Read the passage and choose the correct answer:

Vietnam’s ASEAN membership opened a new period of integration in the region. Deputy Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung said: “It was the right decision to join ASEAN in 1995, when we were in dire need of socio-economic development and expansion of relations with other countries. ASEAN membership enabled Vietnam to expand ties with the EU and normalize relations with the US and China. As an ASEAN member, Vietnam has engaged deeply in ASEAN activities in line with its integration policy.”

In ASEAN Vietnam has enjoyed a favorable environment for forging closer ties with its neighbors and resolving long-standing issues, and has contributed to regional cooperative mechanisms that further its national interests. ASEAN helps amplify Vietnam’s voice worldwide and create cooperative opportunities.

ASEAN’s Secretary General Le Luong Minh: “Vietnam’s economic development has benefited from ASEAN membership. During the course of 10 years from 2006 to last year, Vietnam’s GDP share in ASEAN doubled from 3.5% to 7%. ASEAN-Vietnam trade increased 120% with tighter connectivity in infrastructure, trade mechanisms, and human resources.”

 ASEAN helps amplify Vietnam’s voice worldwide and create cooperative opportunities.

The Influence of Advertising on Pricing
Advertising makes an immense difference in the popularity of a product. Studies have shown that consumers usually pay more for advertised products than non-advertised products. As a result, the marketing and advertising industry is a multibillion-dollar-a-year business. Local commercials can cost as little as several hundred dollars to produce, while national companies have been known to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a single commercial. Interestingly, the source for these expensive commercials is the consumers who view the advertisements from the comfort of their living rooms. Companies influence the prices that consumers pay in two ways.
When consumers purchase any product, they are obviously paying for the cost of manufacturing the product. However, they are also paying for the advertising campaign devised to convince consumers to buy the product. The more costly the advertising campaign, the higher the price paid by consumers. Companies are allowed to set these high prices because consumers have shown that they will continue to pay them. For instance, a multinational chain of coffee shops significantly raised its prices a few years ago, due in no small part to an expensive national advertising campaign. While regular customers noticed and were not fond of the hike, one was quoted as saying, “I doubt it will make an impact [on consumers]. It won’t change my habit." Indeed, it did not; the company experienced record sales in spite of the fact its prices were higher than its competitors'.
Another way advertising tends to affect product pricing is seen in the arena of perceived value to the consumers. The perceived value is the worth that consumers assign to a product. Studies show that often the advertising for a product determines its value more than the quality or necessity of the product itself. One way a company may take advantage of this perceived value is by running commercials during prime time. These ads are usually much more expensive than others. For example, a national commercial that ran during a popular American show cost close to $745,000 to run for thirty seconds. If people watching the show perceive that the product is more valuable simply because it was advertised during prime time, they are often willing to pay higher prices. So, whether it is seen in the cost of the commercials or the advertiser-assigned value, it is obvious that advertising drives product pricing and directly affects consumers.

How do companies determine the price they charge for a product?

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.

   Fungi are a group of organisms that, despite being plants, have no leaves or flowers. In fact, fungi do not even share the green colour that most other plants display. Scientists estimate that there are over 1.5 million different species of fungi in the world. Though, to date, only 100.000 have been identified, leaving many more that have not been found. One interesting feature of fungi is that they often interact with oilier organisms in order to survive. These relationships are at times beneficial to both organisms. Other times, the fungus benefits without causing harm to the other organism.

   Many types of fungus have beneficial relationships with plants. Initially many gardeners would be concerned to know that their plants were colonised by a fungus. This is because some fungi can cause plants to die. In fact, the Irish potato famine was caused by a fungus that killed entire crops of potatoes. However, many plants actually depend on certain types of fungi to help it stay healthy. Fungi are important to plants because they help plants absorb more minerals from the soil than they could on their own. The reason for this has to do with how fungi obtain food. Unlike green plants, fungi cannot make their own food. They must absorb their food. When the fungi absorb minerals from the soil, they draw the nutrients closer to the roots of the plants, so the plant is able to use them as well. The fungus also benefits from this relationship. Using the minerals from the soil, as well as sunlight, the plants is able to produce sugars and other nutrients. Then the fungus absorbs the nutrients from plant roots and uses them to survive.

   Not all relationships are beneficial for both organisms: in some interactions, only the fungus benefits. Still, for some fungus species, contact with other organisms is essential. And though the fungi do not provide any benefits for the other organism, they do not harm it either. One example of this is a species called Pilobolus. This fungus relies on other animals to help it reproduce. The Pilobolus grows in animal dung. When it becomes mature, it shoots its spores away from the dung pile. The spores land in the grass where cows graze. The spores are consumed by the animal but do not grow while inside the stomach. They travel through the body of the animal until they are passed and deposited in another area, where they continue to grow.

It can be inferred from paragraph 1 that___________

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.

   Many flowering plants woo insect pollinators and gently direct them to their most fertile blossoms by changing the color of individual flowers from day to day. Through color cues, the plant signals to the insect that it would be better off visiting one flower on its bush than another. The particular hue tells the pollinator that the flower is full of far more pollen than are neighboring blooms. That nectar-rich flower also happens to be fertile and ready to disperse its pollen or to receive pollen the insect has picked up from another flower. Plants do not have to spend precious resources maintaining reservoirs of nectar in all their flowers. Thus, the color-coded communication system benefits both plants and insects.

   For example, on the lantana plant, a flower starts out on the first day as yellow, when it is rich with pollen and nectar. Influenced by an as-yet-unidentified environmental signal, the flower changes color by triggering the production of the pigment anthromyacin. It turns orange on the second day and red on the third. By the third day, it has no pollen to offer insects and is no longer fertile. On any given lantana bush, only 10 to 15 per cent of the blossoms are likely to be yellow and fertile. But in tests measuring the responsiveness of butterflies, it was discovered that the insects visited the yellow flowers at least 100 times more than would be expected from haphazard visitation. Experiments with paper flowers and painted flowers demonstrated that the butterflies were responding to color cues rather than, say, the scent of the nectar.

   In other types of plants, blossoms change from white to red, others from yellow to red, and so on. These color changes have been observed in some 74 families of plants.

Which of the following describes the sequence of color changes that lantana blossom undergo?

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.

   Many flowering plants woo insect pollinators and gently direct them to their most fertile blossoms by changing the color of individual flowers from day to day. Through color cues, the plant signals to the insect that it would be better off visiting one flower on its bush than another. The particular hue tells the pollinator that the flower is full of far more pollen than are neighboring blooms. That nectar-rich flower also happens to be fertile and ready to disperse its pollen or to receive pollen the insect has picked up from another flower. Plants do not have to spend precious resources maintaining reservoirs of nectar in all their flowers. Thus, the color-coded communication system benefits both plants and insects.

   For example, on the lantana plant, a flower starts out on the first day as yellow, when it is rich with pollen and nectar. Influenced by an as-yet-unidentified environmental signal, the flower changes color by triggering the production of the pigment anthromyacin. It turns orange on the second day and red on the third. By the third day, it has no pollen to offer insects and is no longer fertile. On any given lantana bush, only 10 to 15 per cent of the blossoms are likely to be yellow and fertile. But in tests measuring the responsiveness of butterflies, it was discovered that the insects visited the yellow flowers at least 100 times more than would be expected from haphazard visitation. Experiments with paper flowers and painted flowers demonstrated that the butterflies were responding to color cues rather than, say, the scent of the nectar.

   In other types of plants, blossoms change from white to red, others from yellow to red, and so on. These color changes have been observed in some 74 families of plants.

The first paragraph of the passage implies that insects benefit from the color-coded communication system because __________

Read the passage below and choose one correct answer for each question.

On 8 August 1967, five leaders - the Foreign Ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand- sat down together in the main hall of the Department of Foreign Affairs building in Bangkok, Thailand and signed a document. By virtue of that document, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was born. The five Foreign Ministers who signed it have been considered as the founders of probably the most successful intergovernmental organization in the developing world today. The document that they signed would be known as the ASEAN Declaration.

It is a short, simply-worded document containing just five articles. It declares the establishment of an Association for Regional Cooperation among the Countries of Southeast Asia to be known as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and spells out the aims and purposes of that Association. These aims and purposes are about the cooperation in economy, society, culture, techniques, education and other fields, and in the promotion of regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the principles of the United Nations Charter. It stipulates that the Association will be open for participation by all States in the Southeast Asian region subscribing to its aims, principles and purposes. It proclaims ASEAN as representing the collective will of the nations of Southeast Asia to bind themselves together in friendship and cooperation and, through joint efforts and sacrifices, secure for their peoples and for posterity the blessings of peace, freedom and prosperity. The goal of ASEAN, then, is to create, not to destroy. The original ASEAN logo presented five brown sheaves of rice stalks, one for each founding member. Beneath the sheaves is the legend "ASEAN" in blue. These are set on a field of yellow encircled by a blue border. Brown stands for strength and stability, yellow for prosperity and blue for the spirit of cordiality in which ASEAN affairs are conducted. When ASEAN celebrated its 30th Anniversary in 1997, the sheaves on the logo had increased to ten -representing all ten countries of Southeast Asia and reflecting the colors of the flags of all of them. In a very real sense, ASEAN and Southeast Asia will be one and the same, just as the founders had envisioned.

Up to 1997 how many countries there have been in ASEAN?

Read the following passage, then choose the correct answer to questions 31 - 35.
Smoking causes lung cancer, which is the number one cancer among men. Ninety percent of the people who get lung cancer die. Smoking is also the leading cause of mouth cancer, tongue cancer, and throat cancer. Many smokers have heart disease arid pneumonia. Smoking causes one million early deaths in the world every year.
Smokers not only harm themselves but also harm others. Smokers breathe smoke out into the air. They breathe it out on their children and their wives or husbands. Children whose parents smoke have more breathing and lung problems than other children. Women who are married to smokers are more likely to have lung cancer than those married to non- smokers.
We are all aware that smoking is bad. So why do people smoke?

The word “it” in the passage refers to _________.

The Influence of Advertising on Pricing
Advertising makes an immense difference in the popularity of a product. Studies have shown that consumers usually pay more for advertised products than non-advertised products. As a result, the marketing and advertising industry is a multibillion-dollar-a-year business. Local commercials can cost as little as several hundred dollars to produce, while national companies have been known to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a single commercial. Interestingly, the source for these expensive commercials is the consumers who view the advertisements from the comfort of their living rooms. Companies influence the prices that consumers pay in two ways.
When consumers purchase any product, they are obviously paying for the cost of manufacturing the product. However, they are also paying for the advertising campaign devised to convince consumers to buy the product. The more costly the advertising campaign, the higher the price paid by consumers. Companies are allowed to set these high prices because consumers have shown that they will continue to pay them. For instance, a multinational chain of coffee shops significantly raised its prices a few years ago, due in no small part to an expensive national advertising campaign. While regular customers noticed and were not fond of the hike, one was quoted as saying, “I doubt it will make an impact [on consumers]. It won’t change my habit." Indeed, it did not; the company experienced record sales in spite of the fact its prices were higher than its competitors'.
Another way advertising tends to affect product pricing is seen in the arena of perceived value to the consumers. The perceived value is the worth that consumers assign to a product. Studies show that often the advertising for a product determines its value more than the quality or necessity of the product itself. One way a company may take advantage of this perceived value is by running commercials during prime time. These ads are usually much more expensive than others. For example, a national commercial that ran during a popular American show cost close to $745,000 to run for thirty seconds. If people watching the show perceive that the product is more valuable simply because it was advertised during prime time, they are often willing to pay higher prices. So, whether it is seen in the cost of the commercials or the advertiser-assigned value, it is obvious that advertising drives product pricing and directly affects consumers.

Which of the following is NOT true about the perceived value of a product?

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence.

_______ in Rome than he was kidnapped

Although most universities in the United States are on a semester system, which offers classes in the fall and spring, some schools observe a quarter system comprised of fall, winter, spring, and summer quarters. The academic year, September to June, is divided into three quarters of eleven weeks each beginning in September, January, and March: the summer quarter, June to August, is composed of shorter sessions of vary length.There are several advantages and disadvantages to the quarter system. On the plus side, students who wish to complete their degrees in less than the customary four years may take advantage of the opportunity to study year round by enrolling in all four quarters. In addition, although most students begin their programs in the fall quarter, they may enter at the beginning of any other quarters. Finally, since the physical facilities are kept in operation year round, the resources are used effectively to serve the greatest number of students. But there are several disadvantages as well. Many faculty complain that eleven-week term is simply not enough for them to cover the material required by most college coursed. Students also find it difficult to complete the assignments in such a short period of time.In order to combine the advantages of the quarter system with those of the semester system some colleges and universities have instituted a three-term trimester system. In fourteen weeks, faculty and students have more time to cover material and finish course requirements, but the additional term provides options for admission during the year and accelerates the degree programs for those students who wish to graduate early.

Which of the following characteristics does NOT apply to trimesters?

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.

   Scientists do not yet thoroughly understand just how the body of an individual becomes sensitive to a substance that is harmless or even wholesome for the average person. Milk, wheat, and egg, for example, rank among the most healthful and widely used foods. Yet these foods can cause persons sensitive to them to suffer greatly. At first, the body of the individual is not harmed by coming into contact with the substance. After a varying interval of time, usually longer than a few weeks, the body becomes sensitive to it, and an allergy has begun to develop. Sometimes it's hard to figure out if you have a food allergy, since it can show up so many different ways. Your symptoms could be caused by many other problems. You may have rashes, hives, joint pains mimicking arthritis, headaches, irritability, or depression. The most common food allergies are to milk, eggs, seafood, wheat, nuts, seeds, chocolate, oranges, and tomatoes. Many of these allergies will not develop if these foods are not fed to an infant until her or his intestines mature at around seven months. Breast milk also tends to be protective. Migraines can be set off by foods containing tyramine, phenathylamine, monosodium glutamate, or sodium nitrate. Common foods which contain these are chocolate, aged cheeses, sour cream, red wine, pickled herring, chicken livers, avocados, ripe bananas, cured meats, many Oriental and prepared foods (read the labels!). Some people have been successful in treating their migraines with supplements of B-vitamins, particularly B6 and niacin. Children who are hyperactive may benefit from eliminating food additives, especially colorings, and foods high in salicylates from their diets. A few of these are almonds, green peppers, peaches, tea, grapes. This is the diet made popular by Benjamin Feingold, who has written the book “Why your Child is Hyperactive”. Other researchers have had mixed results when testing whether the diet is effective.

Which of the following was a suggested treatment for migraines in the passage?

A book has just been published to help parents to deal with their children's naughty behavior at home. The author, Dr James Bruno, says that the first positive discipline technique is for parents to remain (21)_____ because nervous parents don't get good results. Parents who often (22)____ their temper find that their children stop taking any notice of them. When parents yell at their children to make them (23)____ an order, children often act as if they did not hear them,The second challenge is to know how to correct bad behavior in an effective way. (24)_____ children by preventing them from watching their favorite TV program is not an ideal solution. Nor is telling them off when their friends are present. Dr Bruno believes parents should (25)____ clear rules for children to follow. If children refuse to follow these, they know they will be disciplined

(22)....................................

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.

   Fungi are a group of organisms that, despite being plants, have no leaves or flowers. In fact, fungi do not even share the green colour that most other plants display. Scientists estimate that there are over 1.5 million different species of fungi in the world. Though, to date, only 100.000 have been identified, leaving many more that have not been found. One interesting feature of fungi is that they often interact with oilier organisms in order to survive. These relationships are at times beneficial to both organisms. Other times, the fungus benefits without causing harm to the other organism.

   Many types of fungus have beneficial relationships with plants. Initially many gardeners would be concerned to know that their plants were colonised by a fungus. This is because some fungi can cause plants to die. In fact, the Irish potato famine was caused by a fungus that killed entire crops of potatoes. However, many plants actually depend on certain types of fungi to help it stay healthy. Fungi are important to plants because they help plants absorb more minerals from the soil than they could on their own. The reason for this has to do with how fungi obtain food. Unlike green plants, fungi cannot make their own food. They must absorb their food. When the fungi absorb minerals from the soil, they draw the nutrients closer to the roots of the plants, so the plant is able to use them as well. The fungus also benefits from this relationship. Using the minerals from the soil, as well as sunlight, the plants is able to produce sugars and other nutrients. Then the fungus absorbs the nutrients from plant roots and uses them to survive.

   Not all relationships are beneficial for both organisms: in some interactions, only the fungus benefits. Still, for some fungus species, contact with other organisms is essential. And though the fungi do not provide any benefits for the other organism, they do not harm it either. One example of this is a species called Pilobolus. This fungus relies on other animals to help it reproduce. The Pilobolus grows in animal dung. When it becomes mature, it shoots its spores away from the dung pile. The spores land in the grass where cows graze. The spores are consumed by the animal but do not grow while inside the stomach. They travel through the body of the animal until they are passed and deposited in another area, where they continue to grow.

The author discusses cows and horses in paragraph 3 in order to_________

Ranked as the number one beverage consumed worldwide, tea takes the lead over coffee in both popularity and production with more than 5 million metric tons of tea produced annually. Although much of this tea is consumed in Asia, European and African countries, the United  States drinks it fair share. According to estimates by the Tea Council of the United States, tea is enjoyed by no less than half of the U.S population on any given day. Black tea or green tea - iced, spiced, or instant - tea drinking has spurred a billion - dollar business with major tea produces in Africa and South America and throughout Asia.
Tea is made from the leaves of an evergreen plant, Camellia sinensis, which grows tall and lush in tropical regions. On tea plantation, the plant is kept trimmed to approximately four feet high, and as new buds called flush appear, they are plucked off by hand. Even in today's world of modern agricultural machinery, hand harvesting continues to be preferred method. Ideally, only the top two leaves and bud should be picked. This new growth produces the highest quality tea.
After being harvested, tea leaves are laid out on long drying racks, called withering racks, for 18 to 20 hours. During this process, the tea softens and becomes limp. Next, depending on the type of the tea being produced, the leaves may be crushed or chopped to release flavor, and then steamed to retain their green color, and the fermentation process is skipped. Producing black teas requires fermentation during which the tea leaves begin to darken. After fermentation, black tea is dried in vats to produce its rich brown or black color.
No one knows when or how tea became popular, but legend has it that tea as a beverage was discovered in 2737 B.C. by Emperor Shen Nung of China when leaves from Camellia dropped into his drinking water as it was boiling over a fire. As the story goes, Emperor Shen Nung drank the resulting liquid and proclaimed that the drink to be most nourishing and refreshing. Though this account cannot be documented, it is thought that tea drinking probably originated in China and spread to other parts of Asia, then to Europe, and ultimately to America colonies around 1650.
With about half of the caffeine content as coffee, tea is often chosen by those who want to reduce, but not necessarily eliminate their caffeine intake. Some people find that tea is less acidic than coffee and therefore easier on the stomach. Others have become interested in tea drinking since the National Cancer Institute published its findings on the antioxidant properties of tea. But whether tea is enjoyed for its perceived health benefits, its flavor, or as a social drink, teacups continue to be filled daily with the world's most popular beverage.

Based on the passage, what is implied about tea harvesting?

Read the passage and choose the correct answer:

Vietnam’s ASEAN membership opened a new period of integration in the region. Deputy Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung said: “It was the right decision to join ASEAN in 1995, when we were in dire need of socio-economic development and expansion of relations with other countries. ASEAN membership enabled Vietnam to expand ties with the EU and normalize relations with the US and China. As an ASEAN member, Vietnam has engaged deeply in ASEAN activities in line with its integration policy.”

In ASEAN Vietnam has enjoyed a favorable environment for forging closer ties with its neighbors and resolving long-standing issues, and has contributed to regional cooperative mechanisms that further its national interests. ASEAN helps amplify Vietnam’s voice worldwide and create cooperative opportunities.

ASEAN’s Secretary General Le Luong Minh: “Vietnam’s economic development has benefited from ASEAN membership. During the course of 10 years from 2006 to last year, Vietnam’s GDP share in ASEAN doubled from 3.5% to 7%. ASEAN-Vietnam trade increased 120% with tighter connectivity in infrastructure, trade mechanisms, and human resources.”

. Joining ASEAN blows away Vietnamese chances to develop socio-economy.

Read the passage below and choose the best answer (A, B, C or D ) to each question.

Higher education, also called tertiary, third stage or post secondary education, is the non-compulsory educational level following the completion of a school providing a secondary education, such as a high school, secondary school. Tertiary education is normally taken to include undergraduate and postgraduate education, as well as vocational education and training. Colleges and universities are the main institutions that provide tertiary institutions. Tertiary education generally results in the receipt of certificates, diplomas, or academic degrees.

Higher education includes teaching, research and social services activities of universities, and within the realm of teaching, it includes both the undergraduate level and the graduate level. Higher education in that country generally involves work towards a degree-level or foundation degree qualification. It is therefore very important to national economies, both as a significant industry in its own right, and as a source of trained and educated personnel for the rest of the economy.

What is ‘tertiary education’? 

Chọn câu có nghĩa gần nhất với câu đã cho: As soon as you arrive, give me a call.

Although they are an inexpensive supplier of vitamins, minerals, and high-quality protein, eggs also contain  a high  level of blood cholesterol, one of the major causes of heart diseases. One egg   yolk, in fact, contains a little more than two-thirds of the suggested daily cholesterol limit. This knowledge has caused egg sales to plummet in recent years, which in turn has brought about the development of several alternatives to eating regular eggs. One alternative is to eat substitute eggs. These egg substitutes are not really eggs, but they look somewhat like eggs when  they are  cooked. They have the advantage of having low cholesterol rates, and they can be  scrambled  or  used  in baking. One disadvantage, however, is that they are not good for frying, poaching,  or boiling.  A second alternative to regular eggs is a new type of egg, sometimes called 'designer' eggs. These eggs  are produced by hens that are fed low-fat diets consisting of Ingredients such as canola oil, flax, and rice bran. In spite of their diets, however, these hens produce eggs that contain the same amount of cholesterol as regular eggs. Yet, the producers of these eggs claim that eating their eggs will not raise the blood cholesterol in  humans.
Egg producers  claim  that their product has been  portrayed unfairly. They cite scientific studies  to back up their claim. And, in fact, studies on the relationship between eggs and human cholesterol levels have brought mixed results. It may be that it is not the type of egg that is the main determinant   of cholesterol but the person who is eating the eggs. Some people may be  more  sensitive  to  cholesterol derived from food than other people. In fact, there is evidence that certain dietary fats stimulate the body's production of blood cholesterol. Consequently, while it still makes sense to limit one's intake of eggs, even designer eggs, it seems that doing this without regulating dietary fat will probably not help reduce the blood cholesterol  level.

What is meant by the phrase 'mixed  results'?

PANDEMIC DISEASES
Diseases are a natural part of life on earth. If there were  no diseases,  the population would grow too quickly, and there would not be enough food or other resources, so in a way, diseases are natural ways of keeping the Earth in balance. But sometimes  they  spread  very  quickly and kill large numbers of people. For example, in 1918, an outbreak of the flu spread  across the world, killing over 25 million people in only six months. Such terrible outbreaks of a disease are called pandemics.
Pandemics happen when a disease changes in a way that our bodies are not prepared to fight.  In 1918, a new type of flu virus appeared. Our bodies had no way to fight this new flu virus, and    so it spread very quickly and killed large numbers of people. While there have  been  many  different pandemic diseases throughout history, all of them have a new thing in    common.
First, all pandemic diseases spread from one person to another very   easily.
Second, while they may kill many people, they generally do not kill people very quickly. A good example of this would be the Marburg virus. The Marburg virus is an extremely infectious disease. In addition, it is deadly. About 70 -80% of all people who  get the Marburg virus  died  from the disease. However, the Marburg virus has not become  a pandemic  because most people die within three days of getting the disease. This means that the virus does not have enough time    to spread a large number of people. The flu virus of 1918, on the other hand, generally took about   a week to ten days to kill its victims, so it had more time to   spread.
While we may never be able to completely stop pandemics, we  can  make  them  less  common. Doctors carefully monitor new diseases that they fear could become pandemics. For example, in 2002, and 2003, doctors carefully watched SARS. Their health warnings may have prevented SARS from becoming a  pandemic.

According to the passage, what causes pandemics?

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.

   Traditional methods of teaching no longer suffice in this technological world. Currently there are more than 100,000 computers in schoolrooms in the United States. Students mediocre and bright alike, from the first stage through high school not only are not intimidated by my computers, but have become avid participants in the computer epoch.

   Kids operating computer implement their curriculum with great versatility. A music student can program musical notes so that the computer will play Beethoven or the Beatles. For a biology class, the computer can produce a picture of the intricate envisage human biology in a profound way. A nuclear reactor is no longer an enigma to students who can see its workings in minute detail on a computer. In Wisconsi, the Chippewa Indians are studying their ancient and almost forgotten language with the aid of a computer. More commonly, the computer is used for drilling math and language concepts so that youngsters may learn at their own speed without trying the patience of their human teachers. The simplest computers aid the handicapped, who learn more rapidly from the computer than from humans. Once irksome, remedial drills and exercises now on computer are conducive to learning because the machine responds to correct answers with praise and to incorrect answers with frowns and even an occasional tear.

   Adolescents have become so exhilarated by computers that they have developed their own jargon, easily understood by their peers but leaving their disconcerted parents in the dark. They have shown so much fervor for computer that they have formed computer clubs, beguile their leisure hours in computer stores, and even attend computer camps. A Boy Scout can get a computer merit badge. One ingenious young student devised a computer game for Atari will earn him $100,000 in royalties This is definitely the computer age. Manufacturers of computers are presently getting tax write – offs for donating equipment to colleges and universities and are pushing for legislation to obtain further deductions for contributions to elementary and high school. Furthermore, the price of computer for home or office is being sold for less than $100. At that price every class in the country will soon have computer kids.

The price of a computer is now _____________

The Influence of Advertising on Pricing
Advertising makes an immense difference in the popularity of a product. Studies have shown that consumers usually pay more for advertised products than non-advertised products. As a result, the marketing and advertising industry is a multibillion-dollar-a-year business. Local commercials can cost as little as several hundred dollars to produce, while national companies have been known to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a single commercial. Interestingly, the source for these expensive commercials is the consumers who view the advertisements from the comfort of their living rooms. Companies influence the prices that consumers pay in two ways.
When consumers purchase any product, they are obviously paying for the cost of manufacturing the product. However, they are also paying for the advertising campaign devised to convince consumers to buy the product. The more costly the advertising campaign, the higher the price paid by consumers. Companies are allowed to set these high prices because consumers have shown that they will continue to pay them. For instance, a multinational chain of coffee shops significantly raised its prices a few years ago, due in no small part to an expensive national advertising campaign. While regular customers noticed and were not fond of the hike, one was quoted as saying, “I doubt it will make an impact [on consumers]. It won’t change my habit." Indeed, it did not; the company experienced record sales in spite of the fact its prices were higher than its competitors'.
Another way advertising tends to affect product pricing is seen in the arena of perceived value to the consumers. The perceived value is the worth that consumers assign to a product. Studies show that often the advertising for a product determines its value more than the quality or necessity of the product itself. One way a company may take advantage of this perceived value is by running commercials during prime time. These ads are usually much more expensive than others. For example, a national commercial that ran during a popular American show cost close to $745,000 to run for thirty seconds. If people watching the show perceive that the product is more valuable simply because it was advertised during prime time, they are often willing to pay higher prices. So, whether it is seen in the cost of the commercials or the advertiser-assigned value, it is obvious that advertising drives product pricing and directly affects consumers.

Which of the following is true about the effect of higher-priced ad campaigns?