Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct option for each of the blanks.
Every year, the village of Pettineo celebrates its unique arts festival. For a few days each summer, artists from all over Europe (36)_______ at this village near the north coast of Sicily to (37)________ the creative atmosphere. During their stay, the artists get (38)_______ with the local people to paint a one-kilometer long picture that runs the (39)_____ of the high street. (40)________ the painting is done, each visiting artist joins a local family for a big lunch and, (41)_________ the meal, the family receives the (42)_______ of the painting that the artist has painted. As a result, (43)______ few villagers are rich, almost every home has at least one painting by a well-known European artist. Visitors to the village are eagerly (44)_______into homes to see these paintings. The festival was the (45)_______ of Antonio Presti, a local businessman who (46)______ it up four years ago. Since then, Pettineo has (47)__________ a sort of domestic art museum in (48)________ any visitor can ring a doorbell, go into a house and (49)___________ a painting. In addition to this exhibition of paintings in people’s homes, for those who have time to spare, there is an opportunity to (50)______through the display of huge sculptures in the village square.

49_____________

Read the following passages and choose the correct answer to each question.

Researchers don’t think there’s any question that the discovery of a gene that appears to be linked to many types of cancer is really exciting and the best news for the public in a long time. The gene is involved in a high percentage of human cancers and its discovery might eventually lead to the development of a new anti-cancer treatment.

In normal cells, this gene, named MTS1, acts as a brake during the cell division process. But the researchers have found that the cell is missing in about half of the tumor cells they studied, allowing uncontrolled division of cells to take place and the resulting spread of cancer.

This discovery could be exploited in two ways, either by supplying the missing gene through gene therapy or by copying its function in a drug. Of course, this is not the first gene to be found that can suppress tumors; it’s the eleventh or twelfth. However, because of its seemingly wider presence, or absence, the knowledge of its existence could lead to a cure for some types of cancer.

What does the author imply about the new discovery?

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: 
Changes in caregiving roles

With the burden of financial support reduced, and with a changing concept of a father’s role, modern-day fathers tend to be more involved in children’s caregiving. They are now spending more time and energy on their children. Psychological research across families from all ethnic backgrounds suggests that the influence of a father’s love and attention is as great as that of a mother’s. Fatherly love helps children develop a sense of their place in the world, which helps their social and emotional development. Moreover, children who receive more love from their fathers are less likely to have behavioral problems.

This trend is still increasing and its effects will become clearer and clearer in the future, especially in traditionally male-dominated societies.

The changing roles of the father will be seen more clearly in ___________.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct option for each of the blanks.
Every year, the village of Pettineo celebrates its unique arts festival. For a few days each summer, artists from all over Europe (36)_______ at this village near the north coast of Sicily to (37)________ the creative atmosphere. During their stay, the artists get (38)_______ with the local people to paint a one-kilometer long picture that runs the (39)_____ of the high street. (40)________ the painting is done, each visiting artist joins a local family for a big lunch and, (41)_________ the meal, the family receives the (42)_______ of the painting that the artist has painted. As a result, (43)______ few villagers are rich, almost every home has at least one painting by a well-known European artist. Visitors to the village are eagerly (44)_______into homes to see these paintings. The festival was the (45)_______ of Antonio Presti, a local businessman who (46)______ it up four years ago. Since then, Pettineo has (47)__________ a sort of domestic art museum in (48)________ any visitor can ring a doorbell, go into a house and (49)___________ a painting. In addition to this exhibition of paintings in people’s homes, for those who have time to spare, there is an opportunity to (50)______through the display of huge sculptures in the village square.

48__________

Read the following text, then choose the correct answer for each question.

The general principles of dynamics are rules that demonstrate a relationship between the motions of bodies and the forces that produce those motions. Based in large part on the work of his predecessors. Sir Isaac Newton deduced three laws of dynamics, which he published in his famous Principia.

Before Newton, Aristotle had established that the natural state of a body was a state of rest and that unless a force acted upon it to maintain motion, a moving body would come to rest. Galileo had succeeded correctly in describing the behavior of falling objects and in recording that no force was required to maintain a body in motion. He noted that the effect of force was to change motion. Huygens recognized that a change in the direction of motion involved acceleration just as did a change in speed, and further, that the action of a force was required. Kepler deduced the laws describing the motion of planets around the sun. It was primarily from Galileo and Kepler that Newton borrowed.

In short, Newton’s Laws of Motion are: (1) a body at rest remains at rest, and a body in motion remains in motion along a straight line unless acted upon by an unbalanced force, (2) if an unbalanced force acts upon a body, the momentum of the body changes in proportion to the force and the same direction as the force, (3) to every action or force, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Who was the first scientist to correctly describe the behavior of falling objects?

Read the text and choose the correct answer for each question.

Andrew Carnegie, known as the King of Steel, built the steel industry in the United States, and, in the process, became one of the wealthiest men in America. His success resulted in part from his ability to sell the product and in part from his policy of expanding during periods of economic decline when most of his competitors were reducing their investments.
Carnegie believed that individuals should progress through hard work, but he also felt strongly that the wealthy should use their fortunes for the benefit of society. He opposed charity, preferring instead to provide educational opportunities that would allow others to help themselves. “He who dies rich dies disgraced,” he often said.

Among his more noteworthy contributions to society are those that bear his name, including the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh, which has a library, a museum of fine arts, and a museum of national history. He also founded a school of technology that is now part of Carnegie-Mellon University. Other philanthropic gifts are the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to promote understanding between nations, the Carnegie Institute of Washington to provide a center for the arts.

Few Americans have been left untouched by Andrew Carnegie’s generosity. His contributions of more than five million dollars established 2,500 libraries in small communities throughout the country and formed the nucleus of the public library system that we all enjoy today.

How many libraries did Carnegie establish for the public library system?

Read the passage and do the exercises that follow by choosing the corresponding letter (A, B, C, or D) of the correct answers.

Cigarettes contain toxic substances like tar and nicotine. That is why we often hear people telling us that smoking is harmful to our bodies. Smoking weakens our lungs as well as other parts of our body. We will not be as active as before and will need more effort to move about.

Smoking affects our environment too. When we puff, we pollute the environment with smoke. This makes our surroundings unpleasant and unclean. Since Smoking does not do any good to us, we should always say no to cigarettes. We should advise our loved ones to take sweets instead whenever they feel like taking a toxic puff.

Smoking is harmful to us because…………………………..

Read the following and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.
For temporary relief of nasal congestion and to make breathing easier in head colds and hay fever. In most cases, the weaker solutions are fully satisfactory and are preferred, namely 1/8% for infants, 1/4% for children and 1/2% for adults. Keep tightly closed.

Where would this passage most probably be found?

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct option for each of the blanks.

The telephone was invented in 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell, a Scotsman who became a US citizen. The word ‘telephone’ had been (61)_________ existence since the 1830s and had been (62)_______ to several inventions designed to produce sound.

Bell had become interested in the possibility of long-distance speech in his work with the deaf. He was twenty-eight and his assistant, Thomas Watson, was (64)______twenty-one when they achieved their great success on 10 March 1876. Despite their long and close association, Bell’s first communication by telephone was not “Tom, come here, I want you”, (65)_________ “Mr. Watson, come here, I want you”.

Filled with excitement, Bell and Watson demonstrated their invention to a US telegram company. The company wrote to Bell, (66)_______ that his invention was interesting. However, after giving it careful consideration, they had (67)________ to the conclusion that it had “no future”. Fortunately for Bell, others could see the possibilities. (68)_____ four years of its invention, the US had 60,000 telephones. In the next twenty years that figure increased to over 6 million.

Today, ninety-three percent of US homes have a phone, a (69)______ of phone ownership no other nation comes near to equal. Each US household makes or receives (70)______ average 3,516 calls per year, an astonishing statistic.

68____________

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: 
Changes in caregiving roles

With the burden of financial support reduced, and with a changing concept of a father’s role, modern-day fathers tend to be more involved in children’s caregiving. They are now spending more time and energy on their children. Psychological research across families from all ethnic backgrounds suggests that the influence of a father’s love and attention is as great as that of a mother’s. Fatherly love helps children develop a sense of their place in the world, which helps their social and emotional development. Moreover, children who receive more love from their fathers are less likely to have behavioral problems.

This trend is still increasing and its effects will become clearer and clearer in the future, especially in traditionally male-dominated societies.

Which of these is NOT the traditional role of a father?

Read the passage below and choose the best answer to each question.

A geyser is the result of underground water under the combined conditions of high temperatures and increased pressure beneath the surface of the earth. Since temperature rises approximately one degree F for every sixty feet under the earth’s surface, and pressure increases with depth, water that seeps down in cracks and fissures until it reaches very hot rocks in the earth’s interior becomes heated to a temperature in excess of 290 degrees F. Because of the greater pressure, it shoots out of the surface in the form of steam and hot water. The result is a geyser.
For the most part, geysers are located in three regions of the world: New Zealand, Iceland, and the Yellowstone National Park area of the United States. The most famous geyser in the world is Old Faithful in Yellowstone Park. Old Faithful erupts almost every hour, rising to a height of 125 to 170 feet and expelling more than ten thousand gallons during each eruption.

Old Faithful erupts______.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct answer for each of the blanks.
In the modem world, there is a wealth of leisure activities to choose from. Entertainment industries (46)______ for your leisure time. You can watch TV, listen to music, go to an art gallery or concert or, of course, read a book. Sometimes it seems that reading is (47)_________ because, even if you’re a fast reader, it can take a (48)_____ amount of time to finish a novel, for example. But in the modem world, time is something that can be in short supply. Book publishers haven’t been (49)________ to realize this and are now selling a product which needn’t (50)________ as much of your time but still tells you an excellent story. The new product is the audiobook – cassette recordings of shortened novels, often read by well-known personalities or the authors themselves. Audiobooks are (51)_____ new but people are becoming more aware of them and sales are increasing all the time. One of the attractions of audiobooks is that they’re (52)______ listening to the radio, only better. You can listen to what you want when you want, and you won’t even miss anything. Much of their appeal (53)_________ in their flexibility. They allow you to do other things while you’re listening, such as driving or (54)________ the housework. For some people, audiobooks can be a much more enjoyable way of (55)_______ knowledge than reading.

55______________

Read the following two passages and choose the correct answer to each of the questions.

Rock and soil samples brought back from the moon by the Apollo astronauts have taught scientists much about the composition of the moon. Moon soil contains small bits of rock and glass and was probably ground from larger rocks when meteors impacted the surface of the moon. Scientists found no trace of animal or plant life in the moon soil. In addition to the moon soil, astronauts gathered two basic types of rocks from the surface of the moon: basalt and breccia. Basalt is a cooled and hardened volcanic lava common to the earth. Since basalt is formed under extremely high temperatures, the presence of this type of rock is an indication that the temperature of the moon was once extremely hot. Breccia, the other kind of rock brought back by the astronauts, was formed during the impact of falling objects on the surface of the moon. This second type of rock consists of small pieces of rock compressed together by the force of impact. Gases such as hydrogen and helium were found in some of the rocks, and scientists believe that these gases were carried to the moon on the streams of gases that are constantly emitted from the sun.

According to the passage, breccia was formed__________.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct option for each of the blanks.
Every year, the village of Pettineo celebrates its unique arts festival. For a few days each summer, artists from all over Europe (36)_______ at this village near the north coast of Sicily to (37)________ the creative atmosphere. During their stay, the artists get (38)_______ with the local people to paint a one-kilometer long picture that runs the (39)_____ of the high street. (40)________ the painting is done, each visiting artist joins a local family for a big lunch and, (41)_________ the meal, the family receives the (42)_______ of the painting that the artist has painted. As a result, (43)______ few villagers are rich, almost every home has at least one painting by a well-known European artist. Visitors to the village are eagerly (44)_______into homes to see these paintings. The festival was the (45)_______ of Antonio Presti, a local businessman who (46)______ it up four years ago. Since then, Pettineo has (47)__________ a sort of domestic art museum in (48)________ any visitor can ring a doorbell, go into a house and (49)___________ a painting. In addition to this exhibition of paintings in people’s homes, for those who have time to spare, there is an opportunity to (50)______through the display of huge sculptures in the village square.

36__________

Choose the word or phrase among A, B, C or D that best fits the blank space in the following passage.

Neil Armstrong was the first person (1)…….. on the moon. He was born in Ohio on August 5, 1930. While he was in college, he left to serve in the U.S. Navy. He flew planes during the Korean War. Then he came back to college and finished the degree he (2)……... He later (3)…….. a master's degree too.

Armstrong became an astronaut in 1962. He was the commander of Gemini 8 in 1966. Neil Armstrong (4)…….. the first successful connection of two vehicles in space.

Armstrong’s second flight was Apollo 11 in 1969, and he was the mission commander. He flew with Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon in a lunar module named "Eagle". With more than half a billion people (5)…….. on television, Armstrong (6)……… the ladder and said, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." and Aldrin (7)……. him shortly. They explored the surface for two and a half hours, collecting samples and taking photographs.

They left behind an American flag, and a plaque reading, "Here men from the planet Earth first (8)………..upon the moon. July 1969 A.D. We came in (9)…….for all mankind."

After almost a day, they blasted off. They docked with Collins in (10)……….around the noon. All three then flew back to the Earth.

 Neil Armstrong (4)…….. the first successful connection of two vehicles in space.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct option for each of the blanks.
Every year, the village of Pettineo celebrates its unique arts festival. For a few days each summer, artists from all over Europe (36)_______ at this village near the north coast of Sicily to (37)________ the creative atmosphere. During their stay, the artists get (38)_______ with the local people to paint a one-kilometer long picture that runs the (39)_____ of the high street. (40)________ the painting is done, each visiting artist joins a local family for a big lunch and, (41)_________ the meal, the family receives the (42)_______ of the painting that the artist has painted. As a result, (43)______ few villagers are rich, almost every home has at least one painting by a well-known European artist. Visitors to the village are eagerly (44)_______into homes to see these paintings. The festival was the (45)_______ of Antonio Presti, a local businessman who (46)______ it up four years ago. Since then, Pettineo has (47)__________ a sort of domestic art museum in (48)________ any visitor can ring a doorbell, go into a house and (49)___________ a painting. In addition to this exhibition of paintings in people’s homes, for those who have time to spare, there is an opportunity to (50)______through the display of huge sculptures in the village square.

44___________

Choose the letter A, B, C or D to answer these following questions:
A new study published in the journal Science shows definitive evidence of organic matter on the surface of Mars. The data was collected by NASA's nuclear-powered rover Curiosity. It confirms earlier findings that Mars, the Red Planet once contained carbon-based compounds. These compounds – also called organic molecules – are essential ingredients for life as scientists understand it.
The organic molecules were found in Mars's Gale Crater, a large area that may have been a watery lake over three billion years ago. The rover encountered traces of the molecule in rocks extracted from the area. The rocks also contain sulfur, which scientists speculate helped preserve the organics even when the rocks were exposed to the harsh radiation on the surface of the planet.
Scientists are quick to state that the presence of these organic molecules is not sufficient evidence for ancient life on Mars, as the molecules could have been formed by non-living processes. But it's still one of the most astonishing discoveries, which could lead to future revelations. Especially when one considers the other startling find that Curiosity uncovered around five years ago.

What may have been in Mars's Gale Crater?

Read the following two passages and choose the correct answer for each question.

In 1723 there arrived in Philadelphia a penniless young man, eager for work and knowledge. As the years passed, this man, Benjamin Franklin, contributed greatly to his city and his country. He became a printer and a publisher and a learned man in many subjects. He also helped to speed learning by establishing a public library and by founding the American Philosophical Society, which is an important academy of great scholars to this day.

Franklin initiated many improvements in the city of Philadelphia, making it one of the world’s first cities to have paved and lighted streets as well as a police force and a fire fighting company. He also made many practical inventions such as the Franklin stove, which was a very efficient heater, and the light rod the protected buildings in electric storms. His scientific work with electricity earned Franklin world fame.

Franklin played an important role in the early history of the United States. He took part in the drawing up of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. He was the first ambassador to France, and he helped negotiate the treaty of 1783, which ended the Revolutionary War.

As an active member and as president of the Abolitionist Society, Franklin devoted the last years of his life to the movement to end slavery.

Which of the following is NOT true?

Choose the correct option for each of the gaps to finish the passage.

A very important world problem it may be the most important of all the great world problems which face us at present – is the rapidly increasing pressure of population (41) _______ the land. The important thing is not so (42)_____ the actual population of the world at present, but its rate of increase. It works (43)_____ to be about 1.6 percent annual net increase. In numbers, it means something (44)_________ forty-five to fifty million additional people every year. Take Australia. There are about 18 million people in Australia. So it takes the world less than three months to (45)____________ itself a population which populates that vast (46)________ Speaking of birth rate, look at the second hand of your watch. Every second, three babies are born somewhere in the world. You cannot (47)__________ quickly enough to keep up with the birth rate. This enormous increase of population (48)_____ immense problems. In about 20 years, (49)________ something terrible happens there will be as many as a billion people on the surface of the earth!

So this is a problem which you are going to (50)_____in your lifetime.

49______________

Read the passage below and choose the best answer to each question.

A geyser is the result of underground water under the combined conditions of high temperatures and increased pressure beneath the surface of the earth. Since temperature rises approximately one degree F for every sixty feet under the earth’s surface, and pressure increases with depth, water that seeps down in cracks and fissures until it reaches very hot rocks in the earth’s interior becomes heated to a temperature in excess of 290 degrees F. Because of the greater pressure, it shoots out of the surface in the form of steam and hot water. The result is a geyser.
For the most part, geysers are located in three regions of the world: New Zealand, Iceland, and the Yellowstone National Park area of the United States. The most famous geyser in the world is Old Faithful in Yellowstone Park. Old Faithful erupts almost every hour, rising to a height of 125 to 170 feet and expelling more than ten thousand gallons during each eruption.

In order for a geyser to erupt,____________ .

Choose the word/phrase (A, B, C, or D) that best fits the space in the following passage.

      The Internet has become part of our everyday life. Do you find the Internet useful? What do you use the Internet for? How much time do you spend surfing the web a day? Please (13) __________ to these questions.

      XUAN: To my mind, the Internet is a very fast and cheap way for me to get information. I can also communicate with my friends by (14) __________ of e-mail or chatting. However, I don’t use the Internet quite often (15) __________ I don’t have much time. For me, the Internet is a wonderful invention of modern life. It makes our world a small place.

      MANH: Everybody can (16) __________ from the use of the Internet in life. However, it is a pity for both me and most of my friends in the country. We cannot easily get access (17) __________ the Internet out here. I sometimes pay a visit to my uncle in the city at weekends, and this is a good (18) __________ for me to explore the net. I spend most of the time wandering because I just don’t know which website is useful for me.

15__________