Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
Incredible Shrinking Microchips
There is a popular old saying that “bigger is better”. Although this may be true in some regards, the exact opposite often applies in technology. As electronic components get smaller, it allows companies to manufacture tinier devices with more features. Thus began the never-ending quest to create the smallest microchips on the planet. Yet as these vital electronic components get smaller, they are also getting stronger and clever inventors are finding new ways in which to use them to do incredible things. Currently, the biggest limitation microchip producers face when trying to reduce chips’ size is the copper wires that provide electrical current throughout the chip. Although they can be made smaller, this can cause a whole host of problems such as melting and overheating. Thanks to the work of a few scientists from the UK though, this problem may soon be a thing of the past. Their solution is getting rid of the copper wiring altogether and using carbon nanotubes instead. Not only would this allow for smaller sizes but it would also increase the power that microchips can generate. In the end, this would translate into smaller and more powerful devices much to the delight of consumers all over the world. Corporate powerhouse Intel® has announced plans to create a line of tiny, low power chips that can be used in bracelets, smart watches, and other tiny devices. The chips will be called Intel® Quark, and they are being designed primarily to fit in biomedical devices. A key selling point to biomedical technology is that the devices have to be nonintrusive because people don’t want to carry around heavy equipment to monitor their health. If they can do this, Intel® will likely find several tablet and smartphone manufacturers who are willing to corporate Quark microchips into their devices. In a somewhat unusual project, researchers are working on a special microchip that will serve as miniature human organs in experiments. These “organ” chips could be used to test different medicines and study diseases. If realized, the technology could put an end to the use of lab mice and other animals for testing. Everyone from the largest pharmaceutical companies to the US military has shown interest in the project. Currently, the research team in charge of the project believes that within five years the organ chips will be used in practical research. It goes to show that thinking small often produces the biggest results.
3. What might nanotubes do?

Choose the best answer:
mountain/ amazed/ Are/ seeing/ at/ the/ you?

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
Is It Safe?
Fracking is a way of getting energy from the ground. First, a special liquid is put into the ground. This liquid cracks rocks under the ground. After the rocks are cracked, oil moves through the cracks. Then it is much easier to take the oil from the ground. Fracking was started in 1947. These days, we are doing more and more fracking. That is why everyone is suddenly talking about it. A lot of people say that fracking is a good way to get energy. There is some gas that is very difficult to take from the ground. If we didn’t use fracking, we would not be able to get this oil. They say that because the world need more energy, we have to use fracking. Also, it is said that fracking creates a lot of jobs. However, many people are against fracking. They say that fracking’s “special liquid” pollutes the ground, the water, and the air. People who live near fracking areas could have health problems. Moreover, fracking is very loud. In some countries, fracking is now illegal. The first country to make fracking illegal was France. They did that in 2011. In other countries like England, fracking is legal, but there are many rules that control it. Other countries are waiting to learn more about fracking before they decide whether or not to allow it. However, fracking is very big in the United States. The US is number one fracking country in the world. People who support fracking say that it can be very safe. They say that first, we need strong laws to make sure that fracking is always done safely. Second, they say that fracking needs safe methods and good technology. It is said by many that after we develop these things, fracking will be great for the whole world. However, other people want fracking to be illegal everywhere. They say that it will never be safe. We still don’t know enough about fracking. After we learn more about it, we can decide whether it is really a safe way to get energy or not.
4. Why is everyone suddenly talking about fracking?

 In the South, ______ development concentrated on rice cultivation, and nationally, rice and rubber were the main items of export.

(294)______

Choose the best answer:
We have many well__________teachers here.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions:
The lack of printing regulations and the unenforceability of British copyright law in the American colonies made it possible for colonial printers occasionally to act as publishers. Although they rarely undertook major publishing project because it was difficult to sell books as cheaply as they could be imported from Europe, printers in Philadelphia did publish work that required only small amounts of capital, paper, and type. Broadsides could be published with minimal financial risk. Consisting of only one sheet of paper and requiring small amounts of type, broadsides involved lower investments of capital than longer works. Furthermore, the broadside format lent itself to subjects of high, if temporary, interest, enabling them to meet with ready sale. If the broadside printer would know this immediately, there would be no agonizing wait with large amounts of capital tied up, books gathering dust on the shelves, and creditors impatient for payment.
In addition to broadsides, book and pamphlets, consisting mainly of political tracts, catechisms, primers, and chapbooks were relatively inexpensive to print and to buy. Chapbook were pamphlet-sized books, usually containing popular tales, ballads, poems, short plays, and jokes, small, both in formal and number of pages, they were generally bound simply, in boards (a form of cardboard) or merely stitched in paper wrappers (a sewn antecedent of modern-day paperbacks). Pamphlets and chapbooks did not require fine paper or a great deal of type to produce they could thus be printed in large, cost-effective editions and sold cheaply.
By far, the most appealing publishing investments were to be found in small books that had proven to be steady sellers, providing a reasonably reliable source of income for the publisher. They would not, by nature, be highly topical or political, as such publications would prove of fleeting interest. Almanacs, annual publication that contained information on astronomy and weather patterns arranged according to the days, week, and months of a given year, provided the perfect steady seller because their information pertained to the locale in which they would be used.

Question 31: Which aspect of colonial printing does the passage mainly discuss?

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
It is often the case with folktales that they develop from actual happenings but in their development lose much of their factual base; the story of Pocahontas quite possibly fits into this category of folktale. This princess of the Powhatan tribe was firmly established in the lore of early America and has been made even more famous by the Disney film based on the folktale that arose from her life. She was a real- life person, but the actual story of her life most probably differed considerably from the folktale and the movie based on the folktale. Powhatan, the chief of a confederacy of tribes in Virginia, had several daughters, none of whom was actually named Pocahontas. The nickname means "playful one" and several of Powhatan's daughters were called Pocahontas. The daughter of Powhatan who became the subject of the folktale was named Matoaka. What has been verified about Matoaka, or Pocahontas as she has come to be known, is that she did marry an Englishman and that she did spend time in England before she died there at a young age. In the spring of 1613, a young Pocahontas was captured by the English and taken to Jamestown. There she was treated with courtesy as the daughter of chief Powhatan, While Pocahontas, was at Jamestown, English gentleman John Rolfe fell in love with her and asked her to marry. Both the governor of the Jamestown colony and Pocahontas's father Powhatan approved the marriage as a means of securing peace between Powhatan's tribe and the English at Jamestown. In 1616, Pocahontas accompanied her new husband to England, where she was royally received. Shortly before her planned return to Virginia in 1617, she contracted an illness and died rather suddenly. A major part of the folktale of Pocahontas that is unverifiedconcerns her love for English Captain John Smith in the period of time before her capture by the British and her rescue of him from almost certain death. Captain John Smith was indeed at the colony of Jamestown and was acquainted with Powhatan and his daughters; he even described meeting them in a 1612 journal. However, the story of his rescue by the young maiden did not appear in his writings until 1624, well after Pocahontas had aroused widespread interest in England by her marriage to an English gentleman and her visit to England. It is this discrepancy in dates that has caused some historians to doubt the veracity of the tale. However, other historians do argue quite persuasively that this incident did truly take place.
1. The main idea of the passage is 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 :
The (1)_________ for many young people today is to communicate with others over the Internet and have a life online. The way they do this is through social networking web sites such as Facebook and Twitter. However, the people who (2)_________ their lives online are also putting themselves at risk, and they may not even understand how they are doing so. The key to limiting risk is to keep certain pieces of information private. If you do any banking online, for example, it is important to note that dates of birth are often used as a(n) (3)_________ feature by banks. They will need to know your identification number and possibly your address as well, but to (4)___________ your identity, they might ask you for your date of birth. If a criminal were to gain access to your account number at a bank, and then obtain your address from public records, the one thing that he would not have would be your birth date. These days, however, a lot of people list their dates of birth openly on Facebook (5)_________ their friends can wish them well on their birthdays. Unfortunately, doing so could end up being a recipe for disaster.

Chooose the best answer:
too/ have/ The/ a/ smart TV/ house/ will.

Choose the best answer:
Time was up, and the judges ________ the results.

Though _____, they are good friends.

(303)_______

Rewrite sentences without changing the meaning:
Stress and tiredness often leads to lack of concentration.

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
The Great Energy Debate
Modern civilization is heavily dependent on energy. Without reliable power sources, we couldn’t operate machines, use transportation, communicate via Internet, or do many other things. Although everyone recognizes the importance of energy, deciding what kind of energy the world should use in the future is not a simple task. The two leading candidates for this role are green energy and nuclear energy. Currently, most of the energy we use is derived from fossil fuels. Although this energy source has got us this far, there are several problems with it. For starters, it is a finite resource which is quickly running out. Some analysts have even estimated that the Earth could run out of coal and oil within the next 50 years. Burning fossil fuels also creates large amount of pollution, which is harmful to the environment. Although fossil fuels still provide the majority of our power, governments are seeking better energy sources to use going forward. Green energy is one option that is becoming increasingly attractive. It includes technologies such as solar, wind, and hydro power. These are seen as clean sources of energy because they cause very little pollution. In addition, they are completely renewable, so there is no danger that it will run out. The major disadvantage with green energy sources is that they are not cheap. The other alternative is nuclear power. Like green energy, it is also a renewable source of power that will not run out, and it also doesn’t produce air pollution. In addition, nuclear power is more reliable than green energy, as it doesn’t depend on sunshine, rain, or wind to operate. The major issues with nuclear power are safety concerns and nuclear waste. Nuclear power plants create a considerable amount of nuclear waste which is extremely hazardous to people’s health. If they happen to have a meltdown, this could destroy the surrounding area for years to come. The recent nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan brought this reality into the spotlight once again. In response, Germany announced it would close down eight of its nuclear plants immediately, and close the rest by 2022. Meanwhile, other nations refuse to give up on nuclear power, stating that these disasters are rare. The debate of whether to use green or nuclear power will likely continue for some time. In the end, it is quite possible that both energy sources will be used to fuel our planet.
6. What does the author think is the most likely energy solution for the future?

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Television has transformed politics in the United States by changing the way in which information is disseminated, by altering political campaigns, and by changing citizen's patterns of response to politics. By giving citizens independent access to the candidates, television diminished the role of the political party in the selection of the major party candidates. By centering politics on the person of the candidates, television accelerated the citizen's focus on character rather than issues. Television has altered the forms of political communication as well. The messages on which most of US reply are briefer than they once were. The stump speech, a political speech given by travelling politicians and lasting 1/2 to 2 hours, which characterized nineteenth-century political discourse, has given way to the 30-second advertisement and the 10 second "sound bite" in broadcast news. Increasingly the audience for speeches is not that standing in front of the politician but rather the viewing audience tvho will hear and see a snippet of the speech on the news. In these abbreviated forms, much of what constituted the traditional political discourse of earlier ages has been lost. In 15 or 30 seconds, a peaker cannot establish the historical context that shaped the issue in question, cannot detail the probable causes of the problem, and cannot examine alternative proposals to argue that one is preferable to others. In snippets, politicians assert but do not argue. Because television is an intimate medium, speaking through it require a changed political style that was more conversational, personal, and visual than that of the old-style stump speech. Reliance on television means that increasingly our political world contains memorable pictures rather than memorable words. Schools teach US to analyze words and print. However, in a word in which politics is increasingly visual, informed citizenship requires a new set of skills. Recognizing the power of television's pictures, politicians craft televisual, staged events, called pseudo-event, designed to attract media coverage. Much of the political activity we see on television news has been crafted by politicians, their speechwriters, and their public relations advisers for televised consumption. Sound bites in news and answers to questions in debates increasingly sound like advertisements.
9. The author states that "politicians assert but not argue" in order to suggest that politicians:

Choose the best answer:
Many/ people/ this area/ have/ cholera/ because/ they/ drink/ untreat/ water.

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.
                      MODERN SCIENCE
It seems entirely natural to us that there are teams of scientists in universities and (1)............. institutions around the world, attempting to discover the way the world works. (2).............. , it hasn’t always been that way. Although the scientific method is now four or five hundred years old, the ancient Greeks, for example, believed that they could (3)............ the cause of natural events just by the power of thought. During the 17th century, more and more people began to realize that they could test their scientific ideas by designing a relevant experiment and seeing what happened. A lot of (4)......... was made in this way by individual scientists. These men and women often worked alone, carrying out research into many different areas of science, and they often received very little (5).............. for their hard work. At the start of the 20th century, though, it became clear that science was becoming more complicated and more expensive. The individual scientists disappeared, to be replaced by highly qualified teams of experts. Modern science was born.
(5).........................

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.

   My family consists of four people. There's my father whose name is Jan, my mother whose name is Marie, my brother, Peter and of course, me. I have quite a large extended family as well but, only the four of us live together in our apartment in a block of flats. My father is fifty-two years old. He works as an accountant in an insurance company. He is tall and slim, has got short brown and gray hair and blue eyes. My father likes gardening very much as well as listening to music and reading books about political science. His special hobbies are bird watching and travelling.

   Now I’ll describe my mother and my brother. My mother is forty-seven and she works as a nurse in a hospital. She is small, and slim, has short brown hair and green eyes. She likes bird watching and travelling too, so whenever my parents are able to they go someplace interesting for nature watching. Since we have a cottage with a garden they both spend a lot of time there. My brother is sixteen. He is slim and has short brown hair and blue eyes. He also attends high school. He is interested in computers and sports like football and hockey. He also spends a lot of time with his friends.

   I have only one grandmother left still living. She is in pretty good health even at the age of seventyeight so she still lives in her own flat. I enjoy spending time with her when I can. Both my grandfathers died from cancer because they were smokers, which was really a great tragedy because I didn't get chance to know them. My other grandmother died just a few years ago. I also have a lot of aunts, uncles, and cousins. The cousin I’m closest to is my uncle’s daughter Pauline. We have a lot in common because we are both eighteen and so we are good friends.

   My parents have assigned me certain duties around the house. I don't mind helping out because everyone in a family should contribute in some way. I help with the washing up, the vacuuming and the shopping. Of course I also have to help keep my room tidy as well. My brother is responsible for the dusting and mopping. He also has to clean his own room. Even though my brother and I sometimes fight about who has to do what job, we are still very close. I am also very close to my parents and I can rely on them to help me. My parents work together to keep our home well maintained and it seem they always have a project or another that they are working on. They respect each other's opinions and even if they disagree they can always come to a compromise. I hope in the future that 1 have a family like ours.

The word "assigned" in the fourth paragraph mostly means...........

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions :
In Africa a famous food company tried to sell its baby food by advertising it with the picture of a baby on the label. They did not know that this particular country used labels only to (1)_________ a picture of the food inside. When Pepsico used the slogan "Come alive with Pepsi' in Taiwan, they had no idea that it would be translated into Chinese as 'Pepsi (2) ________ your ancestors back from the dead’. Misunderstandings such as these about language or about culture are sometimes comical but can also cause genuine hurt or anger. Business styles (3) ________ widely in different countries and what is normal in one culture can be completely unacceptable in another. Socialising in different countries can be tricky. In Arabic countries, for example, people do not discuss business (4) _________ meals. Giving gifts is another potential problem: in the UK most people take presents to a dinner party, but in many countries this is not polite because it (5) _________ you think the host is poor.

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:
Most journeys in Britain and the US are made by road. Some of these are made on public transport but most are by private car.
In Britain many people rely on their cars for daily local activities, e.g. getting to work, doing the shopping, and visiting friends. People living in urban areas may use buses, trains or, in London, the Underground, to get to city centres, mainly because traffic is often heavy and it is difficult to find anywhere to park a car. Some places in the country may have a bus only two or three times a week so people living there have no choice but to rely on their cars.
In the US large cities have good public transportation systems. The El railroad in Chicago and the underground systems of New York, Boston, San Francisco and Washington, DC are heavily used. Elsewhere, most Americans prefer to use their cars. Families often have two cars and, outside major cities, have to drive fairly long distances to schools, offices, shops, banks, etc. Many college and even high-school students have their own cars.
Long-distance travel in Britain is also mainly by road, though railways link most towns and cities. Most places are linked by motorways or other fast roads and many people prefer to drive at their own convenience rather than use a train, even though they may get stuck in a traffic jam. Long-distance coach/bus services are usually a cheaper alternative to trains, but they take longer and may be less comfortable. Some long-distance travel, especially that undertaken for business reasons, may be by air. There are regular flights between regional airports, as well as to and from London. A lot of freight is also distributed by road, though heavier items and raw materials often go by rail.
In the US much long-distance travel is by air. America has two main long-distance bus companies, Greyhound and Trailways. Amtrak, the national network, provides rail services for passengers. Private railway companies such as Union Pacific now carry only freight, though in fact over 70% of freight goes by road.
The main problems associated with road transport in both Britain and the US are traffic congestion and pollution. It is predicted that the number of cars on British roads will increase by a third within a few years, making both these problems worse. The British government would like more people to use public transport, but so far they have had little success in persuading people to give up their cars or to share rides with neighbours. Most people say that public transport is simply not good enough. Americans too have resisted government requests to share cars because it is less convenient and restricts their freedom. Petrol/gasoline is relatively cheap in the US and outside the major cities public transport is bad, so they see no reason to use their cars less.

It is stated in the passage that the major problems of road transport in Britain and the US are     .

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Psychology recognizes two types of research, experimental and differential. The former is concerned mainly with the overall processes governing human activities, and the latter sets out to establish individual differences in performance. More recent studies have demonstrated the need for a third type of psychological study, namely, that which has to do with human development. Rather than considering this aspect of human performances as a part of the first two types, scientists have noted that developmental research indeed belongs in a separate category in and of itself. Piaget's work would indisputably fall in the area of developmental theories that have had great impact on both experimental and differential research. When examining Piaget's studies, it is necessary to keep in mind that, while his theories have been highly influential, his methodology has been strongly criticized. The primary shortfall of his work had to do with a lack of definition and standardization in his data and experiment design.
3. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage as a type of psychology research?

Tom and Josh are discussing their summer vacation plan.

- Tom: “ _______.”

- Josh: “I don’t think that’s a good idea because it will be costly and strenuous.”

(100)______