____ as it was at such a time, his work attracted much attention

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the word that differs from the other three in the position of the primary stress in each of the following questions.

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.

More than 200 reindeer have died of starvation on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, with scientists blaming their deaths on climate change. The wild deer carcasses were found on the Arctic islands this summer by researchers from the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI), which said it had never logged so many deaths at once in 40 years of monitoring the animals’ population level. “It’s scary to find so many dead animals,” project leader Ashild Onvik Pedersen told state broadcaster NRK. “This is an example of how climate change affects nature. It is just sad.”

Svalbard’s capital Longyearbyen, the northernmost town on earth, is thought to be warming quicker than any other settlement on the planet, climate scientists warned earlier this year. The milder temperatures in the region led to unusually heavy rainfall in December, leaving a thick layer of ice when the precipitation froze. This meant the reindeer could not dig through the hardened tundra to reach the vegetation they graze on in their usual pastures, the NPI said. Svalbard’s reindeer have been observed eating seaweed and kelp when food is scarce, but these are less nutritious and cause them stomach problems.

A relatively high number of calves born last year increased the death toll, as the youngest and weakest are often the first to die in harsh conditions. “Some of the mortality is natural because there were so many calves last year. But the large number we see now is due to heavy rain, which is due to global warming,” said Ms Onvik Pedersen.

A team of three scientists spent 10 weeks investigating population of the Svalbard reindeer earlier this year. Researchers warned the decline of reindeer would cause unwanted plant species, currently kept in check by the animals’ grazing, to spread across Arctic ecosystems in Europe, Asia and North America.

Arctic reindeer and caribou populations have declined 56 per cent in the last two decades, a report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said last year. The report said food security was partly to blame for falling herd numbers, while warmer summers could also put the animals at greater risk of diseases spread by flies and parasites. The average temperature in Longyearbyen has risen by 3.7C since 1900, more than three times the global average increase of about 1C. In 2016, the entrance to the town’s “Doomsday” seed vault – which stores specimens of almost all the world’s seeds – was flooded following heavy rainfall.

Which could best serve as the title of the passage?

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks.

The first thing that is included in the "living together” (23) ______ is the expected good relations with your family. This also involves sharing equally the housework. Lots of people think that everyone should share the housework (24) ________, but in many homes parents do most of it. To certain minds, many families can't share the housework whereas they should try it. In fact, sharing the housework equally is not very possible because of the families' timetable. So, it is somehow believed that children and parents must do things together. For this they can establish a housework planning.

(25)_________, housework's contributions of the teenager make him more responsible. He will think that he has an important role in his family. According to researchers, teenagers should share the housework because (26) ______ will help them when they have to establish their own family in the future. Too many teenagers and young adults leave home without knowing how to cook or clean, but if parents delegate basic housework to teens as they are old enough to do it, they won't be destabilized by doing the housework in their new grown-up life.

It can be (27) ________ concluded that many parents don't really prepare their children for future, because they don't stimulate them to learn how to run a house. If parents get them responsible, teens will be more responsible and that will improve family's life.

(Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013)

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.

Exactly 50 years ago, humanity stepped foot on the surface of the Moon for the first time. It was a miracle, and one made so powerful because it was so very unlikely. It was hailed as an incredible success. But the chance of failure was such that authorities had to prepare for the possibility of losing the astronauts. Those preparations offer a humbling insight into how risky that mission was, and how high the stakes were. Probably the most potent document from those preparations is the speech that would have been used to hail the bravery of the astronauts as they were left to their death on the Moon.

It was written to announce to the world that the astronauts had been lost, and that the Moon mission was a failure. After it was read, the two astronauts would be given a ceremony something like the burial at sea, but one entirely without precedent. The document was hidden for many years – unused, it was "quietly tucked away into the record" after the astronauts returned home, as the National Archive that now holds it notes. But over time it became public, after being revealed by the man who wrote it, and is now available for the public to read.

It was prepared in the case that the astronauts and their moon lander failed to get back to the main craft that was floating around in the Moon's orbit ready to bring them home, and contained Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's colleague Michael Collins. In that case, it was most likely that those pioneering explorers would not lose their lives in a single spectacular moment. Instead, they would most likely be stranded, stuck 250,000 miles from Earth with no way of getting back home. "If they couldn't get back safely, they'd have to be abandoned on the moon, left to die there," speechwriter William Safire said in 1999. "The men would either have to starve to death or commit suicide."

In the end, and despite some very anxious moments, the crew would explore the lunar surface and come back down safely. That meant that, instead of announcing their loss, Nixon could instead share in the astronaut's success. In one of the most famous moments of the mission, he spoke to them in a phone call that was beamed around the world. He recognised the triumph of their achievement, and wished them safety for their return.

(Adapted from https://www.independent.co.uk/)

Which of the following could be the main topic of the passage?

Mark the letter A, B, C or D to indicate the word(s) OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined word(s) in each of the following questions.

My father was as poor as a church mouse growing up, so his sole focus was to give his kids every opportunity in life that he missed out on.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the word whose underlined part differs from the other three in pronunciation in each of the following questions.

Singapore is a ____ example of a smart city, and is constantly evolving its "city brain, "a backbone of technologies is used to help control pollution, monitor traffic, allocate parking, communicate with citizens.

It can be argued that the future of human life on the planet rests on ____ smooth transition to cities that are more efficient and less wasteful.

Claudia is being interviewed by the manager of the company she's applied for

- Manager: “____________.”

- Claudia: "I work hard and I enjoy working with other people."

A new TV show has sparked ________ by showing the positive side of dropping out of college.

This ticket ____ you to a free meal in our new restaurant.

Mark the letter A, B, C or D to indicate the word(s) CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined word(s) in each of the following questions.

That was so serious a matter that I had no choice but to call in the police