Read the passage below and do the tasks.

      Over the past 600 years, English has grown from a language of few speakers to become the dominant language of international communication. English as we know it today emerged around 1350, after having incorporated many elements of French that were introduced following the Norman invasion of 1030. Until the 1600s, English was, for the most part, spoken only in England and had not extended even as far as Wales, Scotland, or Ireland. However, during the course of the next two centuries, English began to spread around the globe as a result of exploration, trade (including slave trade), colonization, and missionary work. Thus, small enclaves of English speakers became established and grew in various parts of the world. As these communities proliferated, English gradually became the primary language of international business, banking, and diplomacy.

      Currently, about 80 percent of the information stored on computer systems worldwide is in English. Two-thirds of the world’s science writing is in English, and English is the main language of technology, advertising, media, international airports, and air traffic controllers. Today there are more than 700 million English users in the world, and over half of these are non native speakers, constituting the largest number of non-native users than any other language in the world.

1.   What is the main topic of this passage?

Read the following passage and fill in the blank with a suitable word.

      Being able to speak English allows you to (1)                             effectively in numerous countries, and this opens up lots of possibilities for you in terms of the countries you could choose to seek (2)                          in one day – not to mention travel to as a tourist. You won’t have to worry about (3)                lost when you travel to an English-speaking country, as you’ll easily be able to ask for directions, and taking guided tours, ordering food and chatting to the locals will no (4)                           be a source of stress.

      What’s more, careers that involve lots of travel or international exposure, (5)         as the airline, tourism and film (6)                                   , use English as their (7)            language, and many employers in these sectors are likely to (8)                        evidence of a certain level of proficiency in English before they will consider (9)                             you. This means that if you can speak English, you’ll find that you have a greater number of possible careers to (10)                             from after you finish at university.

Read the passage carefully, then decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F)

      Canada is the world’s second largest country. Its population is not very large, however. About 25 million people live in Canada – less than half the population of Britain or France and only one thirtieth of the population of India. Canada is in North America and its capital is Ottawa. It is a rich country with a lot of natural resources. In southern Canada the land is very good for farming and Canada exports a lot of wheat. In the north there are magnificent forests. In the west there are some very high mountains called the Rockies. Canada also has many minerals such as petroleum, gas, copper and zinc. Canada was the first settled by French pioneers. In the eighteenth century there were wars between Britain and French, Canada came under British rule. Since 1931 Canada has been an independent member of the British Commonwealth. English and French are both official language in Canada.

1.   Canada is a densely populated country.                                                                                                                 _______

Activities at the market are also a(n)(9)                                 for tourists to study the cultural (10)                of southerners.

The main items (3)                 there are farm produce and specialties of neighboring areas.

Choose the word or phrase among A, B, C or D that best fits the blank space in the following passage.

      When visitors join in a (1)            of the Mekong Delta, they can visit Cai Rang Floating Market to see the river life. Cai Rang Floating Market is (2)                      all day but it is busiest from sunrise to about 9 a.m. The main items (3)                       there are farm produce and specialties of neighboring areas.

      During the early morning market hours, larger sized boats anchor and create lanes so that (4)                        boats can move into and out of. The waterway becomes a maze of hundreds of boats packed with mango, bananas, papaya, pineapple, and other goods. Sellers do not have (5)                                    their goods because their goods can be seen (6)       and their cries would not be heard in the vastness of the river and the river and the noise of boat engines. Sellers tie their goods to a tall pole (7)                       buyers can see from a distance (8)                       theyare selling. Each boat is loaded with plenty of seasonal goods. Activities at the market are also a(n)(9)                               for tourists to study the cultural (10)            of southerners.

All of the following are true about Kyoto EXCEPT that                               .

Read the passage, and choose the correct answer A, B, C or D.

      Fabrizio from Venice: Of course, there’s a lot to see in Venice. It’s one of the most famous cities in the world. First of all, there are the canals. We don’t have cars in Venice so you have to travel everywhere by canal. The most famous place in Venice is the square. St. Mark’s Square with St. Mark’s Cathedral. And there are lots of museums and palaces, and beautiful bridges, too.

      Yumi from Kyoto: For me, Kyoto is the most beautiful city in Japan. It’s also the oldest city. It has many old traditional buildings, and beautiful palaces, temples and gardens. The most famous temple is the Golden Pavilion. There are also very good markets, and also really good shops, and some beautiful modern buildings, too.

      Murat from Istanbul: I think Istanbul is maybe the most beautiful city in the world, but of course I come from Istanbul! The city is built on hills around the Bosphoros, and so there arebeautiful views across the water. From the water, you can see mosques – the most famous is called the Blue Mosque – and palaces and bridges. Istanbul also has a very famous market called the Grand Bazaar. But these days we also have many modern shopping centres and modern buildings and hotels. It’s really a fantastic city.

      Claudia from Rio de Janeiro: Rio is one of the most exciting cities in South America ... first of course we have our famous beach, the Copacabana, and there are many mountains around Rio – the most famous is the Sugar Plum Mountain where you can see a big statue of Christ, and of course we have our famous stadium... the Macarana stadium, maybe the most famous football stadium in the world ... it’s really a great place.

      Marina from St. Petersburg: You’ll really love St. Petersburg because there are so many things to see. The most famous is the Winter Palace, where the Tsars lived, and the Hermitage Museum which is a fantastic art gallery, and we have a very beautiful river too, the River Neva, and of course churches and cathedrals. There is so much to see!

1.   The place(s) that Fabrizio recommends coming to in Venice most must be             .

Choose the word or phrase among A, B, C or D that best fits the blank space in the following passage.

MY EXPERIENCE ON AN ELEPHANT SAFARI

      We went on an elephant safari at a place (1)                   Camp Jabulani inSouth Africa. They take visitors on safaris twice a day: once in the morning and once at night. Guests can go on as many rides as they like, but they don’t (2)                    you ride an elephant if you are younger than twelve years old. Luckily, I’m fifteen! On our first safari, I felt really scared. I remember thinking we could have gone on a beach holiday instead! As I was climbing onto the elephant, I wondered how I was going to control (3)                a big animal. I soon (4)                                 that I ought not to have worried so much. They made you sit with an experienced elephant trainer. You can’t ride (5)       your own. During the trek, we saw giraffes, zebras, lions, and rhinos. My parents took a lot of photos. I would have taken photos myself but I’d (6)               my camera in my room. I can’t remember exactly how long the safaris lasted, but it must have been a couple of hours because we got (7)             just (8)            for lunch. We stayed at Camp Jubalani for three days and went on four elephant safaris. We could have gone on more than that, but on one of the days my mum wasn’t very well. Anyway, it was a (9)                        holiday. I’d definitely (10)                an elephant safari.

What did the boats on this canal carry?

In 1761, an artificial waterway opened. It joined a coal-mining area with the port of Manchester. This was England’s first man-made waterway, or ‘canal’. Soon the price of coal in this part of the country went down, and the owner of the Bridgewater canal became rich.

      In the late 18^th century landowners and businessmen built many new canals to make money. There was no canal plan for the country, but the canals completely changed the transport of heavy goods in England. Prices of factory goods went down because transport cost less than before. One horse could now pull 50 tons on a canal boat. Before, it could pull less than one ton on a road cart. The canal network was a very important part of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, but canals had only a short life. In the mid 19^th century, the new railways became the most modern form of transport.

      The men who built the canals were called ‘navvies’. They moved around country in groups from canal to canal. Ordinary people did not like the navvies, because they wore strange clothes, had no real homes, and because they often drank too much beer.

      The Nottingham and Beeston Canal had two parts. It opened in 1796 and was an important six-mile link in the Trent Navigation - a system of canals and rivers which joined the Midlands with the River Humber and the port of Hull. This carried goods from inland factories to the sea. Now it is no longer a working canal. It is a place for people who like walking or fishing.

1.   Why did the price of coal round Manchester decrease?

Read the following passage and fill in the blanks with the suitable words in the box.

      Trawl and tourism are very (1)                             to millions of people over the world. In every country you (2)                                 find people that work in travel and tourism. Some countries need the money (3)                                     tourism to help their people survive. It is (4)                                   for these places that travel and tourism continue to expand and bring money to their regions.

      However, travel and tourism have negative (5)                           . Planes, buses, boats and other means of (6)                        that carry travellers and tourist cause pollution. Moreover, some people do things on a holiday they would never think (7)                    doing at home. For example, many travellers use a lot of water and electricity when they stay in hotels.

      They forget to turn off the (8)                              or even leave televisions and air conditioning units on when they leave the room. On top of that, it is often difficult or impossible (9)                                     travellers to recycle items, so they end up leaving large amounts of waste behind. That’s (10)                           it isimportant for people to travel wisely and respect the places they visit.