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 33 to 40.

Early peoples had no need of engineering works to supply their water. Hunters and nomads camped near natural sources of fresh water, and populations were so sparse that pollution of the water supply was not a serious problem. After community life developed and agricultural villages became urban centers, the problem of supplying water became important for inhabitants of a city, as well as for irrigation of the farms surrounding the city. Irrigation works were known in prehistoric times, and before 2000 BC the rulers of Babylonia and Egypt constructed systems of dams and canals to impound the flood waters of the Euphrates and Nile rivers, controlling floods and providing irrigation water throughout the dry season. Such irrigation canals also supplied water for domestic purposes. The first people to consider the sanitation of their water supply were the ancient Romans, who constructed a vast system of aqueducts to bring the clean waters of the Apennine Mountains into the city and built basins and filters along these mains to ensure the clarity of the water. The construction of such extensive water-supply systems declined when the Roman Empire disintegrated, and for several centuries local springs and wells formed the main source of domestic and industrial water.

The invention of the force pump in England in the middle of the 16th century greatly extended the possibilities of development of water-supply systems. In London, the first pumping waterworks was completed in 1562; it pumped river water to a reservoir about 37 m above the level of the River Thames and from the reservoir the water was distributed by gravity, through lead pipes, to buildings in the vicinity. Increased per-capita demand has coincided with water shortages in many countries. Southeast England, for example, receives only 14 per cent of Britain's rainfall, has30 per cent of its population, and has experienced declining winter rainfall since the 1980s.

In recent years a great deal of interest has been shown in the conversion of seawater to fresh water to provide drinking water for very dry areas, such as the Middle East. Several different processes, including distillation, electrodialysis, reverse osmosis, and direct-freeze evaporation, have been developed for this purpose. Some of these processes have been used in large facilities in the United States. Although these processes are successful, the cost of treating seawater is much higher than that for treating fresh water.

From A. Briggs’ article on culture, Microsoft® Student 2008

The word “disintegrated” in paragraph 1 is closet in meaning to ______.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following questions from 8 to 19.

It is claimed that new nuclear power plants ______ to be safer than the current ones are soon built.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following questions from 8 to 19.

The smell of the sea ______ him ______ to his childhood.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following questions from 8 to 19.

That sounds like a good offer. I ______ it if I ______ you.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following questions from 8 to 19.

When he ______ us to go in, we ______ outside the exam room for over half and hour.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following questions from 8 to 19.

Modern skyscrapers have got a steel skeleton of beams and columns that forms a three-dimensional grid, ______?

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.

You’re 25 years old, but you still haven’t cut the apron strings.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following questions from 8 to 19.

I wouldn’t like to be a senior manager. You have to ______ a lot of responsibility.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the underlined part that needs correction in each of the following questions.

She worked hard so everything would be ready in time.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following questions from 8 to 19.

I didn’t hear you come in last night. You ______ very quiet.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word whose underlined part differs from the other three in pronunciation in each of the following questions from 20 to 21.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the underlined part that needs correction in each of the following questions.

The detailed study of fossils, rather like a crime investigation, it involves the piecing together of many diverse fragments of evidence.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following questions from 8 to 19.

If you have something important ______, you’d better say it aloud rather than whispering to each other.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word(s) CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined word(s) in each of the following questions.

“What I’ve got to say to you now is strictly off the record and most certainly not for publication,” said the government staff to the reporter.

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.

The speaker was asked to condense his presentation in order to allow his audiences have time to ask questions.

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 43 to 47. Fill in the appropriate word in question 44

THE GENERATION GAP

People talk about the generation gap as a kind of division between young people and their parents. It is something which is generally a problem when children enter their teenage years, and results (43)______ complaints on both side. Parents, for example, can often be heard to say that young people are (44)______ and disobedient and in addition tend to be irresponsible when spending because they don’t appreciate the (45)______ of money. Adolescents, on the other hand, complain that their parents don’t understand them.

What has gone wrong? One explanation lies in (46) ______society has changed. In the past, children would typically continue the way of life of their parents. In today’s world, parents are very (47) ______ for their children because they want them to achieve more than they did. The problem is that the children often don’t agree with their parents’ plans. Teenagers also reach maturity at an earlier age than they used to and want their independence sooner. The resulting conflict is painful to

both sides.  

Adapted form Mastering Use of English