Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 67 to 76.

Ralph Earl was born into a Connecticut farm family in 1751. He chose early to become a painter and looked for what training was available in his home state an in Boston. Earl was one of the first American artists to paint landscapes. Among his first paintings were scenes from the Revolutionary war battles of Lexington and Concord In 1778 Earl went to London to study with Benjamin West for four years.

When Earl returned to the United States, he was jailed for fourteen months for outstanding debts. While still a prisoner, he painted portraits of some of New York City's most elegant society women and their husbands. After his release, he took up the trade of itinerant portrait painter, working his way through southern New England and New York. He didn't flatter his subjects, but his portrait show a deep understanding of them; perhaps he had sprung from the same roots.

Among Earl's most famous paintings is his portrait of Justice Oliver Ellsworth and his wife, Abigail. To provide counterpoint to the severity of the couple, he accurately details the relative luxury of the Ellsworth's interior furnishings. The view through the window behind them shows sun lit fields, well-kept fences, and a bend of the Connecticut River. One of Earl's paintings is something of anomaly. Reclining Hunter, which many years was attributed to Thomas Gainsborough, shows a well-dressed gentleman resting beneath a tree. In the foreground, he displays a pile of birds, the results of a day's hunt. The viewer can also see a farmer's donkey lying in the ground, another of the hunter's victims. This outrageously funny portrait couldn't have been commissioned - no one would have wanted to be portrayed in such an absurd way. However, this painting uncharacteristically shows Earl's wit as well as his uncommon technical skills.

Why does the author refer to Reclining Hunter as “something of anomaly”?

A. It is so severe

B. It was commissioned

C. It is quite humorous

D. It shows Earl's talent

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 67 to 76.

Ralph Earl was born into a Connecticut farm family in 1751. He chose early to become a painter and looked for what training was available in his home state an in Boston. Earl was one of the first American artists to paint landscapes. Among his first paintings were scenes from the Revolutionary war battles of Lexington and Concord In 1778 Earl went to London to study with Benjamin West for four years.

When Earl returned to the United States, he was jailed for fourteen months for outstanding debts. While still a prisoner, he painted portraits of some of New York City's most elegant society women and their husbands. After his release, he took up the trade of itinerant portrait painter, working his way through southern New England and New York. He didn't flatter his subjects, but his portrait show a deep understanding of them; perhaps he had sprung from the same roots.

Among Earl's most famous paintings is his portrait of Justice Oliver Ellsworth and his wife, Abigail. To provide counterpoint to the severity of the couple, he accurately details the relative luxury of the Ellsworth's interior furnishings. The view through the window behind them shows sun lit fields, well-kept fences, and a bend of the Connecticut River. One of Earl's paintings is something of anomaly. Reclining Hunter, which many years was attributed to Thomas Gainsborough, shows a well-dressed gentleman resting beneath a tree. In the foreground, he displays a pile of birds, the results of a day's hunt. The viewer can also see a farmer's donkey lying in the ground, another of the hunter's victims. This outrageously funny portrait couldn't have been commissioned - no one would have wanted to be portrayed in such an absurd way. However, this painting uncharacteristically shows Earl's wit as well as his uncommon technical skills.

Which of the following could be substituted for outstanding without changing the meaning of the sentence?

A. excellent

B. unpaid

C. illegal

D. shocking

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks from 25 to 29. Fill in the appropriate word in question 27

  Working as a novelist is not really a career like being a doctor or a scientist. Although a fewwell-known ones, like Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling, have become wealthy, most writers find it difficult even to make a living from their book sales. Novels take a long time towrite, and authors can get into financial (25) _____ if they don’t have money coming in regularly from another job. But for those determined to write novels, it is without (26)______ one of the most enjoyable kinds of work to do. The writer has to be creative, thinking up completely new stories, and (27) _____, meaning they put all their time and effort into their work. They also need to be able to cope in a crisis, as nobody else can write their book for them. For this, a good sense of (28)______ often helps. Or the thought that maybe their novel might one day be turned into a film and become a Hollywood (29) _____!

A. decided

B. delivered

C.  deliberate

D. dedicated

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or B on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 30 to 37.

  Many ants forage across the countryside in large numbers and undertake mass migrations; these activities proceed because one ant lays a trail on the ground for the others to follow. As a worker ant returns home after finding a source of food, it marks the route Line by intermittently touching its stinger to the ground and depositing a tiny amount of trail pheromone – a mixture of chemicals that delivers diverse messages as the context changes.

  These trails incorporate no directional information and may be followed by other ants in either direction. Unlike some other messages, such as the one arising from a dead ant, a food trail has to be kept secret from members of other species. It is not surprising then that ant species use a wide variety of compounds as trail pheromones. Ants can be extremely sensitive to these signals. Investigators working with the trail pheromone of the leafcutter ant Atta texana calculated that one milligram of this substance would suffice to lead a column of ants three times around Earth. The vapor of the evaporating pheromone over the trail guides an ant along the way,  and the ant detects this signal with receptors in its antennae. A trail pheromone will evaporate to furnish the highest concentration of vapor right over the trail, in what is called a vapor space. In following the trail, the ant moves to the right and left, oscillating from side to side across the line of the trail itself, bringing first one and then the other antenna into the vapor space. As the ant moves to the right, its left antenna arrives in the vapor space. The signal it receives causes it to swing to the left, and the ant then pursues this new course until its right antenna reaches the vapor space. It then swings back to the right, and so weaves back and forth down the trail.

The word “intermittently” in line 4 is closest in meaning to

A. periodically

B. incorrectly

C. rapidly

D. roughly

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 38 to 42.

  The biological community changes again as one moves from the city to the suburbs. Around all cities is a biome called the "suburban forest". The trees of this forest are species that are favored by man, and most of them have been deliberately planted. Mammals such as rabbits, skunks, and opossums have moved in from the surrounding countryside. Raccoons have become experts at opening garbage cans, and in some places even deer wander suburban thoroughfares. Several species of squirrel get along nicely in suburbia, but usually only one species is predominant in any given suburb - fox squirrels in one place, red squirrels in another, gray squirrels in a third - for reasons that are little understood. The diversity of birds in the suburbs is great, and in the South, lizards thrive in gardens and even houses. Of course, insects are always present. There is an odd biological sameness in these suburban communities. True, the palms of Los Angeles are missing from the suburbs of Boston, and there are species of insects in Miami not found in Seattle. But over wide stretches of the United States, ecological conditions in suburban biomes vary much less than do those of natural biome. And unlike the natural biomes, the urban and suburban communities exist in spite of, not because of, the climate.

Which of the following conclusions about squirrels is supported by information in the passage?

A. The competition among the three species is intense. 

B. Fox squirrels are more common than grey or red squirrels. 

C. Two species of squirrels seldom inhabit the same suburb. 

D. The reasons why squirrels do well in the suburbs are unknown

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 67 to 76.

Ralph Earl was born into a Connecticut farm family in 1751. He chose early to become a painter and looked for what training was available in his home state an in Boston. Earl was one of the first American artists to paint landscapes. Among his first paintings were scenes from the Revolutionary war battles of Lexington and Concord In 1778 Earl went to London to study with Benjamin West for four years.

When Earl returned to the United States, he was jailed for fourteen months for outstanding debts. While still a prisoner, he painted portraits of some of New York City's most elegant society women and their husbands. After his release, he took up the trade of itinerant portrait painter, working his way through southern New England and New York. He didn't flatter his subjects, but his portrait show a deep understanding of them; perhaps he had sprung from the same roots.

Among Earl's most famous paintings is his portrait of Justice Oliver Ellsworth and his wife, Abigail. To provide counterpoint to the severity of the couple, he accurately details the relative luxury of the Ellsworth's interior furnishings. The view through the window behind them shows sun lit fields, well-kept fences, and a bend of the Connecticut River. One of Earl's paintings is something of anomaly. Reclining Hunter, which many years was attributed to Thomas Gainsborough, shows a well-dressed gentleman resting beneath a tree. In the foreground, he displays a pile of birds, the results of a day's hunt. The viewer can also see a farmer's donkey lying in the ground, another of the hunter's victims. This outrageously funny portrait couldn't have been commissioned - no one would have wanted to be portrayed in such an absurd way. However, this painting uncharacteristically shows Earl's wit as well as his uncommon technical skills.

The word “he” refers to________.

A. the farmer

B. the hunter

C. Thomas Gainsborough

D. Ralph Earl