Big 2
Big 2
Big 2
TEXT 1
Whales are the largest animal on earth. Bigger than elephants, they may grow 95 feet long,
and weight 150 tons. A baby blue whale, just born, can be 23 feet long and weight 3 tons.
Although whales live in the oceans and can swim like fish, they are not fish. They are mammals,
like cows and elephants. Unlike fish, they bear young alive net as eggs. Their babies live on their
mother’s milk. They breathe through their lungs and hold their breathe when they go under
water. If they cannot come to the surface to breathe fresh air, they will drown. They are warm
blooded. Fish, however, lay eggs, breathe oxygen in the water and are cold blooded.
Whales live in all the oceans. In the winter some of them go to warm waters to breed and in
the summer most of them go to cold waters to feed. There are two kinds of whales, whales with
teeth (toothed whales) and whales without teeth (baleen whales). The toothed whales eat fish and
squid, which they can catch with their teeth, although they swallow their food without chewing
it. The baleen whales eat plankton (small sea animals and plants). When they find plankton, they
open their mouths and swim into the plankton. When they close their mouths, they squeeze out
the water and swallow the plankton.
Whales have few enemies. Only human beings and the killer whales attack whales. And
whales do not seem to fight among themselves. They usually live from 20 to 30 years.
Although it's hard to measure social isolation and loneliness precisely, there is strong evidence
that many adults aged 50 and older are socially isolated or lonely in ways that put their health at
risk. Recent studies found that social isolation significantly increased a person's risk of
premature death from all causes, a risk that may rival those of smoking, obesity, and physical
inactivity. Poor social relationships (characterized by social isolation or loneliness) was also
associated with a 29% increased risk of heart disease. Loneliness among heart failure patients
was associated with a nearly 4 times increased risk of death, 68% increased risk of
hospitalization, and 57% increased risk of emergency department visits.
The food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and MasterCard are
joining forces to create an innovative new alliance against hunger. A new partnership agreement,
signed today by FAO
Director – General Jose Grazianoda Silva and Walt Macnee, Vice Chairman of Mastercard, at
FAO headquarters, paves the way for a collaborative effort that will develop inclusive payment
systems to support small-scale farmers and poor families. Among other activities, the
collaboration will explore ways to provide credit or money to households for purchases of basic
needs and farming inputs on local markets, thereby supporting local economies and putting
financial tools in the hands of economically marginalized communities. The effort will benefit
from the complementary strengths of each organization: Mastercard’s expertise in payments
technology and FAO’s global reach and track record in combating hunger and malnutrition.
The partners’ first join effort will be in the Kakuma refugee camp, in Turkana county,
Kenya, currently home to 170,000 refigees who have fled wars and violence in neighboring
countries. Camp residents will be provided with prepaid cards that will permit them to buy
charcoal produced locally by the house community charcoal thah has been certified as being
produced in a sustainable, environmentally friendly way. The sheme is designed to improve
incomes of Turkana residents, reduce social tensions between those residents and the refugees,
and relieve pressure on the environment.
MasterCard will provide its technology expertise and a meaningful financial contribution,
to kick-tart the business chain by prviding 1,240 host-community households with improved
charcoal making kilns and 7,000 refugee households with energy efficient stoves and credit to
purchase 25 percent of their annual charcoal needs. “This partnership truly shows that the private
sector is a key ally in global effort to build a world with zero hunger. FAO is extremely proud of
this collaboration with MasterCard that will support smallscale farmers to become economically
independent by advancing financial inclusion.” said FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da
Silva.
MasterCard’s Walt Macnee said:”By signing this important agreement with FAO,
MasterCard furthet builds on our commitment to establish meaningful partnerships that will
enable us to leverage global technology and insights to drive a more empowered, inclusive planet
where pople -regardless of where they live or their current economic status – are able to better
build more self determined lives. Together with FAO we look forward to delivering against this
vision.
11. From the speech of FAO’s director in par.3, we know the aim of their partnership is .....
A. to build a world with zero hunger
B. to build a world in ally of private sector
C. to improve charcoal making kilns
D. to improve incomes of Kukuma residents
E. to reduce social tensions from wars
TEXT 4
Vitamin D deficiency is traditionally associated with bone and muscle weakness, but in recent
years a number of studies have shown that low levels of the vitamin may predispose the body to
high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, and chronic blood vessel inflammation (Associated
with hardening of the arteries). It also alters hormone levels to increase insulin resistance, which
raises the risk of diabetes.
In a review article published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, researchers
surveyed recent studies on the link between vitamin D deficiency and heart disease to come up
with practical advice on screening and treatment. They concluded that vitamin D deficiency is
much more common than previously thought, affecting up to half of adults and apparently healthy
children in the U.S. Researchers say higher rates of vitamin D deficiency may be due in part to
people spending more time indoors and efforts to minimize sun exposure through the use of
sunscreens. Sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 15 blocks approximately 99% of
vitamin D synthesis by the skin.
“We are outside less than we used be, and older adults and people who are overweight or obese
are less efficient at making vitamin D in response to sunlight,” says O’Keefe. “A little bit of
sunshine is a good thing, but the use of sunscreen to guard against skin cancer is important if you
plan to be outside for more than 15 to 30 minutes of intense sunlight exposure.”
12.What is the main idea of paragraph 2?
A. Recent study about vitamin D and heart diseases
B. Vitamin D deficiency become a major survey
C. Lack of vitamin D attacks adult and children
D. Adult and children should be careful of vitamin D deficiency
E. New disease in US people
TEXT 5:
A murder has been committed but the suspect denies everything. He claims not to know the
victim. He says he never knew him, never went near him, never touched him… The police and
the judge are convinced that he is not telling the truth. But how to prove it?
Scientific Police Weapons
At the crime scene, investigators have gathered every possible shred of evidence imaginable:
fibers from fabrics, hairs, finger marks, cigarette ends…The few hairs found on the victim’s
jacket are red. And they look strangely like the suspect’s. If it could be proved that these hairs
are indeed his, this would be evidence that he had in fact met the victim.
Every individual is unique
Specialists set to work. They examine some cells at the root of these hairs and some of the
suspect’s blood cells. In the nucleus of each cell in our bodies there is DNA. What is it? DNA is
like a necklace made of two twisted strings of pearls. Imagine that these pearls come in four
different colors and that thousands of colored pearls (which make up a gene) are strung in a very
specific order. In each individual this order is exactly the same in all the cells in the body: those
of the hair roots as well as those of the big toe, those of the liver and those of the stomach or
blood. But the order of the pearls varies from one person to another. Given the number of pearls
strung in this way, there is very little chance of two people having the same DNA, with the
exception of identical twins. Unique to each individual, DNA is thus a sort of genetic identity
card. Geneticists are therefore able to compare the suspect’s genetic identity card (determined
from his blood) with that of the person with the red hair. If the genetic card is the same, they will
know that the suspect did in fact go near the victim he said he’d never met.
Just one piece of evidence
More and more often in cases of sexual assault, murder, theft or other crimes, the police are
having genetic analyses done. Why? To try to find evidence of contact between two people, two
objects or a person and an object. Proving such contact is often very useful to the investigation.
But it does not necessarily provide proof of a crime. It is just one piece of evidence amongst
many others. (Anne Versailles)
17. To explain the structure of DNA, the author talks about a pearl necklace. How do these pearl
necklaces vary from one individual to another?
A. They vary in length.
B. The order of the pearls is different.
C. The number of necklaces is different.
D. The colour of the pearls is different.
18. What is the purpose of the box headed “How is the genetic identity card revealed”? To
explain …..
A. what DNA is.
B. what a bar code is.
C. how cells are analysed to find the pattern of DNA.
D. how it can be proved that a crime has been committed.
20. The end of the introduction (the first shaded section) says: “But how to prove it?”
According to the passage, investigators try to find an answer to this question by
A. interrogating witnesses.
B. carrying out genetic analyses.
C. interrogating the suspect thoroughly.
D. going over all the results of the investigation again.
TEXT 6
The term placebo is used to describe a pill that contains no medical ingredients but that often
produces the same effect as medicine. Placebos. (21).. ample proof that expectations can have an
effect on body chemistry. Studies conducted over the past 25 year have shown that placebos ..
(22).. relieved symptoms in a average of 35 percent of patients tested. These symptoms ..(23)..
fever, severe, post –operative pain, angina pain, headache, and anxiety. The ..(24).. for this
strange phenomenon is that human mind can create actual changes in body chemistry as a result
of what it believes. If ..(25).. a person believes that a certain medication contains a substance that
can accomplish a specific need, the body tends to move in that direction.
29. Had he mentioned why he didn’t come to my party, I wouldn’t have been so upset means ...
A. He came to my party , therefore, I was not upset
B. Since he came to my party he didn’t have to explain anything
C. Although he came to my party, I was upset
D. He came to my party , otherwise, I would have been very upset
E. I was upset because he didn’t explain why he didn’t come to my party
30. As a safety precaution, all city cabdrivers carry only enough money to make change for a … bill.
A. Ten-dollar C. tens-dollar
B. Ten-dollars D. tens-dollars