Section One: Vocabulary

Read each statement below carefully and fill in the blank(s) with the correct answer.

1. It was customary for wealthy Romans to …………….. while they  were dining.

2. John`s unkind words ……………. Mary`s heart.

3. Colonel Robinson abandoned his search to …………… a buried city.

4. The road crew removed the ………. of the fallen tree limb.

5. Maurice Maeterlinck once said that it is important to remember that happiness is as …………….. as gloom.

6. People should learn to ……….. their country`s vital resources.

7. He was shot in the stomach, but luckily the bullet didn`t hit any …………….. organs.

8. The …………. police is divided into two principal branches, the service of agents who are in uniform and the service of inspectors, who are out of uniform.

9. Although there can be fierce rainstorms and windstorms and droughts, the weather in this city is usually ………… .

10. Most of the television talk show guests who were in favor of the war were quite ………… and used very unkind words.

11. His tennis serve is very …………. . It`s not very fast, but it has a wicked spin, and is difficult to return.

12. It was a ……………. sensation; I was moving like walking in water but I had no sense of my own body.

13. Mark lives a/an ……………… life in a remote part of Scotland. The rumor is that he is suffering from a mysterious disease.

14. The river fish belong chiefly to a very uncommon family; many of them are of brilliant and ………….. appearance, with strongly contrasted colors in bands and spots.

15. Witnesses to the murder gave …………. reports of what happened. Therefore, the police are still trying to find out what the truth is.

16. Some young people often make a mistake and start learning too many languages at the same time. They actually …………… the difficulties.

17. The child …………… at his mother to see if she was watching him as he took another cookie.

18. If a nuclear war were to break out, mankind would ……………… .

19. I fell among a group of thieves who seemed to do something new every evening to disguise themselves and …………… recognition.

20. His mathematical enthusiasm was for the time completely …………….., and for two years the printed volume of his book lay unopened beside him.

21. The ………….. of sharks in popular movies has made these fish the most feared animals.

22. Despite contact with the west, the country has been able to ………… its traditional culture.

23. Mr. Harrison made himself very popular in the city by his large gifts to the poor in time of ………….. .

24. His treatment for cancer has made him …………… to infection.

25. She was never quite sure how to …………… to Jane`s impolite remarks though the two continued to be best of friends.

Section Two: Structure. Part One

Read the following sentences. In each sentence, choose the number of the underlined word or group of words that is NOT correct.

26. Her dress was spotlessly clean and well made; but it was the kind of a dress which the daughter of a poor man would have worn.

27. My bedroom window was wide open, and I leaned out heedlessly to look for the sky.

28. After driving for twenty miles, he suddenly realized that he has been driving in the wrong direction.

29. It seems extremely difficult to get used to sleep in a tent after having a soft, comfortable bed to lie on.

30. William enjoy to be able to meet several famous movie stars during his vacation in California.

31. Nancy didn`t like her husband working late every night; it made her feel neglected and lonely.

32. The police is investigating the case to see whether the manager has received any illegal money.

33. My brother always gets too much exciting when going to the seashore so that he wakes up earlier than anyone else in the house.

34. The Bill of Rights was added to the constitution specifically to guarantee the certain individual rights.

35. One group was satisfied with the explanation whereas the other group wanted to explore the subject farther.

36. By installing the new sound system, the student association hopes attract more students to the movies and increase ticket sales.

37. Critics say that current voting systems used in the US are inefficient and often leading to the inaccurate counting of votes.

38. Our daily banking or other high sensitive information system is actually improved as time goes by.

39. The crater, now deeply buried in sediments, was originally about 200 kilometers of diameter.

40. American investors are simply ensuring that they personally take full advantage in the growth of the stock market.

41. If you drive 200 miles down the lonely road leads southwest out of Anchorage, Alaska, you`ll reach the small town of Horner.

42. In winter time, the snowplows cut through the snow, leaving it bank up twenty feet high on either side of the road.

43. To cope with the divorce, she found comfort with her horses and also turned to write poems and songs.

44. The firstly naval battle of the Revolutionary War was fought off the coast of Machias, Maine, in June 1775.

45. The public ceremonies of the plains Indians are lesser elaborate than those of the Navajo in the Southwest.

46. In some species of fish, such the three-spined stickleback, the male, not the female, performs the task of caring for the young.

47. When she retires in September 1989, tennis champion Christine Event was the most famous woman athlete in the States.

48. The ancient Romans used vessels equipped with sails and banks of oars to transporting their armies.

49. Dinasaurs are traditionally classified as cold blooded reptiles, but recent evidence based on eating habits, posture, and skeletal structural suggests some may have been warm-blooded.

50. Since the Great Depression of the 1930`s, social programs such as Social Security have been built into the economy to help avert severity business declines.

51. In the 1970`s, consumer activities succeeded in promoting law that set safety standards for automobiles, children`s clothing, and a widely range of household products.

52. Zoos in New Orleans, San Diego, and the Bronx have become biological parks where animals roam free and people watch from across a moat.

53. In human beings, as in other mammal, hairs around the eyes and ears and in the nose, prevent dust, insects, and other matter from entering these organs.

54. The Rocky Mountains were explored by fur traders during the early 1800`s, in a decades preceding the United States Civil War.

55.There is increase evidence that the impacts of meteorites have had important effects on the Earth.

Section Two: Structure. Part Two

In each of the following sets of sentences, three sentences are grammatically correct and one sentence is not grammatical. Identify the incorrect sentence.

56.

57.

58.

59.

60.

61.

62.

63.

64.

65.

Section Three: Reading Comprehension

Read the passages and choose the best answer for each question.

Passage 1

Blood pressure is the measure of the force of blood pushing against blood vessel walls. The heart pumps blood into the arteries (blood vessels), which carry the blood throughout the body. High blood pressure, also called hypertension, is dangerous because it makes the heart work harder to pump blood out to the body and contributes to hardening of the arteries, or atherosclerosis, stroke, kidney disease, and the development of heart failure.

A blood pressure reading has a top number (systolic) and a bottom number (diastolic). The ranges are: Normal: Less than 120 over 80 (120/80); Prehypertension: 120-139 over 80-89; Stage 1 high blood pressure: 140-159 over 90-99; Stage 2 high blood pressure: 160 and above over 100 and above; High blood pressure in people over age 60:150 and above over 90 and above.

The exact causes of high blood pressure are not known, but several factors and conditions may play a role in its development, including smoking, being overweight or obese, lack of physical activity, too much salt in the diet, stress, older age, genetics, family history of high blood pressure, chronic kidney disease, diabetes, insufficient intake of potassium, calcium and magnesium, and adrenal and thyroid disorders.

In as many as 95% of the reported high pressure cases in the U.S., the underlying cause cannot be determined. This type of high blood pressure is called “essential hypertension”. Though essential hypertension remains somewhat mysterious, it has been linked to certain risk factors. High blood pressure tends to run in families and is more likely to affect men than women. Age and race also play a role. In the United States, blacks are twice as likely as whites to have high blood pressure, although the gap begins to narrow around age 44. After age 65, black women have the highest incidence of high blood pressure.

Essential hypertension is also greatly influenced by diet and lifestyle. The link between salt and high blood pressure is especially compelling. People living on the northern islands of Japan eat more salt per capita than anyone else in the world and have the highest incidence of essential hypertension. By contrast, people who add no salt to their food show virtually no traces of essential hypertension.

When a direct cause for high blood pressure can be identified, the condition is described as secondary hypertension. Among the known causes of secondary hypertension, kidney disease ranks highest. Hypertension can also be triggered by tumors or other abnormalities that cause the adrenal glands (small glands that sit atop the kidneys) to secrete excess amounts of the hormones that elevate blood pressure.

66. It could be understood from the text that hypertension is the same as:

67. A person with the blood reading of 148/95 and the age of 55 is:

68. Hypertension does NOT cause:

69. It can be inferred from the text that:

70. Salt is the cause of …………… .

71. Which of the following is NOT the cause of hypertension?

72. Secondary and essential hypertension are different because ……………… .

73. Secondary hypertension can be caused by tumors because tumors ……………… .

74. In the United States ………………. .

75. Which of the following life styles do not cause hypertension?

Passage 2

Peru’s Inca Indians first grew potatoes in the Andes Mountains in about 200 B.C. Spanish conquistadors brought potatoes to Europe, and colonists brought them to America. Potatoes are fourth on the list of the world’s food staples – after wheat, corn and rice. Today, Americans consume about 140 pounds of potatoes per person every year while Europeans eat twice as many.

One of our favorite ways to eat potatoes is in the form of potato chips. While Benjamin Franklin was the American ambassador to France, he went to a banquet where potatoes were prepared in 20 different ways. Thomas Jefferson, who succeeded Franklin as our French ambassador, brought the recipe for thick-cut, French-fried potatoes to America. He served French fries to guests at the White House in 1802 and at his home, Monticello.

A native-American chef named George Crum created the first potato chips on August 24, 1853, at Moon Lake Lodge in Saratoga, New York. He became angry when a diner complained that his French fries were too thick, so he sliced the potatoes as thinly as possible making them too thin and crisp to eat with a fork. The diner loved them, and potato chips were born. In 1860 Chef Crum opened his own restaurant and offered a basket of potato chips on every table.

Joe “Spud” Murphy and Seamus Burke produced the world’s first seasoned crisps, cheese & onion and salt & vinegar chips in the 1950s in Ireland. In the United Kingdom and Ireland crisps are what we in the United States call potato chips while chips refer to our French fries. Ketchup flavored chips are popular in the Middle-East and Canada. Seaweed flavored chips are popular in Asia and chicken flavored chips are popular in Mexico. Other flavors from around the world include: paprika, pickled onion, béarnaise, meat pie, chili crab, salmon teriyaki, borscht, caesar salad, roasted sausage, firecracker lobster, Roast Ox, haggis and black pepper, olive, and spaghetti.

About 27 pounds of potato chips are produced from 100 pounds of potatoes. Americans consume 2-4 billion pounds of potato chips every year, and spend more than $7 billion a year on them.

76. What question is answered in the second paragraph?

77. Potato Chips are called ………………. in the United Kingdom.

78. What does the word “consume” mean in the last paragraph?

79. The first potato chips were made in ………… .

80. Which of the following statements is true?

81. Which of the the following events happened last?

82. What happened in 1950?

83. Based on the passage, it can be inferred that potatoes are …………… foods in the world. 

84. Which of the following is true?

85. Seamus Burke was ………………. .

Section Four: Cloze Passages

Read the following passages and fill in the blanks with the most appropriate choice.

Can we SEE that the earth is a globe? Yes, we can, when we watch a ship that …..(86)…… out to sea. If we watch closely, we see the ship begin to ……(87)……. . The bottom of the ship disappears first, and then the ship seems to sink lower and lower, …….(88)…… we can only see the top of the ship, and then we see nothing at all. What is hiding the ship from us? It is the earth. Stick a pin most of the way into an orange, and ……(89)…… turn the orange away from you. You will see the pin disappear, …..(90)…… a ship does on the earth.
86.

87.

88.

89.

90.

Passage 2

Climate may be inherently variable as evidenced by the irregularity of the seasons from one year to another. This variability is normal and may ……(91)…… partially understood. It is related to ……(92)….. in ocean currents, volcanic eruptions, solar radiation and other components of the …….(93)…… system. In addition, our climate also has its extremes (such as floods, droughts, hail, tornadoes and hurricanes), which can be …..(94)……. . However, in recent decades, a number …..(95)….. indicators and studies show more and more evidence of climate warming …..(96)…… the globe. Climate warming is a disturbing phenomenon that ……(97)…… human habits and activities which are responsible for greenhouse gas emissions. The greenhouse effect is the ……(98)…….. by which absorption and emission of infrared …….(99)………. by gases in the atmosphere warm a planet`s ……..(100)……. surface.

91.

92.

93.

94.

95.

96.

97.

98.

99.

100.