PART A: PHONETICS

Pronunciation

Ex 1: Choose the word whose underlined part is pronounced differently from that
of the others in each group. (5 pts.)

1. A. Cave  B. Have  C. Behave  D. Pave

2. A. Receipt B. Recall C. Recollect D. Recover

3. A. Card B. Heard C. Hearth D. Heart

4. A. Abuse B. Refuse C. Fuss D. Future

5. A, Adventure  B. Future  C. Mature  D. Figure

Stress

Ex II/ Choose the word whose main stressed syllable is placed differently from that
of the others in the list. (5 pts.)

1. A. Admirable B. Accessible C. Compatible D. respiratory

2. A. Humane B. Unite C. Colleague D. canteen

3. A. Descent B. Dissent C. Discontent D. content

4. A. Eradicate B. Kilometer C. Characterize D. communism

5. A. Technical B. Origin C. Agriculture D. cathedral

PART B: LEXICO AND GRAMMAR

Ex I/ Choose the best answer to complete each of the following sentences. Write
your answer (A, B, C or D) in the box provided (15 pts.)
1, A number of oil tankers have been laid ……………. recently.

A. on B. down C. up D. in

2. The inscription on the tombstone had been worn ………by the weather and could
scarcely be read,

A. away B. off C. out D. on

3. …………….. second thoughts, I’d rather not go out tonight.

A. With B. In C. On D. Under

4, The new hairdryer does not comply ……………… British safety standard.

A. to B. with C. against D. on

5. Many books were not available to the public because of government …

A. omission B. inhibition C. compensation D. censorship

6. The woman accused of shoplifting was found not guilty and was ………

A. excused B. liberated C. acquitted D. interned

7. He is an ……………authority on the subject.

A. prominent B. expert C. eminent D. quality

8. My car was so old that I could only sell it for ……….

A. rubbish B. scrap C. debris D. waste

9. Not only ……………… in the project, but he also wanted to become the leader.

A. did Jack involve

B. had Jack been involved

D. Jack was involved

10. I felt a bit ……………..and seemed to have more aches and pains than usual.

A. out of sorts B. on the mend C. over the worst D. under the fevers

11. The school was closed for a month because of a serious ……………of fever.

A. outcome B. outburst C. outset D. outbreak

12. I don’t think he’s ever been there, ………………?

A. do I B. has he C. have I D. hasn’t he

13. They had a four-day holiday, then began work..

A. on end B. out of bounds C. in proportions D. in carnest

14. He is a tough politician – he knows how to ……………..the storm.

A. run down B. keep up

C. ride out D. push back

15. On entering the nursery I stumbled on the wooden blocks ………………..all over
the carpet.

A. plunged B. scattered C. settled D. tossed

Ex II/ Fill in the blank with a suitable noun to form the idiomatic expression.
Write your answer in the box provided (5 pts.)

1. I’d like to take __________ of this opportunity to explain the difficulty I’ve met.

2. She decided to set _______ to these letters because they weren’t necessary.

3. Don’t have ____________ in what he says. He is a liar.

5. He left home without taking ________ of anybody.

Ex III/ Give the correct form of the word given in parentheses. Write your answer
in the box provided (10 pts.)

1. The attack in the city center last night (example) the kind of behavior amongst young
people that many object to.

2. This matter is very (confidence). Don’t discuss it outside the office.

3. You shouldn’t interrupt someone in (sentence).

4. I want to make sure all my (depend) will be financially secure if I’m incapacitated in
any way.

5. There was a heavy (pour) yesterday afternoon which completely ruined the church
Garden Party,

6. There is a risk factor with all medication, but honestly the risk with this particular
drug is (neglect).

7. A (dominate) friend is one who likes power.

8. Suddenly without (provoke), the dog sank its teeth into my leg.

9. Street-fights are an everyday (occur) in this area of the city

10. I really believe that it would be a major mistake to (crime) any drugs that are
currently illegal.

IV/ Match the verb in box A with the word(s) in box B to form a phrasal verb, and
then fill it in each blank to complete the sentence. Be sure to use the correct verb
tense and form. Write your answer in the box provided (5 pts.)

1. The problem _____ the government’s lack of action.

2. The argument is ____ whether or not to lower the age limit.

4. I’m afraid there is no milk left; we have to ________  dried milk for our teA,

5. Tom got _____ by the music and wouldn’t stop singing.

6. I’m going to stay at university and try to ________ getting a job for a few years.

7. Her husband has been ___________ the good news about their son.

8. She swims so well that she really should _____ the competition

9. I almost _________ when I heard Tim was going to be playing Romeo in the school
play.

10. He is in a critical condition in hospital, so we’re all praying he’ll_______

Ex V/ Underline ten mistakes in the following sentences and correct them. Write
the correction in the box provided (5 pts.)

1. Neither of the scout leaders know how to trap wild animals or how to prepare them
for mounting.

2. At the start of the seminar, they gave us a number of handouts and a little nice folder
to keep them all in.

3. Stephen Crane’s story is a clinical portrayal of a man as an animal trapped by the fear
and hunger.

4. Time is precious. Let us do the most of it to enrich our knowledge.

5. Nora hardly never misses an opportunity to play in the tennis tournaments.

6. Because of the snow storm and the road blocks, the air force dropped food close the
city.

7. They asked me what did happen last night, but I was unable to tell them.
8. Our new neighbors had been living in Arizona for ten years before moved to their
present house.

9. Air pollution, together with littering, are causing many problems in our large,
industrial cities today.

10. When I entered the room, I found my younger brother stand on the kitchen table.

 PART C: READING

I/ Read the following passage and circle the best answer for each blank. Write your
answer (A, B, C or D) in the box provided (14 pts)

What is the world largest desert? I’m sure the first that …(1).. to mind is the legendary
Sahara – but that’s 3rd It’s actually the desert on the Antarctic …(2),.., measuring just
under 14,000,000km2, closely followed by the Arctic desert. Most people living away
from deserts associate this kind of …(3).. with sand, but only 10% of deserts are
actually made up of sand …(4)…

The term desert’ in fact describes a …(5).. which receives almost no …(6)……meaning
rainfall, snow, ice or hail. The term can also apply to regions where there is greater
evaporation of …(7).. than rainfall. In other words, more water is absorbed back into the
…..(8)….. than stays on or within the ground, So, in …..(9)….. deserts, you’re mainly
talking about ice sheets and a little rock, not sand, of course. The surface of many other
deserts is comprised of loose rock where the finer particles of dust and sand have been
…(10)…..away.

It may surprise you to know that deserts exist all over the …(11).... from the Kalahari in
Africa to the Great Victoria in Australia and so on, and that they …(12)…. just over a
fifth of the earth’s land area, The world’s largest hot desert, the Sahara, actually …
(13).... temperatures of 122 Fahrenheit degrees. Other arid deserts may not be so hot but
in common with the Sahara, they … (14).... considerably at night.

An issue that is worrying geologists, governments and the people that live on the edges
of deserts is the way they are spreading. You might think that the reason for this is
drought – but lack of rain is not the cause.

1. A. jumps B. leaps C. rises D. springs

3. A. terrain B. plain C. horizon D. nature

4. A. hills B. dunes C. piles D. slopes

5. A. base B. landscape C. ground D. soil

6. A. wildlife B. agriculture C. precipitation D. alteration

7. A. moisture B. drops C. dampness D. drizzle

8. A. setting B. atmosphere C. environment D. surroundings

9. A. extreme B. Mediterranean C. typical D. polar

10. A. left B. disappeared C. blown D. removed

11. A. globe B. sphere C. atlas D. orb

12. A. contain B. expand C. cover D. cross

13. A. obtains B. reaches C. stretches D. raises

14. A. cool B. fall C. freeze D. decrease

II/ The passage has eight phrases left out. Decide which phrase (A-L) from the list
should go in each gap. Write the letter in the space provided. There are more
phrases than gaps. Write your answer in the box provided. (8 pts.)

RECYCLING PLASTICS

One of the most difficult wastes to recycle is mixed plastics. (1)

Plastic manufacturers turn their own offcuts into granules that are melted down for
reuse. They can also reuse any single, pure thermoplastic materials. (2)

The British firm Meyer-Newman of Gwent recycles complete telephones into new ones.
But mixed plastics have unpredictable properties and low structural (3).
So it is difficult to make a material with good and predictable properties from mixed
plastic wastes. One answer is compatibiliser. This is an octopus-like molecule in which
each arm represents a section of different polymer, that in turn (4)

Stirred into a mixture of molten plastic, each arm of the octopus grabs and reacts
chemically with a molecule of the one polymer in the mixture. The result is an alloy
rather than a mixture. It is strong because of intra-molecular bonding and has highly
predictable properties, so it is potentially reusable. During the past two or three years,
many plastic manufacturers have (5)

But perhaps the most advanced, ‘Bennet’, was produced independently two years ago,
after 15 years of research, by the Dutch engineer Der Groep. His invention is already
being used widely, largely in secret (6) .Bennet is made up of short sections of several
polymers representing the arms of octopus, each is able to link the molecules of a
different polymer in the mixture. The reliable strength of the plastic alloys’ made with
Bennet suggests that (7) .The vehicle recycling industry is keen to recycle more plastics.
Despite the environmental benefits, they fear that the steady increase in the use of
reclaimable plastics will make it uneconomic to recover vehicles from the metals they
contain. Some car manufacturers, such as BMW and Mercedes, are now designing
products and requesting components that are easier to recycle: (8).

A. is characteristic of a different plastic

B. developed their own compatibilisers

C. which has never been achieved despite substantial government investment in

D. often used in wrappers and containers

E. they could be used in high-grade, high-cost applications such as car bumpers

F. it does not have sufficient rigidity

G. for example, car bumpers made from one material instead of up to seven

H. always been sceptical about recycling plastics

K. for example, steel suspension systems and car bodies

L. such as polythene that are not chemically cross-linked

M. the different plastics in the mixture are not bonded at a molecular level

PART D: WRITING

Ex I/ Rewrite each of the following sentences using the word(s) given so that its
meaning stays the same.(8 pts)

1. I don’t understand one word of this document (head)

-> I can’t

2. Erika didn’t mention her illness at all. (reference)

-> Erika made

3. Did anything about his behavior seem unusual to you? (strike)

-> Did anything about his behavior

4. He was arrested when they caught him driving a stolen car. (act)

-> Being

5. She was just as good as they had thought. (up)

-> She definitely

6. Tony didn’t feel like dancing that night. (mood)

-> Tony

7. You’re going to enjoy tonight! (treat)

8. Why do you think you are allowed to criticize me like that? (gives)

-> What do you think

Ex II/ Write about the following topic: Violence is increasing at an alarming rate
in many schools. In what ways can this problem be overcome? You should write at
least 200 words. (20 pts)