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 from 38 to 42.

(1) Though Edmund Halley was most famous because of his achievements as an astronomer, he was a scientist of diverse interests and great skill. In addition to studying the skies, Halley was also deeply interested in exploring the unknown depths of the oceans. One of his lesser-known accomplishments that were quite remarkable was his design for a diving bell that facilitated exploration of the watery depths.

(2) The diving bell that Halley designed had a major advantage over the diving bells that were in use prior to his. Earlier diving bells could only make use of the air contained within the bell itself, so divers had to surface when the air inside the bell ran low. Halley’s bell was an improvement in that its design allowed for an additional supply of fresh air that enabled a crew of divers to remain underwater for several hours.

(3) The diving contraption that Halley designed was in the shape of a bell that measured three feet across the top and five feet across the bottom and could hold several divers comfortably; it was open at the bottom so that divers could swim in and out at will. The bell was built of wood, which was first heavily tarred to make it water repellent and was then covered with a half-ton sheet of lead to make the bell heavy enough to sink in water. The bell shape held air inside for the divers to breathe as the bell sank to the bottom.

(4) The air inside the bell was not the only source of air for the divers to breathe, and it was this improvement that made Halley’s bell superior to its predecessors. In addition to the air already in the bell, air was also supplied to the divers from a lead barrel that was lowered to the ocean floor close to the bell itself. Air flowed through a leather pipe from the lead barrel on the ocean floor to the bell. The diver could breathe the air from a position inside the bell, or he could move around outside the bell wearing a diving suit that consisted of a lead bell-shaped helmet with a glass viewing window and a leather body suit, with a leather pipe carrying fresh air from the diving bell to the helmet.

The expression “at will” in paragraph 3 could best be replaced by

You’re putting the cart before the _______ of you work on Project B before Project A because the former is a sequel to the latter.

Thank you very much. I haven’t been to _____ party for ages.

Despite its wide range of styles and instrumentation, country music has certain common features _____ its own special character.

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

Although the staff did expand somewhat, for the first century of its existence, the entire teaching staff considered of the president and three or four tutors.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word(s) OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined word(s) in each of the following questions.

The police tried in vain to break up the protest crowds in front of the government building; further measures needed to be employed.

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 33 to 37.

AS OLD AS YOU FEEL

It might after all be true that you are only as old as you feel. A British clinic is carrying out new high-tech tests to calculate the “real” biological age of patients (33) ______ on the rate of physical deterioration. Information on every aspect of a patient’s health, fitness, lifestyle and family medical history is (34) ______ into a computer to work out whether they are older or younger than their calendar age suggests.

The availability and increasing accuracy of the tests has prompted one leading British gerontologist to call for biological age to be used to determine when workers should retire. He (35) ______ that if an employee’s biological or “real” age is shown, for example, to be 55 when he reaches his 65th birthday, he should be incited to work for another decade. Apparently most employers only take into (36) ______ a person’s calendar years, and the two may differ considerably. Some of those prepared to pay a substantial sum of money for the examinations will be able to smugly walk away with medical evidence showing that they really are as young as they feel, giving them the confidence to act and dress as if they were younger. Dr Lynette Yong, resident doctor at the clinic where the tests are offered claims that the purpose of these tests will be to motivate people to (37) _______ their health.

The concept of “real” age is set to become big business in the USA with books and websites helping people work out whether their body is older or younger than their years. Others firmly believe that looks will always be the best indicator of age.

Điền vào ô 35.

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

To remedy this situation, the Constitution of the United States, approved in 1789, allowed Congress to issue money.