IV. Read the text and choose the alternative that best answers each question.

II. Insert ONE WORD in the blanks below.

Text 3.

Global English

Global English exists (0) ..as.. a political and cultural reality. Many misguided theories attempt to explain why the English language should have succeeded internationally, whilst (10) ... have not. Is it because there is (11) ... inherently logical or beautiful about the structure of English? Does its simple grammar (12) ... it easy to learn? Such ideas are misconceived. Latin was once a major international language, despite having a complicated grammatical structure, and English also presents learners (13) ... all manner of real difficulties, (14) ... least its spelling system. Ease (15) ... learning, therefore, has little to (16) ... with it. (17) ... all, children learn to speak their mother tongue in approximately the same period of time, (18) ... of their language.

English has spread not so (19) ... for linguistic reasons, but rather because it has often found (20) ... in the right place, at the right time. (21) ... the 1960s, two major developments have contributed to strengthening this global status. Firstly, in a number of countries, English is now used in addition to national or regional languages. As (22) ... as this, an electronic revolution has taken (23) ... . It is estimated that (24) ... the region of 80% of worldwide electronic communication is now in English.

III. Three sentences have been deleted from the text below. Choose the alternative
(A-D) that would best fit in each gap (25-27). There is one extra sentence which you do not need.

Text 4.

Cats and Men

Grave discovery suggests cats have long been tamed by man. Archaeologists have found the earliest known evidence of a special link between humans and cats. They have unearthed the grave of a 30-year-old neolithic villager who died 9,500 years ago in Cyprus. Buried with the body were jewellery and offerings, and in a special pit, a set of 24 sea shells. 25__________

“The association of this burial with the sea shells and the cat grave strengthens the idea of a special burial indicating a relationship between cats and human beings,” said the discoverer, Jean-Denis Vigne of the Natural History Museum in Paris. “Possibly tamed cats were devoted to special activities or human individuals.”

According to DNA evidence, the forerunner of the domestic dog – a far eastern wolf – first moved in with humans around 15,000 years ago. The first burial of a dog with a human dates from 12,500 years ago, in Israel. The goat, 10,000 years ago, was probably the first domestic milk-producer. 26__________ However, the discovery of the skeleton of a wildcat – Felis Sylvestris – that had clearly been handled with care so long ago – has archaeologists shaken.

Cat bones have been found near human settlements before. Grain stores would have attracted rats and mice; cats would have found good hunting, so bones are not evidence of domestication. 27__________ And because the bones were in their right places in the skeleton, the animal must have been buried promptly upon death: otherwise, the bones would have been taken by scavengers, animals that feed on decaying plant or animal matter.
“The first discovery of cat bones on Cyprus showed that humans had brought cats from the mainland, but we couldn’t decide if these cats were wild or tame. With this discovery, we can now decide that these cats were linked to humans,” Dr Vigne said.

A) Only five thousand years later, the sheep replaced the goat as the main source of milk.
B) Less than 2ft away, in a grave made in the same sediment and at the same depth, lay the skeleton of a young cat.
C) But the bones, found in the grave at the neolithic village of Shillikamborous, and now being excavated by the College de France, showed no sign of being butchered.
D) Until now, the earliest household cats were believed to have been bred by the ancient Egyptians only 4,000 years ago.

IV. Read the text and choose the alternative that best answers each question.

Text 5.

Think Drink

According to a new study, when alcohol makes shy people less nervous in social situations, the effect is purely psychological.

The study looked at the effects of alcohol on people with social phobia. For example, some people suffer from stress which is debilitating even in ordinary social situations, such as chatting on the phone. Earlier research showed that 15 percent of people with social phobia have at some time had drinking problems, and that alcoholics are nine times as likely as the general population to have the disorder.

Joseph Himle, a psychiatrist at the University of Michigan, wanted to find out whether alcohol really does reduce anxiety. So, he enlisted the help of 40 people with social phobia who agreed to drink an unknown amount of alcohol before giving two impromptu speeches in front of an audience. Giving a speech without any preparation beforehand would naturally cause stress even for people without the phobia.

A key factor in the experiment was that the volunteers could not tell exactly how much alcohol they had drunk. Before the first speech, everyone gargled with mouthwash and drank a “placebo” of sour grapefruit juice that contained no alcohol except a little vodka rubbed on the rim of the glass. Before the second speech, 20 patients drank another placebo, and 20 drank grapefruit juice containing an amount of alcohol equivalent to between two and three glasses of wine.

The patients had to give 10-minute speeches on issues such as seat belts or gun control. After each one, the researchers monitored their heart rates and gave them a questionnaire to rate their level of anxiety. Himle assumed that everyone would be more relaxed the second time they gave a speech, but that people who had drunk alcohol would have calmed down the most.

However, consuming alcohol turned out to make no difference to anxiety levels when the volunteers gave the second speech. “We were surprised, because given the association between alcoholism and social anxiety, we were expecting a clear benefit.”
What did matter, the researchers found, was people’s perception of how much alcohol they had drunk. Even among those in the placebo group, a belief that the drinks contained alcohol made the volunteers significantly less nervous.

Bruce Thyer of the University of Georgia in Athens believes this is the most sophisticated study that’s ever been done to test the theory that alcohol has an effect on social phobia. “People’s expectations may make drinking helpful when they confront a frightening situation,” Thyer concludes. “But because alcohol can impair performance, it’s probably not the best way to cope with fear.”

28. The word ‘debilitating’ in line 4 is closest in meaning to _____.
A) having a weakening effect C) having a little effect B) giving courage D) giving support

29. The word ‘the disorder’ in line 7 refers to _____.
A) social phobia B) drink problem C) alcoholism D) chatting on the phone
30. The word ‘impromptu’ in line 10 would best be replaced by _____.
A) spontaneous B) controlled C) organized D) simultaneous
31. In this text, the word ‘placebo’ in line 15 refers to _____.
A) fruit juice which is used instead of alcohol
B) a mixture of mouthwash and grapefruit juice
C) sour fruit juice served with some alcohol
D) fruit juice and a bit of alcohol mixed together
32. The word ‘one’ in line 20 refers to _____.
A) speech B) issue C) seat belt D) gun control

33. The word ‘those’ in line 28 refers to _____.
A) volunteers B) alcoholics C) researchers D) drinks
34. The word ‘impair’ in line 33 is closest in meaning to _____.
A) support B) damage C) reinforce D) strengthen
35. We understand from the text that before their speeches, the volunteers _____.
A) thought that they had some alcohol
B) had plenty of time to plan and practise
C) were all made to drink some amounts of alcohol
D) were given two or three glasses of wine to drink
36. When giving their second speech, the volunteers _____.
A) believed that alcohol had made them less nervous
B) in the placebo group were more relaxed than the other 20
C) clearly displayed the behaviour which the researchers had expected
D) who were given alcohol showed no signs of fear at all
37. At the end of the experiment, the researchers _____.
A) found no connection between drinking and social anxiety
B) realized that the effects of drinking on people with social phobia were mostly psychological
C) realized that alcohol has the effect of impairing people’s performance
D) failed to determine the psychological effects of alcohol on people with social weaknesses
38. The purpose of the experiment mentioned in the article was to find out _____.
A) whether the effect of alcohol on social phobia is clearly psychological
B) how dangerous the effect of alcohol can be on people’s social behaviour
C) how risky it is to consume alcohol before any performance in public
D) whether taking alcohol before making a speech in front of an audience is a good idea
V. Insert the words in capitals in an appropriate form. You may need to change the part of speech category.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 859