Finally, Linda decided to quit her job as she couldn’t stand doing the same things days in days out. It’s so monotonous!

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t open the door.

The government is trying not to ____________ the money they are spending on vocational training.

His countercultural lifestyle and philosophy was a product of the time and place of his (28) ________.

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.

Nowadays, everybody knows Apples and almost everybody knows that the company was founded by Steve Jobs, an American inventor and entrepreneur. He is (26) _______ recognized as a pioneer in the field of microcomputer revolution. He helped design the first Macintosh computer, (27) _______ a small computer graphics company into Pixar, the company behind Toy Story and The Monster Inc.

His countercultural lifestyle and philosophy was a product of the time and place of his (28) ________. Jobs was adopted and raised in San Francisco Bay Area during the 1960s. In 1972, Jobs attended Reed College from which he dropped out in next to no time. Jobs co-founded Apple in 1976 in order to sell Apple I personal computer. At that moment, he might hardly imagine that only a year later the company tasted impressive victory with Apple II, one of the first highly successful (29) _______ personal computers. Unfortunately, in 1985, following a long power struggle, Jobs was forced out of Apple. After leaving Apple, Jobs took a few of its members with him to found NeXT, a computer development company which was then bought by Apple. The purchase (30) _______ Jobs to become the company’s CEO once again.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that best combines each pair of sentences in the following questions.

Many industries today use highly automated vehicles. They can drive with almost no human intervention.

Hoa: “Mom, I’ve got the first rank in class this semester!” - Mom: “____________”

He is credited for helping numerous endangered species recover _____________ certain extinction.

At that moment, he might hardly imagine that only a year later the company tasted impressive victory with Apple II, one of the first highly successful (29) _______ personal computers.

I’d rather not ____________ about it in such an unfavorable circumstance.

By the end of this year, the Wildlife Conservation Network _____________ $50 thousand dollars.

In less developed countries, _______ slums form both on the edges and within the largest cities.

Please cut my hair _____________ the style in this magazine.

Students are made _____________ with the rules of the school.

“You shouldn’t have told the truth, Kelly!” said Tom.

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.

Carnegie Hall, which is a famous concert hall in New York City, has again undergone a restoration. While this is not the first, it is certainly the most extensive in the building’s history. As a result of this new restoration, Carnegie Hall once again has the quality of sound that it had when it was first built.

Carnegie Hall owes its existence to Andrew Carnegie, the wealthy owner of a steel company in the late 1800s. The hall was finished in 1891 and quickly gained a reputation as an excellent performing arts hall where accomplished musicians gained fame. Despite its reputation, the concert hall suffered from several detrimental renovations over the years. During the Great Depression, when fewer people could afford to attend performances, the directors sold part of the building to commercial businesses. As a result, a coffee shop was opened in one corner of the building, for which the builders replaced the brick and terra cotta walls with windowpanes. A renovation in 1946 seriously damaged the acoustical quality of the hall when the makers of the film Carnegie Hall cut a gaping hole in the dome of the ceiling to allow for lights and air vents. The hole was later covered with short curtains and a fake ceiling, but the hall never sounded the same afterwards.

In 1960, the violinist Isaac Stern became involved in restoring the hall after a group of real estate developers unveiled plans to demolish Carnegie Hall and build a high-rise office building on the site. This threat spurred Stern to rally public support for Carnegie Hall and encourage the City of New York to buy the property. The movement was successful, and the concert hall is now owned by the city. In the current restoration, builders tested each new material for its sound qualities, and they replaced the hole in the ceiling with a dome. The builders also restored the outer walls to their original appearance and closed the coffee shop. Carnegie has never sounded better, and its prospects for the future have never looked more promising.

What is this passage mainly about?