Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrases that best fits each of the numbered blanks from 46 to 50.
ABROAD WITH US
The company study abroad was originally founded in 1991 for students who wished to study French in France. Its success led to the establishment of other schools around the world.
Learning the language in the country in which it is spoken is, of course,a (46)_________ more effective and faster process than studying in your own country. It is also an opportunities to mix with local habitants and (47) _________ a greater and deeper (48) _________ of the people whose language you are studying. This makes the whole experience much more enjoyable.
You may wish to attend an Italian language and a cooking course in Italy or combine a Portuguese course with a sport. You should look at all the possibilities and (49) _________ the best choice.
In order to choose  the (50)_________ course and location for you, we suggest you contact us to discuss your particular requirements. From the information you give us, we can make some recommendation.
(49).......................

Read the text below and decide which answer (A,B,C, or D) best fits each space.
MY FIRST JOB

When I was 19, I (58) …….. out of my university course and ended up getting a job in a local travel agent’s. I’d seen the (59) …….. for the job in local paper. It said they wanted someone with a nice (60) …….. and a friendly (61) …….. .I thought the job might be an (62) …….. to send people to interesting places and to see some of the world myself. (63) …….. , it turned out to be a bit of a joke. I arrived at work on the first day with a positive (64) …….., ready to work and learn about new places. I spent that morning and every morning for the first three months filling (65)…….. forms and making coffee for the rest of the staff. (66) …….. I was hoping to be dealing with travel-hungry people with a good idea of where they wanted to go, the (67) …….. customer took ages to make their mind (68) …….. . It was amazing the number  of  customers  who  would  spend  ages  finding  the  perfect  destination  only  to have a change (69) …….. heart at the last moment. If we did organize the trip of a lifetime for someone, we rarely got thanks (70) …….. all our efforts. I now work in publishing (71) …….. a living, so these days I’m a customer in travel agencies. One thing I always keep (72) …….. mind is the need to say thank you.

60...................

Read the text below and decide which answer (A,B,C, or D) best fits each space.
Statesmen define a family as ―a group of indivi duals having a commo n  dwelling andrelated by blood, adoption or marriage, (1) includes common law relationships.‖ Most people are born into one of these groups and (2) live their lives as a family in such a group.Although the definition of a  family may not change, (3).relationship of people to each other within the family  group changes as society changes. More and more wives are (4) paying jobs,  and, as a result, the roles of husband, wife and children are changing. Today,  men expect to(5) . for pay for about 40 years of their lives, and, in today‘s  marriages(6) . which both spouses have paying jobs, women can expect to  work for about 30 to 35 years of their lives. This mean that man must learn to do  their share of family tasks such as caring for the children and daily (7) chores.  Children, too, especially adolescents, have to (8) with the members od their  family in sharing household tasks. The widespread acceptance of contraception  has meant that having (9) is as matter of choice, not an automatic result of  marriage. Marriage itself has become a choice. As alternatives (10)  common-law relationships and single-parent families have become socially  acceptable, women will become more independent. 

7)...........................

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word(s) for each of the blanks.

The relationship between students and teachers is less formal in the USA than in many other countries. American students do not stand up when their teachers (1) _______the room. Students are encouraged to ask questions during class, to stop in the teacher’s office for extra help, and to phone if they are absent. Most teachers (2) _________ students to enter class late or leave early if necessary. (3) ______the lack of formality, students are still expected to be polite to their teachers and classmates.

When students want to ask questions, they usually (4) _______ a hand and wait to be called on. When a test is being given, talking to a classmate is not only rude but also risky. Most American teachers consider that students who are talking to each other (5) _______ a test are cheating.

(1) _________

Read the text below and decide which answer (A,B,C, or D) best fits each space.
Postsecondary institutions and private schools are corporations under U.S. law.  They are approved to operate as non-profit, for-profit, or public corporations (1)  _______ education and training. Increasingly, state authorities are requiring  approved educational providers to apply (2) _______ and receive accreditation  as a condition of final and continued approval. 
As corporate entities, U.S. institutions are internally self-governing and are (3)  _______ to make property, facilities, equipment, and utilities transactions; make  their own personnel decisions; decide whom to admit to study and to graduate;  (4) _______ their own funds from outside sources; enter into contracts and  compete for grants; and do most of the other things that corporations do.  Institutions compete (5) _______ one another for students, research funding,  faculty, and other benefits. Public institutions may compete within the same  state or territory for budget appropriations. It is the corporate nature of  institutions and the competition within the system that (6) _______ Americans  to refer to the concept of the educational or academic marketplace - an important distinctive element of the way U.S. education is organized. 
Some institutions are governed (7) _______ under multi-campus arrangements.  These include most local public schools (governed by school districts) and many  state community college and university systems. Whether single- or multi campus, institutional corporations (8) _______ by boards of citizens, both  alumni and non- alumni, who are ultimately responsible for all operations. They  appoint senior (9) _______, such as principals, headmasters, presidents, and  deans; and approve the actions taken (10) ______ their name. 

6........................

Read the text below and decide which answer (A,B,C, or D) best fits each space.
MY FIRST JOB

When I was 19, I (58) …….. out of my university course and ended up getting a job in a local travel agent’s. I’d seen the (59) …….. for the job in local paper. It said they wanted someone with a nice (60) …….. and a friendly (61) …….. .I thought the job might be an (62) …….. to send people to interesting places and to see some of the world myself. (63) …….. , it turned out to be a bit of a joke. I arrived at work on the first day with a positive (64) …….., ready to work and learn about new places. I spent that morning and every morning for the first three months filling (65)…….. forms and making coffee for the rest of the staff. (66) …….. I was hoping to be dealing with travel-hungry people with a good idea of where they wanted to go, the (67) …….. customer took ages to make their mind (68) …….. . It was amazing the number  of  customers  who  would  spend  ages  finding  the  perfect  destination  only  to have a change (69) …….. heart at the last moment. If we did organize the trip of a lifetime for someone, we rarely got thanks (70) …….. all our efforts. I now work in publishing (71) …….. a living, so these days I’m a customer in travel agencies. One thing I always keep (72) …….. mind is the need to say thank you.

72.................

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the answer to each of the question. 
The world’s oldest post office, which has been operating in Sanquhar, Scotland, for more than 300 years, faces an uncertain future. Current owner and stamp collector, Manzoor Alam, and his wife, Nazra, have been forced to put the business and its accompanying cottage on the market due to ill health.
The Alams are “heartbroken” to leave the post office, and are concerned that if a buyer cannot be found its rich history could be lost. “It was my husband who was always the one most interested in stamps and the postal service but over the last few years of working here it has grown on me too,” said Mrs Alam. The couple are the post office’s 16th postmasters, and if they become the last, the title will fall to a Stockholm branch, which opened in 1720.
Dumfries and Galloway councillor, Andrew Wood, said lots of rural areas were struggling to keep their post offices open. He said it would be a “sad day” if the business folded. “I was wondering if the community could arrange a buyout but it shouldn’t come down to that,” he said. “We’re a wealthy country and should be able to have them in good-sized towns.”
The property is on the market for £275,000, and includes a three-bed cottage with two bathrooms, a large living room, and garden with outbuildings. Agent Humberstones suggests the outbuilding could be a holiday let, tea room or postal museum, as Mr Alam had planned. “My ambition is to promote the rich heritage of the past by establishing a postal museum — the only one in Scotland — and combining it with a modern business, securing this wonderful post office for future generations,’” he had said when he took on the business.

The word “accompanying” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ______.

Choose the item among A, B, C or D that best answers the question about the passage:

"A good deal of fascinating research has been done about the reading patterns of young people, and it is surprising to discover at what an early age children start expressing preferences for particular kinds of books. A recent report which examined in detail the reading habits of primary-school children, showed that even seven-year-old boys and girls have clear views about what they want to read. Girls, in general, read more, and far more girls than boys preferred reading stories. Boys were showing a taste for the more instant appeal of picture stories, or else books about their hobbies.
 These tastes continue unchanged until girls are teenagers. Apparently girls read more in general, but more fiction in particular. You could say that there are more opportunities for girls to read fiction: magazines encourage the fiction habits in girls in their early teens, and by their late teens they have probably moved on to the adult women’s magazines. Teenage boys tend to buy magazines about their hobbies: motorcycles, heavy transport and so on.
 Adult reading tastes are also the subject of research. Again the number of women who read for pleasure is considerably higher than the number of men. Ít seems that the majority of women still want love stories. There has also been some analysis of what men actually read. Apparently only 38 percent of men read anything, but 50 percent of what they read is fiction in the form of action-packed stories of space or gunmen."

5. The word “fascinating” means most nearly the same as ……

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.

When I saw her name on the screen, it took me right back to the moment she had moved away with her family ten years before. We had been such close friends at primary school. To begin with, she and I had not hit it off, perhaps because we were both timid. We had quickly got over that, though, and as time went on, we had become really good friends, until you almost never saw one of us without the other.

And now after so much time apart, there was her name. She had sent me a friend request. I knew she had been living abroad, and her profile picture showed her on the beach. I had been expecting her to look different after ten years. The girl in the photo was the same old Lauren, though.

Nowadays, it is easy to find old friends thanks to social networking sites. There are lots of stories about long lost friends getting back in touch after years apart. It was odd because I had been thinking about our friendship too and now here she was!

She told me about the place where she had been living for the past ten years, and I told her about things that had happened to me. Before long, the years melted away and we were the same two girls who had spent so much time together. Of course, true friends are loyal and listen to you when you are down. And they are the people you have fun with. But deep down, I realised that the truest friends are those you are most yourself with. And that is something that never changes. That is what Lauren and I learned that day, the day we realised our friendship was so precious and had never really ended in the first place.

(Adapted from Optimise)

The word “odd” in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to __________.

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 from 31 to 35.
On April 3, 1972, a man came out of the Hilton hotel in Manhattan and started walking down the street. He stopped, (31) his hand with a strange object in it, put it to his ear and started to talk into it. This was the beginning of mobile phone (32) , more than 30 years ago. That man was Motorola's project manager, Martin Cooper, who was (33) his 34th birthday that day. The strange object was the first mobile phone, which was nicknamed “the shoe” because of its  unusual (34)  .Mr. Cooper had gone to New York to introduce the new phone. The first call he made was to his rival, Joe Engel at AT&T's research centre. Engel was responsible for the development of the radiophones for cars. "I called him and said that I was talking on a real mobile phone (35)         I was holding in my hand," said Cooper. "I don't remember what he said in reply, but I'm sure he wasn't happy." The quality of the call was very good, because although New York had only one base station at that time, it was being used by only one user - Martin Cooper.
(34).....................

BASKETBALL
1. Although he created the game of basketball at the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, Dr. James A Naismith was a Canadian. Working as a physical education instructor at the International YMCA, now Springfield College, Dr. Naismith noticed a lack of interest in exercise among students during the wintertime. The new England winters were fierce, and the students balked at participating in outdoor activities. Naismith determined a fast-moving game that could be played indoors would fill a void after the baseball and football seasons had ended.
2. First, he attempted to adapt outdoor games such as soccer and rugby to indoor play, but he soon found them unsuitable for confined areas. Finally, he determined that he would have to invent a game.
3. In December of 1891, Dr. Naismith hung two old peach baskets at either end of the gymnasium at the school, and, using a soccer ball and nine players on each side, organized the first basketball game. The early rules allowed three points for each basket and made running with the ball violation. Every time a goal was made, someone had to climb a ladder to retrieve the ball.
4. Nevertheless, the game became popular. In less than a year, basketball was being played in both the United States and Canada. Five years later, a championship tournament was staged in New York City, which was won by the Brooklyn Central YMCA.
5. The teams had already been reduced to seven players, and five became standard in  1897 season. When basketball was introduced as a demonstration sport in the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Luis, it quickly spread throughout the world. In 1906, a metal hoop was used for the first time to replace the basket, but the name basketball has remained.

Soccer and rugby are the example of___________.

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.

   Mickey Mantle was one of the greatest baseball players of all time. He played for the New York Yankees in their years of glory. From the time Mantle began to play professionally in 1951 to his last year in 1968, baseball was the most popular game in the United States. For many people, Mantle symbolized the hope, prosperity, and confidence of America at that time.

   Mantle was a fast and powerful player, a “switch-hitter” who could bat both right-handed and lefthanded. He won game after game, one World Series championship after another, for his team. He was a wonderful athlete, but this alone cannot explain America’s fascination with him.

   Perhaps it was because he was a handsome, red-haired country boy, the son of a poor miner from Oklahoma. His career, from the lead mines of the West to the heights of success and fame, was a fairy-tale version of the American dream. Or perhaps it was because America always loves a “natural”: a person who wins without seeming to try, whose talent appears to come from an inner grace. That was Mickey Mantle.

   But like many celebrities, Mickey Mantle had a private life that was full of problems. He played without complaint despite constant pain from injuries. He lived to fulfill his father’s dreams and drank to forget his father’s early death.

   It was a terrible addiction that finally destroyed his body. It gave him cirrhosis of the liver and accelerated the advance of liver cancer. Even when Mickey Mantle had turned away from his old life and warned young people not to follow his example, the destructive process could not be stopped. Despite a liver transplant operation that had all those who loved and admired him hoping for a recovery, Mickey Mantle died of cancer at the age of 63.

It can be inferred from the passage that for most Americans ______.

In “Cerealizing America”, Scott Bruce and Bill Crawford remark that the cereal  industry uses 816 million pounds of sugar per year. Americans buy 2.7 billion  packages of breakfast cereal each year. If (1) _______ end to end, the empty  cereal boxes from one year's consumption would (2) _______ to the moon and back. One point three (1.3) million advertisements for cereal are broadcast on  American television every year at a(n) (3) _______ of $762 million for airtime.  Only automobile manufacturers spend more money on television advertising  than the makers of breakfast cereal. (4) _______ of the boxed cereals found in  supermarkets contain large amounts of sugar and some contain more than 50%  sugar. Cereal manufacturers are very clever in their marketing, making many  cereals appear much healthier than they really are by “fortifying” them with vitamins and minerals. Oh, (5) ______ – you now have vitamin-fortified sugar! Before you eat any cereal, read the ingredient list and see how (6) _______  sugar appears on the ingredient list. Then check the “Nutrition facts” panel. 
There are actually only a small handful of national commercially-branded cereals  that are made (7) _______ whole grains and are sugar-free. If you shop at a health  food store instead of your local supermarket, you (8) _______ to find a healthy,  whole grain, sugar-free (or very low sugar) cereal. But (9) _______! Some of the  health food store boxed cereals are sweetened with fruit juice or fructose.  Although this may be an improvement (10) _______ refined white sugar, this can  really skyrocket the calories. 

4........................

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.

Since the invention of the Internet, the world has become a different place. People are sending messages, apparently up to 60 billion a day, and it usually takes only seconds to deliver them. (1) _________are we now forgetting how to communicate face-to-face?

Without a doubt there are (2) _________ challenges, but there are also examples of when the Internet has changed someone's life for the better. Look at Tara Taylor's case, a mother (3) ___________ lives in the USA: when she uploaded a photo of her daughter to Facebook, a facefriend (4) ______a problem with one of the child's eyes, so Tara took her to the doctor. It turned out that the girl had a rare disease, but her sight was saved! The story of communication is, in many (5) _______, the story of the human race: we have always shared knowledge and built relationships, whatever means of communication we use.

(Adapted from High Note)

(4) ________

Read the following passage and mark A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct answer to each  of the blanks.

Modern industry pollutes, and it also seem to cause significant changes to the climate. What is needed is an industry that (41)_________ the benefits without the costs. And the glimmerings of such an industry can now be (42)_________ .
That industry is based on biotechnology. At the moment, biotech‟s main uses are in medicine and agriculture.  However,  its  biggest  long  term impact maybe industrial.  Biotechnology will  (43)_________ demand for oil by taking the cheapest raw materials imaginable, carbon dioxide and water, and using them to make fuel and plastics.
Plastics and fuels made in this way would have several advantages. They can be called “renewable”, (44)_________ nothing is depleted to make them. They would be part of the natural carbon cycle, borrowing    that element from the atmosphere for a few months, and returning it when they were burned or (45)_________ . That means they could not possibly contribute to global warming. They would also be environmentally friendly in other ways.
All in all, the future could be green in ways that traditional environmentalists had not expected.
(41)........................

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

"Books are written to provide knowledge and good books enrich the mind. By putting (1)…. under the influence of superior mind, we (2) ….. our mental powers. (3)…. good books, we learn that people everywhere are the (4) ......., in ali ages, and in all (5)…. . This knowledge improves our love (6)…. others and helps us to live in peace with them.
 We also (7)…. that the world was made not only for man (8)…. but for every creature that can feel hunger and thirst, warmth and cold. Though it may be possible for us to travel (9)…. the world and see the things happening today, it is not possible for us to see the things that happened in the past. But good books (10) …..us to see not only into the most remote regions of the world today, but also into the world in which our ancestors lived."

3. (3)…. good books, we learn that people everywhere

Read the following passage and choose the best answer for each blank.

AUDIOBOOKS - BOOKS ON CASSETTE

In the modern world, there is a wealth of leisure activities to choose from. Entertainment industries (26)________ for your leisure time. You can watch TV, listen to music, go to an art gallery or concert or, of course, read a book. Sometimes it seems that reading is (27)________because, even if you're a fast reader, it can take a (28)________amount of time to finish a novel, for example. But in the (29)________world, time is something that can be in short supply. Book publishers haven't been (30)________to realise this and are now selling a product which needn't (31)________as much of your time but still tells you an excellent story. The new product is the audiobook -cassette recordings of shortened novels, often read by well-known personalities or the authors themselves. Audiobooks are (32)________new but people are becoming more aware of them and sales are increasing all the time. One of the attractions of audiobooks is that they're (33)________listening to the radio. You can listen to what you want when you want, and you won't ever (34)________anything. Much of their appeal lies in their flexibility. They (35)________you to do other things while you're listening, such as driving or doing the housework. For some people, audiobooks can be a much more enjoyable way of gaining knowledge than reading.

(28)________

Humans have struggled against weeds since the beginnings of agriculture. Marring our gardens is one of the milder effects of weeds - any plants that thrive where they are unwanted. They clog waterways, destroy wildlife habitats, and impede farming. Their spread eliminates grazing areas and accounts for one-third of all crop loss. They compete for sunlight, nutrients, and water with useful plants.

The global need for weed control had been answered mainly by the chemical industry. Its herbicides are effective and sometimes necessary, but some pose serious problems, particularly if misused. Toxic compounds threaten animal and public health when they accumulate in food plants, groundwater, and drinking water. They also harm workers who apply them.

In recent years, the chemical industry has introduced several herbicides that are more ecologically sound. Yet new chemicals alone cannot solve the world’s weed problems. Hence, scientists are exploring the innate weed-killing powers of living organisms, primarily insects and microorganisms.

The biological agents now in use are environmentally benign and are harmless to humans. They can be chosen for their ability to attack selected targets and leave crops and other plants untouched. In contrast, some of the most effective chemicals kill virtually all the plants they come in contact with, sparing only those that are naturally resistant or have been genetically modified for resistance. Furthermore, a number of biological agents can be administered only once, after which no added applications are needed. Chemicals typically must be used several times per growing season.

With what topic does this passage primarily deal?

Read the passage below and choose one correct answer for each question.

Books which give instructions on how to do things are very popular in the United States today. Thousands of these How-to books are useful: in fact, there are about four thousand books with titles that begin with the words 'How-to". One book may tell you how to earn more money, another may tell you how to save or spend it and another may explain how to give your money away. Many How-to books give advice on careers. They tell you how to choose a career and how to succeed in it. If you fail, however, you can buy the book “How to Turn Failure into Success”. If you would like to become very rich, you can buy the book “How to Make a Millionaire”. If you never make any money at all. you may need abook called “How to Live on Nothing”. One of the most popular types of books is one that helps you with personal problems. If you want to have a better love of life, you can read “How to Succeed in Love Every Minute of Your Life”. If you are tired of books on happiness,  you may prefer books which give step-by-step instructions on how to redecorate or enlarge a house. Why have How-to books become so popular? Probably because life has become so complex. Today people have far more time to use, more choices to make, and more problems to solve. How-to books help people deal with modern life.

How-to books appear only because________. 

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase for each of the numbered blanks.
An ecosystem is a community of animals, plants and microbes that sustain themselves in the same area or environment by performing the activities of living, feeding, reproducing and interacting. Like many of Africas large mammals, giraffes have (21)________ in numbers and in range over the last century.   At one time, herds of over 100 animals were common in savanna regions across the continent, however, today concentrations like these exist only in East Africa particularly Tanzania Serengeti National Park. The decline of giraffe populations has largely been due to hunting. In Africa, the giraffe is a traditional source of hide and hair and also of tough  but (22) ________ meat. The hunting of giraffes has not yet  had a catastrophic effect, (23)________ on some of Africas big-game animals, but it is a cause for concern. The natural habitat of the giraffe is also being impacted more and more by human activities, (24)________ the animals range. The giraffe is currently a protected species throughout most of its range and is classed as conservation-dependent by the World Conservation Union. The giraffe’s prospects for survival are good for (25)________ living in national parks and game reserves, but for animals living outside these   areas the future is less secure.
(25).................

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrases that best fits each of the numbered blanks from 46 to 50.
ABROAD WITH US
The company study abroad was originally founded in 1991 for students who wished to study French in France. Its success led to the establishment of other schools around the world.
Learning the language in the country in which it is spoken is, of course,a (46)_________ more effective and faster process than studying in your own country. It is also an opportunities to mix with local habitants and (47) _________ a greater and deeper (48) _________ of the people whose language you are studying. This makes the whole experience much more enjoyable.
You may wish to attend an Italian language and a cooking course in Italy or combine a Portuguese course with a sport. You should look at all the possibilities and (49) _________ the best choice.
In order to choose  the (50)_________ course and location for you, we suggest you contact us to discuss your particular requirements. From the information you give us, we can make some recommendation.
(50).......................