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

     Most journeys in Britain and the US are made by road. Some of these are made on public transport but most are by private car.

     In Britain many people rely on their cars for daily local activities, e.g. getting to work, doing the shopping, and visiting friends. People living in urban areas may use buses, trains or, in London, the Underground, to get to city centres, mainly because traffic is often heavy and it is difficult to find anywhere to park a car. Some places in the country may have a bus only two or three times a week so people living there have no choice but to rely on their cars.

     In the US, large cities have good public transportation systems. The El railroad in Chicago and the underground systems of New York, Boston, San Francisco and Washington, DC are heavily used. Elsewhere, most Americans prefer to use their cars. Families often have two cars and, outside major cities, have to drive fairly long distances to schools, offices, shops, banks, etc. Many college and even high-school students have their own cars.

     Long-distance travel in Britain is also mainly by road, though railways link most towns and cities. Most places are linked by motorways or other fast roads and many people prefer to drive at their own convenience rather than use a train, even though they may get stuck in a traffic jam. Long-distance coach/bus services are usually a cheaper alternative to trains, but they take longer and may be less comfortable. Some long-distance travel, especially that undertaken for business reasons, may be by air. There are regular flights between regional airports, as well as to and from London. A lot of freight is also distributed by road, though heavier items and raw materials often go by rail.

     In the US much long-distance travel is by air. America has two main long-distance bus companies, Greyhound and Trailways. Amtrak, the national network, provides rail services for passengers. Private railway companies such as Union Pacific now carry only freight, though in fact over 70% of freight goes by road.

     The main problems associated with road transport in both Britain and the US are traffic congestion and pollution. It is predicted that the number of cars on British roads will increase by a third within a few years, making both these problems worse. The British government would like more people to use public transport, but so far they have had little success in persuading people to give up their cars or to share rides with neighbours. Most people say that public transport is simply not good enough. Americans too have resisted government requests to share cars because it is less convenient and restricts their freedom. Petrol/gasoline is relatively cheap in the US and outside the major cities public transport is bad, so they see no reason to use their cars less.

 

The phrase “at their own convenience” in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to______.

Don’t be ____________ by these slick - talking salesmen.

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.

  Very few people in the modem world obtain their food supply by hunting and gathering in the natural environment surrounding their homes. This method of harvesting from nature’s provision is the oldest known subsistence strategy and has been practised for at least the last two million years. It was, indeed, the only way to obtain food until rudimentary farming and the domestication of wild animals were introduced about 10,000 years ago.

  Because hunter-gatherers have fared poorly in comparison with their agricultural cousins, their numbers have dwindled, and they have been forced to live in marginal environments, such as deserts and arctic wastelands. In higher latitudes, the shorter growing seasons have restricted the availability of plant life. Such conditions have caused a greater dependence on hunting, and on fishing along the coasts and waterways. The abundance of vegetation in the lower latitudes of the tropics, on the other hand, has provided a greater opportunity for gathering a variety of plants. In short, the environmental differences have restricted the diet and have limited possibilities for the development of subsistence societies.

  Contemporary hunter-gatherers may help US understand our prehistoric ancestors. We know from the observation of modem hunter-gatherers in both Africa and Alaska that a society based on hunting and gathering must be very mobile. While the entire community camps in a central location, a smaller party harvests the food within a reasonable distance from the camp. When the food in the area has become exhausted, the community moves on to exploit another site. We also notice seasonal migration patterns evolving for most hunter-gatherers, along with a strict division of labor between the sexes. These patterns of behavior may be similar to those practised by mankind during the Paleolithic Period.

Which of the following would serve as the best title of the passage?

Mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that is closest in meaning to each of the following questions.

“How brave you are!” he said to the firemen.

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.

I don’t really go in for winter sports very much.

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.

          When I was at school, sports day was the highlight of the year. Let me set the scene. First of all, on sports day, it was always bound (26) ___________       rain. Sunny weather? No such luck. Despite the previous two months of soaring temperatures, as likely as not, on the morning of the games, The temperature would plummet. So, imagine a hundred (27) ___________ small children, dressed in tight shorts and thin vests, shivering in the cold, unaware of the heartbreak that lies in store for them. Swept up by the excitement and desperate to win, tempers soon get frayed. One girl finds herself disqualified from the egg and spoon race despite giving it everything she’s got, and another boy, (28)_____ jealous of the winner of the sack race, makes the mistake of being rude to him within earshot of the teachers. Scores of tiny children, bitterly disappointed at tasting defeat for the first time, break down and cry. Twenty years on, I’m certainly not (29) ___________ any young, but I do have some really lasting (30) _______ of those days at school!

Điền vào ô số 28

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word whose underlined part differs from the other three in pronunciation in each of the following questions

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.

Research has shown that sending young offenders to prison can be counterproductive.