A. AT LEAST B. ALTERNATIVELY C. ADDITIONALLY D. ALWAYSREAD THE FOLLOW...

35: A. At least B. Alternatively C. Additionally D. AlwaysRead the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicatethe correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks from 36 to 42.Education is an issue which concerns many people in the UK as well as round the world. InEngland, Wales and Northern Ireland pupils sit GCSE (General Certificate in Secondary Education)exams followed 2 years later by A (Advanced) levels. Pupils in Scotland follow a different system,finishing their time at school with the Higher Leaving Certificate. One particular worry - why areboys doing so badly?Some twenty years ago, the performance of girls and boys in class was compared. Boys scoredbetter in exams, so various measures were introduced to improve the performance of girls, includinghaving single sex girl-only classes. Now, the situation is reversed, with girls consistently out-performing boys.So, what has gone wrong with boys, and what can be done about it? John Dunsford, leader ofthe association of head teachers of secondary schools, says that that the academic failure of boys is aproblem which has its roots in society rather than the classroom. Girls, more than boys, seeeducation as a passport to a good job. On the other hand, according to Penny Lewis, a head teacher,young men lack confidence, which they hide with a show of bravado. They’re uncertain about theirplace in society. Some boys grow up in families where there is no male role model to follow.Moreover, boys may learn in a different way to girls, preferring small amounts of work withimmediate deadlines rather than large projects stretching into the distance. And education is not seenas“cool”.As one contributor to a BBC website put it, “Girls achieve more at school because they arewatching the future while the boys are watching the girls.”This is not just a problem in Britain. In a study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperationand Development and UNESCO, girls out-performed boys at reading at the age of 15 in all 45countries. The UK ranks ninth out of the 45 countries for reading despite the fact that pupils in theUK spend less time reading than in most other countries. Interestingly, the study suggested thatBritish children read for pleasure more often than those in other countries.(Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/news/britain/education.shtml)Question 36: Which of the following is true according to the passage?A. Boys have always scored better in exams than girls.B. Boys pay too much attention to girls to learn well at school.C. Boys don’t do well at school because of what happens in class.D. Boys prefer to work on large projects.Question 37: What does the author mean by the phrase “see education as a passport” in thepassage?A. Girls try their best to avoid drifting out of school without qualifications and be better atsocializing.B. Girls see education as a means of broading their knowledge and exposuring to diversecultures.C. Girls regard education as a way of enabling them to go further and do more in life.D. Girls think that learning is the key to the opportunity to go to many countries in the world.Question 38: Some boys are not sure of themselves because of ______.A. their lack of family support B. their financial capabilityC. their low self-esteem D. their family situationsQuestion 39: What does the word“cool”in the passage mostly mean?A. interesting B. unattractive C. fashionable D. pricelessQuestion 40: The phrase“a show of bravado”in the passage refers to ______.A. their lack of confidence at work B. showing what they think or they tend to doC. doing things which make them appearcourageous D. expressing their support and appreciationQuestion 41: It is stated in the passage that _______.A. Now that girls have drawn ahead, schools are working hard to raise boys’ achievementB. Boys achieve better results than girls at GCSE and A-levelC. Nowadays, boys’ educational success reflects wider social changesD. Girls are much more likely to go to university and are expecting to take the better-paid jobsQuestion 42: Which of the following could best serve as the title of passage?A. Differences in learning style between girls and boys in classB. Closing the gender gap in our schoolsC. The UK succeeds in advancing in global school rankingsD. How to change the process of teaching in schoolsthe correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks from 43 to 50.The economic growth that many nations in Asia and increasingly Africa have experienced overthe past couple of decades has transformed hundreds of millions of lives – almost entirely for thebetter. But there’s a byproduct to that growth, one that’s evident – or sometimes less than evident –in the smoggy, smelly skies above cities like Beijing, New Delhi and Jakarta. Thanks to new cars andpower plants, air pollution is bad and getting worse in much of the world, and it’s taking a majortollon global health.How big? According to a new analysis published in the Lancet, more than 3.2 million peoplesuffered deaths from air pollution in 2010, the largest number on record. That’s up from 800,000 in