Choose the word which has the underlined part pronounced differently from the others.
bags
dates
speaks
photographs
Choose the word which differs from the other three in the position of primary stress.
Choose the word that differs from the rest in the position of the main stress.
Everyone knows what is happening to _____ earth but we just do not know how to stop it.
The sun was shining brightly and there was not a single cloud _____ the sky.
The people awaiting their delayed flight had to spend the night ______ on the cold floor.
If he were younger, he _____ a professional running competition now.
I _____ there once a long time ago and _____ back since then.
_____ he didn’t have much money, he wasn’t able to buy his father an expensive gift.
I'll go to the shops _____.
Gravity, _____ by Issac Newton, has been widely applied in physics.
There are still many people in developing countries who live in extreme _____.
After closing the envelope, the secretary _____ the stamps on firmly.
Wherever you are and whatever you do, keep this in _____: honesty is the best policy.
Choose the word(s) CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined word(s).
Being listed as an endangered species can have a negative effect since it could make a species more desirable for collectors and poachers.
Choose the word(s) CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined word(s).
When being interviewed, you should concentrate on what the interviewer is saying or asking you.
Choose the word(s) OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined word(s).
Unless you have been very lucky, you have undoubtedly experienced events in your life that made you cry.
Choose the word(s) OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined word(s).
This says that there is an infinite number of alternative universes.
Read the passage then choose the correct answer to each question.
In the 1960s, it took pop and rock groups one or two days to record their songs. Nowadays, it can take months and months. Many rock groups begin by recording only one instrument, for example, the voice. Then they record other instruments – electric piano, synthesizer, guitars, drums and so on.
Next, they might use a computer to add special effects. Finally, they ‘mix’ all the instruments until they get the sound that they want. This means that a CD or cassette will always sound very different from a live concert.
Music engineers have developed a new computer program that will change the future of music. A computer can analyze a singer’s voice. Then if you give the computer the lyrics and music of a song, the computer can ‘sing’ it in that voice. This means that a singer only needs to record one song and the computer can then sing other songs in the singer’s own voice. Singers can sing new songs many years after they have died.
Most of us listen to music for pleasure, but for the record companies, music is a product, the same as soap powder. When a record company finds a new group (or ‘band’), they first try to develop the band’s ‘profile’. They will try to create an ‘image’ for the band that they think will attract young people. Instead of allowing the band’s full artistic freedom, they will often tell the band what they should wear, what they should say and how they should sing and play.
In recent years, many rock groups have started their own record companies because they say that the big companies are too commercial.
Today, to record songs, it takes _____.
Record companies don’t always _____.
The word “that” in the passage refers to _____.
The passage mainly focuses on _____.
Read the passage and choose the correct answer.
Marianne Moore (1887-1972) once said that her writing could be called poetry only because there was no other name for it. Indeed her poems appear to be extremely compressed essays that happen to be printed in jagged lines on the page. Her subjects were varied: animals, laborers, artists, and the craft of poetry. From her general reading came quotations that she found striking or insightful. She included these in her poems, scrupulously enclosed in quotation marks, and sometimes identified in footnotes. Of this practice, she wrote, "Why many quotation marks?" I am asked ... When a thing has been so well that it could not be said better, why paraphrase it? Hence, my writing is, if not a cabinet of fossils, a kind of collection of flies in amber." Close observation and concentration on detail are the methods of her poetry.
Marianne Moore grew up in Kirkwood, Missouri, near St. Louis. After graduation from Bryn Mawr College in 1909, she taught commercial subjects at the Indian School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Later, she became a librarian in New York City. During the 1920’s she was editor of The Dial, an important literary magazine of the period. She lived quietly all her life, mostly in Brooklyn, New York. She spent a lot of time at the Bronx Zoo, fascinated by animals. Her admiration of the Brooklyn Dodgers-before the team moved to Los Angeles - was widely known.
Her first book of poems was published in London in 1921 by a group of friends associated with the Imagist movement. From that time on, her poetry has been read with interest by succeeding generations of poets and readers. In 1952 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her Collected Poems. She wrote that she did not write poetry "for money or fame. To earn a living is needful, but it can be done in routine ways. One writes because one has a burning desire to objectify what it is indispensable to one's happiness to express..."
Which of the following can be inferred about Moore's poems?
What does Moore refer to as "flies in amber" in paragraph 1?
The author mentions all of the following as jobs held by Moore EXCEPT _____.
The word “it” in the third paragraph refers to _____.
It can be inferred from the passage that Moore wrote because she _____.
The word "succeeding" in paragraph 3 is closest to _____.
Read the following passage and choose the correct word for each of the blanks.
Wind, water, air, ice, and heat all work to cause erosion. As the wind blows over the land, it often (1) _____ small grains of sand. When these grains of sand strike against solid rocks, the rocks are slowly worn away. In this way, even very hard rocks are worn away by the wind.
When particles of rocks or soil became loosened in any way, running water carries them down the hillsides. Some rocks and soil particles are carried into streams and then into the sea.
Land that is covered with trees, grass and other plants wears away very slowly, and so loses very (2) _____ of its soil. The roots of plants help to (3) _____ the rocks and soil in place. Water that falls on grasslands runs away more slowly than water that falls on bare ground. Thus, forests and grasslands help to slow down erosion.
Even where the land is (4) _____ covered with plants, some erosion goes on. In the spring, the (5) _____ snow turns into a large quantity of water that then runs downhill in streams. As a stream carries away some of the soil, the stream bed gets deeper and deeper. After thousands of years of such erosion, wide valleys are often formed.
Choose the correct answer for (1).
Choose the correct answer for (2).
Choose the correct answer for (3).
Choose the correct answer for (4).
Choose the correct answer for (5).
Choose the underlined part that needs correction.
Neither his parents nor his teacher were satisfied with his result when he was at high school.
Choose the underlined part that needs correction.
It is said that Einstein felt very badly about the application of his theories to the creation of weapons of war.
Choose the underlined part that needs correction.
The Oxford English Dictionary is well-known for including many different meanings of words and to give real examples.
James comes to visit his cousins, Jimmy, Beth and Tom.
Tom: “We were wondering if you’d like to go to a baseball game with us. We have an extra ticket.”
James: "_______"
Laura and Maria are talking about the environment.
Laura: "I think it's high time we taught the children about protecting the nature."
Maria: "_____."
Choose the sentence CLOSEST in meaning to the sentence given.
Fishing is prohibited in this lake.
Choose the sentence CLOSEST in meaning to the sentence given.
“What did you do last night?” the policeman asked the woman.
Choose the sentence that is closest in meaning to the following question.
My old laptop was a lot bigger than my new one.
Choose the correct sentence that best combines each pair of sentences in the following question.
The burglar might come back. You’d better change all the locks.
Choose the sentence that best combines this pair of sentences.
Kim told us about his investment in the company. He did it on his arrival at the meeting.