Choose the word which has the underlined part pronounced differently from the others.
brooch
swoop
moot
sooth
Choose the word which has the underlined part pronounced differently from the others.
stern
dearth
hearth
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.
Choose the word that differs from the rest in the position of the main stress.
The new suspension bridge has been finished two years ahead of _____.
The _____ built onto the back of the house provided valuable extra space.
Excavations in several mounds and villages on the east bank of the Euphrates River _____ the city of Nebuchadnezzar, an ancient community that _____ under later reconstructions of the city of Babylon.
In such a flight ______ that we had no choice but to radio for help.
There is a rumor that the company I work for is going to _____ with National Bank.
John: "Our teacher, Mr. Jones, is not very flexible. He always requires us to submit his assignments on time."
Jack: "_____. He should know that we have to learn many subjects."
Complete the sentence by changing the form of the word in capitals.
A JOB WITH RISKS
Have you ever been to the cinema and wondered in (0) (AMAZE) amazement how film stars manage to perform dangerous acts like jumping off buildings or driving at great speed? They don’t, of course. The real (PERFORM) are usually stuntmen or women, who can earn a very good living by standing in for the stars when necessary. The work is (INCREDIBLE) demanding and, before qualifying for this job, they have to (PROOF) their ability in six sports including skiing, riding and (GYM) . They are usually the (SUNG) heroes of a movie, taking the gunshots, the punches, or falling off bridges or the tops of buildings.
Naturally, (SAFE) and timing are important and everything is planned down to the (TINY) detail. In a scene which involves a complicated series of actions, there is no time for careless mistakes. A stunt man or woman often has only one chance of getting things right, (LIKE) film stars, who can always film a scene (REPEAT) until it gains the director's approval.
Whatever the stunt, they’re risky but never (RECK) , as they’re equipped with as much safety training as they are with adrenaline. Of course, the actor still gets all the glory; they, however, definitely get to claim all the guts!
Read the following passage and choose the best answer for each blank.
GERARD MERCATOR: THE MAN WHO MAPPED THE PLANET
When Gerard Mercator was born in 1512, the geography of the globe still remained a mystery. It was unclear whether America was part of Asia if there was a vast of the sea at the top of the world or if Australia was connected to Antarctica.
Mercator's childhood was spent chiefly in Rupelmonde, a Flemish trading town on the river, and it was here that his geographical imagination was by the ships which passed to and from the rest of the world. Alongside imagination, he developed two very different skills. The first was the ability to gather, and co-ordinate the geographical information provided by explorers and sailors who frequented the margins of the known. He also had to be able to imagine himself from the heavens, to achieve the visionary of gods in the skies, down on the world. The main reason why Mercator's name is familiar to us is because of the Mercator Preiection: the solution he to represent the spheroidal surface of the globe on a two-dimensional plane. It is less well known that Mercator was the first man to conceive of mapping the surface of the planet or that he the idea of multiple maps being presented in bound books, to which he gave the name 'Atlas'.
It is difficult for us now to be surprised by maps, so many are there, and of such detail and coverage, but we should bear in mind that Mercator lived at a time when such knowledge was far from . He was the man who altered our worldview forever.
Fill each of the following blanks with ONE suitable word.
When he was made four years ago, John Spencer set up his own business dealing in and second-hand books. "I didn't expect to lose my job," he said. "It happened very suddenly and I knew it would be difficult to find another one. I'd always been interested in books; so that seemed a good to choose. I run the business from home and send and books by post so I don't need my own premises. Sometimes I travel to book fairs and sometimes I have a stall in the market. It was a bit frightening at first, being , but I've got used to it now and I really appreciate the feeling of independence I get from "be my own boss". John got some advice from his bank manager about the financial of his business and also took a small loan to buy stock. After only two years the business was making a profit. The secret of success, according to John, is to in a certain area (detective fiction and cooker in his case) so that you always have the book the serious collector is looking for. John posts books to his consumers and then waits for them to send . At first, he wasn't sure whether people would pay up promptly. In fact, this hasn't been the problem I thought it might be. Most customers are very and it's only the occasional one that causes problems.
Read the text and do the tasks that follow.
STRIKING BACK AT LIGHTNING WITH LASERS
A. Seldom is the weather more dramatic than when thunderstorms strike. Their electrical fury inflicts death or serious injury on around 500 people each year in the United States alone. As the clouds roll in, a leisurely round of golf can become a terrifying dice with death – out in the open, a lone golfer may be a lightning bolt’s most inviting target. And there is damage to property too. Lightning damage costs American power companies more than $100 million a year.
B. But researchers in the United States and Japan are planning to hit back. Already in laboratory trials, they have tested strategies for neutralizing the power of thunderstorms, and this winter they will brave real storms, equipped with an armory of lasers that they will be pointing towards the heavens to discharge thunderclouds before lightning can strike.
C. The idea of forcing storm clouds to discharge their lightning on command is not new. In the early 1960s, researchers tried firing rockets trailing wires into thunderclouds to set up an easy discharge path for the huge electric charges that these clouds generate. The technique survives to this day at a test site in Florida run by the University of Florida, with support from the Electrical Power Research Institute (EPRI), based in California. EPRI, which is funded by power companies, is looking at ways to protect the United States’ power grid from lightning strikes. ‘We can cause the lightning to strike where we want it to using rockets’: says Ralph Bernstein, manager of lightning projects at EPRI. The rocket site is providing precise measurements of lightning voltages and allowing engineers to check how electrical equipment bears up.
D. But while rockets are fine for research, they cannot provide the protection from lightning strikes that everyone is looking for. The rockets cost around $1,200 each, can only be fired at a limited frequency and their failure rate is about 40 percent. And even when they do trigger lightning, things still do not always go according to plan. ‘Lightning is not perfectly well behaved: says Bernstein. ‘Occasionally, it will take a branch and go someplace it wasn’t supposed to go.’
E. And anyway, who would want to fire streams of rockets in a populated area? ‘What goes up must come down,’ points out Jean-Claude Diels of the University of New Mexico. Diels is leading a project, which is backed by EPRI, to try to use lasers to discharge lightning safely– and safety is a basic requirement since no one wants to put themselves or their expensive equipment at risk. With around $500,000 invested so far, a promising system is just emerging from the laboratory.
F. The idea began some 20 years ago, when high-powered lasers were revealing their ability to extract electrons out of atoms and create ions. If a laser could generate a line of ionisation in the air all the way up to a storm cloud, this conducting path could be used to guide lightning to Earth, before the electric field becomes strong enough to break down the air in an uncontrollable surge. To stop the laser itself being struck, it would not be pointed straight at the clouds. Instead it would be directed at a mirror, and from there into the sky. The mirror would be protected by placing lightning conductors close by. Ideally, the cloud-zapper (gun) would be cheap enough to be installed around all key power installations, and portable enough to be taken to international sporting events to beam up at brewing storm clouds.
G. However, there is still a big stumbling block. The laser is no nifty portable: it's a monster that takes up a whole room. Diels is trying to cut down the size and says that a laser around the size of a small table is in the offing. He plans to test this more manageable system on live thunderclouds next summer.
H. Bernstein says that Diels's system is attracting lots of interest from the power companies. But they have not yet come up with the $5 million that EPRI says will be needed to develop a commercial system, by making the lasers yet smaller and cheaper. 'I cannot say I have money yet, but I'm working on it,' says Bernstein. He reckons that the forthcoming field tests will be the turning point - and he's hoping for good news. Bernstein predicts 'an avalanche of interest and support' if all goes well. He expects to see cloud-zappers eventually costing $50,000 to $100,000 each.
I. Other scientists could also benefit. With a lightning 'switch' at their fingertips, materials scientists could find out what happens when mighty currents meet matter. Diels also hopes to see the birth of 'interactive meteorology' - not just forecasting the weather but controlling it. 'If we could discharge clouds, we might affect the weather,' he says.
J. And perhaps, says Diels, we'll be able to confront some other meteorological menaces. 'We think we could prevent hail by inducing lightning,' he says. Thunder, the shock wave that comes from a lightning flash, is thought to be the trigger for the torrential rain that is typical of storms. A laser thunder factory could shake the moisture out of clouds, perhaps preventing the formation of the giant hailstones that threaten crops. With luck, as the storm clouds gather this winter, laser-toting researchers could, for the first time, strike back.
According to the text, every year lightning _____.
Researchers at the University of Florida and at the University of New Mexico _____.
Complete the sentences below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
EPRI receives financial support from
The advantage of the technique being developed by Diets is that it can be used
The main difficulty associated with using the laser equipment is related to its
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text?
|
YES NO NOT GIVEN |
if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this |
Power companies have given Diels enough money to develop his laser.
Obtaining money to improve the lasers will depend on tests in real storms.
Weather forecasters are intensely interested in Diels's system.
Read the following passage and choose which of the headings from A - I match the blanks. There are two extra headings, which do not match any of the paragraphs.
List of headings
A. An aid to achievement
B. Failure to prove them
C. A way to send people to sleep
D. Losing the battle
E. Questioning a widespread belief
F. Results which support a theory
G. Not widely researched
H. A partly explained theory
I. Behaviour that spreads quickly
YAWNING
1.
When one person yawns in a room, other people begin to yawn. Yawning is contagious, and once you start there is almost nothing you can do to stop. Of course, the big question is: why do we yawn at all? What possible advantage can there be in keeping our mouths wide open for several seconds? Is it a need for oxygen? Too much carbon dioxide in the blood? Time for bed?
2.
It is none of these according to Robert Provine to an American psychologist. Provine first became curious about yawning when he realised that nobody had really studied this extremely common aspect of behavior. "Most scientists are looking for the deep and obscure," Provine says. "I Iook for the significance of everyday behavior that people have neglected." With this in mind, he and several other psychologists decided to find out when, why and how we yawn.
3.
Conventional wisdom has long held that we yawn in order to wake up our weary brains with a refreshing burst of oxygen. Assuming that this is true, Provine reasoned, then people who are running low on oxygen - or high on carbon dioxide - should yawn more often than normal. To find out if this was the case, Provine first had to try to make people yawn more.
4.
In his laboratory, Provine gathered together a group of students and told them to think about yawning while they breathed in mixtures of air that were either high in oxygen, high in carbon dioxide or completely normal. Although the gases made the students breathe faster, none of the different gases altered the students' rate of yawning, which held steady at about 24 yawns an hour. Exercise, which also speeds up breathing, made no difference to the yawning rate either.
5.
Whatever the reason for yawning, there is no doubt that it is refreshing. According to Ronald Baenninger, another psychologist who is interested in the subject, this feeling is not caused by oxygen coining into the body. The cause, he believes, may lie in the blood: yawning sends an extra supply of blood to the brain. We do not know exactly what the blood does when it reaches the brain, but Baenninger believes it does help to refresh it.
6.
Baenninger believes, therefore, that we yawn in order to make our brains ready for some new action. To test this theory, he asked people to wear bands around their wrists as they went about their normal routines. These bands were sensitive to increased movement by the people wearing them. The bands contained a button which the people were told to press every time they yawned. After collecting data for two weeks, Baenninger found that within 15 minutes of yawning his subjects were normally engaged in some more lively form of activity.
7.
There are indeed plenty of indications from everyday life to suggest that yawning helps the brain to get ready for something big. Olympic athletes yawn before a race, students yawn before an exam nation, and violinists yawn before a concert. It is not that the athletes, students or violinists are bored; they are simply working to get to a level at which they are well and truly ready for the main event.
8.
We yawn when there is nothing actually happening but when we do not want to lose our level of readiness: says BaenningerWhy we yawn before going to bed, though, remains a mystery. Baenninger suggests that it may be that we struggle to stay awake and alert. but sleep simply wins out in the end.
Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.
Bill changed his ways when he came out of prison. (leaf)
=> Bill has .....
Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.
As a result of the bad weather, there may be delay to some international flights. (subject)
=> Due to the bad weather, ..... possible delay.
Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.
Immediately after winning the race, Sandy began training for the next one. (had)
=> No sooner .....
Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.
He was extremely happy because he won that scholarship. (MOON)
=> Had ..........
Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.
Don't make a fuss over such trivial things. (MOUNTAIN)
=> Don't ..........
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
Can I speak to someone about my problem?
=> Would it ...........?
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
They will not announce the decision formally.
=> No formal ............
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
The noise made by the children didn't prevent the baby from sleeping soundly.
=> Whatever .............
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
It shouldn't have surprised me that my children didn't like the new, cheaper ice-cream.
=> I might ............
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
I left without saying goodbye as I didn't want to disturb the meeting.
=> Rather ............
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
The company will decide very soon whether to close the Beijing office.
=> The company is on ……….
Write a paragraph of approximately 140 words to answer the following question.
Science is very important in the 21st century. How do you think it could be made more appealing to young people?