Read the passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the best answer to each of the following questions from 1 to 8.

     For much of the 20th century, AI struggled not from a lack of ambition, but because available hardware wasn't powerful enough. Early systems hit limits on processing speed and memory, contributing to "AI winters" as progress stalled and funding dried up. Today, this problem is largely resolved. AI models are now trained on specialized chips in vast data centers. Compute, which used to be the main bottleneck, can now simply be purchased. Companies like Nvidia mass-produce powerful graphics processing units (GPUs)—originally designed for gaming but perfectly suited to AI calculations. What holds AI back now? The physical limit of electricity.

     Modern AI models don't just train once; they operate continuously, powering chatbots, search engines, and autonomous agents. This shift has made AI a constant, large-scale electricity consumer. According to Sampsa Samila of IESE Business School, "the core issue is not a shortage of energy in absolute terms, but rather the availability of reliable, firm capacity at the right place and the right time".

     Predictions for AI energy consumption show this strain. The International Energy Agency (IEA) projects data centers will consume more than twice as much electricity by the decade's end. In parts of the U.S., data center power usage already rivals heavy industry.

     How AI is used matters as much as how it is trained. Training large models consumes immense power but occurs infrequently. What is growing faster is the everyday work of models responding to users. Samila notes that newer "reasoning" AI systems, which deliberate longer, push energy demands into everyday operations rather than occasional large training runs.

                                                                           (Adaptedfrom: https://www.livescience.com)

Question 1: Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage as a factor that contributed to AI's slow progress in the 20th century?

     A. Insufficient processing speed

     B. Limited memory capacity

     C. Lack of research funding after stalled progress

     D. Absence of skilled AI engineers and scientists

Question 2: The word “stalled” in paragraph 1 is OPPOSITE in meaning to ____________?

     A. prevented

     B. accelerated

     C. paused

     D. frozen

Question 3: In paragraph 2, the phrase “this shift” refers to ____________.

     A. the development of more powerful GPU chips by companies such as Nvidia and AMD for AI use

     B. the change from AI training occasionally to AI operating continuously across multiple applications

     C. the transition from AI being used for research to being used commercially

     D. the move from running AI computations on local machines to large-scale cloud data centers

Question 4: The word “bottleneck” as used in paragraph 1 is CLOSEST in meaning to ____________.

     A. advantage

     B. resource

     C. barrier

     D. component

Question 5: Which of the following BEST paraphrases the underlined sentence in paragraph 2?

     A. The world currently does not generate sufficient electricity to meet the growing demands of modern AI systems.

     B. The challenge is not the global energy supply, but ensuring stable power is available where and when AI systems require it.

     C. Energy companies have not made sufficient investments in the infrastructure required to adequately support global AI growth.

     D. AI data centers should move to energy-surplus regions to resolve the power shortage crisis.