PRACTICE TEST 132 (2024)

PART A: GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY:

I. Choose the words or phrases that best fit the gap in each sentence or is CLOSEST in
meaning to the underline part in each of the following questions. (20 points)
1. ____, both safety and reliability have always been primary goals of the rail way
mechanical engineer.
A. Railroad history B. Railroad history includes
C. Through railroad history D. In railroad history there are
2. Newspaper publishers in the United States have estimated ___ reads a newspaper every
day.
A. nearly 80 percent of the adult population who
B. it is nearly 80 percent of the adult population who
C. that nearly 80 percent of the adult population who
D. that nearly 80 percent of the adult population
3. My decision to leave university after a year is one I now ____ regret.
A. harshly B. painfully C. keenly D. heavily
4. Despite all the interruptions, he ____ with his work.
A. pressed on B. held on C. stuck at D. hung out
5. The organization has the authority to manage and regulate new and existing free trade
agreements, to supervise world trade practices and to settle trade disputes among member
states.
A. prolong B. strengthen C. reconcile D. augment
6. Many a ________it difficult to avoid the interference of mass media in their life.
A. pop star find B. pop star finds C. pop stars find D. pop stars finds
7. He went to Australia hoping to find a teaching ________ without too much difficulty.
A. work B. occupation C. employment D. post
8. The president placed his car at my _______ as a bonus for my good work.
A. disposal B. like C. expense D. wit’s end
9. My father has decided to ________ a beard to cover a small scar he has on his chin.
A. rear B. bring up C. breed D. grow
10. The workers decided to _______ until their demands were met.
A. stand up B. lie behind C. sit in D. sleep out
11. When we heard the news about their marriage, _____________
A. we were completely out of the question. B. it was completely once in a blue moon.
C. it was completely impossible. D. it was completely out of the blue.
12. It’s a small black dog and _____ to the name of “Emily”
A. belongs B. answers C. obeys D. responds
13. “He’s not interested in Physics, is he?” – “________”
A. No problem! B. No, he isn’t. I’m afraid.
C. Yes, he is not at all. D. I promise he isn’t.
14. Managers of small businesses prefer ____ on doing their management work.
A. centrality B. centralization C. centralism D. centre
15. My father supposes, _____, that he will be retiring at 60.
A. like most people did B. like most people do
C. as do most people D. as most of people
16. What made Peter ____ his family and his job? Where did he go and why?
A. walk away on B. leave out at C. go off on D. walk out on
17. My grandfather has a________ storage house.
A. beautiful big cubic old yellow wooden B. big beautiful old cubic yellow wooden
C. beautiful cubic big old yellow wooden D. beautiful old big cubic wooden yellow
18. _____ number of boys were swimming in the lake, but I didn’t know ____ exact number
of them.
A. A/ the B. The/ an C. The/ the D. A/an
19. A: “I left work early today, dear.” - B: “_____”
A. Why was that B. Why did you leave
C. How’s that? D. When so?
20. A: “Come on, Peter. I want to show you something”
B: “Oh how nice of you! I ________you________ to bring me gift.”
A. never think/ are going B. never thought/ were going
C. didn’t think/ are going D. hadn’t thought/ would be going

III. The passage below contains 10 mistakes. Find them and correct them. Write your
answers in the space provided. (10 points)
LINE
1 Britain has a general mild temperate climate. The weather, however, tends to be
changed (though not necessarily unpredictable) as a result of the constant
influence of different air mass. The prevailing winds are south-westerly, which
bring warm air in from across the Atlantic. There are a few extremes in
5 temperature, which rarely goes above 320C or below -100C. In summer, southern
Britain is warmer than northern Britain because of its latitude, but in winter the
North Atlantic Drift – a warm sea current - keeps the west mild than the east.
Consequently, Wales and the south-west Peninsula has the most moderate climate
and eastern England the most extremely. These differences, are not great however,
10 and local variations arise from factors such as altitude and pollution are often
greater. Annual rainfall is fairly evenly distribute, but ranges from more than
1,600 mm in the mountainous areas of the west and north far less than 800 mm
over central and eastern parts. This is because depression from the Atlantic bring
frontal rainfall first to the west and because western Britain is higher and so gets
15 more relief rain.
Your answers:
LINE Mistakes Corrections LINE Mistakes Corrections
21. 26.
22. 27.
23. 28.
24. 29.
25. 30.
III. Fill each gap in the following sentences with one suitable preposition or particle.
Write your answer in the gap. (10 points)
31. There are many advantages __________ being able to speak a foreign language.
32. My hands were blue __________ cold when I got home.
33. I’d like to exchange this car __________ a new model but I can’t afford it.
34. It falls __________ Mary to care for her mother since her sister moved.
35. The family may not be very rich, but they are certainly well __________.
36. The firm will have to step _________ production if it is to defeat its competitors.
37. Well, it’s getting late – perhaps we’d better get __________ to business.
38. A lion has escaped and is __________ large in the city.
39. You can't miss him. That haircut makes him stand __________in a crowd.
40. I am really thirsty. I could do __________a drink.
IV. Provide the correct form of the words in brackets(20 points).
Responding to (41. provoke) ______________ insults that have been thrown at you is a
wonderful way of honing your sense of humour. The great (42. play) ______________
George Bernard Shaw was a contemporary of Winston Churchill’s. GBS thoughtfully invited
Churchill to the first night of one of this plays, (43. close) ______________ two tickets with
a note which said, ‘One for yourself and one for a friend – if you have one.’ Churchill lost no
time in writing back, saying that, unfortunately, due to pressure of work, he would be unable
to come, but could he have tickets for the second night – ‘if there is one.’
This joke was (44. date) ______________ more recently by a prominent (45. politics)
______________ in the Labour Party, when speaking to a colleague and (46. term)
______________ rival of his. The two men found themselves in the same meeting, despite
being (47. swear) ______________ enemies. The colleague apparently rose to excuse
himself, saying that he had arranged to phone some friends, (48. upon) ______________ the
statesman immediately gave him a small coin (enough for a brief local call) and said (49. wit)
______________, ‘There you are. Go (50. head) ______________ and phone them all!’

PART B: READING
I. Read the following passage and decide which option A, B, C or D best fits each space
(15 points).
The latest addiction to trap thousands of people is the Internet, which has been (1)
______ for broken relationships, job losses, financial ruin, and even suicide. Psychologists
now recognize Internet Addiction Syndrome (IAS) (2)______ a new illness that could (3)
______ serious problems and ruin many lives. Special help groups have been set up to (4)
______ sufferers help and support.
Psychologists have described many worrying examples, (5) ______ one man who took
his own life after (6) ______ more than ₤ 14,000 to feed his addiction, and a teenager who
had to receive psychiatric treatment for his 12-hour-a-day (7) ______. "This illness is not
fake, and it must be (8)______ seriously," said an expert in behavioural addiction at
Nottingham Trent University. "These are not sad people with serious personality defects;
they are people who were fine (9) ______ they found the Internet."
IAS is similar (10)______ other problems like gambling, smoking and drinking:
addicts have dreams about the Internet; they need to use it first thing in the morning; they
(11) ______ to their partners about how much time they spent online; they wish they could
cut down, but are unable to do so. A recent study found that many users spend up to 40 hours
a week on the Internet; (12) ______ they felt guilty, they became depressed if they were
made to stop using it.
(13)______ anyone can be at risk. Some of the addicts are teenagers who are already
hooked on computer games and who (14) ______ it very difficult to resist the games on the
Internet. Surprisingly, (15) ______, psychologists say that most victims are middle-aged
housewives who have never used a computer before.
1. A. blamed B. faulted C. mistaken D. accused
2. A. like B. such C. as D. for
3. A. lead B. affect C. take D. cause
4. A. offer B. suggest C. recommend D. advise
5. A. consisting B. including C. comprising D. composing
6. A. gaining B. lending C. borrowing D. winning
7. A. custom B. habit C. manner D. routine
8. A. considered B. realised C. thought D. taken
9. A. before B. after C. as soon as D. when
10. A. with B. to C. as D. in
11. A. betray B. deceive C. cheat D. lie
12. A. although B. despite C. unless D. without
13. A. Nearly all B. Most of C. Most D. Almost
14. A. say B. feel C. find D. have
15. A. but B. therefore C. however D. so

II. Fill each blank in the passage with ONE suitable word. (15 points)
SAVING THE TIGER
In 1973, when the tiger appeared to be facing extinction, the World Wide Fund for Nature
and the Indian Government agreed to set (16) _________'Operation Tiger' - a campaign to
save this threatened creature. They started (17) _________ creating nine special parks so that
tigers could live in safety. The first was at Ranthambhore, a region (18) _________ was
quickly turning into a desert because too much of the grass was being (19) _________ by the
local people's cattle. At the time there were just fourteen tigers (20) _________ there. The
government had to clear twelve small villages, which (21)________ moving nearly 1,000
people and 10,000 cattle so the land would be handed back to nature.
Today, Ranthambhore is a very different place (22) _________ grass tall enough for tigers
to hide in, and there are now at least forty of them in the park, (23) _________ freely about.
Other animals have also been raised. For example, there are more deer and monkeys than
before. The people who were moved are now living in better (24) _________ . They live in
new villages away from the tiger park, with schools, temples and fresh water supplies. There
are now sixteen such tiger parks in India and the animal's future looks a (25) _________
safer.

III. Read the following passage and circle the best answer to each of the following
questions. (15 points)
The biologist's role in society as well as his moral and ethical responsibility in the discovery
and development of new ideas has led to a reassessment of his social and scientific value
systems. A scientist can no longer ignore the consequences of his discoveries; he is as
concerned with the possible misuses of his findings as he is with the basic research in which
he is involved. This emerging social and political role of the biologist and all other scientists
requires a weighing of values that cannot be done with the accuracy or the objectivity of a
laboratory balance. As a member of society, it is necessary for a biologist now to redefine his
social obligations and his functions, particularly in the realm of making judgments about
such ethical problems as man's control of his environment or his manipulation of genes to
direct further evolutionary development.
As a result of recent discoveries concerning hereditary mechanisms, genetic engineering, by
which human traits are made to order, may soon be a reality. As desirable as it may seem to
be, such an accomplishment would entail many value judgments. Who would decide, for
example, which traits should be selected for change? In cases of genetic deficiencies and
disease, the desirability of the change is obvious, but the possibilities for social misuse are so
numerous that they may far outweigh the benefits.
Probably the greatest biological problem of the future, as it is of the present, will be to find
ways to curb environmental pollution without interfering with man’s constant effort to
improve the quality of his life. Many scientists believe that underlying the spectre of
pollution is the problem of surplus human population. A rise in population necessitates an
increase in the operations of modern industry, the waste products of which increase the
pollution of air, water, and soil. The question of how many people the resources of the Earth
can support is one of critical importance.
Although the solutions to these and many other problems are yet to be found, they do indicate
the need for biologists to work with social scientists and other members of society in order to
determine the requirements necessary for maintaining a healthy and productive planet. For
although many of man’s present and future problems may seem to be essentially social,
political, or economic in nature, they have biological ramifications that could affect the very
existence of life itself.
26. According to the passage, a modern scientist should be more concerned about ____.
A his basic research B. the development of new ideas
C. his manipulation of genes D. the consequences of his discoveries
27. The pronoun "it" in paragraph 2 refers to ____.
A. a reality B. an accomplishment
C. genetic engineering D. hereditary mechanism
28. It is implied in the passage that genetic engineering ____.
A. may do us more harm than good B. is no longer desirable
C. is the most desirable for life D. will change all human traits
29. The pronoun "they" in paragraph 2 refers to ____.
A. discoveries concerning hereditary mechanisms B. effects of genetic engineering misuse
C. cases of genetic deficiencies D. possibilities for genetic deficiencies
30. What is probably the most important biological problem mentioned in the passage?
A. social and economic deficiencies B. manipulation of genes
C. genetic engineering misuse D. environmental pollution
31. The word "which" in paragraph 3 refers to ____.
A. activities of an overpopulated society's industry B. the waste products dumped into our
environment
C. activities of surplus human population D. serious environmental pollution
32. The word "underlying" in paragraph 3 could best be replaced by "____".
A. noticing B. causing C. finding D. depriving
33. According to the passage, to save our planet, biologists should work
A. harder and harder B. accurately and objectively
C. on social and political purposes D. with other social scientists
34. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word "ramifications" in paragraph 4?
A. useful experiments B. effective techniques
C. harmful consequences D. latest developments
35. What is the author's purpose in this passage?
A. To conduct a survey of the biologist's role in society
B. To urge biologists to solve the problem of surplus human population
C. To emphasize the biologist's role in solving the world's problems
D. To advise biologists to carry out extensive research into genetic engineering
IV. Read the passage and do the tasks that follow. (15 points):
a. Choose the correct heading for paragraphs 1 – 6 from the list of headings (A – I)
below. There is an example for you.
List of headings
A. Predicting climate changes
B. The relevance of the Little Ice Age today
C. How cities contribute to climate change
D. Human impact on the climate
E. How past climatic conditions can be determined
F. A growing need for weather records
G. A study covering a thousand years
H. People have always responded to climate change
I. Enough food at last
Example: Paragraph 1 ….H…..
36. Paragraph 2 ……………
37. Paragraph 3 ……………
38. Paragraph 4 …………….
39. Paragraph 5 …………….
40. Paragraph 6 …………….

THE LITTLE ICE AGE

1. This book will provide a detailed examination of the Little Ice Age and other climatic
shifts, but, before I embark on that, let me provide a historical context. We tend to
think of climate – as opposed to weather – as something unchanging, yet humanity has
been at the mercy of climate change for its entire existence, with at least eight glacial
episodes in the past 730,000 years. Our ancestors adapted to the universal but irregular
global warming since the end of the last great Ice Age, around 10,000 years ago, with
 dazzling opportunism. They developed strategies for surviving harsh drought cycles,
decades of heavy rainfall or unaccustomed cold; adopted agriculture and stock raising,
which revolutionised human life, and founded the world’s first pre-industrial
civilisations in Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Americas. But the price of sudden climate
change, in famine, disease and suffering, was often high.
2.
The Little Ice Age lasted from roughly 1300 until the middle of the nineteenth
century. Only two centuries ago, Europe experienced a cycle of bitterly cold winters:
mountain glaciers in the Swiss Alps were the lowest in recorded memory, and pack ice
surrounded Iceland for much of the year. The climatic events of the Little Ice Age did
more than help shape the modern world. They are the deeply important context for the
present unprecedented global warming. The Little Ice Age was far from a deep freeze,
however, rather an irregular seasaw of rapid climatic shifts, few lasting more than a
quarter-century, driven by complex and still little understood interactions between the
atmosphere and the ocean. The seasaw brought cycles of intensely cold winters and
easterly winds, then switched abruptly to years of heavy spring and early summer rains,
mild winters, and frequent Atlantic storms, or to periods of droughts, light
northeasterly winds, and summer heat waves.
3. Reconstructing the climate changes of the past is extremely difficult, because
systematic weather observations began only a few centuries ago, in Europe and North
America. Records from India and tropical Africa are even more recent. For the time
before records began, we have only ‘proxy records’ reconstructed largely from rings
and ice cores, supplemented by a few incomplete written accounts. We now have
hundreds of tree ring records from throughout the northern atmosphere, and many from
south of the equator, too, amplified with a growing body of temperature data from ice
cores drilled in Antarctica, Greenland, the Peruvian Andes, and other locations. We are
close to a knowledge of annual summer and winter temperature variations over much
of the northern hemisphere going back 600 years.
4.
This book is a narrative history of climatic shifts during the past ten centuries, and
some of the ways in which people in Europe adapted to them. Part One describes the
Medieval Warm period, roughly 900 to 1200. During these three centuries, Norse
voyagers from Northern Europe explored northern seas, settled Greenland, and visited
North America. It was not a time of uniform warmth, for then, as always since the
Great Ice Age, there were constant shifts in rainfall and temperature. Mean European
temperatures were about the same as today, perhaps slightly cooler.
5. It is known that the Little Ice Age cooling began in Greenland and the Arctic in about
1200. As the Arctic ice pack spread southward. Norse voyages to the west were
rerouted into the open Atlantic, then ended altogether. Storminess increased in the
North Atlantic and the North Sea. Cooler, much wetter weather descended on Europe
between 1315 and 1319, when thousands perished in a continent-wide famine. By
1400, the weather had become decidedly more unpredictable and stormier, with sudden
shifts and lower temperatures that culminated in the cold decades of the late sixteenth
century. Fish were a vital commodity in growing towns and cities, where food supplies
 were a constant concern. Dried cod and herring were already the staples of the
European fish trade, but changes in water temperatures forced fishing fleets to work
further offshore. The Basques, Dutch, and English developed the first offshore fishing
boats adapted to a colder and stormier Atlantic. A gradual agricultural revolution in
northern Europe stemmed from concerns over food supplies at a time of rising
populations. The revolution involved intensive commercial farming and the growing of
animal fodder on land not previously used for crops. The increased productivity from
farmland made some countries self-sufficient in grain and livestock and offered
effective protection against famine.
6.
Global temperatures began to rise slowly after 1850, with the beginning of the
Modern Warm Period. There was a vast migration from Europe by land-hungry
farmers and others, to which the famine caused by the Irish potato blight contributed, to
North America, Australia, New Zealand, and southern Africa. Millions of hectares of
forests and woodland fell before the newcomers’ axes between 1850 and 1890, and
intensive European farming methods expanded across the world. The unprecedented
land clearance released vast quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere,
triggering for the first time humanly caused global warming. Temperatures climbed
more rapidly in the twentieth century as the use of fossil fuels proliferated and
greenhouse gas levels continued to soar. The rise has been even steeper since the early
1980s. The Little Ice Age has given way to a new climatic regime, marked by
prolonged and steady warming. At the same time, extreme weather events like
Category 5 hurricanes are becoming more frequent.

b. Complete the summary using the list of words, A – I below.

Weather during the Little Ice Age
Documentation of past weather conditions is limited: our main sources of knowledge of
conditions in the distant past are (41) _________ and (42) _________ .We can deduce that
the Little Ice Age was a time of (43) _________ rather than of consistent freezing. Within it
there were some periods of very cold winters, others of (44) _________ and heavy rain, and
yet others that saw (45) _________ with no rain at all.

A. climatic shifts B. ice cores C. tree rings

D. glaciers E. interactions F. weather observations
G. heat waves H. storms I. written accounts

VIII. Write a new sentence so that it has the same meaning as the original sentence: (5
points)
1. I am having a lot of trouble now because I lost my passport last week.
-> If I______________________________________________________________________
2. She had hardly begun to speak before people started interrupting her.
-> Hardly___________________________________________________________________
3. “Nothing will persuade me to sleep in that haunted house”, she said
-> She flatly________________________________________________________________
4. I was too scared to tell him what I really thought.
-> I lacked__________________________________________________________________
5. The house shouldn’t be left unlocked for any reason
-> On no___________________________________________________________________
IX. Write a new sentence so that it has the same meaning as the original sentence, using
the word in capital
letters. This word must not be altered in any way. (5 points)
6. We don’t expect that the missing climbers have survived. (HOLD)
______________________________________________________________________
7. Pauline isn’t one of the people who know the secret.( ON)
______________________________________________________________________
8. You must make allowances for his inexperience. (ACCOUNT)
______________________________________________________________________
9. I really don't know what you're talking about. (FAINTEST )
______________________________________________________________________
10. You must accept the fact that she has left you. (TERMS)
______________________________________________________________________