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 that follow.
 
Under certain circumstances, the human body must cope with gases at greater-than-normal atmospheric pressure. For example, gas pressures increase rapidly during a drive made with scuba gear because the breathing equipment allows divers to stay underwater longer and dive deeper. The pressure exerted on the human body increases by 1 atmosphere for every 10 meters of depth in seawater, so that at 39 meters in seawater a diver is exposed to pressure of about 4 atmospheres. The pressure of the gases being breathed must equal the external pressure applied to the body, otherwise breathing is very difficult. Therefore all of the gases in the air breathed by a scuba diver at 40 meter are present at five times their usual pressure. Nitrogen, which composes 80 percent of the air we breathe, usually causes a balmy feeling of well-being at this pressure. At a depth of 5 atmospheres, nitrogen causes symptoms resembling alcohol intoxication, known as nitrogen narcosis. Nitrogen narcosis apparently results from a direct effect on the brain of the large amounts of nitrogen dissolved in the blood. Deep dives are less dangerous if helium is substituted for nitrogen, because under these pressures helium does not exert a similar narcotic effect.
As a scuba diver descends, the pressure of nitrogen on the lungs increases. Nitrogen then diffuses from the lungs to the blood, and from the blood to body tissues. Nitrogen then diffuses from the lungs to the blood, and from the blood to body tissues The reverse occurs when the diver surfaces, the nitrogen pressure in the lungs falls and the nitrogen diffuses from the tissues into the blood, and from the blood into the lungs. If the return to the surface is too rapid, nitrogen in the tissues and blood cannot diffuse out rapidly enough and nitrogen bubbles are formed. They can cause severe pains, particularly around the joints.
Another complication may result if the breath is held during ascent. During ascent from a depth of 10 meters, the volume of air in the lungs will double because the air pressure at the surface is only half of what it was at 10 meters. This change in volume may cause the lungs to distend and even rupture. This condition is called air embolism.
To avoid this event, a diver must ascend slowly, never at a rate exceeding the rise of the exhaled air bubbles, and must exhale during ascent.
The word “exert” in bold in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ________.

A.cause   
B.permit   
C.change  
D.need

Helping the poor should be the responsibility of the rich.
A.The rich is responsible for others’ poverty.
B.The poor should blame the rich for their poverty. 
C.The rich should be responsible for the poor.
D.The rich should help the poor.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following questions.
I _____ an important phone call from America. Could you tell me when it comes?
A.had expected
B.have been expected
C.expected
D.am expecting

Which one of these statements is not true ?
A.People must work together to save the environment
B.We have the ability to solve environmental problems
C.We control the future.
D.We help make the future.

I won’t buy that car because it has too much _______ on it.
A.ups and downs
B.white tie   
C.wear and tear      
D.odds and ends

Choose the underlined word or phrase in each sentence that needs correction. 
It is usually much difficult  to learn a subject by listening to the lectures than by reading books.
A.much difficult 
B.to learn 
C.listening
D.reading

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the underlined part that needs correction in each of the following questions.
John has learnt English for five years ago.
A.John
B.ago
C.English
D.has learnt

________(48)
A.lied
B.laid
C.lain
D.lay

Power plants are increasingly located outside metropolitan areas.
A.belonging to a big or capital city         
B. in an industrial city
C.of a busy suburb       
D.relating to a remote suburb

Chinese cartoons have been useful as an important means of______.
A. political propaganda in wartime
B.amusing people all the time
C.educating ordinary people  
D.spreading Western ideas