The hill where Jane Austen set one of her romances _____ Box Hill because of the box trees which _____ there.
The view is great, _____?
Neither the director nor his assistant ____ yet.
I ______ telephone her if I knew her number.
He _____ me to believe that they had left the district.
She was walking home when the wind _____ her hat off.
In fact, _____ mobile phone companies deciding to create phone billing plans that include message last year, the service might not be so popular today.
My parents are busy workers and I often have to _____ my younger brother after school.
The new manager laid down very strict rules as soon as he had ____ the position.
I'm _____ my brother is.
The water _____ in the area has resulted in poor crop production.
When you _____ your destination, your tour guide will meet you at the airport.
Her work deals with _____ of race and identity.
She was a strong swimmer, but her friends had to _____ her to join the swim team.
Read the following passage and choose the correct answer to each of the questions.
If you enjoy water sports, Hawaii is the place for you. You can go swimming all year round in the warm water. You can go sports fishing from the shore or from a boat. If you like boats, you can go sailing, canoeing, or windsurfing. Or, you can also try some other water sports that are especially popular in Hawaii: surfing, snorkeling, and scuba diving.
Surfing is a sport which started in Hawaii many years ago. The Hawaiians called it “he'e nalu”, which means “to slide on a wave”. If you want to try surfing, you need, first of all, to be a good swimmer. You also have to have an excellent sense of balance. You must swim out from the beach with your surfboard under your arm. When you get to where the waves begin to break, you wait for a calm moment. Then you try to stand up on the board. The wave will begin to rise under you. You must try to steer the board with your feet so you stay on top of the wave. The important thing is to keep your balance and not fall down. If you can manage this, you will have an exciting ride all the way into the shore.
Scuba diving and snorkeling are two ways to get a close look at the beauty lying below the surface of the ocean. The waters off the Hawaiian Islands are clean, clear and warm. They contain hundreds of kinds of colorful fish. The undersea world is made even more colorful by the coral reefs of red, gold, white and light purple. Among these reefs, there may be larger fish or sea turtles.
Scuba diving allows you to see the most interesting undersea sights. “Scuba” means “Self-contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus”, that is, equipment for breathing and swimming around far underwater. In Hawaii, you can take special courses to learn how to scuba dive. After the courses, you can get a certificate that will allow you to dive alone. Since it can be dangerous, proper instruction and great care are always necessary when you are scuba diving.
If you are adventurous, you might try snorkeling instead of scuba diving. Less equipment is needed, just a face mask, a breathing tube (snorkel) and flippers for your feet. It only takes a few minutes to learn how to snorkel. Although you cannot dive deep into the water, you can swim with your face below the surface. Breathing through the tube, you float on the surface, and keep yourself moving with your flippers. Even from the surface like this, there will be plenty of color and beauty to see.
You can infer from the passage that _____.
The water around the Hawaiian Islands is ______.
According to the passage, scuba diving ____.
The word “proper” in paragraph 4 refers to ____.
Read the following passage and choose the correct answer.
Less than a year ago marketing director, David Smith, 33 was behaving like a secret agent. He used to secretly taped all his conversations, he refused to sign his name and he would as his secretary to check all his emails. Anything he wrote was photocopied and kept as “evidence”. But David isn’t mad, or even mildly eccentric. He suffers from “responsibility OCD”, one of the more common forms of obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, as it is usually known.
OCD is now recognized as the second most prevalent mental-health problem, after depression - and the number of reported cases is soaring. Experts estimate that 2% - 3% of the population suffer from the full-blown syndrome, with as many as one in five suffering from a milder form.
OCD sufferers are tortured by obsessional thoughts, such as worrying that their hands are contaminated by germs. The terrible anxiety is only relieved by performing a particular set of behaviors. Unfortunately, any sense of relief is short-lived, which is why the behavior must be repeated again and again. OCD sufferers know their behavior is irrational, yet feel powerless to stop.
Common treatments are either antidepressants or behavioral therapy with a psychologist, but only 60% of patients show some improvement. However, a new treatment from America is bringing fresh hope to sufferers.
One of the OCD gurus and neuropsychiatrists, Jeffrey Schwartz, has designed the Four Steps program which employs meditation techniques with the aim of teaching sufferers to manage their symptoms by themselves. “The goal is to learn to override false brain messages,” explained Schwartz.
There are different theories about what causes the disorder. Most experts recognize a genetic element that can be triggered by a stressful event. Schwartz believes that the OCD “worry circuit” is a direct result of faulty brain chemistry. “When someone experiences an OCD thought, one part of the brain knows quite clearly that the hands are not dirty,” explains Schwartz. “Some part of the brain is standing apart from the symptoms, reflecting on the sheer bizarreness of it all. The objective is to harness this impartial spectator so that patients can use this healthy part of their brain to resist the compulsions.”
David Smith is delighted with the results of Schwartz’s treatment. “Now I can sign cheques without a problem,” he says brightly. “And I don’t photocopy them either. OCD used to feel like a hug stigma, but I don’t feel handicapped by it anymore. You just deal with it.”
Which could be the best title for the passage?
What do experts say about OCD?
Why do OCD sufferers repeatedly perform the same action?
What is the word “override” in paragraph 5 closest in meaning to?
Read the text and use the word given in capitals at each gap to form a word that fits in each gap.
Culture shock for international students
Students going to study in another country usually have to make a number of cultural (ADJUST) . They may find it difficult to form friendships with local people and they will certainly have to get used to a (VARY) of new things including food, the climate and the language. An extra difficulty may be the different expectations which their teachers and tutors have of them in comparison with their home country. They may be (PREPARE) for the amount of work they have to do on their own or the fact that their tutors are looking for originality and a capacity for (DEPEND) thought rather than an ability to memorise large quantities of information. Equally, they may sometimes be surprised by the behaviour of their fellow students who, although usually friendly and (WELCOME) , may sometimes seem a little immature. As time passes, international students will find that things become easier and what was unfamiliar to start with will eventually seem normal.