The word “benign” in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to ________.

Music can bring us to tears or to our feet, drive us into battle or lull us to sleep. Music is indeed remarkable in its power over all humankind, and perhaps for that very reason, no human culture on earth has ever lived without it. From discoveries made in France and Slovenia, even Neanderthal man, as long as 53,000 years ago, had developed surprisingly sophisticated, sweet- sounding flutes carved from animal bones. It is perhaps then, no accident that music should strike such a chord with the limbic system – an ancient part of our brain, evolutionarily speaking, and one that we share with much of the animal kingdom. Some researchers even propose that music came into this world long before the human race ever did. For example, the fact that whale and human music have so much in common even though our evolutionary paths have not intersected for nearly 60 million years suggests that music may predate humans. They assert that rather than being the inventors of music, we are latecomers to the musical scene. Humpback whale composers employ many of the same tricks that human songwriters do. In addition to using similar rhythms, humpbacks keep musical phrases to a few seconds, creating themes out of several phrases before singing the next one. Whale songs in general are no longer than symphony movements, perhaps because they have a similar attention span. Even though they can sing over a range of seven octaves, the whales typically sing in key, spreading adjacent notes no farther apart than a scale. They mix percussive and pure tones in pretty much the same ratios as human composers – and follow their ABA form, in which a theme is presented, elaborated on and then revisited in a slightly modified form. Perhaps most amazing, humpback whale songs include repeating refrains that rhyme. It has been suggested that whales might use rhymes for exactly the same reasons that we do: as devices to help them remember. Whale songs can also be rather catchy. When a few humpbacks from the Indian Ocean strayed into the Pacific, some of the whales they met there quickly changed their tunes – singing the new whales’ songs within three short years. Some scientists are even tempted to speculate that a universal music awaits discovery. 

Why did the author write the passage?

The changes possibly caused by the cell phones are mainly concerned with ..........

According to the passage, approximately how many non-native users of English are there in the world today?

Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A number of factors related to the voice reveal the personality of the speaker. The first is the broad area of communication, which includes imparting information by use of language, communicating with a group or an individual and specialized communication through performance. A person conveys thoughts and ideas through choice of words, by a tone of voice that is pleasant or unpleasant, gentle or harsh, by the rhythm that is inherent within the language itself, and by speech rhythms that are flowing and regular or uneven and hesitant, and finally, by the pitch and melody of the utterance. When speaking before a group, a person's tone may indicate uncertainty or fright, confidence or calm. At interpersonal levels, the tone may reflect ideas and feelings over and above the words chosen, or may belie them. Here the participant’s tone can consciously or unconsciously reflect intuitive sympathy or antipathy, lack of concern or interest, fatigue, anxiety, enthusiasm or excitement, all of which are .usually discernible by the acute listener. Public performance is a manner of communication that is highly specialized with its own techniques for obtaining effects by voice and /or gesture. The motivation derived from the text, and in the case of singing, the music, in combination with the performer's skills, personality, and ability to create empathy will determine the success of artistic, political, or pedagogic communication. Second, the voice gives psychological clues to a person's self-image, perception of others, and emotional health. Self-image can be indicated by a tone of voice that is confident, pretentious, shy, aggressive, outgoing, or exuberant, to name only a few personality traits. Also the sound may give a clue to the facade or mask of that person, for example, a shy person hiding behind an overconfident front. How a speaker perceives the listener's receptiveness, interest, or sympathy in any given conversation can drastically alter the tone of presentation, by encouraging or discouraging the speaker. Emotional health is evidenced in the voice by free and melodic sounds of the happy, by constricted and harsh sound of the angry, and by dull and lethargic qualities of the depressed. 

What does the passage mainly discuss?

The changes in the American home mentioned in this passage may ...............

According to the passage, writing ............... 

It used to be that people would drink coffee or tea in the morning to pick them up and get them going for the day. Then cola drinks hit the market. With lots of caffeine and sugar, these beverages soon became the pick-me-up of choice for many adults and teenagers. Now drink companies are putting out so-called "energy drinks." These beverages have the specific aim of giving tired consumers more energy. One example of a popular energy drink is Red Bull. The company that puts out this beverage has stated in interviews that Red Bull is not a thirst quencher. Nor is it meant to be a fluid replacement drink for athletes. Instead, the beverage is meant to revitalize a tired consumer’s body and mind. In order to do this, the makers of Red Bull, and other energy drinks, typically add vitamins and certain chemicals to their beverages. The added chemicals are like chemicals that the body naturally produces for energy. The vitamins, chemicals, caffeine, and sugar found in these beverages all seem like a sure bet to give a person energy. Health professionals are not so sure, though. For one thing, there is not enough evidence to show that all of the vitamins added to energy drinks actually raise a person’s energy level. Another problem is that there are so many things in the beverages. Nobody knows for sure how all of the ingredients in energy drinks work together. Dr. Brent Bauer, one of the directors at the Mayo Clinic in the US, cautions people about believing all the claims energy drinks make. He says, - It is plausible if you put all these things together, you will get a good result.” However, Dr. Bauer adds the mix of ingredients could also have a negative impact on the body. - We just don’t know at this point,” he says. (Source: -Reading Challenge 2, Casey Malarcher & Andrea Janzen, Compass Publishing) 

The beverages mentioned in the first paragraph aim to give consumers .............

What has Dr. Bauer probably researched?

Which of the following words is most similar to the meaning of “rustic” ?