Scientists now tend to agree that the noise level for potential hearing loss begins at about 7 decibels. Some of them are very concerned because normal daily life often exposes people to nois levels of about 70 decibels even inside their homes. Cities have always been noisy, but noise is nm spreading to areas that were quiet just a few years ago.
   Clearly, something must be done or noise will seriously and permanently maim the populatior Fortunately, the knowledge and methods to control noise already exist. As a matter of fact, this i one instance where the knowledge of control methods exceeds the knowledge about the effects o human life and on the environment.
   There are two common means for control. The first is reducing noise at its source, and th second is changing the sound path by distance or by shielding.
   The second approach is being used more often today as people become more aware of th danger of noise. New building codes require better sound insulation in homes and apartments. Mor and more towns are passing zoning ordinances that try to segregate noisy factories or airports fro~ residential areas. Sound-absorbent materials and construction designed to block sound paths ar slowly coming into use in offices and homes. New highways are being built to redirect traffic nois up and away from nearby areas. Aircraft are increasingly being required to use reduced powe flights around airports.
   There are many examples of available noise control methods that are not being used. Mor flexible building codes would permit the use of quieter kinds of plumbing pipes. Sound-absorbint materials can reduce the noise of motors and engines. Power generators can be quieted with baffles exhaust silencers, and sound absorbers. Truck tires can be made with quieter treads. In many cases the cost of building quieter machines is the same or only slightly higher than that of the current noisy ones. Even though the new equipment may cost more initially, it can prove more profitable in the long run. The new jumbo jets, for example, are quieter than the older ones, yet they are more powerful and carry twice as many passengers.
   All of these methods are only partial measures as noisy levels continue to rise. Most specialists in the field agree that much of the solution must come from eliminating some of the noise at its source, therefore saving through prevention the large costs of hearing loss.

   Every time a person eats something he makes a nutritional decision. He accepts or rejects the food available to him at home for meals or snacks. Or he selects food for himself at many places in the community, such as supermarkets, drive-ins, restaurants, and food counters in drugstores. These selections make a difference in how an individual looks, how he feels, and how well he can work and play.
   When a good assortment of food in appropriate amounts is selected and eaten, the consequences are more likely to be a desirable level of health and enough energy to allow one to be as active as one needs and wants to be. When choices are less than desirable, the consequences are likely to be poor health or limited energy or both.
   Studies of diets of individuals in the United States show that food selection is a highly individual matter, even among young children. Furthermore, far too many individuals of all ages are making poor choices day after day and are either now living with the consequences or will be in the future.
   Nutritionists and workers in allied professions have been concerned about helping people learn to select and enjoy a wide variety of food combinations that can add up to a good diet.
   Most people believe that they are well fed--that the choices they make are good ones. After all, they are not really sick, neither are they hungry. However, their nutrition is usually poor in one respect or another. Milk and milk products, such as cheeses, ice cream or milk, buttermilk, and yogurt, are often slighted. Then people may skip many fruits and vegetables, particularly those that are good sources of vitamins A and C. These include dark green leafy vegetables; deep yellow vegetables; and citrus fruits and vegetables, such as cabbage, tomatoes, and green peppers.
   Every American has the right to choose to be uninformed about nutrition as well as to be informed. If a person believes that she is well fed, attitudes, habits, and information cannot be forced upon her.
   There are life situations, however, that tend to cause all individual to want to know how to make the best choices. For example, a young couple is starting a family and must prepare food for young children.

   Almost since the beginning of mankind, govemments have been recording the numbers of their populace. The first known census report took place in 3800 B. C. in Babylonia for the purpose of deciding who should pay taxes. As time went by, governments found other, more creative uses for knowing their numbers. Egyptian King Ramses Ⅱ used the census not only to determine who should pay taxes, but also to figure out how to divide land for farming and to decide who could provide manpower for various government projects. These new ideas came about in the mid-1200s-B.C.
   William the Conqueror brought the concept of census taking to England in 1085. All landowners were required to name their holdings for the purpose of taxation. By the fifteenth century, Tudor kings found a new twist to the Egyptians' use of the census. They too used the population count as a means of getting ready manpower for important government project, namely, replenishing troops in the ongoing battles in western Europe.
   A rebellious tide swept over England, however, in the mid-1700s. A bill to authorize a regular census was defeated in Parliament on the grounds that it would give valuable information to England's enemies. But the tide of rebellion soon turned, and in 1800 England established its first regular census.
   Meanwhile the United States had already had an ongoing census for ten years. It was authorized in the Constitution for the purpose of deciding how many members of Congress would be needed for a fair representation of the American people. The constitutional article also established that the census would be taken in 1790 and every ten years thereafter. And so it has.
   Since its beginning, the American census has gone through many changes. Today the census provides more than a count of the people who live here. It takes polls on transportation, economic planning, and agriculture. The census also provides data for most government agency statistics, such as the unemployment rate.
   Counting costs have risen since 1790. The government spent about a penny per person to count post-Revolutionary Americans. Today the census costs $ 250 million--more than a dollar per person. That's a long way since 3800 B.C.

   It didn't happen overnight. The problem of polluted air has been festering for centuries.
   Suddenly the problem of air pollution is becoming critical and is erupting right before our eyes Not only do our eyes burn as they focus through murky air, but when the air clears, we see trees and vegetation dying. We must realize that this destruction can no longer be pinned to some mysterious cause. The one major culprit is air pollution.
   Today's air pollution is an unfortunate by-product of the growth of civilization. Civilized mall desires goods that require heavy industrialization and mass production. Machines and factories sometimes pollute and taint the air with substances that are dangerous to man and the environment. These substances include radioactive dust, salt spray, herbicide and pesticide aerosols, liquid droplets of acidic matter, gases, and sometimes soil particles. These materials can act alone to irritate objects and forms of life. More dangerously, they join together to act upon the environment. Only lately have we begun recognizing some of their dangerous consequences.
   Scientists have not yet been able to obtain a complete report on the effects of air pollution on trees. They do know, however, that sulfur dioxide, fluorides, and ozone destroy trees and that individual trees respond differently to the numerous particulate and gaseous pollutants. Sometimes trees growing in a single area under attack by pollutants will show symptoms of injury or will die while their neighbors remain healthy. Scientists believe this difference in response depends on the kind of tree and its genetic makeup. Other factors, such as the tree's stage of growth and nearness to the pollution source, the amount of pollutant, and the length of the pollution attack also play a part. In short, whether or not a tree dies as a result of air pollution depends on a combination of host and environmental factors.
   For the most part, air pollutants injure trees. To conifers, which have year-round needles, air pollution causes early balding. In this event, trees cannot maintain normal food production levels. Undernourished and weakened, they are open to attack by a host of insects, diseases, and other environmental stresses. Death often follows.
   Air pollution may also cause hardwoods to lose their leaves. Because their leaves are borne only for a portion of the year and are replaced the following year, air pollution injury to hardwoods may not be so severe.

Hidden hotel costs can be a source of frustration to the frugal traveler.
   A. careful          B. clever           C. ignorant         D. economical

Thick with trees and sparse with homes, this tranquil area 50 miles north of Houston could be a slice of heaven.
   A. molten          B. serene           C. isolated         D. snobbish

Accommodations must be made for students with learning disabilities.
   A. criminal         B. pump            C. psychology       D. lodgings

History was being catalogued here, the missed opportunities, blunders, and outright mistakes.
   A. attempts         B. insults           C. mistakes         D. arguments

The press mocked his attempts to appeal to young voters.
   A. ridiculed         B. entertained       C. ignored          D. drew

The federal court has been putting pressure on the state to adhere to the population caps in the decree.
   A. encounter       B. stick to          C. prepare          D. anticipate

Widespread wage reductions were imposed during the recession of 1906--1909 and price inflation thereafter impeded the recovery of real wage levels.
   A. convoluted       B. belied           C. encumbered      D. stoked

Helplessly she blinked up at him, feeling a slow lethargy creep through her whole body.
   A. provision        B. cylinder         C. contradiction     D. exhaustion

The attack was meticulously planned and executed.
   A. negligently       B. slovenly         C. fussily           D. discreetly

At the same time, medical and social science research began to indicate that retirement itself had detrimental effects.
   A. damaging       B. magnificent      C. useful           D. relevant

The batteries can be recharged when they run______
   A. over            B. down           C. out             D. along

The rioters headed downtown, ______ they attacked city hall.
   A. since            B. as               C. whereupon       D. yet

Monday's earthquake ______ windows and woke residents.
   A. slammed        B. prosecuted       C. rattled          D. pierced

Environmentalists ______ that it will not be easy to persuade car drivers to use their vehicles less often.
   A. deliver          B. deserve          C. contrast          D. concede

Lately, the restaurant chain, which______ mainly to blue-collar diners, has been hurt by competition.
   A. caters           B. fabricates        C. facilitates        D. flees

The nation ______ the death of its great war leader.
   A. protruded       B. lamented        C. rebuked         D. racked

The report ______ poor safety standards for the accident.
   A. blames          B. charges         C. complains       D. accuses

The new school building is ______ completion.
   A. nearlyto        B. close to         C. almost at        D. just about at

Walking is excellent for working ______ tension.
   A. out             B. away            C. down            D. off

Any negative statements and accusations made should be ______ and forthrightly answered, preferably at the level on which they originate.
   A. promptly        B. thoroughly       C. punctually       D. exactly

It is not long since conditions in the mines were worse than they are now. There are still  61   a few very old women who in their youth have worked  62  , with harness round their waists, and a chain  63  passed between their legs, crawling on all  64  and dragging tugs of coal. They used to go on  65  this even when they were pregnant.
   And  66  now, if coal could not be produced without pregnant women dragging it  67   and fro, I fancy we should let them do it  68  than deprive ourselves of coal. But most of the time, of course, we should  69  to forget that they were doing it. It is the  70  with all types of manual work; it keeps us alive, and we are oblivious of its existence. More than anything  71  perhaps, the miner can stand as the type of manual worker, not only because it is so vitally necessary and  72   so  73  that we are capable  74  forgetting it as we forget the blood in our veins. In  75  way it is even humiliating to watch coal-miners working. It raises in you a momentary doubt  76  your own status as an "intellectual" and a superior person generally. For it is brought  77  to you, at least while you are watching, that it is only  78  miners sweat their guts out  79  superior persons can  80  superior.

41. 
A. alive        B  living            C. walking          D. breathing

42. 
A. underground B  above           C. below           D. late

43. 
A. it         B  this            C. who           D. that

44. 
A. limbs       B  fours            C. legs             D. bodies

45. 
A. making     B  working         C. do              D. doing

46. 
A. just        B  even            C  right            D. well

47. 
A. from        B  for              C  to               D. at

48. 
A. rather      B  more            C  would           D. less

49. 
A. ask         B  prefer           C  make            D. willing

50. 
A. same       B. what            C  so              D. that

51. 
A. more       B. beside           C  too             D. else

52. 
A. but         B. yet             C. however         D. also

53. 
A. efficient    B. silent           C. black           D. required

54. 
A. to         B. for             C. of             D. at

55. 
A. the         B. its              C. a               D. that

56. 
A. about      B. with            C. for             D. of

57. 
A. point       B. home           C. much           D. it

58. 
A. for         B. why            C. because         D. how

59. 
A. so          B. that             C. why             D. therefore

60. 
A. retain       B. do              C. remain          D. make

Two teams of astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have overturned several decades of conjecture and theory by ruling out the possibility that small, dim stars make up most of the mass in the universe.
   Until now, small stars known as faint red dwarfs were considered ideal candidates for the so-called "dark matter" that is believed to account for more than 90 percent of the mass of the universe.
   All visible celestial objects, such as planets, stars and galaxies, are believed to account for only 10 percent of the mass of the universe. The rest of the "missing mass" is presumably invisible because it does not emit or reflect light, or the light is too feeble to be detected. But dark matter can be indirectly detected due to its gravitational influence on other visible objects.
   According to Bacall, professor of natural science at the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey and leader of one of the teams, the nature of dark matter, and its abundance, are among the most important questions in modem cosmology today.
   The ultimate fate of the universe will be determined by the amount of dark matter present. If there is not enough dark matter to bind the universe together gravitationally, it could continue expanding forever. If there is enough mass to hold the universe together gravitationally, the universe may slow down its expansion, come to a halt and begin to contract and eventually collapse.

Directions: Write a composition of no less than 200 words on the following topic on the Answer Sheet(2): Opportunity and Success.