What’s all this crying _____?
Mother hustled the children off to school _____ they would be late.
Nick was only _____ injured in the car accident, and was still able to go to work.
When his parents are away, his oldest brother _____.
Mary: So did you enjoy going out to the cinema last night?
Peter: No, not really. I'd sooner _____ at home to watch TV.
He has been unable to find a job _____ with his ability as an accountant.
The president tried to remain neutral, but critics claimed he was just _____ the fence.
I thought that Wendy's action was rather out of _____.
Pauline was only wearing a thin coat and began _____ in the cold wind.
The police arrested Jack and took him into _____.
Didn't you _____ that Martha wasn't with Ashley?
My jeans ______ in the wash and they’re too small for me now.
In 1959, the political philosopher Hannah Arendt became the first woman ______ a full professor at Princeton University.
_____, watching our every move.
We’re rather short of people to organise the trip, so do you think you could ______?
_____ widely used in the chemical industry, sodium carbonate is principally consumed by the glass industry.
Tim: You're so lucky to be going abroad for a whole semester!
Janet: _____, I'll miss my friends and family.
Nick: He was told off in front of his girlfriend for making his father's car dirty.
Jack: Shame on him! _____
Read the text and choose the best answer to fill in the blanks.
Lee Kuna Yew was appointed as the first prime minister of Singapore in 1959 when the nation became a self-governing state. At that time, Singapore per income was only about USD 400. When Lee down in 1990, the figure was USD 11,000 and in 2014 it went up to over 56,000, even higher than that of its former colonizer, Great Britain. In his published in 2000, he wrote, 'They laughed at us, but I was confident that we would have the last laugh.'
Born into a middle-class Chinese family in Singapore, Lee was influenced by the language and institutions of the British rulers. He was to go to the UK to study law, but the Second World War broke out and he had to go to the local Raffles College where he learned some economics. It was 1946 when he talked his way into Cambridge and graduated three years later with a starred first. It was during this time that he nurtured ambitions starting a legal career back home.
As a prime minister, he has always been described as an efficient and inventive person. He was one of the greatest statesmen who proved to the whole world that human , not natural resources, is the essential element of prosperity. Lee is also believed to be very forward-looking. When Singapore gained independence in 1965, he decided to keep English as the main language to increase economic benefits. Although many of his policies are still considered , they helped Singapore to overcome many obstacles and become one of the most admired international business and financial centers around the world.
Read the text and choose the best answer to fill in the blanks.
CARNIVOROUS PLANTS
All plants rely on nutrients taken from the soil in order to survive. However, in areas where the soil does not contain enough vital nutrients, some plants have adapted to their diets from another source: living organisms. Though they are few in number, carnivorous plants are nonetheless fascinating beings that “eat” anything from one-celled organisms to insects in order to survive. They are commonly found in marshlands. Carnivorous plants feature one of several types of “traps” to ensnare prey, which they consume to nutrients that may be missing from the soil. While there are over 400 species of carnivorous plants in the world today, some are more than others.
The most well-known of these plants are the snap traps, which include the Venus flytrap. Snap traps are easily identified by their leaves, which are separated into two lobes that have the ability to fold together. Inside the lobes, the surface is covered with tiny hairs that are to movement. When the plant’s prey brushes against the hairs, it triggers a closing mechanism that rapidly brings the two lobes together, trapping the prey inside. The response of the traps is phenomenal speed: the time between triggering the hairs and snapping shut is less than a second. As the prey struggles inside the trap, it only triggers more hairs, causing the leaves to tighten their .
The plant then secrets liquid chemicals from special glands into the trap to dissolve the prey and absorb all of its nutrients. Besides the Venus flytrap, only one other type of snap trap exists today, referred to as the waterwheel plant. The two share a common ancestor and differ only in a few ways. For instance, the waterwheel is an aquatic plant, while the flytrap is exclusively terrestrial. In addition, the flytrap feeds primarily on arthropods like spiders, while the waterwheel lives simple invertebrates, like certain types of plankton.
Read the passage and choose the best answer for each question.
Introduction to a book about the history of colour
This book examines how the ever-changing role of colour in society has been reflected in manuscripts, stained glass, clothing, painting and popular culture. Colour is a natural phenomenon, of course, but it is also a complex cultural construct that resists generalization and, indeed, analysis itself. No doubt this is why serious works devoted to colour are rare, and rarer still are those that aim to study it in historical context. Many authors search for the universal or archetypal truths they imagine reside in colour, but for the historian, such truths do not exist. Colour is first and foremost a social phenomenon. There is no transcultural truth to colour perception, despite what many books based on poorly grasped neurobiology or – even worse – on pseudoesoteric pop psychology would have us believe. Such books unfortunately clutter the bibliography on the subject, and even do it harm.
The silence of historians on the subject of colour, or more particularly their difficulty in conceiving colour as a subject separate from other historical phenomena, is the result of three different sets of problems. The first concerns documentation and preservation. We see the colours transmitted to us by the past as time has altered them and not as they were originally. Moreover, we see them under light conditions that often are entirely different from those known by past societies. And finally, over the decades we have developed the habit of looking at objects from the past in black-and-white photographs and, despite the current diffusion of colour photography, our ways of thinking to these objects seem to have remained more or less black and white.
The second set of problems concerns methodology. As soon as the historian seeks to study colour, he must grapple with a host of factors all at once: physics, chemistry, materials, and techniques of production, as well as iconography, ideology, and the symbolic meanings that colours convey. How to make sense of all of these elements? How can one establish an analytical model facilitating the study of images and coloured objects? No researcher, no method, has yet been able to resolve these problems, because among the numerous facts pertaining to colour, a researcher tends to select those facts that support his study and to conveniently forget those that contradict it. This is clearly a poor way to conduct research. And it is made worse by the temptation to apply to the objects and images of a given historical period information found in texts of that period. The proper method – at least in the first phase of analysis – is to proceed as do palaeontologists (who must study cave paintings without the aid of texts): by extrapolating from the images and the objects themselves a logic and a system based on various concrete factors such as the rate of occurrence of particular objects and motifs, their distribution and disposition. In short, one undertakes the internal structural analysis with which any study of an image or coloured object should begin.
The third set of problems is philosophical: it is wrong to project our own conceptions and definitions of colour onto the images, objects and monuments of past centuries. Our judgements and values are not those of previous societies (and no doubt they will change again in the future). For the writer-historian looking at the definitions and taxonomy of colour, the danger of anachronism is very real. For example, the spectrum with its natural order of colours was unknown before the seventeenth century, while the notion of primary and secondary colours did not become common until the nineteenth century. These are not eternal notions but stages in the ever-changing history of knowledge.
I have reflected on such issues at greater length in my previous work, so while the present book does address certain of them, for the most part, it is devoted to other topics. Nor is it concerned only with the history of colour in images and artworks – in any case that area still has many gaps to be filled. Rather, the aim of this book is to examine all kinds of objects in order to consider the different facets of the history of colour and to show how far beyond the artistic sphere this history reaches. The history of painting is one thing; that of colour is another, much larger, question. Most studies devoted to the history of colour err in considering only the pictorial, artistic or scientific realms. But the lessons to be learned from colour and its real interest lie elsewhere.
The writer suggests that the priority when conducting historical research on colour is to _____.
In the fourth paragraph, the writer says that the historian writing about colour should be careful _____.
In the fifth paragraph, the writer says there needs to be further research done on _____.
An idea recurring in the text is that people who have studied colour have _____.
Choose the paragraphs A-F to fit into the gaps in the following magazine article.
A. It’s not that I’m suggesting that sailors should go back to enduring every hardship. It’s always been important to me that my boats have a coal stove for warmth and dryness and cosy berths for sleeping. But why go cruising at all if every sail sets and furls itself?
B. Back on land, however, it is a sad fact that the very antiquity of classic boats means that they need a lot of looking after. When I had a bad injury to my back, I realised that my IS-year love affair with her had to end. Searching for a younger replacement produced no credible contenders, so I decided to build a new boat from scratch.
C. In her timeless serenity, she is the living proof that it works; that there is no need to follow current fashions to find satisfaction, and that sometimes it pays to listen to the lessons of history.
D. The next version was nearly right and by the time the final one appeared, the form was perfect. The completed boat has now crossed the North Atlantic and has won four out of her first six racing starts.
E. Perhaps I am, though I doubt it. This boat has benefited from all the magic of old fashioned boat design, but it would have been a much harder job without the advances of modern know-how.
F. For me a boat should always be a boat and not a cottage on the water. When I bought an earlier boat, Hirta, in which I circumnavigated Britain for a TV race series, the previous owner observed that she had every comfort, but no luxury. During my long relationship with her, Hirta taught me how wise he was.
THE BOAT OF MY DREAMS
The best boat design should combine old and new, says Tom Cunliffe. And he put it into practice in his own craft, ‘The Westerman’.
This week, the Summer Boat Show in London is resplendent with fine yachts, bristling with new technology. Nearly all are descendants of the hull-shape revolution that took place 25 years ago. By contrast, my own lies quietly on a tidal creek off the south coast. She was designed last year but, seeing her, you might imagine her to be 100 years old and think that her owner must be some kind of lost-soul romantic.
It has to be said, however, that despite being an indispensable tool in current design methods and boat-building practice, sophisticated technology frequently insulates crews from the harsh realities of maritime life. These are often the very realities they hoped to rediscover by going to sea in the first place.
The occasional battle with flapping canvas is surely part of a seaman’s life. And for what purpose should we abandon common sense and move our steering positions from the security of the aft end to some vulnerable perch halfway to the bow? The sad answer is that this creates a cabin like that of an ocean liner, with space for a bed larger than the one at home.
Her sails were heavy, and she had no pumped water, no electricity to speak of, no fridge, no central heating, no winches, and absolutely no electronics, especially in the navigation department, yet she was the kindest, easiest boat that I have ever sailed at sea.
The Westerman has never disappointed me. Although Nigel Irens, the designer, and Ed Burnett, his right-hand man, are adept with computer-assisted design programs, Irens initially drew this boat on a paper napkin, and only later transferred his ideas to the computer. After this had generated a set of lines, he carved a model, just as boatyards did in the days of sail. Together we considered the primary embryonic vessel, then fed the design back into the electronic box for modification.
Her appearance is ageless, her motion at sea is a pleasure and her accommodation, much of it in reclaimed pitch pine, emanates an atmosphere of deep peace. Maybe this is because she was drawn purely as a sailing craft, without reference to any furniture we might put into her. That is the well-tried method of the sea.
Constructed in timber treated with a penetrating glue, she is totally impervious to water. Thus she has all the benefits of a glass fibre boat yet looks like, feels like and sails like the real thing.
Fill each of the following blanks with ONE suitable word.
COVID AND COMMUNITY
Graphic detail looked at the economic impact of COVID-19 suicide rates (April 24th). The reported decrease in suicide, perhaps surprising many people’s financial hardship, could be explained by the work of Emile Durkheim. In “Suicide”, the late-19th-century French sociologist studied people who their own life and how they interacted society. He described four types of suicide, one of which is egoistic suicide, when an individual does not feel a of belonging. It is well known that in of war suicide rates drop. This is generally ascribed a "we're all in it together" sentiment in a unified fight a common foe. It is plausible that the on COVID has united societies in this way and suicide rates have fallen as a .
Fill each of the following blanks with ONE suitable word.
THE WORLD OF COSMOPOLITAN
One magazine, than any other, symbolizes the global dominance of Western youth culture and fashion. Cosmopolitan, the lifestyle and fashion guide for women in the 18-34 age group, now published in 28 languages. From Latvia to India, women to Cosmo for advice and a taste of adult content in a lighthearted, upbeat style. Each local follows the same formula, which is strictly laid down in a secret 50-page instruction manual'. The cover, for example, of every issue must depict a woman who the spirit of Cosmo, which is up in its slogan: fun and fearless female. But each local editor ensures that Cosmo reflects local tastes and is respectful of local culture. Photographs are mostly of local celebrities who are easily recognized, and relationship advice is geared to the values of the local population. In China, for example, any mention of sex would be unacceptable, although the magazine still offers beauty advice amongst articles advocating patriotism and good citizenship. With an international of 8.2 million, Cosmopolitan can be said to succeeded in catering the needs and interests of women worldwide. But to others, Cosmopolitan is just another American product successfully marketed to the of the world.
Complete the passage by changing the form of the word in capitals.
And as the curtain rises ...
"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players' - if you didn't already know, those famous words were written by the (ART) genius, William Shakespeare, and they come from the classic comedy As You Like It. Widely believed to be the best (PLAY) of аll time, Shakespeare is responsible for an immense body of work and his choice of (NARRATE) topics is enthralling and eclectic.
Cliched though it may sound, Shakespeare's "portfolio" has something for everyone. For those who enjoy (GRIP) historical dramas, Henry VIII - based on the infamous British Tudor monarch himself - is just the thing. And for those who are the more romantic type, there cannot be anything more (RIVET) than doomed, but (WONDER) inspiring lovers in Romeo and Juliet.
Sometimes using characters based on actual historical figures and sometimes using (FICTION) characters made up in his fertile and vivid imagination, The Bard, as he is often called, has been entertaining audiences with his staged (DEPICT) of human life and struggles for centuries. Often (COMPANY) by the orchestral strains of a group of talented musicians, William Shakespeare’s players began delighting theatre-goers way back in 16th-century England, and, never (DATE) or irrelevant, his plays continue to do so with modern audiences today.
(Adapted from Reactivate)
Read the following passage and complete the tasks.
GENEALOGY
A. Genealogy, the study of tracing family connections and relationships through history – so building a cohesive family tree, has become an increasingly popular hobby from non-specialist enthusiasts over recent decades. The introduction of the Internet has, in many ways, spurred interest levels since historical information has been made far more accessible than previously. Experts warn, however, that sources obtained from the internet must be considered with caution as they may often contain inaccuracies, often advising novice genealogists to join a family history society where they are able to learn useful skills from experienced researchers.
B. Originally, prior to developing a more mainstream following, the practice of genealogy focused on establishing the ancestral links of rulers and noblemen often with the purpose of disputing or confirming the legitimacy of inherited rights to wealth or position. More recently, genealogists are often interested in not only where and when previous generations of families lived but also details of their lifestyle and motivations, interpreting the effects of law, political restrictions, immigration and the social conditions on an individual’s or family’s behaviour at the given time. Genealogy searches may also result in location of living relatives and consequently family reunions, in some cases helping to reunite family members who had been separated in the past due to fostering/adoptlon, migration or war.
C. In Australia, there has been a great deal of interest of late, from families wishing to trace their links to the early settlers. As a result of the loss of the American colonies in the 1700s, Britain was in need of an alternative destination for prisoners who could not be accommodated in the country’s overcrowded penal facilities. In 1787, the ‘First Fleet’ which consisted of a flotilla of ships carrying just over 1300 people (of which 753 were convicts or their children and the remainder marines, officers and their family members) left Britain’s shores for Australia. On January 26, 1788 – now celebrated as Australia Day – the fleet landed at Sydney Cove and the first steps to European settlement began.
D. Genealogy research has led to a shift in attitudes towards convict heritage amongst contemporary Australian society, as family members have been able to establish that their ancestors were, in fact, not hardened and dangerous criminals, but had, in most cases, been harshly punished for minor crimes inspired by desperation and dire economic circumstances. So dramatic has the shift in attitudes been that having family connections to passengers on the ‘First Fleet’ is considered nothing less than prestigious. Convicts Margaret Dawson and Elizabeth Thakery were amongst the first European women to ever set foot on Australian soil. Details about the former, whose initial death sentence passed for stealing clothes from her employer was commuted to deportation, and the latter expelled for stealing handkerchiefs along with others of similar fate are now available on the internet for eager descendants to track.
E. Although many of the deported convicts were forbidden to return to Britain, others such as Dawson, were, in theory, expelled for a given term. In reality, however, the costs of attempting to return to the mother country were well beyond the means of the majority. Genealogists now attribute the successful early development of Australia to such ex-convicts who decided to contribute fully to society once their sentence had been served. Many rewards were available to prisoners who displayed exemplary behaviour, including land grants of 30 acres or more, tools for developing and farming the land and access to convict labour. Genealogy studies also show that many former prisoners went on to hold powerful positions in the newly forming Australia society, examples being Francis Greenway – a British architect expelled on conviction of fraud – who went on to design many of Sydney’s most prominent colonial buildings, and Alexander Munro, transported after stealing cheese at the age of 15, who would later build Australia’s first gas works and hold the position of Town Mayor.
F. In North America, the Mormon Church, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, holds two major genealogical databases, the International Genealogical Index and the Ancestral File, which contain records of hundreds of million individuals who lived between 1500 and 1900 in the United States, Canada and Europe. Resources available to genealogy enthusiasts include the Salt Lake City based Family History Library and more than 4000 branches where microfilms and microfiches can be rented for research and the newer Family Search internet site which provides open access to numerous databases and research sources. Such data sharing practices are central and crucial to genealogical research and the internet has proven to be a major tool in facilitating ease of transfer of information in formats suitable for use in forums and via email. The global level of interest in and demand for such information has proven so intense, that traffic load on release of sources such as Family Search and the British Census for 1901 led to temporary collapse of the host servers.
G. Experts advise that reliability of sources used for genealogical research should be evaluated in light of four factors which may influence their accuracy, these being the knowledge of the informant, the bias and mental state of the informant, the passage of time and potential for compilation error. First, genealogists should consider who the information was provided by and what he or she could be ascertained to have known. For example, a census record alone is considered unreliable as no named source for the information is likely to be found. A death certificate signed by an identified doctor, however, can be accepted as more reliable. In the case of bias or mental state, researchers are advised to consider that even when information is given by what could be considered a reliable source, that there may have been motivation to be untruthful – continuing to claim a government benefit or avoidance of taxation, for example.
H. Generally, data recorded at the same time or close to the event being researched is considered to be more reliable than records written at a later point in time, as – while individuals may intend to give a true representation of events – factual information may be misrepresented due to lapses in memory and forgotten details. Finally, sources may be classified as either original or derivative. The latter refers to photocopies, transcriptions, abstracts, translations, extractions, and compilations and has more room for error due to possible misinterpretations, typing errors or loss of additional and crucial parts of the original documentation.
Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B and D-G from the list of headings below.
|
List of headings i. An Embarrassing Heritage ii. Assessing Validity iii. Diversity of Application iv. Interpretation Errors v. Past Usage vi. Useful Sources vii. Australasian Importance viii. Changing Viewpoints ix. Significant Roles |
Example: Paragraph C: vii
Paragraph B:
Paragraph D:
Paragraph E:
Paragraph F:
Paragraph G:
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage?
|
TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN |
if the statement agrees with the information if the statement contradicts the information if there is no information on this |
Early applications of genealogy focused on behaviour, movement and settlement of populations.
The punishment of deportation was reserved for those who posed a serious threat to British society.
Some ex-convicts chose to stay in Australia due to the opportunities it presented.
Overwhelming interest in obtaining genealogical information has led to technological difficulties.
Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence, using the word given. Do not make any changes to the word given and write no more than EIGHT words in total.
The editor of the publication faced severe criticism for publishing the celebrity's picture. (IN)
=> The editor of the publication for publishing the celebrity's picture.
Complete the second sentence, using the word given so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence. Do NOT change the word given in brackets in any way and write no more than EIGHT words in total.
In the end, they left me to settle up with the restaurant. (FOOT)
=> In the end, I
Complete the second sentence, using the word given so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence. Do NOT change the word given in brackets in any way and write no more than EIGHT words in total.
In the West, caring for the young and old was traditionally done through the extended family. (CUSTOM)
=> In the West, it was the looked after by the extended family.
Complete the second sentence, using the word given so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence. Do NOT change the word given in brackets in any way and write no more than EIGHT words in total.
I tried as hard as I could to make sure that this problem would not arise. (POWER)
=> I did from arising.
Complete the second sentence, using the word given so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence. Do NOT change the word given in brackets in any way and write no more than EIGHT words in total.
There is no doubt that Lucy will agree with the president's point of view. (SAYING)
=> It in with the president's point of view.
Complete the second sentence, using the word given so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence. Do NOT change the word given in brackets in any way and write no more than EIGHT words in total.
I've become extremely good at missing the rush hour over the last few weeks. (FINE)
=> I've got missing over the last few weeks.
Complete the second sentence, using the word given so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence. Do NOT change the word given in brackets in any way and write no more than EIGHT words in total.
It was a bad idea to turn up unexpectedly without calling first. (BLUE)
=> You should without calling first.
Complete the second sentence, using the word given so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence. Do NOT change the word given in brackets in any way and write no more than EIGHT words in total.
According to the news, the film star will make an announcement on air this afternoon. (DUE)
=> According to the news, the film star on air this afternoon.
Complete the second sentence, using the word given so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence. Do NOT change the word given in brackets in any way and write no more than EIGHT words in total.
You need to watch Lauren closely to make sure she does her work properly. (SHARP)
=> You need to Lauren to make sure she does her work properly.
Complete the second sentence, using the word given so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence. Do NOT change the word given in brackets in any way and write no more than EIGHT words in total.
Peter is far superior to David in terms of technical knowledge. (MATCH)
=> When it comes Peter.