Choose the word which has the underlined part pronounced differently from the others.
entourage
camouflage
sabotage
beverage
Choose the word which has the underlined part pronounced differently from the others.
gullible
bulldozer
ultrasound
repulsive
Choose the word which has the underlined part pronounced differently from the others.
subtle
crumbs
plumber
knob
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 invention of the steam engine, most forms of transport were horse-drawn.
Suppose she _____ that outrageous story circulating around the office, she'd be furious!
The business has been thriving in the past year. Long _____ it continue to do so.
Think of ONE word only which can be used appropriately in all three sentences
1. Seafood is far too _____ for someone recovering from such a serious operation.
2. Despite being extremely _____, but he never parts with a penny for charity.
3. The _____ cultural history of Greece attracts thousands of tourists every year.
=> Answer:
Think of ONE word only which can be used appropriately in all three sentences.
1. Would you mind casting an ____ over this report before I submit it to the committee?
2. I have my ____ on a really nice jumper I saw in Benetton last week.
3. My manager usually turns a blind ____ if I'm a bit unpunctual in the mornings, as she knows I often stay late at the end of the day.
=> Answer:
Think of ONE word only which can be used appropriately in all three sentences.
1. As they grow older, the children have _____ off simple toys and games.
2. Although he's not a professional musician, Clive has always _____ his singing very seriously.
3. A charity has _____ over the running of the second-hand shop for the poor.
=> Answer:
Fill in the blank with an appropriate form of one of the words given to make a meaningful passage.
The bionic eye
According to statistics, around 40 million people around the globe are blind. Not surprisingly, medical researchers in this field have one objective and that's a (DEFINE) cure for blindness. They are working (ZEAL) towards developing technology that is as effective for visual disabilities as that available for the hearing-impaired. And their (PERSEVERE) may finally have paid off.
The "bionic eye" is maybe the greatest (BREAK) that scientists could make in this field. Although curing all forms of blindness may be too ambitious a goal, the bionic eye may be the solution to at least certain forms of blindness. It differs from a "rosthetic eye" in that the latter replaces the physical structure and appearance of the eye whilst the former works inside the eye structure or in the brain.
One of the first people to benefit from the remarkable new technology spoke of her joy at finally being able to tell the time after more than six years. "The doctors' accomplishment is just incredible," she said.
With further work and steadfast (DETERMINE) , scientists hope that they will be able to restore many more people's sight.
(Adapted from Reactive)
Form the collocations using the verbs and the prepositions from the boxes. Complete each sentence using a collocation in the appropriate form. You must use each verb and each preposition ONCE only.
[tie | back| draw | swing | bombard | steal | open]
[up| out | down | off | with | around |away]
My brother prefers to take temporary work because he hates the idea of being .
She was interfering, so I told her to and let me deal with it on my own.
I wish Thomas wouldn't always meetings by talking so much.
The new shopping center will all sorts of job opportunities.
I when I heard my name and saw Jude running towards me.
The reporters the Minister questions.
The boy while his parents were sleeping.
Read the text and choose the best answer to fill in the blanks.
THE VALUE OF WALKING
New research reveals that walking just 9.5 kilometers (six miles) a week may keep your brain sharper as you get older. Research published in the October 13 online issue of Neurology suggests that walking may protect aging brains from growing smaller and, in , preserve memory in old age.
'Brain size shrinks in late adulthood, which can cause memory problems,' study author Kirk Erickson of the University of Pittsburgh said in a news release. 'Our findings should encourage further well-designed scientific of physical exercise in older adults as a very approach for preventing dementia and Alzheimer's disease.' For the study, the team asked 299 dementia-free seniors to record the they walked each week.
Four years later, the participants were tested to see if they had developed of dementia. Then after nine years had passed, scientists the participants' brains to measure size. At the four-year test, researchers discovered subjects who walked the most had their risk of developing memory problems by 50 percent. At the nine-year checkpoint, those who walked at least 9.5 kilometers a week, had brains with a larger volume than those who didn't walk as much.
This is not the first study to promote the benefits of walking in seniors. For example, last spring, Harvard University found that women who walked regularly at a pace had an almost 40 percent lower risk of stroke.
Fill each of the following blanks with ONE suitable word.
KARAOKE FEVER
Karaoke is fast becoming the nation's Number One party pastime. Public humiliation has been so fashionable. It's 1 a.m, at an exclusive location in the heart of London. A major pop singer has taken the stage but rather than sing her latest hit, she treats the crowd a Michael Jackson song. What was the party habit of teenagers is now favored by London's coolest crowd and everyone is having a . So why are so many of our young celebrities queueing up to make fools of in clubs and bars across the country? Maybe it's because out a naff pop song to a public audience shows that even though you may be a celebrity, you don't yourself too seriously. And if you are a big movie star, that's a good message to get across. Nobody gets away without being laughed on a karaoke evening, no matter how famous they are. Turning all, that's the whole point of the exercise. for the musical experts among you, a word of warning: this isn't about proving to the world that you know all the lyrics to a serious song. It's about expressing your inner performer. Don't bother up at a karaoke-night if you aren't prepared to sing; you've got to put in the effort and prove that you are one of the 'in-crowd' Break a leg!
You are going to read an article about fathers and sons. For questions 1-8, choose from the people (A-D). The people may be chosen more than once.
A . Tony: Racing driver
‘Drive it like you stole it and keep it on the black stuff!’ I was quite nervous when I first started racing, but those were my dad’s jokey words of wisdom and they made me feel better at the time. In the beginning, I had quite a few spins on the circuits – the very first one was particularly scary because the car left the track, but he never said it was my fault. I used to drive a Porsche 924 and pretty much every single race something would break, but Dad would just say: ‘Don’t worry about the car, we can always fix it.’ I didn’t like people behind me when I went round corners, but Dad was always telling me not to take any notice, to focus on what I was doing. I’ve got a long way to go, but Dad ’s really good – he’s hardly the most polite person to have around if things don’t go well, but he’s my role model.
В. David: Record producer
Because Dad and I have always been close, there was no one moment when he imparted some big philosophical piece of advice. I think his greatest gift has been his general unwavering belief in me. Since I was about fourteen, he’s given me the opportunity to input ideas and have my say about the bands we work with or the equipment we use, which is amazing. When you’re part of a family business, it can sometimes feel as if you have to be there, but my brother and I have done other things, and we’re back with Dad again because we want to be. He left the decision to us. Dad’s also been good at giving career advice because he’s done it and he’s got the experience. He’s given me that drive and ambition to succeed.
C. Andy: Buyer for a department store
I was probably Dad’s most unruly son. He tried to teach me a lot of things – how much I’ve taken on board is another matter. But I don’t think I’m such a disappointment to him! He’s a very cool dad, but he’s quite traditional in some ways. He’s always said that if you want to succeed, then get on with it. If you’re going to do something, do it right away or at least write it down so you don’t forget! I’m proud of my dad and how hard he worked for us to have a lovely childhood and good lifestyle. Dad also taught me valuable skills like how to change the oil in my car, how to play tennis and ski – although the last time he saw me doing that he said he feared for his life!
D. Simon: Rugby player
He had this catchphrase: ‘Under-prepare, and you prepare to fail.’ I heard it time and again. A typical teenager when things went wrong, I was always trying to blame everything and everyone but myself. He used his catchphrase and explained that if you don’t put sufficient effort in, you’ll never get anything out of whatever it is you’re doing. That’s stayed with me ever since, even now when I’m playing professionally. He’s always given a fair amount of advice. He made me realise that if you just stick at something, no matter how hard things get, then your time will come. It’s the hardest thing to hear when things aren’t going well. At the beginning of the season, I wasn’t getting picked for many matches. Then when the chance came to play, I really took it.
Which person’s father…
always had faith in his son’s abilities?
encouraged his son not to give up in the face of disappointment?
gave his son advice in a light-hearted way?
made his son realise the need to try harder?
may not have succeeded in passing on certain ideas to his son?
put no pressure on his son to follow in his footsteps?
reassured his son when equipment let him down?
showed his son how to perform practical tasks?
Read the following passage then choose the best answer to each question below.
In 1910 the music hall comedian Billy Williams scored his biggest hit with the song When Father Papered the Parlour, mocking the incompetence of the amateur home decorator. Fifty years later, comedians Norman Wisdom and Bruce Forsyth were still entertaining millions on the TV show Sunday Night at the London Palladium with a similar routine, but the joke was starting to look dated. The success of magazines such as The Practical Householder was already proving that, as the 1957 Ideal Home Exhibition proclaimed, “Do-it-yourself is a home hobby that is here to stay.”
By this stage, Britain had mostly completed its transition from primitive housing conditions, made bearable – for those who could afford it – by servants and handymen, into a world where families looked after themselves in highly serviced environments. Recognizably modern technology, in the form of telephones, televisions and electricity, had become ubiquitous and was to transform domestic living still further in the coming years. The makeover of British homes in the twentieth century is recounted in Ben Highmore’s entertaining and informative new book. He takes us on a whirlwind tour of an everyday house, from entrance hall to garden shed, illuminated by extensive reference to oral histories, popular magazines and personal memoirs.
At its centre, though, is the way that our homes have reflected wider social changes. There is the decline of formality, so that living rooms once full of heavy furniture and Victorian knick-knacks are now dominated by television screens and littered with children’s toys. There is a growing internationalism in taste. And there is the rise of domestic democracy, with the household radiogram and telephone (located in the hall) now replaced by iPads, laptops and mobiles in virtually every room. Key to that decentralisation of the home – and the implied shift of power within it – is the advent of central heating, which gets pride of place as the innovation that allowed the whole house to become accessible at all times of day and night. Telling an unruly child to ‘go to your room’ no longer seems much of a threat.
Highmore also documents, however, some less successful steps in the onward march of domestic machinery. Whatever happened to the gas-powered fridges we were promised in 1946? Or to the Dishmaster a decade later that promised to do “a whole day’s washing up in just three minutes”? Rather more clear is the reason why a 1902 Teasmade failed to catch on: “when the alarm clock triggered the switch, a match was struck, lighting a spirit stove under the kettle”. You don’t have to be a health and safety fanatic to conclude that a bedroom isn’t the ideal place for such a gadget. Equally disturbing to the modern reader is the prewar obsession with children getting fresh air. It was a belief so entrenched that even a voice of dissent merely argued that in winter, “The healthy child only needs about three hours a day in the open air, as long as the day and night nursery windows are always open.” Nowadays, the fresh air obsession has been replaced by irrational fears of horrors outside the home. It’s easier to laugh at the foibles of the past, and Highmore doesn’t always resist a sense of modern superiority, though, for the most part, he’s an engaging and quirky guide, dispensing sociological insights without jargon.
The message is that even the language of the home has changed irrevocably: airing cupboards are going the same way as drawing rooms. As for that Billy Williams song, “By the 1980s”, Highmore writes, “it would be impossible for anyone to imagine their front room as a ‘parlour’ without seeming deeply old-fashioned.” He’s not entirely correct, for there was at least one person who was still employing such terminology. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sold her message with the use of what she called ‘the parables of the parlour’, which suggests she understood the truth that, despite the catalogue of changes, there is a core that seems consistent. A 1946 edition of Housewife magazine spelt it out: “men make houses, women make homes”. When you watch a male comedian today doing a routine about his wife’s attachment to scatter cushions, it seems worth asking: has the family dynamic really moved a great deal?
The reviewer’s main topic in the first paragraph is _____.
In the second paragraph, the reviewer says that the book includes evidence illustrating _____.
In the third paragraph, the reviewer points to a change in _____.
The reviewer suggests in the fourth paragraph that ____.
In the fifth paragraph, the reviewer says that in his book, Highmore _____.
What can be inferred from the sentence: "Nowadays, the fresh air obsession has been replaced by irrational fears of horrors outside the home."?
In the final paragraph, the reviewer suggests that Highmore may be wrong about _____.
Which of the following is the text extracted from?
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
The 100-meter runner is about to break her world record!
=> The 100-meter runner is on ..........!
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
I have an appointment to see the doctor at four o'clock.
=> I am ..........
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
Going to and fro with all the cases is what I can't stand about holidays.
=> It's all the ...........
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
The staff hated Frank's new policies intensely and so went on strike.
=> So ............
Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.
It was only when the film had ended that I remembered to switch off the oven.
=> Not .....
Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.
It's a good idea to take out a small loan to help start your business successfully. (GROUND)
=> It's .....
Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.
Although Rudy really didn't want to play cricket on Sunday, he agreed in the end. (DEAD)
=> Despite .....
Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.
Should there be a problem, contact us at all costs. (LINE)
=> In the ...........
Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.
Although the manager is sluggish, he is a smooth speaker. (GIFT)
=> Sluggish ...........
Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.
The board had a secret meeting in order to discuss changes in company policy. (DOORS)
=> ...........
Write an academic essay of about 250 words on the following topic.
Some people think children should have the freedom to make mistakes, while other people believe that adults should prevent children from making mistakes. Discuss both sides and give your opinion.
Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.