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:
The ability of falling cats to right themselves in midair and land on their feet has been a source of wonder for ages. Biologists long regarded it as an example of adaptation by natural selection, but for physicists it bordered on the miraculous.
Newton's laws of motion assume that the total amount of spin of a body cannot change unless an external torque speeds it up or slows it down. If a cat has no spin when it isreleased and experiences no external torque, it ought not to be able to twist around as it falls.
In the speed of its execution, the righting of a tumbling cat resembles a magician's trick. The gyrations of the cat in midair are too fast for the human eye to follow, so the process is obscured. Either the eye must be speeded up, or the cat's fall slowed down for the phenomenon to be observed. A century ago the former was accomplished by means of high-speed photography using equipment now available in any pharmacy. But in the nineteenth century the capture on film of a falling cat constituted a scientific experiment.
The experiment was described in a paper presented to the Paris Academy in 1894. Two sequences of twenty photographs each, one from the side and one from behind, show a white cat in the act of righting itself. Grainy and quaint though they are, the photos show that the cat was dropped upside down, with no initial spin, and still landed on its feet. Careful analysis of the photos reveals the secret; as the cat rotates the front of its body clockwise, the rear and tail twist counterclockwise, so that the total spin remains zero, in perfect accord with Newton's laws. Halfway down, the cat pulls in its legs before reversing its twist and then extends them again, with the desired end result. The explanation was that while nobody can acquire spin without torque, a flexible one can readily change its orientation, or phase. Cats know this instinctively, but scientists could not be sure how it happened until they increased the speed of their perceptions a thousandfold.

Which of the following can be inferred about high-speed photography in the late 1800's?

Fill in each numbered blank with one suitable word or phrase.

The University of Oxford, informally called "Oxford University", or simply "Oxford", (1) ______ in the city of Oxford, in England, is (2) ______ oldest university in the English-speaking world.  It is also considered as one of the world's leading (3) ______ institutions. The university traces, its roots back to at least the end of the 11th century, (4) ______ the exact date of foundation remains unclear. Academically, Oxford is consistently ranked in the world's top ten universities. The University is also open (5) ______ overseas students, primarily from American universities, who may (6) _____ in study abroad programs during the summer months for more than a century, it has served as the home of the Rhodes Scholarship, (7) ______ brings highly accomplished students from a number of countries to study at Oxford as (8) ______ The University of Oxford is also a place where many talented leaders from all over the world used to study. Twenty-five British Prime Ministers attended Oxford, including Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair. At (9) ______ 25 other international leaders have been educated at Oxford, and this number includes King Harald V of Norway and King Abdullah II of Jordan. Bill Clinton is the first American President to attend Oxford.  Forty-seven Nobel (10) __ winners have studied or taught at Oxford.

(8) ______

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. 
Acupuncture is a Chinese method of treating illnesses by inserting needles into certain points of the body. The idea is that this restores the natural balance of energy, (23) ________ is disturbed when a person is ill. The origins of this therapy have been traced back over five thousand years, but it only began to be accepted in the West in the 1970s. 
In 1971, James Reston, a well-known journalist from the New York Times, was visiting China when he developed appendicitis. He was operated (24) _____________ in a hospital in Peking, where the doctors used acupuncture to relieve his pain. Reston was surprised at how (25) _____________ it was, and wrote about it in an article for the newspaper. 
Soon afterwards, Chairman Mao Tse-tung invited a group of distinguished Western doctors over to China to witness for themselves that (26) ________ worked. They were accompanied by television crews, and soon viewers in the West were watching operations being carried out on patients with acupuncture needles sticking out of them. The patients felt no pain. 
The Western experts were a little embarrassed at what they saw, because they had (27) _____________ ridiculed the idea that patients could be treated with needles. But now they were forced to admit that it actually worked, and acupuncture became a popular form of therapy. 

(25).......................

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:
Henry is the undisputed star of Dronfield School near Sheffield. Whatever the achievements of other members of the comprehensive school, it is Henry, with his soulful eyes and glossy hair, who has hogged the limelight, appearing on television in Britain and abroad. Yet despite all the public adulation, Henry stirs up no envy or resentment among the 2000 students – in fact, they all adore him. The dog, who first arrived six months ago, is a super dog, who has improved students’ behaviour and encouraged more students to focus on their academic achievement.
Andrew Wainwright, a student at Dronfield School, says there is something magical and calming about being able to interact with Henry during his time at the school’s catch-up classes, and that if he falls behind, that opportunity will be denied. Even doubting staff have finally been won round. Perhaps that is because Henry, who lies on the floor during staff meetings, has also had a calming effect on them.
It was Andrew’s teacher, Wendy Brown and the school counsellor, Julie Smart, who first proposed buying a school dog. “Julie and I were talking one day about how looking after dogs can positively affect children’s conduct,” says Brown. “We did some research and discovered that the presence of pets has been shown to be therapeutic. A number of studies have shown that animals improve recovery after surgery or illness and have a calming influence on people in a lot of settings. Some of my kids can be a handful and some of the children Julie counsels have terrible problems.”
Could the school dog become a craze? Other schools such as the Mulberry Bush, a primary school for children with behavioural problems, have stepped forward to point out they already have one. Rosie Johnston, a Mulberry staff member has been bringing her golden retriever, Muskoka, into school for three years. Apart from being a calming influence, Muskoka even plays his part in literacy lessons. Children at the school can be too shy to read to adults so they read to Muskoka. “Their anxiety about mispronouncing something or getting the words in the wrong order is reduced when they read to him,” says Johnston.
Psychologist Dr Deborah Wells from Queen's University Belfast specialises in animal-human interaction. She believes that the underlying key to the Henry effect is that dogs offer unconditional love and that cheers up adults and children and helps with self-esteem. But traditionalist Chris Woodhead, the former chief inspector of schools says, “I don’t see why a teacher cannot create a positive learning environment through the subject they teach and their personality. Dogs strike me as a bit of a publicity stunt. It’s the kind of sentimental story journalists love.” Despite this sentiment, Henry remains as popular as ever.

The word “one” in paragraph 4 refers to     .

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

"Ann Whitney, a student at Colorado University, first had a problem taking tests when she began college. “I was always well prepared for my tests. Sometimes I studied for weeks before a test. Yet I would go into taking the test, only to find I couldn’t answer the questions correctly. I would blank out because of nervousness and fear. I couldn’t think of the answer. My low grades on the tests did not show what I know to the teacher.” Another student in microbiology had similar experience.
 These two young students were experiencing something called anxiety. Because a student worries and is uneasy about a test, his or her mind does not work as well as it usually does. The student cannot write or think clearly because of the extreme tension and nervousness. Although poor grades are often a result of poor study habits, sometimes test anxiety causes the low grades. Recently, test anxiety has been recognized as a real problem, not just an excuse or a false explanation of lazy students.
 Special university counseling courses try to help students. In these courses, counselors try to help students by teaching them how to manage test anxiety.
 An expert at the University of California explains, “With almost all students, relaxation and less stress are left after our program. Most of them experience better control during their tests. Almost all have some improvement.""

3. To deal with this problem, students say they want 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 81 to 92.
Setting up and running a car company was an expensive business and required a lot of workers. A company that makes its money out of a smart app requires less capital, doesn't have to pay (81)  storage or transport in the way that car companies do and (82) virtually no extra costs as the number of users increases.
In the jargon of economics, the marginal costs per unit of output tend towards zero and the returns to scale are high. This explains why tech entrepreneurs can get very rich very young. Technological change has always been (83) There was a polarization of income and wealth in the first wave of industrialization at the beginning of the 19th century, and this gave rise to political and institutional change over the 100 years between 1850 and 1950: the spread of democracy; the emergence of trade unions; progressive taxation and the development of social safety nets. These helped create bigger markets for the consumer goods that were spawned by the second Industrial Revolution: TVs, radios, vacuum cleaners and the like. (84) over the past four decades a political model that both facilitated the spread of technology and provided some protection against its disruptive consequences has come under attack. Welfare states have become less generous, levels of long-term unemployment are much higher, taxation has become less progressive, and politics has increasingly been dominated by those with the deepest pockets (85) can lobby the loudest.

(85)...................

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:
Transportation accounts for up to one–third of greenhouse gas emissions from the world’s biggest cities and traffic is the largest source of toxic air pollution. To create sustainable, healthy and liveable cities, we need to increase the number of cyclists on our streets, and that means getting more women on their bikes. In San Francisco, only 29% of cyclists are women; in Barcelona, there are three male cyclists for every female cyclist; in London, 37% of cyclists are female.
Surveys reveal that potential cyclists of all genders are deterred by similar concerns, including aggressive and speeding drivers, the threat posed by large vehicles such as lorries and buses, and bike theft. However, women disproportionately view protected cycle lanes as a more urgent priority.
According to research about women and cycling in San Francisco, cities should invest in protected cycle lanes with consistent and clear signage that function as a joined–up network to encourage female riders. Together with more secure cycle parking, these infrastructure investments would make cycling safer, supporting those who already cycle and encouraging those who do not yet ride.
People do what they perceive to be possible. Research in San Francisco found that women, especially women of colour, felt that “people like me” do not cycle. Similarly, 49% of people in London say they do not feel cycling is for “people like them”. More diverse and inclusive imagery of cyclists (in policy documents, in the media and on city streets) could help challenge these perceptions and make more people feel that cycling is for everyone. Social events that enable women to try cycling in a relaxed environment, perhaps as part of a buddy or mentor system that pairs experienced cyclists with those newer to cycling, can help make cycling more accessible and inclusive, along with approaches such as female–led maintenance classes.
The different decisions men and women make about cycling are not only based on issues of convenience or comfort. People’s perceptions of safety influence how, when, where and why they travel. Women and girls learn early on to worry about their personal safety when out and about, and to change their behaviour, dress, speech and travel patterns to avoid sexual harassment or violence. Cities must take women’s and girls’ safety considerations seriously through initiatives such as safety audits.

The word “their” in paragraph 4 refers to     .

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:
The modern comic strip started out as ammunition in a newspapaer war between giants of the American press in the late nineteenth century. The first full-color comic strip appeared in January 1894 in
the New York World, owned by Joseph Pulitzer. The first regular weekly full-color comic supplement, similar to today’s Sunday funnies, appeared two years later, in William Randolph Hearst’ rival New York paper, the Morning Journal.
Both were immensely popular and publishers realized that supplementing the news with comic relief boosted the sale of papers. The Morning Journal started another feature in 1896, the “Yellow Kid”, the first continuous comic character in the United States, whose creator, Richard Outcault, had been lured away from the World by the ambitious Hearst. The “Yellow Kid” was in many ways a pioneer. Its comic dialogue was the strictly urban farce that came to characterize later strips, and it introduced the speech baloon inside the strip, usually placed above the characters’ heads.
The first strip to incorporate all the elements of later comics was Rudolph Dirks’s “Katzenjammer Kids”, based on Wilhelm Busch’s Max and Moritz, a European satire of the nineteenth century. The “Kids” strip, first published in 1897, served as the prototype for future American strips. It contained not only speech baloons, but a continuous cast of characters, and was divided into small regular panels that did away with the larger panoramic scenes of earlier comics.
Newspaper syndication played a major role in spreading the popularity of comic strips throughout the country. Though weekly colored comics came first, daily black-and-white strips were not far behind. The first appeared in the Chicago American in 1904. It was followed by many imitators, and by 1915 black-and-white comic strips had become a staple of daily newspapers around the country.

In what order does the author discuss various comic strips in the passage?

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:
No sooner had the first intrepid male aviators safely returned to Earth than it seemed that women, too, had been smitten by an urge to fly. From mere spectators, they became willing passengers and finally pilots in their own right, plotting their skills and daring line against the hazards of the air and the skepticism of their male counterparts. In doing so they enlarged the traditional bounds of a women's world, won for their sex a new sense of competence and achievement, and contributed handsomely to the progress of aviation.
But recognition of their abilities did not come easily. "Men do not believe us capable." The famed aviator Amelia Earhart once remarked to a friend. "Because we are women, seldom are we trusted to do an efficient job." Indeed old attitudes died hard: when Charles Lindbergh visited the Soviet Union in 1938 with his wife, Anne–herself a pilot and gifted proponent of aviation – he was astonished to discover both men and women flying in the Soviet Air Force.
Such conventional wisdom made it difficult for women to raise money for the up – to – date equipment they needed to compete on an equal basis with men. Yet they did compete, and often they triumphed finally despite the odds.
Ruth Law, whose 590 – mile flight from Chicago to Hornell, New York, set a new nonstop distance record in 1916, exemplified the resourcefulness and grit demanded of any woman who wanted to fly. And when she addressed the Aero Club of America after completing her historic journey, her plainspoken wordstestified to a universal human motivation that was unaffected by gender: "My flight was done with no expectation of reward," she declared, "just purely for the love of accomplishment."

What can be inferred from the passage about the United States Air Force in 1938?

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word for each of the blanks.
        Here are the tips that help success in your job interview
Always  arrive  early.  If  you  do  not  know   (1)......   the  organization  is  located,  call  for  exact  directions in advance. Leave some extra time for any traffic, parking, or unexpected events. If you are running late, call right away and let someone know. The best time to arrive is approximately 5 - 10 minutes early. Give yourself the time to read your resume one more time, to catch your breath, and to be ready for the interview. Once you are at the office, treat everyone you encounter with respect. Be (2).....  to everyone as soon as you walk in the door. Wear a professional business suit. This point  should be emphasized enough. First (3)...........are extremely important in the interview process.  Women should not wearing too much jewelry or make up. Men should  (4)....... flashy suits or wearing too much perfume. It is also important that you feel comfortable. While a suit is the standard interview attire in a business environment, if you think it is an informal environment, call before and ask. (5)........ , you can never be overdressed if you are wearing a tailored suit.
(5)........................................

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

"“Where is the university?” is a question many visitors to Cambridge ask, but no one can give them a clear answer, for there is no wall to be found around the university. The university is the City. You can find the classroom buildings, libraries, museums and offices of the university all over the city. And most of its members are the students and teachers or professors of the thirty-one colleges.
 Cambridge was an already developing town long before the first students and teachers arrived 800 years ago. It grew up by the river Granta, as the Cam was once calied. A bridge was built over the river as early as 875.
 In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries more and more land was used for college buildings. The town grew much faster in the nineteenth century after the opening of the railway in 1845. Cambridge became a City in 1951 and now it has the population of over 100,000. Many young students want to study at Cambridge. Thousands of people from all over the world come to visit the university town. It has become a famous place all around the world."

1. Why do most visitors come to Cambridge?

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word for each of the blanks.
The application (1)....... for volunteers for the 15th Asian Games Doha 2006 is now closed. Organizers have been flooded with interest and have now filled all available roles. Any further (2)......... will have their details stored on file and will only be contacted in the event of any vacancies unexpectedly arising.
Over 30,000 men and women, not only from Qatar, but also from the Gulf (3)....... and even further afield, have volunteered to help out at Doha 2006 after more than two years of meetings and interviews. First of all, a big “thank you” to everyone for your enthusiasm and commitment in volunteering to give up some of your precious free time to become part of the Games of your Life. The (4)...... has been quite overwhelming and has far exceeded expectations.
“It shows that the Qatar public has embraced the (5)........ of the Games”, says Khaled Helaly, manager of the Doha 2006 Volunteers Programme
(4)..............................

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:
Dolphins are one of the most intelligent species on the planet, which makes them a very interesting animal to scientists. In their natural habitats, dolphins use various vocalization techniques. They whistle and squeak to recognize members of their pod, identify and protect their young, and call out warnings of danger. They also make clicking sounds used for echolocation to find food and obstacles in dark and murky waters.
Amazingly, the whistling sound that the bottlenose dolphin makes has been found to have a similar pattern to human language. They always make conversational sounds when they greet each other. If you listen to dolphins' squeaks and squeals, it will sound like they are having a conversation.
Dolphins usually use both sound and body language to communicate with each other. It is through gesture and body language, however, that most of their communication with humans comes. Dolphins can be trained to perform complicated tricks. This suggests they have a high level of intelligence and communication capacity. If they work for a long time with a trainer, they are able to recognize and understand human commands.
A lot of dolphin communication has been studied using dolphins in captive environments. These studies have been criticized because some marine biologists believe that dolphins living in aquariums or research centers cannot be considered "normal." Even so, most believe that studying dolphin communication in captivity is useful for beginning to understand the complexity of dolphin communication. After all, dolphins are one of the most intelligent animals. Their ability to communicate is impressive and worthy of study.

In line 2, the word vocalization 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 answer to each of the questions:
The modem comic strip started out as ammunition in a newspaper was between giants of the American press in the late nineteenth century. The first full-color comic strip appeared in January 1894 in the New York World, owned by Joseph Pulitzer. The first regular weekly full- color comic supplement, similar to today's Sunday funnies, appeared two years later, in William Randolph Hearst's rival New York paper, the Morning Journal.
Both were immensely popular, and publishers realized that supplementing the news with comic relief boosted the sale of papers. The Morning Journal started another feature in 1896, the "Yellow Kid," the first continuous comic character in the United States, whose creator, Richard Outcault, had been lured away from the World by the ambitious Hearst. The "Yellow Kid" was in many ways a pioneer. Its comic dialogue was the strictly urban farce that came to characterize later strips, and it introduced the speech balloon inside the strip, usually placed above the characters' heads.
The first strip to incorporate all the elements of later comics was Rudolph Dirks's "Katzenjammer Kids", based on Wilhelm Busch's Max and Moritz, a European satire of the nineteenth century. The "Kids" strip, first published in 1897, served as the prototype for future American strips. It contained not only speech balloons, but a continuous cast of characters, and was divided into small regular panels that did away with the larger panoramic scenes of the earliest comics.
Newspaper syndication played a major role in spreading the popularity of comic strips throughout the country. Though weekly colored comics came first, daily black-and-white strips were not far behind. They first appeared in the Chicago American in 1904. It was followed by many imitators, and by 1915 black-and-white comic strips had become a staple of daily newspaper; around the country.

The word "incorporate" in line 11 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 answer to each of the questions:
According to some accounts, the first optical telescope was accidentally invented in the 1600s by children who put two glass lenses together while playing with them in a Dutch optical shop. The owner of the shop, Hans Lippershey, looked through the lenses and was amazed by the way they made the nearby church look so much larger. Soon after that, he invented a device that he called a “looker”, a long thin tube where light passed in a straight line from the front lens to the viewing lens at the other end of the tube. In 1608 he tried to sell his invention unsuccessfully. In the same year, someone described the “looker” to the Italian scientists Galileo, who made his own version of the device. In 1610 Galileo used his version to make observations of the Moon, the planet Jupiter, and the Milky Way. In April of 1611, Galileo showed his device to guests at a banquet in his honor. One of guests suggested a name for the device: telescope
When Isaac Newton began using Galileo’s telescope more than a century later, he noticed a problem. The type of telescope that Galileo designed is called a refractor because the front lens bends, or refracts, the light. However, the curved front lens also caused the light to the separated into colors. This meant that when Newton looked through the refracting telescope, the images of bright objects appeared with a ring of colors around them. This sometimes interfered with viewing. He solved this problem by designing a new type of telescope that used a curved mirror. This mirror concentrated the light and reflected a beam of light to the eyepiece at the other end of the telescope. Because Newton used a mirror, his telescope was called a reflector
Very much larger optical telescopes can now be found in many parts of the world, built on hills and mountains far from city lights. The world’s largest refracting telescope is located at the Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. Another telescope stands on Mount Palomar in California. This huge reflecting telescope was for many years the largest reflecting telescope in the world until an even larger reflecting telescope was built in the Caucasus Mountains. A fourth famous reflector telescope, the Keck Telescope situated on a mountain in Hawaii, does not use a single large mirror to collect the light. Instead, the Keck uses the combined light that falls on thirty- six mirrors
Radio telescopes, like optical telescopes allow astronomers to collect data from outer space, but they are different in important ways. First of all, they look very different because instead of light waves, they collect radio waves. Thus, in the place of lenses or mirror, radio telescopes employ bowl-shaped disks that resemble huge TV satellite dished. Also, apart from their distinctive appearance, radio telescope and optical telescopes use different methods to record the information they collect. Optical telescopes use cameras to take photographs of visible objects, while radio telescopes use radio receivers to record radio waves from distant object in space.

What can be inferred about the first optical telescope?

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:
Lighthouses are towers with strong lights that help mariners plot their position, inform them that  land is near, and warn them of dangerous rocks and reefs. They are placed at prominent points on the coast and on islands, reefs, and sandbars.
Every lighthouse has a distinctive pattern of light known as its characteristic. There are five basic characteristics: fixed, flashing, occulting, group flashing, and group occulting. A fixed signal is a steady beam. A flashing signal has periods of darkness longer than periods of light, while an occulting signal’s periods of light are longer. A group-flashing light gives off two or more flashes at regular intervals, and a group - occulting signal consists of a fixed light with two or more periods of darkness at regular intervals. Some lighthouses use lights of different colors as well, and today, most lighthouses are also equipped with radio beacons. The three types of apparatus used to produce the signals are the catoptric, in which metal is used to reflect the light; the dioptric, in which glass is used; and the catadioptric, in which both glass and metal are used.
In the daytime, lighthouses can usually be identified by their structure alone. The most typical structure is a tower tapering at the top, but some, such as the Bastion Lighthouse on the Saint Lawrence River, are shaped like pyramids, and others, such as the Race Rock light, look like wooden houses sitting on high platforms. Still others, such as The American Shoal lighthouse off the Florida Coast, are skeletal towers of steel. Where lighthouses might be contused in daylight, they can be distinguished by day- marker patterns - designed of checks and stripes painted in vivid colors on lighthouse walls.
In the past, the job of lighthouse keeper was lonely and difficult if somewhat romantic. Lighthouse keepers put in hours of tedious work maintaining the lights. Today, lighthouses are almost entirely automated with humans supplying only occasional maintenance. Because of improvements in navigational technology, the importance of lighthouses has diminished. There are only about 340
functioning lighthouses in existence in the United States today, compared to about 1,500 in 1900, and there are only about 1,400 functioning lighthouses outside the United States. Some decommissioned lighthouses have been preserved as historical monument.

For which of the following does the author NOT provide a scientific example in the third paragraph?

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each the numbered blanks. 
Cultural beliefs differ as to whether directness or indirectness is considered positive. In the mainstream American culture, the ideal (25) ____ of communication includes being direct rather than indirect (“ideal" here means that the culture values this style, although not everyone speaks directly). There are several expressions in English (26) ____ emphasize the importance of being direct: “Get to the point! Don't beat around the bush! Let's get down to business!" These sayings all indicate the importance of dealing directly with issues rather than (27) ____ them. One way to determine whether a culture favors a direct or indirect style in communication is to find out how the people in that culture express disagreement or how they say, “No”. In Japan, there are at least fifteen ways of saying “No”, without actually saying the word. Similarly, in Japan, it would be (28) ____ rude to say directly “I disagree with you” or “You're wrong”.
Many Americans believe that "honesty is the best policy" and their communication style reflects this. Honesty and directness in communication are strongly related. It is not a (29) ____, then, to find out that cultural groups misjudge each other based on different beliefs about directness and honesty in communication.

(27).........................

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:
No sooner had the first intrepid male aviators safely returned to Earth than it seemed that women, too, had been smitten by an urge to fly. From mere spectators, they became willing passengers and finally pilots in their own right, plotting their skills and daring line against the hazards of the air and the skepticism of their male counterparts. In doing so they enlarged the traditional bounds of a women's world, won for their sex a new sense of competence and achievement, and contributed handsomely to the progress of aviation.
But recognition of their abilities did not come easily. "Men do not believe us capable." The famed aviator Amelia Earhart once remarked to a friend. "Because we are women, seldom are we trusted to do an efficient job." Indeed old attitudes died hard: when Charles Lindbergh visited the Soviet Union in 1938 with his wife, Anne–herself a pilot and gifted proponent of aviation – he was astonished to discover both men and women flying in the Soviet Air Force.
Such conventional wisdom made it difficult for women to raise money for the up – to – date equipment they needed to compete on an equal basis with men. Yet they did compete, and often they triumphed finally despite the odds.
Ruth Law, whose 590 – mile flight from Chicago to Hornell, New York, set a new nonstop distance record in 1916, exemplified the resourcefulness and grit demanded of any woman who wanted to fly. And when she addressed the Aero Club of America after completing her historic journey, her plainspoken wordstestified to a universal human motivation that was unaffected by gender: "My flight was done with no expectation of reward," she declared, "just purely for the love of accomplishment."

In their efforts to compete with men, early women pilots had difficulty in     .

Choose the underlined word or phrase (A, B, C or D) that is incorrect and needs to be changed: You can use the Internet to find information or chatting with friends

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:
Deforestation is the clearing, destroying, or otherwise removal of trees through  deliberate,  natural or accidental means. It can occur in any area densely populated by trees and other plant life, but the majority of it is currently happening in the Amazon rainforest. The loss of trees and other vegetation can cause climate change, desertification, soil erosion, fewer crops, flooding, increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and a host of problems for indigenous people.
Deforestation occurs for a number of reasons, including: farming, mostly cattle due to its quick turn around; and logging for materials and development. It has been happening for thousands of years, arguably since man began converting from hunter/gatherer to agricultural based societies, and required larger, unobstructed tracks of land to accommodate cattle, crops, and housing. It was only after the onset of the modern era that it became an epidemic.
One of the most dangerous and unsettling effects of deforestation is the loss of animal and plant species due to their loss of habitat; not only do we lose those known to us, but also those unknown, potentially an even greater loss. Seventy percent of Earth's land animals and plants live in forests, and many cannot survive the deforestation that destroys their homes. The trees of the rainforest that provide shelter for some species also provide the canopy that regulates the temperature, a necessity for many others. Its removal through deforestation would allow a more drastic temperature variation from day to night, much like a desert, which could prove fatal for current inhabitants.
In addition to the loss of habitat, the lack of trees also allows a greater amount  of  greenhouse gases to be released into the atmosphere. Presently, the tropical rainforests of South America are responsible for 20% of Earth's oxygen and they are disappearing at a rate of 4 hectares a decade. If these rates are not stopped and reversed, the consequences will become even more severe.
The trees also help control the level of water in the atmosphere by helping to regulate the water cycle. With fewer trees left, due to deforestation, there is less water in the air to be returned to     the soil. In turn, this causes dryer soil and the inability to grow crops, an ironic twist when considered against the fact that 80% of deforestation comes from small-scale agriculture and cattle ranching.
Further effects of deforestation include soil erosion and coastal flooding, In addition to their previously mentioned roles, trees also function to retain water and topsoil, which provides the rich nutrients to sustain additional forest life. Without them, the soil erodes and washes  away,  causing farmers to move on and perpetuate the cycle. The barren land which is left behind in the wake of these unsustainable agricultural practices is then more susceptible to flooding, specifically in coastal regions. Coastal vegetation lessens the impact of waves and winds associated with a storm surge. Without this vegetation, coastal villages are susceptible to damaging floods.

The word "indigenous" in the first paragraph probably means     .

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:
The blue whale is the largest animal ever known to  have existed. During the 20th century,  the species was almost exterminated due to commercial whaling. The species has slowly recovered following the global whaling ban but it remains endangered and faces a  number of  serious threats including ship strikes and the impact of climate change.
Blue whales are simply enormous with most ranging in length from 24-30 m. The largest  ever recorded was a gargantuan 33.5 m long. Females are up to 10 m longer than males. And they can weigh up to 200 tonnes. Just to put that in perspective: an adult male African elephant weighs 6 tonnes. The blue whale's heart is the size of a small car and its beat can be detected two miles away. But that's nothing compared to their calls. Blue whales are the loudest animals on earth and their calls are louder than a jet engine: reaching 188 decibels, while a jet's engine hit 'just' 140 decibels. Apart from their gigantic size, blue whales can be identified by their relatively small dorsal fin, a fairly rounded rostrum (anterior part of the skull), and approximately 90 ventral  grooves, which reach the navel. They also have row of 300-400 baleen plates on each side of the mouth, which are black in color and range in length from 50 cm in front to 100 cm in back.
Blue whales mostly travel alone or in groups of 2-3. Larger groups of up to 60 whales have been reported and are probably associated with feeding grounds. However, the blue whale has the most powerful voice in the animal kingdom and its low-frequency sounds can travel in deep water over hundreds, or even thousands, of miles. Under these circumstances, animals which may appear to us to be traveling alone may actually be in constant contact with one another.
At birth, a blue whale calf is the largest baby on earth: approximately 8m long and weighing about 4 tonnes. They grow at a rate of 90 kg per day and wean after 7-8 months, once they have reached about 15 m in length, and are able to follow the normal migration pattern alone. They reach sexual maturity at 5-10 years. This growth rate is astonishing and is probably the fastest in the animal kingdom.  From  conception to weaning, it represents a several billion-fold increase in tissue in just over a year and a half. Like other baleen whales, the blue whale has no teeth so it is hard to tell its age but scientists believe they live until at least 50.
Like other large whales, blue whales are threatened by chemical and sound pollution, habitat loss, overfishing of krill, ship strikes and becoming entangled in fishing gear. Climate change could also have a major impact on its food supply, since global warming and associated ocean acidification may impact krill populations. In addition, frontal zones - critical whale habitats - are projected to move further south due to climate change. Frontal zones are boundaries between different water masses, where water can rise from the depths, bringing with it large amounts of nutrients that stimulate the growth of phytoplankton and support substantial populations of prey species for whales. Blue whales would have to migrate further (perhaps 200-500 km more) to reach and feed at these food-rich areas where they build up reserves to sustain themselves for the rest of the year. These longer migration paths could increase the energy costs  of migration and reduce the duration of the main feeding season. As frontal zones move southward, they also move closer together, reducing the overall area of foraging habitat available.

What does the word "wean" in paragraph 4 mean?