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.
Given the American manufacturing tradition, it was also inevitable that cars would be produced in larger volume at lower prices than in Europe. The absence of tariff barriers between the states encouraged sales over a wide geographic area. Cheap raw materials and a chronic shortage of skilled labor early encouraged the mechanization of industrial processes in the United States. This in turn required the standardization of products and resulted in the volume production of such commodities as firearms, sewing machines, bicycles, and many other items. In 1913, the United States produced some 485,000 of the world total of 606,124 motor vehicles. The Ford Motor Company greatly outpaced its competitors in reconciling state-of-the-art design with moderate price. Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal called the four-cylinder, fifteen-horsepower, $600 Ford Model N (1906-1907) “the very first instance of a low-cost motor car driven by a gas engine having cylinders enough to give the shaft a turning impulse in each shaft turn which is well built and offered in large numbers." Deluged with orders, Ford installed improved production equipment and after 1906 was able to make deliveries of a hundred cars a day. Encouraged by the success of the Model N, Henry Ford was determined to build an even better "car for the great multitude." The four-cylinder, twenty-horsepower Model T, first offered in October 1908, sold for $825. Its two-speed planetary transmission made it easy to drive, and features such as its detachable cylinder head made it easy to repair. Its high chassis was designed to clear the bumps in rural roads. Vanadium steel made the Model T a lighter and tougher car, and new methods of casting parts (especially block casting of the engine) helped keep the price down. Committed to large-volume production of the Model T, Ford innovated modern mass production techniques at his new Highland Park, Michigan, plant, which opened in 1910 (although he did not introduce the moving assembly line until 1913-1914). The Model T runabout sold for $575 in 1912, less than the average annual wage in the United States. By the time the Model T was withdrawn from production in 1927, its price had been reduced to $290 for the coupe, 15 million units had been sold, and mass personal "automobility" had become a reality.
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.
Depression and anxiety while abroad are more common than people like to admit. It's hard to complain when you've spent the whole day lounging in the European countryside and get to go home to your castle- view new apartment, but for people with depression or anxiety, even the most amazing things can be drowned out by emotion. It's easy for people who are battling this type of disorder to feel guilty, spoiled, or even confused for being down even when they're "living the high life" abroad, so they keep their feelings to themselves and hide the problem, potentially ruining their time abroad. Chances are, if you think you're developing depression or anxiety while abroad, you've probably been feeling some of these things for a long time, but nothing has made them surface quite like going abroad does. It's crucial to deal with the problem as you first begin to notice it and take self-care seriously while abroad, as they aren't feelings that are going to be magically fixed. Illnesses like depression and anxiety are different for everyone, but ultimately you will need to take similar steps to make it more bearable while abroad. Start by talking to your family back home, program director, or school guidance counsellor and have them help you speak with your host family, find a suitable doctor and/or therapist while abroad, and work through any international treatment or insurance issues. You are not the first person to go abroad with baggage, and there are people available and program set up to help those who need it.
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.
Autism, or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), refers to a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviours, speech and nonverbal (46) ___________. According to the Centres for Disease Control, autism affects an estimated 1 in 54 children in the United States today. We know that there is not one autism but many subtypes, most influenced by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. (47) ____________ autism is a spectrum disorder, each person with autism has a distinct set of strengths and challenges. The ways in (48) ___________ people with autism learn, think and problem solve can (49) ____________ from highly skilled to severely challenged. Some people with ASD may require significant support in their daily lives, while others may need less support and, in some cases, live entirely independently. Several factors may influence the development of autism, and it is often accompanied by sensory sensitivities and medical issues (50) ___________ as gastrointestinal (GI) disorders, seizures or sleep disorders, as well as mental health challenges such as anxiety, depression and attention issues.