III. Reading comprehension: Passage 1 Our growing need for food, goods and energy has had many harmful effects on the environment. Gases produced by cars, power stations and factories cause acid rain, which kills trees and damages buildings. By using more environmentally – friendly forms of transport, we help reduce this form of pollution. A layer of carbon dioxide and other gases traps heat and keeps the earth at the right temperature. This is called the greenhouse effect. By burning fossil fuels we are producing too much carbon dioxide, which is causing temperatures to rise gradually. This global warming could lead to dramatic changes in climate. A layer of a gas called zone protects the earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation. Certain chemicals used in industry, such as CFCs, have caused a hole to develop in the ozone layer. The increased levels of ultraviolet radiation damage plants and sea life, and increase the risk of skin cancer. Most of the energy we use to heat and light buildings, run machines, etc. is made by burning fossil fuels. This will eventually run out, so we need to use more alternative sources of energy, such as wind and solar power that are renewable and do not pollute the air. We should also avoid wasting energy by using less electricity and water and insulating our houses. We are destroying our forests, which produce oxygen and provide habitats for animals and birds. Deforestation also allows rain to wash away the soil, making the land useless for growing things. We pollute water by dumping waste from factories and houses, and by accidentally spilling chemicals and oil. Chemical fertilizers damage rivers and lakes by causing a layer of tiny plants, called algae, to cover the surface of the water. Organic farming does not harm the water supply. Burying rubbish in landfills can let harmful chemicals leak through the ground into rivers, and it uses a lot of land. Burning rubbish adds to global warming. By sorting out rubbish for recycling, we can cut down on waste. 1. The passage is mainly about Environmental problems. A. Man and Nature B. How we should use the exciting sources of energy. 1 C. Environmental problems D. Rubbish recycling 2. Acid rain is caused by gases emitted from car exhausts and factories. A. gases emitted from car exhausts and factories. B. The burning of rubbish C. The burying of rubbish D. Ultraviolet radiation. 3. Skin cancer may be caused by Ultraviolet radiation. A. the global warming. B. Acid rain C. Air pollution D. Ultraviolet radiation. 4. We should use more alternative sources of energy, such as wind and solar power because they Will not run out and do not pollute the air. A. are cheaper. B. Will not run out and do not pollute the air. C. Are easier to get. D. Can be recycled. 5. If we destroy forests, Wildlife and farming will be affected. A. animals and birds will have no place to live. B. Rivers and lakes will be polluted. C. Wildlife and farming will be affected. D. Our wood supply will run out. Passage 2: In his book “The Making of the President”, 1960, Theodore White made some insightful observations about the television debates between Kennedy and Nixon .He contended that the debates had to be analyzed within the context of the explosion in the field of the communications. During the previous debate, Americans had purchased television sets at a phenomenal rate. By the evening of the debate, 88 percent of all American families owned a television set, and a very large percentage turned into the debate. The format was really less like a debate than like a press conference. Each candidate was allowed an opening statement of eight minutes, and then two and a half minutes to 2 respond to each question proposed by a panel. There was no provision for dialogue between the candidates. As White observed, despite this format, Nixon proceeded as though he was in a personal debates with Kennedy, trying to score points from the reporters on the panel. In contrast, Kennedy spoke directly to the television viewers, concentrating on creating a dynamic and appealing image in order to influence them. Later Kennedy claimed that the debate were the single most important factor in the election. In White’s view the debates did change the direction of the campaign. From research studies, Including Gallup Poll, it appeared that Kennedy had gained at least 2 million votes as a result of the televised programs. When you consider that Kennedy won by a little more than 100,000 votes, the debates had to have made the difference. It has been clear to candidates since then that television debates are a very powerful tool. 6. What is the author’s main point? A. Television should be removed from politics B. The Gallup Poll was an accurate predictor of the 1960 election C. Kennedy’s style in the TV debate affected the outcome of the election D. Eight-eight percent of all Americans owned televisions in 1960 7. How many votes did Kennedy gain as a result of the debate? A. 88 percent B. 100,000 C. 1,960,000 D. 2 million 8. The author mentions all the following as characteristics of the debate except: A. A large television audience B. A dialogue between the candidates C. An opening statement by each candidate D. Questions by a panel of reporters 9. The word “dynamic” in line 16 is closest in meaning to A. intelligent B. energetic C. attractive D. conventional 10. The word “them” in line 17 refers to A. candidates B. reporters C. viewers D. points Passage 1 3 The legal limit for driving after drinking alcohol is 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood, when tested. But there is no sure way of telling how much you can drink before you reach this limit. It varies with person depending on your weight, your sex, if you’ve just eaten and what sort of drinks you’ve had. Some people reach their limit after only three standard drinks. In fact, your driving ability can be affected by just one or two drinks. Even if you’re below the legal limit, you could be still taken to court if a police officer thinks your driving has been affected by alcohol. It takes about an hour for the body to get rid of the alcohol in one standard drink. So, if you have a heavy drinking session in the evening you might find that your driving ability is still affected the next morning, or you could even find that you’re still over the legal limit. In addition, if you’ve had a few drinks at lunchtime, another one or two drinks in the early evening may well put you over the legal limit. In the test with professional drivers, the more alcohol drinks they had had the more certain they were that they could drive a test course through a set of movable posts… and the less able they were to do it! So the only way to be sure you’re safe is not to drink at all. Alcohol is a major cause of road traffic accidents. One in three of the drivers killed in road accidents have levels of alcohol which are over the legal limit, and road accidents after drinking are the biggest cause of death among young men. More than half of the people stopped by the police to take a breathalyzer test have a blood alcohol concentration of more than the legal limit. It is important to remember that driving after you’ve been drinking doesn’t just affect you. If you’re involved in an accident in affects a lot of other people as well, not least the person you might kill or injure. 1. The amount of alcohol a person can drink before reaching the legal limit is a. 800 mg of pure alcohol, b. approximately three standard drinks. c. Different for different people. d. Exactly proportional to body weight. 2. When might you be taken to court by the police for drinking and driving? a. When you have driven a vehicle after drinking any alcohol at all. 4 b. When you have drunk at least three drinks before driving. c. Only when tests show that you have 80 mg of alcohol in 100 ml of blood. d. When the police think that you have been drinking from the way you are driving. 3. When you have been drinking heavily in the evening, the next day you might be a. still drunk until lunchtime. b. unable to drive until the evening. c. Over the legal limit in the morning. d. unable to drive all day. 4. Alcohol is a major cause of road accidents in that a. most drivers who die in these accidents have been drinking. b. More young men die in drink-related accidents than in any other way. c. Drinking affects people’s eye-sight. d. One in three drivers drink heavily. 5. What does this article urge you to remember particularly about driving after drinking? a. You may be taken to court by the police. b. You are putting yourself in danger. c. You may hurt another road-user. d. You put many other people at risk. Passage 2: Computer programmer David Jones earns £ 35,000 a year by designing new computer games, yet he cannot find a bank prepared to let him have a cheque card. Instead, he has been told to wait another two years, until he is 18. The 16-year-old boy works for a small firm in Liverpool, where the problem of most young people of his age is finding a job. David’s firm releases two new games for the expanding home computer market each month. But David’s biggest headache is what to do with his money. Despite his salary, earned by investing new programs within tight schedules, with bonus payments and profit sharing, he cannot drive a car, take out a mortgage, or obtain credit cards. 5 He lives with his parents in their council house in Liverpool, where his father is a bus driver. His company has to pay £ 150 a month in taxi fares to get him the five miles to work and back every day because David cannot drive. David got his job with the Liverpool based company four months ago, a year after leaving school with six O-levels and working for a time in a computer shop. “I got the job because the people who run the firm knew I had already written some programs”, he said. “I suppose £ 35,000 sounds a lot but actually that’s being pessimistic. I hope it will come to more than that this year”. He spends some of his money on records and clothes, and gives his mother £20 a week. But, most of his spare time is spent working. “Unfortunately, computing was not part of our studies at school,” he said. “But I had been studying it in books and magazines for four years in my spare time. I knew what I wanted to do and never considered staying on at school. Most people in this business are fairly young, anyway.” David added: “I would like to earn a million and I suppose early retirement is a possibility. You never know when the market might disappear:. 6. Why is David different from other young people of his age? A. He earns an extremely high salary B. He is not unemployed C. He doesn’t go out much D. He lives at home with his parents 7. David’s greatest problem is ………………………………… A. making the banks treat him as an adult B. investing computer games C. spending his salary D. learning to drive 8. He was employed by the company because ………………………… A. he had worked in a computer shop B. he had written some computer programs C. he works very hard D. he had learnt to use computers at school 9. He left school after taking O-levels because …………………………………. 6 A. he did not enjoy school B. he wanted to work with computers and staying at school did not help him C. he was afraid of getting too old to start computing D. he wanted to earn a lot of money 10. Why does David think he might retire early? A. You have to be young to write computer programs B. He wants to stop working when he is a millionaire C. He thinks computer games might not always sell so well D. He thinks his firm might go bankrupt Passage 1: Unlike the eye, the ear has no lid; therefore noise penetrates without protection .Loud noises instinctively signal danger to any organism with a hearing mechanism, including human beings. In response, heartbeat and respiration accelerate. In fact, there is a general increase in functioning brought about by the flow of adrenaline released in response to fear. Because noise is unavoidable in a complex, industrial society, we are constantly responding in the same ways that we could respond to danger. Recently, researchers have concluded that noise and our response may be much more than an annoyance. It may be a serious threat to physical and psychological health and well-being, causing damage not only the ear and brain but also to the heart and stomach. We have long known that hearing loss is America’s number one nonfatal health problem, but now we are learning that some of us with heart disease and ulcers may be victims of noise as well. 1. According to the passage, people response to loud noises in the same ways that they response to A. annoyance B. danger C. damage D. disease 2. It can be inferred from this passage that the eye A. responds to fear. B. enjoys greater protection than the ear C. increases functions D. is damaged by noise. 3. What is the author’s main point? 7 A. noise may pose a serious threat to our physical and psychological health B. Loud noises signal danger C. Hearing loss is America’s number nonfatal health problem D. The ear is not like the eye. 4. Noise is A not a serious problem today B. America’s number one problem C. an unavoidable problem in an industrial society D a complex problem 5. What was the topic of the paragraph that preceded this passage? A. The eye B. Heart diseases C. Ulcers D. Fear Passage 2 Let children learn to judge their own work. A child learning to talk does not learn by being corrected at the same time: if corrected too much, he will stop talking. He notices a thousand times a day the difference between the language he uses and the language those around him use. Bit by bit, he makes the necessary changes to make his language like other people. In the same way the children learn to do all the other thing s. They learn to do without being taught – to – talk, run, climb, whistle, ride a bicycle – compare their own performances with those of more skilled people, and slowly make the necessary changes. But in school we never give a child a chance to find out his mistake himself, let alone correct them. We do it all for him. We act as if we thought that he would never notice a mistake unless it was pointed out for him or correct it unless he was made to. Soon he became dependent on teachers. Let him do it himself. Let him work out, with the help of other children if he wants it. What this word says, what the answer is to that problem, whether this is a good way of saying or doing this or not. If it is the matter of right answers, as it may be in mathematics or science, give him the answer book. Let him correct his own papers. Why should we teachers waste time on such routine work? Our job should be to help children when he tells us that he can’t find the way to get the right answer. Let’s end all this nonsense of grades exams, marks. Let us throw them all out, and let children learn what all educated people must someday learn, how to measure their own understanding, how to know what they know or do not know. 8 Let them get on this job in the same way that seems most sensible to them, with our help as school and used for the rest of one’s life is nonsense in a word as complicated and rapidly changing as ours. Anxious parents and teacher say, “but suppose they fail to learn something essential, something they will need to get on in the world?” don’t worry, if it is essential, they will go out into the world and learn it. 6. What does author think is the best way for children to learn things? A. By copying what other people do. B. By making mistakes and having them corrected. C. By asking questions D. By answering questions 7. What does the author think teachers should NOT do? A. They give children correct answer. B. They point out children’s mistakes for them. C. They allow children to mark their own work, D. They encourage children to copy from one another. 8. The passage suggests that learning to speak and to ride a bicycle is……… A. not really an important skill. B. more important than other skills. C. basically different from learning to do other things. D. basically the same as learning other skills. 9. Exams grades, marks should be abolished because children’s progress should only be estimated by ………………… A. educated persons B. the children themselves C. teachers D. parents 10. The author fears that children will grow up into adults who are …………… A. too dependent on others B. too critical of themselves C. unable to think for themselves D. unable to use basic skills 9 Passage 1: TRAVELING BY AIR Air travel is the most common way in which people travel long distance. International airports are so busy that airplanes are taking off and landing every few minutes. They can carry as many as 500 passengers at a time. Flying is the fastest way to far-off destinations. The very first human flight was made in a balloon built by two French brothers, in 1783. It was able to fly because it contained hot air, which is lighter than cold air. The balloon floated up into the sky just as a piece of paper is blown upwards by the wind. The wind blows balloons, and so they cannot be steered in any one direction. Because of this, airships were invented in the mid-1800s. There were balloon with engines so that flying direction could be controlled. Unfortunately, many of these airships caught fire during the flight. As a result, they were never used again after the 1930s. It is strange to think that at the beginning of this century, no one had ever flown in an aero plane. However a few brave people were making their test flights in gliders. A German inventor designed the hang-glider in the 1890s. His experiments helped to show that aircraft with wings could be controlled in the air. A few years later, two American brothers built the first aero plane. This was, in fact, a glider fixed with a small engine. It was called Flyer I, and had his flight in 1903. Unfortunately, it never flew for longer than a minute. Their aero planes improved quickly, however, in 1908, Flyer III flew more than 100 kilometers. The next year, a Frenchman flew from France to England. The aero plane he designed formed the shape of the aero plane that is used today. 1. Traveling by air is ____________. A. more expensive than traveling by land or by sea B. the fastest way of traveling long distances C. the least common way for people to travel D. the best way to travel to places nearby 2. Balloons were able to stay up in the air because they _________. A. were filled with cold air B. used the wind’s strength C. were lighter than hot air D. were filled with hot air 10 [...]... have been too near a fire B Other children have set fire to their clothing C Some children have dropped matches on their clothing D Hot water has fallen over their clothing 9 Which one of the following is the cause of many other accidents in the home? A playing with electricity B Eating too many sweets C Sick children playing with things D Playing tricks on other children 10 What is the best way to... not touch anything that is dangerous 6 What causes most accidents? A Fire and matches C Pots of boiling water and fat B Fire and hot water D Big fire which get out of control 7 What do children often do with lighted matches? A Throwing things on the matches to make them burn brighter 11 B Throw the matches on the fire C Throw them on the floor D Set fire to their clothes 8 Why has the clothing of children... fire They enjoy striking matches or throwing things on fire to make it burn brightly If the fire gets too big, it gets out of control Then the house catches fire It is very dangerous to play with matches When a child strikes a match, the flame soon burns near his fingers Then he drops the match on the floor Many houses catch fire in this way Some kinds of clothing burn very easily Many children have been... prescription (C) being very emotional (D) reducing stressful situations 35 The words “ bottle up” in line 10 are closest in meaning to (A) suppress (B) cover (C) support (D) promote IV READING COMPREHENSION: Passage 1: In 1920, after some thirty-nine years of problems with disease, high costs, and politics, the Panama Canal was officially opened, finally linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by allowing ships... create them This approach is not without its risks, however, and while a mistake for a large company could mean reduced income for the year, for a small company it could mean a loss of the company itself The key to the success of takeovers, for all companies, is in the quality of the target company, the fit it makes in the new parent company, and the terms of the financing 26 What does this passage... when they need more money for their family The increase in population, however, has led to overcrowding in many cities This puts a strain on schools and hospitals, as well as water and electricity supplies Increased pollution is another unpleasant result There is almost a human side to this tragedy Families sometimes have to live apart In these cases, children may live at home with relatives, while their... stolen them She thought she would have to call the police, but as she disliked making a fuss and getting people into trouble, she decided to take back the money from the old lady’s handbag and said nothing more about it She looked around the bus to make sure nobody watching, and then she carefully put her hand into the old lady’s bag, took the notes and put them in her own bag When she got home that... best way to see to it that accidents do not happen in the home? A Wear clothes that do not burn easily B Don’t keep knives and medicine in the house C Turn off the electricity supply D Don’t touch anything that appears unsafe Passage 1: Many people from rural areas are leaving behind their traditional way of life and moving to the city They believe that well-paying jobs are plentiful in the city At... However, many young women are now afraid of getting married because of their career In modern society, women have the same opportunity as men now, they can decide their life To them, the family is not everything any more, but the career is that the reason why more and more women get married late When they are still at university, these women want to have two or three graduate degrees or to go abroad for... fiber, such as raw carrot sticks, apples, celery sticks, etc., that scrape off plaque, acting as a toothbrush Cavities can be greatly reduced if these rules are followed when eating sweets 26 What does this passage mainly discuss? (A) A healthy diet (B) Food with fiber (C) Sweets and cavities (D) Tooth decay 27 The word “influences” in line 4 closest in meaning to (A) deters (C) increases (B) affects . the help of other children if he wants it. What this word says, what the answer is to that problem, whether this is a good way of saying or doing this or not. If it is the matter of right answers,. to learn something essential, something they will need to get on in the world?” don’t worry, if it is essential, they will go out into the world and learn it. 6. What does author think is the. Many houses catch fire in this way. Some kinds of clothing burn very easily. Many children have been badly burned because they have stood too near a fire and their clothing has suddenly caught