MIXED EXERCISES

Ex 1:
Our DNA has special protective tips at the end of strands that 1) form/build our chromosomes. These are called
telomeres and as we age they shorten, causing our cells to 2) degenerate/dissipate and die. The things that we experience
such as our lifestyle, environment or 3) infectious/noxious diseases can modify our DNA! These are called epigenetic
mechanisms, and occur when methyl groups 4) trigger/provoke change in our genes. The effects can even be 5)
transmitted/conducted across generations, in the form of genetic memories! Scientists think they can slow down the aging
process by 6) manipulating/handling telomeres to extend 7) longevity/duration! Altering methyl groups might be able to help
cure mental illness or 8) genetic/historic risk to certain diseases!
Replace the words in bold with their more complex synonyms from the list.
Discrepancies innumerable speculate nuances curb
Recognition venturing
1. There are countless books available about health and fitness.
2. Isaac is trying to control his appetite but he’s finding his diet very difficult.
3. I found some slight differences between the two versions of the report.
4. Oscar loves packing his bag and setting out on journeys to pastures new.
5. The author received a lot of praise for his book on exercising at home.
6. The exercise techniques are quite similar; it can be hard to appreciate the fine distinctions between them.
7. People can only guess what the future of sports science holds.

1. The scientists expressed his preference for ______ and concise terms.
A. unambiguous B. unintelligible C. unclear D. undaunted
2. The points raised about the exercise technique are not ______ to this presentation.
A. pertinent B. opportune C. admissible D. acceptable
3. My doctor is very ______ of herbal supplements and doesn’t believe that they work.
A. dismaying B. discouraging C. disbelieving D. dismissive
4. Work ______ most of my life and I don’t have much time to play sports.
A. organizes B. occupies C. engages D. compiles
5. You shouldn’t exceed your destined/designed/intended/recommended intake of salt and sugar, as it can lead to heart
disease and diabetes.
6. The healthy eating movement has been gathering momentum/thrust/force/motion over the past few years, with many
people switch to vegan or vegetarian diets.
7. Whilst dietary enhancements/supplements/improvements/additives can be helpful, ideally you should be receiving all your
nutrients from what you eat.
8. Minute/Trivial/Minor/Insignificant bacteria are essential for maintaining a healthy gut.
9. A diet high in fat and sugar can do irretrievable/inevitable/incurable/irreparable damage to your long-term health.
10. Chris is a professional dietician and has a profusion/multitude/plethora/wealth of experience in dealing with dietary
problems.
Spoil/impair/decay
11. Waste food is put in the compost, where it __________ and can be used to grow plants.
12. Food left outside of the fridge for a long time will quickly __________ and become inedible.
13. Overcooking food can __________ the flavor and it won’t taste as good.
Intolerance/inability/insufficiency
14. Isabel suffers from gluten __________ and can only eat special bread.
15. Peter is surprised by his flat mate’s __________ to cook.
16. Diabetes is characterized by an __________ of the hormone insulin in the body.
Puckish/parched/famished
17. You look __________; I’ll get you something to drink.
18. After walking all day, they were absolutely __________ and ate a huge meal.
19. I’m a little bit __________, I think I’ll eat an apple.

20. Jack is in a terrible mood so let’s let him stew in his own juice.
A. to be left alone with your negative emotions B. to be punished
21. Grace says she didn’t want the prize anyway but that’s just sour grapes.
A. a jealous, negative attitude B. a false statement
22. Jack imagined California as the land of milk and honey where he could realize his dreams.
A. a lively place B. a place of opportunity
23. The surgery hired a practitioner/provider/locum/physician to cover the patients while the doctor was on holiday.
24. The doctor gave Amy a(n) diagnosis/prescription/examination/treatment for antibiotics to treat her infection.
25. Joe made a(n) speedy/acute/rash/superficial recovery and left hospital just two days after he was admitted.
26. The new consultant is still feeling her bones/pinch/way/weather in the hospital.
27. The clinic experienced an outbreak/overflowing/outbursting/outpouring of support from the community when they were
threatened with closure.
28. Although you can grow pineapples in a greenhouse, they only ______ in a tropical environment.
A. thrive B. abide C. resound D. arise
29. As the rate of climate change increases, so does the ______ of extreme weather such as floods and hurricanes.
A. plausibility B. likelihood C. propensity D. assumption
30. Unfortunately, for many people living in the countryside, a car is still ______ for moving around.
A. insurmountable B. indestructible C. incomprehensible D. indispensable
31. Huge areas of the rainforest are destroyed every year to provide the ______ materials for industry.
A. raw B. crude C. simple D. coarse
32. The ______ skyscrapers of modern metropolises dwarf previous feats of engineering both literally and figuratively.
A. tottering B. towering C. sprawling D. spanning
33. Illegal loggers often ______ international environmental laws.
A. rupture B. encroach C. breach D. trespass
34. The invention of the lift ______ in a new epoch of super tall buildings that was previously unimaginable.
A. ushered B. initiated C. marshalled D. escorted
35. The new motorway ______ transit across the country while also avoiding small towns.
A. serves B. resists C. inserts D. facilitates
36. The firm ______ their application to start building to the local authorities.
A. admitted B. committed C. submitted D. remitted
37. The architect was ______ by the challenge of the project, despite warnings from his colleagues.
A. unperturbed B. unflawed C. uninterested D. undaunted
38. Modern life is rapidly changing and we need to be ______ in order to adapt to it.
A. flexible B. malleable C. permeable D. mouldable
39. More and more cities are becoming accessible to people with physical ______.
A. extremities B. impairments C. outages D. confinements
40. Unfortunately, all my plants withered/shrunk/faded/wilted and died while I was away on holiday.
41. If we don’t do something now, climate change will become intractable/irreversible/insufficient/insufferable.
42. The article sowed the trees/woods/buds/seeds of doubt over the efficacy of eco-tourism.
43. Desertification is creating dry obsolete/scarce/severe/barren landscapes devoid of vegetation.
44. The contract was ______ signed and the record deal became official.
A. mainly B. duly C. regularly D. categorically
45. Peter was ______ between going to the opera or the ballet performance.
A. drawn B. split C. divided D. torn
46. Arts Council money provides a significant ______ of funding for theatres and concert halls.
A. precaution B. income C. proportion D. resource
47. It’s rare that you come across a musician of such a high ______.
A. note B. asset C. caliber D. mention
48. The characters motives were completely impenetrable/uninspiring/transparent/challenging and you could see right
through them.
49. Mindless/Wry/Incoherent/Arresting violence is not needed if the story is good enough.
50. The play was a success in spite of its indistinct/augmented/supplemented/incoherent plot.
51. The artists’ work is heavily impressed/intimated/influenced/inflamed by his time studying the old masters.
52. The director uses the rehearsals to reveal/manifest/structure/reshape and play out each scene.
Ex 2:
Star-studded curtain long-running Oscar rave standing
Gratuitous opening
1. ____________ call 2. ____________ cast 3. ____________ soap opera 4. ____________ ovation
5. ____________ violence 6. ____________ reviews 7. ____________ nominee 8. ____________ night

Use these collocations to complete the paragraph below.

On its (1) __________________, Ted Baker’s new production was a success. The acting was superb due to its (2)
__________________. At the end of the performance, the audience gave the cast a (3) __________________ during the
(4) __________________. The production received (5) __________________ from theatre critics after its premiere.

Choose the unsuitable answer.

1. The main character of the play was totally exciting/convincing/compelling.
2. The plot is quite wooden/complicated/convoluted and hard to follow.
3. The atmospheric/authentic/relentless setting made the program interesting despite the stilted/amateurish/dead-end
performances.
4. The film was made all the more effective by the spellbinding/talented/evocative lead actor.
5. The script was rather contrived/forced/absorbing in places, relying rather too heavily on clichéd phrases.
6. The special effects were spectacularly portrayed/professionally done/well-executed.
Ex 3:
For years experts have been telling us to switch off our mobile devices before going to bed, so it’s odd that they
would now be giving us the (1) __________ advice! It seems that using devices such as sleep trackers and smart beds will
actually become part of our (2) __________ ritual in order for us to have a more restful slumber. If you are constantly feeling
exhausted, this new technology can (3) __________ your sleep and tell you why you look pale and tired after a bad night’s
sleep. It might also be able to explain why you have a (4) __________ in your neck or back. The trackers do this by
analyzing your movement and sleep (5) __________ during the night and the smart can react to this data, to adjust
themselves to the (6) __________ shape to help you avoid pain. With these amazing developments it’s easy to see (7)
__________ doctors advise trying smart beds. If you do, there’s little (8) __________ of you waking up on the wrong side of
bed ever again!

You may well have heard tales about people becoming Internet superstars from the (1) __________ of their living
rooms, but how common is it really? While this path to stardom is (2) __________ from traditional, a definite change is (3)
__________ the horizon as it’s actually becoming increasingly commonplace. Nowadays, video sharing websites are full of
young people whose claim to (4) __________ is playing video games or making tutorials about (5) __________. And why
not? After all, the vast majority of us have access to webcams. In fact, it seems likely that at some point Internet stars will
become even bigger than Hollywood actors, who are already (6) __________ up fewer and fewer of the names on lists of
the most influential celebrities. Surveys have revealed that young people find Internet stars more genuine, relatable and
interesting than those carefully (7) __________ by PR agencies. Yet, having said that, traditional celebrities still (8)
__________ the upper hand in terms of widespread appeal. Internet star PewDiePie may have over 42 million followers
online, but few people in the street would recognize him. Looking further (9) __________ however, this could all change as
the Internet has the potential to make stars of us all!
Suburban jungle!
For many people Los Angeles is the city of dreams; after all it is the home of Hollywood! However, while the image often
(1) _______ is elegant and stylish, LA isn’t just famous for its glamor and warm climate. Sadly, it’s also known for its urban
sprawl. In a world rushing towards growth, where objections to development can be (2) _______ as a barrier to progress,
cities like Los Angeles with their relentless expansion have swallowed up hundreds of square miles of countryside. This
desire of residents to move out of the inner city to outlying areas has led to a(n) (3) _______ of cars on the road, causing
huge environmental damage. Faced with (4) _______ conditions, lots of new schemes were introduced to control LA’s
urban sprawl problem. Light rail and transit development in (5) _______ with incentives for building high-density housing
have provided rapid movements. Such programs mean that the city, residents and the environmental all (6) _______. If
these (7) _______ initiatives succeed and continue, then a better future is surely in (8) _______ for the residents of LA.
1. A. symbolized B. illustrated C. projected D. delineated
2. A. displaced B. disbanded C. disapproved D. dismissed
3. A. proliferation B. escalation C. multiplication D. amplification
4. A. decreasing B. devolving C. deteriorating D. depreciating
5. A. unanimity B. assistance C. relationship C. conjunction
6. A. assist B. benefit C. improve D. advance
7. A. avant-garde B. innocuous C. prolific D. innovative
8. A. supply B. store C. order D. wait
LISTENING PRACTICE
Ex 1:
- The 1)__________________ governor of Maine is one of the last people you'd expect to be soft on crime.
- Governor Paul LePage supports 2)____________________ for drug traffickers and once joked they should be
publicly executed by guillotine.
- It's not that the conservative Republican governor has had a sudden change of heart about
3)___________________ or giving 4)_______________________ a second chance.
- Governor Paul LePage released 17 prison inmates early because the 5)____________________ is struggling.
- The governor stated that trying to put people back to work is what the 6)_______________________ is all about.
- According to State officials, Maine's 3 percent unemployment rate combined with 7)______________________ of
foreign workers, an aging population and a booming tourism industry have exacerbated the labor gap.
- 8)______________________ are everywhere, and it's not just hotels and restaurants who need it.
- Companies like AtWork Personnel, a 9)____________________, also need help, and recently sent recruiter
Pamela Holt to a job fair.
- Pamela Holt said that her company is 10)___________________ because we don't have enough staff to staff them.
- Holt says that while some in the tourist industry are reluctant to hire someone with 11)___________________ and
other employers just won't do it, Holt says her company will.
- The belief that prisoners who have served time deserve a new life is also the sentiment of prisoner advocates who
don't normally 12)_____________________ with the governor on criminal justice matters.
- Meagan Sway, from the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine, says that if the governor is really serious about
13)______________________, then he should do more.
- Sway recommends looking at immigrants who come to this country 14)_____________________, who would very
much like to work in this country.
- Governor LePage hasn't exactly 15)____________________ to Maine’s immigrant community, despite the fact that
population economists say Maine needs to replace its aging workforce.
- While releasing 17 prisoners early won’t 16)____________________, Steve Hewins of the Maine Restaurant
Association says it's a start.
- Steve Hewins believes that this step is part of the 17)_____________________.
- Hewins says his association is considering bringing specialized training for 18)_____________________ into the
Maine state prison system so that prisoners are prepared to fill jobs when they get out.
- Governor LePage has recently said he plans to commute the sentences of women prisoners next and possibly
some inmates from 19)________________________
Ex 2:
 - Our race and 1)____________________ affect what happens in the workplace. Most African-Americans who
participated in a poll said they had 2) __________________at work in pay, in hiring, and in getting promotions.
- Sonari Glinton, a reporter for NPR, found that when AA faced those barriers and obstacles, many people choose to
get out and 3) _______________________.
- Dennis Jackson, an entrepreneur, said that he chose his field of work -landscape and solar – because 4)
____________________ in the industry.
- Jackson and the few other black landscapers see each other as 5) __________________because there aren’t
many of them.
- Jackson’s very small operation consists of five employees and 6) ______________________.
- Jackson claims that his entrepreneurial spirit is his way of avoiding the 7) ____________________.
- He insists that he is going to 8) “____________________” to avoid having to face discrimination.
- NPR and Harvard’s survey found that 9)____________________ of African-Americans say they've been
discriminated against in the workplace.
- Marc Morial, the head of the National Urban League, says discrimination can deter African-Americans from 10)
_______________________.
- The 11) ______________________for black men has improved significantly since the Great Recession.
- However, Marc Morial says the fact that many black men have simply 12)___________________ is hidden in these
low jobless numbers.
- A whole 13)____________________ lead to giving up; race affects networking, education, mobility.
- Steven Pitts, who studies labor at UC Berkeley, states that the issue isn't really 14)__________________-- there's
real evidence of discrimination against African-American men in the workplace.
- Due to the reality of discrimination, black men especially look for alternatives outside of the
15)______________________.
- Pitts states that having someone fix a car or paint a house are forms of 16) ____________________.
- The 17)______________ is not just the idea of on-the-corner drug stuff. It's a 18)___________________of
economic activity that simply isn't governed by 19) ______________.
- According to Pitts, black men face real barriers, whether it's a 20)___________________ or the need for a license
to get a particular job.
Ex 3:
- Google's been the leader in getting the world 1)__________________ with virtual reality.
- The company's going 2)__________________ now and partnering with HTC and Lenovo on a standalone headset
made of tougher stuff than Cardboard.
- Google is the first major company to release a 3)________________ VR headset. Facebook's Oculus Rift and Sony
VR have to be 4)__________________ to expensive computers or gaming consoles.
- Google's also 5)_________________ its augmented reality technology. It announced what it's calling visual
positioning service, or VPS.
- Bavor says the company actually sees a continuum between its VR and AR technology. It's all part of a future where
the virtual and real worlds blur. Google is calling it 6) __________________computing.
- There's a lot of competition among the big tech companies to advance these immersive technologies. Facebook,
Microsoft and Sony are competitors, and Apple is likely to jump into the fray. But Google has some advantages, like
its dominance in search.
- Google has a massive 7)_____________________ and brand, and it's got all this data and
8)____________________. And really, none of the other players have all those pieces.
- An example of how this advantage works is that you could point your augmented reality-enabled phone at a
restaurant, and a 9)__________________ would just pop up on the screen from Google search.
Ex 4:
- Facebook says it wants to keep from being used by extremists. The company, used by billions of people, is under
pressure not to be a 1) _________________. Terrorists have 2) ___________________to ISIS on Facebook or
won new recruits there.
- We're focused on real-world harm, so harm in the physical world. That means that - you know, for things like
terrorism 3)________________ or terrorism 4)__________________, we want to make sure that it's not on the site
because we think that that could lead to real-world harm.
- It's a vast challenge and delicate. Facebook wants to block dangerous content without blocking
5)___________________. Its techniques include hiring more human monitors of 6) ____________________.
- Bickert also hopes to block some offensive images before they're published by using
7)_____________________software.
- There is software that can be used to create what's called a hash, or a 8)____________________of that video, so
that if somebody else tries to upload a similarly harmful video in the future, it would be recognized even before the
video hits the site.
- Bickert wants to point out that it doesn't necessarily mean that we would take 9)_________________ action. There
are times where we need people to actually review the content that this software is flagging for us.
- Since you have a background in law enforcement, I know you're familiar with the phrase 10) _______________
__which is something that the U.S. government is never supposed to do when it comes to free speech.
- There may be speech that can be punished in some way, but there should not be prior restraint of
11)____________________. What are the specific instances when you think it is OK for you to do that?
 - Well, I mean, first I want to point out that, as a social media company, we set the 12)_________________ and let
our people know what they are for when they come to Facebook.
Ex 5:
- In the hours after the massacre in Las Vegas, 1)________________ about it started showing up on Google and
Facebook. A man was falsely accused of being the shooter. His name bubbled up on a Facebook safety check site
and at the top of Google search results. And all of that was 2)________________.
- His name first appeared on a message board on a site called 4chan. 4chan is known as this gathering spot for
3)_________________ in the alt-right. Everyone who posts is 4)______________
- Marilou Danley’s ex-husband’s FB page indicated he was a liberal, and the far-right 5)______________on /pol/
went to work to spread the word.
- On Google, the top searches linked to places that said he was the shooter. This was because Google has not had
the time to really 6)_______________the search results yet.
- In a statement, Google said it will "continue to make 7)_________________ improvements to prevent this from
happening in the future."
- One improvement that contributing editor Greg Sterling thinks Google should make is putting less weight on certain
websites, like 4chan, and putting more weight on sites deemed more 8)_______________. This would give some
sites more preference over others.
- Benkler, a law professor at Harvard University, thinks if Facebook and Google were to block sites like 4chan, it
would not solve the problem; this is because he believes that if another situation similar to this arose, someone will
find some other 9)____________________.
Ex 6:
- When Apple announced the new iPhone can use 1)________________ technology to unlock the device, the
response may not have been what Apple had hoped for.
- Clare Garvey is concerned about face recognition technology becoming 2)________________; we are going to get
very comfortable with it.
- We forget that it's used by any number of actors in ways we may not know about that is both
3)___________________ and more 4)____________________ than the way that Apple has chosen to use it.
- In Russia, face recognition has been used to scan anti-government or anti-corruption protests, identify and then
5)_________________ the people at those anti-government protests.
- What this means is these people will be subject to 6)_______________, if not arrest, for their political beliefs. The
fact remains in the U.S., it's very much a 7)__________________when it comes to face recognition.
- 8)__________________ across the country use this technology in various ways without any laws governing its use.
- It looks like face recognition was used on social media posts that protesters were posting from
9)______________________.
- Law enforcement agents on the ground could, in almost 10)_________________, get the identities, the names of
the people at those protests. We're a country where we do not necessarily need to show our
11)__________________ every time we walk down the street, but now our faces will do that work for us.
- Sounds to me that your concern isn't so much this particular technology but that - what? - that it
12)_________________ to a broader use? Is that really Apple's fault or responsibility?
- The real concern is that we may stop worrying about the very real concerns that we should be worrying about as we
increasingly are subjected to face recognition that we can’t 13)___________________ of.
Ex 7:
- Japan‘s corporate culture is driven by the so – called 1)____________________
- The nation’s work ethnic dates back to Japan’s economic miracle which 2)_________________ it to become the
world’s second – largest economy
- According to a study, more than 60% of Japanese felt guilty for taking 3)__________________
- Japan has the lowest productivity among the 4)_____________________
- Some people believe that karoshi cases are 5)____________________
- The death of an employee in 2015 generated widespread attention and 6)__________________ to change the long
working hours and illegal unpaid overtime
- To deal with overtime work, Japan’s government introduced a new public holiday called 7)___________________
- Despite initiatives, a cultural challenge still 8)_____________________ for several reasons
- The population is expected to shrink approximately one third over a period of 9)____________________
- In farming, robots are even used to 10)_______________________
Ex 8:
- McDonald’s has 36,000 locations in over 100 nations, including one in a 1)________________ in New Zealand and
one in Vatican city.
- There was a lof of 2)____________________ with McDonald’s first open its door in Vietnam in 2014
- Failure to capure the attention of the Vietnamese market was considered 3)____________________
- Burger King has grown its 4)___________________ in Japan from 12 restaurants to 98
- Vietnamese people can be served foods faster if they go to street vendors, which defeats the
5)_________________ of fast food in Vietnam
- Fast food giants seem to underestimate local rivals as Vietnamese diners are 6)________________ in top-tier cities
- Sandwiches are sold on the streets at 7)___________________ compared to McDonald’s and Burger King
- 78% of Vietnamese consumers’ cash went to local vendors, street stalls and 8)____________________
- Fast – food chains are so outnumbered in Vietnam partly because of the 9)___________________ between the
US and Vietnam
- KFC introduced chicken rice and 10)__________________ to better fit local tastes
- The 11)_____________________ for KFC seems to be worth it for customers