Read the 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 7 to 14.
The sculptural legacy that the new United States inherited from its colonial predecessors was far from a rich one, and in fact, in 1776 sculpture as an art form was still in the hand of artisans and craftspeople. Stone carvers engraved their motifs of skulls and crossbones and other religious icons of death into the gray slabs that we still see standing today in old burial grounds. Some skilled craftspeople made intricately carved wooden ornamentations for furniture or architectural decorations, while others carved wooden shop signs and ships' figureheads. Although they often achieved expression and formal excellence in their generally primitive style, they remained artisans skilled in the craft of carving and constituted a group distinct from what we normally think of as "sculptors" in today's use of the word. On the rare occasion when a fine piece of sculpture was desired, Americans turned to foreign sculptors, as in the 1770's when the cities of New York and Charleston, South Carolina, commissioned the Englishman Joseph Wilton to make marble statues of William Pitt. Wilton also made a lead equestrian image of King George III that was created in New York in 1770 and torn down by zealous patriots six years later. A few marble memorials with carved busts, urns, or other decorations were produced in England and brought to the colonies to be set in the walls of churches - as in King's Chapel in Boston. But sculpture as a high art, practiced by artists who knew both the artistic theory of their Renaissance-Baroque-Rococo predecessors and the various technical procedures of modeling, casting, and carving rich three-dimensional forms, was not known among Americans in 1776. Indeed, for many years thereafter, the United States had two groups from which to choose - either the local craftspeople or the imported talent of European sculptors. The eighteenth century was not one in which powered sculptural conceptions were developed. Add to this the timidity with which unschooled artisans originally trained as stonemasons, carpenters, or cabinetmakers - attacked the medium from which they sculpture made in the United States in the late eighteenth century.
Read the 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 20 to 24.
Tsunami is a Japanese word that means harbor wave and is used as the scientific term for seismic sea wave generated by an undersea earthquake or possibly an undersea landslide or volcanic eruption. When the ocean floor is tilted or offset during an earthquake, a set of waves is created similar to the concentric waves generated by an object dropped into the water. Most tsunamis originate along the Ring of Fire, a zone of volcanoes and seismic activity, 32,500 km long that encircles the Pacific Ocean. Since 1819, about 40 tsunamis have struck the Hawaiian Islands. tsunami can have wavelengths, or widths, of 100 to 200 km, and may travel hundreds of kilometers across the deep ocean, reaching speeds of about 725 to 800 kilometres an hour. Upon entering shallow coastal waters, the wave, which have been only about half a metre high out at sea, suddenly grows rapidly. When the wave reaches the shore, it may be 15 m high or more. Tsunamis have tremendous energy because of the great volume of water affected. They are capable of obliterating coastal settlements. Tsunamis should not be confused with storm surges, which are domes of water that rise underearth hurricanes or cyclones and cause extensive coastal flooding when the storms reach land. Storm surges are particularly devastating if they occur at high tide. A cyclone and accompanying storm surges killed an estimated 500,000 people in Bangladesh in 1970. The tsunami which struck south and southeast Asia in late 2004 killed over 200 thousand people.
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 30 to 34. Having a relationship with someone is important to people around the world; (30) _______, dating is different from culture to culture. Here are some examples. Group dating is popular among young people in Europe and Australia. Groups as large as 30 people take part in events, such as going camping or having a party. This is seen as a (31) _______ way to spend time together, and to help to (32) _______ tension because people feel more comfortable in the company of friends before deciding whether to go on a one-to-one date. In Singapore, since many young people stay single, the government has tried its best to encourage dating. Dating services are offered to single people. One of them is speed dating, in (33) _______ singles will spend a few minutes talking to one person before moving on to meet the next one. Online dating is a common way of (34) _______ in the United States. Internet companies are now offering a service called ‘online dating assistant’ to help busy people to find a partner. An assistant helps customers to build their profiles, selects potential matches, and then sends several emails to the possible matches until the two people agree to meet face to face.