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Homeopathy, the alternative therapy created in 1796 by Samuel Hahnemann, and now widely used all over the world, is based on the belief that the body can be stimulated to heal itself. A central principle of the “treatment” is that “like cures like”, meaning a subtance that causes certain symptoms can also help to remove those symptoms. Medicines used in homeopathy are created by heavily diluting in water the subtance in question and subsequently shaking the liquid vigorously. They can then be made into tablets and pills. Practitioners believe that the more a subtance is diluted in this way, the greater its power to treat symptoms.
However, in a new study, a working committee of medical experts at Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has claimed that homeopathic medicines are only as effective as placebos at treating illness. Their research, involving the analysis of numerous reports from homeopathy interest groups and the public, concluded that there is no reliable evidence that homeopathy works.
Moreover, researchers uncovered no fewer than 68 ailments that homeopathic remedies had failed to treat, including asthma, sleep disturbances, cold and flu, and arthritis.
As a result of the findings, the NHMRC is urging health workers to inform their patients to be wary of anecdotal evidence that appears to support the effectiveness of homeopathic medicine. “It  isn’t possible to tell whether a health treatment is effective or not simply by considering the experience of one individual or the beliefs of a health practitioner,” says the report. Experts believe that most illnesses said to have been cured by homeopathy would be cured by the body on its own without taking the medicine. Apparently, many illnesses are short-lived by their very nature which often leads to people believing that it is the homeopathy that cures them.
A more serious matter is highlighted by Professor John Dwyer of the University of New South Wales. As an immunologist, he is concerned about homeopathic vaccinations on offer for diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria, none of which he considers effective. According to Professor John Dwyer, the concept that homeopathic vaccinations

In Professor John Dwyer’s view, homeopathic vaccinations    .

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Environmentalists often fear that tourists will trample all over sensitive natural resource areas, but tourism may bring the needed and only economic incentives to help drive conservation, said Bynum Boley. Ecotourism and natural resource conservation already have a mutually beneficial relationship that is ideal for creating a sustainable partnership.
"Ecotourism destinations benefit in the form of enhanced tourism competitiveness from the protection of quality natural resources," he said. "Meanwhile, the conservation of these natural resources is increasingly valued since these pristine natural resources are the foundation of the ecotourism industry and the driver of all economic benefits associated with ecotourism."
Tourism is a $7.6 trillion global industry, provides 277 million jobs and is a primary income source for 20 of the world's 48 least-developed countries. It also subsidizes environmental protection and helps protect, conserve and value cultural resources that might otherwise be undervalued by the host community, Boley said. In the newpaper, Boley and co-author Gary Green said  that despite past  tension between the  tourism industry and environmentalists, the  two should team up as allies to fight off increasing conversion of land away from its natural state, Ecotourists not only provide a boost to the economy in such places, they can also motivate landowners into keeping the environment in its natural state instead of converting it into something unsustainable. They could also influence the public perception of conservation, Boley explained, which does not often favor environmental protection.
“The public has become increasing less prone to respond to  environmental messages,”  he said. “Economic messages are needed in order to  attract the public's interest.” Too often,  Boley and Green said, unique natural resource areas are converted into urban, suburban and agricultural developments without considering their ecotourism potential. In addition to the lost ecotourism revenue, there are a host of negative environmental consequences such as biodiversity loss, water and food shortages and the land being unable to mitigate the effects of  climate change. These areas are not valued for their unique attributes or the valuable natural  resources they provide, Green said, “so we lose them.” Tourists have historically been seen as having a negative impact on the environment. Critics complain that they violate fragile and threatened natural environments while contributing to greenhouse gases from the increased  number of flights to these exotic and often remote locales. While these criticisms are justified, Boley and Green said responsible programs promote education of ecological conservation and environmental sustainability, fostering a greater understanding and appreciation of these exotic areas.

The word “they” in the last paragraph refers 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 first each of the numbered blanks
It is back-to-school time in much of the world. Calm, easy mornings are replaced with busy, hurried ones. Children wake up early and get ready for school. Many parents are also getting ready for work, helping their children and preparing food for lunches. But don't forget about breakfast! When things get wildly busy in the morning, some people (1)....... breakfast to save time. But that may be a big mistake for students.
That is the finding of a 2015 study from Cardiff University in Wales. Researchers there looked at 5000 9-11 year-olds from more than 100 primary schools in the U.K. They looked at what the students ate (2)............. breakfast and then their grades 6 to 18 months later. They found that the students who  ate  a  healthy  breakfast  (3)......... twice as likely to perform above average in educational activities. The researchers also found that unhealthy breakfasts - such as potato chips or a donut did not appear helpful to educational performance.
A good breakfast is not just helpful for school-aged children. We all may gain from eating something healthy first thing in the morning. A study from researchers at the University of Toronto in Canada found that a breakfast rich in protein and complex carbohydrates (4).............. performance on short- and long-term memory. Carbohydrates and protein are especially important because (5)................... a major effect on long-term memory.
(1)..........................

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. 
Expanding the planet's protected natural areas to safeguard vanishing forests and other ecosystems, and the species they protect, is unlikely to be effective on its own as human encroachment into reserves grows, scientists warned Tuesday. A study by Cambridge University researchers, which looked at thousands of conservation areas in more than 150 countries, found that, on average, protected designation is not reducing human encroachment in vulnerable areas. Both chronic underfunding of efforts to protect the land, and a lack of engagement with local communities that live there are hurting conservation efforts, they found.
Creating protected areas is "a type of intervention that we know can work, we know is absolutely essential for conserving biodiversity, at a time in this world's history where it has never been under higher pressure," said lead author Jonas Geldmann. "But despite that we are seeing that some of our protected areas are not managing to mitigate or stop that increasing pressure," said Geldmann, of the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute.
One-sixth of the globe now falls within protected areas, the study noted. Those include national parks, nature reserves and wilderness areas, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's World Database on Protected Areas. Such protected areas are vital for preserving diverse ecosystems, and helping to curb climate change by conserving carbon-sequestering forests and other vegetation. The United Nations Environment Program estimates protected areas hold 15% of the carbon stored on land.
"Protected areas are one of the most important things that we can do to stem the loss of biodiversity and to help solve the climate crisis," said Andrew Wetzler, managing director of the U.S.-based Natural Resources Defense Council's nature program. "The destruction of natural habitat is the single biggest driver of extinction."

The word “stem” in paragraph 4 refers to _______.

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Tides are the periodic rise and fall of the Earth’s waters that are caused by the Moon’s and Sun’s forces of gravity acting on the Earth .It is important to distinguish natural tidal phenomena from huge tsunamis , with the latter being caused by earthquakes and undersea volcanic eruptions.
The Moon is a main factor controlling ordinary tides. At the location on the Earth closest to the Moon, it exerts a powerful gravitational pull on the water. The resulting rise in the water produces higher tides. The water on the side of the Earth farthest away from the Moon also gets pulled by this lunar gravity, but not as strongly. The Earth itself has its own gravitational force that is constantly pulling waters downward, which is why the oceans do not simply bulge out toward the Moon. Ordinary tides usually feature high and low waters alternating in relation to the Earth’s rotation. Most shores around the world have high waters and two low waters for each day, which last about 24 hours and 50 minutes. The difference in height between the high water and low water is called the range of tide, and it can be quite dramatic in narrower bays
.Canada’s bays of Fundy , for example , commonly experiences the world’s most extreme tidal ranges , with daily differences of the 16 meters.
Two other types of tides are influenced by the Sun, which is much farther away from the Earth and exerts less than half of the Moon’s gravitational force. When the Sun, the Moon and the Earth are directly in line, the solar and lunar gravitational forces add up to produce higher spring tides. The range of spring tides is intensified, with higher water marks and lower low water marks. However, when the Moon is in the first or third quarter, it is at a 90–degree angle with the Sun in relation to the Earth .The opposing solar and lunar forces partially cancel each other out, and the result is a lower tide. This is called a neap tide, which comes twice a month and has lower high water marks and higher low water marks. The range of neap tides is minimum.
Some tides do not occur over water at all. The solid body of the Earth has slight elasticity, so lunar and solar gravity cause it to stretch very subtly. These changes in the Earth’s shape, although imperceptible to humans, are known as Earth tides.
Another tidal phenomenon, atmospheric tides, is caused by the Sun’s heating of the Earth’s atmosphere. Like ordinary tides, they usually occur over 12–hour periods.

Why does the author mention tsunamis in the passage?

Choose the option that best completes each of the following sentences.

Computer programmer David Jones earns £35,000 a year designing new computer games, yet he cannot find a bank prepared to let him have a cheque card. Instead, he has been told to wait another two years, until he is 18.

The 16-year-old works for a small firm in Liverpool, where the problem of most young people of his age is finding a job. David's firm releases two new games for the expanding home computer market each month.

But David's biggest headache is what to do with his money.

Despite his salary, earned by inventing new programs within tight schedules, with bonus payments and profit-sharing, he cannot drive a car, take out a mortgage, or obtain credit cards.

He lives with his parents in their council house in Liverpool, where his father is a bus driver. His company has to pay £150 a month in taxi fares to get him the five miles to work and back every day because David cannot drive.

David got his job with the Liverpool-based company four months ago, a year after leaving school with six O-levels and working for a time in a computer shop. "I got the job because the people who run the firm knew 1 had already written some programs," he said.

"I suppose £35,000 sounds a lot but actually that's being pessimistic. I hope it will come to more than that this year." He spends some of his money on records and clothes, and gives his mother £20 a week. But most his spare time is spent working.

"Unfortunately, computing was not part of our studies at school," he said. "But 1 had been studying it in books and 'magazines for four years in my spare time. 1 knew what 1 wanted to do and never considered staying on at school. Most people in this business are fairly young, anyway."

David added: "I would like to earn a million and 1 suppose early retirement is a possibility. You never know when the market might disappear."

Why is David different from other young people at his age?

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.
In Germany, it's important to be serious in a work situation. They don't mix work and play so you shouldn't make jokes (1) ............... you do in the UK and USA when you first meet people. They work in a very organized way and prefer to do one thing at a time. They don't like interruptions or (2)  ............... changes of schedule. Punctuality is very important so you should arrive on time for appointments. At meeting, it’s important to follow the agenda and not interrupt (3) ............... speaker. If you give a presentation, you should focus (4) ............... facts and technical information and the quality of your company's products. You should also prepare well, as they may ask a lot of questions. Colleagues normally use the family names, and title - for example 'Doctor' or 'Professor', so you shouldn't use first names (5) ............... a person asks you to.

Colleagues normally use the family names, and title - for example 'Doctor' or 'Professor', so you shouldn't use first names (5) ............... a person asks you to.

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Most of the fastening devices used in clothing today, like the shoelace, the button, and the safely pin. have existed in some form in various cultures for thousands of years. But the zipper was the brainchild of one American inventor, namely Whitcomb Judson of Chicago. At the end of the 19th century. Judson was already a successful inventor, with a dozen patents to his credit for mechanical items such as improvements to motors and railroad braking system.
He then turned his mind to create a replacement for the lengthy shoelaces which were then used in both men’s and women's boots. On August 29th 1893, he won another patent, for what he called the case “locker”. Though the model was somewhat clumsy, and frequently jammed, it did work: in fact, Judson and his business associate Lewis Walker had sewn the device into their own boots. Although Judson displayed his clasp–locker at the World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893, the public largely ignored it. The company founded by Judson and Walker, Universal Fastener, despite further refinements, never really succeeded in marketing the device.
The earliest zip fasteners were being used in the clothing industry by 1905, but it was only in 1913, after a Swedish–American engineer, Gideon Sundbach, had remodeled Judson's fastener into a more streamlined and reliable form, that the zipper was a success. The US Army applied zippers to the clothing and equipment of the troops of World War I. By the late 1920s, zippers could be found in all kinds of clothing, footwear, and carrying cases; by the mid–1930s, zippers had even been embraced by the fashion industry.
The term “zipper" was coined as onomatopoeia (resembling the sound it makes) by B.F. Goodrich whose company started marketing rubber shoes featuring the fastener in 1923. Regrettably. Whitcomb Judson died in 1909, and never heard the term, or saw the success by which his invention would become popular.

According to the passage, by the late 1920s zippers could be found in all of the following industries EXCEPT    .

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:
Tides are the periodic rise and fall of the Earth’s waters that are caused by the Moon’s and Sun’s forces of gravity acting on the Earth .It is important to distinguish natural tidal phenomena from huge tsunamis , with the latter being caused by earthquakes and undersea volcanic eruptions.
The Moon is a main factor controlling ordinary tides. At the location on the Earth closest to the Moon, it exerts a powerful gravitational pull on the water. The resulting rise in the water produces higher tides. The water on the side of the Earth farthest away from the Moon also gets pulled by this lunar gravity, but not as strongly. The Earth itself has its own gravitational force that is constantly pulling waters downward, which is why the oceans do not simply bulge out toward the Moon. Ordinary tides usually feature high and low waters alternating in relation to the Earth’s rotation. Most shores around the world have high waters and two low waters for each day, which last about 24 hours and 50 minutes. The difference in height between the high water and low water is called the range of tide, and it can be quite dramatic in narrower bays
.Canada’s bays of Fundy , for example , commonly experiences the world’s most extreme tidal ranges , with daily differences of the 16 meters.
Two other types of tides are influenced by the Sun, which is much farther away from the Earth and exerts less than half of the Moon’s gravitational force. When the Sun, the Moon and the Earth are directly in line, the solar and lunar gravitational forces add up to produce higher spring tides. The range of spring tides is intensified, with higher water marks and lower low water marks. However, when the Moon is in the first or third quarter, it is at a 90–degree angle with the Sun in relation to the Earth .The opposing solar and lunar forces partially cancel each other out, and the result is a lower tide. This is called a neap tide, which comes twice a month and has lower high water marks and higher low water marks. The range of neap tides is minimum.
Some tides do not occur over water at all. The solid body of the Earth has slight elasticity, so lunar and solar gravity cause it to stretch very subtly. These changes in the Earth’s shape, although imperceptible to humans, are known as Earth tides.
Another tidal phenomenon, atmospheric tides, is caused by the Sun’s heating of the Earth’s atmosphere. Like ordinary tides, they usually occur over 12–hour periods.

Which of the following does not relate to Ordinary Tides ?

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.
After a busy day of work and play, the body needs to rest. Sleep is necessary for good health. During this time, the body recovers from  the (1)............ of the previous day. The rest that you get while sleeping enables your body to prepare itself for the next day.
There are four levels of sleep, each being a little (2)....... than the one before. As you sleep, your muscles relax little by little. Your heart beats more slowly, and your brain slows down. After you (3).......the fourth level, your body shifts back and forth from one level of sleep to the other.
Although your mind slows down, you will dream from time to time. Scientists who study sleep state that when dreaming (4)....., your eyeballs begin to move more quickly. This stage of sleep is called REM, which stands for Rapid Eye Movement.
If you have trouble falling asleep, some people recommend breathing very slowly and deeply. Other people believe that drinking warm milk will make you (5).................. There is also an old suggestion that counting sheep will put you to sleep!
(3).......................

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You have learned about dinosaurs in school. Maybe you have seen them in museums. But how much do you really know about these animals? Not all dinosaurs were just big reptiles. For years, scientists thought dinosaurs were big, dumb, and cold blooded - in other words, just giant reptiles. Some dinosaurs were huge. But many were about the size of modern-day birds or dogs. Were dinosaurs warm- or cold blooded? Paleontologists- are not sure. But they believe some were intelligent. Of course, no dinosaur was as smart as a human or even a monkey. However, some smaller dinosaurs - like the two- meter (six-foot) Troodon — had fairly large brains.
Was Tyrannosaurus rex a powerful predator? Some scientists think the opposite is true. In the movies, T.rex is often a speedy giant, but in fact, this dinosaur could not run very fast. Physically, it was too large. In reality, T.rex probably moved as fast as an elephant. Also, T. rex had very small arms. Without strong legs or arms, this dinosaur probably wasn’t a powerful hunter. It may have been a scavenger instead, only eating animals that were already dead.
Did an asteroid kill the dinosaurs? An asteroid hit Mexico’s Yucantan Peninsula about 65 million years ago. It created a 180-kilometer (HO-mile) wide crater called Chicxulub. Many believe this asteroid caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. But even before this, dinosaurs were already dying out around the world, for many reasons. At the end of the Cretaceous period, for example, the global climate was changing and Earth's temperature was getting colder.Dinosaurs completely disappeared about 65 million years ago. However, scientists believe modern-day birds are descendants of certain dinosaurs. If this  true, then dinosaurs' relatives are still walking - and flying - among us!

The word “it” in paragraph 2 refers to     ?

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

After your letter of application and resume, the interview is your best opportunity to (26) _____ the employer - regardless of your background and experience. To do this, use every possible strategy to develop (27) _____ interviewing skills. The best way is to prepare a selective presentation of your background, thoughtful answers to potential interview questions, well-researched questions about the organization, and an effective strategy to introduce yourself. You should also consider your career goals and what the available job offers (28) _____ you can discuss both of these topics with employers. Interviewing is a skill that improves and (29) _____ easier with practice. It is to your advantage to carefully research the job and the organization.                There are many (30) _____ to do this. You can ask for printed materials from the employer, such as annual reports and job descriptions. This is an entirely (31) _____ request, so do not hesitate to make it. Use your library and career center resources. Ask colleagues, friends, and faculty about the organization, and about any personal contacts at the organization they might have. Look at the organization's home page. Knowing about the job will help you prepare a (32) _____ of your qualifications so that you can show, point by point, why you are the best (33) _____. Prepare a clear answer to each of the questions in the interview questions section. Practice answering questions with a friend, or (34) _____ front of a mirror. Ask your friend to give you constructive criticism on your speaking style, mannerisms, and gestures. As you practice, avoid colloquialisms, such as "like" and "you know”. It is (35) _____ to prepare yourself for talking with complete strangers.

(33) _____

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.
In Germany, it's important to be serious in a work situation. They don't mix work and play so you shouldn't make jokes (1) ............... you do in the UK and USA when you first meet people. They work in a very organized way and prefer to do one thing at a time. They don't like interruptions or (2)  ............... changes of schedule. Punctuality is very important so you should arrive on time for appointments. At meeting, it’s important to follow the agenda and not interrupt (3) ............... speaker. If you give a presentation, you should focus (4) ............... facts and technical information and the quality of your company's products. You should also prepare well, as they may ask a lot of questions. Colleagues normally use the family names, and title - for example 'Doctor' or 'Professor', so you shouldn't use first names (5) ............... a person asks you to.

 If you give a presentation, you should focus (4) ............... facts and technical information and the quality of your company's products

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Amelia Earhart was born in Kansas in 1897. Thirty one years later, she received a phone call that would change her life. She was invited to become the first woman passenger to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a plane. The flight took more than 20 hours – about three times longer than it routinely takes today to cross the Atlantic by plane. Earhart was twelve years old before she ever saw an airplane, and she didn’t take her first flight until 1920. But she was so thrilled by her first experience in a plane that she quickly began to take flying lessons. She wrote, “As soon as I left the ground, I knew I myself had to fly.”
After that flight Earhart became a media sensation. She was given a ticker tape parade down Broadway in New York and even president Coolidge called to congratulate her. Because her record – breaking career and physical appearance were similar to pioneering pilot and American hero Charles Lindbergh, she earned the nickname “Lady Lindy.” She wrote a book about her flight across the Atlantic, called 20 Hrs, 40 Min.
Earhart continued to break records, and also polised her skills as a speaker and writer, always advocating women’s achievements, especially in aviation. Her next goal was to achieve a transatlantic crossing alone. In 1927 Charles Lindbergh became the first person to make a solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic. Five years later, Earhart became the first woman to repeat that feat. Her popularity grew even more and she was the undisputed queen of the air. She then wanted to fly around the world, and in June 1973 she left Miami with Fred Noonan as her navigator. No one knows why she left behind important communication and navigation instruments. Perhaps it was to make room for additional fuel for the long flight. The pair made it to New Guinea in 21 days and then left for Howland Island, a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The last communication from Earhart and Noonan was on July 2, 1937 with a nearby Coast Guard ship. The United States Navy conducted a massive search for more than two week but no trace of the plane or its passengers was ever found. Many people believe they got lost simply ran out of fuel and died.

The word “sensation” in the second paragraph 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. 
There are many different metaphors used to describe culture. My favorite one is the iceberg. I think, it demonstrates so vividly what can happen to us if we believe only in the visible and ignore or underestimate the invisible part. The hidden part of our culture is that part which we know instinctively because we absorbed it from childhood on. It's handed down to us from generation to generation. We could also say, it's the "thinking" and "feeling" part of culture: habits, assumptions, attitudes, desires, values, tastes, etc.
Now, if we are in a new culture, our customary evaluations and interpretations are likely not to be on target because we see everything through our own cultural glasses. Imagine yourself in a new city trying to get around with a map from your own hometown. It wouldn't take long for you to get lost and completely frustrated! When we experience an encounter in the new culture that puzzles us, the most common reaction is to judge it through our own cultural glasses. 
I want to propose an alternate approach to our initial gut reaction. Instead of immediately and instinctively judging a situation through our own glasses, we might first just pause and notice what is happening and then realize that this is a cultural learning situation. Remember the iceberg metaphor! The new culture becomes your mirror that shows you a hidden part of your own culture. What an opportunity for personal growth and new insight! You can compare two different approaches, that of the new culture and of your own culture. This gives you a choice. Now you can decide what fits best for you or even take the best from both sides. 

According to paragraph 2, what is the most common reaction when experiencing cultural differences?

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Archimedes’s Principle is a law of physics that states that when an object is totally or partially immersed in a fluid, it experiences an upthrust equal to the weight of the fluid displaced. The principle is most frequently applied to the behaviour of objects in water, and helps to explain floating and sinking, and why objects seem lighter in water. It also applies to balloons.
The key word in the principle is “upthrust”, which refers to the force acting upward to reduce the apparent weight of the object when it is under water. If, for example, a metal block with a volume of 100 cm3 is dipped in water, it displaces an equal volume of water, which has a weight of approximately 1 N (3.5 oz). The block therefore seems to weigh about 1 N less.
An object will float if its average density is less than that of water. If it is totally submerged, the weight of the water it displaces (and hence the upthrust on it) is greater than its own weight, and it is forced upward and out of water, until the weight if water displaced by submerged part is exactly equal to the weight of the floating object. Thus a block of wood with a density six tenths that of water will float with six tenths of its volume under water, since at that point the weight of fluid displaced is the same as the blocks’s own weight. If a dense material is made into a suitable shape, it will float because of Archimedes’s principle. A ship floats, whereas a block of iron of the same mass sinks.
It is also because of Archimedes’s principle that ships float lower in the water when they are heavily loaded (more water must be displaced to give the necessary upthrust). In addition, they cannot be so heavily loaded if they are to sail in fresh water as they can if they are to sail in the sea, since fresh water is less dense than sea water, and so more water must be displaced to give the necessary upthrust. This means the ship is lower in the water, which can be dangerous in rough weather.

Ships cannot be so heavily loaded if they want to sail in fresh water as they sail in the sea, because     .

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:
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. No  much  of Britain looks pretty squalid. What will it look like in five years?

The writer says that it is a good time to see Britain before the trees have leaves because ____________.

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Most sources of illumination generate light over an appreciable period, and indeed if an object is lit for a very brief time (1ess that 1/25 second), the human eye will not react in time to see the object. A photographic emulsion - that is, a light-sensitive coating on photographic film, paper, or glass - will, however, record much shorter bursts of light. A photographic flash can therefore be used to capture high- speed movement on film as well as to correct deficiencies of the normal surrounding lighting. Photoflash is now generated electronically, but the earliest form, first used in 1864, was a paper bag containing magnesium wire and some oxygen-rich substance, such as potassium chlorate. When the bag was ignited, the metal burned with an intense flash. A contemporary observer reported that "this quite unsafe device seems to have done nothing worse that engulf the room in dense smoke and lead to pictures of dubious quality and odd poses.”
The evolution of the photoflash was slow, flashbulbs, containing fine wire made of a metal, such as magnesium or aluminum, capable of being ignited in an atmosphere of pure oxygen at low pressure, were introduced only in the 1920's. In the earliest type, the metal was separated from the oxygen by a thin glass bulb. The flash was fired by piercing the bulb and allowing the oxygen to come into contact with the metal, which ignited spontaneously. Later bulbs were fired by an electric battery, which heated the wire by passing a small current through it. Other combinations, such as the pairing of oxygen difluoride with zirconium, have also been used. In each case enough energy is given out to heat the oxidizable metal momentarily to a white hot emission of visible light. The smoke particles are so small that they cool rapidly; but since they are white, they contribute to the brilliance by reflecting the light from their still glowing neighbors. A slightly bigger form of the metal will burn for a longer time.

What is the best title for the passage?

Staggering tasks confronted the people of the United States, North and South when the Civil War ended. About a million and a half soldiers from both sides had to be demobilized, readjusted to civilian life, and reabsorbed by the devastated economy.
Civil government also had to be put back on a peacetime basis and interference from the military had to be stopped. The desperate plight of the South has eclipsed the fact that reconstruction had to be undertaken also in the North, though less spectacularly. Industries had to adjust to peacetime conditions; factories had to be retooled for civilian needs.
Financial problems loomed large in both the North and the South. The national debt had shot up from a modest $65 million in 1861, the year the war started, to nearly $3 billion in 1865, the year the war ended. This was a colossal sum for those days but one that a prudent government could pay. At the same time, war taxes had to be reduced to less burdensome levels.
Physical devastation caused by invading armies, chiefly in the South and border states, had to be repaired. This Herculean task was ultimately completed, but with discouraging slowness.
Other important questions needed answering. What would be the future of the four million Black people who were freed from slavery? On what basis were the Southern states to be brought back into the Union?
What of the Southern leaders, all of whom were liable to charges of treason? One of these leaders, Jefferson Davis, president of the Southern Confederacy, was the subject of an insulting popular Northern song, “Hang Jeff Davis from a Sour Apple Tree,” and even children sang it. Davis was temporarily chained in his prison cell during the early days of his two-year imprisonment. But he and the other Southern leaders were finally released, partly because it was unlikely that a jury from Virginia, a Southern Confederate state, would convict them. All the leaders were finally pardoned by President Johnson in 1868 in an effort to help reconstruction efforts proceed with as little bitterness as possible.

The word “devastated” 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:
Nature has always provided a stimulus for inventive minds. Early flying machines clearly were an attempt to emulate the freedom of birds. Architects and engineers have often consciously modeled buildings on forms found in nature. A more recent example of the inspiration given by nature is the invention of Velcro®. The inventor of this now common fastening device noticed that small burrs attached to his dog's coat grasped the hairs by means of tiny hooks. This led him to invent a synthetic fabric whose surfaces mimic the clasping properties of this natural seedpod.
Animals and plants have evolved solutions to the kinds of problems that often interest engineers  and designers. Much current research in material science is concerned with actively examining the natural world, especially at the molecular level, for inspiration to develop materials with novel properties. This relatively new field of study is sometimes known as biomimetics, since it consciously attempts to mimic nature.
Researchers have investigated several interesting areas. For example, they have studied how the molecular structure of antler bone contributes to its amazing toughness, how the skin structure of a worm contributes to its ability to crawl, how the sea cucumber softens its skeleton and changes shape so that it can squeeze through tiny gaps in rocks, or what gives wood its high resistance to impact. These investigations have led to several breakthroughs in the development of composite materials with remarkable properties.
Predictions for future inventions that may be developed from these lines of research include so- called smart structures that design and repair themselves in a similar way to a variety of processes in the natural world. For example, engineers have envisaged bridges that would detect areas heavily stressed by vehicle movement or wind. The bridge structure would then automatically add or move material to the weak areas until the stress is reduced. The same principle might be used to repair damaged buildings. Other new materials that have been imagined are substances that would copy photosynthesis in green plants in order to create new energy sources. The potential impact of biomimetic research is so great that the twenty-first century may come to be known as the "Age of Materials."

Which of the following does the word “it” in paragraph 3 refer to?