Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks.
The first question we might ask is: What can you learn in college that will help you in being an employee?  The  schools teach (1)......... many things of value to the future accountant, doctor or electrician. Do they also teach anything of value to the future employee? Yes, they teach the one thing that it is perhaps most valuable for the future employee to know. But very few students bother to learn it. This basic skill is the ability to organize and express ideas in writing and in speaking. This means that your success as an employee will depend on your ability to communicate with people and to (2).......... your own thoughts and ideas to  them so  they  will (3).......... understand what you are driving at and be persuaded.
Of course, skill in expression is not enough by itself. You must have something to say in the first place. The effectiveness of your job depends much on your ability to make other people understand your work as they do on the quality of the work itself.
Expressing  one's  thoughts  is   one   skill  that   the   school  can  (4)......... teach. The foundations for skill in expression have to be laidearly: an interest in and an ear (5)........... language; experience in organizing ideas and data, in brushing aside the irrelevant, and above all the habit of verbal expression. If you do not lay these foundations during your school years, you may never have an opportunity again.
(4)....................................

Read the following passage and choose A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the following blanks.
There are many sources of pollution in our modern world. At present, the most severe sources are acid rain, car exhaust fumes and oil spills.
Factory  chimneys give (1) ........................ smoke that contains sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. These gases combine with the moisture in the atmosphere to (2) ........................ sulfuric acid and nitric acid. When it rains, these acids dissolve in the rain and turn it acidic. Acid rain is thought to be the worst pollution problem of all. It has (3)........................ aquatic life by turning many lake into lifeless bodies of water. In these areas, there is no limestone in the rocks to neutralize the acid rain naturally. One remedy is to pump limestone into the acidic lakes. (4)........................ , it is not possible to do this on a large enough scale to save all the lakes.
Car exhaust fumes contain carbon monoxide and lead which are highly poisonous. In big cities, the exhaust fumes build (5)........................ and pose a health hazard to human beings.
Pollution of the sea by oil threatens marine life. Much of the oil comes from ships that clean their fuel tanks while at sea. Offshore oil wells also discharge vast amounts of oil into the sea. Pollution of the sea can also be caused by oil spills. An oil spill may occur as a result of accidents involving oil tankers.

One remedy is to pump limestone into the acidic lakes. (4)........................ , it is not possible to do this on a large enough scale to save all the lakes.

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
Some people return to college as mature students and take full- or part-time training courses in a skill will help them to get a job. The development of open learning, (1)................. it possible to study when it is convenient for the students, has increased the opportunities available (2)................. many people. Thistype of study was formerly restricted to book-based learning and (3) ................. course but now includes courses on TV, CD-ROM or the Internet, and self-access courses at language or computer centers.
Americans believe that education is important at all stage of life and should not stop (4)  ................. people get their first job. About 40% of adults take part in some kind of formal education. About half of them are trying to get qualifications and skills to help them with their jobs, the (5)................. are taking recreational subjects for personal satisfaction. Schools and community colleges arrange evening classes, and a catalog of courses is published by local boards of education.

About half of them are trying to get qualifications and skills to help them with their jobs, the (5)................. are taking recreational subjects for personal satisfaction

Carnegie Hall, the famous concert hall in New York City, has again undergone a restoration. While this is not the first, it is certainly the most extensive in the building’s history. As a result of this new restoration, Carnegie Hall once again has the quality of sound that it had when it was first built.
Carnegie Hall owes its existence to Andrew Carnegie, the wealthy owner of a steel company in the late 1800s. The hall was finished in 1891 and quickly gained a reputation as an excellent performing arts hall where accomplished musicians gained fame. Despite its reputation, however, the concert hall suffered from several detrimental renovations over the years. During the Great Depression, when fewer people could afford to attend performances, the directors sold part of the building to commercial businesses. As a result, a coffee shop was opened in one corner of the building, for which the builders replaced the brick and terra cotta walls with windowpanes. A renovation in 1946 seriously damaged the acoustical quality of the hall when the makers of the film Carnegie Hall cut a gaping hole in the dome of the ceiling to allow for lights and air vents. The hole was later covered with short curtains and a fake ceiling, but the hall never sounded the same afterwards.
In 1960, the violinist Isaac Stern became involved in restoring the hall after a group of real estate developers unveiled plans to demolish Carnegie Hall and build a high-rise office building on the site. This threat spurred Stern to rally public support for Carnegie Hall and encourage the City of New York to buy the property. The movement was successful, and the concert hall is now owned by the city. In the current restoration, builders tested each new material for its sound qualities, and they replaced the hole in the ceiling with a dome. The builders also restored the outer walls to their original appearance and closed the coffee shop. Carnegie has never sounded better, and its prospects for the future have never looked more promising.

Who was Andrew Carnegie?

Read the passage and choose the best answers to questions below. Write the answers on your answer sheet.

Millions of people are using cell phones today. In many places, it is actually considered unusual not to use one. In many countries, cell phones are very popular with young people. They find that the phones are more than a means of communication - having a mobile phone shows that they are cool and connected.

The explosion in mobile phone use around the world has made some health professionals worried. Some doctors are concerned that in the future many people may suffer health problems from the use of mobile phones. In England, there has been a serious debate about this issue. Mobile phone companies are worried about the negative publicity of such ideas. They say that there is no proof that mobile phones are bad for your health.

On the other hand, medical studies have shown changes in the brain cells of some people who use mobile phones. Signs of change in the tissues of the brain and head can be detected with modern scanning equipment. In one case, a traveling salesman had to retire at young age because of serious memory loss. He couldn't remember even simple tasks. He would often forget the name of his own son. This man used to talk on his mobile phone for about six hours a day, every day of his working week, for a couple of years. His family doctor blamed his mobile phone use, but his employer's doctor didn't agree.

What is it that makes mobile phones potentially harmful? The answer is radiation. High-tech machines can detect very small amounts of radiation from mobile phones. Mobile phone companies agree that there is some radiation, but they say the amount is too small to worry about.

As the discussion about their safety continues, it appears that it's best to use mobile phones less often. Use your regular phone if you want to talk for a long time. Use your mobile phone only when you really need it. Mobile phones can be very useful and convenient, especially in emergencies. In the future, mobile phones may have a warning label that says they are bad for your health. So for now, it's wise not to use your mobile phone too often
1. According to the passage, cell phones are especially popular with young people because __________ .

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

The word “displaces” in the passage almost means “ ”.

Choose the item among A, B, c or D that best answers the question about the passage:

"The US Department of Labor statistics show that there is an oversupply of college-trained workers and that this over supply is increasing. Already there have been more than enough teachers, engineers, physicists, aerospace experts, and other specialists. Yet colleges and graduate schools continue every year to tum out highly trained people to compete for jobs that aren’t there. The result is that graduates cannot enter the profession for which they were trained and must take temporary jobs which do not require a college degree. On the other hand, there is a great need for skilled workers of all sorts: carpenters, electricians, mechanics, plumbers, and TV repairmen.
These people have more work than they can deal with, and their annual incomes are often higher than those of college graduates. The old gap that white-collar workers make a better living than blue-collar workers no longer holds true. The law of supply and demand now favors the skilled workmen.
 The reason for this situation is the traditional myth that college degree is a passport to a prosperous future. A large part of American society matcher succeeds in life equally with a college degree. Parents begin indoctrinating their children with this myth before they are out of grade school. High school teachers play their part by acting as if high school education were a preparation for college rather than for life.
 Under this pressure the kids fall in line. Whether they want to go to college or not doesn’t matter. Everybody should go to college, so of course they must go. And every year college enrollments go up and up, and more and more graduates are overeducated for the kinds of jobs available to them.
 One result of this emphasis on a college education is that many people go to college who do not belong there. Of the sixty percent of high school graduates who enter college, half of them do not graduate with their class. Many of them drop out within the first year. Some struggle on for two or three years and then give up."

1. It’s implied but not stated in the passage that ……

In many ways, the increasingly rapid pace of climate change is a direct result of the growth of the human population. In the last 100 years, the world population has more than tripled, from just under 2 billion at the beginning of the century to nearly 7 billion today. In addition, the average person uses more energy and natural resources than the average person one hundred years ago, meaning that the rates of consumption are actually much higher than just the increase in population would imply. For example, it took the world 125 years to use the first one trillion barrels of oil. The next trillion barrels will be used in less than 30 years, which is almost 5 times as fast, not three.
All of these activities: food production, energy usage, and the use of natural resources, contribute to climate change in some way. The greater amounts of oil and other fuels burned to create energy release chemicals which add to global warming. In order to produce more food, farmers cut down trees to gain more land for their fields. In addition, we cut down trees to build the houses needed for a larger population. Those trees are an essential part of controlling global warming; others are too numerous to mention.
In addition to a growing population, the world also has a population that desires a higher standard of living than in the past, and a higher standard of living requires the use of even more natural resources. A look at one country will provide a clear example of this fact. China is the world’s most populous nation, with 1.3 billion people. Currently, the standard of living for most of those people is far below that of people in first world nations. Therefore, the average Chinese citizen uses far fewer natural resources and less energy than the average citizen of the US or Japan. But China is growing in power, and more of its citizens are beginning to expect a first world lifestyle. If every Chinese person attains a first world lifestyle, the amount of energy and natural resources needed in the world will double, even if the standard of living in every other nation on Earth remains the same as it is today.

The word “consumption” in the passage is closest in meaning to .........

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Since the early eighties, we have been only too aware of the devastating effects of large-scale environmental pollution. Such pollution is generally the result of poor government planning in many developing nations or the shortsighted, selfish policies of the already industrialized countries, which encourage a minority of the world’s population to squander the majority of its natural resources.
While events such as the deforestation of the Amazon jungle or the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl continue to receive high media exposure, as do acts of environmental sabotage, it must be remembered that not all pollution is on this grand scale. A large proportion of the world's pollution has its source much closer to home. The recent spillage of crude oil from an oil tanker accidentally discharging its cargo straight into Sydney not only caused serious damage to the harbor foreshores but also created severely toxic fumes which hung over the suburbs for days and left the angry residents wondering how such a disaster could have been allowed to happen.
Avoiding pollution can be a fulltime job. Try not to inhale traffic fumes; keep away from Chemical plants and building-sites; wear a mask when cycling. It is enough to make you want to stay at home. But that, according to a growing body of scientific evidence, would also be a bad idea. Research shows that levels of pollutants such as hazardous gases, particulate matter and other chemical 'nasties’ are usually higher indoors than out, even in the most polluted cities. Since the average American spends 18 hours indoors for every hour outside, it looks as though many environmentalists may be attacking the wrong target.

The word “its” in paragraph 2 refers to     ?

It is hard to get any agreement on the precise meaning of the term "social class". In everyday life, people tend to have a different approach to those they consider their equals from which they assume with people they consider higher or lower than themselves in social scale. The criteria we use to 'place' a new acquaintance, however, are a complex mixture of factors. Dress, way of speaking, area of residence in a given city or province, education and manners all play a part.
In ancient civilizations, the Sumerian, for example, which flourished in the lower Euphrates valley from 2000 to 5000 B.C. social differences were based on birth, status or rank, rather than on wealth. Four main classes were recognized. These were the rulers, the priestly administrators, the freemen (such as craftsmen, merchants or farmers) and the slaves.
In Greece, after the sixth-century B.C., there was a growing conflict between the peasants and the aristocrats, and a gradual decrease in the power of the aristocracy when a kind of ‘middle class’ of traders and skilled workers grew up. The population of Athens, for example, was
divided into three main classes which were politically and legally distinct. About one-third of the total population was slaves, who did not count politically at all, a fact often forgotten by those who praise Athens as the nursery of democracy. The next main group consisted of resident foreigners, the, ‘metics’ who were freemen, though they too were allowed no share in political life. The third group was the powerful body of ‘citizens”, who were themselves divided into sub- classes.
In the later Middle Ages, however, the development of a money economy and the growth of cities and trade led to the rise of another class, the ‘burghers’ or city merchants and mayors. These were the predecessors of the modern middle classes. Gradually high office and occupation assumed importance in determining social position, as it became more and more possible for a person born to one station in life to move to another. This change affected the towns more than the country areas, where remnants of feudalism lasted much longer.

Athens is often praised as the nursery of democracy ................

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 34 to 38

Thanks to our modern lifestyle, with more and more time spent sitting down in front of computers than ever before, the (34) ____ of overweight people is at a new high. As people frantically search for a solution to this problem, they often try some of the popular fad diets being offered. Many people see fad diets as harmless ways of losing weight, and they are grateful to have them. Unfortunately, not only don‘t fad diets usually (35) ____the trick, they can actually be dangerous for your health.

Although permanent weight loss is the goal, few are able to achieve it. Experts estimate that 95 percent of dieters return to their starting weight, or even gain weight. While the reckless use of fad diets can bring (36)__initial results, long-term results are very rare.

(37)_____, people who are fed up with the difficulties of changing their eating habits often turn to fad diets. Rather than being moderate, fad diets involve extreme dietary changes. They advise eating only one type of food, or they prohibit other types of foods entirely. This results in a situation where a person‘s body doesn‘t get all the vitamins and other things (38) ____ it needs to stay healthy.

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

According to the passage, negative environmental outcomes     ?

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The word robot first appeared in a 1921 stage play by Czech writer Karel Capek. In the play, a man makes a machine that can think, which he calls a robot and which ends up killing its owner. In the 1940s, the American science fiction writer Isaac Asimov wrote a series of stories about robots and invented the term robotics, the science of robots. Meanwhile, in the real world, the first robots were developed by an engineer, Joseph F. Engelberger, and an inventor, George C. Devol. Together they started Unimation, a manufacturing company that produces the first real robot in 1961, called the Unimate. Robots of this type were installed at a General Motors automobile plant and proved to be a success. They worked reliably and saved money for General Motors, so other companies were soon acquiring robots as well.
These industrial robots were nothing like the terrifying creatures that can often be seen in science fiction films. In fact, these robots looked and behaved nothing like humans. They were simply pieces of computer-controlled machinery, with metal “arms” or “hands”. Since they were made of metal, they could perform certain jobs that were difficult or dangerous for humans, particularly jobs that involve high heat. And since robots were tireless and never got hungry, sleepy, or distracted, they were useful for tasks that would be tiring or boring for humans. Industrial robots have been improved over the years, and today they are used in many factories around the world. Though the use of robots has meant the loss of some jobs, at the same time other jobs have been created in the design, development, and production of the robots.

Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a characteristic of robots?

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Volunteering has been acknowledged as part of the wider health policy, with the NHS five-year plan identifying a need to encourage community volunteering. It also has an important role to play in tackling social exclusion, through projects such as lunch clubs for older people, assisted gardening schemes, or young play leaders.
Volunteering can help to provide people with ways out of poverty, by giving them new skills, confidence and aid social integration. This is of particular value to those who are most excluded from the labour market, such as recent migrants or people with disabilities. But while the benefits of volunteering are clear, there is worrying evidence that the people who could benefit most from giving their time are precisely those least likely to be involved.
There are many reasons for people not to volunteer. For older people, the barriers can include poor health, poverty, lack of skills, poor transport links, or having caring responsibilities, such as looking after grandchildren. Younger people can be deterred by feeling they don’t have the time to volunteer, or not knowing anyone else who volunteers. Many of them also think volunteering is just for older people with time on their hands. Volunteering has an image problem – particularly with men and younger people.
More should be done to promote the value of volunteering to the particular needs of different groups. There is evidence on why people choose to volunteer, and we need to make better use of that information. For instance, a recent survey showed that 95% of young people, aged 13-24, hoped to develop new skills through volunteering, compared to just 32% of volunteers aged over 55. Almost three quarters of young people were keen to gain qualifications through volunteering compared to just 13% of those over 55. Over three quarters of disabled volunteers were keen to develop new skills and nearly two thirds hoped to improve their health and wellbeing through volunteering.

The word “deterred” in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to _____________.

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What we today call American folk art was, indeed, art of, by, and for ordinary, everyday “folks” who, with increasing prosperity and leisure, created a market for art of all kinds, and especially for portraits. Citizens of prosperous, essentially middle-class republics — whether ancient Romans, seventeenth-century Dutch burghers, or nineteenth-century Americans — have always shown a marked taste for portraiture. Starting in the late eighteenth century, the United States contained increasing numbers of such people, and of the artists who could meet their demands. The earliest American folk art portraits come, not surprisingly, from New England — especially Connecticut and Massachusetts — for this was a wealthy and populous region and the center of a strong craft tradition. Within a few decades after the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the population was pushing westward, and portrait painters could be found at work in western New York, Ohio,
Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri. Midway through its first century as a nation, the United States' population had increased roughly five times, and eleven new states had been added to the original thirteen. During these years the demand for portraits grew and grew eventually to be satisfied by the camera. In 1839 the daguerreotype was introduced to America, ushering in the age of photography, and within a generation the new invention put an end to the popularity of painted portraits. Once again an original portrait became a luxury, commissioned by the wealthy and executed by the professional.
But in the heyday of portrait painting — from the late eighteenth century until the
1850's — anyone with a modicum of artistic ability could become a limner, as such a portraitist was called. Local craftspeople — sign, coach, and house painters — began to paint portraits as a profitable sideline; sometimes a talented man or woman who began by sketching family members gained a local reputation and was besieged with requests for portraits; artists found it worth their while to pack their paints, canvases, and brushes and to travel the countryside, often combining house decorating with portrait painting.

The author implies that most limners (line 22)

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Charles Lindbergh was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1902 but was raised on a farm in Minnesota, where his father was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1907. From then on, he spent his boyhood alternately in Washington, D.C. Detroit, and Little Falls, Minnesota. Because Lindbergh exhibited exceptional mechanical talent, in 1921 he was admitted to the University of Wisconsing to study engineering. However, the young man was seeking more challenging endeavors, and two years later he became a stunt pilot who performed feats at county fairs and public assemblies. This unusual and dangerous undertaking paid off handsomely in the sense that it allowed him to gain a diverse and well–rounded experience in aeronautics. He particularly delighted in what he called “wing–walking” and parachute jumping.
After a year of training as a military cadet, Lindbergh completed his program at the Brooks and Kelly airfields at the top of his class and earned the rank of captain.
Robertson Aircraft Corporation of St. Louis, Missouri, offered him employment as a mail pilot to run the routes between St. Louis and Chicago, and Lindbergh retained his position with the company until 1927. During this period, he set out to win the Raymond B. Orteig prize of $25,000 to be awarded to the first pilot to fly nonstop from New York to Paris. This ambition would irreversibly change his life and accord him a prominent place in the history of aviation.
Embarking on the greatest adventure of his time, Lindbergh left Roosevelt Field at 7:52 A.M. on May 20, 1927, and landed at Le Bourget Field at 5:24 P.M. the next day. Fearing that he would be unknown when he arrived, Lindbergh carried letters of introduction to dignitaries in Paris, but when his plane came to a stop, he was overwhelmed by tremendous welcoming crowds. He was decorated in France, Great Britain, and Belgium, and President Coolidge sent a specially designated cruiser, the Memphis, to bring him back, His accomplishments in aeronautics brought him more medals and awards than had ever been received by any other person in private life.

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

Read the following text then answer the questions that followed by circling its corresponding letter marked A, B, C or D.
How can a person offend people just because they cross their legs? In Thailand, it is rude for a person to show other people the bottom of their feet. This is considered unclean, and Thais can (1) …………..serious offense at it. Another thing people do in the West is to touch people on the head especially children. It is very normal to see an old woman walking up to a young boy and (2).....his hair tenderly while saying what a handsome young man he is.
In Thailand, touching a person’s head is strictly taboo because that is the (3) …………… part of the body, and it is where the (4) ……………. is thought to reside in a person. Although very close family members might touch a child on the head, even this is considered rude after a child grows up.
In the Middle East and some parts of Asia, the left hand is used to wash oneself after using a toilet. (5)………….., the left hand can never offered to another person or used to eat with. Food must always be passed with the right hand, and it is considered polite to always use the right hand for social interactions.
(1)..........................

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Human memory, formerly believed to be rather inefficient, is really more sophisticated than that of a computer. Researchers approaching the problem from a variety of points of view have all concluded that there is a great deal more stored in our minds than has been generally supposed. Dr. Wilder Penfield, a Canadian neurosurgeon, proved that by stimulating their brains electrically, he could elicit the total recall of specific events in his subjects’ lives. Even dreams and other minor events supposedly forgotten for many years suddenly emerged in detail.
The memory trace is the term for whatever is the internal representation of the specific information about the event stored in the memory. Assumed to have been made by structural changes in the brain, the memory trace is not subject to direct observation but is rather a theoretical construct that we use to speculate about how information presented at a particular time can cause performance at a later time. Most theories include the strength of the memory trace as a variable in the degree of learning, retention, and retrieval possible for a memory. One theory is that the fantastic capacity for storage in the brain is the result of an almost unlimited combination of interconnections between brain cells, stimulated by patterns of activity. Repeated references to the same information support recall. Or, to say that another way, improved performance is the result of strengthening the chemical bonds in the memory.

Compared with a computer, human memory is...................

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        The tradition of gift giving is a worldwide (1)_________ that is said to have been around since the beginning of human beings. Over time, different cultures have developed their own gift giving customs and traditions.
         In France, the gift of wine for the hostess of a dinner party is not an appropriate gift as the hostess would prefer to choose the vintage for the night. In Sweden, a bottle of wine or flowers are an appropriate gift for the hostess. In Viet Nam, a gift of whisky is appropriate for the host, and some fruit or small gifts for the hostess, children or elders of the home. Besides, gifts should never be wrapped in black paper because this color is unlucky and associated with funerals in this country. Gifts (2)____________symbolize cutting such as scissors, knives and other sharp objects should be avoided because they mean the cutting of the relationship. Also, in some countries you should not open the gift in front of the giver and in (3)__________ it would be an insult if you did not open the gift.
       Beyond the gift itself, give careful consideration to the manner in which it is presented. Different cultures have different customs regarding how a gift should be offered - using only your right hand or using both hands, (4)_____. Others have strong traditions related to the appropriate way to accept a gift. In Singapore, for instance, it is the standard to graciously refuse a gift several times before finally accepting it. The recipient would never unwrap a gift in front of the giver for fear of appearing greedy.
       Understanding these traditions and customs, as well as taking time to choose an appropriate gift, will help you to avoid any awkwardness or (5)__________ as you seek to build a better cross-cultural relationship.

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

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      The Trump campaign ran on bringing jobs back to American shores, although mechanization has been the biggest reason for manufacturing jobs’ disappearance. Similar losses have led to populist movements in several other countries. But instead of a pro-job growth future, economists across the board predict further losses as AI, robotics, and other technologies continue to be ushered in. What is up for debate is how quickly this is likely to occur.
      Now, an expert at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania is ringing the alarm bells. According to Art Bilger, venture capitalist and board member at the business school, all the developed nations on earth will see job loss rates of up to 47% within the next 25 years, according to a recent Oxford study. “No government is prepared,” The Economist reports. These include blue and white collar jobs. So far, the loss has been restricted to the blue collar variety, particularly in manufacturing.
       To combat “structural unemployment” and the terrible blow, it is bound to deal the American people, Bilger has formed a nonprofit called Working Nation, whose mission it is to warn the public and to help make plans to safeguard them from this worrisome trend. Not only is the entire concept of employment about to change in a dramatic fashion, the trend is irreversible. The venture capitalist called on corporations, academia, government, and nonprofits to cooperate in modernizing our workforce.
       To be clear, mechanization has always cost us jobs. The mechanical loom, for instance, put weavers out of business. But it also created jobs. Mechanics had to keep the machines going, machinists had to make parts for them, and workers had to attend to them, and so on. A lot of times those in one profession could pivot to another. At the beginning of the 20th century, for instance, automobiles were putting blacksmiths out of business. Who needed horseshoes anymore? But they soon became mechanics. And who was better suited?
         Not so with this new trend. Unemployment today is significant in most developed nations and it’s only going to get worse. By 2034, just a few decades, mid-level jobs will be by and large obsolete. So far the benefits have only gone to the ultra-wealthy, the top 1%. This coming technological revolution is set to wipe out what looks to be the entire middle class. Not only will computers be able to perform tasks more cheaply than people, they’ll be more efficient too.
       Accountants, doctors, lawyers, teachers, bureaucrats, and financial analysts beware: your jobs are not safe. According to The Economist, computers will be able to analyze and compare reams of data to make financial decisions or medical ones. There will be less of a chance of fraud or misdiagnosis, and the process will be more efficient. Not only are these folks in trouble, such a trend is likely to freeze salaries for those who remain employed, while income gaps only increase in size. You can imagine what this will do to politics and social stability.

The word “irreversible” 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 word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks.
After winter months, the days become longer, the buds (1)........ in the trees, birds sing, and the world (2) ...........a  green  dress.  Spring passes (3)........ summer. Everyone knows that summer will not (4)............. . The power of all the wisest men and women in the world cannot keep it for us. The com becomes ripe, the leaves turn brown and then drop to the ground, (5)......... the world changes its green dress for a dress of autumn colors.
(5)...........................