• In this extract from My family and other animals, the writer and naturalist Gerald Durrell recall his idyllic childhood on the island of Corfu. For questions 1-8, read the text and decide which answer (A, B, C, or D) best fits each gap.

Gradually the magic of the island settled over the US as gently and clingingly as pollen. Those days were (1) ____________ each with a tranquility, a timelessness, about it, so that you (2) ____________ it would never end. But then the dark skin of night would (3) ____________ and there would be a fresh day waiting for us, glossy and colorful as a child’s transfer, and with the same (4) ____________ of unreality. In the morning, when I woke, the bedroom shutters were luminous and barred with gold from the rising sun. The (5) ____________ morning air was full of the scent of charcoal from the kitchen fire, full of eager cock-crows, the distant (6) ____________ of dogs, and the unsteady, melancholy (7) ____________ of the goat-bells as the flocks were driven out to pasture. We ate breakfast, a leisurely and silent (8) ____________ out in the garden, under the small tangerine trees.

1,     A. compatible    B. idyllic    C. spotless      D. picturesque

2,     A. wanted      B. yearned     C. wished       D. aspired

3,     A. hang back     B. draw in     C. peel off     D. spring up

4,     A. stain     B. shield     C. fleck     D. tinge

5,     A. heady   B. strong   C. infectious     D. robust

6,     A. bleat     B. yap      C. screech        D. purr

7,     A. song     B. hum      C. tune     D. buzz

8,     A. contest      B. incident     C. episode      D. affair

• For questions 1−10, read the text below and then decide which answer best fits each gap.

                                                                                         HAVING A LAUGH

In one study conducted in 2016, samples of laughter from (1) _________ of English-speaking students (2) _________ at the University of California, Santa Cruz. A team made up of more than 30 (3) __________ scientists, anthropologists, and biologists then played these recordings to listeners from 24 (4) __________ societies, from indigenous tribes in New Guinea to city-dwellers in India and Europe. Participants were asked (5) __________ they thought the people laughing were friends or strangers. On average, the results were remarkably consistent: worldwide, people’s guesses were correct approximately 60% of the time.

  Researchers (6) __________ that different types of laughter serve as codes to complex human social hierarchies. A team led by Christopher Oveis from the University of California, San Diego, found that (7) __________ individuals had different laughs from low-status individuals and that strangers’ judgments of an individual’s social status (8) ____________ by the dominant or submissive quality of their laughter. In their study, 48 male college students (9) _____________  to groups of four, with each group (10) _____________ two low-status members, who had just joined their college fraternity group, and two high-status members, older students who had been active in the fraternity for at least two years.

1, A. couples          B. combines         C. put together         D. pairs

2, A. have recorded         B. recorded      C. were recorded          D. being recorded

3, A. intellectual        B. spiritual        C. psychological         D. physical

4, A. diverse          B. various        C. miscellaneous         D. disparate

5, A. that     B. whether     C. jeopardize        D. when

6, A. were further found     B. were found      C. had thus found      D. have also found

7, A. exalted      B. high-status    C. high-position    D. higher-reputation

8, A. were influenced      B. were affected     C. was being influenced    D. has been impacted

9, A. were eventually assigned    B. were randomly allocated     C. were randomly assigned 

10, A. inclusive of      B. comprised      C. incorporated       D. composed of

· For questions 1 - 6, read the three texts below and decide which answer (A, B, C, or D) best fits each gap.

Supermarket Opening

The opening of a new supermarket used to be a bit of an event in Britain. You could always rely on a soap star, a disc jockey, or a minor member of the royal family to come down and cut the ribbon. Now it seems that new branches are (1) .... up every day in many areas and so the poor old celebrity has become (2) .... . Why pay a famous person when any Tom, Dick or Harry will open it for nothing? Last week, waiting pensioners didn't care who opened the new branch of Superbuy, (3) .... they were at the front. According to one prospective customer who knew someone who worked there, the first five men over the (4) .... would be getting a bottle of aftershave, and the first five women, a bunch of flowers. This (5) .... of information quickly swept (6) .... the crowd, instilling feelings of smug superiority among those at the front, and envy from the latecomers.

1)  A. popping      B. leaping      C. jumping     D. nipping

2)  A. superfluous      B. excessive      C. surplus      D. residual

3)  A. despite      B. so long as      C. in case       D. regardless

4)  A. entrance     B. doorway     C. threshold      D. barrier

5)  A. clipping      B. strand      C. string      D. snippet

6)  A. among      B. through      C. across      D. around

I. Read the text below and decide which answer best fits each space given. Write your answer ( A, B, C or D ) in the numbered box. (1.0 point)

            Over the past forty years, TV sets have become standard pieces of equipment in        ( 1 ) …. and watching TV has become a standard activity for many families. Children in our culture grow up and ( 2 ) ………. TV in the morning, in the afternoon, and often in the evening as well. ( 3 ) ………… there are many excellent programs for children, many people think that TV may not be good for them.

            ( 4 ) ………… TV may be a bad influence ( 5 ) ………. children for three main reasons. ( 6 ) ……… some programs are not good for children to see. For example, there are many police stories on TV: people are killed ( 7 ) …………… guns, knives and even poisons. Some children might think these things could ( 8 ) ……….. to them at any time.   ( 9 ) ………. they can  become ( 10 ) ………. .

·  For questions 1 – 8, read the text below and decide which answer (A, B, C, or D) best fits each gap.

The global recording industry has launched its largest wave of legal (1) _______ against people suspected of sharing music files on the internet. The latest move by the International Federation of the photographic Industry (IFPI) (2) _______ 2,100 alleged uploaders using peer-to-peer (P2P) networks in16 nations (3) ___________ the UK, France, Germany and Italy.

Thousands of people have agreed to pay compensation since the campaign began. In the US, civil lawsuits have been brought against more than 15,597 people (4) ______ September 2003 and there have been 3,590 settlements. 'This is a significant escalation of our enforcement actions against people who are uploading and distributing (5) _______ music on p2p networks,' said IFPI chief John Kennedy.

Thousands of people - mostly internet-savvy men in their 20s or 30s - have learned to their (6) ________ the legal and financial risks involved in file-sharing copyrighted music in large quantities.' Individual cases are generally brought by the national associations (7) ________ the recording industry, and in some cases by the labels, as civil complaints. The UK record industry has so far brought 97 cases, with an (8) ______ 65 covered by the latest action. More than 140,000 in compensation has been paid to the British Phonographic Industry by 71 individuals.

1.  A) action    B) activity     C) acting     D) acts

2.  A) aimed    B) targeted    C) directed     D) pointed

3.  A) such      B) with     C) including     D) throughout

4.  A) during     B) throughout     C) since      D) in

5.  A) copyrighted     B) registered      C) trademark      D) illegal

6.  A) benefit      B) charge     C) cost     D) fortune

7.  A) for      B) working     C) representing     D) inside

8.  A) newly      B) addition    C) further     D) another

I. Read the text and then decide which option (A, B, C or D) best fits each space.

Since the day I knew what an astronaut did, I (11)………..to become one. The qualifications for an astronaut are very demanding and only the best are accepted into the astronaut program. It takes years of studying and working to even (12)………..the basic requirements. That’s why, to help realize my dream, I'm currently pursuing a Bachelor's degree (13)………..Engineering at NYU. My plan is to get a job right after graduating to get the experience I need. During that time, I plan on exercising and keeping my body in top shape so I can pass the physical test when the time comes. Getting a pilot license is also in my plan (14)………..it's not a top priority. I know all of this is not easy to pull off but with hard work and (15)……….., I will make my dream come true.

11. A. have wanted     B. want                        C. wanted                    D. had wanted

12. A. take                   B. get                         C. meet                        D. need

13. A. in                      B. on                           C. at                           D. about

14. A. because             B. so                            C. and              D. though

15. A. determine         B. determination         C. determining            D. determined

I. Read the text and then decide which option (A, B, C or D) best fits each space.

Since the day I knew what an astronaut did, I (11)………..to become one. The qualifications for an astronaut are very demanding and only the best are accepted into the astronaut program. It takes years of studying and working to even (12)………..the basic requirements. That’s why, to help realize my dream, I'm currently pursuing a Bachelor's degree (13)………..Engineering at NYU. My plan is to get a job right after graduating to get the experience I need. During that time, I plan on exercising and keeping my body in top shape so I can pass the physical test when the time comes. Getting a pilot license is also in my plan (14)………..it's not a top priority. I know all of this is not easy to pull off but with hard work and (15)……….., I will make my dream come true.

11. A. have wanted     B. want                        C. wanted                    D. had wanted

12. A. take                   B. get                         C. meet                        D. need

13. A. in                      B. on                           C. at                           D. about

14. A. because             B. so                            C. and              D. though

15. A. determine         B. determination         C. determining            D. determined

Read the text below and decide which answer best fits each space given.

            Over the past forty years, TV sets have become standard pieces of equipment in ( 1 ) …. and watching TV has become a standard activity for many families. Children in our culture grow up and ( 2 )…. TV in the morning, in the afternoon, and often in the evening as well. ( 3 )………..there are many excellent programs for children, many people think that TV may not be good for them.

            ( 4 )… TV may be a bad influence ( 5 ) …………children for three main reasons. ( 6 )… some programs are not good for children to see. For example, there are many police stories on TV: people are killed ( 7 )……… guns, knives and even poisons. Some children might think these things could ( 8 )….. to them at any time.   ( 9 )…. they can  become ( 10 )…. .

• For questions (1 - 8), read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap. Use only one word in each gap. There is an example at the beginning (0).

                                                                                                      BLUE DIAMONDS

  Blue diamonds are the world’s most expensive diamonds, with some valued (0) ...... AT....... over 350 million US dollars. However, no one knew (1) ............... recently precisely where these rare stones came from.

  Most diamonds are formed from pure carbon under extreme heat 150 to 200 kilometers underground, and (2) ............... is thought that volcanic eruptions bring them to the earth’s surface. Research by scientists has revealed, however, that blue diamonds were probably formed somewhere (3) ............... 600 and 800 kilometers down, in a part of the earth’s interior known (4) ............... the lower mantle.

  These researchers analyzed 46 blue diamonds, all of (5) .............. contained minerals only found in the lower mantle. (6) .............. only were these stones formed four times nearer the earth’s core (7) ............... normal diamonds, but they also contain an element called boron that is mostly found on the earth’s surface. What seems to have happened, (8) ............... to the researchers, is that billions of years ago, rocks containing boron were carried down into the lower mantle by movements of the earth’s tectonic plates, and were eventually returned to the surface by volcanic action.