PRACTICE TEST 1

I. Choose the correct answer A, B, C or D to complete the sentences.

1. Such was the heat of April that every air conditioner in our company has been ____ up.
A. plucked B. seized C. irked D. cranked
2. You would be surprised at the muscles ____ people have.
A. sinewy B. tenuous C. chubby D. podgy
3. The ____ of rigorous environmental laws seems highly desirable.
A. upcoming B. advent C. ongoing D. pass
4. His controversial ideas presented in her book, ____ which critics raved, were endorsed by the
majority of readers.
A. about B. over C. on D. Ø
5. Charlie passed the exam with flying ____.
A. clouds B. scores C. colors D. pigs
6. The local authorities have decided to clamp ___ on illegal parking in handicapped parking places.
A. over B. down C. up D. under
7. The application of ____ wall insulation is commonplace in countries with cold climate.
A. heatproof B. thermoplastic C. cavity D. torrid
8. I am such a scatter ____ that I always forget everything that you’ve just said.
A. mind B. head C. brain D. memory
9. Police have discovered that ____ money was used to pay for the good.
A. copy B. false C. fake D. counterfeit
10. In contrast to her husband, she’s a very down-to-earth sort of person.
A. cynical B. boring C. clever D. practical
II. Supply the correct form of the word in bracket.
1.Blue veins showed through her _________ skin. (LUCID)
2.The machine must be ________________, executing as fast as a mower is able to cut.
(EXPEDITE)
3.Lack of resources has been a(n) ___________ problem since the beginning. (ANNUAL)
4. In the woman, however, adulthood is punctuated by the __________, which can have a deep
psychological effect. (PAUSE)
5. She just hoped she would be spared a pressing invitation to his ___________. (OBSERVE)
6. The system in Britain is not as dominated by ___________, but it is certainly present.
(BARGAIN)
7. The monarchy is something of an ________these days. (CHRONOLOGY)
8. The second actor, the accused, immediately begins a _________ of defence. (SOLO)
9. The sports program was ________ softball in a little courtyard. (MURAL)
10. The ____________ of science does not refer to definitive concepts: It is ceaselessly adjusted,
completed, varied. (NAME)
III. The passage below contains 5 errors in spelling, grammar, word form. Underline the errors and
write the corrections in the corresponding numbered boxes. There is ONE example at the beginning.
(0)
ALTERNATIVE LIFESTYLES: BUILD YOUR OWN ISLAND
Do you crave an island paradise of your own but are strapped for cash? Well, you could always follow
Richie Sowa's example.

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 This innovative British carpenter went to Mexico in search of the simple life. Concerning about the
environment, he began collecting plastic bottles from the beach and came up with the incredible idea
of building his own island home. Using thousand of recycled plastic bottles packed into mesh bags
and fishing nets to form the floating base, Richie laid a structure of plywood and bamboo on top.
Then he transported sand from local beaches and planted mangrove trees to create shade and kept the
island cool. Spiral Island was eventual destroyed by a hurricane. Yet undeterred, Richie built another
one. He claims he finds his way of life invigorated, if sometimes hard work. He is largely self-
sufficient, with a solar oven and self-composting toilet and his own fruit trees and vegetables.
Spiral Island ll’s peace ambience welcomes all manner of visitors, human or otherwise; Richie shares
his home with a dog, cats, ducks and chickens. Aesthetically, the island may not be as awe-inspiring
as Dubai's artificial Palm island but it is definitely a home in paradise.
E1: Concerning  Concerned
IV. Choose the correct A, B, C or D to complete the paragraph.
UNIVERSAL WET WEEKEND
The weather across much of the British Isles (1) ……… settled last week, with a good (2) ……… of
sunshine. On Saturday, the lunchtime temperature at Bridlington in the northeast of England was
28.2oC, which compared favourably with Alicante in southern Spain at 29oC. The rest of the world,
however, was (3) ……… with some extreme conditions. A tropical storm, given the name Helen, hit
Hong Kong on Saturday morning, though her presence had been (4) ……… in (5) ……… . From
noon on Friday, the showers and (6) ……… of rain became more and more frequent so that by
midnight on Sunday, thirty-six hours later, there had been 333mm of rainfall, not far off the (7)
……… for the month of August, at 367mm. Even on Sunday there was a (8) ……… in Helen’s tail.
The town centre of Shanwei, near Hong Kong, was flooded when 468mm of rain fell in the sixty
hours (9) ……… up to midday on Sunday, (10) …… twice the normal August rainfall. On the other
(11) ……… of the globe, tropical storm Gabrielle moved across the Gulf of Mexico and overnight
rain (12) ……… the usual rainfall for the (13) ……… month. Although most of Europe enjoyed sun,
the high temperatures were sufficient to set off some (14) ……… showers. On Tuesday morning, a
thunderstorm at Lyons in eastern France (15) ……… 99mm of rain in just six hours.
1. A. kept B. remained C. lasted D. held
2. A. extent B. quantity C. proportion D. deal
3. A. coping B. matching C. colliding D. queuing
4. A. waited B. found C. felt D. warned
5. A. light B. advance C. likelihood D. day
6. A. outbursts B. outbreaks C. outputs D. outlets
7. A. general B. standard C. medium D. average
8. A. sting B. prick C. stab D. poke
9. A. going B. leading C. taking D. approaching
10. A. only B. fairly C. hardly D. nearly
11. A. section B. side C. face D. part
12. A. overtook B. exceeded C. passed D. beat
13. A. total B. sole C. single D. whole
14. A. huge B. weighty C. heavy D. strong
15. A. deposited B. placed C. lay D. set
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V. Read the passage and choose the correct answer.
Regardless of culture or language, children around the world tend to go through the same stages
when first developing their ability to speak. Initially, children practice communication through
"conversations" with those close to them, usually a parent, sibling, or caregiver. In the course of
daily activities and routines, children first express themselves through two modes of communication:
gestures and sounds. As a child continues to develop, the motions and sounds he or she uses become
more complex until finally the child is able to express intended messages through speech and
gestures.
The first sounds and gestures a child makes are used in reference to his or her immediate
surroundings. This stage of communication can typically be observed between six and eighteen
months of age. Starting with basic gestures, most often pointing, children indicate their intentions or
show thatthey recognize familiar objects. These gestures are later accompanied by sounds,
approximations of simple words that the child hears often in routine household interactions. Refined
through copious repetition, some of these sounds eventually become recognizable as words. For
example, when the family dog enters the room, a child might point and say "doddie," trying to
replicate the sounds of"dog" or "doggie," that other family members so often say. Interestingly, at
this point, the child does not yet realize that "dog" refers to a type of animal rather than just
the family pet. As the child grows older and uses the word more frequently, the more general
application of the word becomes clear, and the child will begin to demonstrate appropriate usage of
the word.
From eighteen to twenty-four months of age, children continue to refine and add to their store of
sounds and words. The words used at this stage are mainly nouns, such as the names of people
around them, or verbs that refer to their ability to interact in the environment, such as "give," "take,"
and "go."
Their speech is very concrete and focused on phenomena that make a strong sensory impression, as
one might expect from children still in what Piaget called the sensorimotor stage of cognitive
development. During this stage, children continue to add content and meaning to their speech,
particularly by moving from one-word utterances like "doggie," to multi-word strings such as,
"doggie go." As the complexity of a child's speech increases, the number of gestures that accompany
the speech also increases. In fact, researchers have noted that the lengths of a child's verbal and
gestural expressions are similar.
By two-and-a-half years of age, children can speak in sentences made up of several words.
Furthermore, as children's verbal skills mature, so too do their gestures. These gestures are often used
to support their verbal communication, to indicate recognition of an object, or to illustrate an object's
function. For example, children at this stage of communicative development may mime actions, such
as panting or barking, to show their recognition of "dog." Children's interactions with their
conversation partners also change during this period. At this stage, children more often look at the
person being spoken to rather than at the object of their gestures.
 A) From the age of thirty months, there is an explosion in a child's ability to form sentences. In
mere months, the child goes from limited short sentences of only a few words to adult-like
complexity in the structure of their speech, such as responding to a question like, "Did you see the
dog?" with the sentence, "Yes, I did see doggie."  B) In fact, the child's language develops so
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rapidly at this stage that it is difficult for researchers to describe the exact pattern of acquisition.  C)
It is during this final stage that children acquire the majority of the grammar they need to
communicate effectively in their first language. Interestingly, children seem able to systematically
use grammar in their speech, as though they somehow realize the inherent rules behind different
linguistic elements.  D)
To recap, children all over the world go through the same basic stages of language acquisition,
going from mere sounds at about six months to complete sentences by the age of three. This process
is all the more interesting because it happens naturally, irrespective of any formal education.
1. The word those in the passage refers to _______.
A. conversations B. people C. children D. words
2. Which of the following best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the
passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential
information.
A. The child thinks that "dog" is the name of her family pet.
B. The child thinks that "dog" is the word for all pets.
C. The child thinks that all family pets are dogs.
D. The child thinks that all dogs are her family pet.
3. According to paragraph 2, the first words a child speaks are determined by all of the following
EXCEPT _______.
A. how simple the word is B. how frequently the word is heard
C. how old the child is D. how often a child practices sounds
4. According to paragraph 3, what stage of cognitive development are children still at between
eighteen and twenty-four months of age?
A. The refinement stage B. The sensorimotor stage
C. The gestural stage D. The environmental stage
5. The word ‘utterances’ in the passage is closest in meaning to_______.
A. extremes B. choices C. demands D. expressions
6. The author mentions "doggie" and "doggie go" in the passage in order to _______.
A. define verbal and gestural expressions
B. illustrate phenomena that make a strong sensory impression
C. provide examples of single-word and multi-word utterances
D. explain nouns and verbs
7. Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 4 about a child's earlier interactions with
her conversation partners?
A. The child often does not look at her partners.
B. Her partners often object to her use of gestures.
C. The child cannot tell the difference between people and objects.
D. The child uses gestures more effectively than she uses words.
8. According the passage, which of the following is true about the gestures a child makes?
A. They have their own form of grammar.
B. They are less important for communication than spoken words.
C. They become increasingly complex, just as speech does.
D. They develop more slowly than spoken communication.
9. Look at the four squares [] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the
passage: ‘The final stage of language development is a rapid one’.
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Where would the sentence best fit? Choose the square [] where the sentence should be added to the
passage.
A. 1st square B. 2nd square C. 3rd square D. 4th square
10. The phrase ‘irrespective of any formal education’ in the passage is closest in meaning to
_____.
A. showing the value of formal education
B. demonstrating that formal education is not necessary
C. in conjunction with formal education
D. no matter how much formal education one has
VI. Insert ONE word in the space to complete the passage.
The most extreme weather conditions experienced in Antarctica are associated (0) ..... blizzards. These
are simply strong winds with falling snow (1) ....., more commonly, snow that is picked up and pushed
along the ground by the wind. Blizzards may last for days at (2) ..... time, and in some cases it can be
almost impossible for people to see. It is not unusual (3) ..... objects only about a metre or (4) ..... away to
become unrecognisable. Scientists doing research in the area (5) ..... then confined to their tents or
caravans. We think of blizzards (6) ..... extremely cold, while in fact temperatures in the Antarctic are
usually higher than normal (7) ..... a blizzard. Major blizzards of several days in length occur more
frequently in some locations than in others. (8) ..... may be eight or ten such blizzards in any particular
place (9) ..... an annual basis. They often cause considerable damage, so that any scientific buildings
or equipment constructed in this region must be specially made to give as (10) ..... protection as
possible.
If the weather is fine, visibility in Antarctica is usually excellent because of the clear air and the
absence of dust and smoke. (11) ..... this means is that people often greatly underestimate the
distance of objects and features of the landscape. Also, very large features (12) ..... as mountains may
appear to be above the horizon, or even upside (13) ..... These ‘mirages’, (14) ..... are just tricks
played by the eyes in certain conditions, have led to explorers in the Antarctic making many errors
(15) ….. judgment
VII. Rewrite the following sentences as directed.
1. His arrival was completely unexpected. (TOOK)
_______________________________________________________________________________
2. The success of our local theater has made our city famous. (MAP)
_______________________________________________________________________________
3. He is certainly not a reliable witness. (MEANS)
_______________________________________________________________________________
4. Our company is the only company allowed to import these chemicals. (MONOPOLY)
_______________________________________________________________________________
5. It’s uncertain whether the band’s tour will take place. (BALANCE)
_______________________________________________________________________________

THE END

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