Choose the word that differs from the rest in the position of the main stress.
Choose the word that differs from the rest in the position of the main stress.
Choose the word which has the underlined part pronounced differently from the others.
symbiosis
rivalry
myriad
viability
Choose the word which has the underlined part pronounced differently from the others.
theory
thermometer
smoothie
apathetic
Read the following passage and choose the best answer for each blank.
The changing earth
Although the earth was formed about 4,500 million years ago, human beings have it for less than half a million years. Within this time, population has increased hugely and people have had a vast impact upon the earth. They have long been able to put the of nature to use. Now, with modern technology, they have the power to the balance of life on Earth.
Reports back from the first astronauts helped dispel the dangerous that the world had no boundaries and had limitless resources. Moreover, ecologists have shown that all forms of life on earth are interconnected, so it that all human activity has an effect on the natural environment.
In recent years, people have been putting the environment under stress. As a result, certain raw materials such as timber, water and minerals are beginning to short. Pollution and the of waste are already critical issues, and the state of the environment is fast becoming the most pressing problem us all. The way we respond to the challenge will have a effect on the earth and its life support systems.
However, despite all these threats there are signs. Over the past few decades, the growth in population has been more than matched by food production, indicating that we should be able to feed ourselves for some time yet.
Choose the word(s) CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined word(s).
As they witnessed the clumsy waiter spill a tray of drinks, they had to keep a straight face to avoid embarrassing him further.
Choose the word(s) CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined word(s).
A number of films were not shown to the public because of government censorship.
Last weekend, _____ nothing to watch on television, we sang karaoke together.
Grace couldn't help feeling _____ about missing the championships because of her injury.
Had ______ my dad, I would never have started playing tennis in the first place.
After the theft of his car, he put in an insurance ______ for $3.000.
In preparation for her upcoming trip to Europe, Samantha diligently _____ a portion of her paycheck each month, building a travel fund for a worry-free exploration.
Vaccinating 80% of the population could ______ the progression of the contagious disease.
In the middle of the blue river ______.
He was impressed by the _____ teacup displayed in the antique shop.
_____, 70 percent alcohol is more effective than 100 percent alcohol.
The brand became famous for its lightweight cotton polo shirts bearing the _____ of a crocodile - a nickname given to Lacoste during his playing days.
Under the influence of his persuasive friends, he couldn't help but _____, making decisions that weren't truly his own.
As the two seminars are running _____; Peter will have to make a choice on which one to attend.
Although the language was _____ and considered to be inferior to standard English, Robert Burns wrote his love poetry in the language of the Scots.
That teacher was criticized for using _____ punishments for even the smallest mistakes of students.
Choose the word(s) OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined word(s).
If you text message while you are driving, you are being criminally negligent.
Choose the word(s) OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined word(s).
We run a very tight ship here, and we expect all our employees to be at their desks by eight o'clock and take good care of their own business.
Read the following passage and complete the tasks.
THE SEARCH FOR WATER
The assertion that water has always been the essence of life is nothing new. Water comes in many forms: spring water, sea and river water, rainwater, and fog and dew water. Yet water is becoming scarce and this scarcity is becoming a very real worry for governments all around the world. The reality is that one of the main obstacles to the economic development of a particular country is its lack of an adequate supply of fresh water. Current figures show that an inhabitant of a wealthy, modern town consumes 100-400 liters of water daily. In some developing countries the amount of water consumed does not exceed 20-30 liters per day. Rich or poor, annual water consumption has continued to grow, increasing fourfold over the last 50 years.
The world’s freshwater supplies are drawn from a number of sources. The largest cache of the estimated 35 million km3 freshwater reserve is located in glaciers and snow. The amount contained in these ‘storehouses’ has been estimated to be around 24 million km3. Groundwater is also a big contributor to the world’s fresh water supplies amounting to an estimated 10.5 million km3. Considering that the total volume of water, salt and fresh, is estimated to be around 400 million km3 it can be clearly seen that the amount of fresh water available in the world is only the proverbial 'drop in the bucket'. Artesian wells, rivers and lakes only account for about 0.1 and 0.5 million km3 respectively, all of which include atmospheric precipitation such as rain and snow.
Since water is such an important commodity, various attempts to acquire stores of it have been tried with varying degrees of success. The question of what are the alternative water sources available to us today is not an easy one to answer but is certainly worthy of our best efforts to find one. One such area of interest has been desalination – the turning of salt water into drinkable water. As there is much more salt water on the earth than dry land, the idea of using desalinated seawater seems a logical one. However, some estimates put the annual quantity of desalinated water at only around ten cubic kilometers – a tiny amount given the amount of sea water available. In parts of Senegal, for example, the greenhouse effect has been one way to desalinate seawater whereby the salt in the water is separated from the water through a process of evaporation. As part of the process, water vapour forms on large panes of glass at outside air temperature and is transported via gravity into drums. This method yields only a few cubic meters per day of fresh water but is surprisingly energy efficient. In larger-scale production, however, the energy efficiency plummets. The best systems burn at least a tonne of fossil fuel to produce approximately one hundred cubic meters of fresh water. This amounts to almost $ 1 per cubic meter – a considerable cost.
Although there are several different areas from which water can be sourced, paradoxically the most extensive are the most difficult to tap. The atmosphere, for example, contains vast amounts of freshwater composed of 2% condensed water in the form of clouds and 98% water vapour. The vastness of this water source is comparable to the renewable liquid water resources of all inhabited lands. The amounts are easy to calculate, but being able and knowing how to economically obtain this water in liquid form is most challenging. One approach in drawing water from the atmosphere is fog nets. Places such as the coastal deserts of West Africa and areas of Chile and Peru have favourable condensation conditions. In these areas, ocean humidity condenses in the form of fog on the mid-range mountains (over 500m). This fog composed of droplets of suspended water can be collected in nets. In the 1960s, a University in Northern Chile conducted the first major experiments with fog nets. Drawing on the knowledge gained from these experiments, further testing was done which culminated in one village using fog nets to yield a healthy daily average of 11,000 litres of water. On a smaller scale, fog-collecting nets have recently been used in the Canary Islands and Namibia.
Unfortunately, due to its need for a combination of several factors, fog is not readily available. Dew however appears far more frequently and is less subject to the constraints of climate and geography. In order for dew to form there needs to be some humidity in the air and a reasonably clear sky. Many hot areas of countries that suffer from a lack of water such as the Sahel region of Northern Africa for example, experience significant quantities of dew. When the temperature is lowered over a short space of time by ten degrees or so, the water-harvesting possibilities from the air become remarkable. Each cubic meter of air can yield ten grams of water - significant drops in air temperature make for greater yields. Unlike fog, dew formation can occur even in a relatively dry atmosphere, such as a desert. All it takes is for the right mix of temperatures between the earth and the air to combine and dew formation occurs.
Glaciers, rivers, artesian wells, and groundwater _____.
Why does the writer refer to the proverbial 'drop in the bucket' in the second paragraph?
Small-scale ‘greenhouse effect’ desalination _____.
As a method of obtaining fresh water, fog _____.
It can be inferred from the text that if the sky is cloudy, _____.
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
Six paragraphs have been removed from the extract of an article. Choose from the paragraphs A-G the one which fits each gap (1-6). Write the correct letter next to each paragraph. There is ONE extra paragraph which you do not need to use.
Missing paragraphs
A. He is confident that, if done properly, this combination of tourism and conservation can be 'a win-win situation'. 'People have a unique experience while contributing to conservation directly. Local people and habitats benefit through job creation, research and an alternative income. Local wildlife benefits from our work."
B. While there is indeed much to learn from many species not yet known to science, it's the already opened texts that attract the majority of us, however. And we are attracted in ever increasing numbers.
C. As people are able to travel to more extreme places in search of the ultimate wildlife experience, it's worth remembering that you don't have to go to the ends of the earth to catch rewarding glimpses of animals. Indeed, some of the best wildlife-watching opportunities are on our doorstep.
D. This growth has been stimulated by the efforts of conservation groups and natural history documentaries. Greater awareness of the planet has led to an increased demand for wildlife tours or the addition of a wildlife-watching component to traditional holidays. People want to discover nature at first-hand for themselves not just on a screen.
E. Despite being an important part of the population there, they have largely been excluded from the benefits brought to the region by tourism. This initiative is a concerted effort to enable them to take up jobs and run programmes themselves.
F. Earthwatch is a non-profit international environmental group that does just that. 'Participation in an Earthwatch project is a positive alternative to wildlife-watching expeditions, as we offer members of the public the opportunity to be on the front line of conservation,' says Claudia Eckardt, Earthwatch programme manager.
G. It is a term which is overused, but the principle behind it undoubtedly offers hope for the future of many endangered species, as money from tourism directly funds conservation work. It also extends to the consideration of the interests of people living in the places that tourists visit.
Close encounters of the wild kind
The rise of wildlife-watching experiences.
Wildlife observation has always proved inspirational for humans, it led Charles Darwin to provide us with a better understanding of how we evolved and it has inspired such everyday innovations as Velcro. US author Peter Matthiessen wrote: ‘The variety of life in nature can be compared to a vast library of unread books, and the plundering of nature is comparable to the random discarding of whole volumes without having opened them and learned from them’.
‘What is interesting is how much people are willing to pay to be in a wilderness environment’, says Julian Matthews, director of Discovery Initiatives, a company which takes people on small-group trips to more than 35 countries. It’s still a small part of the tourism industry but it’s undoubtedly expanding. There are definitely more and more people seeking wildlife experiences now’.
Matthews recognizes the contribution that television has made to our knowledge of nature, but he says ‘there’s no way to compare seeing an animal in the wild with watching one on TV. While a filmmaker may spend six months shooting an animal and will get closer to it than you ever will, there’s no greater pleasure than seeing an animal in its own environment. On film, you’re only getting the visuals and the sound. As impressive as they may be, it’s not the real thing.’ And the good thing is that tourists can now watch wildlife ‘live’ while helping to protect it – a concept that comes under the broad label of ‘ecotourism’.
In practice, this means that many tour operators, guided by ethical policies, now use the services of local communities, train local guides and have close ties to conservation projects. Tour operator Rekero, for example, has established its own school – the Koyiaki Guide School and Wilderness Camp – for Maasai people in Kenya.
Conservation organizations have also realized that tourism can help educate people and provide a valuable source of revenue and even manpower. The World Wildlife Fund, for example, runs trips that give donors the chance to see for themselves how their financial aid is assisting conservation projects in the field, and some organizations even allow tourists to take part in research and conservation.
Similarly, Biosphere Expeditions takes about 200 people every year on what its field operations director, Dr Matthias Hammer, calls an ‘adventure with a conscience’. Volunteers can visit six destinations around the world and take part in various activities including snow leopard, wolf and bear surveys and whale and dolphin research.
Of course, going in search of wildlife doesn’t always mean you will find it. That sightings of animals in large wild areas don’t come automatically is a fact of life. Although potentially frustrating, it makes sightings all the more rewarding when they are made. And the opportunity to do something to help both the environment and local people can only add to the experience.
You are going to read about the human mind. Write the correct letter (A-E) in each blank. Some may be chosen more than once.
Picture this ... with your mind's eye
Trying to understand and cope with life, we impose our own frameworks on it and represent information in different symbolic forms in our mind, writes Jonathan Hancock.
A. Think of the mental maps you use to find your way around the places you live and work. Which way up do you picture towns and cities you know well? Which details are highlighted, which ones blurred? Just as the map of London used by passengers on the Underground is different from the one used by drivers above ground, so your mental framework differs from that of other people. We also use frameworks to organise more abstract information. Many people say that they can visualise the position of key passages in books or documents. Mention a point made by the author, and they can recall and respond to it by picturing it in relation to other key points within the larger framework they see in their mind's eye. On a chaotic-looking desk, it is often possible to see a mental picture of where the key pieces of paper are and find a particular document in seconds.
B. We all have our own natural strategies for structuring information, for altering and re-arranging it in our mind's eye. You can take control of your thinking by increasing your control of the mental frameworks you create. Since Ancient Roman times, a specific framing technique has been used to improve memory and boost clarity of thought. The concept is simple: you design an empty framework, based on the shape of a building you know well, and get used to moving around its rooms and hallways in your mind. Whenever you have information to remember, you place it in this 'virtual storehouse'. Whatever it is you are learning words, numbers, names, jobs, ideas - you invent pictorial clues to represent each one. The mind prefers images to abstract ideas, and can retain vast numbers of visual clues. Just as advertisers bring concepts to life with key images, you highlight the important points in a batch of information and assign each of them an illustration.
C. Memory and place are closely linked. Have you ever walked upstairs, forgotten what you went for, but remembered when you returned to where you were standing when you first had the thought? When you are trying to learn new information, it makes sense to use the mind's natural tendencies. In your mind, you return to the imaginary rooms in your 'virtual storehouse', and rediscover the images you left there. Cicero, perhaps the greatest orator in history, is reputed to have used this technique to recall complex legal arguments, addressing the Roman Senate from memory for days on end. You can use it to remember all the employees in your new workplace, the jobs you have to do in a day, month or year, subject headings for a complex piece of work, or the facts you need to have at your fingertips under pressurized circumstances.
D. The system of combining images and ideas works so well because it involves 'global thinking', bringing together the two 'sides' of your brain. The left side governs logic, words, numbers, patterns and structured thought - the frameworks you build and the right side works on - random thoughts, pictures, daydreams - the memorable imagery you fill them with. The fearless, imaginative creativity of the child combines with the patterning, prioritising, structured thinking of the adult. The memory is activated with colours and feelings, as you create weird, funny, exciting, surreal scenes; and the information is kept under control by the organised frameworks you design. Imagination is the key. You enter a new dimension, dealing with information in a form that suits the way the mind works. In this accessible form, huge amounts of data can be carried around with you. You never again have to search around for an address book, diary or telephone number on a scrap of paper. Your memory becomes a key part of your success, rather than the thing you curse as the cause of your failure.
E. Bringing information into the field of your imagination helps you to explore it in greater depth and from different angles. Storing it in the frameworks of your mind allows you to pick out key details but also to see the big picture. You can use your trained memory to organise your life: to see the day-to-day facts and figures, names, times and dates, but also to keep in touch with your long-term goals. By understanding the way your mind works, you can make yourself memorable to others. Give your thoughts a shape and structure that can be grasped and others will remember what you have to say. You can take your imaginative grasp of the world to a new level and, by making the most of mental frames, you can put the information you need at your disposal more readily.
Which section mentions the following?
things that you will not need if you adopt a certain mental technique
using an image of a familiar place to help you remember things
being able to think about both particular points and general points
something which appears to be disorganised
annoyance at your inability to remember things
bearing in mind what you want to achieve in the future
an example of an industry in which people use pictures effectively
an everyday example of failure to keep information in the mind
information that it is essential to recall in certain situations
things that come into your mind in an illogical sequence
Fill in each blank with one best word.
The history of the cinema
In Britain, the cinema was, without a doubt, the most important form of public commercial entertainment of the twentieth century. Until its popularity was eclipsed in the 1950s by television, cinema enjoyed a period of some fifty years during which its appeal far exceeded of sport or indeed any other commercial activity.
The popularity of the cinema at that time is difficult to explain: it was accessible, glamorous, and cheap. At height, between 1920 and 1950, a very small sum of money could guarantee a good seat in the cinema. In the 1920s, the usual venue was a small, neighborhood hall. The audience was drawn from the local area, and could on some occasions be rather noisy. By the end of the 1930s, , the venue was more likely to be in one of the larger cinemas known as 'picture palaces', which were springing everywhere in city centers to accommodate audiences of over two thousand people. At these establishments, the audiences were expected to be well-behaved; the performances were organized just like military operations, with uniformed staff on to control the queues and usherettes to direct seating .
These large cinemas attracted a very mixed audience, although older people were less likely to be cinema-goers than adolescents. As might be expected, people in rural areas were immersed in the cinema than were people in towns, simply of the greater provision of cinemas in urban areas.
Complete the sentence by changing the form of the word in capitals.
We've all felt anger at some time, whether as a faint annoyance or blind rage. Anger is normal, sometimes useful human emotion, but uncontrolled (BURST) of temper can be destructive. People who give free rein to their anger, regardless of the (OFFEND) this may cause, haven't learned to express themselves (CONSTRUCT) says Martin Smolik, who runs weekend residential courses in anger management. "It is important to maintain your (COMPOSE) and put your case in an assertive, not aggressive manner without hurting others. Being assertive doesn't mean being (PUSH) or demanding; it means being respectful of yourself and other people." He adds that people who are easily angered are (TOLERATE) of frustration, inconvenience, or irritation and, not surprisingly find relating to other people very difficult. But what causes people to behave like this? It seems there is evidence to support the idea that some children may be born (IRRITATE) and prone to anger and this tendency is sometimes apparent from a very early age. However, research also suggests that a person's family (GROUND) may have an influence. Very often, people who are (TEMPER) and often find it difficult to express their emotions come from (ORGANIZE) and disruptive families.
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first one. You must use between three and eight words, including the word given. DO NOT change this word.
Although this staff seems to be clever, he fails to grasp the overall situation due to his excessive focus on trivial aspects. (WOOD)
=> Clever though this staff seems for the trees.
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first one. You must use between three and eight words, including the word given. DO NOT change this word.
It's important to be well-prepared for an interview because if you make a mistake, you may not get the job. (COST)
=> A mistake in an interview may so it is important to be well-prepared.
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first one. You must use between three and eight words, including the word given. DO NOT change this word.
Sam tried extremely hard to convince her, but it was no use. (BRING)
=> Hard though Sam tried, he could .
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first one. You must use between three and eight words, including the word given. DO NOT change this word.
There is no situation in which we will allow the management to lower wages. (UNDER)
=> the management to lower wages.
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first one. You must use between three and eight words, including the word given. DO NOT change this word.
Suffering numerous setbacks, the political candidate decided to withdraw from the election. (THROW)
=> The political candidate decided to towel after facing multiple challenges in the election.
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
People know that colorful T-shirts were popular during the 1960s.
=> Colorful T-shirts ...........
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
He harbors resentment about not attending university.
=> He has a chip ..............
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
The minister gave no precise figures about the casualties.
=> The minister didn't go ...........
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
You could be arrested for not giving a breath sample to the police.
=> Refusal ...........
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
We would prefer our children not to be glued to screens during dinner time.
=> We would rather ...........
Write a paragraph of approximately 140 words to answer the following question.
With the rise of telecommuting, more and more people are working from home instead of in traditional office environments. Do you think this shift is beneficial or detrimental to professional development?