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 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.

____________they've already made their decision, there's nothing much we can do.

Peter: “My parents gave me no choice but to study business."  

                   - Danny: “____________”

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?