Choose the word which has the underlined part pronounced differently from the others.
exactitude
algebra
Manila
tranquil
critique
Christian
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.
With their undeveloped immune systems, young infants are _____ to a wide range of minor ailments.
Let your younger brother talk first, _____?
When deep-sea diving, you must pay attention to the time, ____ staying underwater too long may result in serious illness.
You can't bury your head _____ and hope that this problem goes away, you know.
There is no danger in using this machine as long as you _____ to the safety regulations.
Total weight of ants in the world is much smaller than ______.
_____ on my part that I could not manage to deliver the goods on time.
For some people, durian is an _____ taste and is not liked at first.
The early railroads were _____ the existing arteries of transportation: roads, turnpikes, canals, and other waterways.
The teacher welcomes the _____ from the students on any subject.
Animal lovers expect industrial testing on animals _____ to medical experiments.
The intricate details in the painting _____ about the artist's skill and attention to detail.
The book was so engaging and well-written that I found myself recommending it to all my friends as a must-read _____.
The team's poor performance in the championship has _____ heavy scrutiny from sports journalists and fans.
Choose the word(s) CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined word(s).
Scientists warn of the impending extinction of many species of plants and animals.
Choose the word(s) CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined word(s).
The artist's work was met with disapproval from some critics, who found it lacking in originality.
Choose the word(s) OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined word(s).
Carl is really getting a lot better at tennis. He really gave me a run for my money at the match yesterday.
Choose the word(s) OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined word(s).
Getting a lot of sleep and drinking plenty of fluids can mitigate the effects of the flu.
Fill each of the following blanks with ONE suitable word.
Have you ever given any thought to the concept of the protection of our natural resources and the significance it on our sound existence? It may have been recognized by only a few of us what consequences our wasteful life may lead to unless we undertake some proper measures to conserve our natural habitats and their key - wildlife, vegetation, soil, and water supplies. This question requires still more publicity, sure. ever do we realize how much effluent gets discharged into water or how many tons of waste our populations can out daily. In our hectic life, we seldom think of the vast area of woodlands, including the rain forests, that get every minute. We aren't usually conscious of the fact that the ozone layer is being depleted due to the greenhouse effect. How much do we know about the animal species being on the of extinction? Lastly, who is to for our abysmal ignorance? One possible response is the incredible intensity of life that we are living almost all the time. Statistically, an average couple has more to acquire in the 20th century than their ancestors did several decades ago - education, the financial means for securing the family with a flat or a house, a car, a stereo, and other variety of rudimentary accessories that the civilized world has to offer and which our earthly existence seems unimaginable. Therefore, the answer is simple. It is ourselves that should face the charges of devastating the natural environment that we originate from, but for which we don't give much consideration principle.
Complete the passage by changing the form of the word in capitals.
The natural uses of bioluminescence vary widely, and organisms have learned to be very creative with its use. Fireflies employ bioluminescence primarily for (PRODUCE) means – their flashing patterns advertise a firefly’s readiness to breed. Some fish use it as a handy spotlight to help them locate prey. Others use it as a lure; the anglerfish, for example, dangles a (LUMINAIRE) flare that draws in gullible, smaller fishes which get snapped up by the anglerfish in an automated reflex. Sometimes, bioluminescence is used to resist predators. Vampire squids eject a thick cloud of glowing liquid from the tip of their arms when threatened, which can be (ORIENT) . Other species use a single, bright flash to (TEMPORARY) blind their attacker, with an effect similar to that of an (COME) car which has not dipped its headlights.
Humans have captured and (UTILE) bioluminescence by developing, over the last decade, a technology known as Bioluminescence Imaging (BLI). BLI involves the extraction of a DNA protein from a bioluminescent organism, and then the integration of this protein into a laboratory animal through trans-geneticism. Researchers have been able to use luminized pathogens and cancer cell lines to track the (RESPECT) spread of infections and cancers. Through BLI, cancers and infections can be observed without intervening in a way that affects their independent development. In other words, while under an ultra-sensitive camera and bioluminescent proteins add a visual element, they do not disrupt or (MUTANT) the natural processes. As a result, when testing drugs and treatments, researchers are permitted a single perspective of a therapy’s progression.
Once scientists learn how to engineer bioluminescence and keep it stable in large quantities, a number of other human uses for it will become available. Glowing trees have been proposed as (REPLACE) for electric lighting along busy roads, for example, which would reduce our dependence on (NEW) energy sources.
Read the text and choose the best answer to fill in the blanks.
It only requires the completion of the reconstruction of the human genetic map for a whole host of hereditary diseases to be . Originally, it was forecast that the venture would take until the beginning of the 21st century to be . At present, it is clear that the task can be finished much earlier. Hundreds of scholars have gone to to help unravel the mystery of the human genetic structure with an ardent hope for mankind from disorders such as cancer, cystic fibrosis or arthritis.
The progress in this incredible undertaking is conditioned by an accurate interpretation of the information contained in the chromosomes forming the trillions of cells in the human body. Locating and characterizing every single gene may an implausible assignment, but very considerable has already been made. What we know by now is that the hereditary code is assembled in DNA, some of which may be diseased and to the uncontrollable transmission of the damaged code from parents to their children. Whereas work at the completion of the human genome may last for a few years more, notions like gene therapy or genetic engineering don't much surprise any longer. Their potential application has already been examined in the effective struggle against many viruses or in the genetic treatment of blood disorders. The hopes are, then, that hundreds of maladies that humanity is plagued at present might eventually to exist in the not-too-distant future.
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 _____.
Read the following passage and complete the tasks.
Elephant Communication
O’Connell-Rodwell, a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University, has travelled to Namibia’s first-ever wildlife reserve to explore the mystical and complicated realm of elephant communication. She, along with her colleagues, is part of a scientific revolution that started almost 20 years ago. This revolution has made a stunning revelation: elephants are capable of communicating with each other over long distances with low-frequency sounds, also known as infrasounds, which are too deep for humans to hear.
As might be expected, African elephants able to detect seismic sound may have something to do with their ears. The hammer bone in an elephant’s inner ear is proportionally huge for a mammal, but it is rather normal for animals that use vibrational signals. Thus, it may be a sign that suggests elephants can use seismic sounds to communicate.
Other aspects of elephant anatomy also support that ability. First, their massive bodies, which enable them to give out low-frequency sounds almost as powerful as the sound a jet makes during takeoff, serve as ideal frames for receiving ground vibrations and transmitting them to the inner ear. Second, the elephant’s toe bones are set on a fatty pad, which might be of help when focusing vibrations from the ground into the bone. Finally, the elephant has an enormous brain that sits in the cranial cavity behind the eyes in line with the auditory canal. The front of the skull is riddled with sinus cavities, which might function as resonating chambers for ground vibrations.
It remains unclear how the elephants detect such vibrations, but O’Connell-Rodwell raises a point that the pachyderms are ‘listening’ with their trunks and feet instead of their ears. The elephant trunk may just be the most versatile appendage in nature. Its utilization encompasses drinking, bathing, smelling, feeding and scratching. Both trunk and feet contain two types of nerve endings that are sensitive to pressure – one detects infrasonic vibration, and another responds to vibrations higher in frequencies. As O’Connell-Rodwell sees, this research has a boundless and unpredictable future. ‘Our work is really interfaced with geophysics, neurophysiology and ecology,’ she says. ‘We’re raising questions that have never even been considered before.’
It has been well known to scientists that seismic communication is widely observed among small animals, such as spiders, scorpions, insects and quite a lot of vertebrate species like white-lipped frogs, blind mole rats, kangaroo rats and golden moles. Nevertheless, O’Connell-Rodwell first argued that a giant land animal is also sending and receiving seismic signals. ‘I used to lay a male planthopper on a stem and replay the calling sound of a female, and then the male one would exhibit the same kind of behaviour that happens in elephants - he would freeze, then press down on his legs, move forward a little, then stay still again. I find it so fascinating, and it got me thinking that perhaps auditory communication is not the only thing that is going on.’
Scientists have confirmed that an elephant’s capacity to communicate over long distances is essential for survival, especially in places like Etosha, where more than 2,400 savanna elephants range over a land bigger than New Jersey. It is already difficult for an elephant to find a mate in such a vast wild land, and the elephant's reproductive biology only complicates it. Breeding herds also adopt low-frequency sounds to send alerts regarding predators. Even though grown-up elephants have no enemies else than human beings, baby elephants are vulnerable and are susceptible to lions' and hyenas' attacks. At the sight of a predator, older ones in the herd will clump together to form protection before running away.
We now know that elephants can respond to warning calls in the air, but can they detect signals transmitted solely through the ground? To look into that matter, the research team designed an experiment in 2002, which used electronic devices that enabled them to give out signals through the ground at Mushara. ‘The outcomes of our 2002 study revealed that elephants could indeed sense warning signals through the ground,’ O’Connell-Rodwell observes.
Last year, an experiment was set up in the hope of solving that problem. It used three different recordings the 1994 warning call from Mushara, an anti-predator call recorded by scientist Joyce Poole in Kenya and a made-up warble tone. ‘The data I’ve observed to this point implies that the elephants were responding the way I always expected. However, the fascinating finding is that the anti-predator call from Kenya, which is unfamiliar to them, caused them to gather around, tense up and rumble aggressively as well but they didn’t always flee. I didn’t expect the results to be that clear-cut.’
Decide whether the statements reflect the claims of the writer. Choose
|
YES if the statement reflects the claims of the writer. NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer. NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this. |
1. An elephant's large hammer bone shows the possibility of its ability to detect seismic vibrations.
2. An elephant needs to communicate over long distances for its survival when older members of the herd want to flee from the group.
3. The 2002 research showed that elephants were unable to notice seismic signals.
4. The outcome of the experiment conducted last year is out of the original expectation.
Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
How the elephants sense these sound vibrations is still unknown, but O’Connell-Rodwell, a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University, proposes that elephants are ‘listening’ with their by two kinds of nerve endings that respond to vibrations with both frequency and slightly higher frequencies. O’Connell-Rodwell's work is at the combination of geophysics, neurophysiology and . It was known that seismic communication existed extensively within small animals, but O’Connell-Rodwell was the first person to indicate that a large land animal would send and receive too. Also, he noticed the freezing behaviour by putting a male planthopper on a stem and play back a female call, which might prove the existence of other communicative approaches besides . Scientists have determined that an elephant’s ability to communicate over long distances is essential, especially, when elephant herds are finding a , or are warning of predators. Finally, the results of our 2002 study showed us that elephants could detect warning calls through the ground.
Choose the correct paragraphs A - F from the list of numbered paragraphs below. Write the correct letter next to each paragraph.
List of paragraphs
A. Dismantling the Allosaurus and removing the plaster and glue covering it can also reveal whether the animal suffered any injuries when alive.
B. The Smithsonian’s team should be able to take it apart in large chunks in a single day, but even once they’ve dismantled it they’ll still have hours of work ahead of them, breaking the skeleton down further into individual bones and cleaning them.
C. These endeavors will modernize a space which has never seen a major overhaul. It will also give researchers a chance to make detailed studies of the exhibits – some of which haven’t been touched in decades.
D. There are also plans to slim it down a little. When the museum first displayed the Allosaurus, preparators decided to use plaster casts of the ribs instead of the actual specimens, which resulted in a heavier-looking skeleton. Curators hope that the final, remounted skeleton will more closely resemble the dinosaur’s natural shape.
E. However, this dinosaur, previously classified as a separate species is now thought to be a type of Allosaurus. Both of the specimens come from the same quarry, and what’s more the Allosaurus is missing the exact same bone, so it’s entirely possible that it actually belongs to the Smithsonian Allosaurus.
F. In addition to correcting mistakes such as this, made when the specimens were first displayed, Carrano would also like to determine the age of the Allosaurus.
Taking Dinosaurs Apart
Pulling apart limbs, sawing through ribs and separating skull bones are activities usually associated with surgeons rather than museum staff. However, that is exactly what is going on at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC, USA. Renovations to the museum’s dinosaur hall, which started recently, have necessitated the dismantling and removal of its collection of dinosaur and extinct mammal skeletons, some of which weigh as much as five tons.
One particular specimen which curator Matthew Carrano can’t wait to get hold of is a meat-eating Jurassic dinosaur called Allosaurus, which has been on display for 30 years. ‘Scientifically, this particular Allosaurus is well-known,’ he explains, because ‘for a long time, it was one of the only Allosaurus specimens that represented a single individual animal’.
There are Allosaurus skeletons in museum collections across the world, but most consist of bones from a number of different examples of the species. This has made it difficult for scientists to work out how the entire skeleton fits together.
The Smithsonian’s five-meter-long Allosaurus, however, is definitely one unique individual. So once crystallized glue holding it together is removed, researchers and conservators can get a better sense of how the creature’s joints actually fitted together in life.
Another modification in the museum plans to make to its Allosaurus is removing a couple of centimeters from its tail, which is not original fossil but casts of vertebrae. ‘The tail on the Smithsonian’s specimen is too long’, says Peter May, owner and president of the company in charge of dismantling, conserving, and remounting the 58 specimens in the museum’s dinosaur hall. He explains that the skeleton on display has over 50 vertebrae, when it should have something closer to 45.
Slicing a thin cross-section out of a leg or rib bone can help with that. By placing a slice under a microscope, researchers will be able to count growth rings on the bone, the number of which would have increased throughout the creature’s life, very much like the rings on a cross-section of a tree trunk.
One example which Carrano wishes to investigate further is an apparent blow to the Allosaurus’s left side. ‘The shoulder blade looks like it has healed improperly,’ he explains. If the damaged shoulder blade can be fitted together with the ribs which are held in storage, paleontologists might be able to determine the severity and cause of the damage.
Finally, Carrano hopes to be able to compare the Allosaurus with another dinosaur in the collection called Labrosaurus. Labrosaurus is known only from a single bone – a lower jaw with a distortion which is believed to have been caused by disease or injury. ‘The two front teeth are missing and there’s an abscess there’, Carrano explains.
But in order to confirm their suspicion, Carrano and his colleagues will have to wait a while. ‘A lot of what we hope to learn won’t be accessible to us until the exhibits have been taken down and we can have a good look at them’, he says. So he won’t be able to get his hands on the Allosaurus quite yet.
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
I wasn't a bit surprised to hear that Karen had changed her job.
=> It came as ..........
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
"Please don't drive so fast!" Mary begged her boyfriend.
=> Mary pleaded ..........
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
Please don't put your feet on the sofa.
=> I'd sooner ...........
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
It's sad, but the oil price is unlikely to go down this year.
=> Sad as ...........
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
The supervisor announced that the workshop was delayed about 2 hours because of mechanical problems.
=> The workshop ...........
Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence, using the word given. Do not change the word given. You must use between THREE and SIX words, including the word given.
Would you mind spelling out how an electron microscope operates? (SYLLABLE)
=> Could you explain to me how an electron microscope works?
Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence, using the word given. Do not change the word given. You must use between THREE and SIX words, including the word given.
Sandra and Tom will probably get married in the summer. (ODDS)
=> Sandra and Tom will get married in the summer.
Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence, using the word given. Do not change the word given. You must use between THREE and SIX words, including the word given.
I don't believe that Oliver beat Simon at squash! (BEATEN)
=> Oliver Simon at squash!
Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence, using the word given. Do not change the word given. You must use between THREE and SIX words, including the word given.
Jane was the unlucky one and then stuck doing the whole project alone. (STRAW)
=> If Jane , she wouldn’t have had to finish the project by herself.
Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence, using the word given. Do not change the word given. You must use between THREE and SIX words, including the word given.
The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly highlighted the significance of mental health, as individuals face difficulties managing stress, anxiety, and isolation. (WRIT)
=> The importance of mental health has during the COVID-19 pandemic, as people struggle to cope with stress, anxiety, and isolation.
In many countries today, people in cities either live alone or in small family units, rather than in large, extended family groups. Is this a positive or negative trend? Write a paragraph of about 140 words to express your ideas.