Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following questions.
_____ hardship, the firemen managed to save many people who were caught in the fire.
A.Because of 
B.However                 
C.Despite                   
D.As a result

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following questions.
Jack has already _______ a very good reputation as a talented lawyer.
A.established              
B.taken                       
C.given
D.made

A.ghost 
B.home
C.honest
D.hour

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks from 19 to 23.
   Any change in one part of an ecosystem can cause changes in other parts. Droughts, storms and fires can change ecosystems. Some changes (19)................ecosystems. If there is too little rainfall, plants will not have enough water to live. If a kind of plant dies off, the animals (20)................feed on it may also die or move away. Some changes are good for ecosystems. Some pine forests need fires for the pine trees to reproduce. The seeds are sealed inside pinecones. Heat from a forest fire melts the seal and lets the seeds (21)................. Polluting the air, soil, and water can harm ecosystems. Building (22)................on rivers for electric power and irrigation can harm ecosystems around the rivers. Bulldozing wetlands and cutting down forests destroy ecosystems. Ecologists are working with companies and governments to find better ways of (23)................fish, cutting down trees, and building reservoirs. They are looking for ways to get food, lumber, and other products for people without causing harm to ecosystems.
(23) 
A.catching                  
B.holding                   
C.carrying                  
D.taking

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following questions.
_______ all our careful plans, a lot of things went wrong.
A.Since
B.In spite of 
C.Because of    
D.Although

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following questions.
If you don’t work hard, you won’t be able to _______ your friends.
A.keep up with    
B.run away from  
C.look forward to 
D.pay attention to

Shouldn't you concentrate______
A.for the delay?
B.it to her?
C. on getting better rather than work?
D.of not having any free time?

Don’t you think we should complain_______
A.to them about having to wait?
B.with your results?
C.to us doing overtime
D. on getting better rather than work?

Choose A, B, C, or D that best completes the sentence.
That car is ____ .
A.surprisingly expensive        
B.surprised expensively  
C.surprise expense                
D.surprising expensiveness

The amount of solar energy that ................the earth depends on the outer atmosphere.
A.reaches
B.comes to
C.gets to
D.all are correct