Choose the word which has the underlined part pronounced differently from the others.
dynamism
sybarite
cynicism
hypocrite
Choose the word which has the underlined part pronounced differently from the others.
curriculum
coincidence
currency
conception
Choose the word which has the underlined part pronounced differently from the others.
borough
ghetto
yoghurt
ghrelin
The accused had _____ out to prove his innocence and in the end, he was set free.
They are unlikely to find any more new documents because so much time has ______ since the incident happened.
My parents have spent their whole youth to _____ the family and now it is the time for them to enjoy their retirement.
It has often been proposed that the president _____ by national popular vote.
The mayoress is going to take a visit to my school tomorrow so we want the classroom _____ when she gets there.
Think of ONE word only which can be used appropriately in all three sentences.
1. It is, without a _____, one of the best films I've ever seen.
2. Whether the government will fulfill its manifesto commitments is open to ___
3. The jury felt there was a reasonable _____ as to his guilt, and so he was acquitted.
=> Answer:
Think of ONE word only which can be used appropriately in all three sentences.
1. Ronald does a very good _____ of Charlie Chaplin.
2. You really made an _____ on Sheryl last night.
3. I was under the _____ that coach tickets were more expensive than train tickets.
Answer:
Think of ONE word only which can be used appropriately in all three sentences.
1.There's no _____ for believing the Queen's going to abdicate.
2. She's only working here on a temporary _____.
3. We chose Turkey on the _____ that it's much cheaper than Greece.
Answer:
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.
| prop mess fade come knuckle take think | up around away out down after over |
1. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization the government in that country for years.
2. There is nothing I like better than the garden.
3. To my amazement, the letters on the page slowly .
4. The stain finally , but I had to wash the T-shirt four times.
5. It's time for me to and get this finished.
6. She really me in terms of educational perspectives.
7. Let's his proposal before we meet him again.
Read the text and choose the best answer to fill in the blanks.
Research has shown that over half the children in Britain who take their own lunches to school do not eat in the middle of the day. In Britain, schools have to provide meals at lunchtime. Children can to bring their own food or have lunch at the school canteen.
One shocking of this research is that school meals are much healthier than lunches prepared by parents. There are strict standards for the preparation of school meals, which have to include one of fruit and one of vegetables, as well as meat, a dairy item and starchy food like bread or pasta. Lunchboxes by researchers contained sweet drinks, crisps and chocolate bars. Children consume twice as much sugar as they should at lunchtime.
The research will provide a better of why the percentage of overweight students in Britain has increased in the last decade. , the government cannot criticize parents, but it can remind them of the value of milk, fruit and vegetables. Small changes in their children's diet can affect their future health. Children can easily develop bad eating habits at this age, and parents are the only ones who can prevent it.
Complete the sentence by changing the form of the word in capitals.
The beginnings of modern leisure
During the first half of the nineteenth century, more and more people were employed in factories, working 14- or 15-hour days that left them little time for hobbies, sport or any other form of (CREATE) meant they weren't able to socialize with friends. A key breakthrough in Britain came with the Ten Hour Act (1847), which limited the working day and ensured that workers got some respite from their jobs. People now had at least some time to (WIND) from work at the end of the day and (INDULGENCE) themselves.
Not everyone approved. Many members of the middle class hated the idea of the workers being idle and believed that they would waste their time on (TRIVIA) matters instead of pursuing productive activities, such as education or going to church. The workers, however, found the new freedom (EXHILARATE) and threw themselves into new pastimes with enthusiasm.
Write one word in each gap.
Teenagers and Television
Until very recently, teenagers have been hooked on television. Parents have worried that their children are becoming fat, lazy potatoes, and teenagers seem to have preferred watching TV to almost any other activity in the home. Except perhaps sleeping. But no more! According to the latest statistics, teenagers have off TV and are turning off in droves. Given the choice TV and the internet, it's clear what most teens prefer. The Internet an interactive, social need that TV doesn't. Teenagers at a loose in their bedrooms can hang with their mates in cyberspace. As websites such as MySpace have off, teenagers have been only too eager to join in their millions and spend hours a day - and night - online. We're witnessing the birth of the generation of the 'keyboard potato', for want of a better expression.
WINGED WINNERS AND LOSERS
Birds in Britain come under scrutiny in a massive new study, Birds Britannica. A record of the avian community in the 21st century, it reveals a continually evolving pattern. Mark Cocker, the principal author of the tome, selects some cases.
A. Red Kite
The red kite’s recent rise from a mere handful to several thousands is among the great stories of modern conservation. Testimony to its flagship status is a recent Royal Society for the Protection of Birds poll which ranked it with the golden eagle and song thrush in the nation’s list of favourite birds. The dramatic spread has hinged on a reintroduction scheme at six sites in England and Scotland using kites originally taken from Spain and Sweden. The English releases began in the Chilterns in 1989 and when these had achieved a healthy population, subsequent introductions were made in Northamptonshire and Yorkshire using mainly English birds. The Scottish releases in the 1980s and 1990s have resulted in populations totalling more than 50 pairs. Altogether there are now about 3,000 kites in Britain
B. Dartford Warbler
European countries as well as the north African littoral, and has the smallest world range of any of our breeding birds. It is also a highly sedentary bird and a major cause of decline is its great susceptibility to the cold. The worst case occurred in the two successive hard winters of 1961 and 1962 when the numbers fell from 450 pairs to just 10. Memories of this calamitous decrease, coupled with the bird’s own tiny size and seeming delicacy, have cemented our sense of an overarching vulnerability. It is one of the best British examples where a species’ local rarity has been assumed to equal almost constitutional weakness. All the caution is perfectly understandable as an expression of our protective instincts towards a much-loved bird. Yet it sits oddly with the warbler’s continuing rise and expansion to a population of 1,925 pairs by the year 2000. It has undoubtedly been helped by mild winters as well as the intensive management and protection of England’s lowland heath. Yet the Dartford Warbler’s recent history illustrates how easy it is to underestimate the resilience of a small rare bird.
C. White-tailed Eagle
It is difficult to judge which is the more exciting conservation achievement – the reintroduction of this magnificent bird or of red kites. By wingspan and weight, this is the largest eagle in Europe and one of the biggest of all birds in Britain. However, if the species itself is on a grand scale, the size of the reintroduced population is tiny and the pace of increase agonizingly slow. The project involved a remarkable team effort by various UK environmental groups, as well as the Norwegian conservationists who organized the capture of the donated birds. Between 1975 and 1985, they released 82 eagles (39 males and 43 females) from a special holding area on the Inner Hebridean island of Rhum. Eight were later recovered dead, but in 1983 came the first breeding attempt.
Two years later, a pair of white-tailed eagles produced the first British-born chick in 69 years and every subsequent breeding season has seen a small incremental improvement. There is now an established breeding nucleus spread between the islands of Skye and Mull as well as the adjacent mainland, and their recent history suggests that the white-tailed eagle’s increase will continue throughout north-west Scotland.
D. Spotted Flycatcher
Even the greatest fans of this lovely bird, with its mouse-grey upper parts and whitish breast and belly, would have to admit that it is rather drab. They have no more than a thin, squeaky, small song. However, spotted flycatchers compensate with enormous character.
They are adept at catching large species such as day-flying moths, butterflies, bees and wasps, whose stings they remove by thrashing the victim against the perch. Their specialized diet means that they are among the latest spring migrants to return and are now in serious decline because of half a century of pesticide use. In the past 25 years, their numbers have declined by almost 80 per cent, but they are still sufficiently numerous (155,000 pairs) to be familiar and are often birds of large gardens, churchyards or around farm buildings.
Read the article and choose your answers from sections A-D. You may choose any of the sections more than once.
Of which bird are the following stated?
1. Further attempts to increase its numbers were made once initial attempts had proved successful.
2. Its population growth is a reflection of how tough it is.
3. Growth in its numbers has been much more gradual than desired.
4. There is reason to believe that its progress in a particular region will be maintained.
5. Measures taken in the running of a certain type of countryside have assisted in the growth of its population.
6. Even though its population has fallen, it can frequently be seen in various particular locations.
Read the following passage then choose the best answer to each question below.
As trees across the northern areas of the globe turn gold and crimson, scientists are debating exactly what these colors are for. The scientists do agree on one thing: the colors are for something. That represents a major shift in thinking. For decades, textbooks claimed that autumn colors were just a by-product of dying leaves. ‘I had always assumed that autumn leaves were waste baskets’ said Dr. David Wilkinson, an evolutionary ecologist at Liverpool John Moores University in England. ‘That’s what I was told as a student.’
During spring and summer, leaves get their green cast from chlorophyll, the pigment that plays a major role in capturing sunlight. But the leaves also contain other pigments whose colors are masked during the growing season. In autumn, trees break down their chlorophyll and draw some of the components back into their tissues. Conventional wisdom regards autumn colors as the product of the remaining pigments, which are finally unmasked.
Evolutionary biologists and plant physiologists offer two different explanations for why natural selection has made autumn colors so widespread. Dr. William Hamilton, an evolutionary biologist at Oxford University, proposed that bright autumn leaves contain a message: they warn insects to leave them alone. Dr. Hamilton’s ‘leaf signal’ hypothesis grew out of earlier work he had done on the extravagant plumage of birds. He proposed it served as an advertisement from males to females, indicating they had desirable genes. As females evolved a preference for those displays, males evolved more extravagant feathers as they competed for mates. In the case of trees, Dr. Hamilton proposed that the visual message was sent to insects. In the autumn, aphids and other insects choose trees where they will lay their eggs. When the eggs hatch the next spring, the larvae feed on the tree, often with devastating results. A tree can ward off these pests with poisons. Dr. Hamilton speculated that trees with strong defenses might be able to protect themselves even further by letting egg-laying insects know what was in store for their eggs. By producing brilliant autumn colors, the trees advertised their lethality. As insects evolved to avoid the brightest leaves, natural selection favored trees that could become even brighter.
‘It was a beautiful idea’ said Marco Archetti, a former student of Dr. Hamilton who is now at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. Dr. Hamilton had Mr. Archetti turn the hypothesis into a mathematical model. The model showed that warning signals could indeed drive the evolution of bright leaves – at least in theory. Another student, Sam Brown, tested the leaf-signal hypothesis against real data about trees and insects. ‘It was the first stab to see what was out there,’ said Dr. Brown, now an evolutionary biologist at the University of Texas.
The leaf-signal hypothesis has also drawn criticism, most recently from Dr. Wilkinson and Dr. H. Martin Schaefer, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Freiburg in Germany. Dr. Wilkinson and other critics point to a number of details about aphids and trees that do not fit Dr. Hamilton’s hypothesis. Dr. William Hoch, a plant physiologist at the University of Wisconsin, argues that bright leaves appear on trees that have no insects to ward off. ‘If you are up here in the north of Wisconsin, by the time the leaves change, all the insects that feed on foliage are gone’ Dr. Hoch said. In their article, Dr. Schaefer and Dr. Wilkinson argue that a much more plausible explanation for autumn colors can be found in the research of Dr. Hoch and other plant physiologists. Their recent work suggests that autumn colors serve mainly as a sunscreen.
Dr. Hamilton’s former students argue that the leaf-signal hypothesis is still worth investigating. Dr. Brown believes that leaves might be able to protect themselves both from sunlight and from insects. Dr. Brown and Dr. Archetti also argue that supporters of the sunscreen hypothesis have yet to explain why some trees have bright colors and some do not. ‘This is a basic question in evolution that they seem to ignore’ Dr. Archetti said. ‘I don't think it’s a huge concern,’ Dr. Hoch replied. ‘There’s a natural variation for every characteristic.’
Dr. Hamilton’s students and their critics agree that the debate has been useful because it has given them a deeper reverence for this time of year. ‘People sometimes say that science makes the world less interesting and awesome by just explaining things away’ Dr. Wilkinson said. ‘But with autumn leaves, the more you know about them, the more amazed you are.’
What is stated about the colors of autumn leaves in the first two paragraphs?
The writer says that Dr. Hamilton’s work has focused on _____
Dr. Hamilton has suggested that there is a connection between _____
What is said about the work done by former students of Dr. Hamilton?
Critics of Dr. Hamilton’s theory have expressed the view that _____
In the debate between the two groups of people investigating the subject, it has been _____
What does the word "pigment" in the second paragraph refer to?
The phrase "ward off" in paragraph 3 mostly means ____.
Which part of the tree does the word "foliage" mean?
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
You should make an effort to get out and about more.
=> It's high time ..........
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
A new flu vaccine has been on trial since the beginning of the year.
=> They ..........
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
Most of the students ignored what the teacher was saying.
=> Few ..........
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
There are more people out of work in this country than ever before.
=> Never ..........
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
It was more of an argument than a discussion.
=> It was not so ..........
Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.
I don't mind whether we have the meeting today or tomorrow. (MAKES)
=> It ..........
Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.
There is no way we can agree to this solution. (QUESTION)
=> This solution ..........
Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.
They probably don't live at the same address any more. (DOUBT)
=> I ........
Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.
"Why don't you relax for a while?" she said to me. (EASY)
=> She suggested ..........
Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.
To pass the time, I looked through some magazines. (WHILED)
=> I ..........