Listen and answer the following questions.
Jackie was informed about the problem with one of the serves.
The software David wanted to know is the best-selling product.
Jackie confirmed that the Mac version was in stock.
David would have the software delivered on Wednesday.
David finally decided to buy Windows Professional edition.
Listen to a part of a radio interview with a man who is the director of an Environmental Centre and fill in each blank with NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS taken from the recording.
The working displays are located in the of the countryside, including methods to harness sun and wind for power, and various forms of .
Everyone from visitors, tourists, environmental specialists to school children doing environmental projects is welcome.
The majority of the courses take 3 days apart from ones in the summer.
Accommodation is provided in wooden cabins containing two to five beds.
The Centre restaurant serves vegetarian food prepared by an excellent chef.
Though smoking in the building is not allowed, the Centre provides a and informal atmosphere.
The Natural Gardening courses educate people about herbs, climbing plants and plants with special or perfumes.
The Centre has designed helping people save water when washing and drinking.
The cost of the courses is , making it suitable to individuals' affordability.
Listen and answer the following questions.
How does Helena feel about the use of Jed's name for their joint business?
What is Jed's attitude to his public profile?
How did Helena feel about her work on The Travel Show?
What explanation did Helena give for the name of the garden?
According to Jed, what does the name "jewel garden" mean?
Choose the word which has the underlined part pronounced differently from the others.
Choose the word which has the underlined part pronounced differently from the others.
Choose the word which has the underlined part pronounced differently from the others.
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.
Give the correct form of the verb in the brackets.
Dave's mother was the first person in his family (hear) the news of his promotion.
Give the correct form of the verb in the brackets.
(convince) of the advantages of studying overseas several times, the students were determined to apply for the scholarship.
Give the correct form of the verb in the brackets.
If she (inform) earlier about the schedule change, she would not have missed the interview.
Give the correct form of the verb in the brackets.
It's the family doctor's recommendation that he (not stay) up late for the sake of his health.
Give the correct form of the verb in the brackets.
The missing scientist is believed (live) in a remote mountainous area for several months.
Complete the sentence by changing the form of the word in capitals.
The committee remained despite mounting pressure from the media and the public. (FLEX)
Complete the sentence by changing the form of the word in capitals.
The program aims at people wanting to or hone their technique in technological field. (SKILL)
Complete the sentence by changing the form of the word in capitals.
He is polite and tries desperately to understand other people's views. (FAIL)
Complete the sentence by changing the form of the word in capitals.
The books are printed on paper so that they will last for generations. (ACID)
Complete the sentence by changing the form of the word in capitals.
When I was a child, my family couldn't afford new clothes at Tet. Therefore, I always had to wear my sister's . (CAST)
The passage below contains 5 mistakes. Find out the mistakes and write the correct answers on your answer sheet.
[content][/content]Just think, _____ two years' time, we'll be 18!
Emily and Jane are talking about their holiday.
Emily: It's nearly the end of the holiday already.
Jane: _____ !
The witness finally agreed, _____ reluctantly, to help us.
There was hardly _____ money left in my bank account. I'm a penniless student.
_____ AI-driven technology is undeniable.
The volunteers _____ gave of their time and energy to help the poor.
The professor's lecture was so _____ that even the most attentive students struggled to follow.
The police are often soft on young offenders. All they do is give them _____ .
a peck on the cheek
The singer is always surrounded by a(n) _____ of assistants, hairdressers, make-up artists, and bodyguards.
Before launching the new software, the team needed to _____ any remaining bugs and issues to ensure a smooth user experience.
Fill in each blank with ONE best word.
The Internet bus
In the desert areas that surround Tucson city, USA, students spend hundreds of hours on yellow buses each year getting to and fro their schools. But when mobile internet equipment was on a yellow school bus, the bored, often noisy, teens were into quiet, studious individuals.
District officials got the idea occasional drives on school business to Phoenix, two hours each way, realizing that when they went in , one person could drive and the other could work using a laptop and a wireless card. They wondered if internet access on a school bus could boost students' academic productivity, too.
But the idea for what students call "the internet bus" really took shape when the district's chief information officer across an article about having internet across in cars. He thought, "What you could put that in a bus?"
The officials have been delighted to see the of homework getting done, both morning and evening, as the internet bus picks up and drops off students along the 70-minute drive. Although some students spend their time playing games or visiting social networking , most students do make use of their travel time to study.
Read the following passage and choose the best answer for each blank.
Clever Crows - the most intelligent birds?
Crows have yet again confounded scientists with their remarkable problem-solving skills. Researchers carried out an experiment on a group of New Caledonian crows, in their food was placed in a passageway too narrow for their beaks to access. , four out of eight birds spontaneously put together two short sticks located nearby to make a longer fishing rod-type device to enable them to reach the food. In the wild, crows have been known to also use leaves, rocks and even their own feathers to facilitate impossible tasks. They even craft and use hooks to snare insects.
How intelligence was studied in one cleverly-designed experiment when birds were prompted to use a kind of machine to gain rewards. By studying the birds' abilities, the researchers hope that their findings could help the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology. with these tasks, unlike anything crows would come upon in nature, the birds in the study adapted their own behaviour to complete the fabricated tests.
Read the following passage and choose the correct answer to each of the questions.
DIGITAL AMNESIA
Digital amnesia refers to the tendency of individuals to forget information that can be easily retrieved through digital devices. In today's technology-driven society, smartphones, cloud storage, and search engines have become indispensable tools for storing phone numbers, passwords, appointments, and even personal memories. As a result, people increasingly externalize cognitive responsibilities that were once managed internally by the human brain. Although this dependence greatly improves convenience and efficiency, researchers argue that excessive reliance on technology may undermine the brain's natural ability to retain and recall information.
The phenomenon is particularly prevalent among younger generations who have grown up in technologically mediated environments. Rather than memorizing factual knowledge, many individuals simply remember how to access information online. Psychologists suggest that this behavioral adaptation alters cognitive processing patterns. Since the brain tends to preserve information considered valuable or indispensable, data perceived as permanently accessible through technology is less likely to be encoded into long-term memory. Consequently, people may struggle to recollect even basic details without digital assistance, thereby developing a subtle dependency on technological aids.
Nevertheless, some scholars argue that concerns surrounding digital amnesia are somewhat exaggerated. Delegating routine mnemonic tasks to technology may liberate cognitive resources for more advanced intellectual activities such as abstract reasoning, creativity, and critical analysis. In this sense, technology should not necessarily be viewed as a replacement for human cognition, but rather as an augmentation of it. Similar anxieties emerged in the past when writing systems and calculators first appeared, yet society eventually adapted to these innovations without severe intellectual decline.
Despite these potential benefits, excessive dependence on digital technology may still engender negative psychological and social consequences. Constant notifications and immediate access to information are associated with diminished attention spans and increasingly superficial engagement with knowledge. Furthermore, excessive screen dependence can weaken interpersonal communication, as face-to-face interactions are often replaced by digitally mediated exchanges. Many educators therefore advocate maintaining a more judicious balance between technological convenience and active cognitive engagement. Activities such as extensive reading, deliberate memorization, and intellectual discussions are believed to strengthen cognitive resilience in the digital age.
The word "undermine" in paragraph 1 is OPPOSITE in meaning to _____.
According to paragraph 2, why is digitally stored information less likely to remain in long-term memory?
The word "it" in paragraph 3 refers to _____.
Which of the following best summarizes paragraph 3?
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
The word "mnemonic" in paragraph 3 is CLOSEST in meaning to _____.
Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
Overreliance on technology certainly sustains the need of interpersonal communication.
Which of the following best summarizes the passage?
Read and do the following tasks. Some paragraphs have been removed from the article. Choose the most suitable paragraph from the list A-G for each part of the text. There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use.
A. Many of us suspect we spend too much time scrolling, a concern underscored by Oxford University Press selecting "brain rot" as 2024's word of the year.
B. Hitting "pause" on this social-media-induced dopamine cycle can allow the brain to reset reward pathways, Lembke says, allowing us to stop the kind of compulsive overconsumption that leads to "brain rot."
C. Endless scrolling eventually disrupts this balance, prompting the brain to compensate by producing less dopamine or slowing its transmission.
D. Excessive social media use can mean different things to different people.
E. Anna Lembke, addiction medicine expert and author of Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence, explains that people can get addicted to digital media just like they can get addicted to drugs.
F. Whether you decide to stop using social media for a few weeks or limit your everyday use for some time, you'll probably find the first few days are the hardest to get through.
G. As experts warn of the addictive features of social networks, more people are looking for ways to break free - evidenced by a 60 percent surge in Google searches for "social media detox" in recent months.
Read and do the following tasks. Some paragraphs have been removed from the article. Choose the most suitable paragraph from the list A-G for each part of the text. There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use.
Think you're spending too much time scrolling on your phone? You're not alone. The average American adult logs over two hours a day on social media, while teens double that on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. But does stepping away from your feed really make a difference? Researchers say yes, and the benefits for your brain and well-being might surprise you.
But finding the willpower to cut back is not an easy feat, thanks to how social media taps into our brain's reward system. Based on what we know about how drugs and alcohol affect the brain, we can infer that a similar process takes place when we check social media, with every like, comment, or cute cat video triggering a surge of dopamine, the brain's 'feel-good' chemical.
However, our brain is designed to maintain an overall dopamine balance, what Lembke describes as a teeter-totter mechanism. Over time, this can lead us into a state of 'dopamine deficit,' where we need more time online to get back to feeling normal. There is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to social media detoxing. What's key is to make realistic goals to bring down our usual social media consumption. Some people may want to give it up entirely while others may want to cut down time spent on social media by half.
Rewrite each sentence, beginning as shown, so that the meaning stays the same.
Jack works effectively under the pressure of time.
=> The ...............
Rewrite each sentence, beginning as shown, so that the meaning stays the same.
It was wrong of me to turn down their job offer.
=> I shouldn't ...............
Rewrite each sentence, beginning as shown, so that the meaning stays the same.
Although Mr. Pike loves his daughter, he can't tolerate her inappropriate behaviour.
=> Much ...............
Rewrite each sentence, beginning as shown, so that the meaning stays the same.
"I'm sorry, Angela. I've damaged your car", said Martin.
=> Martin ...............
Rewrite each sentence, beginning as shown, so that the meaning stays the same.
Perhaps no one will ever know what happened on that fateful night.
=> What ...............
Rewrite each of the following sentences using the given words so that it keeps the same meaning. Do not change the form of the words given.
For her, his talent as an actor was astonishing. (HOW)
=> She ...............
Rewrite each of the following sentences using the given words so that it keeps the same meaning. Do not change the form of the words given.
He avoids employing inexperienced staff if there is no alternative. (RESORT)
=> Only as ...............
Rewrite each of the following sentences using the given words so that it keeps the same meaning. Do not change the form of the words given.
It's not easy to distinguish between the twins. (CONFUSE)
=> You can easily ...............
Rewrite each of the following sentences using the given words so that it keeps the same meaning. Do not change the form of the words given.
They did not reach their destination until it was almost midday. (GETTING)
=> It ...............
Rewrite each of the following sentences using the given words so that it keeps the same meaning. Do not change the form of the words given.
As the exam approached, the students grew increasingly nervous. (DREW)
=> The ...............
In modern society, celebrities have positive impacts on the young generation. Do you agree or disagree?
Write an essay of 200-220 words to express your own ideas and include any relevant examples to support.