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:
Happiness and sadness are experienced by people in all cultures around the world, but how can we tell when other people are happy or despondent? It turns out that the expression of many emotions may be universal. Smiling is apparently a universal sign of friendliness and approval. Baring the teeth in a hostile way, as noted by Charles Darwin in the nineteenth century, may be a universal sign of anger. As the originator of the theory of evolution, Darwin believed that the universal recognition of facial expressions would have survival value. For example, facial expressions could signal the approach of enemies (or friends) in the absence of language.
Most investigators concur that certain facial expressions suggest the same emotions in all people. Moreover, people in diverse cultures recognize the emotions manifested by the facial expressions. In classic research Paul Ekman took photographs of people exhibiting the emotions of anger, disgust, fear, happiness, and sadness. He then asked people around the world to indicate what emotions were being depicted in them. Those queried ranged from European college students to members of the Fore, a tribe that dwells in the New Guinea highlands. All groups, including the Fore, who had almost no contact with Western culture, agreed on the portrayed emotions. The Fore also displayed familiar facial expressions when asked how they would respond if they were the characters in stories that called for basic emotional responses. Ekman and his colleagues more recently obtained similar results in a study of ten cultures in which participants were permitted to report that multiple emotions were shown by facial expressions. The participants generally agreed on which two emotions were being shown and which emotion was more intense.
Psychological researchers generally recognize that facial expressions reflect emotional states. In fact, various emotional states give rise to certain patterns of electrical activity in the facial muscles and in the brain. The facial-feedback hypothesis argues, however, that the causal relationship between emotions and facial expressions can also work in the opposite direction. According to this hypothesis, signals from the facial muscles (“feedback) are sent back to emotion centers of the brain, and so a person’s facial expression can influence that person’s emotional state. Consider Darwin’s words: “The free expression by outward signs of an emotion intensifies it. On the other hand, the repression, as far as possible, of all outward signs softens our emotions.” Can smiling give rise to feelings of good will, for example, and frowning to anger?
Psychological research has given rise to some interesting findings concerning the facial-feedback hypothesis. Causing participants in experiments to smile, for example, leads them to report more positive feelings and to rate cartoons (humorous drawings of people or situations) as being more humorous. When they are caused to frown, they rate cartoons as being more aggressive.
What are the possible links between facial expressions and emotion? One link is arousal, which is the level of activity or preparedness for activity in an organism. Intense contraction of facial muscles, such as those used in signifying fear, heightens arousal. Self-perception of heightened arousal then leads to heightened emotional activity. Other links may involve changes in brain temperature and the release of neurotransmitters (substances that transmit nerve impulses.) The contraction of facial muscles both influences the internal emotional state and reflects it. Ekman has found that the so-called Duchenne smile, which is characterized by “crow’s feet” wrinkles around the eyes and a subtle drop in the eye cover fold so that the skin above the eye moves down slightly toward the eyeball, c

Choose the best answer:
We were having dinner when suddenly the phone rang.

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh said over the past 50 years of co- operation and development, besides security, political, cultural and social cooperation, ASEAN has been focusing on economic co-operation through the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community.  ASEAN member states have carried out such activities as one-stop-shop custom procedure, mutual recognition arrangements (MRAs) on electricity, rubber, processed food, pharmaceuticals, etc. Statistics by the Ministry of Industry and Trade reveals when Vietnam joined AFTA in 1996, the country’s two-way trade turnover with other countries in the bloc was only some 5.9 billion USD. In 2018, this number increased by more than 9.5 times and reached about 56.3 billion USD. In the first six months of 2019, Vietnam’s exports to ASEAN reached 13.067 billion USD, up 6.7 percent year-on-year.  Notably, the introduction of the AEC marked a new integration step of ASEAN economies with a goal of building a competitive, dynamic and innovative ASEAN. Tran Thanh Hai, deputy head of the Import-Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said that entering the ASEAN market, many Vietnamese products have had positive changes and become more competitive. For example, Vietnam used to acquire shrimp cultivation methods from other countries, such as Thailand in the past. However, it has made it to the list of biggest shrimp exporters in the world. On the other hand, having joined the AEC, enterprises now pay more attention to product quality, including technical standards.  Even when Vietnam enters a new era of integration with global-scale free trade agreements already put on the table for negotiation, the role of ASEAN Economic Community is still significant. AEC lays a firm foundation for Vietnam to continue its journey of global integration, insiders said. 
1. Which best serves as the title for the passage?

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
There are many thoughts on the origins of civilization. One of the major factors  involved was the increase in population. The development of techniques, primarily irrigation and food control, which permitted agriculture in special areas such as the flood plain of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, made possible the support of large population. Once populations reach a certain number, the older pattern of social organization breaks down and new ones develop. Specifically the older system whereby each individual participated in food production and maintained a similar standard of living, and whereby kinship served as the basic method of social organization, was replaced by the occupational division of labor, political and religious hierarchies, public works such as road and public building construction, class systems, codes of law, markets, new forms of warfare, and urban centres. Allied with these important sociological traits are material traits, such as monumental architecture and development of science and, in many cases, metallurgy and writing systems.  The earliest civilization, Sumer, developed in the Middle East. This was the Bronze Age of the Old World, during which people first developed the art of metallurgy, civilization also arose in other parts of the Old World first in Egypt, China and India, and later in Europe and Africa. At this time, civilization also developed independently in the New World, in the Mexican area and in Peru and its neighboring areas.  In the Old World the Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age, which saw the rise and fall of great empires and the shift of power from the Middle East to Greece and Rome and then to Western Europe. In the 1700s the Industrial Age began, leading directly to the modern civilization of today. 
4. The underlined word “which” in the passage refers to ________________

Dirty Britain

Before the grass has thickened on the roadside verges and leaves have started growing on the trees is a perfect time to look around and see just how dirty Britain has become. The pavements are stained with chewing gum that has been spat out and the gutters are full of discarded fast food cartons. Years ago I remember travelling abroad and being saddened by the plastic bags, discarded bottles and soiled nappies at the edge of every road. Nowadays, Britain seems to look at least as bad. What has gone wrong?

The problem is that the rubbish created by our increasingly mobile lives lasts a lot longer than before. If it is not cleared up and properly thrown away, it stays in the undergrowth for years; a semi-permanent reminder of what a tatty little country we have now.

Firstly, it is estimated that 10 billion plastic bags have been given to shoppers. These will take anything from 100 to 1,000 years to rot. However, it is not as if there is no solution to this. A few years ago, the Irish government introduced a tax on non-recyclable carrier bags and in three months reduced their use by 90%. When he was a minister, Michael Meacher attempted to introduce a similar arrangement in Britain. The plastics industry protested, of course. However, they need not have bothered; the idea was killed before it could draw breath, leaving supermarkets free to give away plastic bags.

What is clearly necessary right now is some sort of combined initiative, both individual and collective, before it is too late. The alternative is to continue sliding downhill until we have a country that looks like a vast municipal rubbish tip. We may well be at the tipping point. Yet we know that people respond to their environment. If things around them are clean and tidy, people behave cleanly and tidily. If they are surrounded by squalor, they behave squalidly. Now, much of Britain looks pretty squalid. What will it look like in five years?

For the writer, the problem is that _______.

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
If you go back far enough, everything lived in the sea. At various points in evolutionary history, enterprising individuals within many different animal groups moved out onto the land, sometimes even to the most parched deserts, taking their own private seawater with them in blood and cellular fluids. In addition to the reptiles, birds, mammals and insects which we see all around us, other groups that have succeeded out of water include scorpions, snails, crustaceans such as woodlice and land crabs, millipedes and centipedes, spiders and various worms. And we mustn’t forget the plants, without whose prior invasion of the land, none of the other migrations could have happened. Moving from water to land involved a major redesign of every aspect of life, including breathing and reproduction. Nevertheless, a good number of thoroughgoing land animals later turned around, abandoned their hard-earned terrestrial re-tooling, and returned to the water again. Seals have only gone part way back. They show us what the intermediates might have been like, on the way to extreme cases such as whales and dugongs. Whales (including the small whales we call dolphins) and dugongs, with their close cousins, the manatees, ceased to be land creatures altogether and reverted to the full marine habits of their remote ancestors. They don’t even come ashore to breed. They do, however, still breathe air, having never developed anything equivalent to the gills of their earlier marine incarnation. Turtles went back to the sea a very long time ago and, like all vertebrate returnees to the water, they breathe air. However, they are, in one respect, less fully given back to the water than whales or dugongs, for turtles still lay their eggs on beaches. There is evidence that all modern turtles are descended from a terrestrial ancestor which lived before most of the dinosaurs. There are two key fossils called Proganochelys quenstedti and Palaeochersis talampayensis dating from early dinosaur times, which appear to be close to the ancestry of all modern turtles and tortoise. You might wonder how we can tell whether fossil animals lived in land or in water, especially if only fragments are found. Sometimes it’s obvious. Ichthyosaurs were reptilian contemporaries of he dinosaurs, with
fins and streamlined bodies. The fossils look like dolphins and they surely lived like dolphins, in the water. With turtles it is a little less obvious. One way to tell is by measuring the bones of their forelimbs.
4. The word “ceased” in paragraph 2 mostly means ______________

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
For centuries, historians and archaeologists have puzzled over the many mysteries of  Stonehenge, the prehistoric monument that took Neolithic builders an estimated 1,500 years to erect. Its construction is so baffling because, scientists have traced the bluestones that make up its inner ring all the way to the Preseli Hills in Wales, some 200 miles from where Stonehenge sits on Salisbury Plain.  If the facts surrounding the architects and construction of Stonehenge remain shadowy at best, the purpose of the arresting monument is even more of a mystery. While historians agree that it was a place of great importance for over 1,000 years, we may never know what drew early Britons to Salisbury Plain and inspired them to continue developing it. There is strong archaeological evidence that Stonehenge was used as a burial site, at least for part of its long history, but most scholars believe it served other functions as well-either as a ceremonial site, a religious pilgrimage destination, a final resting place for royalty or a memorial erected to honor and perhaps spiritually connect with distant ancestors.  In the 1960s, the astronomer Gerald Hawkins suggested that the cluster of megalithic stones operated as an astronomical calendar, with different points corresponding to astrological phenomena such as solstices, equinoxes and eclipses. While his theory has received quite a bit of attention over the years, critics maintain that Stonehenge’s builders probably lacked the knowledge necessary to predict such events or that England’s dense cloud cover would have obscured their view of the skies. More recently, signs of illness and injury in the human remains unearthed at Stonehenge led a group of British archaeologists to speculate that it was considered a place of healing, perhaps because bluestones were thought to have curative powers.
4. The word “them” in paragraph 2 refers to _______

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
When living and working in another country, there are numerous things to consider  apart from the more obvious ones of climate, language, religion, currency, etc. Some important considerations are less obvious. For example, do you have a pet or do you enjoy a hobby such as horse riding? Your animal or hobby may be perceived in a completely different light in another culture so it’s important to consider the significance given to specific animals in different parts of the world and general perceptions towards them.  One example which is often mentioned in popular press is the case of dogs. In some cultures, like the US or UK, dogs are loved and considered a great pet to have at home and with the family. In other cultures, such as those where Islam is the majority religion, dogs may be perceived as dirty or dangerous. Muslims’ treatment of dogs is still a matter of debate amongst Islamic scholars . While these animals are widely considered by many Western cultures to be ‘man’s best friend’, the Koran describes them as unhygienic. Muslims will therefore avoid touching a dog unless he can wash his hands immediately afterwards, and they will almost never keep a dog in their home.  In Iran, for instance, a cleric once denounced ‘the moral depravity’ of dog owners and even demanded their arrest. If you are an international assignee living and working in Saudi Arabia or another Arabic country, you should remember this when inviting Arab counterparts to your house in case you have a dog as a pet. This is just one example of how Islam and other cultural beliefs can impact on aspects of everyday life that someone else may not even question. A Middle Eastern man might be very surprised when going to Japan, for instance, and seeing dogs being dressed and pampered like humans and carried around in baby prams!  Dogs are not the only animals which are perceived quite differently from one culture to another. In India, for example, cows are sacred and are treated with the utmost respect. Conversely in Argentina, beef is a symbol of national pride because of its tradition and the high quality of its cuts. An Indian working in Argentina who has not done his research or participated in a cross cultural training programme such as Doing Business in Argentina may be surprised at his first welcome dinner with his Argentinean counterparts where a main dish of beef would be served.  It is therefore crucial to be aware of the specific values assigned to objects or animals in different cultures to avoid faux-pas or cultural misunderstandings, particularly when living and working in another culture. Learning how people value animals and other symbols around the world is one of the numerous cultural examples discussed in Communicaid’s intercultural training courses. Understanding how your international colleagues may perceive certain animals can help you ensure you aren’t insensitive and it may even provide you with a good topic for conversation. 
7. What does the author suggest in the last paragraph?

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:
The ruined temples of Angkor are perhaps one of the most impressive Seven Wonders of the World. Located in modern day Cambodia near Lake Tonle Sap, the largest freshwater lake in Asia, Angkor was the seat of power for the Khmer Empire for the ninth to the fifteenth century. The ruins of Angkor are documented as some of the most impressive ones in the world, rivaling the pyramids of Giza in Egypt. Why this mighty civilization died out is a question that archaeologists are now only beginning to ponder. The answer, it turns out, may be linked with the availability of fresh water.
One possible explanation for the downfall of the Khmer Empire has to do with the inhabitant’s irrigation system. The temples and palaces of Angkor were constructed around a series of artificial reservoirs and canals which were annually flooded to capacity by the Mekong River. Once filled, they were used to irrigate the surrounding paddies and farmland during the course of the year. Farmers were completely dependent on the water for their crucial rice crop. Without consistent irrigation, the farmers would have been unable to maintain functional crop production.
Scientists speculate that toward the end of the Khmer Empire the hydraulic system of the reservoirs and canals broke down. The construction of hundreds of sandstone temples and palaces required an enormous amount of physical labor. In addition, as the capital of Khmer Empire, Angkor contained upwards of one hundred thousand people who resided in and around Angkor. In order to feed so many people, the local farmers were driven to grow food more quickly and more efficiently. After centuries of continual use, the irrigation system was pushed beyond its capacity. Soil erosion, nutrient depletion, and loss of water led to decrease in the food supply. With the less food available, the people of Angkor slowly began to migrate to other parts of Cambodia, thus leaving the marvelous city of Angkor to be swallowed by the jungle. Therefore, it is speculated that the Khmer Empire may have fallen victim to its own decrepit infrastructure.

According to the passage, Lake Tonle Sap in Cambodia     .

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
A question I was asked about the readiness for independence (or lack thereof) during the last stage of adolescence (ages 18 - 23) was this: “How can parents teach independence?” From what I’ve seen, there are at least four components to this training: responsibility, accountability, work, and self-help. And this instruction can start as soon as (1) ____ begins, (usually between ages 9 and 13) if not before. Young people who learn independence can often say: “I (2) ____ my freedom by acting responsibly (I did what was right even when it was hard to do),” “I was held (3) ____ for my bad choices and paid for my mistakes (I faced my consequences),” “I worked to get a lot of what I wanted (it wasn’t all handed to me),” “I developed the resourcefulness to help myself (4) ____ with difficulty (I met my problems head on).” Young people who seem to get stuck in their dependent ways often have parents who, with the most loving motivation, undermine the growth of independence. They give freedom without demanding evidence of responsibility. “If you really want to do it, that’s enough for us to say okay.” They rescue from or ignore bad choices without (5) ____ on accountability. “You didn’t know any better so we’ll overlook what you did.” They provide whatever is wanted without having the child work for any of it. “We’ll just get it for you.” They weaken with so much help when difficulties arise that the capacity for self-help is disabled. “We’ll fix what you did and take care of it

Choose the best answer:
My mother told me she _______ very tired since she came back from a visit to our grandparents.

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Mr O’Connor, a volunteer firefighter with the New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS), has used all seven weeks of his holiday leave, plus his three weeks of allotted sick leave, to fight fires across the state. Mr O’Connor is among the more than 72,000 members of the RFS, a volunteer force that is the largest firefighting service in the world. These volunteer services have been at the front line of the battle against ferocious bush fires across Australia that have already destroyed more than 10.7 million hectares, an area larger than South Korea. The RFS, which began 120 years ago, not only attends to bush fires and home and building fires but also assists in storms, search and rescue operations and car accidents. In 2018, it attended 26,903 incidents, including 10,036 bush fires and 1,283 building fires. Mr Mick Holton, president of the NSW Volunteer Fire Fighters Association, an organisation which represents volunteers, said people step up for various reasons, including altruism, social factors, a sense of adventure, or a desire to protect their own farms or houses. “People are happy to be part of a group that benefits the community. That is a large part of it for most volunteers. People have a sense that they want to help,” he told The Straits Times. But Australia’s bush fires are becoming more severe and more frequent. This year, many, like Mr O’Connor, have made large sacrifices to protect people and homes. Controversially, Prime Minister Scott Morrison agreed in late December to compensate some of the firefighters after coming under heavy pressure to provide them with support. The compensation scheme allows volunteers who are self-employed or work for small businesses to claim A$300 (S$277) per day if they have served more than 10 days this fire season. The maximum payment is A$6,000. But the move had been opposed by some senior firefighters, including the RFS Commissioner, Mr Shane Fitzsimmons, who has said that “For goodness sake, let’s not take away from the extraordinary spirit that is volunteerism.” But Mr Morrison insisted that: “While I know RFS volunteers don’t seek payment for their service, I don’t want to see volunteers or their families unable to pay bills or struggle financially as a result of the selfless contribution they are making.
8. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

Rewrite the sentence:
I/ have never/ be/ more beautiful/ a waterfall/ before.

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Some experts fear that many people are becoming overweight. Adults are encouraged to exercise for a minimum of thirty minutes, five times a week, and the average person is (1) ____ to take 10,000 steps per day to maintain basic fitness, but it is a fact that few office workers manage to take more than 5,000.  Now architects have designed ‘fit’ office buildings which encourage employees to become healthier because they have to walk while they are at work. In these buildings, meeting rooms and car parks are placed a long way from office desks so that workers have to walk to (2) ____ them. In one building the cafe is located in the furthest section so that some workers have to walk as (3) ____ as half a kilometer to and from lunch. There is special emphasis on (4) ____ people to use stairs instead of lifts, and long staircases are broken into flights of no more than nine stairs, so that they don’t look so difficult to climb. There are also large windows which provide attractive views over the city. (9) ____, the lifts are not easy to get access to, and in some buildings, they only stop at one floor in three.  It’s a design policy for a fitter environment which encourages people to walk without making it appear to be hard work - but will it be successful? Only time will tell

Rewrite the sentence:
It’s convenient to use correction pen for correcting errors.

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
While trust in media as a whole may be at an all-time low, a new study by the EBU has shown the public’s trust in traditional media (broadcast and the written press) is actually on the rise. However, people’s trust in new media continues to fall: 61% of European countries distrust the internet while 97% have no faith in social networks. The EBU’s new report – Trust in Media 2018 – shows the figures illustrating the differences between people’s trust in traditional and new media. Broadcast media remain the most trusted forms of media with 59% of people tending to trust radio (equivalent to 2017) and 51% trusting TV in the EU (an increase of 1 percentage point on 2017). Trust in the written press has also slowly improved over the last 5 years and it is now trusted by 47% of EU citizens. At the same time, people’s trust in the internet and social media has been eroded by fake news, misinformation and disinformation. Only 34% of EU citizens trust the internet and a mere 20% now trust social networks (down from 36% and 21% respectively in 2017). Trust in Media 2018 is based on data published in the 88th Eurobarometer survey and gives an idea of European citizens’ perception of the trustworthiness of different types of media. The survey consists of approximately 1000 face-to-face interviews in the 33 countries covered by the study. The report shows how European citizens’ trust in broadcast media is closely connected with a free and independent press. The higher the level of trust in a country’s radio and TV, the higher press freedom in that country tends to be. There are also strong regional differences with the Nordics and Albania tending to trust traditional media the most while Eastern Europeans tend to trust social networks and the internet more. The EBU’s Head of Strategy and the Media Intelligence Service Roberto Suárez Candel said: “The results of our research show that good quality, impartial media is highly valued by the public. “Public service media play an important role in that and, together, our Members make an invaluable contribution to society. The role of our public service Members in upholding democratic values and supporting media freedom is clearly demonstrated by the results of our research.”  
6. Which of the following statements is TRUE, according to the passage?

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
In 1903 the members of the governing board of the University of Washington in  Seattle engaged a firm of landscape architects, specialists in the design of outdoor environments - Olmsted Brothers of Brookline, Massachusetts - to advise them on an appropriate layout for the university grounds. The plan impressed the university officials, and in time many of its recommendations were implemented. City officials in Seattle, the largest city in the northwestern United States, were also impressed, for they employed the same organization to study Seattle’s public park needs. John Olmsted did the investigation and subsequent report on Seattle’s parks. He and his brothers believed that parks should be adapted to the local topography, utilize the area’s trees and shrubs, and be available to the entire community. They especially emphasized the need for natural, serene settings where hurried urban dwellers could periodically escape from the city. The essence of the Olmsted park plan was to develop a continuous driveway, twenty miles long, that would tie together a whole series of parks, playgrounds, and parkways. There would be local parks and squares too, but all of this was meant to supplement the major driveway, which was to remain the unifying factor for the entire system. In November of 1903 the city council of Seattle adopted the Olmsted Report, and it automatically became the master plan for the city’s park system. Prior to this report, Seattle’s park development was very limited and funding meager. All this changed after the report. Between 1907 and 1913, city voters approved special funding measures amounting to $4,000,000. With such unparalleled sums at their disposal, with the Olmsted guidelines to follow, and with the added incentive of wanting to have the city at its best for the AlaskaYukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909, the Parks Board bought aggressively. By 1913 Seattle had 25 parks amounting to 1,400 acres, as well as 400 acres in playgrounds, pathways, boulevards, and triangles. More lands would be added in the future, but for all practical purposes it was the great land surge of 1907-1913 that established Seattle’s park system
1. What does the passage mainly discuss?

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Many scientists believe our love of sugar may actually be an addiction. When we eat or drink sugary foods, the sugar enters our blood and affects parts of our brain that make us feel good. Then the good feeling goes away, leaving us wanting more. All tasty foods do this, but sugar has a particularly strong effect. In this way, it is in fact an addictive drug, one that doctors recommend we all cut down on. “It seems like every time I study an illness and trace a path to the first cause, I find my way back to sugar,” says scientist Richard Johnson. One- third of adults worldwide have high blood pressure, and up to 347 million have diabetes. Why? "Sugar, we believe, is one of the culprits, if not the major culprit," says Johnson. Our bodies are designed to survive on very little sugar. Early humans often had very little food, so our bodies learned to be very efficient in storing sugar as fat. In this way, we had energy stored for when there was no food. But today, most people have more than enough. So the very thing that once saved us may now be killing us. So what is the solution? It’s obvious that we need to eat less sugar. The trouble is, in today’s world, it’s extremely difficult to avoid. From breakfast cereals to after-dinner desserts, our foods are increasingly filled with it. Some manufacturers even use sugar to replace taste in foods that are advertised as low in fat. But there are those who are fighting back against sugar. Many schools are replacing sugary desserts with healthier options like fruit. Other schools are growing their own food in gardens, or building facilities like walking tracks so students and others in the community can exercise. The battle has not yet been lost.  
1. What is this passage mainly about?

Find synonym:
At last, Huong made a determined effort to get a scholarship so that he could have chance to study overseas.

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

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Certain birds are, more often than not, considered bad luck, or even a sign of impending death. For example, all over the world, both crows and ravens have some connection to war, and death. In early times, crows and ravens were thought to accompany the gods of war, or be signs of the gods’ approaching arrival. This idea later changed. Crows in particular were thought to be harbingers of ill fortune or, in some cases, guides to the afterlife. Woe be it to the person who saw a single crow or raven flying overhead, for this was most certainly a portent of death in the near future. Interestingly, though potentially bad luck for people individually, the raven is considered to be good luck for the crown of England. So much so, in fact, that a “raven master” is, even today, an actual government position in London. He takes care of the ravens there and also clips their wings, ensuring that these birds can never fly far from the seat of the British government. This way, the kingdom will never fall to ill fortune. Another bird that is thought to play a part in forecasting the fortunes of people is the swallow. Depending on how and when it is seen, the swallow can be a harbinger of either good or ill fortune. Perhaps inspired by the swallow’s red-brown breast, Christian people initially related the swallow to the death of Jesus Christ. Thus, people who saw a swallow fly through their house considered it a portent of death. Later, however, farmers began to consider swallows signs of good fortune. Any barn that has swallows living in it is sure to be blessed in the following year. Farmers also have to beware of killing a swallow; that would be certain to end any good luck they might have had. Though many people think these superstitions are old wives’ tales, there is actually some evidence to support them. For example, crows and ravens, being scavengers, appear at the aftermath of battles. Thus, large numbers of crows and ravens could be good indications of war in an area. As well, swallows feed on insects that can cause infections in cattle. Thus, a farmer who has many swallows in his barn may actually have healthier animals on his farm. Therefore, the next time you feel inclined to laugh at an old wives’ tale, maybe you had better find out if there is any truth to it first!
6. The word “aftermath” in the last paragraph could be best replaced by ____________