Complete each of the following 15 sentences with the most likely answer. Write the letter corresponding to your choice on the answer sheet. (1 point each, 15 points in all)

I was shocked by the number of people who seemed to have nothing better to do with their time than ______ to know fish better. 

A. get   

B. gets

C. getting  

D. got

Not all birds can fly , ______ do all birds build nests. 

A. not

B. no

C. never  

D. nor

When you fall in love for the first time, it’s surprising ______ inconveniences you can put up with.

A. that

B. what

C. which

D. those

I know my limitations, so I won’t do anything ______ my ability.

A. beyond

B. under

C. above

D. below

The hosts apologized for ______ that some of their guests might be vegetarians.

A. having not considered   

B. not having considered

C. having not been considering

D. not considering

Mrs. Smith locked both the front and the back doors before she went to bed ______ that someone might steal into the house at night. 

A. so

B. for fear

C. unless

D. on condition

We have to wait for the bus, ______?

A. have we

B. haven’t we

C. do we  

D. don’t we

 ______ the popularity of robots in Japan, the country’s robot-production growth is slowing down.

A. As

B. Although

C. With

D. Despite

The proposal deserves support as it gives ______ to the needs of children.

A. curiosity

B. awareness

C. priority

D. emphasis

Those familiar with evening dress will always ______ black with elegance.

A. link

B. associate

C. connect

D. relate

If you’re sitting around a lonely campfire at night, the howl of a wolf can sound pretty ______. 

A. fearful                

B. threatening

C. dreadful               

D. frightening

The suspect cooperated fully with the police when ______ about his role in the incident. 

A. required

B. questioned

C. demanded

D. negotiated

Homing pigeon is useful as a ______ carrier because when taken from home, it will return at the first opportunity.

A. meaning

B. information

C. message  

D. content

One of the responsibilities of the Coast Guard is to make sure that all ships ______ follow traffic rules in busy harbors.

A. conveniently

B. obediently

C. sufficiently

D. reluctantly

She was so ______ the noise that she sent the children to bed.

A. broken down by

B. filled in with

C. taken over by

D. fed up with

Fill in each of the 15 blanks in the passage with the most likely answer. Write the letter corresponding to your choice on the answer sheet. (1 point each, 15 points in all)

    A quarter of the world’s population now speaks English. If you want to   16   your products, or yourself, you have no choice   17   to do it in English. Politicians and business people must speak English if they want to make their mark   18   the world’s stage. Writers of minority languages can   19   hope to sell their books unless they write in English.

    As English is spoken all over the world, it means that no individual country can really exercise a   20   influence over it. In the past, it was the mother tongue   21   who controlled the future of the language. Now, indeed for the last few decades, the mother tongue users are in a significant   22  .

    This means that the character of the language could well   23   with new words, new rhythms, and new pronunciations. It isn’t going to be British and American English anymore- that’s   24  . All over the world education authorities are struggling to find the resources to meet the   25   for English.

    However, it is open to question whether they are putting all their eggs in one   26  . The future of English language is intimately   27   the electronic revolution. Satellite television and the Internet have helped accelerate the   28   of English, but will that always be the case?

    The Internet,   29  , is now seen as the saviour of minority languages. Indeed, with the continuing improvements in electronic translation, will we even need a(n)   30   language? It is open to question.

（）

A. sell

B. make

C. produce  

D. trade

（）

A. and

B. but

C. rather  

D. or

（）

A. on

B. with

C. for

D. at

（）

A. ever

B. still

C. no longer

D. no more

（）

A. negative

B. typical

C. subtle  

D. dominant

（）

A. speakers

B. followers

C. believers   

D. interpreters

（）

A. group

B. number

C. amount

D. minority

（）

A. alter

B. differ

C. shift

D. vary

（）

A. old

B. new

C. history

D. future

（）

A. want

B. pursuit

C. demand

D. desire

（）

A. box  

B. basket

C. bag  

D. container

（）

A. restricted to

B. drawn to

C. tied up with

D. caught up with

（）

A. range

B. scope

C. spread

D. coverage

（）

A. as a result

B. as a rule

C. in addition

D. in fact

（）

A. global

B. unique

C. worldly

D. international

Choose the closest paraphrased version after each of the following sentences or the italicized part. Write the letter corresponding to your choice on the answer sheet. (1 point each, 10 points in all)

By definition, heroes and heroines are men and women distinguished by uncommon courage, achievements, and self-sacrifice made most often for the benefit of others - they are people against whom we measure others.

A. ... we disagree with them when judging others.

B. ... we think more highly of them than others do.

C. ... we believe other people are different from them.

D. ... we use them as the standard when evaluating others.

Many people have a rather acute sense of the shortness of each lifetime.

A. Many people realize that they are short of time.

B. Many people feel keenly that their life is short.

C. Many people are sensible only for a short period of time.

D. Many people would like very much to prolong their life.

As a scientist, she learned with sadness that little in Nature is truly beyond the tampering reach of man.

A. … it is difficult for man to compete with Nature.

B. … it is impossible for man to benefit from Nature.

C. … Nature can hardly escape from man’s interference.

D. …Nature is really more powerful than human beings.

These bits of information and the list of D grades were all the records had to offer.

A. These bits of information explained his poor grades.

B. His poor grades were related to these bits of information.

C. What could be found in the records were those things required to be there.

D. The records gave nothing more than these bits of information and poor grades.

People were only shapes in dense, gray fog of dust and ash. 

A. The dusty air made people barely visible.

B. The air was too polluted for people to breathe.

C. People hardly stayed in shape in such dirty air.

D. People were almost buried in thick dust and ash.

It would not be difficult to compile a list of such surprises that would fill the next fifty pages, but I will content myself with suggesting the first few that occur to me. 

A. ... I feel satisfied with the first few examples in my mind.

B. ... I am surprised with the number of suggestions I can give.

C. ... the first few examples are the best ones that satisfy my curiosity.

D. ... the first few surprises coming to me would be enough as examples.

If I love you, I can see you as a separate person, with your own values and thoughts and feelings, and I do not insist that you surrender your identity and conform to an image of what I expect you to be for me.

A. ... I don’t want you to lose hope and then blame me for it.

B. ... I won’t force you to be independent and you can rely on me.

C. ... I don’t expect you to follow my step and become similar to me.

D ... I won’t push you to lose yourself and become what I like you to be.

If disappointed, though, she [my mother] wasted no energy on self-pity. She would make me make something of myself whether I wanted to or not.

A. Dissatisfied as she was, she remained as determined as before.

B. Faced with discouragements, she never lost her energetic spirits.

C. Nothing could let her down even though no one sympathized with her.

D. There was enough self-confidence in her to deal with disappointments.

My maternal grandfather, it is true, was cut off in the flower of his youth at the age of sixty-seven.

A. My maternal grandfather retired from gardening at sixty-seven.

B. My maternal grandfather died young, when he was sixty-seven.

C. My maternal grandfather lost energy when he was sixty-seven.

D. My maternal grandfather was considered no longer young at sixty-seven.

Far-reaching as many of them [Edison’s inventions] have been in their effect upon modern civilization, the total effect of Edison’s career surpasses the sum of all of them.

A. One can never evaluate Edison’s great inventions high enough.

B. One needs to understand Edison’s inventions to appreciate his career.

C. Edison’s inventions are his most outstanding contributions to human life.

D. Edison’s influence upon human society is much greater than his inventions.

Read the two passages and choose the most likely answer to each of the questions. Write the letter corresponding to your choice on the answer sheet (2 points each, 20 points in all)

Passage 1

    Friendship and friends continue to remain central to our lives. The relationship that we share with our friends is grounded in a mutual concern as our friends help us in shaping up our personalities as well. Even in this age of online social networking, the need of expanding the network of friends, whether online or offline remains a primary concern for people. We may have a very vague understanding of what makes a friend but we all want to have a good many friends around us.

    Research has shown that the quality and nature of your friends are one of the key influencing factors in achieving happiness and satisfaction. Friends often affect the health and energy of a person as well. More and more people are increasingly turning towards their friends for support and mutual sharing rather than communicating to their relatives; this sociological phenomenon has escalated the desire to make more friends. Though friendship is a relationship developed between two individuals marked by a voluntary, emotional and mutual concern, there are certain steps, which, if followed, can win you friends or at least help you get close to those whom you want to make friends with.

    The first step to make friends with someone is to make them like you. If they don’t like you in the first place, it is unlikely that they’ll be eager to become your friends. To let someone know that you are genuinely interested in them, simple gestures like a little smile and calling him by his first name can lay the basic foundation. To make the other person feel important you need to be a good listener and encourage the other person to talk. Give your honest and sincere opinion but do not overtly criticize or make fun of him or her.

    The second step of making someone your friend is to develop a mutual consideration between each other. You need to share his or her perspective and for that it is necessary for you to develop a tendency to see things from the other person’s point of view. To become best of friends you must show a genuine concern and consideration for your friend’s desires and opinions.

    The third and final step towards friendship is to show your unconditional support and encouragement towards your friend. Moreover, you also need to be very clear about your expectations from your friend. If what you expect from the person you want to befriend matches with what that person can and want to contribute in friendship, the developing friendship between you and your friend is assured to grow, making both of you gratified with mutual emotional bonding.

    Friendship has overwhelming significance on both social and individual levels. Friendship doesn’t only provide us with emotional as well as practical support but it also helps us improve our personal identities. So it is quite natural to feel the urge to reach out and make new friends, expanding your friend’s circle. Friendship remains familiar yet quite ambiguous (模糊的) for our deeper understanding, but then again, friends remain the most important ingredients in the recipe of life!

The relationship between friends is based on ______.

A. the social networking around friends

B. friends’ caring and helping each other

C. the style friends choose to communicate

D. an unclear understanding of what makes a friend

Which of the following statements has been proved correct?

A. The better quality your friends have, the happier you will be.

B. Communication with friends is healthier than that with relatives.

C. The more friends you have, the more satisfied you are with yourself.

D. Those you like in the first place are more likely to become your friends.

The word “escalated” in the second paragraph probably means ______.

A. intensified

B. challenged

C. shifted

D. resisted

It can be inferred from the first suggested step that ______ is NOT likely to win you friends.

A. making others talk

B. being very talkative

C. telling people you like them

D. addressing others in an informal way

What structure does the author use to organize this passage?

A. Effect- cause.

B. Comparison- contrast.

C. General- specific- general.

D. Definition - explanation - example.

Passage 2

    Every single student that applies for a class or course online has certain expectations and they are often extremely high. Unfortunately for most individuals, they will be disappointed. It is a fact that the majority of individuals believe that they will actually enjoy every aspect of their course. The truth is that there is very little in a degree to inspire until an individual actually completes the course and is awarded the degree or certificate that could change his or her life. This is no different with an online education and, in fact, the disappointment may be more obvious because they may face extra difficulties in an online course.

    Online education expectations are often incredibly high, as previously stated, in terms of what an individual can get from it as well as the manageability of the content itself. However, although an individual will ultimately be proven right about what he or she can get from it, this will not be the case for manageability.  Most online education courses are anything but manageable for those who decide to take them. The level of work would be the same as any other degree or qualification course, but an individual is expected to manage it on his or her own instead of having a tutor or lecturer there to remind him or her about assignments and deadlines. Time management is extremely important, but the nature of these individuals’ life often makes it impossible to manage without feeling the stresses and strains of the burden.

    It is important to be realistic with your expectations concerning an online education course, but many are completely unrealistic. If you read any of the accounts from students that have already taken and may have even passed an online education course, many will speak in glowing terms; but you should also read between the lines.

    They claim that their expectations will ultimately be fulfilled in terms of the long-term benefits. However, in the short term they may say they found it difficult to cope with the workload, the lack of time that they actually had to complete it, an unsupportive employer and so on. This last point may not be an issue if you are doing it to advance yourself within your current workplace, but there will otherwise be some sort of resentment bubbling under the surface and that can indeed make your life a misery for a little while. If you expect it and prepare for it then it should not bother you too much, and if the resentment does not come then so much the better!

    In terms of your own expectations, the best attitude to have is not to go in with any at all. If you do not expect anything then you may be pleasantly surprised. It can be difficult to fit an online education in with personal commitments, such as a family to look after or a job to go to every day whilst trying to study. It does take a lot of effort, but if you do not expect it to be easy or expect that you will just be able to do it without the balance of your life being upset as a result, then you will probably find that you do get a sense of satisfaction from it! Similarly, if you expect the worst then you will probably be pleasantly surprised! Managing your expectations can be difficult, but do not let them get the better of you !

The manageability is more difficult in online courses than in any other course because ______.

A. online courses require higher level of work

B. online courses bring much more assignments

C. online course takers have no way to contact their lecturers

D. online course takers have to rely on themselves for management

According to the passage, one may not have the problem of an unsupportive employer if ______. 

A. he is fully prepared to deal with any resentment from his boss

B. his online education will be beneficial to his current workplace

C. his expectations will be fulfilled in the form of long-term benefits

D. he can discuss the issue width his boss openly and bravely on the table

According to the writer of this passage, one’s satisfaction in online education might come from ______. 

A. high expectations

B. diligent efforts

C. a realistic attitude

D. a proper balance

In the last sentence of this passage, the phrase “get the better of you” probably means “______”. 

A. make a fool of you

B. take advantage of you

C. get too fancy for you to imagine

D. become too high for you to control

This passage is written mainly for the purpose of ______. 

A. inspiring its readers to fulfill their expectations through hard work

B. persuading its readers to be more practical with their personal commitments

C. informing its readers about the disadvantages of the courses they take online

D. preparing its readers for the hardships they may encounter in online education