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 Internet started out as a limited network called the ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network). It was a network of computers that allowed communication even if computer became non- functioning. It was the academic and scientific community that adopted Internet, using a protocol called TCP/IP. TCP/IP allows a number of different network computers to be connected together. This is called the Internet. The Internet allows the creation the World Wide Web or the Web for short. The Web consists of Internet sites that allow data to be shared by others. Aside from making the Web possible, the Internet also makes e-mail, chat rom and file-sharing and telephoning possible. It even allows people to watch media and play games.
The Web can be read in a browser. A browser is simply a software program that uses HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) data transmission. This will allow you to view Web pages. HTTP let you browser read the text, graphics, animation, video and music that are on the Web page. It also enables you to click on a link on the page using the mouse. The links on a Web page that guide you to go from one Web page to another are called hyperlinks. A Web page usually contains many hyperlinks so that you can “browse” the Internet. It is much like reading a book. You can go from page to page and get new information. One example of a browser is Internet Explorer. In the address box of your browser, you can type in an address called a URL for “uniform resource locator”.
To be able to use the Internet, you must have a computer with an Internet connection and software that lets you view that Web pages. Internet connection is called a dial-up connection. It needs the use of your telephone to connect your computer to an Internet service. A faster type of connection is called broadband. This requires a cable or some other equipment. If you turn on the computer with a broadband connection, it connects you the Internet at a time.

What is the main idea of the passage?

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions:
Pollution emitted in industrial areas represents a threat to human health and the surrounding natural resources. We have a tendency to  believe that the  production processes are  the only source of environmental damage, and often forget about the possible long-term effects of harmful production practices. We may think that the closure of these huge industrial areas would improve the quality of the environment. Unfortunately, this ignores the threat of the remaining waste, which is abandoned and poorly stored. It  represents an even bigger danger because it  stands neglected as it degrades and leaks into the earth without any control at all.
Changes in the water chemistry due to surface water contamination can affect all levels of an ecosystem. It can affect the health of lower food chain organisms and, consequently, the availability of food up through the food chain. It can damage the health of wetlands and damage  their ability to support healthy ecosystems, control flooding, and filter pollutants from storm water runoff. The health of animals and humans are affected when they drink or bathe in contaminated water. In addition water-based organisms, like fish and shellfish, can pile up and concentrate contaminants in their bodies. When other animals or humans eat  these organisms,  they receive a much higher dose of contaminant than they would have if they had been directly exposed to the original contamination.
Contaminated groundwater can badly affect animals, plants and humans if it is removed from the ground by manmade or natural processes. Depending on the study of rocks of the area, groundwater may rise to the surface through springs or seeps, flow sideways into nearby rivers, streams, or ponds, or sink deeper into the earth. In many parts of fhe world, groundwater is pumped  out of the ground to be used for drinking, bathing, other household uses, agriculture, and industry.
Contaminants in the soil can harm plants when they take up the contamination through  their roots. Eating, breathing in, or touching contaminated soil, as well as eating plants or animals that have piled up soil contaminants can badly affect the health of humans and animals.
Air pollution can cause breathing-related problems and other bad health effects as contaminants are absorbed from the lungs into other parts of the  hody. Certain air  contaminants  can also harm animals and humans when they contact the skin. Plants rely on breathing for their growth and can also be affected by exposure to contaminants moved in the air.

What is the topic of the passage?

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions:
A letter of application is a sales letter in which you are both salesperson and product, for the purpose of an application is to attract an employer’s attention and persuade him or her to grant you an interview. To do this, the letter presents what you can offer the employer, rather than what you want from the job.
Like a resume, the letter of application is a sample of your work and an opportunity to demonstrate your skills and personality. If it is written with flair and understanding and prepared with prefessional care, it is likely to be very effective. While the resume must be factual, objective, and brief, the letter is your chance to interpret and expand. It should state explicitly how your background relates to the specific job, and it should emphasise your strongest and most relevant characteristics. The letter should demonstrate that you know both yourself and the company.
The letter of application must communicate your ambition and enthusiasm. Yet it must be modest. It should be neither aggressive nor compliant: neither pat yourself on the back nor ask for sympathy. It should never express dissatisfaction with the present or former job or employer. And you should avoid discussing your reasons for leaving your last job.
Finally, it is best that you not broach the subject on salary. Indeed, even if a job advertisement requires that you mention your salary requirements, it is advisable simply to call them “negotiable.” However, when you go on an interview, you should be prepared to mention a salary range. For this reason, you should investigate both your field and, if possible, the particular company. You don’t want to ask for less than you deserve or more than is reasonable.

According to paragraph 4, in a job interview, the applicant should be ready to     .

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Newspapers and television news programs always seem to report about the bad things happening in society. However, there is a place where readers can find some good news. That place is the website called HappyNews. The man behind HappyNews is Byron Reese. Reese set up HappyNews because he thought other news sources were giving people an unbalanced view of the world. Reese said about HappyNews, “The news media gives you a distorted view of the world by exaggerating bad news, misery, and despair. We’re trying to balance out the scale.”
Not everyone agrees with Reese’s view, though. Many people think that news sources have a responsibility to provide news that is helpful to people. People need to know about issues or problems in today’s society. Then they are better able to make informed decisions about things that affect their daily lives. Reese said that HappyNews is not trying to stop people from learning about issues or problems. HappyNews is just trying to provide a balanced picture of today’s world.
By the end of its first month online, HappyNews had more than 70,000 unique readers. About 60 percent of those readers were women. Something else unique makes HappyNews different from any of  the other news or information websites that are on the Internet. Unlike many other websites, HappyNews gets fan mail from its readers on a daily basis.

Why might some people NOT like HappyNews?

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Most people start smoking when they are in their teens and are addicted by the time they reach adulthood. Some have tried to quit but have returned to cigarettes because smoking is such a strong addiction. It is a habit that is very difficult to break. There are many different reasons why people smoke.
Three of the main reasons that young people smoke are to look mature, to be like their friends, and to experiment. Since teens see older people all around them smoking, especially their parents and relatives, they smoke to act older. If their friends or peers smoke, they may feel pressured into doing the same to be accepted. The last reason is the excitement of experimenting with something that is forbidden. In Massachusetts it is against the law for anyone under 18 years old to smoke. Usually parents do not allow their under age teens to smoke. Therefore, smoking becomes very attractive. It is exciting to get cigarettes and sneak away to smoke without being caught.
Adults smoke for other reasons. They may have a lot of stress and pressures because of economic and personal problems. They may be unemployed or working but not making enough money to take care of themselves and their families. They may be homeless, or they may be dealing with alcohol or cocaine/heroin addictions. Some may be in bad marriages or relationships in which there is physical and/or verbal abuse. All these people may smoke to feel relaxed or to give them energy while going through a hard time.
Whether young or old, some people smoke to control their weight. Smokers, on the average, weigh seven pounds less than non-smokers. Smoking reduces a person's appetite. It lessens his/her sense of taste and smell. This could be why ex-smokers gain weight after quitting cigarettes. Food tastes and smells so much better.
Finally, there are people who say they love to smoke. Smoking gives them pleasure. It just makes them feel good.

he main purpose of paragraph 4 is     .

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

Here's some advice for trying to find the university that works for you.

1. You need to examine (26) _____ and your reasons for going to university before you start your search. Why are you going? What are your abilities and strengths? What are your weaknesses? What do you want out of life? Are you socially self-sufficient (27) _____ do you need warm, familial (28) _____? Talk with your family, friends and high-school counselors as you ask these questions. The people (29) _____ know you best can help you the most with these important issues.

2. Very few high-school students have enough information or (30) _____ to choose a major. You need to be well (31) _____ to determine your interest and aptitude. Many students (32) _____ their minds two or three times before they settle on a major.

3. If you do not have to go to university right (33) _____ it is never too late. There is no such thing as the perfect time to start university. Some students benefit from a year off to work, study or travel, and these experiences (34) _____ them to be better, more engaged students. Some students choose to apply to university and gain admission and then defer their entrance, while others wait to apply until after they have had (35) _____ alternative experience.

(27) _____

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks from 81 to 92.
What is a gifted child? There are different ways to define this term. It may refer to special talents in the arts  or to  a  high  level  of academic  abilities. A child  may  be gifted in one (81) area, such as music, or have talents in many areas. According to the U.S. National Association for Gifted Children, a gifted child shows an "exceptional level of performance” in one or more areas. In general usage, giftedness includes high levels of cognitive ability, motivation, inquisitiveness, creativity, and leadership. Gifted children (82) approximately 3 to 5 percent of the school-aged population. Although giftedness cannot be assessed by an intelligence test alone, these tests are often used to indicate giftedness. (83) giftedness begins at an IQ of 115, or about one in six children. Highly gifted children have IQs over 145, or about one in a thousand children. Profoundly gifted children have IQs over 180, or about one in a million children. Because very few education programs include any courses on teaching the gifted, teachers are often not able to recognize the profoundly gifted. Teachers are more likely to recognize moderately gifted children because they are ahead of the other children but not so far ahead as to be unrecognizable. For instance, children who can read older children's books in first and second grade are often transferred into gifted classes, but children (84) are reading adult books are told to stop reading them. Those profoundly gifted students who are not recognized often turn into discipline problems when they are not offered (85) ways to focus their extraordinary creativity.
(81)........................

Early Teachers
All of you are enrolled in this introductory education course because you want to become teachers. I'd like to introduce this course with a little information about the life of a teacher a century ago. I hope you'll understand this information about early teachers, and I think you'll appreciate how much the life of a teacher has changed over the past century. 
Early in the twentieth century, the life of a teacher was quite different from what it is now. There were very strict rules that governed every aspect of the teacher's life. The rules weren't just about how a teacher could conduct herself in the classroom and on the school grounds. There were also numerous rules that governed just about everything a teacher did. 
Here are some of the rules. Teachers had to follow strict rules about their appearance; they were sometimes told not to wear colourful clothing, not to dye their hair or wear it loose, and not to wear their skirts above the ankle. Teachers' whereabouts during after-school hours were also strictly regulated; there were rules forbidding teachers to go to bars and to ice-cream parlors; there were rules requiring teachers to be home after 7:00 in the evening, and there were some rules forbidding them to leave town without permission. Just about any action a teacher wanted to take could be regulated. Teachers could be forbidden to smoke or to drink; they were also sometimes forbidden to spend time with men or to marry if they wanted to remain teachers.

What rules about clothing are discussed in the lecture?

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

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:
Do you think you're smarter than your parents and grandparents? According to James Flynn, a professor at a New Zealand university, you are! Over the course of the last century, people who have taken IQ tests have gotten increasingly better scores-on average, three points better for every decade that has passed. This improvement is known as "the Flynn effect," and scientists want to know what is behind it.
IQ tests and other similar tests are designed to measure general intelligence rather than knowledge. Flynn knew that intelligence is partly inherited from our parents and partly the result of our environment and experiences, but the improvement in test scores was happening too quickly to be explained by heredity. So what was happening in the 20th century that was helping people achieve higher scores on intelligence tests?
Scientists have proposed several explanations for the Flynn effect. Some suggest that the improved test scores simply reflect an increased exposure to tests in general. Because we take so many tests, we learn test-taking techniques that help us perform better on any test. Others have pointed to better nutrition since it results in babies being born larger, healthier, and with more brain development than in the past. Another possible explanation is a change in educational styles, with teachers encouraging children to learn by discovering things for themselves rather than just memorizing information. This could prepare people to do the kind of problem solving that intelligence tests require.
Flynn limited the possible explanations when he looked carefully at the test data and discovered that the improvement in scores was only on certain parts of the IQ test. Test takers didn't do better on the arithmetic or vocabulary sections of the test; they did better on sections that required a special kind of reasoning and problem solving. For example, one part of the test shows a set of abstract shapes, and test-takers must look for patterns and connections between them and decide which shape should be added to the set.
According to Flynn, this visual intelligence improves as the amount of technology in our lives increases. Every time you play a computer game or figure out how to program a new cell phone, you are exercising exactly the kind of thinking and problem solving that helps you do well on one kind of intelligence test. So are you really smarter than your parents? In one very specific way, you may be.a

According to the article, newer education techniques include_     

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

What does the passage mainly discuss?

Choose the underlined word or phrase (A, B, C or D) that is incorrect and needs to be changed: Some of the pictures he painted them were sold for millions of dollars

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:
Baseball evolved from a number of different ball-and stick games (paddle ball, trap ball, one-old- cat, rounders, and town ball) originating in England. As early as the American Revolution, it was noted that troops played “baseball” in their free time. In 1845 Alexander Cartwright formalized the New York Knickerbockers’ version of the game: a diamond shaped infield, with bases ninety feet apart, three strikers - you’re - out, batter out on a caught ball, three outs per inning, a nine-man team. “The New York Game” spread rapidly, replacing earlier localized forms. From its beginnings, baseball was seen as a way of satisfying the recreational needs of an increasingly urban - industrial society. At its inception it was it was played by and for gentlemen. A club might consist of 40 members. The president would appoint two captains who would choose teams from among the members. Games were played on Monday and Thursday afternoons, with the losers often providing a lavish evening’s entertainments for the winners.
During the 1850 - 70 period the game was changing, however, with increasing commercialism (charging admission), under - the - table payments to exceptional players, and gambling on the outcome of games. By 1868 it was said that a club would have their regular professional ten, an amateur first - nine, and their “muffins” (the gentlemanly duffers who once ran the game). Beginning with the first openly all - salaried team (Cincinnati’s Red Stocking Club) in 1869, the 1870- 1890 period saw the complete professionalization of baseball, including formation of the National Association of Professional baseball players in 1871. The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs was formed in 1876, run by business-minded invertors in joint-stock company clubs. The 1880s has been called Major League Baseball’s “Golden Age”. Profits soared, player’s salaries rose somewhat, a season of 84 games became one of 132, a weekly periodical “The sporting News” came into being, wooden stadiums with double- deck stands replaced open fields, and the standard refreshment became hot dogs, soda pop and peanuts. In 1900 the Western League based in the growing cities of the Mis west proclaimed itself the American League.

Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

Early Teachers
All of you are enrolled in this introductory education course because you want to become teachers. I'd like to introduce this course with a little information about the life of a teacher a century ago. I hope you'll understand this information about early teachers, and I think you'll appreciate how much the life of a teacher has changed over the past century. 
Early in the twentieth century, the life of a teacher was quite different from what it is now. There were very strict rules that governed every aspect of the teacher's life. The rules weren't just about how a teacher could conduct herself in the classroom and on the school grounds. There were also numerous rules that governed just about everything a teacher did. 
Here are some of the rules. Teachers had to follow strict rules about their appearance; they were sometimes told not to wear colourful clothing, not to dye their hair or wear it loose, and not to wear their skirts above the ankle. Teachers' whereabouts during after-school hours were also strictly regulated; there were rules forbidding teachers to go to bars and to ice-cream parlors; there were rules requiring teachers to be home after 7:00 in the evening, and there were some rules forbidding them to leave town without permission. Just about any action a teacher wanted to take could be regulated. Teachers could be forbidden to smoke or to drink; they were also sometimes forbidden to spend time with men or to marry if they wanted to remain teachers.

What were teachers required to do in the evening?

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

Why does the author mention Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst?

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

(23)........................

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

The word “incorporate” in paragraph 3 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:
In today's competitive world, what responsible parent would not want to give their children the best possible start in life? For this reason, many parents want their children, often as young as ten months old, to become familiar with computers. They seem to think that if their children grow up with computers, they will be better equipped to face the challenges of the future.
No one has proved that computers make children more creative or more intelligent. The truth may even be the opposite. Educational psychologists claim that too much exposure to computers, especially for the very young, may negatively affect normal brain development. Children gain valuable experience of the world from their interaction with physical objects. Ten–month–old babies may benefit more from bumping their heads or putting various objects in their mouths than they will from staring at eye–catching cartoons. A four–year–old child can improve hand–eye coordination and understand cause and effect better by experimenting with a crayon than by moving a cursor around a computer screen. So, as educational psychologists suggest, instead of government funding going to more and more computer classes, it might be better to devote resources to music and art programs.

It is ludicrous to think that children will fall behind if they are not exposed to computers from an early age. Time is too precious to spend with a "mouse". Now is the time when they should be out there learning to ride a bike. There will be time later on for them to start banging away at keyboards.

Children who spend a lot of time on their computers     .

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

 What is the purpose of the author in the passage?

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer for each of the blanks .
In the late 1930s, a group of leading American scientists seeking dinosaur fossils made some noteworthy (1).... . Although one of their expeditions discovered no fossils, it proved nonetheless historic expedition, which took place along the banks of the Paluxy river in Texas, something extraordinary was revealed: a dinosaur track, clearly distinguishable in the rock. These dinosaur footprints (2).....  their preservation to the salts and mud that covered them and then hardened into rock, before coming to light 100 million years later. Tracks like these are (3)... to experts. There have been great gaps in scientists’ understanding of dinosaur behavior, and so such footprints are useful since they  provide  direct  evidence  of  how  dinosaurs  actually  moved.  Scientists  have  used  these  and  (4)......footprints to determine how quickly different species walked, concluding that many kinds of dinosaur must have travelled in (5)..........
(3).....................................

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:
A mansion is a very large home. McDonald's is the name of a fast food hamburger chain. What do you get when you put the two together? You get McMansion, the recently created name for a type of  large suburban, two storied home that originated in the United States. Many people love McMansions for their low price, abundant space and impressive styling, but the news is not all good. In fact, McMansions may now be a threatened species.
McMansion became very popular in the United States during the 1990s, and this popularity continued for almost 20 years. During those years the economy was relatively strong, and banks were willing to lend large sums of money to people who wanted to buy a home. The result was an increase in the average home size. In 1988, the average new American home was 170 square meters, but by 2008 this had risen to 244 square meters, a 44% increase.
To offset the greater costs of these large homes, land developers built many homes that all used a similar basic design and identical construction methods. Framing and interior fittings were constructed in factories, instead of on site, and the materials used were often of a lower quality. Finally, the sections of land used for each house were much smaller than before.
The result was suburban developments full of huge homes, often over 280 square meters in floor area, that all looked similar to each other. Their standardization and lowest possible-cost construction reminded people of McDonald's hamburgers, hence the term McMansion. For many people a McMansion was their dream home, but that dream is now rapidly turning sour.
There are two main problems with McMansions. One problem is that their huge size means that they cost a lot to heat or cool. Energy is becoming more expensive, so owners are faced with huge bills if they try to heat or cool their home. The other problem is that McMansion owners are often in a lot of debt. They borrowed a lot of money to pay for their impressive home, but during the 2000s, with struggling economy and high unemployment, they couldn't afford to repay their loan.
McMansion are still popular in some area, but no one is sure how long it will last. Will energy become even more expensive and force owners to downsize? Will the economy grow and banks become more willing to end again? Will the drop-in house prices allow larger, less affluent families to afford a McMansion? These questions are weighing heavily on the future of one of the most popular housing styles of the late 20th century.

The word “it” in the last paragraph refers to     .