He couldn’t come to the conference because he was seriously ill.

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 from 16 to 20.

Why do people often get uptight and worried before meeting someone for the first time? It is often said that (16)______a good first impression is very important, and according to recent studies, it appears that there is something to it. In his book, Blink, author Malcolm Gladwell says that we form an opinion of someone in the first 2 seconds after meeting them. In other words, if Gladwellis right, most of us pass (17) ______ on people we meet almost immediately. It makes (18) ______ that we create a better first impression when we’re friendly. A warm smile can really make a difference. And   then if   we have interests(19) ______ common, the other person may feel they want to get t know us. However, when we meet someone from abroad who (20)______a foreign language, there’s no need we have to keep our distance from them. If we decided to take the trouble to communicate, we might make a newfriend.

build (15)______ at colleage and eventually at university.

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 from 11 to 15.

The Gerneral Cerificate of Secondary Education or the GCSE excaminations for short are the standard school-leaver qualifications taken by virually all UK students in the May and June following their 16th birthday. If you come to a UK (11)_______ school before you (12)_______ the age of 16, you will study towards GCSE excaminationin up to 12 subjects. Some subjects are compulory, including English and matchematics, and you can select (13)_____, such as music, drama, geography and history from a series of options. GCSEs provide a good all-round education (14)_______ you can build (15)______ at colleage and eventually at university.