Reading 1: Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D

on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the

questions.
Aging is the process of growing old. It occurs eventually in every living thing
provided, of course, that an illness or accident does not kill it prematurely. The
most familiar outward signs of aging may be seen in old people, such as the
graying of the hair and the wrinkling of the skin. Signs of aging in a pet dog or
cat include loss of playfulness and energy, a decline in hearing and eyesight,
or even a slight graying of the coat. Plants age too, but the signs are much
harder to detect.
Most body parts grow bigger and stronger, and function more efficiently during
childhood. They reach their peak at the time of maturity, or early adulthood.
After that, they begin to decline. Bones, for example, gradually become lighter
and more brittle. In the aged, the joints between the bones also become rigid
and more inflexible. This can make moving very painful.
All the major organs of the body show signs of aging. The brain, for example,
works less efficiently, and even gets smaller in size. Thinking processes of all
sorts are slowed down. Old people often have trouble in remembering recent
events.
One of the most serious changes of old age occurs in the arteries, the blood
vessels that lead from the heart. They become thickened and constricted,
allowing less blood to flow to the rest of body. This condition accounts, directly
or indirectly, for many of the diseases of the aged. It may, for example, result
in heart attack.
Aging is not a uniform process. Different parts of the body wear out at different
rates. There are great differences among people in their rate of aging. Even
the cells of the body differ in the way they age. The majority of cells are
capable of reproducing themselves many times during the course of a lifetime.
Nerve cells and muscle fibers can never be replaced once they wear out.
Gerontologists - scientists who study the process of aging-believe this wearing
out of the body is controlled by a built-in biological time-clock. They are trying
to discover how this clock works so that they can slow down the process. This
could give man a longer life and a great number of productive years.
Question 1: What is the main idea of the first paragraph?
A. Signs of aging are easier to detect in animal than in plants.
B. Aging occurs in every living thing after it has reached maturity.
C. Not all signs of aging are visible.
D. The outward signs of aging may be seen in old people.

Question 2: When does the human body begin to lose vigor and the ability to
function efficiently?
A. Soon after reaching adulthood
B. During childhood
C. Early adulthood
D. Past middle age

Question 3: What happens to memorization when the brain begins to age?

A. It works less.
B. It becomes forgetful.
C. It declines.
D. It slows down.

Question 4: What does “Aging is not a uniform process” mean?

A. Not all living things age.
B. Not all people are at the same age.
C. Not all people have signs of aging.
D. Aging doesn’t occur in all people.

Question 5: The word “brittle” as used in the second paragraph means _______
A. soft and easily bent
B. hard and endurable
C. hard but easily broken
D. rigid and inflexible
Question 6: According to the passage, what condition is responsible for many of
the diseases of the old?
A. the arteries have become thickened and constricted.
B. the blood vessels lead from the heart.
C. the brain gets smaller in size.
D. bones become lighter and brittle.

Question 7: What is the main idea of the last paragraph?

A. Gerontologists have controlled the process of aging.
B. Gerontologists are working hard to help people live longer and more healthily.
C. Gerontologists are trying to give people an eternal life.
D. Gerontologists are now able to slow down the process of aging.

Question 8: According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?

A. All living things grow old.
B. Aging is unavoidable in any living things.
C. Plants show less signs of aging than any other living things.
D. Most body parts wear out during the course of a lifetime.

Question 9: . What does the word “it” in line 2 refers to?

A. aging
B. a living thing
C. an illness
D. an accident

Question 10: All of the followings may be the outward signs of aging EXCEPT
_______
A. the graying of the hair
B. the wrinkling of the skin
C. the loss of appetite
D. the decline in hearing and eyesight
Reading 2: Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D
on year answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the
questions.

Pandemic Diseases

Diseases are a natural part of life on Earth. If there were no diseases, the
population would grow too quickly, and there would not be enough food or
other resources. So in a way, diseases are nature's way of keeping the Earth
in balance. But sometimes they spread very quickly and kill large numbers of
people. For example, in 1918, an outbreak of the flu spread across the world,
killing over 25 million people in only six months. Such terrible outbreaks of a
disease are called pandemics.

Pandemics happen when a disease changes in a way that our bodies are not
prepared to fight. In 1918, a new type of flu virus appeared. Our bodies had
no way to fight this new flu virus, and so it spread very quickly and killed large
numbers of people. While there have been many different pandemic diseases
throughout history, all of them have a few things in common.

First, all pandemic diseases spread from one person to another very easily.

Second, while they may kill many people, they generally do not kill people
very quickly. A good example of this would be the Marburg virus. The Marburg
virus is an extremely infectious disease. In addition, it is deadly. About 70-80%
of all the people who get the Marburg virus die from the disease. However, the
Marburg virus has not become a pandemic because most people die within
three days of getting the disease. This means that the virus does not have
enough time to spread to a large number of people. The flu virus of 1918, on
the other hand, generally took about a week to ten days to kill its victims, so it
had more time to spread.
While we may never be able to completely stop pandemics, we can make
them less common. Doctors carefully monitor new diseases that they fear
could become pandemics. For example, in 2002 and 2003, doctors carefully
watched SARS. Their health warnings may have prevented SARS from
becoming a pandemic.

Question 1: This passage is mainly about________

A. how to prevent pandemic diseases
B. pandemic diseases
C. pandemic diseases throughout history
D. why pandemics happen

Question 2: According to paragraph 1, how are diseases a natural part of life on

Earth?
A. They prevent pandemics
B. They help control the population
C. They led the world grow quickly
D. They kill too many people

Question 3: Based on the information in the passage the term “pandemics”

can be explained as ______
A. diseases with no cure
B. a deadly kind of flu
C. diseases that spread quickly and kill large numbers of people
D. new disease like SARS or the Marburg virus

Question 4: According to the passage, what causes pandemics?

A. Changes in a disease that body cannot fight
B. Careless doctors who do not watch the spread of disease
C. Population growth that the world cannot support
D. The failure to make new medicines
Question 5: According to the passage, all of the following are true of the 1918 flu
pandemic EXCEPT that ______
A. it involved a new kind of flu virus
B. it killed over 25 million people
C. it was the last pandemic in history
D. it took a little over a week to kill its victims

Question 6: The word “it” in the passage refers to _______

A. disease
B. flu virus
C. pandemics
D. bodies

Question 7: Which of the following is mentioned as a common feature of all

pandemic diseases?
A. They spread from people to people very quickly
B. It kill many people very quickly
C. They do not kill people very quickly
D. They kill all the victims

Question 8: According to paragraph 3, why hasn’t Marburg virus become a

pandemic?
A. It is not a deadly disease
B. It does not spread from person to person easily
C. Doctors have prevented it from becoming a pandemic
D. It kills people too quickly
Question 9: The word ‘monitor’ in the passage is closest in meaning to
_______
A. fight
B. prevent
C. watch
D. avoid

Question 10: The author mentions SARS in order to ________

A. give an example of a highly dangerous disease
B. suggest that SARS will never become a pandemic
C. give an example of the successful prevention of a pandemic
D. suggest that there may be a new pandemic soon.
Reading 3: Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D
on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the
questions

Just as optical fibers have transformed communication, they are also

revolutionizing medicine. These ultra - thin, flexible fibers have opened a
window into the living tissues of the body. By inserting optical fibers through
natural openings or small incisions and then threading them along the body's
established pathways, physicians can look into the lungs, intestines, heart and
other areas that were formerly inaccessible to them.

The basic fiber-optics system is called fiberscope, which consists of two

bundles of fibers. One, the illuminating bundle, carries light to the tissues. It is
coupled to a high-intensity light source. Light enters the cores of the
high-purity silicon glass and travels along the fibers. A lens at the end of the
bundle collects the light and focuses it into the other bundle, the imaging
bundle. Each fiber in the bundle transmits only a tiny fraction of the total
image. The reconstructed image can be viewed through an eyepiece or
displayed on a television screen. During the last five years, improved methods
of fabricating optical fibers have led to a reduction in fiberscope diameter and
an increase in the number of fibers, which in turn has increased resolution.

Optical fibers can also be used to deliver laser light. By use of laser
beams, physicians can perform surgery inside the body, sometimes
eliminating the need for invasive procedures in which healthy tissue must be
cut through to reach the site of disease. Many of these procedures do not
require anesthesia and can be performed in a physician's office. These
techniques have reduced the risk and the cost of medical care.
Question 1: What is the main topic of the passage?
A. A revolution in communication.
B. The invention of optical fibers
C. New surgical techniques
D. The roles of optical fibers in medicine

Question 2: In line 2, the author uses the expression have opened a window to
indicate that the use of optical fibers
A. has enabled scientists to make amazing discoveries
B. sometimes requires a surgical incision
C. allows doctors to see inside the body without major surgery
D. has been unknown to the general public until quite recently

Question 3: Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word formerly?

A. Previously
B. Completely
C. Usually
D. Theoretically

Question 4: The word them in line 4 refers to

A. optical fibers
B. pathways
C. physicians
D. other areas of the body

Question 5: According to the passage, what is the purpose of the illuminating

bundle in a fiberscope?
A. To carry light into the body
B. To collect and focus light
C. To reconstruct images
D. To perform surgery inside the body
Question 6: Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word cores?
A. Tips
B. Centers
C. Clusters
D. Lines

Question 7: According to the passage, how do the fiberscopes used today differ
from those used in five years ago?
A. They use brighter light
B. They are longer
C. They contain more fibers
D. They are larger in diameter

Question 8:The word resolution is closest in meaning to which of the following?

A. Strength
B. Sharpness
C. Inconvenience
D. Efficiency

Question 9: Which of the following is NOT mentioned by the author as one of

the advantages of laser surgery techniques?
A. They can be performed in a physician's office.
B. They are safer than conventional surgery.
C. They can often be performed without anesthesia.
D. They are relatively easy to teach to physicians.

Question 10: Where in the passage does the author provide a basic description
of a fiberscope?
A. Lines 1-2
B. Line 5
C. Line 9
D. Line 12