Choose the word(s) CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined word(s).
Originally the builders gave me a price of $5,000, but now they say they underestimated it, and now it’s going to be at least $8,000.
Choose the word(s) CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined word(s).
Being a wise politician, Mr. Brown tends to reserve his judgments till he knows all the facts.
Choose the word(s) CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined word(s).
Their arguments are getting pointless, so they decided to just bury the hatchet and forget what happened.
Choose the word(s) CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined word(s).
The team entered the competition with great confidence after getting sound advice from their coach.
Choose the word(s) OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined word(s).
He had never experienced such discourtesy towards the president as it occurred at the annual meeting in May.
Choose the word(s) OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined word(s).
Many animals, like the otter which uses a stone to crack mussel shells, are capable of using objects in the natural environment as rudimentary tools.
Choose the word(s) OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined word(s).
The ship went down although strenuous efforts were made to save it.
Choose the word(s) OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined word(s).
The cadet was too wet behind the ears to be in charge of such a challenging mission.
Probably no man has more effect on the daily lives of most people in the United States _____.
Everything looks very positive for the company, _____ the current investors do not default on their agreements.
_____ I'd like to help you out, I'm afraid I just haven't got any spare money at the moment.
Your store needs a bold sign that will catch the _____ of anyone walking down the street. That may help to sell more products.
People should not have children unless they are _____ to being responsible parents.
It is strongly recommended that the machine _____ everyday.
We could always do the cooking for the party ourselves, but _____ it might be easier if we got a catering service to organize everything.
Read the text and choose the best answer to fill in the blanks.
Very few of us would admit putting much trust in horoscopes and the fact that the movements of astronomical bodies to earthly occurrences affecting people's everyday lives.
We all know about the zodiac signs which reflect the position of the sun, the moon, and the planets at the moment of a man's birth and about the peculiar characteristics to them by astrologers. We say we will take these phenomena with a pinch of salt while we keep our eyes over them in every tabloid we lay our hands-on. Most frequently, we expect horoscopes to predict the future, to our optimistic mood with a piece of comforting information or to boost our ego by confirming the superlative features that we tend to attribute to our zodiacs.
However, there's no scientific evidence to the assumption that human existence is so closely with the parameters of the celestial bodies. Our curiosity in horoscopes may, then, stem our sheer fascination with the unexplained or the unpredictable as well as in the enticing insight into the future that the horoscopes offer, thus establishing the sense of our an extreme power over our own lives. An additional explanation is that humans tend to have a soft for any form of flattery, which is the fact to which astrologers and the horoscope writers seem to attach the greatest deal of weight.
Read the passage then answer the questions.
NOW FOR THE BAD NEWS: A TEENAGE TIME BOMB
They are just four, five, and six years old right now, but already they are making criminologists nervous. They are growing up, too frequently, in abusive or broken homes, with little adult supervision and few positive role models. Left to themselves, they spend much of their time hanging out on the streets or soaking up violent TV shows. By the year 2005, they will be teenagers - a group that tends to be, in the view of Northeastern University criminologist James Alan Fox, "temporary sociopaths - impulsive and immature." If they also have easy access to guns and drugs, they can be extremely dangerous.
For all the heartening news offered by recent crime statistics, there is an ominous flip side. While the crime rate is dropping for adults, it is soaring for teens. Between 1990 and 1994, the rate at which adults age 25 and older committed homicides declined 22%; yet the rate jumped 16% for youths between 14 and 17, the age group that in the early '90s supplanted 18- to 24-year-olds as the most crime-prone. And that is precisely the age group that will be booming in the next decade. There are currently 39 million children under 10 in the U.S., more than at any time since the 1950s. "This is the calm before the crime storm," says FOX. "So long as we fool ourselves in thinking that we're winning the war against crime, we may be blindsided by this bloodbath of teenage violence that is lurking in the future."
Demographics don't have to be destiny, but other social trends do little to contradict the dire predictions. Nearly all the factors that contribute to youth crime-single-parent households, child abuse, deteriorating inner-city schools - are getting worse. At the same time, the government is becoming less, not more, interested in spending money to help break the cycle of poverty and crime. All of which has led John J. Dilulio Jr., a professor of politics and public affairs at Princeton, to warn about a new generation of "super predators," youngsters who are coming of age in actual and "moral poverty," Without "the benefit of parents, teachers, coaches, and clergy to teach them right or wrong and show them unconditional love."
Predicting a generation's future crime patterns is, of course, risky; especially when outside factors (Will crack use be up or down? Will gun laws be tightened?) remain unpredictable. Michael Tonry, a professor of law and public policy at the University of Minnesota, argues that the demographic doomsayers are unduly alarmist. "There will be a slightly larger number of people relative to the overall population who are at high risk for doing bad things, so that's going to have some effect," he concedes. "But it's not going to be an apocalyptic effect." Norval Morris, professor of law and criminology at the University of Chicago, finds Dilulio's notion of super predators too simplistic: "The human-animal in young males is quite a violent animal all over the world. The people who put forth the Theory of moral poverty lack a sense of history and comparative criminology."
Yet other students of the inner city are more pessimistic. "All the basic elements that spawn teenage crime are still in place, and in many cases, the indicators are worse," says Jonathan Kozol, author of Amazing Grace, an examination of poverty in the South Bronx. "There's a dramatic increase of children in foster care, and that's a very high-risk group of kids. We're not creating new jobs, and we're not improving education to suit poor people for the jobs that exist."
Can anything defuse the demographic time bomb? Fox urges "reinvesting in children": improving schools, creating after-school programs and providing other alternatives to gangs and drugs: Dilulio, a law-and-order conservative, advocates tougher prosecution and wants to strengthen religious institutions to instill better values. Yet he opposes the Gingrich-led effort to make deep cuts in social programs. "A failure to maintain existing welfare and health commitment for kids," he says, "is to guarantee that the next wave of juvenile predators will be even worse than we're dealing with today." Dilulio urges fellow conservatives to think of Medicaid not as a health-care program but as "an anticrime policy."
(Source: Time Magazine)
The age group which commits the highest rate of crime is _____.
Kien: Were you able to pull your brother's leg?
Joe: No, he _____ right away.
Clara and Phil are discussing women and men in society.
Clara: As I see it, women often drive more carefully than men.
Phil: _____
Kate and Jackie are talking about the plan of the English club meeting next week.
Kate: Do you think Mary's coming to the English club?
Jackie: _____
A: I’m going to start learning how to play the guitar. I’m sure it will only take me a couple of months to learn.
B: You definitely _____! You’re going to need much longer than two months!
Mary: Your new hairstyle is quite attractive!
Sheila: _____. I think it makes me look 10 years older.
Peter: _____
Liam: Honestly, I find it quite challenging, but it’s exciting too.
Choose the sentence CLOSEST in meaning to the sentence given.
Upon proving that they hadn't even been in the city on the day of the robbery, the suspects were released by the police.
Choose the sentence CLOSEST in meaning to the sentence given.
Obviously, the machinery in our production line has become much too obsolete to deal with our volume of business.
Choose the sentence CLOSEST in meaning to the sentence given.
After his novel, Jude the Obscure was attacked by critics for being immoral, Thomas Hardy never wrote fiction again, but instead focused on poetry.
Thomas Hardy, who was both an author and a poet, stopped writing fiction but continued to write poetry after critics called him immoral because of his novel Jude the Obscure.
Thomas Hardy stopped writing novels when critics accused his book Jude the Obscure of being immoral, and he continued as a poet.
Jude the Obscure was such an immoral novel that critics attacked its author, Thomas Hardy, and he had to turn to poetry from writing fiction.
Critics were attacked as being immoral in Thomas Hardy’s novel Jude the Obscure, but it turned out to be his last fictional work as he only wrote poetry afterwards.
Choose the sentence CLOSEST in meaning to the sentence given.
Picasso was such a talented artist that he never seemed to find it difficult to quickly run off a painting or a sculpture, and this resulted in a huge body of work.
Choose the sentence CLOSEST in meaning to the sentence given.
Developments in the science of genetic engineering may, in the future, lead to the first human being born without an actual mother or father.
Choose the sentence that best combines this pair of sentences.
The US economy has been generating strong economic growth over the past few years. However, the wages of the average worker have actually fallen.
Choose the sentence that best combines this pair of sentences.
Mohandas K. Gandhi took over control of the Indian National Congress. Before that, the idea of an independent India had been little more than a dream.
Choose the sentence that best combines this pair of sentences.
Both Wat Phrae Kaew and Wat Arun in Bangkok are lovely temples worth visiting. Moreover, the first one contains the Emerald Buddha.
There are only two temples in Bangkok–Wat Phrae Kaew, containing the Emerald Buddha, and Wat Aran–that deserve to be visited.
Choose the sentence that best combines this pair of sentences.
Henderson, Nevada, has become a suburb of Las Vegas. During World War II, it was the place where the army had a large magnesium plant.
Of all the residential districts located on the outskirts of Las Vegas, Henderson, Nevada, is the most famous–since the army had a magnesium factory there during World War II.
Choose the sentence that best combines this pair of sentences.
Many athletes are trained to the peak of physical perfection. In addition, they are tempted to use illegal performance-enhancing drugs.
Read the passage and choose the correct answer.
(1) _____. People visit the Grand Canyon Park not to go walking and running but mainly to look at the view. (2) _____. The distance from the Skywalk to the bottom of the Grand Canyon is 1219 meters. It is a platform whose walls and floor are built of glass (3) _____. Up to 120 people are allowed to stand on it at the same time. It opened in 2007 and (4) _____ thousands of people have used it. (5) _____ to avoid scratching the grass beneath your feet. Walking onto the Skywalk makes you feel like a bird (6) _____.
Choose the correct answer for (1).
Choose the correct answer for (2).
Choose the correct answer for (3).
Choose the correct answer for (4).
Choose the correct answer for (5).
Choose the correct answer for (6).
Anna and Jessi both wanted to master Chinese, but they took different approaches. Anna learned step by step, practiced daily, and now confidently speaks with native speakers. Jessi, on the other hand, took an intensive course but struggled to maintain her knowledge and couldn’t speak as fluently as Anna.
Which idiom can be used to describe this situation?
Our marketing team developed a campaign that far exceeded expectations, bringing in record sales and a lot of new customers. Their creative approach solved problems nobody had addressed before.
Which idiom best describes their situation?
A team of scientists is working together to research a cure for a rare disease. Each member brings their expertise to the table, collaborating on experiments, data collection, and analysis.
What best describes their situation?
After joining the company as a software developer, Emma quickly adapted to the team’s workflow and started contributing to the work right away. Her first project was completed ahead of schedule, impressing her colleagues with how fast she got up to speed.
Which idiom best describes her?
Write an academic essay of about 250 words on the following topic.
In many parts of the world, children and teenagers are spending more and more of their time indoors. What are the causes and how it could be solved?
Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.