The USA has seen a steady stream of immigrants (i) ______  into their country over the past few centuries. While in the beginning, most immigrants came from Ireland or Germany, current immigrants originates mostly from Central America and less developed South East Asian territories. (ii) ______  , the country that has supplied the largest number of immigrants to the US is Mexico, with over 8,500,000 people moving into their new country in 2004 alone. The figure is expected to rise by almost a quarter in 2010. China and India place second and third, (iii) ______  contributing a whopping 1,600,000 and 1,250,000 respectively (iv) ______  the United States’ population growth, and (v) ______   current uncommonly large trends continue, it is estimated that 3,000,000 people from both countries will immigrate to the USA over the next five years.

(iv)_____

When (i) _______ people think of sports, the first ones that come to mind are probably football – both American and European soccer – and basketball, hockey, tennis, and baseball. But that knights in shining armour who rode horses and carried sharp swords and lances in their hands to knock (ii) _______ knights off their horses, created the new sport of jousting. The idea of jousting dates back to really times before the 1100s and had its origins in France where jousting was not really a sport. Instead, it was really more of an occupation since jousting tournaments were really warring tournaments held between the families of nobility for the purpose of gaining notoriety and monetary wealth. As jousting became more of a sport, a code of “fair play” was enacted and chivalry entered (iii)  _______  the picture as well as the ideas conveyed in the talcs of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. In addition to the Inaugural code of ethics, the concepts of fair maidens and brave knights continues to (iv) _______  an important role in jousting. And even to this (v) _______ day, the idea of chivalry has an impact on the pageantry and activities of jousting tournaments.

(i)____

Development economics is the branch of economics that focuses (i)  _______  the special economic problems faced by poor and undeveloped countries. (ii) _______ classical economics, development economics studies the social and political factors that affect economic growth. It (iii) _______  the problem of Third World debt and the role of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in continuing that debt with strict repayment rules. Scholars in the field have proposed that the best long­term solution is to excuse much of the debt. Debtor nations also must be helped to establish (iv) _______ governments and self-sustaining economics. The goal is to help them become trading partners with creditor nations. An important means to that end is to encourage the growth of a strong middle class. Some ways to do that (v) _______ guaranteeing education for all, allowing free trade, and providing medical care. Governments must allow for elected representatives and independent court systems.

(ii)_____

Electric charges never stand (i) _______ , but flow from one point to another. This flow is called an electric current and is measured in ampere. Many modern electronic devices (ii) _______ use of electric currents in order to transport electric energy. In nature, there is also (iii) _______ stored electricity, which comes out and is released through lightning during a storm. Men have stored electric energy in huge power stations, (iv) _______ then transmit or send electricity to customers by (v) _______ wires. The electric energy used by customers is measured in watts.

(iv)_____

The professor (i) _______ the ancient symbol in the course of researeh for a visual history of the 20th century, to be published by the Trecca in Encyclopedia. The first (ii) _______ instance of its use, he says, occurred in a letter written by a Florentine merchant on May 4th, 1536. He says the sign made its (iii) ________  along trade routes to northern Europe, where it came to represent “at the price of” – its contemporary accountancy (iv) _______  . Professor Stabile believes that Italian banks may possess even earlier documents (v) _______ the symbol lying forgotten in their arehives. The oldest example could be of great value. The race is on between the mercantile world and the banking world to sec who has the oldest documentation of @.

(i)_____

Based on measurements of the expansion of the universe, of the position of galaxies, as well as of the cosmic microwave background radiation, the birth of the universe is said to (i) _______  13.7 billion years ago, when the early cosmos was a dense gaseous fireball of plasma, with temperatures 100,000 times higher than (ii) _______  of the sun’s core. 10 microseconds after the initial explosion, the universe experienced a period of huge exponential (iii) _______  called cosmic inflation, allowing basic particles such as quarks and gluons to stop moving around willy-nilly without purpose and form strong bonds of protons and neutrons. 100 seconds later, as temperatures dropped even further, these protons and neutrons would form helium and other hydrogen composites in a period cissalled nucleosynthesis. Matter would (iv) _______  to a halt and stop moving, (v) _______  gravitational forces come into play, and after 380,000 years the first atoms would make their appearance.

(iii)______-

Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, is a city of contrasts. It is an exciting, (i) _______ , modem city and, at the same time, a city that is full of history. The streets of Bangkok are usually noisy and have too many people. Some people are selling food; (ii) _______  are selling clothing, cassette tapes, flowers, or souvenirs. Visitors love the river markets, the beautiful temples and arehitecture, and the nightlife. They also enjoy the food, the shopping, and the friendly Thai people. (iii) _______ seems to smile there. Most of the year, Bangkok is hotter than any other capital city in Asia, but from December to February, the weather is not as warm and so it is much more comfortable. Actually, it’s an interesting city to visit at any time of the year. The shopping is excellent, and the prices are not as high as in many other large cities in Southeast Asia. There is always so much to do in Bangkok any time of the day or night – (iv) _______ watching Thai dancing or boxing to taking a boat trip on the river or trying some of the delicious and spicy food. And if you get (v) _______ the city and want fewer crowds, there are beautiful beaches only two hours away by bus.

(iv)_____

Are the years you (i) ________ at school the best years of your life? Personally, I found most lessons rather uninteresting. We had to sit at our desks in silence and (ii) ________ attention. The teachers used to  write on the blackboard and ask US difficult questions. We also had to do lots of homework, and (iii) ________ it in on time. We had to wear a school uniform, and wc had to obey lots of rules. I left school as soon as I could and started work. I read books al the public library, and later I decided to (iv) ________ college. I really enjoyed studying because I was older and knew that I wanted some (v) ________  When I was at school, I was just the wrong age!

(iii)_____

Gounod’s Faust made its debut at the Theatre Lyrique in Paris in 1853 after having been refused by other playhouses on (i) _______ that it wasn’t spectacular enough. In fact, the music is very spiritual and pure to match Marguerite’s nobleness of heart and Faust’s trials and tribulations, (ii) _______ his desperate seareh for meaning in life. In an age where grandeur and luxury were the norm, Faust was not well received by the publiC. It was (iii) _______ in 1862 with an added ballet scene at the start of the first act, and the opera became a tremendous success. Marguerite’s famous aria, the jewel song, was included in (iv) _______ comic strips and children adventure stories, (v) _______ the New York House regularly opened its season with a Faust performance.

(i)______-

Every country has its own traditions, some of which have existed for centuries. In my opinion, we should do everything possible to preserve them. Some people think that in today’s high-tech world, traditional celebrations are too old-fashioned and (i) _______ to our lives. However, events such as Carnival, are important, as they bring communities together and make US think about other people and not just computers. (ii) _______ argument against traditional festivals is that they are expensive to organise. To some extent this is true, particularly when there are firework (iii) _______ or parades. On the other hand, it is a small price to pay for brightening up our lives with entertainment and colour. Moreover, celebrations like the ‘Fallas’ in my home town of Valencia attract many tourists and their money. Finally, although 1 agree that some traditional customs (iv) _______ their original significance, they can provide an opportunity for US to learn about our past. For example, Bonfire Night teaches British children about a particular period of their country’s history. To conclude, traditional celebrations are a source of great pleasure and interest, and they are certainly (v) _______ keeping

(iv)_____

Mark the letter A, B, C, or Don your answer sheet to indicate the word(s) CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined word (s) in each of the following questions:

There are many opportunities for work in the city. 

People from all cultures and civilizations are also (i) _______ with numbers, dates and festival days. In North America, the number 13 is considered (ii) _______ unlucky that often high-rise buildings do not have a 13th floor and the apartment that should be number 13 is given another number. There is no clear reason behind this superstition, (iii) _______ there is evidence for a pathological fear of the number 13, called triskaidekaphobia. Conversely, in Japan, Korea and China, the number 4 is the one bringing bad luck since the character for this number, ‘shi’ sounds like the word ‘death’. Yet all cultures seem to agree (iv)  _______the importance of New Year’s Day. Virtually all countries have rituals surrounding this first day of the year to (v)________ good luck for the future.

(iii)_______

Mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the underlined part that needs correction in each of the following questions:

Winslow Homer, who had no formally training in art, became famous for his paintings of the sea and sea coast. 

The battle was on, and the Canadians delivered. After (i) ________ minor step errors by Sikharulidze, Sale and Pelletier gave a mesmerizing performance and people were expecting them to win. The shock came when 4 (ii) ________ 5 judges placed the Canadians in second place. The public booed as the gracious, yet the confused pair accepted their silver medal. An official protest was launched and, following the results of a formal investigation, it was determined that the French judge had been pressured into giving the highest mark to the Russian skaters in return for a win of the French couple Marina Anissina and Gwcndal Pcizcrat in the ice dancing competition. The judge at (iii) ________ was promptly suspended, and a second gold medal was awarded to the Canadian team. A new marking system was (iv) ________  place in order to (v) ________ any future possibilities for misconduct.

(v)_____

The Christian Church split up at the (i) _______ of the 12th century because some technical differences. It got divided after important churchmen could not agree on which calendar to use when calculating religious holidays. The head of the Western Christian Church was the Pope in Rome. He is (ii) _______ the leader of this Church (iii) _______  is now called the Roman Church or the Catholic Church.

Catholics use the more modem Gregorian calendar to calculate religious holidays. Pope Gregory XIII devised the Gregorian calendar in order to simplify the ancient Julian calendar invented by the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar. According to the Gregorian calendar, Easter (iv) _______ anytime from Mareh 22nd to April 25lh. Therefore, in some years, Catholic and Orthodox Easter are a month apart while in (v) _______ years, they fall right on the same date.

(v)______

Instead of throwing in the towel, Shakira kept her focus on music and participated (i)  ______  a televised singing competition for children, (ii) ______  she started being invited to various events in Barranquilla and became a local celebrity. When she turned 13, she caught the eye of theatre producer Monica Ariza, who took her under her wing and made her name (iii) ______  outside Barranquilla. On a flight from her hometown to the Colombian capital of Bogota, Ariza happened to sit next to Sony executive C’iro Vargas, who agreed to hold an audition for Shakira a few weeks later inside a hotel lobby. Vargas was (iv) ______  impressed with the budding new artist and praised her in lavish terms to the Sony artist directors. They, (v) ______  , were less excited and thought Shakira was a “lost cause’’ until Vargas tricked them into a surprise audition with the singer at a bar in Bogota, which resulted in Shakira’s signing a deal with Sony for three recorded albums.

(v)_____

The Great Wall stretches for 5,000 kilometres (i) _______ China from the East coast to the Gobi Desert. This biggest of all building projects was begun 2,000 years ago during the Qin Dynasty. Separately built walls were all joined up to form one huge line, supposedly to (ii) _______  any invading nomads. The project used thousands of workers, many of them prisoners.

Around 180 million cubic metres of earth were used to form the wall’s core. The wall was not particularly successful as a deterrent to invaders. However, it was very useful as a kind of ancient, elevated motorway. Men and equipment could be easily moved along the wall, through the previously (iii) _______, mountainous land. Also, a very useful communication system was developed between the different sections of the wall. Smoke signals were used to send messages quickly anywhere along the wall’s length. Now, the Great Wall is China’s most popular tourist attraction. It has suffered some decay and destruction over the centuries. Parts have been (iv) _______ by the wind and weather. Other sections have been destroyed by local peasants who carried off the materials to make their own homes. However, the wall is still an amazing sight, and a lasting monument to the ancient Chinese civilization that (v) _______ it.

(iv)______

Bill seems unhappy in his job because he doesn’t get _______ his boss. 

London is famous for _____ red buses.

In 1866, the United States Congress passed legislation which permitted the use of the metric system in commercial dealings. The law, permissive rather than mandatory, (i)  _______  that any contract or dealing – as well as any court pleadings – would not be considered objectionable or invalid because of the use of the metric system in the dealing or reference to metric measurements and (ii) _______ in the legal documents or pleadings. American business people and scientists have continued to use the metric system and support it. Metrication is evident in America because goods that are produced (iii) _______ commercial purposes are labelled in metric units as well as non-mctric units. As the result of legislation in the 1980s, the federal government and (iv) _______ its agencies are now required to use metric measures. There are a few exceptions to this law and those exceptions (v) _______ around documents which are intended for consumers but the primary purpose of this law is to promote and strengthen the American manufacturing and trade posture and competitiveness throughout the metric world of nations

(iii)_____

Trends in worldwide energy use point up an urgent need to expedite the development of technology that can wean the world % from fossil fuels. Many experts contend that the recent increases in the price of oil will not be followed, as in the past, by an casing off after a year or two. Even if that were not the ease, the world would have to be concerned about inevitable constraints on supply. Gasoline and diesel engines in motor vehicles consume the (i) _______ majority of fossil fuel used outside power generation. The only technology currently in the pipeline for rescuing transportation from a very serious oil crunch is (ii)  _______ vehicles operating with hydrogen fuel-cell engines. Private industry, long a mere bystander in the development of the hydrogen economy, is now (iii) _______ the way to develop affordable and environmentally desirable hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. The United States government is spending about $ 100 million per year for researeh on hydrogen vehicles and hydrogen-slorage technology. Major automobile manufactures claim they will have (iv) _______ hydrogen cars by 2015. These cars, it should be noted, will produce no greenhouse gases. Like any new fuel technology, hydrogen will require infrastructure. Plants to generate usable hydrogen, pipelines to move it, and depots in which to store it, must be put in place. Stations for refilling a vehicle’s hydrogen tank must be as common as ordinary gas stations before many consumers will venture onto the open road with hydrogen cars, yet this is not an unrealistic scenario. Most probably, existing oil and gasoline infrastructure can be affordably – and incrementally – (v) _______ to hydrogen infrastructure.

(ii)_____-