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 30 to 34.

It's often said that we learn things at the wrong time. University students frequently do the minimum of work because they're crazy about a good social life instead. Children often scream before their piano practice because it's so boring. They have to be given gold stars and medals to be persuaded to swim, or have to be bribed to take exams. But the story is different when you're older.

Over the years, I've done my share of adult learning. At 30, I went to a college and did courses in History and English. It was an amazing experience. For starters, I was paying, so there was no reason to be late — I was the one frowning and drumming my fingers if the tutor was late, not the other way round. Indeed, if I could persuade him to linger for an extra five minutes, it was a bonus, not a nuisance. I wasn't

frightened to ask questions, and homework was a pleasure not a pain. When I passed an exam, I had passed it for me and me alone, not for my parents or my teachers. The satisfaction I got was entirely personal.

Some people fear going back to school because they worry that their brains have got rusty. But the joy is that, although some parts have rusted up, your brain has learnt all kinds of other things since you were young. It has learnt to think independently and flexibly and is much better at relating one thing to another. What you lose in the rust department, you gain in the maturity department.

In some ways, age is a positive plus. For instance, when you're older, you get less frustrated. Experience has told you that, if you're calm and simply do something carefully again and again, eventually you'll get the hang of it. The confidence you have in other areas — from being able to drive a car, perhaps — means that if you can't, say, build a chair instantly, you don't, like a child, want to destroy your first pathetic attempts. Maturity tells you that you will, with application, eventually get there.

I hated piano lessons at school, but I was good at music. And coming back to it, with a teacher who could explain why certain exercises were useful and with musical concepts that, at the age of ten, I could never grasp, was magical. Initially, I did feel a bit strange, thumping out a piece that I'd played for my school exams, with just as little comprehension of what the composer intended as I'd had all those years before. But soon, complex emotions that I never knew poured out from my fingers, and suddenly I could understand why practice makes perfect.

The word "It" in paragraph 3 refers to ________. 

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

________ my parents gave me the fish tank

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.

Such problems as haste and inexperience are a universal feature of youth. 

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that is closest in meaning to each of the following questions.

Although she is intelligent, she doesn’t do well at school. 

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The number of working women in China __________ from 49% in 1980 to nearly 65% today. 

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

With so much ______, I’m lucky to be in work. 

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

I must congratulate you ______ your excellent exam results. 

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

Michelle would rather that Sheila _____ to work yesterday. 

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

Most foreign students don’t like American coffee, and ______. 

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the most suitable response to complete each of the following exchanges.

Sue: “Can you help me with my essay?”

Robert: “________________________”. 

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

When I came, the salesperson was ______ to the customers how to use a new kind of washing machines. 

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

It is great to watch sportsmen in their national costumes ______ into the stadium. 

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

You should read this novel. It has been _______ recommended by all the critics. 

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

One of the men was lying on the ground after _______ down by a piece of rock. 

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“______ you treat him, he’ll help you. He’s so tolerant.” 

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.

We're (A) having a (B) new carpet lied (C) in (D) the hall next week.