Read the passage carefully and choose the correct answer

Every year, 100 million sharks are killed by people in commercial and recreational fishing. In the past they were killed simply for the sport of landing a good fighting fish (make sharks for instance). Sharkskin was used for making sandpaper. Other sharks are hunted for food, and some species for other products.

Sharks are a common seafood in many places around the world, including Japan and Australia. In Australia shark is the most commonly used fish. Sharks are often killed for shark fin soup, in which many sharks are hunted for their fins, which are cut off with a hot metal blade before the live animal is tossed back into the water. There have been cases where hundreds of de-finned animals were swept up on local beaches without any way to convey themselves back into the sea. Conservationists have campaigned for changes in the law to make finning illegal in the U.S.

Sharks generally reach sexual maturity slowly and produce very few offspring in comparison to other fishes that are harvested. This has caused concern among biologists regarding the increase in effort applied to catching sharks over time, and many species are considered to be threatened. Some organizations, such as the Shark Trust, campaign to limit shark fishing.

According to the text, _____.

Read the passage and choose the best option A, B or C to fill in each blank:

It might sound strange to you but these are some important rules. If you want to pass examinations, then study grammar. ____________ (26), if you want to become fluent in English, try to learn English without studying too much grammar because that will only ____________(27) you down and confuse you.

You will think about rules when creating sentences ____________ (28) than speaking naturally like a native speaker. Some native speakers do not know so many grammatical rules as non-native students.

Everyone can speak at least one language whether they are intelligent or lack some brain power. This could be achieved by being surrounded by that language at all times. You may notice that there are also some people ____________ (29) study abroad and learn very little.

That is because they go to an English speaking school, but find friends from their own country and don't practice English. Some others can speak English well ____________ (30) they live in an English speaking environment.

(27).....................

Choose the best answer: 
Jalan Hang Jebat, or (1)............ ..known as Jonker Walk, is a street in (2)..........Chinatown of Melaka starting just across the river from the Dutch Square. Jonker Walk is flanked on (3)...........sides of the road with heritage houses dating (4)........... to the 17th century. At that time, rich Baba Nonyas (also known as Perankans, descendants of 15th - 16th century Chinese immigrants marrying local Malay women) lived and (5)did  their business here. Today, the street houses many shops selling antiques, textiles, (6).............. and souvenirs (similar to what you can find at Central Market in Kuala Lumpur). On the weekends, starting Friday night at 6pm, the road is closed (7).............. to traffic and turns in a very crowded night market. The famous Chicken Rice Ball dish (8).............. also be found here, just opposite the start of Jonker Walk near the bridge.
8.

Read the passage carefully and choose the best option to answer each of the following questions below:

Every child in England between the age of five and fifteen must attend schools. There are three main types of educational institutions, primary (elementary) schools, secondary schools, and universities

Like most countries in the world, there are two types of schools in England, independent schools (fee-paying schools) and state schools in which students do not have to pay tuition fees. In both types, attendance is compulsory. Morning classes begin at nine o’clock and last until half past four in the afternoon. After classes, most English children often stay at school and take part in extracurricular activities like sports, singing and dancing. Schools are open five days a week. On Saturdays and Sundays there are no lessons. There are holidays at Christmas, Easter and in summer. In London as in all cities there are two grades of schools for those who will go to work at fifteen: primary schools for boys and girls between the ages of five and eleven, and secondary schools for children from eleven to fifteen.

Besides such compulsory lessons as reading, writing, the English language, English literature, English history, geography, science, and nature study, children in England can take many optional subjects like drawing, painting, singing, or woodwork to develop their aptitudes.

The word "optional" in paragraph 3 is CLOSEST in meaning to _________.

Choose the letter A, B, C or D to answer these following questions

Finding Innovative Applications of Technology

While technology, in and of itself, does not always spur innovation in the classroom, there are countless innovative ways to use technology to better teach and engage students. Here are some examples:

Robots in the Classroom – South Korean schools have experimented with robot teachers. This makes lessons more interesting and entertaining for kids and enables teachers from anywhere in the world to be “present” in the classroom.

Mobile Technology – Smartphones and other mobile devices are increasingly used in education. Mobile apps let teachers conduct digital polls, enhance verbal and presentation skills, and incorporate technological skills with core competency lessons.

3D Learning – Kids enjoy 3D games and movies, so why not use this technology to help them learn? GEMS Modern Academy in Dubai does just this, providing students with a 3D lab that offers interactive multimedia presentations.

Assisting Special Needs Students – Assistive technology is especially useful for students with learning disabilities. For example, phonetic spelling software helps dyslexic students and others with reading problems to convert words to the correct spelling.

What are the advantages of robot instructors

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

In many Western countries, people (19)________ Halloween on October 31st. The word Halloween (20)_________ from “All Hallows’ Eve”. It is the night before All Saints’ Day, a religious holiday in some parts of the world. On this night, children dress up in special costumes, put (21)___________ masks, and go door to door saying “trick-or-treat” to get candy. Many people decorate their homes with paper ghosts, black cats, or witches to give their houses a (22) ______ look. People also decorate their homes with jack-o-lanterns. They carve scary faces on pumpkins, and (23)______ candles inside the pumpkins. In some places, both children and adults can make (24)_____ of haunted houses. They all seem very excited about the festival.

21____________

Read the passage below and choose the best answer for each question. 
People have been playing with marbles for thousands of years. The first marbles were probably either river stones that happened to be naturally round enough to roll or, more likely, rounded globs of clay that were baked hardness. Such very old clay marbles have been found in both Greek and Roman ruins, and quartz spheres have been dated at around 6000 B.C. Harder and more durable marbles tend to inspire different kinds of games than soft clay marbles, which crack very easily. So with the advent of hand-rounded and polished marbles made of agate or some other rugged, igneous rock, the ‘golden age’ of marbles and marble play flowered. Stone marbles began to appear in the early 1800s in what is now the southern part of Germany. Shortly after, handmade glass marbles appeared in the same part of Europe. For the next 120 years, marbles and marble playing-there were hundred of games – flourished in both Europe and America. Marble players developed their vocabulary for different sizes and materials of marbles, as well as for the many kinds of games to be played and the way marbles were used in the games. For example, if you were going to play a game of Ring-Taw, one of the most popular and enduring marbles games, you would lag for the first shot, and then knuckle down from the balk, trying your best to get a mib or two with your opponent’s immie.

It can be inferred from the passage that the use of marbles became very popular in Europe and America ________ .

Read the passage and choose the correct answer to each question: 

Europa is the smallest of planet Jupiter’s four largest moons and the second moon out from Jupiter. Until 1979, it was just another astronomy textbook statistic. Then came the close-up images obtained by the exploratory spacecraft Voyager 2, and within days, Europa was transformed into one of the solar system’s most intriguing worlds. The biggest initial surprise was the almost total lack of detail, especially from far away. Even at close range, the only visible features are thin, kinked brown lines resembling cracks in an eggshell. And this analogy is not far off the mark.

The surface of Europa is almost pure water ice, but a nearly complete absence of craters indicates that Europa’s surface ice resembles Earth’s Antarctic ice cap. The eggshell analogy may be quite accurate since the ice could be as little as a few kilometers thick – a true shell around what is likely a subsurface liquid ocean that, in turn, encases a rocky core. The interior of Europa has been kept warm over the eons by tidal forces generated by the varying gravitational tugs of the other big moons as they wheel around Jupiter. The tides on Europa pull and relax in an endless cycle. The resulting internal heat keeps what would otherwise be ice melted almost to the surface. The crack-like marks on Europa’s icy face appear to fracture where water or slush oozes from below.

Soon after Voyager 2’s encounter with Jupiter in 1979, when the best images of Europa were obtained, researchers advanced the startling idea that Europa’s subsurface ocean might harbor life. Life processes could have begun when Jupiter was releasing a vast store of internal heat. Jupiter’s early heat was produced by the compression of the material forming the giant planet. Just as the Sun is far less radiant today than the primal Sun, so the internal heat generated by Jupiter is minor compared to its former intensity. During this warm phase, some 4.6 billion years ago, Europa’s ocean may have been liquid right to the surface, making it a crucible for life.

The word “they” in the second paragraph refers to ______.

Choose the word or phrase (a, b, c or d) that best fits the blank space in the following passage.

A 9.0 – 9.1 magnitude (31)_______ followed by a tsunami hit the east coast of Japan on March 11, 2011. With an underwater depth of 29 km, this was the largest earthquake to ever (32)_______ Japan in recorded history. Documented as the 4th most powerful earthquake in the world, it was (33)_________ for the death of 15,894 people with 6,152 injured and 2,562 people (34)________ . It also affected 20 prefectures, with over 127,000 buildings (35)________ destroyed and over 272,000 buildings “half collapsed”. The earthquake also caused a near nuclear (36)___________ when there was a partial meltdown in 3 (37)__________ of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, (38)____ is the 2nd largest nuclear disaster after Chernobyl.

37____________

Read the passage and choose the correct answer to each question: 

Europa is the smallest of planet Jupiter’s four largest moons and the second moon out from Jupiter. Until 1979, it was just another astronomy textbook statistic. Then came the close-up images obtained by the exploratory spacecraft Voyager 2, and within days, Europa was transformed into one of the solar system’s most intriguing worlds. The biggest initial surprise was the almost total lack of detail, especially from far away. Even at close range, the only visible features are thin, kinked brown lines resembling cracks in an eggshell. And this analogy is not far off the mark.

The surface of Europa is almost pure water ice, but a nearly complete absence of craters indicates that Europa’s surface ice resembles Earth’s Antarctic ice cap. The eggshell analogy may be quite accurate since the ice could be as little as a few kilometers thick – a true shell around what is likely a subsurface liquid ocean that, in turn, encases a rocky core. The interior of Europa has been kept warm over the eons by tidal forces generated by the varying gravitational tugs of the other big moons as they wheel around Jupiter. The tides on Europa pull and relax in an endless cycle. The resulting internal heat keeps what would otherwise be ice melted almost to the surface. The crack-like marks on Europa’s icy face appear to fracture where water or slush oozes from below.

Soon after Voyager 2’s encounter with Jupiter in 1979, when the best images of Europa were obtained, researchers advanced the startling idea that Europa’s subsurface ocean might harbor life. Life processes could have begun when Jupiter was releasing a vast store of internal heat. Jupiter’s early heat was produced by the compression of the material forming the giant planet. Just as the Sun is far less radiant today than the primal Sun, so the internal heat generated by Jupiter is minor compared to its former intensity. During this warm phase, some 4.6 billion years ago, Europa’s ocean may have been liquid right to the surface, making it a crucible for life.

The word “radiant” in the last paragraph is closest in meaning to______.

Choose the letter A, B, C or D to complete the sentences

What should we do ____________ biodiversity?

The reading is followed by several questions about it. There are four possible answers (A, B, C, or D) for each question. Choose the best answer. 

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

Few people can embody the spirit of early America as much as Benjamin Franklin. He lived through almost the whole of the eighteenth century, being born six years after, and dying ten years before it ended. In this time he saw the American colonies grow from tiny settlements into a nation, and he also contributed much to the development of the new state.

At the age of 17, Franklin ran away to Philadelphia. He had already received some training as a printer’s apprentice, and this helped him seven years later, with his first publication, the Pennsylvania Gazette. He also received a contract to do government printing work, which helped him to rise from his poor background to become a successful entrepreneur. Some of his experience in business was shared in his famous Poor Richard’s Almanak. which established his reputation throughout the American colonies. In another of his works, the Autobiography, which was written toward the end of his life, he shows the same quiet common sense.

He was deeply interested in science and natural history, and his experiments with electricity and lightning led directly to the invention of the lightning rod. He was also interested in improving the conditions of his fellow men. He was involved in a number of projects in his native Philadelphia, including the setting up of a library, a university, a philosophical society, and because he was a pragmatic man-a fire prevention service. In 1753 he became Postmaster-General of the colonies. Through this experience, he began to develop the idea that the colonies of North America should be a single nation. Later, he went to London to try to persuade the British government to change the conditions, especially the taxes, that later led the American colonists into rebellion.

Whatever Benjamin Franklin’s personal feelings about the rebellion of the American states, he worked hard to make it succeed. As ambassador to France, he encouraged the French to help George Washington. After the war, he attended the American constitutional congress. This was his last contribution, for he died later that year. He is still fondly remembered by Americans as one of the creators of the United States.

Which of these happened first?

Read the passage and choose the correct answer to each question: 

Europa is the smallest of planet Jupiter’s four largest moons and the second moon out from Jupiter. Until 1979, it was just another astronomy textbook statistic. Then came the close-up images obtained by the exploratory spacecraft Voyager 2, and within days, Europa was transformed into one of the solar system’s most intriguing worlds. The biggest initial surprise was the almost total lack of detail, especially from far away. Even at close range, the only visible features are thin, kinked brown lines resembling cracks in an eggshell. And this analogy is not far off the mark.

The surface of Europa is almost pure water ice, but a nearly complete absence of craters indicates that Europa’s surface ice resembles Earth’s Antarctic ice cap. The eggshell analogy may be quite accurate since the ice could be as little as a few kilometers thick – a true shell around what is likely a subsurface liquid ocean that, in turn, encases a rocky core. The interior of Europa has been kept warm over the eons by tidal forces generated by the varying gravitational tugs of the other big moons as they wheel around Jupiter. The tides on Europa pull and relax in an endless cycle. The resulting internal heat keeps what would otherwise be ice melted almost to the surface. The crack-like marks on Europa’s icy face appear to fracture where water or slush oozes from below.

Soon after Voyager 2’s encounter with Jupiter in 1979, when the best images of Europa were obtained, researchers advanced the startling idea that Europa’s subsurface ocean might harbor life. Life processes could have begun when Jupiter was releasing a vast store of internal heat. Jupiter’s early heat was produced by the compression of the material forming the giant planet. Just as the Sun is far less radiant today than the primal Sun, so the internal heat generated by Jupiter is minor compared to its former intensity. During this warm phase, some 4.6 billion years ago, Europa’s ocean may have been liquid right to the surface, making it a crucible for life.

The word “transformed” in the first paragraph is closest in meaning to _______.

Read the following passage carefully, and then select the best option A, B, C or D to complete it:

"Approximately one-third of the Arctic (1) _______ is underlain by continental shelf, (2) _______ includes a broad shelf north of Eurasia and the narrower shelves of North America and Greenland. Seaward of the continental shelves (3) _______ the Arctic Basin proper, which is subdivided (4) _______ a set of three parallel ridges and four basins (also (5) _______ as deeps). These features were discovered and explored (6) _______ in the late 1940s. The Lomonosov Ridge, the major ridge, cuts the Arctic Basin (7) _______ in half, extending as a submarine bridge 1,800 km (1,100 mi) (8) _______ Siberia to the northwestern tip of Greenland. Parallel (9) _______ it are two shorter ridges: the Alpha Ridge on the North American (10) _______, defining the Canada and Makarov basins, (11) _______ the Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge on the Eurasian side, (12) _______ the Nansen and Amundsen basins. The average (13) _______ of the Arctic Ocean is only 1,300 m (4,300 ft) (14) _______ the vast shallow expanses on the continental shelves. The deepest (15) _______ in the Arctic Ocean is 5,450 m (17,880 ft)."

15. The deepest (15) _______ in the Arctic Ocean is 5,450 m (17,880 ft).

Read the passage below carefully and choose the best option A, B, C or D:

On average, more than 100,000 wildfires, also called wildland fires or forest fires, destroy two million hectares of land in the U.S every year. A wildfire moves at speeds of about 20 kilometers an hour and can last for weeks, consuming everything - trees, brush, homes, and humans – in its path.

There are three conditions for a wildfire. Oxygen is necessary for a fire to burn. Heat sources help start the wildfire. Although most wildfires are started by people, natural factors like lightning, hot winds, and even the sun can all provide enough heat to start a wildfire.

Firefighters fight wildfires by removing the conditions a wildfire to burn. Traditional methods include using water an fire retardants to put out the fires. Firefighters also fight wildfires with "controlled burning". These controlled forest fires remove small trees, bushes, and ground litter from a forest. This will deprive a wildfire of fuel and prevent future forest fires.

Although often harmful and destructive to humans, wildfires play an important role in nature. Even healthy forests contain dead trees and decaying plant matter. When a fire turns them to ashes, nutrients return to the soil. They also remove sick plants and harmful insects from a forest. And by burning through thick leaves and branches, wildfires allow sunlight to reach to forest floor, making it possible for a new generation of trees to grow.

According to the last paragraph, why do wildfires play an important role in nature?

Read the passage carefully and choose the best option to answer each of the following questions below:

Every child in England between the age of five and fifteen must attend schools. There are three main types of educational institutions, primary (elementary) schools, secondary schools, and universities

Like most countries in the world, there are two types of schools in England, independent schools (fee-paying schools) and state schools in which students do not have to pay tuition fees. In both types, attendance is compulsory. Morning classes begin at nine o’clock and last until half past four in the afternoon. After classes, most English children often stay at school and take part in extracurricular activities like sports, singing and dancing. Schools are open five days a week. On Saturdays and Sundays there are no lessons. There are holidays at Christmas, Easter and in summer. In London as in all cities there are two grades of schools for those who will go to work at fifteen: primary schools for boys and girls between the ages of five and eleven, and secondary schools for children from eleven to fifteen.

Besides such compulsory lessons as reading, writing, the English language, English literature, English history, geography, science, and nature study, children in England can take many optional subjects like drawing, painting, singing, or woodwork to develop their aptitudes.

Which types of schools do 14-year-old children often attend?

Read the passage below carefully and choose the best option A, B, C or D.

The La Tomatina is a festival held on a Wednesday towards the end of August in the town of Bunol in the Valenela region in Spain. The weeklong festival includes music, parades, dancing, and fireworks.

About 30,000 people come to the tomato fight, while Bunol's population is only 9,000. There are not many accommodations for people who come to La Tomatina, so many participans stay in Valencia and travel by bus or train to Bunol, about 38km outside the city.

Many trucks transport tomatoes into the center of the town, Plaza del Pueblo. The tomatoes come from Extremadura, where they are less expensive. The signal for the beginning of the fight is firing of the cannon, and the chaos begins. Once it begins, the battle is generally every man for himself. People who partake in this event are strongly encouranged to wear protective safety goggles and gloves. In addition, they must squash the tomatoes before throwing for safety precautions. Another rule is that no one is allowed to bring into this fight anything that may lead to a more serious fight, such as a glass bottle. People must also stay away from trucks and must not tear someone else's clothing. Somewhere between an hour and two hours, the fighting ends and the cannon is fired once more to signal the end. At this point nomore tomatoes can be thrown. The cleaning process involves the use of fire trucks to spray down the streets, with water provided from a Roman waterway. People find water to wash themselves, most likely at the Bunol River.

What does the word "they" in the third paragraph refer to?

Choose the word or phrase that best fits each space in the following passage.

     In child development, there is an important phenomenon that shows very clearly the process of preparation for the future: play. (1)____________ to popular belief, its importance should never be underestimated. Games are not the haphazard creations of parents or educators. They should be seen as educational (2)___________and as stimuli for the child’s (3)___________ , imagination and life skills. Every game is a preparation for the future. The manner in which children (4)____________ a game, their choice of game and the importance they (5) ___________ upon it, show their attitude and relationship to their environment and how they relate to their (6)_______ human beings. Whether they are hostile or whether they are friendly, and particularly whether they show qualities as leaders, are clearly (7)____________ in their play. In observing children at play we can see their whole attitude towards life; play is of the (8) _______importance to every child. 

But play is more than preparation for life. Games are (9)__________ communal exercises that enable children to develop their social feeling. Children who avoid games and play are always (10)__________ to the suspicion that they have not (11)______ satisfactorily to life. These children gladly withdraw from all games, or when they are sent to the playground with other children usually (12)____________ the pleasure of others. Pride, lack of (13)__________ and the consequent fear of ‘getting it wrong’ are the main reasons for this behavior. In general, by watching children at play, we can determine (14)__________ great certainty the (15)__________ and quality of their social feeling.

13__________

Choose the word or phrase (a, b, c or d) that best fits the blank space in the following passage.

About twenty percent of the world’s present (31)_______ already comes from the sun in one form or another. Special devices have already been made available to put on the roof of houses and flats to (32)______ the sun’s rays and thus heat water. Thousands of these devices are now being used to provide (33)________ in homes throughout the United States while more than a million solar water-heating units have already been (34)____ in homes in Japan. Other purposes for (35)_____ solar energy is at present being used include the separation of salt (36)___________ seawater, irrigation, and sewage disposal. For most people in developing countries, the (37)___________ is not for air conditioners or central heating (38)________ for cheap ways of cooking food, drying crops and lighting homes.

36____________

Choose the letter A, B, C or D to answer these following questions

Finding Innovative Applications of Technology

While technology, in and of itself, does not always spur innovation in the classroom, there are countless innovative ways to use technology to better teach and engage students. Here are some examples:

Robots in the Classroom – South Korean schools have experimented with robot teachers. This makes lessons more interesting and entertaining for kids and enables teachers from anywhere in the world to be “present” in the classroom.

Mobile Technology – Smartphones and other mobile devices are increasingly used in education. Mobile apps let teachers conduct digital polls, enhance verbal and presentation skills, and incorporate technological skills with core competency lessons.

3D Learning – Kids enjoy 3D games and movies, so why not use this technology to help them learn? GEMS Modern Academy in Dubai does just this, providing students with a 3D lab that offers interactive multimedia presentations.

Assisting Special Needs Students – Assistive technology is especially useful for students with learning disabilities. For example, phonetic spelling software helps dyslexic students and others with reading problems to convert words to the correct spelling.

 Are there robot teachers in South Korea?

Read the passage and choose the correct the correct answer A, B, C or D:

When Jane left school at the age of sixteen , her aunt Flory gave her $500 for her birthday . Most of Jane's friends decided to go to college , but Jane used her aunt's money to start her own business . She bought fruit , sugar and some glass jars and began making her own jam . She sold the jam to her friends for $1 a jar and she soon double her aunt's $500 .

At first , her parents didn't want Jane to spend her time making jam and the thought that she should study instead . The hoped that one day she would be a teacher or a doctor . But Jane didn't listen to them . She just kept on making jam . After a few months , she started selling it to the local market . Then she started making orange juice . She sold this to a school where one of her friends worked .

After 2 years , her business was very large and her parents were very pleased with her . She made all kinds of food which she sold to shops and supermarkets . She was so busy that she had to get some people to work for her.

What did Jane’s parents want her to do after leaving school?