Mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the word(s) CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined bold word(s) in each of the following questions

The appeal was rejected by the committee, despite the fact that it had been signed by over 5,000 people

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 30 to 34  

     Central Park, emerging from a period of abuse and neglect, remains one of the most popular attractions in New York City, with half a million out-of-towners among the more than 3 million people who visit the park yearly. About 15 million individual visits are made each year.  

     Summer is the season for softball, concerts, and Shakespeare; fall is stunning; winter is wonderful for sledding, skating, and skiing; and springtime is the loveliest of all. It was all planned that way. 

     About 130 years ago Frederic Law Olmsted and his collaborator Calvert Vaux submitted their landscaping plan for a rectangular parcel two miles north of the town's center. The barren swampy tract, home for squatters and a bone-boiling works that made glue, was reported as “a pestilential spot where miasmic odors taint every breath of air." It took 16 years for workers with pickaxes and shovels to move 5 million cubic feet of earth and rock, and to plant half a million trees and shrubs, making a tribute to nature-a romantic nineteenth-century perception of nature.  

     What exists today is essentially Olmsted and Vaux's plan. with more trees, buildings, and asphalt.  Landscape architects still speak reverently of Olmsted's genius and foresight, and the sensitive visitor can see the effects he sought.  

According to the passage, before Olmsted and Vaux began their work, the area now occupied by Central Park was ____________ 

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 35 to 42  

MICROTRENDS: IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL

     In today's world, it seems like everyone is focused on the big picture”. However, coming up with large scale solutions is not always what is needed. Sometimes it pays to think small - and that is exactly what many people are doing these days. By thinking small, lots of big minds have created some pretty amazing things.  

     One example of this is microloans. Microloans are tiny loans, in some cases just a few dollars, which are available to people in developing countries. Although this may not seem like a lot of money, microloans can help workers to escape poverty and start their own businesses. The person behind the modern microloan movement is a Bangladeshi man named Muhammad Yunus. He started the project in the 1970s by offering villagers low interest loans using his own money. Yunus wanted to offer poor people access to small loans so they wouldn't be forced to turn to gangsters if they needed funds. In 1983, he founded the Grameen Bank and soon after, similar organizations started popping up around the globe. Although there are still some issues with microloans, at the very least they offer everyone the potential of becoming an entrepreneur.  

     For most of the 20th century, companies required large sums of money and plenty of manpower to compete at the highest levels. In the late 1990s, the Internet changed this and many microenterprises came about. Microenterprises are smaller companies that employ less than 10 people and only require small sums of money to start. Being small offers lots of flexibility to these companies as they can react more quickly than corporate giants when a business opportunity arises. Many technology companies that produce mobile apps and websites fall into this category. Keep in mind that having a small staff doesn't mean small profits, as microenterprises can earn hundreds of millions of dollars per year.  

     Thinking small can also lead to a tremendous improvement in quality. One example of this is microbreweries, which are smaller-sized breweries that produce far less beer than traditional breweries.  Since microbreweries don't have to target large markets and make millions of sales to stay open, they can monitor the brewing process carefully to make sure everything is perfect. In addition, microbreweries can experiment with unique flavors that many traditional brewers would shy away from. So, the next time you are asked to "think big", remember that good things may also come in small packages.  

What advantages do small companies have over larger corporations? 

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to choose the word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks from 25 to 29  

HOW TELEVISION CHANGE THE WORLD

     The television has undoubtedly changed society. For a modern person to think about (25) ____________ the world was like without television is actually hard to imagine. The world before the TV was one of little information flowing in to communities throughout the world. All information that people could get was filtered through newspapers often had specific biases that caused them to (26) ___________ the news to whatever their preference was. Although television would follow this to a certain (27) ____________, it was able to hit a widespread audience at the same time. In other words, people literally watched the broadcast at the same time each day, and they began (28) ____________ news as things happened. 

          A television grew into something that practically every household in industrialized nations had, businesspeople were quick to realize the (29) ____________ television had. They realized there was an enormous amount of money to be made, and therefore they were willing to invest in the technology and infrastructure that made it possible

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to choose the word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks from 25 to 29  

HOW TELEVISION CHANGE THE WORLD

     The television has undoubtedly changed society. For a modern person to think about (25) ____________ the world was like without television is actually hard to imagine. The world before the TV was one of little information flowing in to communities throughout the world. All information that people could get was filtered through newspapers often had specific biases that caused them to (26) ___________ the news to whatever their preference was. Although television would follow this to a certain (27) ____________, it was able to hit a widespread audience at the same time. In other words, people literally watched the broadcast at the same time each day, and they began (28) ____________ news as things happened. 

          A television grew into something that practically every household in industrialized nations had, businesspeople were quick to realize the (29) ____________ television had. They realized there was an enormous amount of money to be made, and therefore they were willing to invest in the technology and infrastructure that made it possible

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 30 to 34  

     Central Park, emerging from a period of abuse and neglect, remains one of the most popular attractions in New York City, with half a million out-of-towners among the more than 3 million people who visit the park yearly. About 15 million individual visits are made each year.  

     Summer is the season for softball, concerts, and Shakespeare; fall is stunning; winter is wonderful for sledding, skating, and skiing; and springtime is the loveliest of all. It was all planned that way. 

     About 130 years ago Frederic Law Olmsted and his collaborator Calvert Vaux submitted their landscaping plan for a rectangular parcel two miles north of the town's center. The barren swampy tract, home for squatters and a bone-boiling works that made glue, was reported as “a pestilential spot where miasmic odors taint every breath of air." It took 16 years for workers with pickaxes and shovels to move 5 million cubic feet of earth and rock, and to plant half a million trees and shrubs, making a tribute to nature-a romantic nineteenth-century perception of nature.  

     What exists today is essentially Olmsted and Vaux's plan. with more trees, buildings, and asphalt.  Landscape architects still speak reverently of Olmsted's genius and foresight, and the sensitive visitor can see the effects he sought.  

It can be inferred that the rectangular parcel mentioned in the passage is ____________

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 30 to 34  

     Central Park, emerging from a period of abuse and neglect, remains one of the most popular attractions in New York City, with half a million out-of-towners among the more than 3 million people who visit the park yearly. About 15 million individual visits are made each year.  

     Summer is the season for softball, concerts, and Shakespeare; fall is stunning; winter is wonderful for sledding, skating, and skiing; and springtime is the loveliest of all. It was all planned that way. 

     About 130 years ago Frederic Law Olmsted and his collaborator Calvert Vaux submitted their landscaping plan for a rectangular parcel two miles north of the town's center. The barren swampy tract, home for squatters and a bone-boiling works that made glue, was reported as “a pestilential spot where miasmic odors taint every breath of air." It took 16 years for workers with pickaxes and shovels to move 5 million cubic feet of earth and rock, and to plant half a million trees and shrubs, making a tribute to nature-a romantic nineteenth-century perception of nature.  

     What exists today is essentially Olmsted and Vaux's plan. with more trees, buildings, and asphalt.  Landscape architects still speak reverently of Olmsted's genius and foresight, and the sensitive visitor can see the effects he sought.  

With what subject is the passage mainly concerned? 

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 35 to 42  

MICROTRENDS: IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL

     In today's world, it seems like everyone is focused on the big picture”. However, coming up with large scale solutions is not always what is needed. Sometimes it pays to think small - and that is exactly what many people are doing these days. By thinking small, lots of big minds have created some pretty amazing things.  

     One example of this is microloans. Microloans are tiny loans, in some cases just a few dollars, which are available to people in developing countries. Although this may not seem like a lot of money, microloans can help workers to escape poverty and start their own businesses. The person behind the modern microloan movement is a Bangladeshi man named Muhammad Yunus. He started the project in the 1970s by offering villagers low interest loans using his own money. Yunus wanted to offer poor people access to small loans so they wouldn't be forced to turn to gangsters if they needed funds. In 1983, he founded the Grameen Bank and soon after, similar organizations started popping up around the globe. Although there are still some issues with microloans, at the very least they offer everyone the potential of becoming an entrepreneur.  

     For most of the 20th century, companies required large sums of money and plenty of manpower to compete at the highest levels. In the late 1990s, the Internet changed this and many microenterprises came about. Microenterprises are smaller companies that employ less than 10 people and only require small sums of money to start. Being small offers lots of flexibility to these companies as they can react more quickly than corporate giants when a business opportunity arises. Many technology companies that produce mobile apps and websites fall into this category. Keep in mind that having a small staff doesn't mean small profits, as microenterprises can earn hundreds of millions of dollars per year.  

     Thinking small can also lead to a tremendous improvement in quality. One example of this is microbreweries, which are smaller-sized breweries that produce far less beer than traditional breweries.  Since microbreweries don't have to target large markets and make millions of sales to stay open, they can monitor the brewing process carefully to make sure everything is perfect. In addition, microbreweries can experiment with unique flavors that many traditional brewers would shy away from. So, the next time you are asked to "think big", remember that good things may also come in small packages.  

According to the passage, who are microloans supposed to help?