Reading Test 01: C. The Honeybee - Its Characteristics and Usefulness B. Varieties B. Flowers B. A Nest
Reading Test 01: C. The Honeybee - Its Characteristics and Usefulness B. Varieties B. Flowers B. A Nest
Reading Test 01: C. The Honeybee - Its Characteristics and Usefulness B. Varieties B. Flowers B. A Nest
A2 – B1
READING TEST 01
Read the passages below carefully, and then select the correct option A, B, C or
D
PASSAGE 1 – Questions 1-10
Line Bees, classified into over 10,000 species, are insects found in almost every part of
the world except the northernmost and southernmost regions. One commonly known
species is the honeybee, the only bee that produces honey and wax. Humans use the wax
in making candles, lipsticks, and other products, and they use the honey as a food. While
5 gathering the nectar and pollen with which they make honey, bees are simultaneously
helping to fertilize the flowers on which they land. Many fruits and vegetables would not
survive if bees did not carry the pollen from blossom to blossom.
Bees live in a structured environment and social structure within a hive, which is a
nest with storage space for the honey. The different types of bees each perform a unique
10 function. The worker bee carries nectar to the hive in a special stomach called a honey
stomach. Other workers make beeswax and shape it into a honeycomb, which is a
waterproof mass of six-sided compartments, or cells. The queen lays eggs in completed
cells. As the workers build more cells, the queen lays more eggs.
All workers, like the queen, are female, but the workers are smaller than the queen.
15 The male honeybees are called drones; they do no work and cannot sting. They are
developed from unfertilized eggs, and their only job is to impregnate a queen. The queen
must be fertilized in order to lay worker eggs. During the season when less honey is
available and the drone is of no further use, the workers block the drones from eating the
honey so that they will starve to death.
Question 1. Which of the following is the best title for this reading?
A. The Many Species of Bees B. The Useless Drone
C. The Honeybee — Its Characteristics and Usefulness D. Making Honey
Question 2. The word species in the first sentence is closest in meaning to ……….
A. mates B. varieties C. killers D. enemies
Question 3. The word which in the fourth sentence refers to ……….
A. fertilizer B. flowers C. honey D. bees
Question 4. According to the passage, a hive is ………..
A. a type of honey B. a nest C. a type of bee D. a storage space
Question 5. According to the passage, the drone …………
A. collects less honey than workers.
B. mates with the queen and has no other purpose.
C. comes from eggs fertilized by other drones.
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D. can be male or female.
Question 6. The author implies that ………..
A. bees are unnecessary in the food chain. B. drones are completely dispensable.
C. the queen can be a worker. D. drones are never females.
Question 7. According to the passage, honey is carried to the hive in a honey stomach by the
…………
A. queens B. drones C. males D. workers
Question 8. In what way does the reading imply that bees are useful in nature?
A. They pollinate fruit and vegetable plants. B. They make marvelous creations from wax.
C. They kill the dangerous drones. D. They create storage spaces.
Question 9. The passage implies that bees can be found in each of the following parts of the world
EXCEPT …………
A. Africa B. China C. Europe D. Antarctica
Question 10. It can be inferred from the reading that beeswax is ……………
A. absorbent B. pliable C. complex in structure D. sweet
Line Coincident with concerns about the accelerating loss of species and habitats
has been a growing appreciation of the importance of biological diversity, the
number of species in a particular ecosystem, to the health of the Earth and human
well-being. Much has been written about the diversity of terrestrial organisms,
5 particularly the exceptionally rich life associated with tropical rain-forest
habitats. Relatively little has been said, however, about diversity of life in the
sea even though coral reef systems are comparable to rain forests in terms of
richness of life.
An alien exploring Earth would probably give priority to the planet's dominants,
10 most-distinctive feature - the ocean. Humans have a bias toward land that
sometimes gets in the way of truly examining global issues. Seen from far away, it is
easy to realize that landmasses occupy only one-third of the Earth's surface. Given
that two-thirds of the Earth's surface is water and that marine life lives at all levels of
the ocean, the total three-dimensional living space of the ocean is perhaps 100
15 times greater than that of land and contains more than 90 percent of all life on Earth
even though the ocean has fewer distinct species.
The fact that half of the known species are thought to inhabit the world's rain
forests does not seem surprising, considering the huge numbers of insects that
comprise the bulk of the species. One scientist found many different species of ants
20 in just one tree from a rain forest. While every species is different from every other
species, their genetic makeup constrains them to be insects and to share similar
characteristics with 750,000 species of insects. If basic, broad categories such as
phyla and classes are given more emphasis than differentiating between species,
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then the greatest diversity of life is unquestionably the sea. Nearly every major type
25 of plant and animal has some representation there.
To appreciate fully the diversity and abundance of life in the sea, it helps to
think small. Every spoonful of ocean water contains life, on the order of 100 to
100,000 bacterial cells plus assorted microscopic plants and animals, including
larvae of organisms ranging from sponges and corals to starfish and clams and
much more.
READING TEST 02
Read the passages below carefully, and then select the correct option A, B, C or D
PASSAGE 1 – Questions 1-10
Line If parents bring up a child with the sole aim of turning the child into a genius, they will
cause a disaster. According to several leading educational psychologists, this is one of the
biggest mistakes which ambitious parents make. Generally, the child will be only too
aware of what his parents expect, and will fail. Unrealistic parental expectations can cause
5 great damage to children.
However, if parents are not too unrealistic about what they expect their children to do, but
are ambitious in a sensible way, the child may succeed in doing very well – especially if
the parents are very supportive of their child. Michael Collins is very lucky. He is crazy
about music, and his parents help him a lot by taking him to concerts and arranging
10 private piano and violin lessons for him. They even drive him 50 kilometers twice a week
for violin lessons. Michael’s mother knows very little about music, but his father plays the
trumpet in a large orchestra. However, he never makes Michael enter music competitions
if he is unwilling. Winston Smith, Michael’s friend, however, is not so lucky. Both his
parents are successful musicians, and they set too high a standard for Winston. They want
15 their son to be as successful as they are and so they enter him for every piano competition
held. They are very unhappy when he does not win. Winston is always afraid that he will
disappoint his parents and now he always seems quiet and unhappy.
Line Most people can remember a phone number for up to thirty seconds. When
this short amount of time elapses, however, the numbers are erased from the
memory. How did the information get there in the first place? Information that
makes its way to the short term memory (STM) does so via the sensory storage
5 area. The brain has a filter which only allows stimuli that is of immediate interest
to pass on to the STM, also known as the working memory.
There is much debate about the capacity and duration of the short term
memory. The most accepted theory comes from George A. Miller, a cognitive
psychologist who suggested that humans can remember approximately seven
10 chunks of information. (A) A chunk is defined as a meaningful unit of information,
such as a word or name rather than just a letter or number. Modern theorists
suggest that one can increase the capacity of the short term memory by
chunking, or classifying similar information together. By organizing information,
one can optimize the STM, and improve the chances of a memory being passed
15 on to long term storage. (B)
When making a conscious effort to memorize something, such as
information for an exam, many people engage in "rote rehearsal". By repeating
something over and over again, one is able to keep a memory alive.
Unfortunately, this type of memory maintenance only succeeds if there are no
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20 interruptions. As soon as a person stops rehearsing the information, it has the
tendency to disappear. When a pen and paper are not handy, people often
attempt to remember a phone number by repeating it aloud. If the doorbell rings
or the dog barks to come in before a person has the opportunity to make a phone
call, he will likely forget the number instantly. (C) Therefore, rote rehearsal is not
25 an efficient way to pass information from the short term to long term memory. A
better way is to practice "elaborate rehearsal". This involves assigning semantic
meaning to a piece of information so that it can be filed along with other pre-
existing long term memories. (D)
30 Encoding information semantically also makes it more retrievable. Retrieving
information can be done by recognition or recall. Humans can easily recall
memories that are stored in the long term memory and used often; however, if a
memory seems to be forgotten, it may eventually be retrieved by prompting. The
more cues a person is given (such as pictures), the more likely a memory can be
retrieved. This is why multiple choice tests are often used for subjects that require
a lot of memorization.
Question 11. According to the passage, how do memories get transferred to the STM?
A. They revert from the long term memory.
B. They are filtered from the sensory storage area.
C. They get chunked when they enter the brain.
D. They enter via the nervous system.
Question 12. The word “elapses” in line 2 is closest in meaning to ________.
A. passes B. appears C. adds up D. continues
Question 13. All of the following are mentioned as places in which memories are stored
EXCEPT the ________.
A. STM B. long term memory
C. sensory storage area D. maintenance area
Question 14. Why does the author mention a dog's bark?
A. To give an example of a type of memory
B. To provide a type of interruption
C. To prove that dogs have better memories than humans
D. To compare another sound that is loud like a doorbell
Question 15. In which space (marked A, B, C and D in the passage) will the following
sentence fit?
For example, a reader engages in elaborate rehearsal when he brings prior knowledge
of a subject to a text.
A. (A) B. (B) C. (C) D. (D)
Question 16. How do theorists believe a person can remember more information in a short
time?
A. By organizing it B. By repeating it
C. By giving it a name D. By drawing it
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Question 17. The author believes that rote rotation is ________.
A. the best way to remember something B. more efficient than chunking
C. ineffective in the long run D. an unnecessary interruption
Question 18. The word “it” in line 29 refers to ________.
A. encoding B. STM C. semantics D. information
Question 19. The word “elaborate” in line 25 is closest in meaning to ________.
A. complex B. efficient C. pretty D. regular
Question 20. Which of the following best provides the important information in the highlighted
sentence in the last paragraph from the passage?
A. Prompting is the easiest way to retrieve short term memory after an extended period of
time.
B. A memory can be retrieved by prompting, in a case where it has been rarely used.
C. It's easier to remember short term memories than long term memories due to regular
prompts.
D. Recalling a long term memory that is often used is easy, while forgotten memories often
require prompting.
READING TEST 03
Read the passages and choose the correct answer A, B, C or D
PASSAGE 1 – Questions 1-10
Line Scientists have experimented with a new procedure for alleviating the damage
caused by strokes. Strokes are frequently caused by a blood clot lodging in the tree of
arteries in the head, choking the flow of blood. Some brain cells die as a direct result of
the stroke, but others also die over several hours because the proteins spilling out of the
5 first cells that die trigger a chemical chain reaction that kills the neighboring cells.
The current method of reducing the amount of damage is to give a clot dissolver,
known as TPA, as soon as possible. But generally TPA is not given to the patient until
he or she reaches the hospital, and it still does not immediately stop the damage.
The new technology, still in the research stage, involves chilling the area or the
10 entire patient. It is already known that when an organ is cooled, damage is slowed. This
is why sometimes a person who has fallen into an icy pond is not significantly harmed
after being warmed up again. The biggest issue is the method of cooling. It is not
feasible to chill the head alone. Doctors have chilled the entire body by wrapping the
patient in cold materials, but extreme shivering was a problem.
15 The new idea is to cool the patient from the inside out. Several companies are
studying the use of cold-tipped catheters, inserted into the artery in the groin and
threaded up to the inferior vena cava, which is a large vein that supplies blood to the
abdomen. The catheter is expected to cool the blood that flows over it, thus allowing
cooler blood to reach the area of the stroke damage.
20 It is not expected that the cooling will be substantial, but even a slight decrease
in temperature is thought to be helpful. In effect, the patient is given a kind of forced
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hypothermia. And doctors believe it is important to keep the patient awake so that they
can converse with the patient in order to ascertain mental condition.
Studies continue to determine the most effective and least damaging means of
25 cooling the patient in order to reduce this damage.
Question 1. The word alleviating in the first sentence is closest in meaning to ……….
A. increasing B. devastating C. causing D. reducing
Question 2. According to the passage, what causes a stroke?
A. A blood clot sticking in an area of the brain B. Low blood flow
C. Hot blood D. A patient choking on food
Question 3. According to the passage, all of the following are true EXCEPT that ………..
A. some cells die immediately when a person has a stroke, and others die later.
B. cells die only as a direct result of the stroke.
C. the protein from dead cells kills other cells.
D. TPA is effective in removing blood clots.
Question 4. What is the passage mainly about?
A. Causes and effects of strokes
B. New pharmaceutical methods for reducing stroke damage that are being researched
C. A new method of cooling the body to reduce stroke damage that is being researched
D. The dangers of cooling the body Inferior
Question 5. The word substantial in the fifth paragraph is closest in meaning to …………
A. effective B. slight C. unsubstantiated D. considerable
Question 6. In the passage, the author implies that …………
A. the internal chilling process has not been proven yet.
B. drug therapy properly addresses all the problems of stroke victims.
C. chilling the head alone is viable.
D. nothing is likely to reduce the chain reaction problem.
Question 7. The author describes a person falling into cold water in order to ……….
A. evoke sympathy.
B. show that cooling a body does not necessarily harm it.
C. show how one who falls into cold water could also benefit from the internal chilling research.
D. describe the warming process.
Question 8. The author implies that …………
A. the catheter is moved all the way to the brain.
B. the artery in the leg connects directly to the brain.
C. the artery in the leg connects to the vena cava.
D. the goal is to chill the brain directly with the catheter.
Question 9. The author implies that hypothermia is caused by ………..
A. the body becoming cold. B. a stroke.
C. the body becoming warm. D. drugs.
Question 10. According to the passage, doctors prefer to keep the patient awake in order to ……
A. monitor vital signs with equipment. B. watch the patient.
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C. talk to the patient. D. find out if the procedure is painful.
READING TEST 04
Read the passages and choose the correct answer A, B, C or D
PASSAGE 1 – Questions 1-10
Line For more than six million American children, coming home after school
means coming back to an empty house. Some deal with the situation by watching
TV. Some may hide. But all of them have something in common. They spend part
of each day alone. They are called “latchkey children”. They are children who look
5 after themselves while their parents work. And their bad condition has become a
subject of concern.
Lynette Long was once the principal of an elementary school. She said, “We had a
school rule against wearing jewelry. A lot of kids had chains around their necks
with keys attached. I was constantly telling them to put the keys inside shirts. There
10 were so many keys; it never came to my mind what they meant.” Slowly, she
learned that they were house keys.
She and her husband began talking to the children who had keys. They
learned of the effect working couples and single parents were having on their
children. Fear was the biggest problem faced by children at home alone. One in
15 three latchkey children the Longs talked to reported being frightened. Many had
nightmares and were worried about their own safety.
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The most common way latchkey children deal with their fears is by hiding.
They may hide in a shower stall, under a bed or in a closet. The second is TV. They
often turn the volume up. It’s hard to get statistics on latchkey children, the Longs
20 have learned. Most parents are slow to admit that they leave their children alone.
Question 1: The phrase “an empty house” in the passage mostly means .
A. a house with no people inside B. a house with no furniture
C. a house with nothing inside D. a house with too much space
Question 2: One thing that the children in the passage share is that .
A. they all watch TV B. they spend part of each day alone
C. they are from single-parent families D. they all wear jewelry
Question 3: The phrase “latchkey children” in the passage means children who .
A. close doors with keys and watch TV by themselves
B. like to carry latches and keys with them everywhere
C. are locked inside houses with latches and keys
D. look after themselves while their parents are not at home
Question 4: The main problem of latchkey children is that they .
A. are also found in middle-class families B. watch too much television during the day
C. suffer a lot from being left alone D. are growing in numbers
Question 5: What is the main idea of the first paragraph?
A. How kids spend free time. B. Why kids hate going home.
C. Bad condition of latchkey children. D. Children’s activities at home.
Question 6: Why did a lot of kids have chains around their necks with keys attached?
A. They had to use the keys to open school doors.
B. Schools didn’t allow them to wear jewelry, so they wore keys instead.
C. They were fully grown and had become independent.
D. They would use the keys to enter their houses when they came home.
Question 7: What do latchkey children suffer most from when they are at home alone?
A. Fear B. Tiredness C. Boredom D. Loneliness
Question 8: Lynette Long learned of latchkey children’s problems by .
A. visiting their homes B. delivering questionnaires
C. interviewing their parents D. talking to them
Question 9: What is the most common way for latchkey children to deal with fears?
A. Hiding somewhere B. Talking to the Longs
C. Having a shower D. Lying under a TV
Question 10: What might be the purpose of this passage?
A. To encourage children to stay home alone because more than six million children have
the same situation.
B. To show parents that they need to pay more attention to their children.
C. To suggest TV station having better shows for children staying at home alone.
D. To persuade teachers to allow children to wear jewelry.
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15 one natural resource is managed has a direct effect upon other natural
resources. Cutting down a forest near a river, for instance, increases
erosion, the wearing away of topsoil, and can lead to flooding. Eroded soil
and silt cloud the river and adversely affect many organisms such as fish
and important aquatic plants that require clean, clear freshwater for
survival.
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D. The way where one ordinary source is managed has a direct effect upon other ordinary
sources.
Question 10. What is the passage above mainly about?
A. Natural-resource shortages B. Agricultural irrigation
C. The headwaters of a major river D. Conservation conflicts
FURTHER PRACTICE 1
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FURTHER PRACTICE 2
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KEY
FURTHER PRACTICE 1
FURTHER PRACTICE 2
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