In this era of increased global warming and diminishing fossil fuel supplies, we must begin to put a greater priority on harnessing alternative energy sources.(1) Fortunately, there are a number of readily available, renewable resources that are both cost-effective and earth-friendly. Two such resources are solar power and geothermal power.
Solar energy, which reaches the earth through sunlight, is so abundant that it could meet the needs of worldwide energy consumption 6,000 times over.(3) And solar energy is easily harnessed through the use of photovoltaic cells that convert sunlight into electricity. In the United States alone, more than 100,000 homes are equipped with solar electric systems in the form of solar panels or solar roof tiles. And in other parts of the world, including many developing countries, the use of solar systems is growing steadily.
Another alternative energy source, which is abundant in specific geographical areas, is geothermal power, which creates energy by tapping heat from below the surface of the earth. Hot water and steam that are trapped in underground pools are pumped to the surface and used to run a generator, which produces electricity. Geothermal energy is 50,000 times more abundant than the entire known supply og fossil fuel resources. And as with solar power, the technology needed to utilize geothermal energy is fairly simple(2). A prime example of effective geothermal use is in Iceland, a region of high geothermal activity, where over 80 percent of private homes are heated by geothermal power.
Solar and geothermal energy are just two of a number of promising renewable alternatives to conventional energy sources. The time is long overdue to invest in the development and use of alternative energy on a global scale.
According to the passage, how is solar energy production similar to geothermal energy production?
A.They both require fairly simple technology.
B.They both use heat from the earth’s surface.
C.They both require the use of a generator.
D.They are both conventional and costly.

Crows are probably the most frequently met and easily identifiable members of the native fauna of the United States. The great number of tales, legends, and myths about these bird indicates that people have been exceptionally interested in them for a long time(1). On the other hand, when it comes to substantive particularly behavioural-information, crows are less well known than many comparably common species and for that matter, not a few quite uncommon ones: The endangered California condor, to cite one obvious example. There are practical reasons for this.
According to the first paragraph, what evidence is there that crows have interested people for a long time?
A.The large number of stories about crows.
B.The frequency with which crows are sighted.
C.The amount of research that has been conducted on crows.
D.The ease with which crows are identified.

Clearly, change simply takes time. But in addition, there has been active resistance on the part of many managers. These executives claim that supervising the telecommuters in a large work force scattered across the country would be too difficult(B), or, at least, systems for managing them are not yet developed, thereby complicating the manager’s responsibilities.


It is also true that employees who are given the option of telecommuting are often reluctant to accept the opportunity. Most people fell that they need regular interaction with a group(C), and many are concerned that they will not have the same consideration for advancement(A) if they are not more visible in the office setting. Some people feel that even when a space in their homes is set aside as a work area,(D) they never really get away from the office.

The author mentions all of the following as concerns of telecommuters

A.the opportunities for advancement
B.the different system of supervision
C.the lack of interaction with a group
D.the fact hate the work space is in the home

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase for each of the blanks.

School exams are, generally speaking, the first kind of test we take. They find out how much knowledge we have gained. But do they really show how intelligent we are? After all, isn’t it a ___(30)_____ that some people who are very academically successful don’t have any common sense.
Intelligence is the speed ___(31)_____ which we can understand and react to new situations and it is usually tested by logic puzzles. Although scientist are now preparing ___(32)_____ computer technology that will be able to “read” our brains, ___(33)_____ tests are still the most popular ways of measuring intelligence.
A person’s IQ is their intelligence ___(34)_____ it is measured by a special test. The most common IT tests are ___(35)_____ by Mensa, an organization that was found in England in 1946. By 1976, it had 1,300 members in Britain. Today there are 44,000 in Britain and 100,000 _____(36)______, largely in the US.
People taking the tests are judged in ___(37)_____ to an average score of 100, and those who score over 148 are entitled to join Mensa. This works out at 2 percent of the population. Anyone from the age of six can take tests. All the questions are straightforward and most people can answer them if ___(38)_____ enough time. But that’s the problem; the whole ___(39)_____ of the test is that they’re against the clock.
(36)
A.worldly
B.nationwide
C.worldwide
D.world

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase for each of the blanks.

School exams are, generally speaking, the first kind of test we take. They find out how much knowledge we have gained. But do they really show how intelligent we are? After all, isn’t it a ___(30)_____ that some people who are very academically successful don’t have any common sense.
Intelligence is the speed ___(31)_____ which we can understand and react to new situations and it is usually tested by logic puzzles. Although scientist are now preparing ___(32)_____ computer technology that will be able to “read” our brains, ___(33)_____ tests are still the most popular ways of measuring intelligence.
A person’s IQ is their intelligence ___(34)_____ it is measured by a special test. The most common IT tests are ___(35)_____ by Mensa, an organization that was found in England in 1946. By 1976, it had 1,300 members in Britain. Today there are 44,000 in Britain and 100,000 _____(36)______, largely in the US.
People taking the tests are judged in ___(37)_____ to an average score of 100, and those who score over 148 are entitled to join Mensa. This works out at 2 percent of the population. Anyone from the age of six can take tests. All the questions are straightforward and most people can answer them if ___(38)_____ enough time. But that’s the problem; the whole ___(39)_____ of the test is that they’re against the clock.
(37)
A.association
B.relation
C.regard
D.concern

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase for each of the blanks.

School exams are, generally speaking, the first kind of test we take. They find out how much knowledge we have gained. But do they really show how intelligent we are? After all, isn’t it a ___(30)_____ that some people who are very academically successful don’t have any common sense.
Intelligence is the speed ___(31)_____ which we can understand and react to new situations and it is usually tested by logic puzzles. Although scientist are now preparing ___(32)_____ computer technology that will be able to “read” our brains, ___(33)_____ tests are still the most popular ways of measuring intelligence.
A person’s IQ is their intelligence ___(34)_____ it is measured by a special test. The most common IT tests are ___(35)_____ by Mensa, an organization that was found in England in 1946. By 1976, it had 1,300 members in Britain. Today there are 44,000 in Britain and 100,000 _____(36)______, largely in the US.
People taking the tests are judged in ___(37)_____ to an average score of 100, and those who score over 148 are entitled to join Mensa. This works out at 2 percent of the population. Anyone from the age of six can take tests. All the questions are straightforward and most people can answer them if ___(38)_____ enough time. But that’s the problem; the whole ___(39)_____ of the test is that they’re against the clock.
(39)
A.point
B.question
C.matter
D.reason

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

At 7 pm on a dark, cold November evening, thousands of people are making their way across a vast car park. They're not here to see a film, or the ballet, or even the circus. They are all here for what is, bizarrely, a global phenomenon: they are here to see Holiday on Ice. Given that most people don’t seem to be acquainted with anyone who's ever been, the show's statistics are extraordinary: nearly 300 million people have seen Holiday on Ice since it began in 1943; it is the most popular live entertainment in the world.
But what does the production involve? And why are so many people prepared to spend their lives travelling round Europe in caravans in order to appear in it? It can't be glamorous, and it's undoubtedly hard work. The backstage atmosphere is an odd mix of gym class and workplace. A curtained-off section at the back of the arena is laughably referred to as the girls' dressing room, but is more accurately described as a corridor, with beige, cracked walls and cheap temporary tables set up along the length of it. Each girl has a small area littered with pots of orange make-up, tubes of mascara and long false eyelashes.
As a place to work, it must rank pretty low down the scale: the area round the ice-rink is grey and mucky with rows of dirty blue and brown plastic seating and red carpet tiles. It's an unimpressive picture, but the show itself is an unquestionably vast, polished global enterprise: the lights come from a firm in Texas, the people who make the audio system are in California, but Montreal supplies the smoke effects; former British Olympic skater Robin Cousins is now creative director for the company and conducts a vast master class to make sure they're ready for the show's next performance.
The next day, as the music blares out from the sound system, the case start to go through their routines under Cousins' direction. Cousins says, 'The aim is to make sure they're all still getting to exactly the right place on the ice at the right time - largely because the banks of lights in the ceiling are set to those places, and if the skaters are all half a metre out they'll be illuminating empty ice. Our challenge, ' he continues, 'is to produce something they can sell in a number of countries at the same time. My theory is that you take those things that people want to see and you give it to them, but not in the way they expect to see it. You try to twist it. And you have to find music that is challenging to the skaters, because they have to do it every night.'
It may be a job which he took to pay the rent, but you can’t doubt his enthusiasm. 'They only place you'll see certain skating moves is an ice show,' he says, 'because you're not allowed to do them in competition. It's not in the rules. So the ice show word has things to offer which the competitive world just doesn't. Cousins knows what he's talking about because he skated for the show himself when he stopped competing - he was financially unable to retire. He learnt the hard way that you can't put on an Olympic performance every night. I'd be thinking, these people have paid their money, now do your stuff, and I suddenly thought, "I really can't cope. I'm not enjoying it".' The solution, he realized, was to give 75 per cent every night, rather than striving for the sort of twice-a-year excellence which won him medals.
To be honest, for those of us whose only experience of ice-skating is watching top-class Olympic skaters, some of the movements can look a bit amateurish, but then, who are we to judge? Equally, it's impossible not to be swept up in the whole thing; well, you'd have to try pretty hard not to enjoy it.
Source (TOEFL reading)
What surprises the writer about the popularity of Holiday on Ice?
A.Few people know someone who has seen it.
B.The show has not changed since it started.
C.Ice-skating is not generally a popular hobby.
D.People often say they prefer other types of show.

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

At 7 pm on a dark, cold November evening, thousands of people are making their way across a vast car park. They're not here to see a film, or the ballet, or even the circus. They are all here for what is, bizarrely, a global phenomenon: they are here to see Holiday on Ice. Given that most people don’t seem to be acquainted with anyone who's ever been, the show's statistics are extraordinary: nearly 300 million people have seen Holiday on Ice since it began in 1943; it is the most popular live entertainment in the world.
But what does the production involve? And why are so many people prepared to spend their lives travelling round Europe in caravans in order to appear in it? It can't be glamorous, and it's undoubtedly hard work. The backstage atmosphere is an odd mix of gym class and workplace. A curtained-off section at the back of the arena is laughably referred to as the girls' dressing room, but is more accurately described as a corridor, with beige, cracked walls and cheap temporary tables set up along the length of it. Each girl has a small area littered with pots of orange make-up, tubes of mascara and long false eyelashes.
As a place to work, it must rank pretty low down the scale: the area round the ice-rink is grey and mucky with rows of dirty blue and brown plastic seating and red carpet tiles. It's an unimpressive picture, but the show itself is an unquestionably vast, polished global enterprise: the lights come from a firm in Texas, the people who make the audio system are in California, but Montreal supplies the smoke effects; former British Olympic skater Robin Cousins is now creative director for the company and conducts a vast master class to make sure they're ready for the show's next performance.
The next day, as the music blares out from the sound system, the case start to go through their routines under Cousins' direction. Cousins says, 'The aim is to make sure they're all still getting to exactly the right place on the ice at the right time - largely because the banks of lights in the ceiling are set to those places, and if the skaters are all half a metre out they'll be illuminating empty ice. Our challenge, ' he continues, 'is to produce something they can sell in a number of countries at the same time. My theory is that you take those things that people want to see and you give it to them, but not in the way they expect to see it. You try to twist it. And you have to find music that is challenging to the skaters, because they have to do it every night.'
It may be a job which he took to pay the rent, but you can’t doubt his enthusiasm. 'They only place you'll see certain skating moves is an ice show,' he says, 'because you're not allowed to do them in competition. It's not in the rules. So the ice show word has things to offer which the competitive world just doesn't. Cousins knows what he's talking about because he skated for the show himself when he stopped competing - he was financially unable to retire. He learnt the hard way that you can't put on an Olympic performance every night. I'd be thinking, these people have paid their money, now do your stuff, and I suddenly thought, "I really can't cope. I'm not enjoying it".' The solution, he realized, was to give 75 per cent every night, rather than striving for the sort of twice-a-year excellence which won him medals.
To be honest, for those of us whose only experience of ice-skating is watching top-class Olympic skaters, some of the movements can look a bit amateurish, but then, who are we to judge? Equally, it's impossible not to be swept up in the whole thing; well, you'd have to try pretty hard not to enjoy it.
Source (TOEFL reading)
The writer describes the backstage area in order to show
A.the type of skater that the show attracts
B.how much preparation is needed for a performance
C.how much fun the cast have during their work
D.the conditions that the skaters put up with

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

At 7 pm on a dark, cold November evening, thousands of people are making their way across a vast car park. They're not here to see a film, or the ballet, or even the circus. They are all here for what is, bizarrely, a global phenomenon: they are here to see Holiday on Ice. Given that most people don’t seem to be acquainted with anyone who's ever been, the show's statistics are extraordinary: nearly 300 million people have seen Holiday on Ice since it began in 1943; it is the most popular live entertainment in the world.
But what does the production involve? And why are so many people prepared to spend their lives travelling round Europe in caravans in order to appear in it? It can't be glamorous, and it's undoubtedly hard work. The backstage atmosphere is an odd mix of gym class and workplace. A curtained-off section at the back of the arena is laughably referred to as the girls' dressing room, but is more accurately described as a corridor, with beige, cracked walls and cheap temporary tables set up along the length of it. Each girl has a small area littered with pots of orange make-up, tubes of mascara and long false eyelashes.
As a place to work, it must rank pretty low down the scale: the area round the ice-rink is grey and mucky with rows of dirty blue and brown plastic seating and red carpet tiles. It's an unimpressive picture, but the show itself is an unquestionably vast, polished global enterprise: the lights come from a firm in Texas, the people who make the audio system are in California, but Montreal supplies the smoke effects; former British Olympic skater Robin Cousins is now creative director for the company and conducts a vast master class to make sure they're ready for the show's next performance.
The next day, as the music blares out from the sound system, the case start to go through their routines under Cousins' direction. Cousins says, 'The aim is to make sure they're all still getting to exactly the right place on the ice at the right time - largely because the banks of lights in the ceiling are set to those places, and if the skaters are all half a metre out they'll be illuminating empty ice. Our challenge, ' he continues, 'is to produce something they can sell in a number of countries at the same time. My theory is that you take those things that people want to see and you give it to them, but not in the way they expect to see it. You try to twist it. And you have to find music that is challenging to the skaters, because they have to do it every night.'
It may be a job which he took to pay the rent, but you can’t doubt his enthusiasm. 'They only place you'll see certain skating moves is an ice show,' he says, 'because you're not allowed to do them in competition. It's not in the rules. So the ice show word has things to offer which the competitive world just doesn't. Cousins knows what he's talking about because he skated for the show himself when he stopped competing - he was financially unable to retire. He learnt the hard way that you can't put on an Olympic performance every night. I'd be thinking, these people have paid their money, now do your stuff, and I suddenly thought, "I really can't cope. I'm not enjoying it".' The solution, he realized, was to give 75 per cent every night, rather than striving for the sort of twice-a-year excellence which won him medals.
To be honest, for those of us whose only experience of ice-skating is watching top-class Olympic skaters, some of the movements can look a bit amateurish, but then, who are we to judge? Equally, it's impossible not to be swept up in the whole thing; well, you'd have to try pretty hard not to enjoy it.
Source (TOEFL reading)
What does the writer highlight about the show in the third paragraph?
A.the variety of places in which the show has been staged
B.the range of companies involved in the production
C.the need for a higher level of professional support
D.the difficulty of finding suitable equipment

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

At 7 pm on a dark, cold November evening, thousands of people are making their way across a vast car park. They're not here to see a film, or the ballet, or even the circus. They are all here for what is, bizarrely, a global phenomenon: they are here to see Holiday on Ice. Given that most people don’t seem to be acquainted with anyone who's ever been, the show's statistics are extraordinary: nearly 300 million people have seen Holiday on Ice since it began in 1943; it is the most popular live entertainment in the world.
But what does the production involve? And why are so many people prepared to spend their lives travelling round Europe in caravans in order to appear in it? It can't be glamorous, and it's undoubtedly hard work. The backstage atmosphere is an odd mix of gym class and workplace. A curtained-off section at the back of the arena is laughably referred to as the girls' dressing room, but is more accurately described as a corridor, with beige, cracked walls and cheap temporary tables set up along the length of it. Each girl has a small area littered with pots of orange make-up, tubes of mascara and long false eyelashes.
As a place to work, it must rank pretty low down the scale: the area round the ice-rink is grey and mucky with rows of dirty blue and brown plastic seating and red carpet tiles. It's an unimpressive picture, but the show itself is an unquestionably vast, polished global enterprise: the lights come from a firm in Texas, the people who make the audio system are in California, but Montreal supplies the smoke effects; former British Olympic skater Robin Cousins is now creative director for the company and conducts a vast master class to make sure they're ready for the show's next performance.
The next day, as the music blares out from the sound system, the case start to go through their routines under Cousins' direction. Cousins says, 'The aim is to make sure they're all still getting to exactly the right place on the ice at the right time - largely because the banks of lights in the ceiling are set to those places, and if the skaters are all half a metre out they'll be illuminating empty ice. Our challenge, ' he continues, 'is to produce something they can sell in a number of countries at the same time. My theory is that you take those things that people want to see and you give it to them, but not in the way they expect to see it. You try to twist it. And you have to find music that is challenging to the skaters, because they have to do it every night.'
It may be a job which he took to pay the rent, but you can’t doubt his enthusiasm. 'They only place you'll see certain skating moves is an ice show,' he says, 'because you're not allowed to do them in competition. It's not in the rules. So the ice show word has things to offer which the competitive world just doesn't. Cousins knows what he's talking about because he skated for the show himself when he stopped competing - he was financially unable to retire. He learnt the hard way that you can't put on an Olympic performance every night. I'd be thinking, these people have paid their money, now do your stuff, and I suddenly thought, "I really can't cope. I'm not enjoying it".' The solution, he realized, was to give 75 per cent every night, rather than striving for the sort of twice-a-year excellence which won him medals.
To be honest, for those of us whose only experience of ice-skating is watching top-class Olympic skaters, some of the movements can look a bit amateurish, but then, who are we to judge? Equally, it's impossible not to be swept up in the whole thing; well, you'd have to try pretty hard not to enjoy it.
Source (TOEFL reading)
Cousins believes that he can meet the challenge of producing shows for different audiences
A.by varying the routines each night
B.by selecting music that local audiences will respond to
C.by adapting movements to suit local tastes
D.by presenting familiar material in an unexpected way