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The human desire for companionship may feel boundless, but research suggests that  our social capital is finite. Social scientists have used a number of ingenious approaches to gauge the size of people’s social networks; these have returned estimates ranging from about 250 to about 5,500 people. An undergraduate thesis from MIT focusing exclusively on Franklin D. Roosevelt, a friendly guy with an especially social job, suggested that he might have had as many as 22,500 acquaintances. Looking more specifically at friendship, a study using the exchange of Christmas cards as a proxy for closeness put the average person’s friend group at about 121 people.  However vast our networks may be, our inner circle tends to be much smaller. The average American trusts only 10 to 20 people. Moreover, that number may be shrinking: From 1985 to 2004, the average number of confidants that people reported having decreased from three to two. This is both sad and consequential, because whoever has strong social relationships tends to live longer than those who don’t. So what should you do if your social life is lacking? Just follow the research. To begin with, don’t dismiss the humble acquaintance. Even interacting with people with whom one has weak social ties has a meaningful influence on well-being. Beyond that, building deeper friendships may be largely a matter of putting in time. A recent study out of the University of Kansas found that it takes about 50 hours of socializing to go from acquaintance to casual friend, an additional 40 hours to become a “real” friend, and a total of 200 hours to become a close friend. If that sounds like too much effort, reviving dormant social ties can be especially rewarding. Reconnected friends can quickly recapture much of the trust they previously built, while offering each other a dash of novelty drawn from whatever they’ve been up to in the meantime. And if all else fails, you could start randomly confiding in people you don’t know that well in hopes of letting the tail wag the relational dog. The academic literature is clear: Longing for closeness and connection is pervasive. Which suggests that most of us are stumbling through the world pining for companionship that could be easily provided by the lonesome stumblers all around us.
5. According to paragraph 4, why does the author suggest “…you could start randomly confiding in people you don’t know that well…” ?

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Bagpipe music played, wreaths were sent and Amazing Grace was sung. A  black shroud was laid upon a makeshift urn. It was a funeral, of course, for which such displays of respect are common. But in this case, the people living in a small Nova Scotia community had gathered to pay their respects not to a person who had died, but to a post office.  The grief might have been hard for outsiders to understand, but not for those living in Head of St. Margaret’s Bay, N.S., where the post office run by Verna Dunlop was a big part of their small, tight-knit community. The post office, which had been located in the back of Dunlop’s home, was not just a utilitarian service kiosk where residents had to go to pick up their mail. According to locals, it was also a community hub where people gathered to catch up on the town gossip, or to enjoy a cup of the coffee the postmaster had been brewing for them. “It’s really the centre of the village,” said one woman, explaining what the post office meant to the people living there.  There had been a post office located in Head of St. Margaret’s Bay since before Confederation. And local residents spent months fighting to keep the one they had. But Canada Post made the decision to close it, as it was losing money. It was replacing the post office with sets of newly installed super mailboxes.  Many people in town weren’t convinced the coming changes were for the better. “We do not want those super mailboxes. We want to have a community life,” he said. At the mock funeral, Dunlop choked up as she said she hoped “this is going to stop,” alluding to the fact that it wasn’t just Head of St. Margaret’s Bay that was losing its post office. “We hope that the way of life that we’re used to we can keep,” she added. Canada Post had closed 40 such rural post offices that year and had long-term plans to close more than 5,000 of them across the country. “Just as Verna Dunlop’s post office came to symbolize for these people the best qualities of rural life, so does its passing remind them of the steady erosion of that way of life,” said Evans.
5. The word “they” in paragraph 3 refers to _____

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With 13,000 floral species and over 15,000 faunal species, three newly discovered big animal species, and a ratio of country/world species of 6.3%. Vietnam has enormous tourismparticularly ecotourism-potential. In fact, since 1986, when Renovation Reforms began the shift from a centrally planned to a socialist-oriented market, or multi-sectoral, economy, tourism has been an sector of primary concern to the government. In May 1995, the prime minister of Vietnam approved a master plan of tourism development for the period 1995- 2010. In February 1999, the state decree on tourism was part of the socio-economic development strategy for the period 2001-2010 approved at the IX National Congress of the Party: “Tourism development has become a spearhead economic industry indeed. It is necessary to improve the quality and effectiveness of tourism activities, bringing into full play the natural conditions, and cultural and historical tradition to meet the domestic and international demand for tourism and to catch up with tourism development in the region” (Document of the IX National Congress 2001). Tourism has so far brought great benefits to the economy, but it has also contributed to environmental degradation, especially biodiversity deterioration. Thus, the concept of “sustainable development”-development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs - must be factored into tourism development. This consideration is reflected in the term “ecotourism,” which is referred to variously as ecological or environmental tourism, nature or green tourism, sustainable or responsible tourism. Ecotourism involves travel to relatively undisturbed natural areas with the specific object of studying, admiring, and enjoying scenery, plants, and animals, as well as any cultural features found in these areas. It is distinguished from mass or resort tourism by its lower impact on the environment, lower infrastructure requirements, and its role in educating tourists about natural environments and cultural values. Fully aware of its significance, the government of Vietnam has prioritized ecotourism in its strategy for tourism development to ensure both sustainability and economic benefits. Though ecotourism in Vietnam is at a beginning stage of development, it is expected to grow strongly through support from government and international organizations.  
2. When has tourism officially contributed to socio-economic development?

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My parents are glad ____ my success in finding a job after graduation.

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Most sources of illumination generate light over an appreciable period, and indeed if  an object is lit for a very brief time(less that 1/25 second), the human eye will not react in time to see the object. A photographic emulsion - that is, a light-sensitive coating on photographic film, paper, or glass - will, however, record much shorter bursts of light. A photographic flash can therefore be used to capture high-speed movement on film as well as to correct deficiencies of the normal surrounding lighting. Photoflash is now generated electronically, but the earliest form, first used in 1864, was a paper bag containing magnesium wire and some oxygen-rich substance, such as potassium chlorate. When the bag was ignited, the metal burned with an intense flash. A contemporary observer reported that “this quite unsafe device seems to have done nothing worse that engulf the room in dense smoke and lead to pictures of dubious quality and odd poses.”  The evolution of the photoflash was slow, flashbulbs, containing fine wire made of a metal, such as magnesium or aluminum, capable of being ignited in an atmosphere of pure oxygen at low pressure, were introduced only in the 1920’s. In the earliest type, the metal was separated from the oxygen by a thin glass bulb. The flash was fired by piercing the bulb and allowing the oxygen to come into contact with the metal, which ignited spontaneously. Later bulbs were fired by an electric battery, which heated the wire by passing a small current through it. Other combinations, such as the pairing of oxygen difluoride with zirconium, have also been used. In each case enough energy is given out to heat the oxidizable metal momentarily to a white hot emission of visible light. The smoke particles are so small that they cool rapidly; but since they are white, they contribute to the brilliance by reflecting the light from their still glowing neighbors. A slightly bigger form of the metal will burn for a longer time. 
1. What is the best title for the passage?

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Gujarat’s favourite watering hole, Union territory of Daman, will add more activity  for its tourists than let them hang around only in the bars on its sun-kissed beaches. The administration has decided to develop leisure water sports on Jampore and Light house beaches at Moti Daman. The tourism department of Daman has already selected two operators to run these leisure water sports facilities. At present, facilities like creation of ramps, walking area and waiting area for the tourists are under construction at the beaches.  Director of Daman Tourism, Harshil Jain told TOI, “The leisure water sports activities are all set to start very soon. We have not decided the dates, but the contractors are working day-and-night to set up facilities soon at both the beaches.” He further said that leisure water sports will help boost tourism in Daman. “The flow of tourist will increase during the vacation period. Till now, tourists come here to enjoy sitting on the beaches, but now they will have the option for water sports, too,” Jain added.  According to tourism department officials, the sporting activity would be set up on the lines of Goa. Attractions like jet skis, banana ride, para sailing, pedal boating, rowing, kayaking and motorboating will add to the beach fun, they said. A senior tourism officer said, “Since adventure has a risk factor, we have asked the contractors to keep provision of accidental insurance cover for all the tourists using the ride. Customers too must be covered for accidental death, loss of limb and permanent and partial disability.” “On the weekends alone, more than 60,000 people visit Daman. We are pretty sure that the water sports activity will increase the numbers to more than 80,000,” asserted another official. 
3. According to paragraph 2, what is the general view of the tourism department chairman towards the project?

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 following questions:
In 1972. a century after the first national park in the United States was established at Yellowstone, legislation was passed to create the National Marine Sanctuaries Program. The intent of this legislation was to provide protection to selected coastal habitats similar to that existing for land areas designated as national parks. The designation of an areas a marine sanctuary indicates that it is a protected area, just as a national park is. People are permitted to visit and observe there, but living organisms and their environments may not be harmed or removed.
The National Marine Sanctuaries Program is administered by the National Oceanic and  Atmospheric Administration, a branch of the United States Department of Commerce. Initially, 70 sites were proposed as candidates for sanctuary status. Two and a half decades later, only fifteen sanctuaries had been designated, with half of these established after 1978. They range in size from the very small (less than 1 square kilometer) Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary in American Samoa to the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary in California, extending over 15,744 square kilometers.
The National Marine Sanctuaries Program is a crucial part of new management practices in which whole communities of species, and not just individual species, are offered some degree of protection from habitat degradation and overexploitation. Only in this way can a reasonable degree of marine species diversity be maintained in a setting that also maintains the natural interrelationships that exist among these species.
Several other types of marine protected areas exist in the United States and other countries. The National Estuarine Research Reserve System managed by the United States government, includes 23 designated and protected estuaries. Outside the United States, marine protected-area programs exist as marine parks, reserves and preserves.
Over 100 designated areas exist around the periphery of the Caribbean Sea. Others range from the well-known Australian Great Barrer Reef Marine Park to lesser-known parks in countries such as Thailand and Indonesia, where tourism is placing growing pressures on fragile coral reef systems. As state, national, and international agencies come to recognize the importance of conserving marine biodiversity, marine projected areas whether as sanctuaries,parks, or estuarine reserves, will play an increasingly important role in preserving that diversity.

What does the passage mainly discuss?

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Individual differences in temperament or behavioral styles are important in family life  in several ways because they affect the nature of the interactions among family members. Some children adapt quickly and easily to family daily routines and get along well with their siblings. Others, especially highly active, intense and “prickly” children have a more difficult time adjusting to everyday demands, and their interactions with parents and siblings may lead to friction and stress. Consider how an active, impulsive child can bother an older sibling who is trying to complete a school project, or how a distractible child who is low in persistence can frustrate parents’ efforts to get him to complete his homework or to finish a household chore.  It is important to note that parents, like children, also differ in temperament. Some are quick reacting and intense, while others are quiet and slow to respond; some are flexible and adaptable, and others are not. The “mix” between parents’ and children’s temperaments has a strong effect on family life, sometimes leading to positive interactions, sometimes to frustrations, and sometimes even to conflicts. It is interesting to note that parents also differ in the expectations they have about their children’s behavior, and how they view and tolerate differences in temperaments. For example, certain constellations of temperament such as high activity, intensity, and persistence may be tolerated and valued in boys, but not in girls. Conversely, shyness and sensitivity may be viewed as acceptable in girls, but not in boys.  This leads to the notion of “goodness of fit”, which can be a useful framework for helping parents figure out how temperament affects relationships in the family. “Goodness of fit” refers to the match or mismatch between a child and other family members. For example, a high-activity, intense child may upset and irritate a quiet, slow-paced, reflective parent. An active, quick-responding parent may be impatient with a slow-to-warm-up child, whom the parent may see as lazy or indifferent. Sparks may fly when both parent and child are intense and quick responding.  Life in a family is not the same for all children, and temperament is one of the ingredients in the “fit” between child and family. Don’t assume family friction is a result of your child having LD or ADHD. It could be because of your child’s temperament — and yours! 
2. The word “prickly” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ______

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In 1959 Xerox created the first plain paper copy machine. It was one of the most  successful products ever. The company name Xerox grew into a verb that means “to copy,” as in “Bob, can you Xerox this for me?” Around 50 years later, the same thing happened to Google. Their company name grew into a verb that means “to do an internet search.” Now everyone and their grandma knows what it means to Google it.  Unlike Xerox, Google wasn’t the first company to invent their product, not by a long shot. Lycos released their search engine in 1993. Yahoo! came out in 1994. AltaVista began serving results in 1995. Google did not come out until years later, in 1998. Though a few years difference may not seem like much, this is a major head start in the fast moving world of tech. So how did Google do it? How did they overtake their competitors who had such huge leads in time and money? Maybe one good idea made all the difference.  There are millions and millions of sites on the internet. How does a search engine know which ones are relevant to your search? This is a question that great minds have been working on for decades. To understand how Google changed the game, you need to know how search engines worked in 1998. Back then most websites looked at the words in your query. They counted how many times those words appeared on each page. Then they might return pages where the words in your query appeared the most. This system did not work well and people often had to click through pages and pages of results to find what they wanted.  Google was the first search engine that began considering links. Links are those blue underlined words that take you to other pages when you click on them. Larry Page, cofounder of Google, believed that meaningful data could be drawn from how those links connect. Page figured that websites with many links pointing at them were more important than those that had few. He was right. Google’s search results were much better than their rivals. They would soon become the world’s most used search engine.  It wasn’t just the great search results that led to Google becoming so wellliked. It also had to do with the way that they presented their product. Most of the other search engines were cluttered. Their home pages were filled with everything from news stories to stock quotes. But Google’s homepage was, and still is, clean. There’s nothing on it but the logo, the search box, and a few links. It almost appears empty. In fact, when they were first testing it, users would wait at the home page and not do anything. When asked why, they said that they were, “waiting for the rest of the page to load.” People couldn’t imagine such a clean and open page as being complete. But the fresh design grew on people once they got used to it. 
1. Which title best expresses the author’s main purpose in writing this text?

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the undelined part that needs correction in each of the following questions:
Who talks more - men or women? Most people believe that women talk more. However, linguist Deborah Tannen, who has the studied the communication style of men and women, says that this is a stereotype. According to Tannen, women are more verbal - talk more - in private situations, where they use conversation as the “glue’ to hold relationships together. But, she says, men talk more in public situations, where they use conversation to exchange information and gain status. Tannen points out that we can see these difference even in children. Little girls often play with one ‘best friend’ and their play includes a lot of conversation. Little boys often play games in groups, their play usually involves more doing than talking. In school, girls are often better at verbal skills, while boys are often better at mathematics.
A recent study at Emory University helps to shed light on the roots of this difference. Researchers studied conversation between children aged 3-6 and their parents. They found evidence that parents talk very differently to their sons than they do to their daughters. The startling conclusion was that parents use more language with their girls. Specifically, when parents talk with their daughters, they use more descriptive language and more details. There is also far more talk about emotions, especially with daughters than with sons.

Which sentence best expresses the main idea of the second paragraph?

Read the passage carefully, then choose the correct answers.

The dramatic growth of the world's population in the twentieth century was on a scale without parallel in human history. Most of this growth had occurred since 1950 and was known as the population 'explosion'. Between 1950 and 1980 the world population increased from 2.5 to over 4 billion, and by the end of the twenty century the figure had risen to about 6.6 billion. Growth of this size cannot continue indefinitely. Recent forecasts suggest that the total population will level out at between 10 and 15 billion in the mid twenty first century. Already there are encouraging signs that the rate of increase in many less developed countries is beginning to slow down.

In 2000, the world's population was about ______.

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An important point to remember if you like spending time out in the open air is that the human head doesn’t work very well outdoors if it becomes too hot, cold or wet. That’s why a hat is a good investment, whenever you are planning to go out and about. Surprisingly, a single waterproof hat with a brim will do the (34)______ adequately in most conditions. In cold climates, the problem is that the head is (35)______ heat all the time. As much as fifty to sixty per cent of your body’s heat is lost through the head and neck, (36)______ on which scientist you believe. Clearly this heat loss needs to be prevented, but it’s important to remember that hats don’t actually keep you warm, they simply stop heat escaping. Just as important is the need to protect your neck from the effects of bright sunlight, and the brim of your hat will do this. If you prefer a baseball cap, (37)______ buying one that has a drop down ‘tail’ at the back to stop your neck getting sunburnt. And in wet weather (38)______, hats are often more practical than pooling up the hood of your waterproof coat because when you turn your head, the hat goes with you, whereas the hood usually does not.

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Stabilisation work means the Leaning Tower of Pisa is leaning slightly less than it used to, experts have said. The tower, which has leaned to one side ever since it began to take shape in 1173, has lost 4cm of its tilt over the past two decades, according to a report from the surveillance group that meets every three months to give updates on the monument’s condition “Since restorative work began, the tower is leaning about half a degree less,” said Nunziante Squeglia, a geotechnics professor at the University of Pisa who works with the group. “But what counts is the stability of the tower, which is better than initially predicted.” The structure, which was badly damaged during the second world war, was closed to the public in 1990 over safety fears and did not reopen for 11 years. The surveillance group was set up in 2001 ago after Michele Jamiolkowski, an engineer of Polish origin, coordinated an international committee to save the landmark. The bell tower, a symbol of the power of the maritime republic of Pisa in the Middle Ages, was defective from the beginning due to the porous clay soil beneath its foundations. After three floors were completed, construction stopped and did not resume until 90 years later when workers started building additional floors on a diagonal to offset the lean. But work was again disrupted before finally being completed in 1372. The tower, located behind Pisa’s cathedral, attracts more than 5 million visitors a year. Reaching the top requires climbing 269 steps. The surveillance group’s work, which is funded by the non-profit Opera della Primaziale Pisana, includes improving the quality of the structure’s conservation and promoting research.
5. According to paragraph 3, how many time was the construction of Pisa Tower disrupted?

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My parents insist me on learning Spanish.

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I know some interesting tourist ............. in the city that you would love to visit.

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The first two decades of this century were dominated by the microbe hunters. These hunters had tracked down one after another of the microbes responsible for the most dreaded scourges of many centuries: tuberculosis, cholera, diphtheria. But there remained some terrible diseases for which no microbe could be incriminated: scurvy, pellagra, rickets, beriberi. Then it was discovered that these diseases were caused by the lack of vitamins, a trace substance in the diet. The diseases could be prevented or cured by consuming foods that contained the vitamins. And so in the decades of the 1920’s and 1930’s, nutrition became a science and the vitamin hunters replaced the microbe hunters. In the 1940’s and 1950’s, biochemists strived to learn why each of the vitamins was essential for health. They discovered that key enzymes in metabolism depend on one or another of the vitamins as coenzymes to perform the chemistry that provides cells with energy for growth and function. Now, these enzyme hunters occupied center stage. You are aware that the enzyme hunters have been replaced by a new breed of hunters who are tracking genes – the blueprints for each of the enzymes – and are discovering the defective genes that cause inherited diseases – diabetes, cystic fibrosis. These gene hunters, or genetic engineers, use recombinant DNA technology to identify and clone genes and introduce them into bacterial cells and plants to create factories for the massive production of hormones and vaccines for medicine and for better crops for agriculture. Biotechnology has become a multibilliondollar industry. In view of the inexorable progress in science, we can expect that the gene hunters will be replaced in the spotlight. When and by whom? Which kind of hunter will dominate the scene in the last decade of our waning century and in the early decades of the next? I wonder whether the hunters who will occupy the spotlight will be neurobiologists who apply the techniques of the enzyme and gene hunters to the funtions of the brain. What to call them? The head hunters. I will return to them later.
7. The author implies that the most important medical research topic of the future will be: 

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The Thang Long Imperial Citadel was the ………. of political power for nearly seven centuries without interruption.

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For nearly all of human history, there haven’t been that many of us. Around the year zero, Earth’s population is estimated to have been 190 million. A thousand years later, it was probably around 250 million. Then the Industrial Revolution happened, and human population went into overdrive. It took hundreds of thousands of years for humans to hit the 1 billion mark, in 1800. We added the next billion by 1928. In 1960, we hit 3 billion. In 1975, 4 billion. That sounds like the route to an overpopulation apocalypse, right? To many midcentury demographers, futurists, and science fiction writers, it certainly predicted one. Extending the timeline, they saw a nightmarish future ahead for humanity: human civilizations constantly on the brink of starvation, desperately crowded under horrendous conditions, draconian population control laws imposed worldwide. Stanford biologist Paul Ehrlich wrote in his best-selling book, “In the 1970’s, hundreds of millions of people will starve to death” because of overpopulation. None of that ever came to pass. The world we live in now, despite approaching a population of nearly 8 billion, looks almost nothing like the one doomsayers were anticipating. Starting in the 19th century in Britain and reaching most of the world by the end of the 20th century, birthrates plummeted — mostly because of women’s education and access to contraception, not draconian population laws. In wealthy societies where women have opportunities outside the home, the average family size is small; in fact, it’s below replacement level. Called the demographic transition, it is one of the most important phenomena for understanding trends in global development.  There’s still significant debate among population researchers about the extent of the sea change in population trends. Researchers disagree on whether global populations are currently on track to start declining by midcentury. There’s also disagreement on what the ideal global population figure would be, or whether it’s morally acceptable to aim for such a figure. While academic research seeks to nail down these questions, it’s important to be clear what is consensus among researchers. Our projections around population are used to make global health and development policy. They’re critical for planning, especially about climate change. Fears of overpopulation sometimes turn into hostility to immigrants, those who choose to have large families, and countries in an earlier stage of their population transition. Having an informed conversation about population is crucial if we are to get humanity’s future right.  
3. According to paragraph 2, what was the situation for population concerns in the late 1900s?

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

 Modern airplanes are able to fly very highly because they have pressurized cabins

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He’s so brilliant and he can do anything - ……….

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the undelined part that needs correction in each of the following questions:
(Line 1) Horace Pippin, as an African-American soldier during World War I, was wounded in his right arm. He discovered, however, that by keeping his right wrist steady with his left hand, he could paint and draw. Pippin was not trained, but his artistic sensitivity and intuitive feel for two- dimensional design and the arrangement of colour and patterns made him one of the finest Primitive artists America has produced.
(Line 6) Pippin did a series of paintings on the abolitionist John Brown and one on his war experiences, but he shied away from social issues for the most part and achieved his greatest success with scenes of the people and places of his hometown of West Chester, Pennsylvania. His Domino Players, featuring four women gathered around a wooden table in a simple kitchen setting, is an excellent example of his rural domestic scenes.

With which of the following statements would the author agree?