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.

Persuading him is like flogging a dead horse. He never does as we expect.

_______, we will have finished all the work.

I am certain that he finished all his exercises and went shopping.

Which of the following is TRUE about what the research of the base has revealed?

You may change your mind about the trip. In that case, you should get in touch with me as soon as possible.

She has been working as a teacher for 5 years.

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 from 36 to 42.

In Africa, people celebrate with joy the birth of a new baby. The Pygmies would sing a birth-song to the child. In Kenya, the mother takes the baby strapped to her back into the thorn enclosure where the cattle are kept. There, her husband and the village elders wait to give the child his or her name.

In West Africa, after the baby is eight days old, the mother takes the baby for its first walk in the big, wide world, and friends and family are invited to meet the new baby. In various African nations, they hold initiation ceremonies for groups of children instead of birthdays. When children reach a certain designated age, they learn the laws, beliefs, customs, songs and dances of their tribes. Some African tribes consider that children from nine to twelve are ready to be initiated into the grown-up world. They may have to carry out several tests.

Masai boys around thirteen years old to seventeen undergo a two-stage initiation. The first stage lasts about three months. The boys leave their parents' homes, paint their bodies white, and are taught how to become young warriors. At the end of this stage, they have their heads shaved and they are also circumcised. The second stage, the young warriors grow their hair long and live in a camp called a manyatta where they practice hunting the wild animals that might attack the Masai herds. This stage may last a few years. When they are ready, they will marry and become owners of large cattle herds like their fathers.

The girls are initiated when they are fourteen or fifteen. They are taught by the older women about the duties of marriage and how to care for babies. Soon after that they are married and lead a life similar to that of their mothers.

(Source: http://www.birthdayce iebrations.ni)

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks from 26 to 30.

THE DANGERS OF DIETING

Thanks to our modern lifestyle, with more and more time spent sitting down in front of computers than ever before, the (26)_______ of overweight people is at a new high. People often try some of the popular fad diets. Many people see fad diets as harmless ways of losing weight, and they are grateful to have them. Unfortunately, not only don't fad diets usually (27)______ the trick, they can actually be dangerous for your health.

Experts estimate that 95 percent of dieters return to their starting weight, or even gain weight. While the reckless use of fad diets can bring some (28)______ result, long-term results are very rare. (29)______ , people who are fed up with the difficulties of changing their eating habits often turn to fad diets which involve extreme dietary changes. They advise eating only one type of food, or they prohibit other types of foods entirely. This results in a situation (30)_______ a person's body doesn't get all the vitamins and other things that it needs to stay healthy.