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 26 to 30.

The Giant Panda

The giant panda is a beloved animal in China. It is regarded as a national (26) _____________. It is found mostly in southwestern China in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. The giant panda is part of the bear family. It has a white coat with black trimmings around its eyes and on its ears, arms, and legs. Adult pandas can be 5 feet (1.5 meters) long and weigh (27) _____________to 330 pounds (150 kilograms). The giant panda leads a (28) _____________life, except during the mating season.

It lives in bamboo forests in the mountains. It can climb trees but lives mainly on the ground. (29) _____________most bears, the panda does not hibernate. It moves to low-lying areas during the winter in search of warmer temperatures. The giant panda has a mainly (30) _____________diet, eating mostly bamboo shoots and leaves. It also eats insects and small rodents. Giant panda breeding groups are small and isolated from one another.

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 31 to 35.

Everybody likes to feel that she or he is special. Sadly, many of us grow up believing that we're not special at all. We wish that we could be more attractive or better at sports. We wish we had more money or nicer clothes. Like the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, or the Cowardly Lion from The Wizard of Oz, we think we're not good enough just as we are. In the film, The Tin Man wishes he had a heart. The Scarecrow wishes that he had a brain, and the Lion wants courage. Eventually, each of them realizes that he already has what he wants. Nearly all parents want us to be the best we can be. They occasionally attempt to encourage us to do better by comparing us to others. They mean well, but the message we usually get is that we're not good enough. We start to believe that the only way we can be special is by being better than somebody else, but we are frequently disappointed. There will always be somebody out there that is better than we are at something. There are a lot of people around who may not be as intelligent as we are but who are better at sports. Or they may not be as handsome, but they have more money. It is unthinkable for us to be better than everybody else all the time. Like the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion, we all need what we believe will make us better people. What we don't understand is that often we already have inside us the very things that we look for. Our parents often forget to tell us that we are special, that we are good enough just as we are. Perhaps no one told them when they were growing up, or maybe they just forgot. Either way, it's up to us to remind them sometimes that each of us, in our own way, is special

What is the writer's main purpose in writing the essay?

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

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 31 to 35.

Everybody likes to feel that she or he is special. Sadly, many of us grow up believing that we're not special at all. We wish that we could be more attractive or better at sports. We wish we had more money or nicer clothes. Like the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, or the Cowardly Lion from The Wizard of Oz, we think we're not good enough just as we are. In the film, The Tin Man wishes he had a heart. The Scarecrow wishes that he had a brain, and the Lion wants courage. Eventually, each of them realizes that he already has what he wants. Nearly all parents want us to be the best we can be. They occasionally attempt to encourage us to do better by comparing us to others. They mean well, but the message we usually get is that we're not good enough. We start to believe that the only way we can be special is by being better than somebody else, but we are frequently disappointed. There will always be somebody out there that is better than we are at something. There are a lot of people around who may not be as intelligent as we are but who are better at sports. Or they may not be as handsome, but they have more money. It is unthinkable for us to be better than everybody else all the time. Like the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion, we all need what we believe will make us better people. What we don't understand is that often we already have inside us the very things that we look for. Our parents often forget to tell us that we are special, that we are good enough just as we are. Perhaps no one told them when they were growing up, or maybe they just forgot. Either way, it's up to us to remind them sometimes that each of us, in our own way, is special.

Which of the following would be the best title for this essay?

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word that differs from the other three in the position of primary stress in each of the following questions

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 36 to 42.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is located where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers unite to form the Ohio River. Its fascinating history began in 1758 when General John Forbes and his British and colonial army captured Fort Duquesne from the French and renamed it Fort Pitt, for the British statesman William Pitt the Elder. After an agreement between the Native American tribes and William Penn's family, settlers henan arrivinn Pittsburah was laid out (1764) by John Campbell in the area around the fort.

Following the American Revolution, the town became an outfitting point for settlers traveling westward down the Ohio River. Pittsburgh's strategic location and wealth of natural resources spurred its commercial and industrial growth in the nineteenth century. A blast furnace, erected by George Anschutz about 1792, was the forerunner of the iron and steel industry that for more than a century was the city's economic power. By 1850, it was known as the "Iron City". The Pennsylvania Canal and the Portage Railroad, both completed in 1834, opened vital markets for trade and shipping.

After the American Civil War, great numbers of European immigrants swelled Pittsburgh's population, and industrial magnates such as Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and Thomas Mellon built their steel empires there. The city became the focus of historic friction between labor and management, and the American Federation of Labor was organized there in 1881. By 1900, the city's population had reached 321,616. Growth continued nearly unabated through World War II, and during the war years, Pittsburgh was a boom town.

During this period of economic and population growth, Pittsburgh became a grimy, polluted industrial city. After the war, however, the city undertook an extensive redevelopment program, with emphasis on smoke-pollution control, flood prevention, and sewage disposal.

In 1957, it became the first American city to generate electricity by nuclear power. By the late 1970s and early 80s, the steel industry had virtually disappeared, but Pittsburgh successfully diversified its economy through more emphasis on light industries and on such high-technology industries as computer software, industrial automation (robotic), and biomedical and environmental technologies.

Which of the following phrases is closest in meaning to the phrase "focus of historic friction" in the passage?

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word that differs from the other three in the position of primary stress in each of the following questions