Choose the word whose underlined part is pronounced differently from that of the others.
epic
Choose the word which has the underlined part pronounced differently from the others.
geared
Choose the word whose underlined part is pronounced differently from that of the others.
anchor
Choose the word whose underlined part is pronounced differently from that of the others.
exhaust
Choose the word whose underlined part is pronounced differently from that of the others.
hook
Choose the word whose stress is placed differently from that of the others.
Choose the word whose stress is placed differently from that of the others.
Choose the word whose stress is placed differently from that of the others.
Choose the word whose stress is placed differently from that of the others.
Choose the word whose stress is placed differently from that of the others.
Though smaller than our solar system, a quasar, which looks like an ordinary star, emits more light _____ galaxy.
Cooks should remember that some raw foods are very _____ and should be refrigerated or chilled until ready to be eaten or cooked.
_____ higher ticket prices this year, attendance at area theaters remains above average.
For the new museum visitor _____ for the veteran museum-goer, the Museum Highlights Tour offers an excellent opportunity to see the most popular exhibits.
_____ his brother's generous support, he _____ in such a high social position nowadays.
As I was passing their house, I _____ John and Marie.
You will spend at least 6 months working abroad _____ you can find out how things operate overseas.
Jeremy asked me _____ book entitled "The Wuthering Heights."
I'd like to _____ the crossword puzzle in the newspaper every day.
Seldom _____ games been of practical use in playing real games.
Read the text below and look carefully at each line. If a sentence is correct, type "0" on the answer field. If a sentence has a mistake, write the mistake on the answer field.
At Ace, you will find that help is always available.
The mistake in this sentence is:
Either over the phone or face-to-face if you will prefer to go in and chat with the advisors in any of our 180 retail outlets.
The mistake in this sentence is:
If you're not sure which of our superb systems is best to choose, try our unique FREE video.
The mistake in this sentence is:
This video "Help and advice you on choosing the right PC" is a practical guide which takes you through the options at your own pace.
The mistake in this sentence is:
And naturally, since it's from Ace, everything is being explained in straightforward, non-technical terms.
The mistake in this sentence is:
Ace's superb customer care package includes with after-sales support to make sure you know everything about your new PC.
The mistake in this sentence is:
There's a whole such team of people waiting to help you over the phone on our customer helpline.
The mistake in this sentence is:
They will guide for you through the setting-up process.
The mistake in this sentence is:
They are happy as to answer your queries.
The mistake in this sentence is:
Our business is as much about people as are computers.
The mistake in this sentence is:
We want you to be completely happy with your PC and with our service - however so much it takes.
The mistake in this sentence:
Once you are an Ace customer, we want you to stay in that way.
The mistake in this sentence:
Complete the sentences with the correct form of the words in the brackets.
Power napping is an (effect) strategy. It involves taking an intense sleep which dramatically improves (alert) , making it especially useful for those with a demanding schedule such as mothers of babies and traveling business (execute) . However, the conditions must be right and practice is required to (maximum) the effects. To prevent (orientate) on awakening, power naps should last about 25 minutes. Falling asleep so quickly takes practice, but is, in fact, a habit which is (compare) easy to acquire. Initially, it is more important to relax for a while than actually fall asleep, and power napping is not a good idea if you find it difficult to wake up at the (design) time. Finally, power napping should not be confused with the kind of dozing that can (company) a sensation of overwhelming sleepiness during the day, which simply represents the (despair) experienced in the attempt to compensate for a poor sleep routine.
Read the extract from a book about behavior at work and choose the correct answer for each question.
The rules for work are changing. We’re being judged by a new yardstick: not just by how smart we are, or by our training and expertise, but also by how well we handle ourselves and each other. This yardstick is increasingly applied in choosing who will be hired and who will not, who will be let go and who retained, who passed over, and who promoted. The new rules predict who is most likely to become a star performer and who is most prone to derailing. And, no matter what field we work in currently, they measure the traits that are crucial to our marketability for future jobs. These rules have little to do with what we were told was important in school; academic abilities are largely irrelevant to this standard. The new measure takes for granted having enough intellectual ability and technical know-how to do our jobs; it focuses instead on personal qualities, such as initiative and empathy, adaptability, and persuasiveness.
Talked about loosely for decades under a variety of names, from “character” and “personality” to “soft skills” and “competence”, there is, at last, a more precise understanding of these human talents, and a new name for them: emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is generally defined as the ability to monitor and regulate one’s own and others' feelings, and to use feelings to guide thought and action. Emotional intelligence in work life comprises five basic elements: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and adeptness in relationships. It does not mean merely “being nice”. At strategic moments it may demand not being nice but rather, for example, bluntly confronting someone with the uncomfortable truth. Nor does emotional intelligence mean giving free rein to feelings “letting it all hang out”. Rather, it means managing feelings so that they are expressed appropriately and effectively, enabling people to work together smoothly toward their goal.
More and more companies are seeing that encouraging emotional intelligence skills is a vital component of any organization’s management philosophy. And the more complex the job, the more emotional intelligence matters if only because a deficiency in these abilities can hinder the use of whatever technical expertise or intellect a person may have. To be sure, many people have risen to the top despite flaws in emotional intelligence, but as work becomes more complex and collaborative, companies where people work together best have a competitive edge. In the new workplace, with its emphasis on flexibility, teams, and strong customer orientation, this crucial set of emotional competencies is becoming increasingly essential for excellence in every job and in every part of the world.
The good news is that emotional intelligence can be learned. Studies that have tracked people’s level of emotional intelligence through the years show that people get better and better in these capabilities as they grow more adept at handling their own emotions and impulses, motivating themselves, and honing their empathy and social adroitness. There is an old-fashioned word for this: maturity. And although emotional intelligence is no magic bullet, and no guarantee of more market share or a healthier bottom line, if the human ingredient is ignored, then nothing else works as well as it might.
However, simply being high in emotional intelligence does not guarantee a person will have emotional skills that matter for work. For example, a person may be highly sensitive to others’ feelings, and yet not have learned the skills based on empathy that translate into superior customer service, top-flight coaching, or the ability to bring together a diverse work team.
What changes with regard to work does the writer mention in the first paragraph?
The writer says that the term "emotional intelligence" _____.
According to the writer, emotional intelligence does NOT involve _____.
According to the writer, why is emotional intelligence seen as vital?
What does the writer say about emotional intelligence in the fourth paragraph?
The writer concludes in the final paragraph that emotional intelligence _____.
Read an extract from a magazine article. Six paragraphs have been removed from the extract. Choose the paragraphs that fit each gap. There is one extra paragraph which you don't need to use.
A. The secret of Spider-Man's success was, in part, a depth of characterization that readers had never before seen in such a protagonist. There isn't bam-crash-boom in every panel of a Spider-Man comic strip. Rather, the reader becomes privy to the hero's inner thoughts about his troubled life.
B. What’s more, the name was a disaster. Didn’t Stan realize that people hate spiders? But Stan couldn’t get Spider-Man out of his head. That’s when he remembered that final issue of Amazing he was doing. He thought that no one would much care about what went into the last issue.
C. As the man responsible for creating not only this troubled character but also The Silver Surfer and many more, Stan Lee managed to transform the much-maligned comic art form into a multi-million-dollar industry and turn Marvel Comics into a household name.
D. Another innovation which this creative genius brought to comic books was one which enhanced the reader’s grasp of the superhero’s subjective viewpoint – the thought bubble.
E. Marvel comics had just one co-book title that didn’t feature superheroes. Stan was producing the title, called Amazing Fantasy, which featured all sorts of brief, far-out comic strips. Stan loved it but sales were disappointing, so it was decided that he would do one last issue and then let it rest in peace.
F. The new hero would also be a teenager, with all the problems, hang-ups, and angst that go with adolescence. He’d be a loser in the romance department. Except for his superpower, he’d be the quintessential hard-luck kid.
H. As the man responsible for creating not only this troubled character but also The Silver Surfer and many more, Stan Lee managed to transform the much-maligned comic art form into a multi-million-dollar industry and turn Marvel Comics into a household name.
K. Stan then passed the assignment to Steve Dinko, whose toned-down, the highly-stylized way of drawing wounds, he thought, be perfect for Spider-Man. And he was right. Steve did a brilliant job of bringing the character to life. So they finished the comic strip and put it in that last edition, even featuring their new hero on the cover.
Spider-Man, the brainchild of writer Stan Lee, has been one of the world's most popular comic book characters since first climbed his way up a wall in 1962. Superman may be able to fly, and Batman may have neat gadgets, but Spider-Man has always been the superhero with style. Whether he's swinging from a high-rise office block or just trying to win his girl's heart, there's always been something irresistible about him, a quality which other comic book strongmen have never matched.
Indeed, it's a point made in a new book about the Marvel Comic Company and the characters it produced. He was neurotic, compulsive, and profoundly skeptical about the idea of becoming a costumed savior. His contemporaries, the Fantastic Four, argued with each other, and both The Hulk and Thor had problems with their alter ego, but Spider-Man alone struggled with himself.
Born in New York in 1922, he joined the company when he was seventeen, working his way up through the firm until he was writing many of the titles. It wasn't until the early 1960s, however, that he gained the freedom to create many of the characters who would make his name. Stan recalls that idea gives birth to one of the world's greatest superheroes.
For months, Stan had been toying with the notion of a new superhero, one who would be more realistic than most, despite his colorful super-power. He has confessed that he'd dreamt up the idea from watching a fly on the wall while he'd been typing. He took the idea to his boss, the publisher Martin Goodman, telling him that he wanted a feature hero whose main power was that he could stick to walls and ceilings.
Stan waited for the enthusiastic reaction, for a hearty pat on the back and robust: "Go for it!" But it didn't come. On the contrary, he was told that he was describing a comedy character, not a hero. Heroes are too busy fighting evil to slow down the stories with personal stuff.
To get it out of his system, Stan gave famed Marvel artist Jack Kirby his Spider-Man plot and asked him to illustrate it. But when Stan saw that Jack was drawing the main character as a powerful-looking, handsome, self-confident hero, he took him off the project. Jack didn't mind after all, Spider-Man wasn't exactly the company's top character. Then they just forgot about it. But, sometime later, when sales figures came in, they showed that Spider-Man had been a smash success, perhaps the best seller of the decade! Stan laughs when he recalls Martin Goodman's priceless reaction: "Stan, remember that Spider-Man idea that I like so much? Why don't we turn it into a series?" Spider-Man went on to be one of the most successful characters in comic book history.
Read the text and choose the best answer to fill in the blanks.
After a variety of jobs, Jerome Flynn became successful with fellow actor Robson Green in the TV series Soldier, Soldier, and then when they up as singers in 1995, they had three number one hits. 'It was a whirlwind, fantasy time,' says Jerome. 'We made the records because we quite the money and it paid off. It was a lot of fun, but you can become in the pop world. It's addictive, and once you're a pop star, people tend to put you on a pedestal. It was so mad we had to get out while the going was good. Now money doesn't mean so much, although it me to leave my career behind for a while. But Robson wanted to go back to acting and has made quite a success of it. I'd like to work with him again one day.'
Read the text and choose the best answer to fill in the blanks.
A few days ago, I was my new sailing gear ready for my first long trip, around the coast of Britain on the sailing ship Hirta. I watched a TV report of some fellow yachtsmen crossing the finishing off a place called Ushant to complete a record round-the-world voyage. The sea was rough, the wind looked fierce and, although they were putting a brave on it, the winning yachtsmen looked exhausted. What I was seeing on the television screen was not my of yachting. I felt smug knowing I had this marvelous opportunity to drift gently around Britain learning to sail, and that I would be steering clear of the horrors of ocean sailing. Casually I looked up Ushant on the map. I went quite cold: Ushant was 32 kilometers further south than the starting point for my great journey on the Hirta.
Read the text and think of the word which best fits each gap. Use only ONE word in each gap.
Expeditions into the wild are very demanding, and candidates have to show that they can fend for themselves in rugged countries. They have divided teams and put through a series of physical tests a period of 36 hours. These normally following a route using a map and compass, crossing a river by rope, abseiling, making a raft, and crossing a lake or river on it. Even worse, candidates also have to lead a blindfolded companion through a series of obstacles, measure an animal a dark room, or possibly weigh a snake, cook food on a campfire, or deal a midnight emergency. Because there may be long evenings with much to do in a remote part of the world, team must also invent and act out a short entertainment for other teams to watch. All the candidates are anonymous and are impartially assessed by an experienced panel of judges. Successful candidates are those can meet a challenge happily, who show a potential for leadership, courage, patience, and all friendliness. Usually, about one-third of those who go on a selection weekend are chosen, but once it's over most people say they enjoyed the experience.
Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.
For me, her skill as a dancer was the most impressive. (HOW)
Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.
We were able to finish the job only because Mike helped us. (WITHOUT)
Complete the second sentence using the word given that has the same meaning to the first.
Joe suggested that we should have dinner out. (HAVING)
Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.
You can't do it any other ways. (THERE'S)
Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.
Not many people buy that particular product these days. (DEMAND)
Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.
It is impossible to predict how long it will take to do this job. (TELLING)
Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.
When he was at his most successful, the President has enormous influence. (HEIGHT)
Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.
Sally left the room a few seconds before James walked in. (NO SOONER)