18 to 24. Just as young people aspire to play in the NBA, many also dream of becoming professional gamer. There are now big global tournaments like World Cyber Games and Major League Gaming Championships, where hundreds of gamers come to compete in popular game like StarCraft, WarCraft, Counterstrike, and the football game FIFA in front of an audience. The prize money in a tournament can reach a few million dollars. One thing gamer, and athletes have in common is that they often play in teams. These “clans”, as gamers call them, usually play tournaments together and practise against one another. Professional gamers and their clans earn money through sponsorships, winning tournament, and teaching and training people to play video games better. Like athletes, gamers must train long and hard to become the best at the game that they play. Most gamers only compete in one game, the same way that most professional athletes only play one sport. Adrian Kwong, a professional gamer, says that he usually practises StarCraft 2 for more than three hours a day. Some days he even plays for more than five hours. “To become a pro player, it takes determination, skill, and extensive practice,” says Katie Goldberg, who is vice – president of communications at Major’s League Gaming. Gordon Hayward isn’t going to give up his basketball career anytime soon, but he says that athletes and gamers are not that different: “You have to train hard if you want to be the best, and that goes for everything, not just basketball. That also goes for video games like StarCraft”.
2. Why does the writer say in paragraph 1 that Gordon is impressed “even as a top – level athlete”?

Choose the best answer:
A rat is a small animal. ………… lives in a hole.

Choose the best answer:
I have never met such a nice person → It’s the

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
On the morning of April 12, 1912, the luxury liner the Titanic left England on a voyage to New York. Four days later she lay at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. On Wednesday July 18, 1956, the ocean liner the Andrea Doria left Italy. The Andrea Doria was also (1) _______ to New York. Eight days later this great ship also (2)_______ at the bottom of the Atlantic. Reports of these two disasters (3) _______ the newspapers for days. When the Andrea Doria went down, people compared her sinking with the sinking of the Titanic. There were similarities between the two accidents. First of all, both ships were passenger ocean liners. In addition, they were also both luxury liners. They carried many of (4) _______ world’s famous and rich people. Today millions of dollars worth of gold, silver, and cash may still remain locked inside these two sunken ships. Another similarity was that as each ship was sinking, there were acts of heroism and acts of villainy. Some people acted very bravely, even heroically. Some people even (5)_____ their lives so that others could live.