It is very noisy today,________?

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.

Ever since 1859, when Charles Darwin published his theory of evolution, a desperate race had been on between scientists to discover the evolutionary intermediate between apes and humans. But this so-called 'missing link' was proving very elusive. In 1912, an amateur archaeologist called Charles Dawson said he had found a skull in Barkham Manor, Piltdown, in Sussex, England. At the time, scientists thought the skull was genuine, and that Dawson had indeed discovered the missing link. He became famous almost overnight. Nevertheless, it later transpired that the skull was a forgery, made from a human skull only about 500 years old with its jaw replaced by that of a female orangutan, with the bones stained to make them appear older.

It remains unknown, however, who made the skull, and whether Dawson knew it was a fake. Fingers have been pointed not only at Dawson, but at various other scientists and people said to be his enemies, but nobody knows for sure. The motivation for the hoax is also unknown. One theory is patriotism. Given that sensational discoveries of early humans had recently occurred, first in Germany and then in France, and given the patriotic one-upmanship of pre-First World War Europe, huge pressure was on British scientists to show that Britain had also played a major role in human evolution. Piltdown man seemed a godsend in this respect since it made Britain seem to be the birthplace of mankind. Even if patriotism was not the motivation for Piltdown. man, it certainly made it harder for British scientists to see it for the hoax that it was. Indeed, despite its inconsistencies with other early humans discovered in the wake of Piltdown, which would normally have precipitated critical testing much sooner, it was over 40 years before re-examination showed the Piltdown skull to be a fake.

Our plans need to be flexible enough to cater for change of the needs of everyone

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word whose underlined part is pronounced differently from that of the rest in each of the following questions.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the option that best completes each of the following exchanges.

According to the passage, why did it take a long time to re-examine the Piltdown skull?

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word that differs from the other three in the position of primary stress in each of the following questions.

According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE about "missing link"?

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 31 to 35.

While China’s growth next year is expected to be far slower than the historic 31_______ it has become accustomed to over the past four decades, it is unlikely that its GDP will contract for two quarters. After all, even an eight-percentage-point decrease in Chinese GDP growth during the peak of the 2008 global financial crisis was not enough to cause its domestic output to shrink in absolute terms. This is yet 32________ example of the flaws in defining recession by the rule of two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth. 33______, many countries’ current economic woes are self-inflicted, owing to policy errors 34______ have been as harmful as they were predictable. Between 2011 and 2021, for example, Europe needlessly deepened its dependence on Russian natural gas, leaving it exceedingly vulnerable when the Kremlin, 35________its war against Ukraine. Likewise, China’s draconian zero- Covid policy came at a high economic cost, while the absence of a plan for how to ease pandemic restrictions meant its containment strategy merely postponed Covid mortalities.

(Adapted from www.theguardian.com)

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 26 to 30.

Sweden is destined to become the first country in the world to switch from banknotes and coins to a cashless economy. Only three per cent of transactions in Sweden, are made using cash; the rest is credit cards or mobile phone payments. This compares with 7 per cent in the USA and 9 per cent in other Eurozone countries. Canada's Chronicle Herald newspaper reported on the extent of Sweden's move away from cash. It wrote: "In most Swedish cities, public buses don't accept cash; tickets are prepaid or purchased with a cellphone text message. A small but growing number of businesses only take cards." It also said churches are only accepting digital donations and not hard currency.

Sweden was the first European country to introduce banknotes in 1661. Today, the Swedish Bankers' Association is just one group in favour of a cashless society. Its security expert Par Karlsson said: "Less cash in circulation makes things safer, both for the staff that handles cash, but also of course for the public." Bank robberies have decreased from 110 in 2008 to just 16 in 2011. Political corruption has also gone down because of the digital trail generated by electronic transactions. Not everyone supports getting rid of cash. Small business owners see it as another way for banks to make bigger profits. Banks charge from 5 Swedish kronor ($0.80) for every payment made by credit card.

(Adapted from knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu)