Choose the word which has the underlined part pronounced differently from the others.
cement
comment
lament
moment
Choose the word which has the underlined part pronounced differently from the others.
exhalation
exacerbation
execution
excavation
Choose the word that differs from the rest in the position of the main stress.
sidestep
appraise
protest
trespass
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.
My neighbor is _____; he is always showing that he never cares about his bad behavior.
Employees who have a _____ are encouraged to discuss it with the management.
He was arrested because he answered to the description of the _____ man.
Salaries have not _____ inflation in the last few years.
His comments _____ little or no relation to the facts and the figures of the case.
I wish you'd do the accounts. I don't have _____ for numbers.
Nathalie seems very tough at work. She's a completely different person at home _____.
Didn't you _____ that Martha wasn't with Ashley?
David was deported on account of his expired visa. He _____ it renewed.
Mr. Peter is the big _____ in the company as he has just been promoted to the position of Managing Director.
We stood by the door, hoping for a glimpse, and _____ everyone had been waiting for.
The needs of gifted children in schools have long been _____ neglected.
Six novels a year, you say? He's certainly a _____ writer.
With this type of insurance, you're buying _____ of mind.
I have just taken a Test of English as a Foreign Language or TOEFL _____ short.
Complete the sentence by changing the form of the word in capitals.
Tourism, holidaymaking and travel are these days more significant social phenomena than most (COMMENT) have considered. Tourism is a leisure activity which (SUPPOSE) its opposite namely regulated or organized work. It is one manifestation of how work and leisure are organized as separate and regulated spheres of social practice in modern societies. Indeed, acting as a tourist is one of the defining characteristics of being modern and the popular (CONCEIVE) of tourism is that it is organized within particular places and occurs for (REGULAR) periods of time. Tourist relationships arise from a movement of people to, and their stay in, various destinations. This (INSTRUMENT) involves some movement, that is the journey and a period of stay in a new place or places. 'The journey and the stay' are by definition outside the normal places of residence and work and are of a short-term and temporary (UNNATURAL) , and there is a clear intention to return 'home' within a relatively short period of time.
A (SUBSTANCE) proportion of the population of modern societies engages in such tourist practices new socialized forms of provision have developed in order to cope with the mass character of the gazes of tourists as opposed to the individual character of travel. Places are chosen to be visited and be gazed upon because there is an anticipation especially through daydreaming and (FANTASIA) of intense pleasures, either on a different scale or involving different senses from those (CUSTOM) encountered. Such anticipation is constructed and sustained through a variety of non-tourist practices such as film, TV, literature, magazine, records and videos which construct and (FORCE) this daydreaming.
Fill each of the following blanks with ONE suitable word.
along the way, Black Friday made the giant leap from congested streets and crowded stores to fevered shoppers fist-fighting over parking spaces and pepper-spraying each other as they tussle the last Tickle Me Elmo. When did Black Friday become the frenzy, over-the-top shopping event it is today?
That would be in the 2000s when Black Friday was officially designated the biggest shopping day of the year. Until then, that had gone to the Saturday before Christmas. Yet as more and more retailers started touting "can't miss" post-Thanksgiving sales and the Black Friday discounts grew deeper and deeper, American consumers could no longer the pull of this magical shopping day.
Retailers may spend an year planning their Black Friday sales. They use the day as an opportunity to offer rock- prices on overstock inventory and to offer doorbusters and discounts on seasonal items, such as holiday decorations and typical holiday gifts. Retailers also offer significant discounts on big-ticket items and top-selling brands of TVs, smart devices, and other electronics, luring customers in the hope that inside, they will purchase higher-margin goods. The contents of Black Friday advertisements are often so anticipated that retailers go to great to ensure that they don't leak out publically beforehand.
Read the text and choose the best answer to fill in the blanks.
TECHNOLOGY
When faced with some new and possibly bewildering technological change, most people react in one of two . They either recoil from anything new, claiming that it is unnecessary or too complicated or that it somehow makes life less than . Or they learn to to the new invention, and eventually how they could possibly have existed without it. Take computers as an example. For many of us, they still represent a to our freedom and give us a frightening sense of a future in which all will be taken by machines. This may be because they seem mysterious, and difficult to understand. Ask most people what you can use a home computer for, and you usually get answers about how 'they give you information'. In fact, even those of us who are familiar with computers, and use them in our daily work, have very little idea of how they work. But it does not take long to learn how to operate a business program, even if things occasionally go wrong for no apparent reason. Presumably much the same happened when the telephone and the television became . What seems to alarm most people is the speed of technological change, rather than the change itself. And the that are made to new technology may well have a point to them since change is not always an improvement. As discover during power cuts, there is a lot to be said for the oil lamp, the coal fire, and forms of entertainment, such as books or board games, that don't have to be into work.
Read the following passage and complete the tasks.
Climate Change: Instant Expert
A. Climate change is with us. A decade ago, it was conjecture. Now the future is unfolding before our eyes. Canada's Inuit see it in disappearing Arctic ice and permafrost. The shantytown dwellers of Latin America and Southern Asia see it in lethal storms and floods. Europeans see it in disappearing glaciers, forest fires and fatal heat waves. Scientists see it in tree rings, ancient coral and bubbles trapped in ice cores. These reveal that the world has not been as warm as it is now for a millennium or more. The three warmest years on record have all occurred since 1998; 19 of the warmest 20 since 1980. And Earth has probably never warmed as fast as in the past 30 years a period when natural influences on global temperatures, such as solar cycles and volcanoes should have cooled us down.
B. Climatologists reporting for the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) say we are seeing global warming caused by human activities. People are causing the change by burning nature's vast stores of coal, oil and natural gas. This releases billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) every year, although the changes may actually have started with the dawn of agriculture, say some scientists. The physics of the "greenhouse effect" has been a matter of scientific fact for a century. CO2 is a greenhouse gas that traps the Sun's radiation within the troposphere, the lower atmosphere. It has accumulated along with other manmade greenhouse gases, such as methane and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Some studies suggest that cosmic rays may also be involved in warming.
C. If current trends continue, we will raise atmospheric CO2 concentrations to double pre-industrial levels during this century. That will probably be enough to raise global temperatures by around 2℃ to 5℃. Some warming is certain, but the degree will be determined by cycles involving melting ice, the oceans, water vapour, clouds and changes to vegetation. Warming is bringing other unpredictable changes. Melting glaciers and precipitation are causing some rivers to overflow, while evaporation is emptying others. Diseases are spreading. Some crops grow faster while others see yields slashed by disease and drought. Clashes over dwindling water resources may cause conflicts in many regions.
D. As natural ecosystems - such as coral reefs - are disrupted, biodiversity is reduced. Most species cannot migrate fast enough to keep up, though others are already evolving in response to warming. Thermal expansion of the oceans, combined with melting ice on land, is also raising sea levels. In this century, human activity could trigger an irreversible melting of the Greenland ice sheet. This would condemn the world to a rise in sea level of six metres - enough to flood land occupied by billions of people.
E. The global warming would be more pronounced if it were not for sulphur particles and other pollutants that shade us, and because forests and oceans absorb around half of the CO2 we produce. But the accumulation rate of atmospheric CO2 has doubled since 2001, suggesting that nature's ability to absorb the gas could now be stretched to the limit. Recent research suggests that natural CO2 "sinks", like peat bogs and forests, are actually starting to release CO2.
F. At the Earth Summit in 1992, the world agreed to prevent "dangerous" climate change. The first step was the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which came into force during 2005. It will bring modest emission reductions from industrialised countries. Many observers say deeper cuts are needed and developing nations, which have large and growing populations, will one day have to join in. Some, including the US Bush administration, say the scientific uncertainty over the pace of climate change is grounds for delaying action. The US and Australia have reneged on Kyoto. Most scientists believe we are under-estimating the dangers.
G. In any case, according to the IPCC, the world needs to quickly improve the efficiency of its energy usage and develop renewable non-carbon fuels like: wind, solar, tidal, wave and perhaps nuclear power. It also means developing new methods of converting this clean energy into motive power, like hydrogen fuel cells for cars. Other less conventional solutions include ideas to stave off warming by "mega-engineering" the planet with giant mirrors to deflect the Sun's rays, seeding the oceans with iron to generate algal blooms, or burying greenhouse gases below the sea. The bottom line is that we will need to cut CO2 emissions by 70% to 80% simply to stabilise atmospheric CO2 concentrations and thus temperatures. The quicker we do that, the less unbearably hot our future world will be.
The text has 7 paragraphs (A-G). Which paragraph contains each of the following pieces of information?
The effects of global warming on animals.
The ways in which ordinary people can see the global climate is changing.
The science behind global warming.
Possible solutions to global warming.
Complete the following sentences using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text.
Certain pollutants actually protect us from .
countries were not required to make cuts in emissions under the Kyoto Protocol.
Algal blooms feed on .
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage?
| TRUE | if the statement agrees with the information |
| FALSE | if the statement contradicts the information |
| NOT GIVEN | if there is no information on this |
Volcanoes can influence the global climate.
Billions of people live near the sea.
Peat bogs never release CO2.
Improving energy efficiency can be done quickly.
Read the following passage and choose which of the headings from A - K match the blanks. There are two extra headings, which do not match any of the paragraphs.
List of headings
A. A description of the procedure
B. An international research project
C. An experiment to investigate consumer responses
D. Marketing an alternative name
E. A misleading name
F. A potentially profitable line of research
G. Medical dangers of the technique
H. Drawbacks to marketing tools
I. Broadening applications
K. What is neuromarketing?
Inside the mind of the consumer
Could brain-scanning technology provide an accurate way to assess the appeal of new products and the effectiveness of advertising?
1.
MARKETING people are no longer prepared to take your word for it that you favor one product over another. They want to scan your brain to see which one you really prefer. Using the tools of neuroscientists, such as electroencephalogram (EEG) mapping and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), they are trying to learn more about the mental processes behind purchasing decisions. The resulting fusion of neuroscience and marketing is inevitably, being called 'neuromarketing’.
2.
The first person to apply brain-imaging technology in this way was Gerry Zaltman of Harvard University, in the late 1990s. The idea remained in obscurity until 2001, when BrightHouse, a marketing consultancy based in Atlanta, Georgia, set up a dedicated neuromarketing arm, BrightHouse Neurostrategies Group. (BrightHouse lists Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines and Home Depot among its clients.) But the company's name may itself simply be an example of clever marketing. BrightHouse does not scan people while showing them specific products or campaign ideas but bases its work on the results of more general fMRI-based research into consumer preferences and decision-making carried out at Emory University in Atlanta.
3.
Can brain-scanning really be applied to marketing? The basic principle is not that different from focus groups and other traditional forms of market research. A volunteer lies in an fMRI machine and is shown images or video clips. In place of an interview or questionnaire, the subject's response is evaluated by monitoring brain activity. fMRIprovides real-time images of brain activity, in which different areas “light up” depending on the level of blood flow. This provides clues to the subject's subconscious thought patterns. Neuroscientists know, for example, that the sense of self is associated with an area of the brain known as the medial prefrontal cortex. A flow of blood to that area while the subject is looking at a particular logo suggests that he or she identifies with that brand.
4.
At first, it seemed that only companies in Europe were prepared to admit that they used neuromarketing. Two carmakers, DaimlerChrysler in Germany and Ford's European arm, ran pilot studies in 2003. But more recently, American companies have become more open about their use of neuromarketing. Lieberman Research Worldwide, a marketing firm based in Los Angeles, is collaborating with the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) to enable movie studios to market-test film trailers. More controversially, the New York Times recently reported that a political consultancy, FKF Research, has been studying the effectiveness of campaign commercials using neuromarketing techniques.
5.
Whether all this is any more than a modern-day version of phrenology, the Victorian obsession with linking lumps and bumps in the skull to personality traits, is unclear. There have been no large-scale studies, so scans of a handful of subjects may not be a reliable guide to consumer behaviour in general. Of course, focus groups and surveys are flawed too: strong personalities can steer the outcomes of focus groups, and people do not always tell opinion pollsters the truth. And even honest people cannot always explain their preferences.
6.
That is perhaps where neuromarketing has the most potential. When asked about cola drinks, most people claim to have a favorite brand, but cannot say why they prefer that brand’s taste. An unpublished study of attitudes towards two well-known cola drinks. Brand A and Brand 13. carried out last year in a college of medicine in the US found that most subjects preferred Brand B in a blind tasting fMRI scanning showed that drinking Brand B lit up a region called the ventral putamen, which is one of the brain s ‘reward centres’, far more brightly than Brand A. But when told which drink was which, most subjects said they preferred Brand A, which suggests that its stronger brand outweighs the more pleasant taste of the other drink.
7.
“People form many unconscious attitudes that are obviously beyond traditional methods that utilize introspection,” says Steven Quartz, a neuroscientist at Caltech who is collaborating with Lieberman Research. With over $100 billion spent each year on marketing in America alone, any firm that can more accurately analyze how customers respond to products, brands and advertising could make a fortune.
8.
Consumer advocates are wary. Gary Ruskin of Commercial Alert, a lobby group, thinks existing marketing techniques are powerful enough. “Already, marketing is deeply implicated in many serious pathologies,” he says. “That is especially true of children, who are suffering from an epidemic of marketing-related diseases, including obesity and type-2 diabetes. Neuromarketing is a tool to amplify these trends.”
Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.
Sean did all the illustrations for the book but no one acknowledged his work. (CREDIT)
=> Sean wasn't ............
Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.
You've been looking miserable all day. MOON
=> You've ..........
Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.
He was terribly upset by the news. BLOW
=> The news came ..........
Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.
I expected the film to be good, but it wasn't at all. LIVE
=> .........
Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.
They may have escaped through the backdoor. GETAWAY
=> They ..........
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
The government have been reviewing their immigration policy for some time.
=> The government's ..........
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
The restoration of communications and essential services is of prime importance for the council.
=> The first ...........
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
The house shouldn't be left unlocked for any reason.
=> Not ...........
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
It is too late to go to the football match now.
=> There is ...........
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
I find his clothes the most irritating about him.
=> What most .....
Write a paragraph of approximately 140 words to answer the following question.
Young people are often influenced in their behaviors and situations by others in the same age. This is called “peer pressure”. Do the disadvantages of peer pressure outweigh the advantages?