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 :
Fossil fuels are used to generate the majority of the world’s energy, and they come in different forms. For example, coal may be burned in a power (1)_________ to generate electricity, but gasoline is burned in a car’s engine to make it run. Neither of these two sources is considered green energy because they produce a lot of pollution when they are burned. In addition, they come from a source that is inevitably going to (2)__________. Green energy can be defined as any energy source that is to some degree non­polluting. When it is called (3)__________, this means that a person can replace the same amount of energy that was consumed by that person (4)__________ that person’s lifetime. Since it took millions and millions of years to create the fossil fuels that we now burn, we know that they cannot be replaced by us. Wind power and solar power, (5)__________ harnessed properly, are two excellent sources of green energy. Once the necessary parts such as wind turbines to generate wind power and solar panels to create solar power have been produced, only the pollution from the production is left.

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Danger!
If you are walking through the woods and you see a bear, you know that you are in danger. The same is true if you see a snake or a beehive. However, these aren’t the only dangerous things in nature. When you are having a good time outside, you also need to be careful of plants. In some ways, plants are more dangerous than animals. This is because dangerous plants often look normal. Sometimes they even look pretty. If you try to touch one of these nice-looking plants, you could be in a lot of trouble. Take the angel’s trumpet flower, for example. This beautiful white flower is full of poison. A person who touches it can get headaches, confusion, and a very fast heartbeat. Very often, the poison can kill you. All parts of the angel’s trumpets are poisonous, but the most dangerous parts are the seeds and leaves. Here is another dangerous and somewhat creepy plant: doll’s eyes. This plant got its name because its berries look just like doll’s eyes. The berries from these plants can stop a person’s heart. In fact, most berries that you see in nature are poisonous. You should never eat wild berries that you find when you are outside. Some plants can sting you. Stinging needles don’t look dangerous, but they have many tiny hairs on them. If you touch a stinging needle, those hairs will put a weak poison onto your skin. The poison won’t kill you, but it will make your skin itch for a while and it might drive you crazy. One of the more common dangerous plants is poison ivy. This plant produces a clear liquid that will cause all kinds of problems to anyone who touches it. Most people who touch poison ivy get a red and very painful rash on their skin. The rash often itches very badly, and sometimes it creates large blisters. If you see a green plant that has three leaves growing from every branch, stay away from it. It could be poison ivy.
5. The word “creepy” in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to __________

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We are now completely out of thermal socks.

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I didn't get much of an _______ of the place because it was dark when we drove through it.

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He came up with the solution __________ every problem.

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The Invention of the Periodic Table
If you are looking to gain a better understanding of the world around you, chemistry is the perfect subject to study. It is an examination of matter, its properties, and its interactions with everything around it. Where physics often deals with concepts and theories that are difficult to test and observe, chemistry principles can easily be applied to medicine, cooking, and several other areas. At the heart of all these discoveries is one vital chart that organizes elements based on their atomic number and chemical properties: the periodic table. Although the first periodic table was published in 1869, it was a work in progress for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Since ancient times, people have been fascinated with elements such as gold, tin, and copper in their natural forms. They were mined and used to make jewellery, weapons, coins, and many other things. Over time, people became more curious about these metals and how they were composed. In ancient Greece, Aristotle and other philosophers claimed things were made from the elements of earth, water, fire, and air. For years, this theory was accepted. Then people began to reevaluate this concept during the Age of Enlightenment. In 1661, Irish scientist Robert Boyle defined an element as something that “cannot be broken down into a simpler substance by a chemical reaction”. Over a century later, French chemist Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier would publish the first modern textbook on chemistry. In it, he listed several substances which he believed should be classified as elements into two categories: metals, and non-metals. Although his work wasn’t completely accurate, it represented a major step forward at the time. Over the next century, scientists started to classify the elements into different groups depending on their properties and atomic weights. However, it is Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev who is usually credited as the first person to make a periodic table. Although other scientists had submitted tables, they were eventually rejected by the scientific community for a lack of detail. Mendeleev arranged all of the elements according to their atomic mass. He was even smart enough to leave empty spaces for elements which hadn’t been discovered at the time. Although Mendeleev’s periodic table wasn’t perfect, it set the format which is similar to the one used today.
8. It can infer from the passage that __________

The museum is open to everybody. It ______ between 9am and 5pm.

(394)_______

The growth of population has its problems as we shall see. As there are more and more mouths (1)_____, there comes a great strain (2)_____ the resources of a country; this is real in the case of developing countries with the result they are unable to push ahead economically. As food is not sufficient there is chronic malnutrition in these countries especially in women and children resulting in weaker population (3)_____ would only economically be a drain on the country as their productive years will be short. As health and education are the State's (4)_____, they affect the country's finances. So in developing countries health and illiteracy continue to be the problem. The unwieldy growth of population leads to the problem of housing and sanitation. In many countries the slums are a (5)_____ to the eyes. Slums grow round big cities and are found with all the drawbacks. These are the areas of disease, filth and crime.

(10) _________

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Let ________ stay at home and watch TV.

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Earthquakes are one of the scariest natural phenomena because they are so unpredictable. Scientists have tried to come up with a method to predict them but they have always failed. Unlike other destructive phenomena such as hurricanes or even solar storms, earthquakes come without any (1)_________ whatever. Some people believe that animals are able to (2)________ when earthquakes are coming. There are many anecdotes about dogs barking before an earthquake happens. In some cases, strange phenomena have been observed in creatures like toads, where a few days before a major earthquake hit, they left their breeding ground. The toads did not reappear (3)_________ the quake had happened.Another strange creature that some believe may hold the key (4)________ quakes is the oarfish. These strange fish normally live in very deep water. (5)_________ of these fish are very rare, but in 2013, oarfish were found to beach themselves in San Francisco, and this caused some to believe that a major earthquake was coming. What was the reason for this?

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Composers today use a wider variety of sounds than ever before, including many that were once considered undesirable noises. Composer Edgard Varese (1883-1965) called thus the “liberation of sound…the right to make music with any and all sounds.” Electronic music, for example – made with the aid of computers, synthesizers, and electronic instruments – may include sounds that in the past would not have been considered musical.
Enviromental sounds, such as thunder, and electronically generated hisses and blips can be recorded, manipulated, and then incorporated into a musical composition. But composers also draw novel sounds from voices and non-electronic instruments. Singers may be asked to scream, laugh, groan, sneeze, or to sing phonetic sounds rather than words. Wind and string players may lap or scrape their instruments. A brass or woodwind player may hum while playing, to produce two pitches at once; a pianist may reach inside the piano to pluck a string and then run a metal blade along it. In the music of the Western world, the greatest expansion and experimentation have involved percussion instruments, which outnumber strings and winds in many recent compositions. Traditional persussion instruments are struck with new types of beaters; and instruments that used to be couriered unconventional in Western music – tom-toms, bongos, slapsticks, maracas – are widely used.
In the search for novel sounds, increased use has been made in Western music of Microtones. Non-Western music typically divides and intervals between two pitches more finely than Western music does, thereby producing a greater number of distinct tones or micro tones, within the same interval. Composers such as Krzysztof Penderecki create sound that borders on electronic noise through tone clusters – closely spaced tones played together and heard as a mass, block, or band of sound. The directional aspect of sound has taken on new importance as well Loudspeakers or groups of instruments may be placed at opposite ends of the stage, in the balcony, or at the back and sides of the auditorium. Because standard music notation makes no provision for many of these innovations, recent music scores may contain graph like diagrams, new note shapes and symbols, and novel ways of arranging notation on the page.

According to the passage, which of the following types of instruments has played a role in much of the innovation in Western music?

I have just been called _____ a job interview. I am so nervous.

(265)______

A trend that has emerged recently is the sharing of childcare (1) __________ between husband and wife. Young couples will try to arrange their work schedules so that they work opposite hours or shifts in order that one parent is always home with the children. Since childcare is expensive, this saves money for the young couple trying to establish themselves and provide a secure environment for the family. Husband and wife may also share household chores. Some fathers are just as capable as mothers at cooking dinner, changing and bathing the baby, and doing the laundry. In some cases, the woman’s salary is for family (2)__________ and the father becomes the “househusband." These cases are still fairly rare. One positive trend, however, is that fathers seem to be spending more time with their children. In a recent survey, 41% of the children sampled said they spend equal time with their mothers and fathers. “This is one of our most significant cultural changes,” says Dr. Leon Hoffman, who co-directs the Parent Child Center at the New York Psychoanalytic Society. In practice, for over 30 years, Hoffman has found "a very dramatic difference in the involvement of the father in everything from care-taking to general decision (3)__________ around kids' lives.” Another factor has recently been added to the childcare formula. The number of people who work from home nearly full-time rose 23% from the last decade. The (4)_________ of technology - computers, faxes, teleconferencing - has made it easier for at-home workers to be constantly in touch. Will this new flexibility in the workforce bring a positive change for the (5)__________ of children? Only time will tell.

(80)__________

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 rules of etiquette in American restaurants depend upon a number of factors the physical location of the restaurant, eg., rural or urban; the type of restaurant, eg., informal or formal; and certain standards that are more universal. In other words, some standards of etiquette vary significantly while other standards apply almost anywhere. Learning the proper etiquette in a particular type of restaurant in a particular area may sometimes require instruction, but more commonly it simply requires sensitivity and experience. For example, while it is acceptable to read a magazine in a coffee shop, it is inappropriate to do the same in a more luxurious setting. And, if you are eating in a very rustic setting it may be fine to tuck your napkin into your shirt, but if you are in a sophisticated urban restaurant this behavior would demonstrate a lack of manners. It is safe to say, however, that in virtually every restaurant it is unacceptable to indiscriminately throw your food on the floor. The conclusion we can most likely draw from the above is that while the types and locations of restaurant determine etiquette appropriate to them, some rules apply to all restaurant.

What is the author’s main purpose in this passage?

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Durable Ceramic Beauty
Inside an art and craft workshop, a young woman sits in front of a pottery wheel. The machine contains a large lump of clay which she molds into the shape of an elaborate bowl. Later, when she is satisfied with its appearance, it will be baked in an oven until it solidifies. Then she adds decorative paints to add some style. In the end, this ceramic pot will be both a handy utility for eating as well as a work of art. Humans have been working with ceramics for about 30,000 years, making it one of the oldest industries on the planet. In ancient times, ceramics enabled humans to make containers to store food and drinks, as well as bricks for buildings, but as time went on, people found other uses for this prehistoric technology. Techniques were added to give these products more eye-catching designs. Objects were often coated with glaze, so they would be smoother and more pleasant to touch. This helped to transform these practical items into works of art. People would pay large amounts of money for pieces of ceramic art and use them to decorate their homes. In modern times, architects and inventors discovered that ceramic offered the perfect balance between beauty and durability, and started using it in their products as well. Ceramics have found a home in the world of automobiles as they are used to produce several products. They are often used to make brake discs, engines, and other parts because ceramics are able to withstand extremely hot temperatures. Ceramics also play a part in the world of medicine, as their flexibility and strength are perfect for creating sturdy dental implants. Other doctors are using them to replace damaged bones because they are able to bond with tissues in the body without causing adverse reactions. In many kitchens today, you will also find ceramic knives. Once they are produced, the hard edges of these blades rarely need to be sharpened. Unlike metal knives, they won’t rust when exposed to difficult conditions. Ceramics also help to make it possible for humans to travel into space. Space shuttles are designed with ceramic tiles because they are one of the few materials that can stand the extreme heat when reentering the Earth’s atmosphere, plus they don’t wear out easily. With so many useful applications, it is hard to deny that ceramic technology is out of this world.
4. Which of the following best matches the meaning of the word “_adverse_” in paragraph 3?

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Security Inc. is the most trusted name in the sales and service of financial equipment and automated teller machines. Offering a degree of personal yet professional service that is unrivaled in the financial industry today, all employees at Security Inc. are…(1)….…to customer service and your complete satisfaction. We offer flexibility not found anywhere else in the financial services industry. Security Inc. can assemble a unique financial equipment package across multiple manufacturers' product lines or tailor a financial equipment service program to…(2)… your specific business needs. We offer the widest array of financial equipment products, services and supplies. This diversity in product and service offerings, combined with our unrivaled knowledge in the sale and service of automated teller machines, provides a ….(3)…. edge and real value for our customers.

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Microtrends: It’s a Small World After All
In today’s world, it seems like everyone is focused on “the big picture”. However, coming up with large-scale solutions is not always what is needed. Sometimes it pays to think small – and that is exactly what many people are doing these days. By thinking small, lots of big minds have created some pretty amazing things. One example of this is microloans. Microloans are tiny loans, in some cases just a few dollars, which are available to people in developing countries. Although this may not seem like a lot of money, microloans can help workers to escape poverty and start their own businesses. The person behind the modern microloan movement is a Bangladeshi man named Muhammad Yunus. He started the project in the 1970s by offering villagers low-interest loans using his own money. Yunus wanted to offer poor people access to small loans so they wouldn’t be forced to turn to gangsters if they needed funds. In 1983, he founded the Grameen Bank and soon after, similar organizations started popping up around the globe. Although there are still some issues with microloans, at the very least they offer everyone the potential of becoming an entrepreneur. For most of the 20th century, companies required large sums of money and plenty of manpower to compete at the highest levels. In the late 1990s, the Internet changed this and many microenterprises came about. Microenterprises are smaller companies that employ less than 10 people and only require small sums of money to start. Being small offers lots of flexibility to these companies as they can react more quickly than corporate giants when a business opportunity arises. Many technology companies that produce mobile apps and websites fall into this category. Keep in mind that having a small staff doesn’t mean small profits, as microenterprises can earn hundreds of millions of dollars per year. Thinking small can also lead to a tremendous improvement in quality. One example of this is microbreweries, which are smaller-sized breweries that produce far less beer than traditional breweries. Since microbreweries don’t have to target large markets and make millions of sales to stay open, they can monitor the brewing process carefully to make sure everything is perfect. In addition, microbreweries can experiment with unique flavours that many traditional brewers would shy away from. So the next time you are asked to “think big”, remember that good things may also come in small packages.
5. The type of businesses which is most interested in microloans may be _________

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A Microchip in Your Body
In 1998, a British scientist named Kevin Warwick did an experiment. He inserted a small microchip into his left arm. He used the microchip to turn on lights, work with his computer, and even start the water for his hath. After only nine days, Warwick removed the microchip from his arm. Nine days is not a long time, but it was enough to give the world a very important message. It is possible to have a microchip in your body. Many people think that someday, we all will have microchips. There are all kinds of things that a microchip could do. It could be useful for simple, everyday things. You might not have to carry keys, because you could use your microchip to open the front door of your house. You might not need cash, because you could use your microchip to buy things. A microchip might be able to do more important things. For example, a microchip could contain all of your important health information. If you had an emergency and wert to hospital, doctors could read your microchip and learn all of your health history. Some scientists even believe that someday a microchip could help cure diseases. Many people dislike the idea of a microchip in their body. They have a lot of concerns. Is it safe? Could a microchip make you sick? Besides, would other people be able to read your microchip and steal your personal information? People are especially worried about personal freedom. This is probably the biggest reason why so many people are against these microchips. What if your government could use your microchip to watch you? What if your government could use your microchip to find your location? Do you want the government to have that information about you? Again, for most people the answer is “no". Nobody has microchips in their body yet. We don't know if this will ever happen. If we ever do have microchips, we don't know what they would look like or what they would do. What do you think? Would you like to have a microchip inserted into your body?
1. The word “message” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to________

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks.
In the past, people bought goods using (1).................. They rarely borrowed money from financial institutions and only when they had saved the money did they buy what they wanted.
Recently, however, there have been great changes in the way people purchase goods. To begin with, some people pay for things by  cheque, (2)................ others prefer monthly installments rather than paying the whole amount at once. Most consumers, though, prefer to buy things using their credit cards. (3)..............., it is thought that there are benefits to having a credit card. Apart from the fact that credit cards are handy, some stores offer bonus points to people making purchases, while others give discounts on certain products.
On the other hand, credit cards must be used wisely because they can prove disastrous. In the long run, consumers find that they can’t (4)............. without their credit cards and constantly rely on them, as they are “easy money”. As a result, some people lose control of their finances spending more than they should end up not being able to (5).................. So they end up in debt and have difficulty in paying it back.

(4)...................................................

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Oceans altogether cover 75 __________ of our Earth.

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My brother doesn’t like ice-skating because he thinks it is ……..