Read the article and select the best answer. Article: It is said that a great many things about languages are mysterious, and many will always be so. But some things we do know. Firstly, we know that all human beings have a language of some kind. There is no race of men anywhere on earth so backward that it has no language, no set of speech sounds by which the people communicate with one another. In historical times, there has never been a race of men without a language. Secondly, there is no such thing as a primitive language. There are many people whose cultures are underdeveloped, who are, as we say, uncivilized, but the languages they speak are not primitive. In all known languages we can see complexities that must have been tens of thousands of years in developing. This has not always been well understood; indeed, the direct contrary has often been stated. Popular ideas of the language of the American Indians will illustrate. Many people have guessed that the Indians communicated in a very primitive system of noises. Study has proved this to be nonsense. There are, or were, hundreds of American Indian languages, and all of them turn out to be very complicated and very old. They are certainly different from the languages that most of us are familiar with, but they are no more primitive than English and Greek. A third thing we know about language is that all languages are perfectly adequate. This means each one is a perfect means of expressing the culture of the people who speak the language. Finally, we know that language changes. It's natural and normal for language to change; the only languages which do not change are the dead ones. This is easy to understand if we look backward in time. Change goes on in all aspects of language. Grammatical features change as do speech sounds and changes in vocabulary are sometimes very extensive and may occur very rapidly. Vocabulary is the least stable part of any language. Question: As the author says, people of underdeveloped cultures can have _ languages. Options: A: complicated B: uncivilized C: primitive D: wellknown
A

Read the article and select the best answer. Article: For well over a thousand years, smallpox was a disease that everyone feared. The disease killed much of the native population in South America when the Spanish arrived there in the early sixteenth century. By the end of the eighteenth century, smallpox was responsible for about one in ten deaths around the world. Those who survived the disease were left with ugly scars on their skin. It had long been well known among farmers that people who worked with cows seldom caught smallpox; instead, they often caught a similar but much milder disease called cowpox . A British doctor called Jenner was extremely interested in this, and so he studied cowpox. He believed that, by vaccinating people with the disease, he could protect them against the much worse disease smallpox. In 1796, he vaccinated a boy with cowpox and, two months later, with smallpox. The boy did not get smallpox. In the next two years, Jenner vaccinated several children in the same way, and none of them got the disease. News of the success of Jenner's work soon spread. Vaccination soon became a common method to protect people against other diseases caused by virus, such as rabies , and vaccines were sent across the world to the United States and India. It took nearly two centuries to achieve Jenner's dream of getting free of smallpox from the whole world. In 1967, the world Health Organization (WHO) started a great vaccination program, and the last known case of smallpox was recorded in Somalia in 1977. The story of vaccinations does not end there, however. There are many other diseases that kill more and more people every year. Besides, many new diseases are being discovered. The challenge for medical researchers will, therefore, probably continue for several more centuries Question: Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE? Options: A: The first experiment with cowpox was made by a British doctor. B: After 1977 smallpox disappeared around the world according to WHO. C: Vaccination had existed among ordinary farmers before being discovered. D: Vaccination can be used to protect people in the world against not only smallpox.
C

Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Dear Volunteers, The service you will provide to elderly individuals in Abilene as a Meals on Wheels volunteer is deeply appreciated. I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the many miles you will travel and all of the hours you will contribute to help make this one of the best programs in the entire state. We have our staff members make a home visit before adding each person to the program and try to visit everyone at least once every year. That is hardly enough, and we depend on your contact a great deal! It is important that you report back when you do not get an answer to your knock on the door. The person inside may be hurt or ill. They may be in hospital or out of town and fail to inform us. If they are frequently absent, we may need to determine if they still need meals. If you find someone with a medical emergency, please call 911 to request medical assistance, and then call the Meals on Wheels office. If you find someone who needs assistance other than for a medical emergency, please call the Meals on Wheels office at 6725050, and we will try to find the appropriate agency or individual to call. Let us know when a certain person needs extra food. We have a food preparation room of shelf stable items to share with them. Please feel free to take a few magazines when you deliver meals. Many of those we serve cannot afford magazines and enjoy reading. If someone is interested in getting books from the Abilene Public Library, let us know. We can sign them up for the Books on Wheels program. Call if you smell gas strongly when you deliver meals, or if someone needs a space heater, a blanket, or an electric fan. Please convey all needs to us, and we will try to see that they are met. Some of the elderly people who we offer our service may have cancers, liver diseases, AIDS, etc. If you do not want to deliver meals to the people with certain types of health problems, such as these, please let us know. Sincerely, Betty L. Bradley, LBSW, Executive Director Question: What can we learn about the volunteers from the passage? Options: A: They order books for needy people. B: They design programs to help people. C: They offer medical help to sick people. D: They deliver food to the elderly people.
D

Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side. Most people know this joke. But recently, some people have been much more worried about how the grizzly bear and mountain lion can cross the road. " Millions of animals die each year on the U. S. roads, " the Federal Highway Administration reports. In fact, only about 80 ocelots , an endangered wild cat, exist in the U. S. today. The main reason? Roadkill. "Eco-passages" may help animals cross the road without being hit by cars. They are paths both over and under roads. " These ecopassages can be extremely useful,so that wildlife can avoid road accidents ," said Jodi Hilty of the Wildlife Protection Society. But do animals actually use the eco-passages? The answer is yes. Paul Beier of Northern Arizona University found foot marks left by mountain lions on an eco-passage that went under a highway. This showed that the lions used the passage. Builders of eco-passages try to make them look like a natural part of an area by planting trees on and around them. Animals seem to be catching on. Animals as different as salamanders and grizzly bears are using the bridges and underpasses. The next time you visit a park or drive through an area with a lot of wildlife, look around. You might see an animal over-pass ! Question: When the writer says that animals seem "to be catching on" , he means _ . Options: A: animals begin to realize the danger on the road B: animals begin to learn to use eco-passages C: animals are crossing the road in groups D: animals are becoming safer
B