1.Read the passage.

Brownie cake recipe:

• 4 oz. unsalted butter
• 3 oz. flour
• 2 oz. cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 7 oz. granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a cake pan with parchment and spray well with
nonstick cooking spray. Whisk together all the dry ingredients—the flour, cocoa
powder, salt, and baking powder in a small bowl, which you will set aside for the
moment.

2. Cube the butter and place it in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir
occasionally as the butter melts. Add the sugar and stir until it all melts.

3. Before the mixture comes to a boil, remove the pan from the heat and let it cool a
little. Once it has cooled, add one egg at a time, and whisk well in-between. The
initially grainy mixture should become shiny and smooth as you add the eggs. Add the
vanilla and whisk well once again. Now add the ingredients from the bowl you set
aside earlier and stir them in with a spatula.

4. Scrape the brownie batter into the prepared pan and bake it for 24 minutes, until a
toothpick comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached. Cool the brownie cake
completely before proceeding.
When should the dry ingredients be added to the wet mixture?
A. in the beginning, when they are all mixed together
B. after the butter comes to a boil
C. after the wet mixture becomes shiny and smooth
D. just before the mixture is stirred and scraped into the pan

2.Read the passage.

Fleas are small flightless insects that live as parasites on animals' bodies. They
typically live on fur or feathers, their strong claws preventing them from being
dislodged. They feed on the blood of their host, which might be a dog, a cat, a bird, a
reptile, or a human, but a flea can live more than a hundred days without eating.
Imagine not eating for a hundred days! The female flea consumes 15 times her own
body weight in blood every day; imagine eating 1300 pounds of pasta in one day! One
final and amazing fact is that fleas can jump up to eight inches, which is
approximately 200 times their own height. That is the same as you jumping to the top
of the Empire State Building.

How does the author pull the reader into the text?
A. by discussing a topic that everyone is familiar with
B. by writing in second person
C. by stating that fleas can live on human bodies
D. by describing fleas

3.Read the sentence.

Owing to a terrific storm, the captain of the ship had to postpone his departure.
Which possible meanings does the word terrific have in the sentence?
A. long or short
B. worrying or relaxing
C. marvelous or delicious
D. intense or frightful

4.Read the passage.

Landon had a very important math test. He usually got decent grades in this subject;
however, in the last few months it was getting more and more difficult, and this
upcoming test was scary. He sat down every night and tried to understand what the
teacher had done in class, but it was getting more complicated and he started to realize
that he wouldn't be able to solve the problem on his own.

Three days before the test, Landon went to the playground after school to watch his
little sister and saw his friend Robin. Robin was a student at another school in town,
and they had met at summer camp. Robin came over to talk to Landon and asked why
he was looking so glum. Landon told him about his fear of the upcoming math test.

"Not to worry," said Robin. "Let's go to your house, and I'll teach you. We had a test
about these things last week and I got an A."

"But do you have the time?" Landon asked. "I need a lot of help, and the test is in
three days."

"Don't worry about it," said Robin. Landon called his little sister over and they all
went home together. Landon and Robin went up to Landon's room, and Robin took a
sheet of paper and explained the material to Landon.

There was a lot of material to go over and Landon didn't understand everything right
away. But Robin proved himself to be a marvelous teacher. When he went to bed that
night, Landon felt more confident about the test. He knew it was all thanks to Robin
and felt very grateful.
The next day, Landon was surprised to find Robin at his doorstep after school. "I
came because we didn't finish yesterday," Robin explained. He came in and they kept
working, and he returned the next day as well. They covered all the material for the
test together, and when Landon sat down in class on the day of the test, he knew he
was ready and felt more relaxed than he had all week.

What is the main idea of the story?

A. Landon does not like math.
B. Landon gets help from an unexpected source.
C. Robin comes to a decision.
D. Robin sacrifices his only free time to help Landon.

5.Read the passage.

The dodo was a bird that lived on the island of Mauritius until the seventeenth
century. Nowadays, it is extinct. It was a large, flightless bird, with a long beak and
gray plumage. It had no natural predators on the island.

When Dutch settlers came to Mauritius in the sixteenth century, they hunted
numerous dodos and ate their meat. They also introduced animals that were new to the
island, including dogs, cats, macaques, and pigs. Some of those animals escaped
captivity and became feral, and they began plundering dodo nests and eating their
eggs. Since the dodo only laid one egg per season, the number of eggs decreased
quickly and the dodo population declined drastically, until the dodo went extinct in
the middle of the seventeenth century.

Which of the following sentences describes the sequence of events in the passage?
A. Dutch settlers hunted all the dodos, leading to their extinction.
B. The dodo went extinct because it could not fly.
C. The dodo went extinct before the Dutch settlers came to Mauritius.
D. The dodo went extinct because of hunting and predators eating its eggs. 

6.Read the passage.

Last week I visited my mother’s office. She works as a CEO of a big company. She
was busy from the moment we arrived until the moment we left. She ran from
meeting to meeting, wrote dozens of e-mails, and answered more phone calls than I
could possibly count. The other workers kept going in and out of her office and asking
her questions. One of the workers had lost an important file and came to apologize,
shaking like a leaf. My mother said quietly, "I have a million things to do now and I
have no time to find a solution. Please ask your colleagues for assistance." After the
next meeting, the worker came in again to announce the file had been found. My
mother exhaled in relief. Then she explained to me just how important that file was.
"How did you manage to keep calm when it was missing?" I asked. "Panicking would
not have helped," my mother replied. "I was calm so they could keep calm and look
for the file in peace. You can’t be useful when you’re panicking." "But weren’t you
worried?" I asked her. "Of course I was," my mother answered. "But time is money
and I don't allow myself to get emotional."

Which of the following sentences is an example of hyperbole?

A. I have a million things to do.
B. She was shaking like a leaf
C. She answered more phone calls than I could possibly count.
D. Time is money.

7.Read the passage.

Sidewalks exist on almost every street, and though most are plain-looking, some are
decorated. Sidewalk chalk art is found in many big cities in Europe and North and
South America. One famous sidewalk chalk artist is Julian Beever, who is originally
from the UK and has been creating drawings on sidewalks around the world since the
mid-1990s. His drawings create the illusion of three dimensions: some feature holes
in the sidewalk, that look so real that pedestrians walk around them instead of
crossing them. Others feature extremely realistic swimming pools, dungeons, and
scenes from famous movies.

Boston sidewalks, another example of sidewalk art, feature a selection of poems that
can only be seen when it rains. The poems were painted with a special paint that only
appears when covered by fluids. The city of Boston and Mass Poetry, a non-profit
organization, formed a collaboration called "Raining Poetry" and began painting the
poems on the sidewalks in April 2016 in honor of National Poetry Month.

Which of the following is a difference between Beever's sidewalk drawings and

Boston's sidewalk poetry, according to the passage?
A. Beever's sidewalk drawings were created by an individual, while the sidewalk
poetry was initiated by a collaboration.
B. Beever's sidewalk drawings were created with chalks, while the sidewalk poetry
was created with permanent paint.
C. Beever's sidewalk drawings never feature poems.
D. None of Beever's sidewalk drawings were painted on sidewalks in Boston.

8.Read the paragraph.

Having spent all his money on a new stereo system for his car, Jonah could not pay
his rent. Full of remorse, he headed to his parents' house and beseeched them to give
him money for rent. "This is the sixth time this year, Jonah," said his mother, "and
every time you sound sadder and sadder. Rent should be the first thing you pay, not
the last. I do feel sorry for you though. Please do not cry over it; just be smarter next
time."

What is the meaning of the word "beseech"?

A. demand
B. beg
C. steal
D. Make

9.Read the paragraph.

Her clever jokes and her quick tongue always get her out of trouble. She is extremely
______ and everyone who knows her talks about her puns and how she plays with
words.

Which of the following words can be used to fill the blank in the best way?
A. funny
B. witty
C. amusing
D. hilarious

10.Read the passage.

It was late afternoon, and three young children were walking in the forest. The high
trees were full of leaves and were blocking their view of the sky, but they were able to
see the way. The day was hot—so hot that beads of sweat were running down the
children’s foreheads and cheeks, and their clothes were sticking to their backs. Small
birds were flying around and chirping, but as the children kept walking, they could
hear fewer and fewer birds. The trees were growing further apart now, and they could
see the sky.

Suddenly, they came to a clearing. They looked around them, unsure where to go
next. Then, before they could reach a decision, they heard thunder in the distance and
the sky above them turned dark almost at once. They looked up and saw clouds
gathering up quickly—a storm was coming. Heavy raindrops started to fall all around
them and the thunder grew louder and closer.
What does the storm in the story symbolize?
A. sadness
B. a surprise
C. danger
D. anger

11.Read the passage.

Red hair is uncommon, occurring in about 1%–2% of people. It is a recessive trait,
which means you have to get the trait from both your parents in order to have it. If
you have a red-haired parent and a red-haired grandparent on the other side, you have
a high chance to be one of the lucky few people with red hair in this world. Then
again, you still may not have red hair. You might be interested to know that red hair
used to be considered an evil trait. Red-haired people were persecuted by people who
believed they were vampires.

Which of the following sentences is an example that the author is biased?

A. It is a recessive trait, which means you have to get the trait from both your parents
in order to have it.
B. If you have a red-haired parent and a red-haired grandparent on the other side, you
have a high chance to be one of the lucky few people with red hair in this world.
C. You might be interested to know that red hair used to be considered an evil trait.
D. Red-haired people were persecuted because they were believed to be vampires.

12.Read the passage.

Owning a bakery in France, or a boulangerie, to use the French word, is no piece of
cake! There are very strict laws in France regarding boulangeries and what they are
allowed or not allowed to do. And for a good reason: the average Frenchman eats half
a baguette a day and buys at least one baguette every day; a baguette that is fresh and
crisp today will be hard as nails tomorrow. Therefore, having a boulangerie nearby is
of the essence to most Frenchmen. France has the highest density of bakeries in the
world.

The profession of a boulanger is highly regulated. Not every bakery is a boulangerie;

to be called a boulangerie, bread must be made on the premises. Selling bread that is
made elsewhere makes the bakery a mere shop, rather than a real French boulangerie.
The law also dictates the ingredients of French bread, which may only be flour, yeast,
salt and water.

In the past, laws were passed to ensure that every neighborhood would have access to
bread 365 days a year. A prefectural decree dating to 1790 stated that all boulangeries
had to report to the authorities when they planned to take a vacation or else face a
fine. The authorities allowed half of the boulangeries to close in July and half in
August, thus ensuring access to bread throughout the year. The decree was scrapped in
2015. As August is the most popular month of the year to go on vacation, people in
France fear they will not be able to get a good baguette in August nowadays,
especially not a good one from a real boulangerie.

How does the word "fear" in the last paragraph help the reader understand the
meaning of the passage?
A. It conveys how difficult it is to own a boulangerie in France.
B. It conveys how important it is to have boulangeries open in August.
C. It conveys how the French take the business of boulangeries very seriously.
D. It conveys how French people feel about the ingredients of French bread.

13.Read the passage.

Ferdinand was sitting in the dark castle, looking outside the small window. The view,
which might have been beautiful to a stranger, only depressed him. Everywhere he
looked, he could only see trees and a big river. There were no birds, no houses, not a
soul in sight. The castle, too, was abandoned and so silent that Ferdinand could hear
his own breaths, slow and hollow. Ferdinand sighed as the sky darkened; clouds were
gathering, and the air was filled with the smell of rain, which did nothing to comfort
his forlorn and desperate soul. A storm began suddenly, and his vision was blurred in
the heavy sheets of rain. Ferdinand cried, but there was no one to hear him.

What is the theme of the passage?

A. Nature can cheer you up.
B. Locking someone in a castle is wrong.
C. Darkness takes over.
D. Loneliness is difficult.

14.Read the paragraph.

The city of Genoa (Italian: Genova) is located in the north of Italy and is the sixth-
largest city in Italy. Its uniqueness becomes evident when you start wandering around
its streets. As you walk along the port, the smell of fresh fish surrounds you, nearly
engulfing the strong smell of the ocean. The ocean is particularly beautiful in this city,
with the water waltzing in the light wind and glowing in the evening sun with a
unique hue. As you keep walking, you can hear the whisper of the waves on one side
and the musical, loud Italian on the other; yes, the Genovese are warm, kind, and
loud! Genoa is nicknamed "The Vertical Town" because of its many narrow, steep
stairways in the middle of the street, many of which can only be climbed by one
person at a time. The stairways are often the only way to get from one place to
another in the streets of Genoa, so be prepared to climb quite a lot.

Which of the following is used in the passage to create a mental image of the city
of Genoa?
A. personification
B. simile
C. irony
D. Alliteration

15.Read the paragraph.

Since the city hall decided to close the youth center, local parents have collected
donations to keep it open, and organized a marathon to raise funds. One parent told
the reporters who came to the marathon, "The notion that the youth center does not
benefit our youngsters is a fallacy."

Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word "fallacy"?

A. rumor
B. idea
C. illusion
D. belief
Answer:
1.D
2.B
3.D
4.B
5.D
6.A
7.A
8.B
9.B
10.C
11.B
12.C
13.D
14.A
15.C