Today, the Secret Service is the agency of the United States government that is charged with the protection of the president and family members of the president. Any time that the president appears in public, neatly dressed Secret Service agents are clearly in evidence alongside the president. Secret Service agents might also accompany a presidential spouse to a committee meeting, on a shopping trip, to a charity event, or out for a walk in the park. Agents accompany the president’s children to school on a daily basis, sitting unobtrusively but hardly unnoticed in the background throughout each hour of class, and tag along with the president’s children on dates and to any type of social event.

The Secret Service is so much in evidence around the president and members of the president’s family, one might question why the activities of these agents are considered secret. The name of the agency, however, is -not derived from its duty in protecting the president but from its original covert duty in protecting the economy of the young United States from counterfeiters. Before the Civil War, the official currency of the United States was in coins; however, after the war, the government began issuing paper money. This new paper currency was easy for counterfeiters to replicate, and soon counterfeit bills flooded the country. Secret Service agents, as part of the Department of the Treasury, posed as criminals interested in purchasing large sums of counterfeit bills in order to gather evidence against counterfeiters and put them out of their illegal business. For quite some time, the government preferred to keep the public in the dark about the extent of the counterfeiting at that time, afraid that the public would lose confidence in the country’s paper money if they knew that there was so much counterfeit money mixed in with the real thing.

It was not until 1901 that the role of the Secret Service was expanded from protecting the currency of the country to protecting its president. In that year, then President William McKinley was shot by an assassin in Buffalo, New York. Sadly, he died eight days later from the wounds inflicted during the assassination attempt. At that time, the Secret Service was assigned to protect the president, in addition to its other duties, and it has carried out that assignment, often not in a secretive fashion, to this day.

2.   Which of the following would be the best title for this passage?

A.Protection of the United States Presidency

B.  The Duties of the Secret Service

C. The President and Family Members of the President

D.The Role of the Secret Service in Protecting the Currency of the United States

3.   Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage as a responsibility of the Secret Service?

A.Shopping for the president

B.  Accompanying the president on public appearances

C.  Going for walks with the presidents spouse

D.Attending school with the president’s children

4.   According to paragraph 2, the Secret Service is called secret           .

A.because its duty in protecting the president is unknown to the public.

B. because of its original covert duty in protecting the economy of the young United States from counterfeiters.

C. because it keeps the public in the dark about its duty of protecting members of the president’s family.

D.because its assignment to protect the president is carried out in a secretive fashion.

5.   It can be inferred from the passage that before the Civil War          .

A.paper money was used extensively

B. counterfeiting of paper money was not a big problem for the U.S. government

C. coins were relatively easy to counterfeit

D.Secret Service agents spent most of their time protecting the president and his family

6.   The expression “posed as” in line 16 is closest in meaning to which of the following?

A. talked with        B. chased after       C. pretended to be             D. looked for

7.   The word “them” in line 19 refers to    …………..

A.counterfeiters

B. secret agents

C. counterfeit bills

D.criminals

8.   According to the passage, the government kept its citizens uninformed about the extent of early counterfeiting because the government………….

A.worried that counterfeiters would learn to make better counterfeit currency

B. believed that the amount of counterfeiting would increase

C. felt embarrassed about how easy it was to counterfeit the currency

D.feared that the citizens would stop using paper currency

9.   All of the following are similar in meaning to “covert” (line 12) EXCEPT………….

A.    hidden              B. secret                  C. overt                                 D. concealed

10.  The word “it” in line 27 refers to………….

A.the assassination attempt

B. the role

C. the country

D.Secret Service

11.  According to the last paragraph,…………...

A.By 1901, the Secret Service had stopped protecting the currency of the country

B.  the role of the Secret Service was widened as a result of the assassination of President William McKinley

C.  since the assassination of President William McKinley, protecting the president has become the sole duty of the Secret Service

D.protecting the president has always been a secret operation

Today, the Secret Service is the agency of the United States government that is charged with the protection of the president and family members of the president. Any time that the president appears in public, neatly dressed Secret Service agents are clearly in evidence alongside the president. Secret Service agents might also accompany a presidential spouse to a committee meeting, on a shopping trip, to a charity event, or out for a walk in the park. Agents accompany the president’s children to school on a daily basis, sitting unobtrusively but hardly unnoticed in the background throughout each hour of class, and tag along with the president’s children on dates and to any type of social event.

The Secret Service is so much in evidence around the president and members of the president’s family, one might question why the activities of these agents are considered secret. The name of the agency, however, is -not derived from its duty in protecting the president but from its original covert duty in protecting the economy of the young United States from counterfeiters. Before the Civil War, the official currency of the United States was in coins; however, after the war, the government began issuing paper money. This new paper currency was easy for counterfeiters to replicate, and soon counterfeit bills flooded the country. Secret Service agents, as part of the Department of the Treasury, posed as criminals interested in purchasing large sums of counterfeit bills in order to gather evidence against counterfeiters and put them out of their illegal business. For quite some time, the government preferred to keep the public in the dark about the extent of the counterfeiting at that time, afraid that the public would lose confidence in the country’s paper money if they knew that there was so much counterfeit money mixed in with the real thing.

It was not until 1901 that the role of the Secret Service was expanded from protecting the currency of the country to protecting its president. In that year, then President William McKinley was shot by an assassin in Buffalo, New York. Sadly, he died eight days later from the wounds inflicted during the assassination attempt. At that time, the Secret Service was assigned to protect the president, in addition to its other duties, and it has carried out that assignment, often not in a secretive fashion, to this day.

2.   Which of the following would be the best title for this passage?

A.Protection of the United States Presidency

B.  The Duties of the Secret Service

C. The President and Family Members of the President

D.The Role of the Secret Service in Protecting the Currency of the United States

3.   Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage as a responsibility of the Secret Service?

A.Shopping for the president

B.  Accompanying the president on public appearances

C.  Going for walks with the presidents spouse

D.Attending school with the president’s children

4.   According to paragraph 2, the Secret Service is called secret           .

A.because its duty in protecting the president is unknown to the public.

B. because of its original covert duty in protecting the economy of the young United States from counterfeiters.

C. because it keeps the public in the dark about its duty of protecting members of the president’s family.

D.because its assignment to protect the president is carried out in a secretive fashion.

5.   It can be inferred from the passage that before the Civil War          .

A.paper money was used extensively

B. counterfeiting of paper money was not a big problem for the U.S. government

C. coins were relatively easy to counterfeit

D.Secret Service agents spent most of their time protecting the president and his family

6.   The expression “posed as” in line 16 is closest in meaning to which of the following?

A. talked with        B. chased after       C. pretended to be             D. looked for

7.   The word “them” in line 19 refers to    …………..

A.counterfeiters

B. secret agents

C. counterfeit bills

D.criminals

8.   According to the passage, the government kept its citizens uninformed about the extent of early counterfeiting because the government………….

A.worried that counterfeiters would learn to make better counterfeit currency

B. believed that the amount of counterfeiting would increase

C. felt embarrassed about how easy it was to counterfeit the currency

D.feared that the citizens would stop using paper currency

9.   All of the following are similar in meaning to “covert” (line 12) EXCEPT………….

A.    hidden              B. secret                  C. overt                                 D. concealed

10.  The word “it” in line 27 refers to………….

A.the assassination attempt

B. the role

C. the country

D.Secret Service

11.  According to the last paragraph,…………...

A.By 1901, the Secret Service had stopped protecting the currency of the country

B.  the role of the Secret Service was widened as a result of the assassination of President William McKinley

C.  since the assassination of President William McKinley, protecting the president has become the sole duty of the Secret Service

D.protecting the president has always been a secret operation

PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES

Public Education in the United States, programs of instruction (1) _______ to children, adolescents, and adults in the United States through schools and colleges (2) _______ by state and local governments. (3) _______ the nationally regulated and financed education (4) _______ of many other industrialized societies, American public education is (5) _______ the responsibility of the states and individual school districts.

The national system of formal (6) _______ in the United States developed in the 19^th century. It differed (7) _______ education systems of other Western societies in three fundamental respects. (8) _______, Americans were more inclined to regard education (9) _______ a solution to various social problems. Second, (10) _______ they had this confidence in the power of education, Americans (11) _______ more years of schooling for a larger percentage of the population than (12) _______ countries. Third, educational institutions were primarily governed by local (13) _______ rather than by federal ones.

The (14) _______ notable characteristic of the American education system is the (15) _______ number of people it serves. In 2002, 86 percent of Americans (16) _______ age 25 and 29 had graduated (17) _______ high school, 58 percent had (18) _______ at least some college, and 29 percent had earned at (19) _______ a bachelor’s degree. Expanding access to college education is an important priority (20) _______ the U.S. government.

Read the following passage and choose the option (A, B, C or D) that best answers each of the questions below.

At the top of the list of the costliest natural disasters in the history of the United States is Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina was the third strongest hurricane ever to hit the U. S. It affected 90,000 square miles in Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, and Alabama.

The hurricane formed over the Bahamas and turned into a Category 1 hurricane by the time it hit the southeastern tip of Florida. It got stronger as it traveled across the Gulf of Mexico. It made its second landfall off the coast of southeast Louisiana on Monday, August 29, 2005. It had become a category 4 hurricane by then. The storm surge that followed caused destruction from central Florida to Texas. New Orleans, Louisiana, experienced even more damage because its levees were breeched, letting water flood a large portion of the city.

The National Weather Service warned people of the tropical monster that was heading towards the southern coast. Residents were told to expect power outages. They were told they might lose their rooftops and to expect water shortages. The National Hurricane Director was very concerned. He personally called the governors of Louisiana and Mississippi. He even called President Bush at his ranch in Texas. He spoke directly with New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin. Nagin issued an evacuation order for his city. Most people left. About eighty percent of the population evacuated. The estimate was that around 100,000 people remained in

the metro area. Some were stranded tourists; others did not own a car and had no way out. Those who were not able to leave were instructed to go to the New Orleans Convention Center and the Superdome.

41.     What is the passage mainly about?

A. The history of the United States hurricanes.

B. A hurricane in the history of the United States.

C. Hurricanes in the world, especially in the United States.

D. What the United States does to prevent hurricanes.

42.     According to the passage, what is NOT true about Hurricane Katrina?

A. It is the costliest natural disaster in the history of the United States.

B. It is the third strongest hurricane ever to hit the US.

C. It affected 90,000 square miles in Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, and Alabama.

D. It formed over the Bahamas.

43. What can be true from the passage about Hurricane Katrina when it hit the southeastern tip of Florida?

A. It was very weak.                                            B. It was very strong.

C. It was not as weak as it started.                      D. It was not as strong as it started.

44.What is NOT true about the National Hurricane Director?

A. He called the governors of Mississippi.

B. He called President Bush at his ranch in Texas.

C. He spoke directly with the New Orleans mayor.

D. He was very unconcerned.

45. According to the passage, how many people were evacuated?

A. About 80,000 people.                                     B. About 80% of the population.

C. Around 100,000 people.                                 D. Around 20% of the population.

I.      Choose the word (a, b, c or d) that best fits each of the blank spaces.

From a European perspective, the first explores were engaged in the settlement and discovery of the 'new world'. However, the history of the United States is but a recent episode (16) _____ comparison with the history of the North America continent and its (17) _____. Between 54 million and 2 million years ago, the continent evolved into the form we know today. At least 15,000 to 20,000 years ago, nomadic hunters began to migrate from Asia across the Bering Strait.

By the fifteenth century, when the European nations were 'discovering' America, the country (18) _____ by minimum of 2 million natives. Most of the tribes had developed some kind of agriculture or (19) _____ while remaining as hunters and retaining nomadic characteristics. They roamed the high western plains, hunted mountain valleys, and farmed along the river from coast to coast. There was considerable diversity and there (20) _____ several hundred different languages among the wide-ranging tribes. Several tribes, such as Iroquois, were very (21) _____ in achieving political unit and extending their influence.

The native (22) _____ were very well adapted to their environment and without the aid of natives, the first European settlers might not have survived. Many native vegetables, (23) _____ maize and potatoes became important staples. Moreover, native trackers, guided expeditions and taught hunters and explorers the ways of the land. For years, U.S. history began with Columbus, but today the cultures and contributions of the early inhabitants of the Americans (24) _____ studied and acknowledged. The story of the North America begins the true origin of the continent and (25) _____ people

16. a. in                               b. on                                 c. when                            d. Æ

17. a. civil                           b. people                          c. civilian                         d. inhabitant

18. a. was inhabited            b. inhabited                      c. has been inhabited       d. had inhabited

19. a. fish                            b. fishes                           c. fishing                          d. fisher

20. a. was                            b. were                             c. had been                       d. has been

21. a. success                      b. succeed                        c. successful                     d. successfully

22. a. people                       b. peoples                         c. nations                         d. settlers

23. a. so like                        b. example                       c. such as                         d. so as

24. a. had                            b. has                               c. is                                  d. are

25. a. it’s                             b. hers                              c. this                               d. its

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.

The invention of the incandescent light bulb by Thomas A. Edison in 1879 created a demand for a cheap, readily available fuel with which to generate large amounts of electric power. Coal seemed to fit the bill, and it fueled the earliest power stations (which were set up at the end Of the nineteenth century by Edison himself). As more power plants were constructed throughout the country, the reliance on coal increased. Since the First World War, coal-fired power plants have accounted for about half of the electricity produced in the United States each year. In 1986 such plants had a combined generating capacity of 289,000 megawatts and consumed 33 percent of the nearly 900 million tons of coal mined in the country that year. Given the uncertainty in the future growth of nuclear power and in the supply of oil and natural gas, coal-fired power plants could well provide up to 70 percent of the electric power in the United States by the end of the century.

Yet, in spite of the fact that coal has long been a source of electricity and may remain one for many years (coal represents about 80 percent of United States fossil-fuel reserves), it has actually never been the most desirable fossil fuel for power plants. Coal contains less energy per unit of weight than natural gas or oil; it is difficult to transport, and it is associated with a host of environmental issues, among them acid rain. Since the late 1960's problems of emission control and waste disposal have sharply reduced the appeal of coal-fired power plants. The cost of ameliorating these environmental problems, along with the rising cost of building a facility as large and complex as a coal-fired power plant, has also made such plants less attractive from a purely economic perspective.

Changes in the technological base of coal fired power plants could restore their attractiveness, however. Whereas some of these changes are evolutionary and are intended mainly to increase the productivity of existing plants, completely new technologies for burning coal cleanly are also being developed

It can be inferred from the passage that coal became the principal source of electricity in the United States, because it _______.

A. required no complicated machinery

B. was comparatively plentiful and  inexpensive

C. was easy to transport

D. burned efficiently

Read the passage below and decide whether the statements are TRUE or FALSE?

According to the Academic Ranking of World Universities, more than 30 of the highest-ranked 45 institutions are in the United States, as measured by awards and research output. Public universities, private universities, liberal arts colleges, and community colleges all have a significant role in higher education in the United States. An even stronger pattern is shown by the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities with 103 US universities in the World's Top 200 universities.

The 2006 American Community Survey conducted by the United States Census Bureau found that 19.5 percent of the population had attended college but had no degree, 7.4 percent held an associate's degree, 17.1 percent held a bachelor's degree, and 9.9 percent held a graduate or professional degree.

Educational attainment in the United States is similar to that of other developed countries. Colleges and universities in the U.S. vary in terms of goals: some may emphasize a vocational, business, engineering, or technical curriculum while others may emphasize a liberal arts curriculum. Many combine some or all of the above. Students can apply to some colleges using the Common Application. There is no limit to the number of colleges or universities to which a student may apply, though an application must be submitted for each.'

Question: Educational attainment in the United States is similar to that of other developed countries.

A. True

B. False

Read the following passage and write the letter A, B, C or D on the top of the first page to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 30 to 34.

In 1972. a century after the first national park in the United States was established at Yellowstone, legislation was passed to create the National Marine Sanctuaries Program. The intent of this legislation was to provide protection to selected coastal habitats similar to that existing for land areas designated as national parks. The designation of an areas a marine sanctuary indicates that it is a protected area, just as a national park is. People are permitted to visit and observe there, but living organisms and their environments may not be harmed or removed.

The National Marine Sanctuaries Program is administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a branch of the United States Department of Commerce. Initially, 70 sites were proposed as candidates for sanctuary status. Two and a half decades later, only fifteen sanctuaries had been designated, with half of these established after 1978. They range in size from the very small (less than 1 square kilometer) Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary in American Samoa to the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary in California, extending over 15,744 square kilometers.

The National Marine Sanctuaries Program is a crucial part of new management practices in which whole communities of species, and not just individual species, are offered some degree of protection from habitat degradation and overexploitation. Only in this way can a reasonable degree of marine species diversity be maintained in a setting that also maintains the natural interrelationships that exist among these species.

Several other types of marine protected areas exist in the United States and other countries. The National Estuarine Research Reserve System managed by the United States government, includes 23 designated and protected estuaries. Outside the United States, marine protected-area programs exist as marine parks, reserves and preserves.

Over 100 designated areas exist around the periphery of the Caribbean Sea. Others range from the well-known Australian Great Barrer Reef Marine Park to lesser-known parks in countries such as Thailand and Indonesia, where tourism is placing growing pressures on fragile coral reef systems. As state, national, and international agencies come to recognize the importance of conserving marine biodiversity, marine projected areas whether as sanctuaries,parks, or estuarine reserves, will play an increasingly important role in preserving that diversity.

The passage mentions which of the following as a threat to marine areas outside the United States?

A. Limitations in financial support

B. The use of marine species as food 

C. Variability of the climate

D. Increases in tourism