352/

1. The five star …….…….… who is believed to have been responsible for ordering ethnic cleansings is to stand trial next
week.
2. It later turned out that Dorothy had failed to inform her ……...…..……. practitioner that she had occasional blackouts.
3. Taking part in this ………...…… knowledge quiz requires good brains and fast reflexes.
353/
1. All right. I have no reason to distrust you. I’ll take the report as ……………. .
2. The recent publication is certainly a good ………..…… and its contents are so upbuilding and positive.
3. Posing as a man who was to ……..…..…. the gas meter, the agent bugged the living room.
354/
1. His secretary arranged a …………….... lunch with European contractors to be held in the Hilton.
2. At one point in history the country became a colonial ………..……. that others respected worldwide.
3. A reliable source close to the minister said that the final decision was made in the corridors of ……………. .
355/
1. When his wife passed away, Luis began longing for someone to ……...…….. the void.
2. Curious about what had been happening in the town during his absence, Morris asked his friend to ……..……… him in
on the latest gossip and news.
3. Currently, our university is looking for a suitable candidate to …………. the post in the physics department.
356/
1. Moira had a really …………… budget and had to think twice before spending every cent.
2. The dress suits me, but it is a bit ……..…….. around the chest.
3. As expected, security was ………..…. at the summit of industrialized nations. Some terrorist groups had vowed to
carry out attacks.
357/
1. The reporter was profoundly …………..…... by the scale of the humanitarian crisis that had claimed thousands of lives
by then.
2. When our new neighbours …………..….. in, our family was the first one to greet them.
3. Since he has ……………... up the ladder, he can hardly recognize his former colleagues.
358/
1. You need to spread the cement evenly before it begins to ………………… .
2. The runner ………………..… a world record 25 years ago and surprisingly, no one else has ever come close to his
phenomenal time.
3. My new car has ……………….. me back almost 20,000 pounds.
359/
1. Nothing can prevent us from playing football. We get together at the pitch every Saturday come rain or
………………… .
2. Give him a chance and you’ll see he’s going to …………….….. in the class. He always does his best when properly
motivated.
3. The hair gel will do the trick. Not only will it introduce some order to your hair, but it will also make it ………..
360/
1. Sadly, it’s not our parents that ………....….. our opinions about the world, it’s the media.
2. By the time Kate was in the fourth ………..……, she had already won a few major competitions.
3. Kelly was diagnosed with a particularly virulent ………………. of the disease.

TEST 1
A. MULTIPLE CHOICE TEST (40 PTS)
I/ PHONOLOGY (5 PTS)
A. Pick out the word whose underlined part is pronounced differently from that of the others in each group.
1. A. exist B. exhaustion C. explorer D. exhibit
2. A. eternal B. energy C. eradicate D. eliminate
3. A. submarine B. doubtful C. climbing D. subtle
4. A. argue B. tongue C. dialogue D. plague
5. A. lyrical B. rhythm C. mythology D. lyre
B. Pick out the word whose main stress is placed differently from the others in each group.
6. A. argumentative B. psychological C. contributory D. hypersensitive
7. A. admirable B. advantageous C. conscientious D. analytic
8. A. delicacy B. internship C. inventory D. interrupt
9. A. complacent B. democrat C. jeopardy D. competence
10. A. painstakingly B. condolence C. communism D. obstinacy
II/ WORD CHOICE (5 PTS)
Choose the best alternative to fill the gap in each of the following sentences
11. The flood was a terrible ______; hundreds of people died.A. calamityB. accident C. eventD. rebellion
12. Micah admired his grandparents’ ______. During the Great Depression they lost their jobs, but they never
lost their strength of purpose or their dignity.
A. fortitude B. antecedents C. anomalies D. indifference
13. Even under tremendous public pressure, the planning committee would not commit itself wholeheartedly to
the proposal and have only tentative approval to the ______ waterfront development plan.
A. ambiguous B. unnecessary C. provisional D. total
14. Employees who have a ______ are encouraged to discuss it with the management.
A. hindrance B. disturbance C. disadvantage D. grievance
15. I’m so ______ under with work at the moment – it’s awful!
A. iced B. snowed C. rained D. fogged
16. The series became so popular that it was moved to the ______ time spot of 8 pm.
A. leading B. prime C. main D. major
17. The Post-Modern architectural style is ______; it combines diverse elements, including classical columns,
Baroque ornamentation, and Palladian windows.
A. a diatribe B. a conjecture C. an anarchronism D. an amalgam
18. The local press has been pouring ______ on the mayor for dissolving the council.
A. blame B. hatred C. disapproval D. scorn
19. I offer you my most ______ apologies for offending you as I did.
A. abject B. repentant C. servile D. candid
20. The current economic ______ is very good for small businesses.
A. disposition B. whirlwind C. climate D. daze
III/ GRAMMAR AND STRUCTURES (5 PTS)
21. Business has been thriving for the past few years. Long ______ it continue to do so
A. could B. does C. may D. might
22. How annoying! You ______ again!
A. have made the self-same mistake yet of yoursB. may yet make the same mistake
C. have made the same mistake D. have yet to make the same mistake
23. The Mayflower was bound for Virginia, but a hurricane ______ off course.
A. blew it B. to blow it C. it blew D. blowing it
24. The greenhouse effect occurs ______ heat radiating from the Sun.
A. when does the Earth’s atmosphere trap B. does the Earth’s atmosphere trap
C. when the Earth’s atmosphere traps D. the Earth’s atmosphere traps
25. The Rose Bowl, ______ place on New Year’s Day, is the oldest postseason collegiate football game in the
United States. A. takes B. which takes C. it takes D. took
26. Experiments ______ represent a giant step into the medicine of the future.
A. using gene therapy B. use gene therapy
C. they use gene therapy D. gene therapy uses
27. ______ off the Hawaiian coastline are living, others are dead.
A. Coral reefs B. Some types of coral reefs
C. There are many types of coral reef D. While some types of coral reefs
28. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) ______ came about as a result of the National Security Act of
1947.A. what B. it was C. was what D. it was what
29. Oil shale is a soft, fine-grained sedimentary rock ______ oil and natural gas are obtained. A. from B. is
from C. is which D. from which
30. ______ appears considerably larger at the horizon than it does overhead is merely an optical illusion.
A. The Moon B. That the Moon C. When the Moon D. The Moon which
IV/ PHRASAL VERBS AND PREPOSITIONS (5 PTS)
31. Our plans to have a party fell ______ with Mum and Dad coming back a week early from holiday.A. down
B. back C. out D. through
32. Having decided to rent a flat, we set ______ contacting all the accomodation agencies in city.
A. to B. about C. off D. out
33. Bad living conditions ______ social and welfare problems.
A. give rise to B. give into C. rise through D. take the rise out of
34. The launching of the Soviet Sputnik in 1957 ______ a subsequent space race with the US. A. blew up
B. finished off C. touched off D. wrapped up
35. He had his money ______ in a secure bank account.
A. hammered away B. jabbered about C. slaved away D. squirreled away
36. He hit the other boy reluctantly as his friends ______ him on.
A. happened B. egged C. ground D. played
37. The poor old woman couldn’t ______ through after the operation and passed away.
A. muddle B. plough C. pull D. run
38. The company was rife ______ rumors concerning possible redundancies.
A. for B. on C. about D. with
39. The shop assistant was arrested ______ thefts from the store.
A. in response to B. in connection with C. referring to D. with regard to
40. When you do something, you should ______.
A. weigh up the pros and consB. turn over a new leaf C. go down well with D. get through to
V/ READING COMPREHENSION (10 PTS)
Read the following passages and choose the best answer
Passage 1
Reading to oneself is a modern activity which was almost unknown to the scholars of the classical and
medieval worlds, while during the fifteenth century the term “reading” undoubtedly meant reading aloud. Only
during the nineteenth century did silent reading become commonplace.
One should be wary, however, of assuming that silent reading came about simply because reading aloud
was a distraction to others. Examinations of factors related to the historical development of silent reading have
revealed that it became the usual mode of reading for most adults mainly because the tasks themselves changed
in character.
The last century saw a steady gradual increase in literacy and thus in the number of readers. As the
number of readers increased, the number of potential listeners declined and thus there was some reduction in the
need to read aloud. As reading for the benefit of listeners grew less common, so came the flourishing of reading
as a private activity in such public places as libraries, railway carriages and offices, where reading aloud would
cause distraction to other readers.
Towards the end of the century, there was still considerable argument over whether books should be
used for information or treated respectfully and over whether the reading of materials such as newspapers was
in some way mentally weakening. Indeed, this argument remains with us still in education. However, whatever
its virtues, the old shared literacy culture had gone and was replaced by the printed mass media on the one hand
and by books and periodicals for a specialised readership on the other.
By the end of the twentieth century, students were being recommended to adopt attitudes to books and to
use reading skills which were inappropriate, if not impossible, for the oral reader. The social, cultural and
technological changes in the century had greatly altered what the term “reading” implied.
1. Reading aloud was more common in the medieval world because ______.
A. few people could read to themselves B. there were few places available for private reading
C. silent reading had not been discovered D. people relied on reading for entertainment
2. The word “commonplace” in the first paragraph mostly means ______.
 A. attracting attentions B. for everybody’s use C. most preferable D. widely used
3. The development of silent reading during the last century indicated ______.
A. an increase in the number of books B. an increase in the average age of readers
C. a change in the status of literate people D. a change in the nature of reading
4. Silent reading, especially in public places, flourished mainly because of ______.
A. the decreasing need to read aloud B. the development of libraries
C. the increase in literacy D. the decreasing number of listeners
5. It can be inferred that the emergence of the mass media and specialised reading materials was an indication
of ______.A. a decline of standards of literacy B. a change in the readers’ interest
C. an improvement of printing techniques D. an alteration in educationalists’ attitudes
6. The phrase “a specialised readership” in paragraph 4 mostly means ______.
A. a status for readers specialised in mass media
B. a limited number of readers in a particular area of knowledge
C. a requirement for readers in a particular area of knowledge
D. a reading volume for particular professionals
7. The phrase “oral reader” in the last paragraph mostly means a person who ______.
A. takes part in an audition B. is good at public speaking
C. is interested in spoken language D. practises reading to an audience
8. All of the following might be the factors that affected the continuation of the old shared literacy culture
EXCEPT ______. A. the inappropriate reading skills B. the printed mass media
C. the diversity of reading materials D. the specialised readership
9. Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE according to the passage?
A. Reading aloud was more common in the past than it is today.
B. The decline of reading aloud was wholly due to its distracting effect.
C. The change in reading habits was partly due to the social, cultural and technological changes.
D. Not all printed mass media was appropriate for reading aloud.
10. The writer of this passage is attempting to ______.
A. show how reading methods have improved B. explain how reading habits have developed
C. change people’s attitudes to reading D. encourage the growth of reading
Passage 2
Over the last century the world has become increasingly smaller. Not geographically, of course, but in
the sense that media, technology and the opening of borders has enabled the world’s citizens to view, share and
gain access to a much wider range of cultures, societies and world views. In this melting pot that the world has
become, today’s child is privy to facets of the human experience that his immediate predecessors had no inkling
even existed. It stands to reason that in order to absorb, configure and finally form opinions about this
information-laden planet, children must be supplied with certain tools. Included in this list of ‘tools’ are:
education, social skills, cultural awareness and the acquisition of languages, the most important of these being
the latter. Until recently, a child who had the ability to speak more than one language would have been
considered a very rare entity. This one-language phenomenon could be attributed to a combination of factors.
Firstly, the monolingual environment in which a child was raised played a strong role, as did the limited, biased
education of the past. With regard to immigrants, the sad fact was that non-native parents tended to withhold the
teaching of the mother tongue so that the child would acquire the ‘more prestigious’ language of the adopted
country.
Nowadays, the situation has undergone an almost complete reversal. In the majority of North American
and European countries, most children are given the opportunity to learn a second or even a third language.
Children acquire these foreign languages through various and diverse means. In many countries, learning a
foreign language is a compulsory subject in the state school curriculum. Other children rely on language schools
or private tuition to achieve their goal. In other instances, children are born to bilingual parents, who, if they so
desire, may teach the children two languages.
Bringing up one’s child bilingually is not a decision to be taken lightly. Both parents must consider long
and hard the implications involved in raising a child in a two-language home. This decision is one of those all-
important choices which will affect not only the parents’ lives but also the life of the child. Raising a child
bilingually has a two-fold effect. Firstly, of course, the child learns the two languages of the parents. Secondly,
the parents’ decision will influence factors which will have a far-reaching effect on the child’s life. Some of
these factors include: style and place of education; diameter of social circle; employment potential and
preference; and, most importantly, the way in which the child views himself and his global environment.
One of the more advantageous by-products of being a member of a bilingual family is the inherent
awareness of two different cultures. This bicultural child inherits a wealth of knowledge brought about by an
exposure to historical backgrounds, traditional songs and folklore, rituals of marriage, models of social
interaction and, therefore, two varying interpretations of the world. The monolingual child seems to be at a
disadvantage in comparison to the bilingual child, who has a set of languages and an accompanying set of
abstract cultural ideas. Practically speaking, when a child comes from a two-language family, he must be taught
both languages in order to communicate with the extended family members. When, for example, the
grandparents speak a language which differs from that of the child’s locale, a monolingual child would be
deprived of the interaction which occurs between grandparents and grandchildren. On the other hand, a
bilingual child will not only be able to speak to grandparents, but will also comprehend where these people have
‘come from’. There will be a shared cultural empathy within the family. Because all family members can
communicate, on both a verbal and cultural level, no one will feel excluded and the child will develop a sense of
rootedness.
On a more abstract level, it has been said that a bilingual child thinks differently from a monolingual
child. Current research in linguistics indicates that there may be a strong correlation between bilingualism and
cognitive skills. This new research concerns itself with the fact that a bilingual child has two lexical structures
for any given physical or abstract entity. This leads logically to the assumption that the child also has two
associations for many words, as a word can mean different things in different languages. For example, the word
‘fire’ in many western hemisphere languages connotes warmth and relaxation. In the Inuit language however,
where fire is a necessity of life, it may connote heat and survival. For the bilingual child, then, vocabulary items
and the abstract idea behind them are both dual in nature and more elastic. Researchers maintain that this
elasticity of ideas may allow the child to think more flexibly and, therefore, more creatively.
1. In the author’s view, the world is becoming a ______.
A. more culturally diverse place B. place where only privileged children will prosper
C. less complex place to live in D. much more integrated place
2. According to the first paragraph, which of the following was true of immigrants?
A. Children were reluctant to use their mother tongue.
B. The mother tongue was considered less important.
C. Parents encouraged children to use their mother tongue.
D. Most parents made it a priority for children to grow up bilingual.
3. The phrase “privy to” in paragraph 1 mostly means ______.
A. acquainted with B. advised of C. apprised of D. in the know about
4. The phrase “attributed to” mostly means ______.
A. ascribed to B. associated with C. connected with D. held responsible for
5. According to the writer, second or foreign language learning is something ______.
A. people are still apathetic towards B. mainly associated with private sector education
C. that few people take seriously D. about which general attitudes have evolved considerably
6. According to the article, the decision to raise bilingual children is difficult because ______.
A. it may limit the child’s choice of friends
B. though simple for parents, it can impact negatively on children
C. it may cause children to lose their sense of identity
D. it needs to be considered from many different angles
7. With regard to the ‘extended family’ in immigrant situations, the writer feels it is important that ______.
A. adults try to understand the child’s difficult cultural situation
B. children are not pressured to speak their parents’ native language
C. adults recognize the child’s need to identify more with local culture
D. children can relate to all aspects of their parents’ native culture
8. The word “by-products” in paragraph 4 mostly means ______.
 A. entailments B. knock-on effects C. side effects D. spin-offs
9. The word “connotes” in paragraph 5 mostly means ______.
A. underpins B. implies C. signifies D. smacks of
10. According to current research, the benefit of learning two languages is that ______.
A. different types of knowledge can be accessed in different languages
B. bilinguals become more aware the origin of words in languages
C. it helps to develop different capabilities of the mind
D. bilinguals develop a greater sense of the value of culture