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Researchers have found out that the size of an animal is important when it comes to extinction. Scientists have determined that the biggest and the smallest animals are more (1) ________ risk of dying out than medium-sized animals. Heavy animals are mostly endangered by hunting and poaching while the smallest creatures may die out (2)_______their living area is being polluted. Among the most endangered animals are elephants, lions and rhinos. Public awareness is large and campaigns to save such animals have been around for a long time. It is the smallest (3) __________ that get the least attention. Especially fish and frogs are in danger of dying out. The species that are most at risk have a weight of over 1 kilogram. They are in danger of being (4)__________ because we need food, skin and other items. According to the study, animals that are (5) __________ extinct affect large ecosystems, like forests, deserts and oceans

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The host nation was Uruguay and it __________ Argentina in the final.

A considerable body of research has demonstrated a correlation between birth order and aspects such as temperament and behavior, and some psychologists believe that birth order significantly affects the development of personality. Psychologist Alfred Adler was a pioneer in the study of the relationship between birth order and personality. A key point in his research and in the hypothesis that he developed based on it was that it was not the actual numerical birth position that affected personality; instead, it was the similar responses in large numbers of families to children in specific birth order positions that had an effect. For example, first-borns, who have their parents to themselves initially and do not have to deal with siblings in the first part of their lives, tend to have their first socialization experiences with adults and therefore tend to find the process of peer socialization more difficult. In contrast, later-born children have to deal with siblings from the first moment of their lives and therefore tend to have stronger socialization skills.

Numerous studies since Adler's have been conducted on the effect ofbirth order and personality. These studies have tended to classify birth order types into four different categories: first-born, second-born and/or middle, last, and only child.

Studies have consistently shown that first-born children tend to exhibit similar, positive and negative personality traits. First-borns have consistently been linked with academic achievement in various studies; in one study, the number of National Merit scholarship winners who are first- borns was found to be equal to the number of second-and third-borns combined. First-borns have been found to be more responsible and assertive than those born in other birth-order positions and tend to rise to positions of leadership more often than others; more first-borns have served in the u.s. Congress and as u.s. presidents than have those born in other birth-order positions. However, studies have shown that first-borns tend to be more subject to stress and were considered problem children more often than later-borns.

Second-born and/or middle children demonstrate markedly different tendencies from first- borns. They tend to feel inferior to the older child or children because it is difficult for them to comprehend that their lower level of achievement is a function of age rather than ability, and they often try to succeed in areas other than those in which their older sibling or siblings excel. They tend to be more trusting, accepting, and focused on others than the more self-centered first-borns, and they tend to have a comparatively higher level of success in team sports than do first-borns or only children, who more often excel in individual sports.

The last-born child is the one who tends to be the eternal baby of the family and thus often exhibits a strong sense of security. Last-borns collectively achieve the highest degree of social success and demonstrate the highest levels of self-esteem of all the birth-order positions. They often exhibit less competitiveness than older brothers and sisters and are more likely to take part in less competitive group games or in social organizations such as sororities and fraternities.

Only children tend to exhibit some of the main characteristics of first-borns and some of the characteristics of last-borns. Only children tend to exhibit the strong sense of security and self-esteem exhibited by last-borns while, like first-borns, they are more achievement oriented and more likely than middle-or last-borns to achieve academic success. However, only children tend to have the most problems establishing close relationships and exhibit a lower need for affiliation than other children.

The word traits in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to________.

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Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a country in southern Africa that shares borders with South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe. The capital, Gaborone, (1) _______ on the Notwane River in the South east of Botswana. The Kalahari Desert covers more than 70% of Botswana. The Kalahari isn’t a true desert because it rains more each year there than in most (2) _______ deserts. Despite this, Botswana is a dry country. When it does rain, the rain is often heavy and there are floods. Botswana is a popular tourist destination, with people from all over the world coming to see its amazing animals. During the seasonal floods, the land becomes a lush animal habitat. The wide variety of wildlife (3) __________ elephants and lions. Many visit Chobe National Park to see its 70,000 elephants, (4) __________ are the largest of all living elephants. The grassland and river valleys are home to giraffes, cheetahs, hyenas and wild dogs. The baobab tree, an icon of the African savannah, plays an important role in Botswana culture and nearly every part of it is useful. For example, it (5) __________ used to make rope and people pick the leaves to make soup

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You’ll be able to purchase high-quality emotions online. Emotion-sharing experiences  are the latest fad in 2045. Imagine your friend at Glastonbury can post a photo on Instagram and with it comes bundled a faint twinkling of what she was feeling right there in that moment, so you too can share emotionally in her social experience.  Recently, techniques for direct brain stimulation, like opt genetics, have made it possible to not only read but also write information into single neurons. At the moment data transfer rates are still very slow, the best we can do is a few bits per second, but this could well increase to kilobits or maybe reach broadband speeds by 2045. This means the range of human perception could expand beyond its current design limitations. One could foresee a new and extraordinary world where there is a virtual marketplace for trading high quality emotions – where artists looking for a particularly high strength brew of melancholy, or actors needing to channel regret or compassion for their next play, could purchase emotions online.  Our cities will be made from living, dynamic materials that respond to the environment. In 30 years, tall buildings made of glass and twisted steel will be seen as relics from a bygone era, in the same way we think now of 1970s concrete tower blocks: ugly, outdated and unfit for contemporary purpose. The urban environment of 2045 blends architecture with living materials that are mouldable, adaptable, responsive and disposable.  Entirely new synthetic life forms, or biological machines, made of engineered living cells from bacteria, fungi and algae will grow and evolve with the changing needs of a building’s inhabitants. They breathe in pollutants, clean wastewater, and use sunlight to make useful chemicals, energy, heat and vibrant vertical gardens. We will start to see a convergence between biology and technology, to the point where there is no longer a perceptible difference between the two. Today, synthetic biology labs are looking at the full diversity of what nature has to offer and using this to mix, match and edit genomes to design synthetic life forms. Right now, this field is just getting started and the science of synthetic biology is going to be tougher than most will admit.  We will use invisibility cloaks to “disappear” ugly objects. Invisibility has forever been a tantalizing prospect. The key to cloaking lies in the way the electromagnetic spectrum  (including visible light) interacts with objects. The human eye picks up electromagnetic radiation that falls and scatters from objects and we perceive this as light. In recent decades, scientists figured out using mathematics that it might just be possible to imagine a new class of artificial materials made of intricate tiny features with light bending properties. They named them metamaterials.  Using nanotechnology engineering, scientists have since shown cloaking actually works – in principle at least, for a narrow range of colours and only from certain viewing angles. The future applications of cloaking are highly uncertain and will likely be determined by the fads and social contagion of the time. They may be used in everything from novelty gimmicks to making unsightly construction sites and power stations seemingly ‘disappear’.   
2. The word “perception” in the second paragraph mostly means ____

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OPEC was established at a conference held in Baghdad Sept. 10–14, 1960, and was  formally constituted in January 1961 by five countries: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and Venezuela. Members admitted afterward include Qatar (1961), Indonesia and Libya (1962), Abū Ẓabī (1967), Algeria (1969), Nigeria (1971), Ecuador (1973), and Angola (2007). The United Arab Emirates assumed Abū Ẓabī’s membership in the 1970s. Gabon, which had joined in 1975, withdrew in January 1995, but it had relatively insignificant oil reserves. Ecuador suspended its membership from OPEC from December 1992 until October 2007, while Indonesia suspended its membership beginning in January 2009.  OPEC’s headquarters, first located in Geneva, was moved to Vienna in 1965. OPEC members coordinate policies on oil prices, production, and related matters at semiannual and special meetings of the OPEC Conference. The Board of Governors, which is responsible for managing the organization, convening the Conference, and drawing up the annual budget, contains representatives appointed by each member country; its chair is elected to a one-year term by the Conference. OPEC also possesses a Secretariat, headed by a secretary – general appointed by the Conference for a three-year term; the Secretariat includes research and energy-studies divisions.  OPEC members collectively own about two-thirds of the world’s proven petroleum reserves and account for two-fifths of world oil production. Members differ in a variety of ways, including the size of oil reserves, geography, religion, and economic and political interests. Four members – Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates – have very large per capita oil reserves; they also are relatively strong financially and thus have considerable flexibility in adjusting their production. Saudi Arabia, which has the largest reserves and a relatively small (but fast-growing) population, has traditionally played a dominant role in determining overall production and prices Because OPEC has been beset by numerous conflicts throughout its history, some experts have concluded that it is not a cartel – or at least not an effective one – and that it has little, if any, influence over the amount of oil produced or its price. Other experts believe that OPEC is an effective cartel, though it has not been equally effective at all times. The debate largely centers on semantics and the definition of what constitutes a cartel. Those who argue that OPEC is not a cartel emphasize the sovereignty of each member country, the inherent problems of coordinating price and production policies, and the tendency of countries to renege on prior agreements at ministerial meetings. Those who claim that OPEC is a cartel argue that production costs in the Persian Gulf are generally less than 10 percent of the price charged and that prices would decline toward those costs in the absence of coordination by OPEC.  The influence of individual OPEC members on the organization and on the oil market usually depends on their levels of reserves and production. Saudi Arabia, which controls about one-third of OPEC’s total oil reserves, plays a leading role in the organization. Other important members are Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates, whose combined reserves are significantly greater than those of Saudi Arabia. Kuwait, which has a very small population, has shown a willingness to cut production relative to the size of its reserves, whereas Iran and Iraq, both with large and growing populations, have generally produced at high levels relative to reserves. Revolutions and wars have impaired the ability of some OPEC members to maintain high levels of production. 
5. According to paragraph 3, what is probably the reason for the dominant role of Saudi Arabia?

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The understanding of friendship in children tends to be more heavily focused on areas such as (1)___________ activities, physical proximity, and shared interests. These friendships provide opportunity (2)____________ playing and practicing self-regulation. Most children tend to describe friendship in terms of things like sharing, and children are more likely to share with someone they consider to be a friend. As children mature, they become less individualized and are more aware of others. They gain the ability to (3)_________ with their friends, and enjoy playing in groups. They also experience peer rejection as they move through the middle childhood years. Establishing good friendships at a young age (4)________________ a child to be better acclimated in society later on in their life. Potential benefits of friendship include the opportunity to learn about empathy and problem solving. Coaching from parents can be useful in helping children to make friends. Eileen Kennedy-Moore describes three key ingredients of children’s friendship formation: (1) openness, (2) similarity, and (3) shared fun. Parents can also help children understand social guidelines they haven’t learned on their (5)____________

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Technology continually disrupts almost every area of our lives, resulting in constant shifts across all segments of our society. The education sector is no exception. In fact, the nature of its target audience – mostly young and highly connected – means that the sector must adapt to accommodate their expectations. Most students have grown up online and will expect the same levels of technology in their learning environments as in their day-to-day lives Creating an effective digital learning environment is not just about offering convenience and familiarity to students, however. The consequences for their futures if we don’t keep pace are manifold and damaging. Lack of opportunity is one major threat, because limited or no access to technology will result in a greater divide between certain categories of student. Crucially, students’ potential success could be severely compromised by lack of technical proficiency. As a minimum, employers want graduates who are adept at using technology to connect, communicate, and collaborate with workplace technology. Yet with the right technology platform, solutions and industry partners, universities are starting to create next-generation learning environments that effectively prepare students for the future by offering access to the tools they need while also providing a fulfilling learning experience. Digital technology can supply the framework to support new learning approaches that engage students, bolster new revenue streams, cut operational costs and preserve highly valued school and university brands and reputations. For example, the ability to connect with outside experts or even lecturers with other schools and universities could increase the number of courses offered and attract more students.  For both students and teachers, ubiquitous connectivity facilitates greater collaboration, enabling people to develop increasingly connected communities in their chosen fields. Being more available to students can also empower teachers to deliver more innovative, exciting lectures, whether face-to-face or online, while offering more personalised feedback and mentoring. It’s now easier for students to engage on their own terms and no longer having to travel across campus for every single meeting makes it easier for leaders and faculty members to work together, too. Effective digital transformation isn’t just about technology, though. It requires a willingness to adopt technology in new ways, beyond administrative process. It must be continual and evolutionary in order to enhance teaching and learning and improve efficiency. It also necessitates collaborative working; vision and leadership; culture; process and methodology – and the technology itself.  
2. According to paragraph 1, what possibly causes students’ demand for high-tech education?

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English teenagers are to receive compulsory cooking lessons in schools. The idea is to encourage healthy eating to fight the country’s increasing obesity rate. It’s feared that basic cooking and food preparation skills are being lost as parents turn to pre-prepared convenience foods. Cooking was once regarded as an important part of education in England – even if it was mainly aimed at girls. In recent decades cooking has progressively become a minor activity in schools. In many cases the schools themselves have given up cooking meals in kitchens in the schools. But the rising level of obesity has led to a rethink about the food that children are given and the skills they should be taught. “What I want is to teach young people how to do basic, simple recipes like a tomato sauce, a bolognaise, a simple curry, a stir-fry – which they can use now at home and then in their later life”, said Ed Balls, the minister responsible for schools. The new lessons are due to start in September, but some school without kitchens will be given longer to adapt. There is also likely to be a shortage of teachers with the right skills, since the trend has been to teach food technology rather than practical cooking. Also the compulsory lessons for hands on cooking will only be one hour a week for one term. But the well-known cookery writer, Pru Leith, believes it will be worth it. “If we’d done this thirty years ago we might not have the crisis we have got now about obesity and lack of knowledge about food and so on. Every child should know how to cook, not just so that they’ll be healthy, but because it’s a life skill which a real pleasure”. The renewed interest in cooking is primarily a response to the level obesity in Britain which is among the highest in Europe, and according to government figures half of all Britons will be obese in 25 years if current trends are not stopped  
2. Which of the following is NOT the purpose for English teenagers to receive cooking lessons?

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The gathering of thousands of individuals representing the myriad religions of the  world for the Parliament of World Religions in Melbourne this year is a testament to the power that religion has to bring people together, to unite them in a search for truth, and to inspire them to work towards the betterment of this world. And this year the Parliament is focusing on issues of the environment through some of its subthemes.  In our day we are struggling with a number of issues related to the environment such as climate change, the pollution of the air, oceans, seas, and waterways, and the challenges of feeding a growing global population. While many of these issues are relatively new so that our forebears did not address them explicitly, our religious traditions do offer us worldviews and principles that aid us in finding solutions to our contemporary problems. One of the basic guiding principles that forms an Islamic vision of humanity’s relationship with the environment is our role as God’s deputies on earth. Islam considers human beings to be vice gerents or deputies of God on earth. Our mission as God’s deputies means that we are charged with the responsibility to care for and maintain the world. On the other hand, the fact that God has placed the world at our disposal means that we may benefit from what it has to offer us. In both cases, we must collaborate with our brothers and sisters in humanity.  One of the key characteristics of humankind’s role as deputies in the world is balance. We must find a balance between benefiting from the blessings that the world has to offer us, and preserving the order that God has established. We must find a balance between securing our own needs while not depriving others of theirs, whether those others reside in different parts of the world, such as less powerful nations, or in different times, such as our children and grandchildren. If we take seriously our role as God’s deputies on earth, not just by benefiting from the environment, but by preserving it and ensuring that other communities and generations will have the same possibilities to drink clean water, breath fresh air, and live in a world that is in harmony with itself and with ourselves, we may hope to be among those who are beloved to God due to their care for His creation
5. According to paragraph 4, what can we deduce from the balance feature of our holy responsibility?

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According to the report, we can expect some pretty remarkable changes to our homes  and our personal spaces, overlooked things that make up so much of our daily routine. As human populations soar, our cities and homes will have to adapt; interior living spaces will change as a cloud changes, easily reconfigured and rearranged to suit our fickle tastes, or accommodate different purposes.  Imagine walls and floors made of a malleable “skin,” and embedded with tiny sensors and actuators so that the shape and size of living spaces can quickly change, or even be divided into smaller rooms; imagine fully programmable “smart homes” that can be controlled remotely, and provide feedback to their owners - yes, there’ll even be an app for that.  Virtual decorations will alter with changing tastes, moods and whims; and the entire interior surface of the home will be implanted with LED technology - television screens and computer displays will form and unform in any room, as needed. Even our furniture will be adaptable, molding to custom fit our bodies, responding to changes in posture, or disappearing altogether when not needed.  It will be the ultimate evolution of the “Internet of Things.” Misplaced something? Can’t find your keys? No problem. Just use an online search function to find it. Hate the color of that accent wall? Delete it. Need more storage space? Watch new shelves appear, as if by magic. And the amenities are fantastic. Every home will come standard with a 3D printer; they’ll be able to churn out just about anything you could wish, using downloadable patterns, probably including even complex electronic devices. They may even print out your meals, designed and programmed by the world’s master chefs.  Walk-in “medical pods,” meanwhile, will contribute to the decentralization of healthcare - their imaging sensors will diagnose your ills and, for the more easily treatable maladies, dispense drugs, inject antibiotics, and recommend health regimens. It may even be possible to undergo remote, robot-mediated surgery, in the comfort of your own home.  This barely scratches the surface. Imagine homes whose very building material is salted with dormant limestone-producing bacteria, which awaken upon contact with moisture and repair any cracks or structural damage.  There will be “digestion tanks” full of anaerobic bacteria, to dispose of our waste; and our homes will produce, store, and reuse their own energy, using “microbial fuel cell stacks” and more efficient solar panels to generate electricity, and power-banks like the Tesla power wall to store it against future use. Personal homes will be almost fully independent of a dangerously overtaxed energy grid.  One hundred years in the future, our houses will be, in almost all respects, semiliving, artificial organisms - closed systems with a metabolism, sensory apparatus, immune response, and an approximation to a nervous system. We’ll be living in homes that are practically alive.
4. The word "molding" in paragraph 4 can be best replaced by ______

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Improving girls’ educational levels has been demonstrated to have clear impacts on the health and economic future of young women, which in turn improves the prospects of their entire community. The infant mortality rate of babies whose mothers have received primary education is half that of children whose mothers are illiterate. In the poorest countries of the world, 50% of girls do not attend secondary school. Yet, research shows that every extra year of school for girls increases their lifetime income by 15%. Improving female education, and thus the earning potential of women, improves the standard of living for their own children, as women invest more of their income in their families than men do. Yet, many barriers to education for girls remain. In some African countries, such as Burkina Faso, girls are unlikely to attend school for such basic reasons as a lack of private latrine facilities for girls. Higher attendance rates of high schools and university education among women, particularly in developing countries, have helped them make inroads to professional careers with better-paying salaries and wages. Education increases a woman’s (and her partner and the family’s) level of health and health awareness. Furthering women’s levels of education and advanced training also tends to lead to later ages of initiation of sexual activity and first intercourse, later age at first marriage, and later age at first childbirth, as well as an increased likelihood to remain single, have no children, or have no formal marriage and alternatively, have increasing levels of long-term partnerships. It can lead to higher rates of barrier and chemical contraceptive use (and a lower level of sexually transmitted infections among women and their partners and children), and can increase the level of resources available to women who divorce or are in a situation of domestic violence. It has been shown, in addition, to increase women’s communication with their partners and their employers, and to improve rates of civic participation such as voting or the holding of office.
5. The phrase “make inroads into” in the passage can be best replaced with: 

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Thunderstorms, with their jagged bursts of lightning and roaring thunder, are actually one of nature’s primary mechanisms for transferring heat from the surface of the earth into the atmosphere. A thunderstorm starts when low-lying pockets of warm air from the surface of the earth begin to rise. The pockets of warm air float upward through the air above that is both cooler and heavier. The rising pockets cool as their pressure decreases, and their latent heat is released above the condensation line through the formation of cumulus clouds. What will happen with these clouds depends on the temperature of the atmosphere. In winter, the air temperature differential between higher and lower altitudes is not extremely great, and the temperature of the rising air mass drops more slowly. During these colder months, the atmosphere, therefore, tends to remain rather stable. In summer, however, when there is a high accumulation of heat near the earth’s surface, in direct contrast to the considerably colder air higher up, the temperature differential between higher and lower altitudes is much more pronounced. As warm air rises in this type of environment, the temperature drops much more rapidly than it does in winter; when the temperature drops more than 4 degrees Fahrenheit per thousand feet of altitude, cumulus clouds aggregate into a single massive cumulonimbus cloud, or thunderhead. In isolation, a single thunderstorm is an impressive but fairly benign way for Mother Earth to defuse trapped heat from her surface; thunderstorms, however, can appear in concert, and the resulting show, while extremely impressive, can also prove extraordinarily destructive. When there is a large-scale collision between cold air and warm air masses during the summer months, a squall line, or series of thunderheads, may develop. It is common for a squall line to begin when an advancing cold front meets up with and forces itself under a layer of warm and moist air, creating a line of thunderstorms that races forward at speeds of approximately forty miles per hour. A squall line, which can be hundreds of miles long and can contain fifty distinct thunderheads, is a magnificent force of nature with incredible potential for destruction. Within the squall line, often near its southern end, can be found supercells, long-lived rotating storms of exceptional strength that serve as the source of tornadoes.
2. The word “mechanisms” in paragraph 1 is most likely ________

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Anna Gomez is a successful TV sports presenter, but most people still think of her as the famous women’s ice-skating champion who won several important competitions when she was younger. “As a child, my dream was actually to become a ballet dancer – I didn’t own any skates until I was nine, and didn’t become really keen on skating until I was fourteen,” says Anna. She went on to university, where, despite ice-skating almost all the time, she left with an excellent degree. “I felt I owed it to my parents. They supported me through university, and expected me to do well there – I didn’t feel I could disappoint them.” In a sport where most stars become famous as teenagers, Anna was unusual in being in her twenties before she won any major titles. “When I was younger, I got very angry at competitions, shouting at judges if I disagreed with them. That made me unpopular, especially with other skaters. My technique was just as good as theirs and I had a very encouraging coach at the time. The problem was in my head – I just didn’t think I had what it takes to be a champion. That changed as I won more competitions, and I was performing at my best by the age of twenty-five.” Anna retired from professional ice-skating five years later, having accomplished great success during that period. “It was a difficult decision. As you get near the end of your career, people always ask when you’re going to stop. At the time, I wasn’t sure that I was actually ready to give up. But, looking back, I’m glad I stopped when I did. You shouldn’t think too much about the past – just move on to the next thing.”  
4. What does Anna say about her retirement from skating?

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There are three main periods in Beethoven’s music career: early, middle and late. The beginning of his early period was in 1792 when he moved to Vienna, Austria. Beethoven quickly (1) ________ a name for himself as a talented pianist. His compositions during this period consisted mainly of works for his main instrument, the piano, and were classical in nature. (2)___________, Beethoven’s hearing was beginning to deteriorate during this period, and he tried to hide this fact from those around him. In 1800, Beethoven turned from the classical forms of the previous century to a more expressive or romantic music. His musical imagination began to grow (3)______ that of the piano. The middle period was believed to be Beethoven’s greatest and most productive stage. In less than a decade, he produced countless masterpieces in every genre. In 1809, however, his musical (4)_________ began to decline, possibly due to his health problems and mental state. Beethoven stopped conducting and performing in public, but continued to compose – many of his most admired works were created during this period. By 1815, he was almost completely deaf and his manners became increasingly rude. In 1827, he died after a long illness. Nearly 20,000 people lined the streets of Vienna to (5)_________ their last respect to the composer who had changed the music scene of Western Europe 

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When people marry, they’re usually in love and happy to be tying the (1) ____. But after that, things tend to change. (2) __________ average, couples’ satisfaction with their marriage declines during the first years of marriage and, if the decline is particularly steep, divorce may follow. The course of true love runs downhill. For around 30 years, researchers have studied how having children affects a marriage, and the results are (3) ______: the relationship between spouses suffers once kids come along. Comparing couples with and (4) ______ children, researchers found that the rate of the decline in relationship satisfaction is nearly twice as steep for couples who have children than for childless couples. In the (5) ______ that a pregnancy is unplanned, the parents experience even greater negative impacts on their relationship. The irony is that even as the marital satisfaction of new parents declines, the likelihood of them divorcing also declines. So, having children may make you miserable, but you’ll be miserable together

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The World Health Organization on Wednesday declared the rapidly spreading  coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that “We expect to see the number of cases, the number of deaths, and the number of affected countries climb even higher.”  WHO officials had said earlier they were hesitant to call the outbreak a pandemic in case it led governments and individuals to give up the fight. On Wednesday, they stressed that fundamental public health interventions can still limit the spread of the virus and drive down cases even where it was transmitting widely, as the work of authorities and communities in China, Singapore, and South Korea has shown.  The virus, which probably originated in bats but passed to people via an as yet unrecognized intermediary animal species, is believed to have started infecting people in Wuhan, China, in late November or early December. Since then the virus has raced around the globe. South Korea, which has reported nearly 8,000 cases, also appears poised to bring its outbreak under control with aggressive measures and widespread testing. But other countries have struggled to follow the leads of China and South Korea — a reality that has frustrated WHO officials who have exhorted the world to do everything possible to end transmission of the virus. Tedros used the fact that 90% of the cumulative cases have been reported in just four countries as evidence that the rest of the world still had time to prevent an explosion of cases with action.  WHO officials also stressed that countries should be implementing a strategic combination two types of measures. One involves trying to detect and stop known chains of transmission by isolating cases and following and potentially quarantining their contacts. The other involves community-level steps like social distancing and comes into play when the virus is spreading more broadly and transmission chains can’t be tracked. Mike Ryan, the head of the WHO’s emergency program, said that the public health interventions might not have straightforward effect, but to slow the spread of the virus. People with severe cases can require long periods of critical care and strain the resources of hospitals. He said he was worried about “the case load, the demand on the health workers, the dangers that come with fatigue, and potentially shortages of personal protective equipment.”
5. The word “poised” in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to _______

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Thousands of emergency service workers battling out of control fires across New South Wales, Australia are bracing for worsening conditions next week. Stopping the spread of fires around the state will be the top priority on Sunday, with weather conditions expected to deteriorate after that.  “Tuesday, particularly, will be a day of concern,” Rural Fire Service spokesman Greg Allan said. “There will be high temperatures, very strong winds, and low humidity.” While no fires reached emergency level on Saturday, Mr Allan stressed that people needed to remain alert. “It’s still a very dangerous situation,” he said.  More than 2 million hectares of bush land has been destroyed by flames this fire season. With RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons warning the worst might still be ahead. Mr Fitzsimmons said there may not be much respite for tiring firefighters, with no signs of significant rainfall until late January or early February. Over 100 bushfires burned across the state on Saturday, and almost half of them were out of control, with a huge – larger than Sydney – having formed north-west of the city. Another fire at Green Wattle Creek, southwest of Sydney, is still burning uncontrollably, having already destroyed 5400 hectares of bush land. Efforts are being made to keep the situation from getting out of hand. More than 2100 personnel are fighting the fires across the state and a group of 21 specialty firefighters form the US has arrived in Australia, following 21of their Canadian counterparts. While the Canadians are being distributed to the north of the state, the Americans will be assigned to areas in the Sydney Basin or southern New South Wales. Additionally, a total fire ban was in place for eight regions across the state, including Sydney, Far North Coast, Greater Hunter, the Illawarra and Central Rangers. “Right across all fire grounds, our crews, although exhausted, are working extremely hard to slow the spread of fire,” said Mr. Allan. 
4. The word “them” in paragraph 3 refers to __________________

Each sentence has a mistake. Findit by chosing A B C or D 

 Do you know that reading can keep your mind acted and engaged well when you get old?

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
In 2018 the Tchaikovsky Competition celebrated its 60th anniversary. While many things have changed in the country, in the world and in the people, the art of music has been showing its amazing vital power helping the performing art go through difficult times and contributing to its amazing ability to revive. It appears that the history of the Tchaikovsky Competition can be divided into three periods which in the terms of a well-known critic can be defined as the rise, the soaring and the descent. The rise refers to the first three Competitions (1958, 1962 and 1966) when the structure of the Competition was formed (the First Competition comprised two categories, the Second – three and the Third – four categories). The competition jury was a pool of renowned cultural figures. Under the special focus were the amazingly talented competitors and they exceeded all expectations. The winner of the piano contest of the I Competition became Van Cliburn, a US piano player who just after finishing his first program items became the object of admiration and a legend that was passed down in Russia and America for generations. His impressive performance was something that couldn’t be judged only from the professional point of view; our listener’s perception was almost irrational. Also, for long we remembered by names the other piano players taking part in the I Competition. Truly, Toyoaki Matsuura and Daniel  Pollack were brilliant virtuosos, if not genius. Besides, both Daniel Pollack and Van Cliburn studied under Rosina Levina, a famous Russian educator, i.e. they were kindred spirits for Russians. What was happening gave an impression of something truly exceptional and unmatched, and this was proved to be true during the many years of the Tchaikovsky Competition in the future. The II Competition was also truly amazing. In the piano category won Vladimir Ashkenazi, the Soviet virtuoso piano player, and an eccentric Englishman John Ogdon. In the violin contest the winner was Leningrad native Boris Gutnikov who had won all the competitions in which he had participated. At the III Competition there was a sensation: a Leningrad native 16-year-old Grigory Sokolov while not being considered by the critics as the most likely winner won the first prize in the piano contest; his charmingly fresh musicality and magical pianism turned the jury’s opinion in his favor despite the dissatisfaction of the Moscow audience over the jury’s choice.  
4. The word “jury” in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to _______

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
The Internet is very much like television, in which it takes time away from other pursuits, provides entertainment and information, but in no way can compare with the warm, personal experience of reading a good book. This is not the only reason why the Internet will never replace books, for books provide the in-depth knowledge of a subject that sitting in front of a computer monitor cannot provide. We can download text from an Internet source, but the aesthetic quality of sheets of downloaded text leave much to be desired. A welldesigned book enhances the reading experience. The book is still the most compact and inexpensive means of conveying a dense amount of knowledge in a convenient package. The easy portability of the book is what makes it the most user-friendly format for knowledge ever invented. The idea that one can carry in one’s pocket a play by Shakespeare, a novel by Charles Dickens or Tom Clancy, Plato’s Dialogues, or the Bible in a small paperback edition is mind-boggling. We take such uncommon convenience for granted, not realizing that the book itself has undergone quite an evolution since the production of the Gutenberg Bible in 1455 and Shakespeare’s First Folio in 1623, just three years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth to colonize the New World. Not only has the art and craft of printing and book manufacturing been greatly improved over the centuries, but the great variety of subject matter now available in books is astounding, to say the least. In fact, the Internet requires the constant input of authors and their books to provide it with the information that makes it a useful tool for exploration and learning.  Another important reason why the Internet will never replace books is because those who wish to become writers want to see their works permanently published as books - something you can hold, see, feel, skim through, and read at one’s leisure without the need for an electric current apart from a lamp. The writer may use a word processor instead of a typewriter or a pen and pad, but the finished product must eventually end up as a book if it is to have value to the reading public. The writer may use the Internet in the course of researching a subject just as he may use a library for that purpose, but the end product will still be a book.
7. According to the passage, which sentence is NOT true about books?