Choose the word which has the underlined part pronounced differently from the others.
vary
marry
farro
salad
Choose the word which has the underlined part pronounced differently from the others.
mica
linen
thighbone
demise
Choose the word which has the underlined part pronounced differently from the others.
houses
browse
hose
base
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.
Think of ONE word only which can be used appropriately in all three sentences.
1. Finally, they have decided to file a civil _____ against the corporation. The first hearing is due next week.
2. White doesn't _____ me. I prefer dark colours like brown and black.
3. If you asked me to arrive at 7, it would _____ me fine.
=> Answer:
Think of ONE word only which can be used appropriately in all three sentences.
1. I didn't know about her problems. They never came to my _____.
2. The _____ on the wall of the building said 'No entry'.
3. It is next to impossible to organize relief at such short _____ some more time to make it work.
Answer:
Think of ONE word only which can be used appropriately in all three sentences.
1. The country prides itself on having the most national parks and _____ reserves in the world and has often been given as an example for others to follow.
2. Fiona gave the _____ away when she began giggling behind his back. This made him suspicious.
3. They were sitting in the armchairs hunching over the desk and playing a _____ of chess.
=> Answer:
The seats in the front row are not _____ the best.
We are now better-off, but my grandparents grew up in a family that was _____ the breadline and lived in public housing.
Had it not been for my mom's early pick-up, I would _____ yesterday's live show of my favorite artist.
They turned the place _____ but did not find the thief.
The worrying thing was that at no _____ did Leeds actually put together a great move which tore Sunderland apart.
The school clock is not as _____ as it should be, it is usually between one or two minutes fast.
They live in a very _____ populated area of Italy.
The film _____ a lot of attention.
There was no alternative _____ wait until the rescue team came.
Kathy was as pleased as _____ when she heard she had passed the exam.
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 preposrtion ONCE only. Write your answer in the space provided.
[ pull | phase | flare | go | jot | die | come ]
[ over | on | up | off | in | down | away ]
1. So she succeeded in winning the contract. How did she manage to it ?
2. The changes were gradually so that everyone could get used to them.
3. Violence and a lot of people were injured.
4. A lot of money must have that expensive-looking carpet.
5. I'll just a few details in case I forget something.
6. I stood up too quickly and all dizzy.
7. The noise of the band and the crowd dispersed.
Complete the sentence by changing the form of the word in capitals.
Researchers studying biofluorescent coral discovered that other marine wildlife including eels, rays and sharks exhibited biofluorescence. Indeed, it is not such a rare (OCCUR) as they had previously believed. While filming off the Solomon Islands, a place with some of the most abundant marine diversity on the planet, they came across catsharks, which are brilliantly fluorescent. This fluorescence is (VISION) all over their bodies, on their skin and even in their eyes, but it is not yet clear what the function of it is. To see the phenomenon of biofluorescence, the divers use filters to create a very pure blue, to (PRODUCT) the light in the animals' world. Another filter, a yellow one in front of the camera, allows the researchers to see the light emitted by the animals. The scientists wonder if other fish can see this and whether it plays a role in their behavior. Filming marine life in the reef at night creates a feeling of (SERENE) that the scientists love. The fluorescence gives the illusion of being on another planet, it's like a Martian (LAND).
Read the text and choose the best answer to fill in the blanks.
Dumbing down
Recent research that some everyday things decrease intelligence, and the results are guaranteed to .
Reality TV has been under for a while. An Austrian study has revealed that watching reality shows actually makes you stupider. It's to say that many people had suspected this was the case. For the of the study, which involved two groups, one group of participants watched a reality show and then did a knowledge test. Those who had watched the show worse results than those who had not.
Food, too, can be a culprit. A Californian study showed that we need to be when it comes to sugar. Not only is it bad for our teeth and waistlines, but continued consumption slows the brain, and hinders memory and learning. Chewing gum, too, has come in for . In Wales, scientists discovered that it short-term memory. Participants had to look at a group of items and then recall the items and the order in which they saw them. The the group that had chewed gum before the test was not able to the task as well as those who had not.
Write one word in each gap.
This passage is about future technology.
Although the future is impossible to predict accurately, futurists ever stop trying. Based on the evidence of what is possible, they can often make good guesses about the technologies that are in the . Many experts incredible progress in technology, which is to change our lives forever. In all likelihood, smart technology will spread to every aspect of daily life.
Driverless cars are already being tested, and they have proved to be safe, they will become common and there will be fewer road accidents. Wearable technology is imminent, too, with some predicting that 2020 computers and phones will already have been incorporated into clothes. Also in are sensors in your jacket which will warn you about traffic you cross the road if you forget to look left and right. You won't need much space in your wardrobe, which will contain just one all-purpose nanofibre outfit that changes shape and colour. Not only clothes, but our bodies, too, will carry technology in the form of cybernetic implants allowing us to surf the Internet with our brains. Another development, which is to be very controversial, is artificial intelligence. The possibility that a computer's intelligence could exceed a human's is, for some scientists, a sure signal of doom.
Read the following passage then choose the best answer to each question below.
SCHIZOPHRENIA
One of the most serious forms of mental illness is schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a complex illness and includes many symptoms, and most people who suffer from schizophrenia do not display all the symptoms. One common trait shared by almost every schizophrenic, however, is a basic inability to tell the difference between reality and fantasy. Every person has fantasies. Our imaginations create situations which are not real. In a healthy person, these fantasies are often called “daydreams,” and the person is aware that they are not real. A schizophrenic, however, does not understand that his or her daydreams are not part of reality. This can lead to powerful delusions in which a person may believe things that could not possibly be true. For example, a schizophrenic may believe that he or she has been contacted by aliens or some other situation that is just as unlikely. Under extreme circumstances, these delusions may cause the schizophrenic to become violent and dangerous.
The causes of schizophrenia are complex and not completely understood. We know that brain chemistry is somehow involved. We know this because certain drugs that help control a specific chemical in the brain are helpful in treating schizophrenia. We also know that people who come from a family in which schizophrenia is common are more likely to develop schizophrenia themselves. Furthermore, schizophrenia usually surfaces during or after a person’s teenage years, right about the same time important chemical changes occur in the brain. All of these facts point to a biological cause for schizophrenia.
At the same time, there is a great deal of evidence that shows that a person’s environment and personal experiences are also important factors. For instance, one study showed that people living in a city are almost 70% more likely to develop schizophrenia, and minority groups show higher rates of the illness as well. This clearly shows that environment plays an important role alongside brain chemistry.
Schizophrenia is an episodic illness, with periods of severe illness usually lasting several months. Severe schizophrenics experience these episodes more frequently than those with less severe forms of the illness. It is estimated that about 1 % of the world population will experience a schizophrenic episode at some point in their lives. Treatment generally includes medication, and in severe cases hospitalization.
The word trait in the passage is closest in meaning to _____.
According to paragraph 1, the essential difference between the daydreams of a healthy person and those of a schizophrenic is that __________.
All of the following are symptoms of schizophrenia EXCEPT _____.
Based on the information in paragraph 1, the term delusions can best be explained as _____.
According to passage 2, all of the following are proof that schizophrenia has biological causes EXCEPT _____.
Based on the information in paragraph 3, what can be inferred about minority groups?
In stating that schizophrenia is an episodic illness, the author means that schizophrenia _____.
The word those in the passage refers to _____
Choose the best phrase or sentence (given below the text) to fill each of the blanks in the following text. Write one letter (A-L) in the corresponding numbered boxes on the answer sheet.
List of headings
A. Wide differences in leisure activities according to income
B. Possible inconsistencies in Ms Costa’s data
C. More personal income and time influence leisure activities
D. Investigating the lifestyle problem from a new angle
E. Increased incomes fail to benefit everyone
F. A controversial development offers cheaper leisure activities
G. Technology heightens differences in living standards
H. The gap between income and leisure spending closes
I. Two factors have led to a broader range of options for all
K. Have people’s lifestyles improved?
L. High earners spend less on leisure
Americans worry that the distribution of income is increasingly unequal. Examining leisure spending, changes that picture
1.
Are you better off than you used to be? Even after six years of sustained economic growth, Americans worry about that question. Economists who plumb government income statistics agree that Americans’ incomes, as measured in inflation-adjusted dollars, have risen more slowly in the past two decades than in earlier times, and that some workers’ real incomes have actually fallen. They also agree that by almost any measure, income is distributed less equally than it used to be. Neither of those claims, however, sheds much light on whether living standards are rising or falling. This is because ‘living standard’ is a highly amorphous concept. Measuring how much people earn is relatively easy, at least compared with measuring how well they live.
2.
A recent paper by Dora Costa, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, looks at the living-standards debate from an unusual direction. Rather than worrying about cash incomes, Ms Costa investigates Americans’ recreational habits over the past century. She finds that people of all income levels have steadily increased the amount of time and money they devote to having fun. The distribution of dollar incomes may have become more skewed in recent years, but leisure is more evenly spread than ever.
3.
Ms Costa bases her research on consumption surveys dating back as far as 1888. The industrial workers surveyed in that year spent, on average, three-quarters of their incomes on food, shelter and clothing. Less than 2% of the average family’s income was spent on leisure but that average hid large disparities. The share of a family’s budget that was spent on having fun rose sharply with its income: the lowest-income families in this working-class sample spent barely 1% of their budgets on recreation, while higher earners spent more than 3%. Only the latter group could afford such extravagances as theatre and concert performances, which were relatively much more expensive than they are today.
4.
Since those days, leisure has steadily become less of a luxury. By 1991, the average household needed to devote only 38% of its income to the basic necessities, and was able to spend 6% on recreation. Moreover, Ms Costa finds that the share of the family budget spent on leisure now rises much less sharply with income than it used to. At the beginning of this century a family’s recreational spending tended to rise by 20% for every 10% rise in income. By 1972-73, a 10% income gain led to roughly a 15% rise in recreational spending, and the increase fell to only 13% in 1991. What this implies is that Americans of all income levels are now able to spend much more of their money on having fun.
5.
One obvious cause is that real income overall has risen. If Americans in general are richer, their consumption of entertainment goods is less likely to be affected by changes in their income. But Ms Costa reckons that rising incomes are responsible for, at most, half of the changing structure of leisure spending. Much of the rest may be due to the fact that poorer Americans have more time off than they used to. In earlier years, low-wage workers faced extremely long hours and enjoyed few days off. But since the 1940s, the less skilled (and lower paid) have worked ever-fewer hours, giving them more time to enjoy leisure pursuits.
6.
Conveniently, Americans have had an increasing number of recreational possibilities to choose from. Public investment in sports complexes, parks and golf courses has made leisure cheaper and more accessible. So too has technological innovation. Where listening to music used to imply paying for concert tickets or owning a piano, the invention of the radio made music accessible to everyone and virtually free. Compact discs, videos and other paraphernalia have widened the choice even further.
7.
At a time when many economists are pointing accusing fingers at technology for causing a widening inequality in the wages of skilled and unskilled workers, Ms Costa’s research gives it a much more egalitarian face. High earners have always been able to afford amusement. By lowering the price of entertainment, technology has improved the standard of living of those in the lower end of the income distribution. The implication of her results is that once recreation is taken into account, the differences in Americans’ living standards may not have widened so much after all.
8.
These findings are not water-tight. Ms Costa’s results depend heavily upon what exactly is classed as a recreational expenditure. Reading is an example. This was the most popular leisure activity for working men in 1888, accounting for one-quarter of all recreational spending. In 1991, reading took only 16% of the entertainment dollar. But the American Department of Labour’s expenditure surveys do not distinguish between the purchase of a mathematics tome and that of a best-selling novel. Both are classified as recreational expenses. If more money is being spent on textbooks and professional books now than in earlier years, this could make ‘recreational’ spending appear stronger than it really is.
Write a new sentence similar in meaning to the given one, using the word given in the brackets. Do not alter the word in any way.
Winter will be here shortly and the days will become depressingly short. (UPON)
=> Winter and the days will become depressingly short.
Write a new sentence similar in meaning to the given one, using the word given in the brackets. Do not alter the word in any way.
Visitors who do not have passes are not allowed to enter the testing facility. (OFF)
=> The testing facility without passes.
Write a new sentence similar in meaning to the given one, using the word given in the brackets. Do not alter the word in any way.
I'm not enthusiastic about the technology project. (WORK)
=> I the technology project.
Write a new sentence similar in meaning to the given one, using the word given in the brackets. Do not alter the word in any way.
My brother's advice was to stay calm during my driving test. (HEAD)
=> My brother during my driving test.
Write a new sentence similar in meaning to the given one, using the word given in the brackets. Do not alter the word in any way.
When Dean lost his brand new iPhone, he became frantic. (BESIDE)
=> Dean losing his brand new iPhone.
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
We would always take great care when flying at night.
=> We always used to ..........
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
I will only be satisfied if the manager apologizes fully.
=> Nothing short ..........
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
The permit expires at the end of the month.
=> The permit is not ..........
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
A rise in temperature in the next century seems likely.
=> In all probability, ..........
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.
The brochure gives hardly any useful information.
=> Precious ........