Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following questions.
There’s a rumor that the National Bank is going to ________ the company I work for.
A.take over  
B.overtake   
C.take on  
D.take off

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the most suitable response to complete each of the following exchanges.
Hoa: “Are you going to buy a new computer or just continue using the old one?” - Mary: “______.”
A.Neither. I’m going to lease one. 
B.That's impossible. I can’t afford a new one
C.Yes, I'd like one. Thank you.
D.Yes, I am.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word(s) OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined word(s) in each of the following questions.
Drivers are advised to get enough petrol because filling stations are few and far between on the highway.
A.easy to find     
B.difficult to access
C.unlikely to happen   
D.impossible to reach

Apart from being conveniently located near the beach, that hotel has nothing that makes me recommend it to you.
A.The only feature of that hotel that I can recommend it to you is that it‘s close to the beach.
B.The hotel l’ve recommended to you is very comfortable as it is near the beach.
C. As regards a hotel. nothing is more important for me than its being close to the beach.
D.The beach near that hotel doesn’t have anything special that I can recommend it to you.

According to the passage, it could be expected that ants______
A.move more earth than earthworms
B.are more mobile than earthworms
C.live only above ground
D.perform similar functions to fungi

Mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following question.
It was _____ of you to leave the medicine where the children could get it.
A.caring                        
B.care                                    
C.careless                           
D.careful

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
Shyness may not seem to be a serious complaint, but for some who suffer from it, it can become unbearable. Even talking to a small group of people you know can seem like an ordeal- it can feel as if you’ve been asked to give a speech on a topic you know very little about to a number of experts. You start to feel hot and shaky, your heart beats faster, your knees feel weak, you begin to stutter and the whole experience seems to last forever.
The fact of the matter is that shyness is something we often recognize in others: blushing is one of the more visible signs, for example. Yet we don’t judge someone harshly because of this. But shyness does mean that you are harder to approach, so you become more isolated. As one shy person put it, “It’s like being in a prison, and it’s very hard to break out.”
Experts on the subject have come up with various possible solutions, and one has been singled out as being the key to success- namely, finding an interest in common with the other people. Spending a lot of time on the sidelines watching other people and envying them because they are much more outgoing doesn’t help; remembering that some of those people you most envy are probably shy themselves, does. The secret is how you deal with it. And experts have come up with four things you can do today to help. Firstly, you can start by listening to other people. You will find yourself getting interested in what they’re talking about and asking questions- and before you know it, you’ll be having a conversation.
Secondly, you could try asking neighbors if you can walk their dog. Like children, pets can be excellent icebreakers for conversations with passers-by. Thirdly, try joining a class to learn something like tap-dancing or flamenco, where people are likely to laugh a lot. You’ll feel relaxed, and also you’ll be much too busy concentrating on what you are doing to feel shy. Lastly, try telling yourself that it doesn’t matter if you say or do something silly. Most people make a fool of themselves every so often- and it’s not the end of the world if you do!
The major aim of the author of the text is to ________
A.give important advice on how to deal with shy people.
B.raise the reader’s interest in shyness as a social problem.
C.present recent findings about the nature of shyness.
D.offer useful hints on how shy people can help themselves.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that is closest in meaning to each of the following questions.
The meeting was put off because of pressure of time.
A.The meeting was planned to start late because of time pressure.
B.The meeting started earlier because people wanted to leave early.
C.There was not enough time to hold the meeting.
D.The meeting lasted much longer than usual.

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
The ocean bottom - a region nearly 2.5 times greater than the total land area of the Earth - is a vast frontier that even today is largely unexplored and uncharted. Until about a century ago, the deep-ocean floor was completely inaccessible, hidden beneath waters averaging over 3,600 meters deep. Totally without light and subjected to intense pressures hundreds of times greater than at the Earth's surface, the deep-ocean bottom is a hostile environment to humans, in some ways as forbidding and remote as the void of outer space.
 Although researchers have taken samples of deep-ocean rocks and sediments for over a century, the first detailed global investigation of the ocean bottom did not actually start until 1968, with the beginning of the National Science Foundation's Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP).Using techniques first developed for the offshore oil and gas industry, the DSDP's drill ship, the Glomar Challenger, was able to maintain a steady position on the ocean's surface and drill in very deep waters, extracting samples of sediments and rock from the ocean floor.
 The Glomar Challenger completed 96 voyages in a 15-year research program that ended in November 1983. During this time, the vessel logged 600,000 kilometers and took almost 20,000 core samples of seabed sediments and rocks at 624 drilling sites around the world. The Glomar Challenger's core samples have allowed geologists to reconstruct what the planet looked like hundred of millions of years ago and to calculate what it will probably look like millions of years in the future. Today, largely on the strength of evidence gathered during the Glomar Challenger's voyages, nearly all earth scientists agree on the theories of plate tectonics and continental drift that explain many of the geological processes that shape the Earth.
 The cores of sediment drilled by the Glomar Challenger have also yielded information critical to understanding the world's past climates. Deep-ocean sediments provide a climatic record stretching back hundreds of millions of years, because they are largely isolated from the mechanical erosion and the intense chemical and biological activity that rapidly destroy much land-based evidence of past climates. This record has already provided insights into the patterns and causes of past climatic change - information that may be used to predict future climates.
Which of the following is TRUE of the Glomar Challenger?
A.It is a type of submarine.    
B.It is an ongoing project.
C.It has gone on over 100 voyages.      
D.It made its first DSDP voyage in 1968.

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
The ocean bottom - a region nearly 2.5 times greater than the total land area of the Earth - is a vast frontier that even today is largely unexplored and uncharted. Until about a century ago, the deep-ocean floor was completely inaccessible, hidden beneath waters averaging over 3,600 meters deep. Totally without light and subjected to intense pressures hundreds of times greater than at the Earth's surface, the deep-ocean bottom is a hostile environment to humans, in some ways as forbidding and remote as the void of outer space.
 Although researchers have taken samples of deep-ocean rocks and sediments for over a century, the first detailed global investigation of the ocean bottom did not actually start until 1968, with the beginning of the National Science Foundation's Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP).Using techniques first developed for the offshore oil and gas industry, the DSDP's drill ship, the Glomar Challenger, was able to maintain a steady position on the ocean's surface and drill in very deep waters, extracting samples of sediments and rock from the ocean floor.
 The Glomar Challenger completed 96 voyages in a 15-year research program that ended in November 1983. During this time, the vessel logged 600,000 kilometers and took almost 20,000 core samples of seabed sediments and rocks at 624 drilling sites around the world. The Glomar Challenger's core samples have allowed geologists to reconstruct what the planet looked like hundred of millions of years ago and to calculate what it will probably look like millions of years in the future. Today, largely on the strength of evidence gathered during the Glomar Challenger's voyages, nearly all earth scientists agree on the theories of plate tectonics and continental drift that explain many of the geological processes that shape the Earth.
 The cores of sediment drilled by the Glomar Challenger have also yielded information critical to understanding the world's past climates. Deep-ocean sediments provide a climatic record stretching back hundreds of millions of years, because they are largely isolated from the mechanical erosion and the intense chemical and biological activity that rapidly destroy much land-based evidence of past climates. This record has already provided insights into the patterns and causes of past climatic change - information that may be used to predict future climates.
The word "strength" in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to 
A.endurance 
B.purpose     
C.basis           
D.discovery