Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the best option for each of the following questions.
Banana fiber is used in the production of banana paper. Banana paper is used in two different senses: to (1)..................... to a paper made from the bark of the banana tree, mainly used for artistic purposes, or paper made from banana’s fiber, (2).............. from an industrialized process, from the stem and the non–usable fruits. The paper can be either hand–made or made by machine. The volume of raw (3)................... for making banana paper around the world on plantations is vast and largely unutilized. The market for banana paper is seen as a growth industry. (4).......... 1988, in Costa Rica, companies like EcoPaper.com   and   Costa   Rica   Natural   Paper   have   been   producing   100%   industrialized   fine environmental and ecological paper derived from natural banana fibers, for the writing and stationery market.
This industry (5).......... numerous waste products such as: the plastic that wraps the bananas, plastic cords to tie the wrapping, damaged bananas and the pinzote (stems). An alarming quantity of over of 92% of water, 3% of resins and 2% glucose; the rest is vegetal fiber. This particular composition  makes it decompose without the solid component being destroyed. This causes a severe impact on the surrounding ecosystems – much to the detriment of rivers and underground waters.

(3)......................

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
Ramsey Wipers
Corporateand ResidentialWindowCleaning
July9
Dear Mr.Tang,
At RamseyWipers, we work hard to provide our customers with superior cleaning services at reasonable rates. (1)-------, because of advances in our window cleaning technology, we are now able to lower our rates while still providing the same quality service. You will see a 5 percent (2)------- in your bill from now on, beginning August 1. Thank you for supporting your neighborhood cleaners. We look forward to (3)------- our outstanding relations with your company.
Sincerely,
Janet Green
Office Manager, RamseyWipers

She is ____ a spectator.

(451)_____

Sometimes forest fires have caused serious damage to both private and public property. They destroy many houses and cause deaths, particularly when they have reached villages which are close to the forests. It is more dangerous if a destructive fire burns away plants and trees that prevent erosion. If heavy rains occur after such a fire, landslides, ash flows, and flash floods can occur. This can result in property damage in the immediate fire area, and can affect the water quality of streams, rivers and lakes. Wind sometimes makes contributions to forest fires. In southern California, under the influence of Santa Ana winds, fires could move at tremendous speeds, up to 40 miles (60 km) in a single day, consuming up to 1,000 acres (4 km2) per hour.

______may happen after a forest fire. 

Choose the best answer:
Since............,I have heard nothing from him.

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No other student in my class is taller than him.

Choose the best answer:
In the United States, most people eat_______on Christmas day.

Choose the best answer:
I/ can/ send/ you/ references/ the Director of the Happy Mind Charity Centre.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks.
Everyone wants to reduce pollution. But the  pollution (1)........... is as complicated as it is serious. It is complicated because much pollution is caused by things that benefit people. (2)............. , exhaust from automobiles causes a large percentage of air pollution. But the automobile provides transportation for millions of people. Factories discharge much of the material that pollutes the air and water but factories give (3).......... to a large number of people.
Thus, to end or greatly reduce pollution immediately, people would have to (4)............. using many things that benefit them. Most of the people do not want to do that, of course. But pollution can be gradually reduced in several ways. Scientists and engineers can work to find ways to lessen the amount of pollution that such things as automobiles and factories cause. Governments can pass and enforce laws (5).............require businesses and traffic to stop, or to cut down on certain polluting activities.

(5).....................

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Until recently, most American entrepreneurs were men. Discrimination against women in business, the demands of caring for families, and lack of business training had kept the number of women entrepreneurs small. Now, however, businesses owned by women account for more than $40 billion in annual revenues, and this figure is likely to continue rising throughout the 1990s. As Carolyn Doppelt Gray, an official of the Small Business Administration, has noted, "The 1970s was the decade of women entering management, and the 1980s turned out to be the decade of the woman entrepreneur". What are some of the factors behind this trend? For one thing, as more women earn advanced degrees in business and enter the corporate world, they are finding obstacles. Women are still excluded from most executive suites. Charlotte Taylor, a management consultant, has noted, "In the 1970s, women believed if they got an MBA and worked hard they could become chairman of the board. Now they've found out that isn't going to happen, so they go out on their own." In the past, most women entrepreneurs worked in "women's" fields: cosmetics and clothing, for example. But this is changing. Consider ASK Computer Systems, a $22-million- a-year computer software business. It was founded in 1973 by Sandra Kurtzig, who was then a housewife with degrees in math and engineering. When Kurtzig founded the business, her first product was software that let weekly newspapers keep tabs on their newspaper carriers and her office was a bedroom at home, with a shoebox under the bed to hold the company's cash. After she succeeded with the newspaper software system, she hired several bright computer-science graduates to develop additional programs. When these were marketed and sold, ASK began to grow. It now has 200 employees, and Sandra Kurtzig owns $66.9 million of stock. Of course, many women who start their own business fail, just as men often do. They still face hurdles in the business world, especially problems in raising money, the banking and finance world is still dominated by men, and old attitudes die hard. Most businesses owned by women are still quite small. But the situation is challenge, there are likely to be many more Sandra Kurtzigs in the years ahead.
8. The word "hurdles" in the third paragraph can be best replaced by: 

Read the passage, and choose the correct answer A, B, C or D for each question.

A Tale of Two Cities: Seoul and Dhaka

The city of Seoul, with a population of 10.3 million on 1998, forms part of South Korea’s capital region. As the capital city, Seoul has been at the center of South Korea’s remarkable economic transformation over the last four decades.

In the 1960s, much of South Korea’s industrial growth was focused on greater Seoul, which by 1970 had 52 percent of the country’s industrial workers. The major contributor to this growth was rural-urban migration, which accounted for 50 percent of the country’s urban increase in the 1960s. This very rapid growth of Seoul’s population placed pressure on the city’s infrastructure, leading to marked growth in new settlements, increasing  traffic congestion, and growing air pollution. This led the government to adopt a national decentralization strategy in the 1970s that attempted to divert industry to other areas of the country. In the 1980s, continuing efforts were made to decentralize economic activity.

Dhaka’s population of 6.5 million is crowded into 360 square kilometers, creating one of the highest urban densities in the world. Unlike South Korea, Bangladesh has not experienced rapid economic change, and agriculture remains the major component of GDP and the main resource of employment. While general economic conditions have improved somewhat over the last twenty years, Bangladesh is still a very poor country.

Dhaka’s rate of population growth has declined slightly over the past three decades, but it still remains among the highest in Asia (4.2 percent annually). The continuing growth reflects ongoing migration from rural areas to the Dhaka urban region. Recently, the city’s population has also grown as a result of the expansion of its administrative boundaries, a process that added 1 million people to the city in the 1980s. Dhaka’s growth has not been associated with an expansion of productive employment opportunities in relatively high wage areas. Instead, there has been growing employment in the low productivity, low-income sector, such as petty retailing or rickshaw driving.

All of the following are true about Dhaka EXCEPT that__________.

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
Billboards that Recognize You
Have you ever felt you were being watched? Some new technologies might make you feel that way. Digital billboards are being created that have the ability to recognize certain characteristics. These high-tech devices have cameras pointed at the people on the street, and software that tries to recognize people by age and gender. A computer inside the billboard then uses this information to display ads that are directed at the people who are looking at the billboard. For example, if a man passes a billboard featuring an ad for cosmetics, the computer can change the ad to something that is more likely to catch the man’s attention, such as a restaurant, or sporting goods. While advertisers see this as a great opportunity to reach their target customers, some people feel that this kind of profiling is an invasion of their privacy. People are now much more aware of how information is exposed, shared, bought, and sold on the Internet. Now this debate will include technologies such as these “smart” billboards. But advertisers claim that they are sensitive to people’s concern about privacy – companies that have tested the billboards in Japan and the US assure consumers that the billboards can only guess your age and gender, but they will not be able to recognize your face or obtain any personal information about you. Until recently, this kind of “personal” advertising has been mostly limited to the Internet. Search engines like Google and Bing can follow what we search for because each computer that connects to those sites has a unique identity. Companies then pay search engines to use this information to display ads for products and services that you have searched for. So if you search for travel information, you are likely to see ads for airlines and hotels. This kind of advertising has proven to be much more effective and valuable than traditional advertising. In addition to taking steps to deliver more personalized messages, advertisers are using billboards to offer more useful information. Digital billboards can connect to the Internet to display information such as the time, weather, and news headlines. In the future, this technology could be used to reflect activity on social media sites or to broadcast ads that relate to local events. In today’s world, people ignore thousands of ads every day. Advertisers are trying to change that trend by personalizing the experience of seeing an ad. So pay attention the next time you see a billboard – it could be talking to you.
7. In the passage, the writer says that video billboards _________.

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
The Design Present Conference is an annual event held in Melbourne for graphic-design professionals. The conference is steadily growing in popularity. Last year, it ---(1)--- more than 3,000 attendees from Australia and around the world. The next Design Present Conference, which will be held from 20 to 23 March, will offer more than 100 workshops, plus keynote speeches and plenary sessions. This year, several opportunities for professional networking will be added. Attendees will have the chance to market ---(2)--- to firms in several different industries. Periods for networking will be included in the ---(3)--- each day. Whether you are a design enthusiast, student, freelance designer, or business owner, Design Present has something for you. ---(4)--- .

Find mistakes:
Unlike the old one, this new copier can perform their functions in half the time.

Choose the best answer:
If I'd known about Josie's illness, I wouldn't have missed seeing her.

Choose the best answer:
Is/ Nile/ longest/ river/ world?

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions :
It was once thought that forests and the wood that could be taken from them were in endless supply. Especially in areas like South America, where vast areas of the continent were covered by rainforests, logging and clearing of forests for farming seemed like a harmless endeavor. (1)__________ the clearing of rainforests been kept in moderation, it may have become a stable source of wood and a(n) (2)_________ for the people in the region. It was not, though, and the amount of damage that has been (3)__________ to the entire planet has been terrible because of the clearing of rainforests. The rainforests are considered the lungs of the world because they breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen. We need the oxygen to survive, and the more we clear rainforests, the more carbon dioxide begins to concentrate in the atmosphere. In addition to the clearing of forests, the burning of fossil fuels for energy (4)__________ more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. It makes the problems of global warming get worse, as we keep adding more carbon dioxide while simultaneously taking away the planet’s (5)___________ to deal with this gas.

Choose the best answer:
If people _________ the rules, there are no more accidents.

Choose the best answer:
Some high school students_____ in helping the handicapped.

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

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions:
Of all modern instruments, the violin is apparently one of the simplest. It consists in essence of a hollow, varnished wooden sound box, or resonator, and a long neck covered with a fingerboard, along which four strings are stretched at high tension. The beauty of design, shape, and decoration is no accident. The proportions of the instrument are determined almost entirely by acoustical; considerations. Its simplicity of appearance is deceptive. About 70 parts are involved in the construction of a violin. Its tone and its outstanding range of expressiveness make it an ideal solo instrument. No less important, however, is its role as an orchestral and chamber instrument. In combination with the larger and deeper-sounding members of the same family, the violins form the nucleus of the modern symphony orchestra.
The violin has been in existence since about 1550. Its importance as an instrument in its own right dates from the early 1600’s, when it first became standard in Italian opera orchestras. Its stature as an orchestral instrument was raised further when in 1626 Louis XIII of France established at his court the orchestra known as Les vinq-quatre violons du Roy (The King’s 24 Violins), which was to become widely famous later in the century.
In its early history, the violin had a dull and rather quiet tone resulting from the fact that the strings were thick and were attached to the body of the instrument very loosely. During the eighteenth and nineteenth century, exciting technical changes were inspired by such composer- violinists as Vivaldi and Tartini. Their instrumental compositions demanded a fuller, clearer, and more brilliant tone that was produced by using thinner strings and a far higher string tension. Small changes had to be made to the violin’s internal structure and to the fingerboard so that they could withstand the extra strain. Accordingly, a higher standard of performance was achieved, in terms of both facility and interpretation. Left-hand technique was considerably elaborated, and new fingering patterns on the fingerboard were developed for very high notes.

The word “they” in paragraph 3 refers to     .