Reading the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks from 23 to 27.

Recently, a study in the USA showed that 75% of high school students (23)___________ in tests and exams. If we include copying homework, the number is 90 %. Many students don’t even realize that (24)__________ they’re doing is wrong. They think that cheating is OK now because it’s common. In the past, weaker students cheated but now cheats are often clever kids who need higher grades. There is more competition today. One high school student says, “There’s big (25)_________ to get into a good university. You have to get good marks, and to get good marks some teens think they have to cheat.” In the American study, 50% of teens agreed with the opinion “ People sometimes have to lie and cheat to succeed.” It seems that cheating has become normal for some people. There are a lot of cheats. We see more and more cheats in sport and business. Unfortunately, adults don’t always set a good example. Cheating is easier with new technology. There are websites where you can download exams and essays. You can pay people online to write an essay for you. Students are instant messaging homework answers and they can send text messages to friends (26)__________ exams or put answers into their MP3 players. Teachers can (27)_________ cell phones and cameras and use special software to detect copying in homework. School principles can suspend or expel students who cheat. But it’s more important for people to know that they don’t have to cheat to be successful – cheats never win and winners never cheat.

Question 25______________

Choose the best option for each numbered blank.

All five senses are important to us, but the two most important senses are (51)_____ the sense of sight and the sense of hearing. Blind and deaf people must(52)_____ life difficult because they are unable to do (53)______ that the rest of us can do naturally. People who (54)______ their sense of taste can not enjoy food as (55)_____ as they used to, whilst (56)______ who have no sense of smell can not realize, for example, when gas is (57)_______ or when food has gone (58)________.In addition to our physical senses, (59)______ is a great help in life to have a sense of humor, especially when things go wrong, and to have (60)_______ sense, something which can not be learned from books.

59__________

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

What is the cause of chronic fatigue syndrome? Past research has suggested a link to the Epstein-Barr virus, but now many scientists are questioning that connection. New findings suggest that the Epstein-Barr virus is not a primary cause, but it may still trigger the illness. The symptoms may be due to a variety of things, rather than just one. Still, some researchers are sticking with the idea of the Epstein-Barr virus causing the illness. They say that it is premature to make such a judgment.
Chronic fatigue syndrome has been dubbed the “yuppie disease” by some since it is often diagnosed in professional women in their twenties and thirties. It may be the result of never recovering completely from illnesses such as the flu. Though the cause is not clear, the symptoms are. To be a fatigue sufferer, one must have the debilitating illness for more than six months and must exhibit at least eight of the eleven symptoms, including sore throat, mild fever, and muscular aches.

According to the passage, a sufferer of chronic fatigue syndrome________.

A UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) is any object flying in the sky which cannot be identified by the person who sees it. Sometimes the object is investigated. If people can still not figure out what the object is after an investigation, it is called a UFO. If they figure out what the object is, it can no longer be called a UFO because it has been identified.

Even though UFOs can be anything, people often use the word UFO when they are talking about alien spacecraft. Flying saucer is another word that is often used to describe an unidentified flying object.

Studies estimate that 50%-90% of all reported UFO sightings are identified later. Usually 10%-20% are never identified. Studies also show that very few UFO sightings are hoaxes (people trying to trick other people). Most UFOs are actually natural or man-made objects that looked strange. 80%-90% UFOs are identified as one of three different things: astronomical causes (for example: planets, stars, or meteors); aircraft; balloons 10%-20% of UFOs are other causes (such as birds, clouds, mirages, searchlights, etc.)

Which of the following sentences is NOT true?

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

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

Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for this passage?

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

A gold rush is the rapid relocation of large numbers of people to an area where gold has been discovered. Gold rushes capture the imagination and participation of many people because of the magical lure of gold and the potential for overnight affluence. The greatest gold rush in the United States history was the California Gold Rush of 1849.

The rush first began in 1848 when a carpenter named James Marshall discovered gold on the property of John A. Stutter in the Sacramento Valley. Hired to build a sawmill on the banks of the American River, Marshall had hardly begun work when he started finding nugget after nugget of gold. News of the discovery at Stutter’s mill spread quickly, and soon thousands of persons were laying claims in the area. These people, called “forty-niners”, rushed in from all over the world. In just two years, the population of California increased from about 26,000 to 380,000. Consequently, California was officially admitted to the union as a state, in September of 1850. The free-spending style of the successful miners helped to turn communities such as Sacramento and San Francisco into prosperous towns. Those who were not so lucky became farmers and ranchers in the Central Valley of California.

What could be the best title for this passage?

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:

Upon the creation of the United States, one of the core concepts on which the hopes for the new democracy were pinned was the idea that its citizens would be enlightened individuals with clearly articulated rights and the opportunity for individual achievement and education. It was believed that in a free nation where the power belongs to the people, the commitment to education defines the progress of that democracy and is the catalyst for future progress. This core value has not only stood the test of time but has also grown in importance.

In this new Information Era and international economy, education is an increasingly vital commodity, a precursor of potential success, and a driving force of change. It is important to recognize, however, that we approach education today differently than in the past, partly because the kinds of jobs people had didn’t require the kind of basic education and specialized training that is often required in the workforce today. In the 1950s, for instance, only 20 percent of American jobs were classified as professional, 20 percent as skilled; and 60 percent as unskilled. Today, our world has changed. The proportion of unskilled jobs has fallen to 20 percent, while jobs now account for at least 60 percent of the workforce. Even more important, almost every job today increasingly requires a combination of academic knowledge and practical skills that require learning throughout a lifetime.

Which of the following titles would be best for the passage?

Read the text then choose the best option to answer the question

Long ago a lot of people thought the moon was God. Other people thought it was just a light in the sky. And others thought it was a big ball cheese!

The telescopes were made. And men saw that the moon was really another world. They wondered what it was like. They dreamed of going there.

On July 20th, 1969, that dream came true. Two American men landed on the moon. Their names were Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin. The first thing the men found was that the moon is covered with dust. The dust is so thick that the men left footprints where they walked. Those were the first marks a living thing had ever made on the moon. And they could stay there for years and years. There is no wind or rain to wipe them off.

The two men walked on the moo for hours. They picked up rocks to bring back to earth for study. They dug up dirt to bring back. They set up machines to find out things people wanted to know. Then they climbed back into their moon landing craft.
Next day the landing craft roared as the men took off the moon. They joined Michael Collins in the spaceship that wait for them above the moon. Then they were off on their long trip back to earth.
Behind them they left the plains and tall mountains of the moon. They left the machines they had set up.
And they left footprints that may last forever.

The Americans’ machines will most likely stay on the moon until …………

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

City people are always busy. They are always in a hurry. That is why they like supermarkets. You can buy things quickly and easily in a supermarket. If you want something, you just put it in your basket. You do not ask “How much does this cost?” The price of everything is on the cans and packets.

A supermarket is_______.

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

How many times have you used electricity today? Here are a few of the electrical appliances you may have switched on: the light, the radio, the stove, the toaster, the refrigerator, the television, the washing machine.

For all these wonderful things and many more, you owe a "thank you" to an English scientist named Michael Faraday, who is known as the Pioneer of the Electrical Age.

Of course, Faraday was not the first to discover electricity. The early Greeks learned they could get electrical spark by rubbing a piece of amber from certain pine trees. The Greek name for amber was ‘electron’, from which we get the word ‘electricity.

In 1752 the American inventor Benjamin Franklin performed his famous kite­flying experiment and discovered that lightning is electricity.

In 1800 an Italian scientist named Volta invented the first electric battery, which produced a continuous flow of electricity.

But the man who put electricity to work was Michael Faraday. He showed the world how to make electricity run a motor. Then he showed us how to make a motor produce electricity. His experiments were the beginning of the Electrical Age.

The best title for this passage is_____.

Choose the word A, B, C, or D for each gap to complete the following passage.

The most extraordinary dream I ever (31)_______ was one in which I fancied that, as I was going into a theater, the cloak-room attendant stopped me in the lobby and insisted on my (32)________ my legs behind. I was not surprised, but I was considerably annoyed. I said I had never heard of such a rule at any respectable theater (33)______, and that I considered it a most absurd regulation. The man replied that he was very (34)_______, but that those were his instructions. People complained that they could not get to and from their (35)_____comfortably because other people’s legs were always in the way; and it had, therefore, been decided that (36)______ should leave their legs outside. It seemed to me that the management, in making this order, had gone (37)________ their legal right; and, under ordinary circumstances, I should have disputed it. However, I didn’t want to (38)______ a disturbance; and so I sat down and meekly prepared to comply with the demand. I had never before (39)_________ that the human leg could be unscrewed. I had always thought it was more securely fixed. But the man showed me how to undo them, and I found that they came off quite easily. The discovery did not surprise (40)____________ any more than the original request that I should take them off. Nothing does surprise one in a dream.

37______________

Read the following passage and choose the correct answer for each question.

Atmospheric pressure can support a column of water up to 10 meters high. But plants can move water much higher, the sequoia tree can pump water to its very top, more than 100 meters above the ground. Until the end of the nineteenth century, the movement of water in trees and other tall plants was a mystery. Some botanists hypothesized that the living cells of plants in which all the cells are killed can still move water to appreciable heights. Other explanations for the movement of water in plants have been based on root pressure, a push on the water from the roots at the bottom of the plant. But root pressure is not nearly great enough to push water to the tops of tall trees. Furthermore, the conifers, which are among the tallest trees, have unusually low root pressures.

If water is not pumped to the top of a tall tree, and if it is not pushed to the top of a tall tree, then we may ask: “How does it get there?” According to the currently accepted cohesion-tension theory, water is pulled there. The pull on a rising column of water in a plant results from the evaporation of water at the top of the plant. As water is lost from the surface of the leaves, a negative pressure, or tension, is created. The evaporated water is replaced by water moving from inside the plant in unbroken columns that extend from the top of a plant to its roots. The same forces that create surface tension in any sample of water are responsible for the maintenance of these unbroken columns of water. When water is confined in tubes of a very small bore, the forces of cohesion (the attraction between water molecules) are so great that the strength of a column of water compares with the strength of a steel wire of the same diameter. This cohesive strength permits columns of water to be pulled to great heights without being broken.

What causes the tension that draws water up a plant?

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

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

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

45_____________

Read the following passage and choose the item (A, B, C, or D) that best answers each of the questions about it

A shuttle is a vehicle that travels back and forth frequently. A space shuttle is a vehicle that travels into space and back again. It can be used again and again. On April 12, 1981, the United States launched the first space shuttle, Columbia. At 7.00 a.m., the engines were fired. The booster rockets and the Space Shuttle lifted off into the air. Two minutes later, the booster rockets and the Space Shuttle separated. Parachutes took the rockets safely down into the Pacific Ocean, where ships were waiting to pick them up. Columbia continued to climb on an orbit of 170 miles above the earth. The Space Shuttle circled the earth 36 times. During this time, the astronauts tested the equipment on the Shuttle. They also opened and closed the large cargo doors. Two days later, they fired the Shuttles engines. This slowed down the Shuttle. John Young, a top pilot, took the controls of Columbia. He entered the earth’s atmosphere and headed toward California. Then he made a perfect landing at Edwards Air Force base.

Since then, Columbia has traveled into space more than seven times. The second Shuttle, Challenger, is also operating. “NASA” is building two more space Shuttles. It is planning over 60 more Shuttle flights. Some will launch Satellites through the cargo doors. Some will try to manufacture drugs and chemicals in space. One will carry a large telescope into orbit which will send pictures back to earth. It is possible that some day in the future, Space Shuttles will carry passengers to the moon.

The word “them” in the second paragraph refers to ____.

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

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

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

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

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks from 23 to 27.

After a tour in Cu Chi, we are moving to Mot Thoang Vietnam craft village (23) ___________ at Phu Binh Village, Ho Chi Minh City. Arriving at Mot Thoang Vietnam, we observe on-the-spot (24) ___________ craft persons weave tho cam (ethnic brocade fiber), (25) ___________ wooden logs into wonders and weave rattan into home appliances. Mot Thoang Vietnam can (26) ___________ your need to know what many of Vietnam’s traditional craft villages are like. The quarter of craft villages at Mot Thoang Vietnam is quiet, but not boring (27) ___________ craft persons chat amidst the clacking sound of wooden cudgels hitting a chisel caused by a sculptor or a loom used for weaving cloth.

Question 25_____________

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

38____________

Choose the correct word A, B or C for each gap to complete the following passage.

Yesterday, Carlos went (1) ……………… La Tomatina. The festival is held on were the last Wednesday of August every year in Būnol, Spain. (2) ……………… were thousands of people there. In the morning, many people tried (3) ……………… up the pole to get the ham. At 11 a.m, they (4) ……………… a jet from the water cannons and the chaos began. Bags of tomatoes from trucks were (5) ……………… to the crowds, and they began throwing tomatoes at one another.

(2) ……………… were thousands of people there.

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

The invention of the phonograph happened quite a by accident. Thomas Edison moved to Menlo Park, New Jersey, in 1876, where he established an industrial research laboratory. There Edison worked on a carbon telephone transmitter to improve the existing Bell system. In that laboratory a year later Edison invented the phonograph while trying to improve a telegraph repeater. He attached a telephone diaphragm to the needle in the telegraph repeater to produce a recording that could be played back. After some improvements to the machine, he recited “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and played the recognizable reproduction of his voice back to an astonished audience.

Which of the following could be the best title for the passage?

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

There are some unattended level crossings, with gates which road-users have to open themselves, ‘Stop’ signs, and small red and green lights. Do not cross when the red light is showing, as a train is coming. There is a special railway telephone, and if you are driving a very large or slow-moving vehicle, or are on foot with animals you must first telephone the nearest station to make sure it is safe for you to cross. Open both gates before you cross and close them after you. When you have crossed, telephone the station to let them know you are over.

Some other unattended level crossings have gates but have no red lights. At such crossings, stop, look both ways, listen and make sure there is no train coming. If there is a special railway telephone, first telephone to make sure it is safe for you to cross. Before you cross with a vehicle or with animals, open the gates on both sides wide, and then check once again that no train is coming. Drive your vehicle or animals right across and well clear of the crossing and then close both gates.

At a crossing with gates you open yourself, you are told to telephone the station if_______.

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

To accomplish a three-dimensional or 3D effect in a movie, two steps are necessary. First, the movie needs to be in a shot a special way. Then, the movie needs to be viewed in a special way.

To shoot a 3D movie, it is necessary to use two cameras at the same time. This is different from a regular movie, which is shot with only one camera. The two cameras are placed next to each other. The placement of the cameras imitates how two eyes each see one scene from a different perspective. The same picture is shot by each of the cameras at the same time, but each of the cameras films the scene from a different angle because of the position of the cameras.

When you go to the theater to view a 3D, you must wear special glasses to get the three-dimensional effect. [45A] Both pieces of film are projected simultaneously; when the pieces of film are projected at the same time, the special glasses then force each of your two eyes to see the film in a different way. [45B] Your left eye sees the film shot with the left camera, and your right eye sees the film shot with the right camera. [45C] If you try to watch the movie without the special glasses, it will seem like you have double vision. [45D]

Look at the word “perspective” in paragraph 2. This word could best be replaced by________ .