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 Asian Games owes its origins to small Asian multi-sport competitions. The Far Eastern Championship Games were created to show unity and cooperation among three nations: Japan, the Philippines and China. The first games were held in Manila, the Philippines in 1931. Other Asian nations participated after it was organized. After World War II, a number of Asian countries became independent. Many of the new independent Asian countries wanted to use a new type of competition where Asian dominance should not be shown by violence and should be strengthened by mutual understanding. In August 1948, during the 14th Olympic Game in London, India representative Guru Dutt Sondhi proposed to sports leaders of the Asian teams the idea of having discussions about holding the Asian Games. They agreed to form the Asian Athletic Federation. A preparatory was set up to draft the charter for the Asian amateur athletic federation. In February 1949, the Asian athletic federation was formed and used the name Asian Games Federation. It was formed and used the name Asian Games Federation. It was decided to hold the first Asian Games in 1951 in New Delhi the capital of India. They added that the Asian Games would be regularly held once every four years.

The Asian Games were ____.

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
According to anthropologists, people in preindustrial societies spent 3 to 4 hours per day or about 20 hours per week doing the work necessaryfor life. Modern comparisons of the amount of work performed per week, however, begin with the Industrial Revolution (1760-1840) when 10- to 12-hour workdays with six workdays per week were the norm. Even with extensive time devoted to work, however, both incomes and standards of living were low. As incomes rose near the end of the Industrial Revolution, it became increasingly common to treat Saturday afternoons as a half-day holiday. The half-day holiday had become standard practice in Britain by the 1870's, but did not become common in the United States until the 1920's. In the United States, the first third of the twentieth century saw the workweek move from 60 hours per week to just under 50 hours by the start of the 1930s. In 1914 Henry Ford reduced daily work hours at his automobile plants from 9 to 8. In 1926 he announced that henceforth his factories would close for the entire day on Saturday. At the time, Ford received criticism from other firms such as United States Steel and Westinghouse, but the idea was popular with workers. The Depression years of the 1930s brought with them the notion of job sharing to spread available work around; the workweek dropped to a modem low for the United States of 35 hours. In 1938 the Fair Labor Standards Act mandated a weekly maximum of 40 hours to begin in 1940, and since that time the 8-hour day, 5-day workweek has been the standard in the United States. Adjustments in various places, however, show that this standard is not immutable. In 1987, for example, German metal workers struck for and received a 37.5-hour workweek; and in 1990 many workers in Britain won a 37-hour week. Since 1989, the Japanese government has moved from a 6- to a 5-day workweek and has set a national target of 1,800 work hours per year for the average worker. The average amount of work per year in Japan in 1989 was 2,088 hours per worker, compared to 1,957 for the United States and 1,646 for France.
3: The word "norm" in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to: 

Read the passage carefully, then decide whether the following statement are true (T) or false (F)

The proverb 'A friend in need is a friend indeed.' means that we shall know who our real friends are when we are in need. Those who desert us when we are in difficulty are just unfaithful friends.

A true friend would remain with us whether we are rich or poor. Some people be friend the rich, simply for the sake of getting benefits from them.

It is useless to have insincere friends because these friends remain with us as long as we are rich or powerful. It is better to have one or two good friends rather than having hundreds of insincere ones.

A true friend will stand by us in our trials and tribulations. He will be a great source of consolation and comfort in our troubles. So we must be careful in choosing our friends. It is difficult to choose a sincere friend overnight; it takes years for us to find a sincere friend.

It's not worth having a lot of 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.

   Today, roller skating is easy and fun. But a long time ago, it wasn't easy at all. Before 1750, the idea of skating didn’t exist. That changed because of a man named Joseph Merlin. Merlin’s work was making musical instruments. In his spare time he liked to play the violin. Joseph Merlin was a man of ideas and dreams. People called him a dreamer.

   One day Merlin received an invitation to attend a fancy dress ball. He was very pleased and a little excited. As the day of the party came near, Merlin began to think how to make a grand entrance at the party. He had an idea. He thought he would get a lot of attention if he could skate into the room. Merlin tried different ways to make himself roll. Finally, he decided to put two wheels under each shoe. These were the first roller skates. Merlin was very proud of his invention as he dreamed of arriving at the party on wheels while playing the violin.

   On the night of the party Merlin rolled into the room playing his violin. Everyone was astonished to see him. There was just one problem. Merlin had no way to stop his roller skates. He rolled on and on. Suddenly, he ran into a huge mirror that was hanging on the wall. Down fell the mirror, breaking to pieces. Nobody forgot Merlin’s grand entrance for a long time!

The word “astonished” in paragraph 4 can be best replaced by__________

The ideas of John Dewey, philosopher and educator, have influenced American thought for over one hundred years. Dewey was born in Vermont in 1859, and throughout hi life he kept the respect for experience, individuality, and fair play that shaped the character of the nineteenth century Vermonter. He viewed his own life as a continuously reconstructive process with experience and knowledge building on each other. By the 1930s, Dewey had simplified his theory of experience to its essence. As the intellectual leader of the progressive schools, he asserted that there was danger in rejecting the old unless the new was rooted in a connect idea of experience. He held that experience is an interaction between what a person already knows and the situation at hand. Previous knowledge interacting with the present environment influences future experience. Dewey be1ieved that experience could not be equated with education because all experiences as not necessarily educative. Experience is educative only when it contributes to the growth of the individual, but it can be miseducative if it distorts the growth of further experience. It is the quality of experience that matters. Thus, productive experience is both the means and the goal of education. Furthermore, since education is a social process, truly progressive education involves the participation of the learner in directing the learning experience.During his long life, Dewey lectured and published prolifically. These writings were influential both during his lifetime and after his death at the age of ninety-two. He viewed his whole life as an experiment which would produce knowledge that would lead to further experimentation. The range and diversity of Dewey’s writings and his influence on society place him among American’s great thinkers.

The word “prolifically” in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to____.

Choose the best anwers for the following questions.

The generation gap, which refers to a broad difference between one generation and another, especially between young people and their parents, usually leads to numerous conflicts. Such family conflicts can seriously threaten the relationship between parents and children at times.
 
It goes without saying that, however old their children are, parents still regard them as small kids and keep in mind that their offspring are too young to protect themselves cautiously or have wise choices. Therefore, they tend to make a great attempt to help their children to discover the outside world. Nevertheless, they forget that as children grow up, they want to be more independent and develop their own identity by creating their own opinions, thoughts, styles and values about life.

One common issue that drives conflicts is the clothes of teenagers. While teens are keen on wearing fashionable clothes which try to catch up with the youth trends, parents who value traditional clothes believe that those kinds of attire violate the rules and the norms of the society. It becomes worse when the expensive brand name clothes teens choose seem to be beyond the financial capacity of parents.

Another reason contributing to conflicts is the interest in choosing a career path or education between parents and teenagers. Young people are told that they have the world at their feet and that dazzling future opportunities are just waiting for them to seize. However, their parents try to impose their choices of university or career on them regardless of their children's preference.

Indeed, conflicts between parents and children are the everlasting family phenomena. It seems that the best way to solve the matter is open communication to create mutual trust and understanding.

Why do most parents still treat their teenage children like small kids?

The ideas of John Dewey, philosopher and educator, have influenced American thought for over one hundred years. Dewey was born in Vermont in 1859, and throughout hi life he kept the respect for experience, individuality, and fair play that shaped the character of the nineteenth century Vermonter. He viewed his own life as a continuously reconstructive process with experience and knowledge building on each other. By the 1930s, Dewey had simplified his theory of experience to its essence. As the intellectual leader of the progressive schools, he asserted that there was danger in rejecting the old unless the new was rooted in a connect idea of experience. He held that experience is an interaction between what a person already knows and the situation at hand. Previous knowledge interacting with the present environment influences future experience. Dewey be1ieved that experience could not be equated with education because all experiences as not necessarily educative. Experience is educative only when it contributes to the growth of the individual, but it can be miseducative if it distorts the growth of further experience. It is the quality of experience that matters. Thus, productive experience is both the means and the goal of education. Furthermore, since education is a social process, truly progressive education involves the participation of the learner in directing the learning experience.During his long life, Dewey lectured and published prolifically. These writings were influential both during his lifetime and after his death at the age of ninety-two. He viewed his whole life as an experiment which would produce knowledge that would lead to further experimentation. The range and diversity of Dewey’s writings and his influence on society place him among American’s great thinkers.

All of the following were part of Dewey’s theory of experience and education EXCEPT___

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Light from a living plant or animal is called bioluminescence, or cold light, to distinguish it from incandescence or heat-generating light. Life forms could not produce incandescent light without being burned. Their light is produced in chemicals combining in such a way that little or no measurable heat is produced, and the life forms generating it are unharmed. Although bioluminescence is a relatively complicated process, it can be reduced to simple terms. Living light occurs when luciferin and oxygen combine in the presence of luciferase. In a few cases, fireflies the most common, an additional compound called ATP is required. The earliest recorded experiments with bioluminescence in the late 1800s are attributed to Raphael Dubois, who extracted a luminous fluid from a clam, observing that it continued to glow in the test tube for several minutes. He named the substance luciferin, which means “the bearer of life”. In further research, Dubois discovered that several chemicals were required for bioluminescence to occur. In his notes, it was recorded that a second important substance, which he called luciferase, was always present. In later study of small, luminous sea creatures, Newton Harley concluded that luciferin was composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, which are the building blocks of all living cells. He also proved that there are a variety of luciferin and luciferase, specific to the plants and animals that produce them. Much remains unknown, but many scientists who are studying bioluminescence now believe that the origin of the phenomenon may be traced to a time when there was no oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere. When oxygen was gradually introduced to the atmosphere, it was actually poisonous to life forms, plants and animals produced light to use up the oxygen in a gradual but necessary adaptation. It is speculated that millions of years ago, all life may have produced light to survive. As the millennia passed, life forms on Earth became tolerant of, and finally dependent on oxygen, and the adaptation that produced bioluminescence was no longer necessary, but some primitive plants and animals continued to use the light for new functions such as mating or attracting prey.
6: Where in the passage does the author explain how living light occurs?

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
According to anthropologists, people in preindustrial societies spent 3 to 4 hours per day or about 20 hours per week doing the work necessaryfor life. Modern comparisons of the amount of work performed per week, however, begin with the Industrial Revolution (1760-1840) when 10- to 12-hour workdays with six workdays per week were the norm. Even with extensive time devoted to work, however, both incomes and standards of living were low. As incomes rose near the end of the Industrial Revolution, it became increasingly common to treat Saturday afternoons as a half-day holiday. The half-day holiday had become standard practice in Britain by the 1870's, but did not become common in the United States until the 1920's. In the United States, the first third of the twentieth century saw the workweek move from 60 hours per week to just under 50 hours by the start of the 1930s. In 1914 Henry Ford reduced daily work hours at his automobile plants from 9 to 8. In 1926 he announced that henceforth his factories would close for the entire day on Saturday. At the time, Ford received criticism from other firms such as United States Steel and Westinghouse, but the idea was popular with workers. The Depression years of the 1930s brought with them the notion of job sharing to spread available work around; the workweek dropped to a modem low for the United States of 35 hours. In 1938 the Fair Labor Standards Act mandated a weekly maximum of 40 hours to begin in 1940, and since that time the 8-hour day, 5-day workweek has been the standard in the United States. Adjustments in various places, however, show that this standard is not immutable. In 1987, for example, German metal workers struck for and received a 37.5-hour workweek; and in 1990 many workers in Britain won a 37-hour week. Since 1989, the Japanese government has moved from a 6- to a 5-day workweek and has set a national target of 1,800 work hours per year for the average worker. The average amount of work per year in Japan in 1989 was 2,088 hours per worker, compared to 1,957 for the United States and 1,646 for France.
4: The word "henceforth" in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to: 

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Light from a living plant or animal is called bioluminescence, or cold light, to distinguish it from incandescence or heat-generating light. Life forms could not produce incandescent light without being burned. Their light is produced in chemicals combining in such a way that little or no measurable heat is produced, and the life forms generating it are unharmed. Although bioluminescence is a relatively complicated process, it can be reduced to simple terms. Living light occurs when luciferin and oxygen combine in the presence of luciferase. In a few cases, fireflies the most common, an additional compound called ATP is required. The earliest recorded experiments with bioluminescence in the late 1800s are attributed to Raphael Dubois, who extracted a luminous fluid from a clam, observing that it continued to glow in the test tube for several minutes. He named the substance luciferin, which means “the bearer of life”. In further research, Dubois discovered that several chemicals were required for bioluminescence to occur. In his notes, it was recorded that a second important substance, which he called luciferase, was always present. In later study of small, luminous sea creatures, Newton Harley concluded that luciferin was composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, which are the building blocks of all living cells. He also proved that there are a variety of luciferin and luciferase, specific to the plants and animals that produce them. Much remains unknown, but many scientists who are studying bioluminescence now believe that the origin of the phenomenon may be traced to a time when there was no oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere. When oxygen was gradually introduced to the atmosphere, it was actually poisonous to life forms, plants and animals produced light to use up the oxygen in a gradual but necessary adaptation. It is speculated that millions of years ago, all life may have produced light to survive. As the millennia passed, life forms on Earth became tolerant of, and finally dependent on oxygen, and the adaptation that produced bioluminescence was no longer necessary, but some primitive plants and animals continued to use the light for new functions such as mating or attracting prey.
8: What is true about luciferin?

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Another critical factor that plays a part in susceptibility to colds is age. A study done by the University of Michigan School of Public Health revealed particulars that seem to hold true for the general population. Infants are the most cold-ridden group, averaging more than six colds in their first year. Boys have more colds than girls up to age three. After the age of three, girls are more susceptible than boy's , and teenage girls average three colds a year to boy’s two. The general incidence of continues to decline into maturity. Elderly people who are in good health have as few as one or two colds annually. One exception is founds among people in the twentics, especially women, who show a rise in cold infections, because people in this age group are most likely to have young children. Adults who delay having children until thirties forties experience the same sudden increase in cold infections. The study also found that economics play an important role. As income increases, the frequency at which are reported in the family decreases. Families with the lowest income suffer about a third more colds than families at the lower end. Lower income generally forces people to live in more cramped quarters than those typically occupied by wealthier by wealthier people, and crowding increses the opportunities for the cold virus totravel from person to person. Low income may also adversely influence diet. The degree to which poor nutrition affects susceptibility to colds is not yet clearly established, but an inadequate diet is suspected of lowering resistance generally.
4. The author's tone in this passage could be best described as: 

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 19 to 23:

Holidays are rich in old traditions and are (19) _______in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England. Christmas is a great English (20) _______ holiday, and in Scotland it is not kept at all, except by clerks in banks; all the shops, mills and factories are working. But six days later, (21)_______ New Year’s Eve, the Scots begin to enjoy themselves. People invite their friends to their house (22)_______ “sit the old year out and the new year in”. When the clock begins to strike, the head of the family (23)_______to the front door, opens it wide, and holds it until the last stroke. Then he shuts the door. He has let the old year out and the New Year in.

Question 19: ......................

Read the passage and choose the best answers

In many aspects of life, effective communication skills are extremely important. With good communication skills, people can enjoy better interpersonal relationships with friends and family. The following are some guides that can help you improve your communication skills.

Learn to listen

Listening is not the same as hearing; you should learn to listen not only to the words being spoken but also how they are being spoken and the non-verbal messages sent with them. You shouldn't think about what to say next while listening; instead clear your mind and focus on the message being received. Your friends, colleagues and other acquaintances will appreciate your good listening skills.

Try to understand other people's emotions

To understand other people's emotions, you should be sympathetic to other people's misfortunes and congratulate them on their achievements. To do this, you need to be aware of what is going on in other people's lives. It's crucial to maintain eye contact and do not be afraid to ask others for their opinions as this will help to make them feel valued.

Encourage

It's advised that you offer words and actions of encouragement, as well as praise, to others, which make other people feel welcome, valued and appreciated in your communications. If you let others know that they are valued, they are much more likely to give you their best. You should also try to ensure that everyone get involved in an interaction or conversation by using effective body language and open questions.

What should we do to involve everyone in an interaction or conversation?

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Tulips are Old World, rather than New World, plants, with the origins of the species lying in Central Asia. They became an integral part of the gardens of the Ottoman Empire from the sixteenth century onward, and, soon after, part of European life as well. Holland, in particular, became famous for its cultivation of the flowers. A tenuous line marked the advance of the tulip to the New World, where it was unknown in the wild. The first Dutch colonies in North America had been established in New Netherlands by the Dutch West India Company in 1624, and one individual who settled in New Amsterdam (today's Manhattan section of New York City) in 1642 described the flowers that bravely colonized the settlers' gardens. They were the same flowers seen in Dutch still-life paintings of the time: crown imperials, roses, carnations, and of course tulips. They flurished in Pennsylvania too, where in 1698 William Penn received a report of John Tateham's "Great and Stately Palace," its garden full of tulips. By 1760, Boston newspapers were advertising 50 different kinds of mixed tulip "roots." But the length of the journey between Europe and North America created many difficulties. Thomas Hancock, an English settler, wrote thanking his plant supplier for a gift of some tulip bulbs from England, but his letter the following year grumbled that they were all dead. Tulips arrived in Holland, Michigan, with a later wave of early nineteenth-century Dutch immigrants who quickly colonized the plains of Michigan. Together with many other Dutch settlements, such astheone at Pella, Iowa, they established a regular demand for European plants. The demand was bravely met by a new kind of tulip entrepreneur, the traveling salesperson. One Dutchman, Hendrick van de Schoot, spent six months in 1849 traveling through the United States taking orders for tulip bulbs. While tulip bulbs were traveling from Europe to the United States to satisfy the nostalgic longings of homesick English and Dutch settlers, North American plants were traveling in the opposite direction. In England, the enthusiasm for American plants was one reason why tulips dropped out of fashion in the gardens of the rich and famous 
10. The passage mentions which of the following as a problem associated with the importation of tulips into North America?

As computer use becomes more common, the need for security is more important than ever. One of the greatest security threats in the online world is computer hacking.
Computer hacking is the unauthorized access to a computer or network of computers. Hackers are people who illegally enter systems. They may alter or delete information, steal private information, or spread viruses that can damage or destroy files. But how exactly can a hacker get into a system to do these things? 
Most hackers use information called protocols that are built into computer software. These protocols allow computer to interact with one another. Protocols are sort of like computer police officers. When a computer connects to another system, the protocols check to see if the access is valid. The protocols can also determine how much information can be shared between the two systems. Hackers can manipulate the protocols to get unlimited access to a computer system. 
In fact, just the act of entering a computer network is considered hacking. This is commonly called passive hacking. Passive hackers get a rush from just being able to access a challenging system like a bank of military network. Another kind of hacker tries to do damage to a system. After hacking into systems, these hacker release viruses or alter, delete, or take information. Known as active hackers, they are, by far, the more dangerous of the two. 
The easiest way to protect a system is with a good password. Long and unusual passwords are harder for hackers to guess. For even greater security, some online services use “password-plus” systems. In this case, users first put in a password and then put in a second code that changes after the user accesses the site. Users either have special cards or devices that show them the new code to use the next time. Even if a hacker steals the password, they won’t have the code. Or if the hacker somehow gets the code, they still don’t know the password.

What is the main idea of this 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.

   It is commonly believed in the United States that school is where people go to get an education. Nevertheless, it has been said that today children interrupt their education to go to school. The distinction between schooling and education implied by this remark is important.

   Education is much more open-ended and all-inclusive than schooling. Education knows no bounds. It can take place anywhere, whether in the shower or on the job, whether in a kitchen or on a tractor. It includes both the formal learning that takes place in schools and the whole universe of informal learning. The agents of education can range from a revered grandparent to the people debating politics on the radio, from a child to a distinguished scientist. Whereas schooling has a certain predictability, education quite often produces surprises. A chance conversation with a stranger may lead a person to discover how little is known of other religions. People are engaged in education from infancy on. Education, then, is a very broad, inclusive term. It is a lifelong process, a process that starts long before the start of school, and one that should be an integral part of one's entire life.

   Schooling, on the other hand, is a specific, formalized process, whose general pattern varies little from one setting to the next. Throughout a country, children arrive at school at approximately the same time, take assigned seats, are taught by an adult, use similar textbooks, do homework, take exams, and so on. The slices of reality that are to be learned, whether they are the alphabet or an understanding of the workings of government, have usually been limited by the boundaries of the subject being taught. For example, high school students know that they are not likely to find out in their classes the truth about political problems in their communities or what the newest filmmakers are experimenting with. There are definite conditions surrounding the formalized process of schooling.

The word “ integral” in line 13 is closest in meaning to.....................

Read the passage and choose the best answer.

Scientists believe they now have scientific evidence to prove that ecosystems work better when there is greater variety of species within them. This biodiversity is being lost destroying natural mechanisms that could repair the damage caused by man.

Findings show that losing plants and animals is not only reducing our quality of life but actually endangering our very existence. We cut down rich rainforests and replace them with one species of plantations, such as pine and eucalyptus. We plough up meadows rich in different grasses and herbs and replace them with one grass, for instance rye or wheat.

When a natural ecosystem is simplified the basic processes in the ecosystem are altered and even damaged. Without their biodiversity, they are not able to serve as the natural cleaners of our planet. No longer are they able to absorb the carbon dioxide that is being produced in excess. The result is global warming, caused by the increase in the 'greenhouse effect', and ultimately, or even 'sooner, there will be' a change in the world's climate.

Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Amid the hum and heat of Berlin’s Reuter thermal power station stands a shining contraption that looks out of place in the decades-old machine hall. Its silver pipes and vats contain a substance that the company Vattenfall, the plant’s operator, says could become a key ingredient for a fossil fuel-free future. The energy company, together with a Swedish start-up, is testing the use of salt to store heat, which accounts for more than half the power consumed in Germany. If it works well, the system could help solve a problem posed by renewable energy sources like wind and solar: unreliability, meaning they sometimes generate too much, and sometimes too little power. “Germany currently has enough installed renewable energy capacity to produce twice as much as it needs, it’s just not constant,” says Hendrik Roeglin, who oversees the salt storage project for Vattenfall. At the Reuter power plant in Berlin, which supplies 600,000 households in the capital with heat, the solution involves the use of calcium oxide, also known as quicklime. Vattenfall and Swedish start-up SaltX have been taking advantage of a simple chemical reaction that occurs when quicklime becomes wet: the salt-like grains soak up the water, becoming calcium hydroxide and releasing large amounts of heat in the process. By removing the water again, the substance turns back into calcium oxide. The process essentially mirrors how batteries work, except that instead of electricity, the system stores heat. Roeglin says the process can absorb ten times more energy than water, which is currently used for power- to-heat facilities. And unlike tanks of hot water, which slowly cool down over time, the system can retain the chemically-trapped energy for far longer. Need heat? Just add water. The pilot project in Berlin can currently store enough energy to heat about 100 large houses. But SaltX says the facility could easily be scaled up and provide heat to any of the homes or offices already connected to the capital’s district heating system. Such networks — consisting of pipes pumping hot water or steam from power plants to consumers — exist in many European countries, Canada, the United States, Japan and China. SaltX also notes that the calcium oxide currently mined in Finland could be safely recycled, giving it an edge over some battery technologies that use rare or toxic materials. “If your ambition is to be fossil-free within a generation, you have to consider various alternatives to reach that,” a representative of SaltX, Simon Ahlin, said during a visit to the facility. “This is an effective solution that’s available in a short time frame.”
5. From what Simon Ahlin said in the last paragraph, it can be understood that he: 

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Amid the hum and heat of Berlin’s Reuter thermal power station stands a shining contraption that looks out of place in the decades-old machine hall. Its silver pipes and vats contain a substance that the company Vattenfall, the plant’s operator, says could become a key ingredient for a fossil fuel-free future. The energy company, together with a Swedish start-up, is testing the use of salt to store heat, which accounts for more than half the power consumed in Germany. If it works well, the system could help solve a problem posed by renewable energy sources like wind and solar: unreliability, meaning they sometimes generate too much, and sometimes too little power. “Germany currently has enough installed renewable energy capacity to produce twice as much as it needs, it’s just not constant,” says Hendrik Roeglin, who oversees the salt storage project for Vattenfall. At the Reuter power plant in Berlin, which supplies 600,000 households in the capital with heat, the solution involves the use of calcium oxide, also known as quicklime. Vattenfall and Swedish start-up SaltX have been taking advantage of a simple chemical reaction that occurs when quicklime becomes wet: the salt-like grains soak up the water, becoming calcium hydroxide and releasing large amounts of heat in the process. By removing the water again, the substance turns back into calcium oxide. The process essentially mirrors how batteries work, except that instead of electricity, the system stores heat. Roeglin says the process can absorb ten times more energy than water, which is currently used for power- to-heat facilities. And unlike tanks of hot water, which slowly cool down over time, the system can retain the chemically-trapped energy for far longer. Need heat? Just add water. The pilot project in Berlin can currently store enough energy to heat about 100 large houses. But SaltX says the facility could easily be scaled up and provide heat to any of the homes or offices already connected to the capital’s district heating system. Such networks — consisting of pipes pumping hot water or steam from power plants to consumers — exist in many European countries, Canada, the United States, Japan and China. SaltX also notes that the calcium oxide currently mined in Finland could be safely recycled, giving it an edge over some battery technologies that use rare or toxic materials. “If your ambition is to be fossil-free within a generation, you have to consider various alternatives to reach that,” a representative of SaltX, Simon Ahlin, said during a visit to the facility. “This is an effective solution that’s available in a short time frame.”
8. Which of the following is best serves as a title for the passage?

Read the text and choose the best option to fill in each blank numbered.

Global warming is the rise in the average temperature of the earth (19) _____the increase of greenhouse gases. Climate scientists now believe that (20) ______ are mainly responsible for this. The burning of fossil fuels and the cutting down of large areas of forests have contributed to the (21) _______ of a large amount of harmful gases into the atmosphere in recent years. The thick layer of these gases traps more heat from the sun, which leads to the increase in the earth’s temperature.
Global warming (22) _______climate change and catastrophic weather patterns such as heat waves, floods, droughts, and storms, which can affect human lives. Hundreds of millions of people may suffer (23) _____  famine, water shortages, and extreme weather conditions if we do not reduce the rate of global warming.

Question 20.....................

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
You can usually tell when your friends are happy or angry by the looks on their faces or by their actions. This is useful because reading their emotional expressions helps you to know how to respond to them. Emotions have evolved to help us respond to important situations and to convey our intentions to others. But does raising the eyebrows and rounding the mouth say the same thing in Minneapolis as it does in Madagascar ? Much research on emotional expressions has centered on such questions. According to Paul Ekman, the leading researcher in this area, people speak and understand substantially the same “facial language”. Studies by Ekman’s group have demonstrated that humans share a set of universal emotional expressions that testify to the common biological heritage of the human species. Smiles, for example, signal happiness and frowns indicate sadness on the faces of people in such far-flung places as Argentina, Japan, Spain, Hungary, Poland, Sumatra, the United States, Vietnam, the jungles of New Guinea, and the Eskimo villages north of Artic Circle. Ekman and his colleagues claim that people everywhere can recognize at least seven basic emotions: sadness, fear, anger, disgust, contempt, happiness, and surprise. There are, however, huge differences across cultures in both the context and intensity of emotional displays – the so-called display responses – expecially negative ones – while many American children are encouraged to express their feelings more openly. Regardless of culture, however, emotions usually show themselves, to some degree, in people’s behavior. From their first days in life, babies produce facial expressions that communicate their feelings. The ability to read facial expressions develops early, too. Very young children pay close attention to facial expressions, and by age five, they nearly equal adults in their skill at reading emotions on people’s faces. This evidence all points to a biological underpinning for our abilities to express and interpret a basic set of human emotions. Moreover, as Chales Dawin pointed out over a century ago, some emotional expressions seem to appear across species boundaries. Cross-cultural psychologists tell us that certain emotional responses carry different meanings in diferrent cultures. For example, what emotion do you suppose might be conveyed while sticking out your tounge ? For American, this might indicate disgust, while in China it can signify surprise. Likewise, a grin on an American face may indicate joy, while on a Japanese face it may just as easily mean embarrassment. Clearly, culture influences emotional expressions.
6: The biggest difference lies in .