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. Grandparents are becoming the forgotten generation, with youngsters now too busy to listen to their stories from the olden days. A study of 1,000 five- to 18-year-olds reveals just 21 per cent will visit their older relatives to hear about how their lives were different in the past; such as where they worked, how it was living in the war, and how they met the love of their life. More than half of youths have no idea what job their grandparent did before retirement. Sadly, one in ten admit they are simply not interested in their grandmother’s or grandad’s talents and interests, and a quarter only turn up to see them for pocket money. But 23 percent claim the reason they don’t know anything about their older relatives is that they don’t really get the chance to talk properly. Researchers found that although 65 per cent of youngsters do see their grandparents every single week, 37 per cent claim this is only because their parents want them to. And while 39 per cent talk to their grandparents on the phone, Facebook or Skype at least once a week – 16 per cent once a day – conversation is rarely focused on what they are doing or have done in the past. Four in 10 kids have no idea what their grandparent’s proudest achievements are, while 30 per cent don’t know if they have any special skills or talents. And 42 per cent don’t spend any time talking about their grandparent’s history -and are therefore clueless about what their grandmother or grandad was like when they were younger. Perhaps due to this lack of communication and respect, just six per cent of children say they look up to their grandparents as a role model and inspiration.
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, Cor D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the number blanks.
For many years, scientists have been arguing about global warming. While they don't all agree about what this might mean for Planet Earth, many think it is going on — and that we can do something about it. We need a few more years to gather facts before anyone can say for sure. But people need to start now to do things to stop it. There are many types of gases in our atmosphere. Some of them absorb the heat from the sun and control our climate. "Greenhouse gases” are those that hold the heat around the planet's surface. When we increase the level of these gases, we upset the balance. These extra gases trap even more heat. Some scientists say global warming has already started to change the environment. The Earth's temperature has risen one degree Fahrenheit this century. Many scientists believe it could rise from two to eight degrees Fahrenheit in the next hundred years. This would be the fastest rise in 10,000 years. Sea levels could rise. Ice sheets could melt and add to the water level. Many places near the coast would be in danger of flooding. If the climate change is too large and too fast, some plants and animals could really suffer. They could even die out. Weather could become more violent and extreme. In some places there would be more forest fires. But in other areas there would be more rain and snow, storms and floods. (Adapted from nytimes.com/article/climate-change-global-warming-fag.html)
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word that best fits each of the numbered blanks from 1 to 5.
Today, many governments are promoting organic or natural farming methods (1) _____ avoid the use of pesticides and other artificial products. The aim is to show that they (2) _____ about the environment and about people's health. But is this the right approach? Europe is now the biggest (3) _____ for organic food in the world, expanding by 25 percent a year over the past 10 years. Eating organic is (4) _____ way of defining oneself as natural, good, caring different from the junk-food-scoffing masses. As a journalist puts it: "It feels closer to the source, the beginning, the start of things”. The organic approach means farming with natural, rather than man-made. Techniques such as crop rotation improve soil quality and help organic farmers compensate for the absence of man-made chemicals.(5) _____, for its ineffective use of land and labour, there are severe limits to how much food can be produced.