Choose the word whose underlined part is pronounced differently from the others.
toucan
plough
doubtful
astound
Choose the word whose underlined part is pronounced differently from the others.
exactitude
devastating
relevance
contradiction
Choose the word whose underlined part is pronounced differently from the others.
conscientious
appreciate
precinct
preciosity
Choose the word whose underlined part is pronounced differently from the others.
emulator
evacuee
extirpate
execution
Choose the word whose stressed pattern is pronounced differently from the others.
Choose the word whose stressed pattern is pronounced differently from the others.
Choose the word whose stressed pattern is pronounced differently from the others.
Choose the word that differs from the other three in the position of primary stress.
Choose the word(s) OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined word(s).
At first, no one believed she was a pilot, but her documents lent color to her statements.
Choose the word(s) OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined word(s).
If any employee knowingly breaks the terms of this contract, he will be dismissed immediately.
Choose the word(s) OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined word(s).
This new magazine is known for its comprehensive coverage of news.
Choose the word(s) CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined word(s).
The experimented vaccine seems to have both desirable and detrimental effects on the subject's immune system.
Choose the word(s) CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined word(s).
I've always supported the Conservative Party but I'm fed up to the back teeth with them at the moment.
Choose the word(s) CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined word(s).
My headteacher has grave doubts as to whether I would pass my university entrance examination. I myself feel so worried.
Considering the severity of the crime, they were _____ lightly.
The movie _____ on themes of loneliness and grief, but doesn't make them the central focus of the characters.
You really dropped _____ the other day when you told Brian you'd seen his wife at the cinema. He thought she was at her mother's.
When he woke up, he realized that the things he had dreamt about could not _____ have happened.
Read the text and choose the best answer to fill in the blanks.
Greenhouse gases are being released into the atmosphere 30 times faster than the time when the Earth experienced a episode of global warming. A study comparing the rate at which carbon dioxide and methane are being now, compared to 55 million years ago when global warming also occurred, has found dramatic differences in the speed of release.
James Zachos, professor of earth sciences at the University of, California, Santa Cruz, said the speed of the present buildup of greenhouse gases is far greater than during the global warming after the of the dinosaurs. "The emissions that caused this past episode of global warning probably lasted 10.000 years." Professor Zachos told the American Association for the Advancement of Science at a meeting In St. Louis. "By burning fossil fuels, we are likely to emit the same amount over the next three centuries." He warned that studies of global warming events in the geological past indicate the Earth's climate passes a beyond which climate change accelerates with the help of positive feedbacks - circles of warming. professor Zachos is a leading authority on the episode of global warming known as the paleocene-eocene thermal maximum when average global temperatures increased by up to 50C due to a massive release of carbon dioxide and methane.
His research into the deep ocean suggests at this time that about 4.5 billion tons of carbon entered the atmosphere over 10.000 years. "This will be the same amount of carbon released into the atmosphere from cars and industrial emissions over the next 300 years if present trends continue", he said. Although carbon can be released suddenly and naturally into the atmosphere from volcanic activity, it takes many thousands of years for it permanently by natural processes. The ocean is capable of removing carbon, and quickly, but this natural capacity can be easily overwhelmed which is probably what happened 55 million years ago. "It will take tens of thousands of years before atmospheric carbon dioxide to preindustrial levels," the professor said. Even after humans stop burning fossil fuels, the effects will be long-lasting.
Read the following passage then choose the best answer to each question below.
CROSSWORD PUZZLES - AND WHY THEY ATTRACT?
What is it about this enigmatic grid of black and white squares that holds such universal appeals?
Crosswords exercise our little grey cells, of course; and they test our vocabularies and general knowledge. But the urge to solve a crossword is about more than mental gymnastics. Humans are, by nature, problem-solvers. We love the crossword because the puzzle is solvable and finite: there is a right answer. The crossword allows us to bring order to chaos. It challenges, absorbs, comforts, and distracts us. As Martha Petheridge, the first female editor of the crossword puzzle, said at the height of the Great Depression, "Who can worry about the rent when you are trying to solve 25 down?"
The very first puzzle resembling a crossword was devised by a man named Arthur Wynne. Wanting something a bit special for that year's seasonal supplement, he came up with the "Word-Cross". Derived from the ancient game of acrostics and the Victorian pastime of word squares, Wynne's first puzzle was diamond-shaped. It was published on Sunday, December 21st, 1913 with 31 simple clues, no black squares and little fanfare. The story might have ended there, but a few readers wrote in expressing their enthusiasm for the new brain-teaser and, much to the dismay of the typesetters, it was back the following week.
The first crossword published in the United Kingdom appeared in the Sunday Express on November 2, 1924. After initial skepticism, including an article in the Times branding the crossword a menace that had "enslaved American, Britain succumbed to the puzzle's allure; but the challenge of the straightforward "definitional" crossword - where the clue might be quick and the answer is "fast" - soon began to pall. A new, distinctly British, style of crossword began to emerge: the cryptic. The cryptic was complicated, intellectually brooding cousin of the definitional - its bad mystique and depth. With English being a language that consists of so many words from other languages and having so many ways of saying the same things, it was hardly surprising that cryptic crosswords writes took pains to go beyond simple definitions. But whether you enjoy a quick crossword or a cryptic one, the essential features are the same. The best writers all know that the essence of a good crossword lies in providing a sufficient number of questions for which the answers come with relative ease and then grading the difficulty level of those that remain. In other words, what you get is something that appears "doable" at first, but that gradually opens up in the face of dogged persistence. This is where the addiction sets in: The more crosswords one completes, the more fluent one and the more addicted you become.
Over the past century, there have been many imitators - and in recent years, a numerical challenge in the form of the mathematical teaser, Sudoku - yet the appeal of the classic crossword remained undimmed. In fact, a curious turnabout is taking place as crosswords hold their own against video games and other competitions. Rather than competing, the internet facilitates endless discussions about clues and answers, and, as a consequence, the typical crossword consumer appears to be getting considerably younger than their counterparts in previous generations.
The Martha Petheridge quote illustrates the fact that _____.
What’s the writer’s opinion of critic crosswords?
In the fourth paragraph, the writer explains that the key characteristic of most crossword addicts is their _____.
When the writer mentions a “turnaround” in the last paragraph, he is referring to a change in _____.
- "I think the government should do everything it can to discourage people from smoking."
- "_____ It does harm to both smokers and people around them."
Peter: "Could you fill it up, please?"
Ivan: "_______"
James: "Would you mind turning down the radio?"
Alice: "_____"
Anna: "I think there are just too many crazy people with guns these days."
Susan: "_____. The government should do something about it."
Bush: "Let's catch up one of these days, shall we?"
David: "______"
Choose the best way to rearrange the following sentences in order to make a meaningful conversation.
a. I hate the rules! I can’t wait till I grow up.
b. Have you done your homework?
c. Why are you watching TV?
d. Not yet.
e. You know the rules.
f. This is my favorite show.
Choose the best way to rearrange the following sentences in order to make a meaningful conversation.
a. I don’t know that book, let me check.
b. You mean Taming of the Shrew?
c. Do you have How to catch a mole?
d. What’s the difference?
e. It’s really famous. I think Dante wrote it.
Choose the best way to rearrange the following sentences in order to make a meaningful conversation.
a. You got up really early.
b. I have to hang up. I’m so sleepy.
c. I’m falling asleep on the phone.
d. I had to take my friend to the airport.
e. It’s not even 10 o’clock.
Choose the best way to rearrange the following sentences in order to make a meaningful conversation.
a. Hmm. Which one is that?
b. Oh, that one. I know where it is. I'll get it.
c. The one I gave you.
d. Which one?
e. Why don't you wear your new bathing suit to the beach?
f. You remember. It a purple one with yellow polka dots.
Choose the best way to rearrange the following sentences in order to make a meaningful conversation.
a. Sure, which article is it? Is it the one about the new car from BMW?
b. Oh, this is a magazine called the “Rides”. It only has articles about cars. I have “Times” in my car if you want it.
c. Can I see that magazine when you’re finished with it? There’s an article I want to read.
d. No, about the one on the upcoming election.
Read the text and choose the best answer to fill in the blanks.
(1) ______. Perhaps the most direct adaptation is enhanced flight speed and agility. Adaptations for speed, however, are likely to require sacrifices in other attributes, so we might expect only some species to adopt a simple fast flight strategy. Another way of enhancing the effectiveness of flight is to move in an erratic and unpredictable way. (2) ______. Rapid unexpected changes in flight direction make it difficult for a predator to track prey. A quite different way of enhancing escape by flight is to use so-called “flash” behavior. Here, the alarmed prey flees for a short distance and then “freezes.” Some predators are unexcited by immobile prey, (3) ______ a startling flash of activity followed by immobility may confuse them. “Flash” behavior is used in particular by frogs and orthoptera insects, (4) ______. In some species, “flash” behavior is enhanced by the display of bright body markings. (5) ______, underwing moths have colorful makings of red and yellow colours.
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).
When he returned home years later, with so many changes to the house, he was barely able to recognize it.
Everybody believes that he shouldn't have trusted the people around him so much.
Choose the sentence that is closest in meaning to the following question.
In England, as in Turkey, many surnames are derived from the skills and professions of ancestors.
Choose the sentence closest in meaning to the following sentence.
Should you choose not to continue with your education, we will still support you.
He needn't have hurried as the meeting didn't start until quite a while after the time for which it had been planned.
Choose the correct sentence that best combines each pair of sentences in the following question.
No one but the experts was able to realize that the painting was an imitation. It greatly resembled the original.
Choose the correct sentence that best combines each pair of sentences in the following question.
Tom Higdon suggested that children of farm workers should be educated. Then he was dismissed from his job as a teacher in 1911.
Choose the correct sentence that best combines each pair of sentences in the following question.
I know you have memorized all the road signs. I just want to go through them one more time.
Choose the sentence that best combines this pair of sentences.
Jenny carefully collected all the data. She began to write a research paper about current findings in childhood development.
Choose the correct sentence that best combines each pair of sentences in the following question.
Her parents didn't tell her about the graduation party. They wanted to surprise her.
Write an academic essay of about 250 words on the following topic.
Being a celebrity, such as a famous film star or sports personality, brings problems as well as benefits. Do you think that being a celebrity brings more benefits or more problems?
Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.