Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Would you believe that your diet can make a big difference in keeping a youthful appearance? It seems strange to think that the food we take in could result in fewer wrinkles. Wouldn’t it be better to put things on our skin rather than in our mouths? Well, according to one scientific theory, our bodies start aging because of oxidation. This is caused by certain oxygen-containing molecules in our cells, called free radicals. Free radicals have the capability to attach to and damage parts of our cells, including our DNA. Our bodies have the ability to repair this damage. However, as we get older, these repair mechanisms start to break down, resulting in signs of aging, such as wrinkles. Free radicals are actually produced by our bodies, but their numbers can also increase because of the food we eat. Besides avoiding foods that could potentially produce more free radicals, eating foods that contain certain vitamins and micro-nutrients can also keep us looking young. These vitamins help produce molecules called antioxidants, which actually help reduce the production of free radicals. Even better, foods containing antioxidants are not rare. Common antioxidants, like vitamins A and E, can be found in many dark-colored vegetables. For example, carrots, seaweed, spinach, and broccoli are all excellent sources of these helpful vitamins. Also, you can eat orange-colored fruits like apricots and peaches. Vitamins A and E are particularly good for helping your skin remain young-looking. These nutrients strengthen your skin and make it soft. However, if you really want to stock up quickly on nutrients that benefit your skin, you should eat cow’s liver. One small piece of cooked cow’s liver contains twice as much vitamin A as half a cup of cooked carrots.  More recently, green tea has also been tentatively added to the list of youthpromoting substances. Research on green tea’s effects on our bodies is still in the early stages. Scientists certainly believe that it is good for us, but they are cautious about predicting its ability to keep us looking youthful. However, recent experiments seem to show that green tea’s antioxidant properties can repair cell damage already sustained as well as prevent damage in the future. In fact, green tea works even better if you apply it directly to your skin as an ingredient in facial cream. “You are what you eat.” The more we find out about how our bodies work, the more this old proverb seems to be true. Think about that the next time you sit down at the table.  
7. The word “tentatively” in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to ___________

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:
One of the highest honors for formalists, writers, and musical composers is the PulitzerPrize. First awarded in 1927, the Pulitzer Prize has been won by Ernest Hemingway, Harper Lee,John F. Kennedy, and Rodgers and Hammerstein, among others. As with many famous awards,this prize was named after its founder, Joseph Pulitzer.
Joseph Pulitzer’s story, like that of many immigrants to the United States, is one ofhardship, hard work and triumph. Born in Hungary, Joseph Pulitzer moved to United States in1864. He wanted to be a reporter, but he started his American life by fighting in the AmericanCivil War. After the war, Pulitzer worked for the German - language newspaper, the WestlichePost. His skills as a reporter were wonderful, and he soon became a partial owner of the paper.
In 1978, Pulitzer was able to start a newspaper of his own. Right from the first edition,the newspaper took a controversial approach to new. Pulitzer wanted to appeal to the averagereader, so he  produced  exciting  stories  of  scandal  and  intrigue.  Such  an  approach   iscommonplace today, but in Pulitzer’s time it was new and different. The approach led to thediscovery of many instances of corruption by influential people. Pulitzer ‘paper became veryfamous and is still produced today.
The success of Joseph Pulitzer’s newspaper made him a very wealthy man, so he wantedto give something back to his profession. Throughout his later years, he worked to establishuniversity programs for the teaching of journalism, and he funded numerous scholarships toassist journalism students. Finally, he wanted to leave a legacy that would encourage writers toremember the importance of quality. On his death, he gave two million dollars to ColumbiaUniversity so they could award prizes to great writers
The Pulitzer Prize recipients are a very select group. For most, winning a Pulitzer Prize isthe highlight of their career. If an author, journalist, or composer you know has won a PulitzerPrize, you can be sure they are at the top of their profession.

According to the reading passage, why did Joseph Pulitzer invent the Pulitzer Prize?

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Aging is the process of growing old. It occurs eventually in every living thing provided, of course, that an illness or accident does not kill it prematurely. The most familiar outward signs of aging may be seen in old people, such as the graying of the hair and the wrinkling of the skin. Signs of aging in a pet dog or cat include loss of playfulness and energy, a decline in hearing and eyesight, or even a light graying of the coat. Plants are too, but the signs are much harder to detect. Most body parts grow bigger and stronger, and function more effiiently during childhood. They reach their peak at the time of maturity, or early adulthood. After that, they begin to decline. Bones, for example, gradually become lighter and more brittle. In the aged, the joints between the bones also become rigid and more inflxible. This can make moving very painful. All the major organs of the body show signs of aging. The brain, for example, works less effiiently, and even gets smaller in size. Thinking processes of all sorts are slowed down. Old people often have trouble in remembering recent events. One of the most serious changes of old age occurs in the arteries, the blood vessels that lead from the heart. They become thickened and constricted, allowing less blood to flw to the rest of body. This condition accounts, directly or indirectly, for many of the diseases of the aged. It may, for example, result in heart attack. Aging is not a uniform process. Different parts of the body wear out at the different rates. There are differences among people in their rate of aging. Even the cell of the body differ in the way they age. The majority of cells are capable of reproducing themselves many times during the course of a lifetime. Nerve cells and muscle fiers can never be replaced once they wear out. Gerontologists - scientists who study the process of aging - believe this wearing out of the body is controlled by a built-in biological time-clock. They are trying to discover how this clock works so that they can slow down the process. This could give man a longer life and a great number of productive years.
5. The word "brittle" as used in the second paragraph means .

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The idea of going overseas to study can be daunting, with visions of baffling languages or nights spent in isolation while you are gradually forgotten by your friends and family. (1) _________, the benefits of studying abroad - such as broadening your mind, improving your career prospects and making friends from all over the world - can make digging out your passport really rewarding. “Studying abroad is an eye-opening experience,” says Anna Boyd, event manager at The Student World. “Being (2) _________ in another culture, understanding differences and spotting similarities, living on a beach or in the mountains, (3) _________ will have an impact on every student.” Overseas study comes in many shapes and sizes. It might be a single semester abroad via an Erasmus programme, for example. Or you might elect to follow a full three- or fouryear degree programme. Whatever your ambition, the key is starting early. Some countries require specific combinations of A-levels from UK students. Germany looks for four A-levels including maths or science and one modern foreign language, for instance, while others, such as the US, value extracurricular activities. Starting our research well ahead (4) _________ time can help you make the right choices. “Getting involved in sports, arts and music is also worth considering, as well as gaining experience through volunteering and work placements,” says Boyd. In fact, applying to study abroad could even work to your advantage , for example, you might encounter lower (5) _______ requirement

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:
Under certain circumstances, the human body must cope with gases at greater-than-normal atmospheric pressure. For example, gas pressures increase rapidly during a drive made with scuba gear because the breathing equipment allows divers to stay underwater longer and dive deeper. The pressure exerted on the human body increases by 1 atmosphere for every 10 meters of depth in seawater, so that at 39 meters in seawater a diver is exposed to pressure of about 4 atmospheres. The pressure of the gases being breathed must equal the external pressure applied to the body,

otherwise breathing is very difficult. Therefore all of the gases in the air breathed by a scuba diver at 40 meter are present at five times their usual pressure. Nitrogen, which composes 80 percent of the air we breathe, usually causes a balmy feeling of well-being at this pressure. At a depth of 5 atmospheres, nitrogen causes symptoms resembling alcohol intoxication, known as nitrogen narcosis. Nitrogen narcosis apparently results from a direct effect on the brain of the large amounts of nitrogen dissolved in the blood. Deep dives are less dangerous if helium is substituted for nitrogen, because under these pressures helium does not exert a similar narcotic effect.
As a scuba diver descends, the pressure of nitrogen on the lungs increases. Nitrogen then diffuses from the lungs to the blood, and from the blood to body tissues. Nitrogen then diffuses from the lungs to the blood, and from the blood to body tissues The reverse occurs when the diver surfaces, the nitrogen pressure in the lungs falls and the nitrogen diffuses from the tissues into the blood, and from the blood into the lungs. If the return to the surface is too rapid, nitrogen in the tissues and blood cannot diffuse out rapidly enough and nitrogen bubbles are formed. They can cause severe pains, particularly around the joints.
Another complication may result if the breath is held during ascent. During ascent from a depth of 10 meters, the volume of air in the lungs will double because the air pressure at the surface is only half of what it was at 10 meters. This change in volume may cause the lungs to distend and even rupture. This condition is called air embolism.
To avoid this event, a diver must ascend slowly, never at a rate exceeding the rise of the exhaled air bubbles, and must exhale during ascent.

What does the passage mainly discuss?

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There have never been so many people living in cities in quake zones because the worse the damage can be from a big quake, bringing fires, tsunamis, and the loss of life, property, and maybe an entire city. We understand how earthquakes happen but not exactly where or when they will occur. Until recently, quakes seemed to occur at random. In Japan, government research is now showing that quakes can be predicted. At the Earthquake Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Koshun Yamaoka says earthquakes do follow a pattern—pressure builds in a zone and must be released. But a colleague, Naoyuki Kato, adds that laboratory experiments indicate that a fault slips a little before it breaks. If this is true, predictions can be made based on the detection of slips. Research in the U.S. may support Kato’s theory. In Parkfield, California earthquakes occur about every 22 years on the San Andreas fault. In the 1980s, scientists drilled into the fault and set up equipment to record activity to look for warning signs. When an earthquake hit again, it was years off schedule. At first the event seemed random but scientists drilled deeper. By 2005 they reached the bottom of the fault, two miles down, and found something. Data from two quakes reported in 2008 show there were two “slips’—places where the plates widened—before the fault line broke and the quakes occurred. We are learning more about these destructive events every day. In the future we may be able to track earthquakes and design an early-warning system. So if the next great earthquake does happen in Tokai, about 100 miles southwest of Tokyo, as some scientists think, the citizens of Tokai may have advance warning
5. Evidence for the pre-slip theory has been found by scientists in __________

Swine influenza (also called swine flu, hog flu and pig flu) is an infection of a host animal by any one of several specific types of microscopic organisms called "swine influenza virus". A swine influenza virus (SIV) is any strain of the influenza family of viruses that is usually hosted by (is endemic in) pigs. As of 2009, the known SIV strains are the influenza c virus and the subtypes of the influenza A virus known as HI N1, H1N2, H3N1, H3N2 and H2N3. Swine influenza is common in pigs in the mid-western United States (and occasionally in other states), Mexico, Canada, South America, Europe (including the UK, Sweden and Italy) Kenya Mainland China, Taiwan Japan and other parts of eastern Asia.

Transmission of swine influenza vims from pigs to humans is not common and does not always cause human influenza, often only resulting in the production of antibodies in the blood. The meat of the animal poses no risk of transmitting the virus when properly cooked. If transmission does cause human influenza, it is called zoonotic swine flu. People who work with pigs, especially people with intense exposures, are at increased risk of catching swine flu. In the mid-20th century, identification of influenza subtypes became possible. This allows accurate diagnosis of transmission to humans. Since then, fifty confirmed transmissions have been recorded. Rarely, these strains of swine flu can pass from human to human. In humans, the symptoms of swine flu are similar to those of influenza and of influenza-like illness in general namely chills fever sore throat, muscle pains severe headache, coughing, weakness and general discomfort.

The 2009 flu outbreak in humans known as "swine flu" is due to a new strain of influenza A virus subtype H1N1 that contains genes closely related to swine influenza. The origin of this new strain is unknown. However, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) reports that this strain has not been isolated in pigs. This strain can be transmitted from human to human, and causes the normal symptoms of influenza.

The word "strain" can be replaced by.

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?

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The International Ecotourism Society (TIES), a non-profit organization committed to promoting sustainable tourism, states that ecotourism unites conservation and communities with sustainable travel. With that being said, they offer six core principles of ecotourism that vacationers should follow: minimize impact, build environmental and cultural awareness and respect, provide positive experiences for both visitors and hosts, provide direct financial benefits for conservation, provide financial benefits and empowerment for local people, and raise sensitivity to host countries’ political, environmental, and social climate. Ecotourism offers the opportunity to help protect and maintain our planet. Beginning with responsible travel, sustainable tourism promotes green practices such as recycling and using organic products. There are also many environmental programs and initiatives made available so that people can get involved with sustainability. For example, in Kenya, tourists can get involved with the Basecamp Foundation, which has a monitoring program for big cats and elephants. These kinds of experiences try to demonstrate the positive impact of tourism and teach tourists about the significance of maintaining the environment. However, the simple act of being a tourist in a fragile, natural area helps a great deal, as the money spent there assists in raising funds to protect those areas for generations. Sustainable tourism supports local communities by allowing their economy to grow. Tourism alone employs a large number of local staff. This in turn empowers communities to fight against poverty and encourages the support of local events, festivals, and organizations. As a result the community and its local businesses thrive.  Not only is ecotourism an environmentally fun experience, but it’s also educational. By embarking on an ecotourism vacation, people gain an awareness and understanding of the social and economic conditions of the place they visit. In addition, vacationers learn to appreciate the area’s environment through conservation and also to respect the culture of the local people. While tourists are normally unaware of a country’s poverty or ill conditions, ecotourism strives to expose tourists to the realities of these areas. Ecotourism is a new holiday experience that mixes together vacation fun with conservation and education. Sustainable tourism creates environmentally aware individuals and helps develop their appreciation of nature and local culture. Not only do vacationers go home with new knowledge, but also a worthwhile experience.  
6. According to paragraph 4, what is the benefit of green travel being presented?

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Most researchers agree that artificial intelligence (AI) peaked around 1985. A public (1)  _______ science-fiction movies and excited by the growing power of computers had high expectations. For years, Al researchers had implied that a breakthrough was just (2) ____ the corner. Marvin Minsky said in 1967 that within a generation the problem of creating AI would be (3) ____ solved. Prototypes of medical-diagnosis programs and speech recognition software appeared to be making progress. It proved to be a false dawn. Thinking computers and household robots failed to (4) ______, and a backlash ensued. "There was undue optimism in the early 1980s’, says David Leaky, a researcher at Indiana University. “Then when people realised these were hard problems, there was retrenchment’. By the late 1980s, the term AI was being avoided by many researchers, who opted instead (5) ____ themselves with specific subdisciplines such as neural networks, agent technology, case-based reasoning

Choose the word or phrase  A, B, C or D that best fits the blank space in the following passage:

"Face-to-face conversation is a two-way process: you speak to me, I reply to you and so on. Two-way (1)….. depends on having a coding System that is understood by both (2)….. and receiver, and an agreed convention about (3)…. the beginning and end of the (4)… . In speech, the coding System is the language like English or Spanish; the convention that one person speaks at a time may seem too obvious to (5)…. . In fact, the (6)…..that people use in conversations and meetings are often non- verbal. For example, lowering the pitch of voice may mean the end of a sentence; a Sharp intake of breath may signal the desire to (7)….. , catching the chairman’s (8)…. may indicate the desire to speak in a formal setting like a (9)….. , a clenched fist may indicate anger. When these (10)….. signals are not possible, more formal signals may be needed."

4. and end of the (4)…

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There are many types of family systems around the world. In North America and  northern Europe, the nuclear family (with two generations - a father, a mother and one or more children) is often seen as the most typical. In contrast, in most other parts of the world, extended families, which include other family members such as grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, are seen as the norm.  The common view is that the nuclear family has become the norm in many Western societies as a result of industrialization and urbanization. This trend began in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when people were forced to move to cities to find work in the factories that sprang up during the Industrial Revolution. In the twentieth century, greater industrialization resulted in even more people leaving their large extended families. Urbanization also meant that people lived in much smaller houses, which were not big enough for an extended family.  The trend towards nuclear families meant that many of the duties and responsibilities of a family, such as providing food and shelter, cleaning the home, preparing the food, caring for children and their education, and caring for the sick and elderly are no longer shared among the members of the extended family. The parents (or parent) now have to do this, with some help from the state. However, this is the price that people pay for the higher standard of living that may come from living in a city.  We may think we know what we mean by a ‘nuclear’ family and an extended family, but reality is more complicated than most people believe. Most nuclear families are part of extended families: children have grandparents and, in many cases, aunts, uncles and cousins as well. Part of what makes them ‘nuclear’ is that they live in their own separate household, but it is not the whole story. In Greece or Italy, for example, a nuclear family may live in its own flat, but the extended family may live in the same apartment block or in the same street and family members see each other and even eat together every day. There is at least one more factor to consider. Family members may be separated from each other by geographical distance, but they may have close emotional ties. Even in North America and northern Europe, grandparents usually have close bonds with their grandchildren, and families often travel long distances so that they can see each other. Grandparents often help their adult children, for example, by cooking and looking after their children in emergencies. In the same way, when their parents become too old to live on their own, adult children may take them into their own homes. As a result, they turn their nuclear family into an extended family.  The structure of families changes over time. The effects of urbanization and industrialization are enormous, but they are not the only reasons for the changes. People marry, have children, become widowed, divorce and die. Children grow up and adults grow old. Nuclear families become extended families and extended families become nuclear families. Family ties stay strong or become weak. One thing is certain: in a changing world, the family will continue to change, but ultimately, it is likely to continue to be the basic unit of society
7.  In what way can a nuclear family be turned into an extended household?

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Saving the planet is very much in vogue. It’s also in Harper’s Bazaar, Elle and Mademoiselle. It’s the message on fashion runways, in marketing strategies, in jewelry and accessory designs, on shopping bags and totes, in advertisements and on price tags. A naked fashion model wearing a hat of birch branches and lichen, as shown in Vogue this month, may not be everyone’s idea of environmental awareness. But the pervasiveness of ecological themes in the images and marketing of fashion is undeniable. It is also somewhat paradoxical. The fashion industry, whose driving philosophy involves encouraging consumers to discard the old and embrace the new, is now trying to push itself to the forefront of efforts to conserve and preserve. The environmental theme in fashion began as wispy touches and graphic exhortations in designer collections, not as some well-thought-out strategy of “green” marketing in which the environmental advantages of a product become part of the sales approach. Tendrils of ivy dangled from the ceiling at a Paris fashion show; a carpet of grass covered a runway in New York; models marched along in T-shirts or carrying signs all bearing slogans like “Clean Up or Die,” “Save the Sphere,” and “Environmental Protection Agents”.  The environmental spin on fashion has now moved into the mass market, where ‘’clothes with conscience’‘ make an extra tug at the buyer’s self-image. Bonjour, a jeans and sportswear company based in New York, has embarked on a program to ’‘change the individual’s outlook toward saving the environment’’ through educational tags. This summer, the first wave of what Bonjour executives said would be 50 million fashion items a year are to arrive in stores carrying tags with environmental tips from how to save water to how to reduce pollutants. Whether these tributes to nature will benefit the environment or even raise environmental awareness, with concomitant changes in individual behavior, is not clear. There is some skepticism. Professor Ewen says the new environmental symbolism should be viewed as part of an overall change in America’s economy, from one built on industrial production of hard goods to one based on “pure representation”. “Going back to fashion, the environment has become a commercial cliche separated from real concerns. What can be attached to this year’s fashion is merely the symbolism of environmental sanity.” 
2. The word “paradoxical” in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to _______

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The climate crisis is poised to deliver a severe blow to America’s most threatened animals, with a new study finding that almost every species considered endangered is vulnerable in some way to global heating. Of the 459 animal species listed as endangered by the US government, researchers found that all but one, or 99.8%, have characteristics that will make it difficult for them to adapt to rising temperatures. The California condor, once close to being completely wiped out, faces increased risk of contamination in hotter conditions. Key deer, found only in the Florida Keys, face losing habitat to the rising seas. Whole classes of animals including amphibians, mollusks and arthropods are sensitive to the greatest number of climate-related threats, such as changes in water quality, shifting seasons and harmful invasive species that move in as temperatures climb. Mammals, such as the north Atlantic right whale and Florida panther, also face increased hardships, albeit on fewer fronts than amphibians, mollusks and arthropods.  Despite the overwhelming peril faced by America’s endangered species due to the climate crisis, the report, published in Nature Climate Change, found a patchy response from the US government. Federal agencies consider just 64% of endangered species to be threatened by the climate crisis, while just 18% of listed species have protection plans in place. Astrid Caldas, a study co-author and a climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists said: “While agencies have increasingly listed climate change as a growing threat to species whose survival is already precarious, many have not translated this concern into tangible actions, meaning a significant protection gap still exists.” Nearly half of Australian species are threatened by the climate crisis, researchers have found. A spokesman for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees the endangered species list, said that while a species may be sensitive to changes in the climate, this sensitivity may not be so severe as to warrant being put on the list. “Our process for determining this looks at five factors: threats to a species’ habitat, overutilization, disease or predation, existing regulatory mechanisms, and other factors that may affect its continued existence,” he said. “Through this scientifically rigorous process we examine and account for the effects of climate change.  
8. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

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Around the world, Rio de Janeiro is famous for its beautiful beaches, and Carnival celebration. But the city is also known for its poor areas, known as favelas. For years, many favelas had high poverty and crime rates. However, things are starting to change. In the past, many favelas received very little government assistance. Neighbourhood residents had to build their own streets and homes. Gangs were also common, and so were guns. However, a new government plan is starting to change this. The city is sending thousands of police officers into favelas with the goal of driving out the gangs. In some favelas, the plan is already working. Crime is down, and unlike the past, children are playing in the streets again. New apartment buildings are being built, and the city is providing more services. “In 20 years,’ says police officer Leonardo Nogueira, “the children who live here now will be different people.” Police influence is changing the favelas, but something else is, too. Today, more Brazilians are moving into these neighbourhoods because housing is expensive in other parts of Rio. “Favelas are a place for young doctors without money to get started and young architects to start working,” explains Simone Miranda, a Rio tour guide. In the past, favela residents felt different – separate from the rest of Rio. “But now,” says Miranda, “they feel part of the society of Brazil.” Life is improving in the favelas, but there are still challenges. In some areas, poverty rates are still high. As students, families, and foreigners move into the favelas, property costs skyrocket. In some areas, housing has more than doubled in price. Despite this, favela residents are hopeful. If Rio can develop these favelas for all residents – both poor and middle class the city could become a model for other cities with similar problems. 
2. Which of these things found in favelas is NOT mentioned in the passage?

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Many people believe the glare from snow causes snow-blindness. Yet, dark glasses or not, they find themselves suffering from headaches and watering eyes, and even snowblindness, when exposed to several hours of “snow light”. The United States Army has now determined that the glare from snow does not cause snow-blindness in troops in a snow-covered country. Rather, a man’s eyes frequently find nothing to focus on in a broad expanse of a snow-covered area. So his gaze continually shifts and jumps back and forth over the entire landscape in search of something to look at. Finding nothing, hour after hour, the eyes never stop searching and the eyeballs become sore and the eye muscles ache. Nature balances this annoyance by producing more and more liquid which covers the eyeballs. The liquid covers the eyeballs in increasing quantity until vision blurs. And the result is total, even though temporary, snow-blindness. Experiments led the Army to a simple method of overcoming this problem. Scouts ahead of a main body of troops are trained to shake snow from evergreen bushes, creating a dotted line as they cross completely snow-covered landscape. Even the scouts themselves throw lightweight, dark-colored objects ahead on which they too can focus. The men following can then see something. Their gaze is arrested. Their eyes focus on a bush and having found something to see, stop searching through the snow-blanketed landscape. By focusing their attention on one object at a time, the men can cross the snow without becoming hopelessly snow-blind or lost: In this way the problem of crossing a solid white area is overcome
5. A suitable title for this passage would be ____

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Christmas is around the corner, which means it’s about time you examined carefully your holiday gift list. “Choosing the wrong gift can be kind of risky for relationships because it implies that you and the receiver don’t have anything in common,” says Elizabeth Dunn, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia in Canada. Her research has also showed that undesirable gifts can sometimes negatively impact the receiver’s perception of a relationship’s future potential. Since you don’t want your holiday gift to cause more harm than good, how can you be sure to choose a gift the receiver will love? Psychology may have the answer. Contrary to common belief, studies have actually shown that spending more does not always guarantee a well-received gift. “It seems quite self-evident to most of us that if you spend more, you’re going to get a better girl. But as it turns out, there’s no evidence that recipients associate the cost of a gift with how much they enjoy that gift,” says Jeff Galak, an associate professor of marketing at the Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business in the US city of Pittsburgh. Galak acknowledges that your gift may have to hit a certain price due to tradition or expectations. “But once you meet that cost, it doesn’t matter at all if you buy something even more valuable than that limit,” he says. Galak says the trick for giving a great and unforgettable gift is to think past the moment of handing it over. “When most givers give gifts, they try to make the moment they give the gift perfect and want to see the smile on recipient’s face right in that moment,” says Galak. “But in reality, what most recipients really love about a gift is how much value they’re going to derive from it over an extended time period.” In other words, it might be exciting to watch a friend open a gift of a concert ticket, but since it’s a gift that cannot be enjoyed over time, it may soon be forgotten. It is also suggested that if you can’t think of a good gift, just ask the recipient what they want. “People want to be creative and surprise the recipient,” says Dunn. “but the better gift will be whatever it is they say they like.” At the end of the day, don’t fret too much about giving a terrible gift. Unless something is wildly inappropriate, the recipient will fell some level of appreciation. Galak says that over the course of his research he has asked thousands of participants about gifts they have received, and he rarely hears someone talk about a bad girl. And even if you do give a sub-standard gift to someone you are close to you may be saved by your thoughtfulness. “When someone does something puzzling that needs to be explained – like give a bad gift – that’s when you think about what’s on the other person’s mind,” says Nicholas Epley, a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. His research shows that if your recipient feels like you at least spent a lot of time making your selection, they’ll appreciate the effort that went into choosing a less desirable gift. In other words, the old saying ‘it’s the thought that counts’ really might be true.  
7. The word “it” in paragraph 3 refers to by ________________

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Water is of vital importance to all living things. Without it, all living things will  surely die. We also use a great (1)_____ of water daily in our homes, in factories, and in power stations. Most of this water is fresh water and it comes to us from reservoirs, rivers and lakes.  The Earth’s surface is (2)_____ by large areas of water which we call oceans and seas. If you have tasted the water from the sea, you will know that, unlike fresh water, seawater tastes salty. This is due to the (3)_____ of sodium chloride which comes from the land. Rivers carry it to the sea.  Although (4)_______salt nor fresh water has (5)________color, the sea often looks blue in the sunlight. The reason is that sunlight is made up of many colors. Some colors disappear quickly in the sea but blue light bounces back or is reflected, to the surface. This makes the sea look blue. Hence, a stormy sky will make the sea look grey

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Most young people and their families have some ups and downs during their teenage years, but things usually improve by late adolescence as children become more mature. And family relationships tend to stay strong right through. For teenagers, parents and families are a source of care and emotional support. Families give teenagers practical, financial and material help. And most teenagers still want to spend time with their families, sharing ideas and having fun. Adolescence can be a difficult time-your child is going through rapid physical changes as well as emotional ups and downs. Young people aren’t always sure where they fit, and they’re still trying to work it out. Adolescence can also be a time when peer influences and relationships can cause you and your child some stress. During this time your family is still a secure emotional base where your child feels loved and accepted, no matter what’s going on in the rest of his life. Your family can build and support your child’s confidence, self-belief, optimism and identity. When your family sets rules, boundaries and standards of behavior, you give your child a sense of consistency and predictability. And believe it or not, your life experiences and knowledge can be really useful to your child-she just might not always want you to know that! Supportive and close family relationships protect your child from risky behavior like alcohol and other drug use, and problems like depression. Your support and interest in what your child is doing at school can boost his desire to do well academically too. Strong family relationships can go a long way towards helping your child grow into a well-adjusted, considerate and caring adult.  
3. What is NOT mentioned as a trouble-making factor during teenage years?

Read the passage carefully and choose the correct answer.

Communication in general is process of sending and receiving messages that enables humans to share knowledge, attitudes, and skills. Although we usually identify communication with speech, communication is composed of two dimensions - verbal and nonverbal. Nonverbal communication has been defined as communication without words. It includes apparent behaviors such as facial expressions, eyes, touching, tone of voice, as well as less obvious messages such as dress, posture and spatial distance between two or more people. Activity or inactivity, words or silence all have message value: they influence others and these others, in turn, respond to these communications and thus they are communicating. Commonly, nonverbal communication is learned shortly after birth and practiced and refined throughout a person's lifetime. Children first learn nonverbal expressions by watching and imitating, much as they learn verbal skills. Young children know far more than they can verbalize and are generally more adept at reading nonverbal cues than adults are because of their limited verbal skills and their recent reliance on the nonverbal to communicate. As children develop verbal skills, nonverbal channels of communication do not cease to exist although become entwined in the total communication process.

According to the writer, ________.

Of the six outer planets, Mars, commonly called the red planet, is the closest to Earth. Mars, 4,200 miles in diameter and 55 percent of the size of Earth, is 34,600,000 miles from Earth, and 141,000,000 miles from the Sun. It takes this planet, along with its two moons, Phobos and Deimos, 1.88 years to circle the Sun, compared to 365 days for the Earth.

For many years, Mars had been thought of as the planet with the man-made canals, supposedly discovered by an Italian astronomer, Schiaparelli, in 1877. With the United States spacecraft Viking I's landing on Mars in 1976, the man-made canal theory was proven to be only a myth.

Viking I, after landing on the soil of Mars, performed many scientific experiments and took numerous pictures. The pictures showed that the red color of the planet is due to the reddish, rocky Martian soil. No biological life was found, though it had been speculated by many scientists. The Viking also monitored many weather changes including violent dust storms. Some water vapor, polar ice, and permafrost (frost below the surface) were found, indicating that at one time there were significant quantities of water on this distant planet. Evidence collected by the spacecraft shows some present volcanic action, though the volcanoes are believed to be dormant, if not extinct.

It can be inferred from the passage that the radius of Mars is_______________ .