III. Fill in each blank with one suitable word to complete this passage. (15 points)
In a village on the east coast of Scotland, people were waiting anxiously for news. Two of their fishing-boats (1) ________ been caught in the storm (2) ________ had blown up during the night. In the cottages round the harbour people stood (3) ________ their door, (4) ________ worried to talk. 
The rest of the fishing fleet had (5) ________the harbour before dark, and the men from these ships waited and watched with the wives and families of (6) ________ missing men. Some had (7) ________ thick blankets and some flasks to hot drinks, knowing that the men (8) ________ be cold and tried. As dawn began to break over (9) ________ the east, a small point if light was (10) ________ in the darkness of the water and a (11) ________ minutes later, (12) ________ was a shout. Before long, the two boats (13) ________ turning in, past the lighthouse, to the inside of the harbour. The men (14) ________ helped out of their boats, and although they were stiff (15) ________ cold and tiredness, they were all safe.

I.                Fill in the blank with a suitable word                      The birth of YouTube

In 2005, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, two software designers from Silicon Valley in California, were invited to a dinner party. Several people had brought their camcorders to the party and these people were complaining about (1) ................................ difficult it was to share home videos online. That was when Chad and Steve came up (2) ................................ the idea for YouTube, the site which makes (3) ................................ easy to upload home videos onto the Internet. They formed a company, borrowed some money (4) ................................ set themselves up in business.

It turned (5) ................................ that millions of people already had short home video clips that they thought it (6) ................................be fun to share with other enthusiasts around the world.

Launched in December 2005, YouTube soon contained more (7) ................................ a million short video clips. People were uploading 8000 clips a day, and watching three million a day. They had mostly heard about the site through word (8) ................................ mouth, email and hyperlink, and eighty percent of the clips had (9) ................................made by amateurs.

So why was YouTube such an immediate success? Researchers found that, (10) ................................average, people were spending fifteen minutes on the site during each visit, which was (11)................................. time to view several short funny clips. In (12) ................................words, they were using YouTube to give them a little break from their work or study.

Fill in each blank with one suitable word in the box to complete the passage. There are two extra words.

      Would you like to know how people in Spain welcome New Year? Eating twelve (31) …………………… .Tradition has it that you have to eat them one by one, in time with the striking of the clock (32)…………..…… midnight on 31 December. If you manage to eat all the grapes in time, you will have a year of prosperity and good (33) ……………….. Whether or not you believe in magic, try the experience – it’s great fun. On this day, family or friends usually get together for a (34) …………… dinner and then have the twelve grapes. In many towns and villages, people go to a central square or an iconic place where there is a large clock, to eat the grapes (35) …………………… and share the last minutes of the old year.

Fill in each blank with a suitable word from the box.

Many people volunteer in their communities. Some people work with children or the elderly while others clean city ( 1) ………….. Some student clubs require their members to participate in a certain number of hours of (2) ……….. service every month. One way that communities work together is by (3) ……………. funds for those in need. A community might raise money for a school to buy

( 4) ………  equipment or uniforms by selling baked goods or holding a yard sale. Many communities provide places for people in need to (5) ………. food, clothing or ( 6) ……………... Volunteering can help people (7) ……. like they are giving something back to their communities. Sometimes a person may need help at one time (8) …………. be able to help others later.

Fill in each numbered blank with one suitable word from the box.(1,25pts)

The Voice

“ The Voice” is a two-time Emmy Award winning, the number one series on NBC, ____(1) the country’s best unknown artists and four of the biggest names in music as coaches.

            The show’s _____(2) format features five stages of competition: the first begins with the blind auditions, followed by the battle rounds, the knockouts, the live playoffs and ____(3), the live performance shows. During the blind auditions, the decisions from the musician _____(4)  are based solely on voice. The coaches hear the artists perform, but they don’t get to see them. If more than one coach pushes his/her button, the power then _____(5) to the artist to choose which coach they want to work with. If no coach pushes his/ her button, the artist is eliminated from the competition.

Fill in each numbered blank with ONE suitable word. Write your answers in the space provided. (2.0 points)                       

Computing is now at the (1) ___________ stage as printing was when the first printing presses were used. (2) ___________ printing presses were invented, only rich people like kings and dukes could afford to buy books. Often these (3) ___________ were unable to read and hadn’t got enough time to learn. In any case, the books were so big that it was difficult for anyone to relax with a book (4) ___________ we do today. They wanted books (5) ___________ they were expensive and there was something magical about them. Only a few people were able to (6) ___________, and it took an extremely long time to write a book. Monks and other people who could write said ordinary people could not learn to read.

The position with computers is very similar today. A few years (7) ___________, computers were very large and expensive. Business managers and rich people ordered them but (8) ___________ didn’t know how to (9) ___________ them. In many (10) ___________,  however, the situation has now completely changed. Lots of people not only own microcomputer but also know how to use them.