Many scientists believe our love of sugar may actually be an addiction. When we eat or drink sugary foods, the sugar enters our blood and affects parts of our brain that make us feel good. Then the good feeling goes away, leaving us wanting more. All tasty foods do this, but sugar has a particularly strong effect. In this way, it is in fact an addictive drug, one that doctors recommend we all cut down on.

"It seems like every time I study an illness and trace a path to the first cause, I find my way back to sugar," says scientist Richard Johnson. One- third of adults worldwide have high blood pressure, and up to 347 million have diabetes. Why? "Sugar, we believe, is one of the culprits, if not the major culprit," says Johnson.

Our bodies are designed to survive on very little sugar. Early humans often had very little food, so our bodies learned to be very efficient in storing sugar as fat. In this way, we had energy stored for when there was no food. But today, most people have more than enough. So the very thing that once saved us may now be killing us.

So what is the solution? It's obvious that we need to eat less sugar. The trouble is, in today's world, it's extremely difficult to avoid. From breakfast cereals to after-dinner desserts, our foods are increasingly filled with it. Some manufacturers even use sugar to replace taste in foods that are advertised as low in fat.

But there are those who are fighting back against sugar. Many schools are replacing sugary desserts with healthier options like fruit. Other schools are growing their own food in gardens, or building facilities like walking tracks so students and others in the community can exercise. The battle has not yet been lost. 

According to the passage, why is it so hard to avoid sugar? 

A. We like candy too much

B. It gives us needed energy. 

C. It's in so many foods and drinks. 

D. We get used to eating it at school. 

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 30 to 34.

As heart disease continues to be the number-one killer in the United States, researchers have become increasingly interested in identifying the potential risk factors that trigger heart attacks. High-fat diets and „life in the fast lane” have long been known to contribute to the high incidence of heart failure. But according to new studies, the list of risk factors may be significantly longer and quite surprising.

Heart failure, for example appears to have seasonal and temporal patterns. A higher percentage of heart attacks occur in cold weather, and more people experience heart failure on Monday than on any other day of the week. In addition, people are more susceptible to heart attacks in the first few hours after waking. Cardiologists first observed this morning phenomenon in the mid-1980s and have since discovered a number of possible causes. An early-morning rise in blood pressure, heart rate, and concentration of heart-stimulating hormones, plus a reduction of blood flow to the heart, may all contribute to the higher incidence of heart attacks between the hours of 8:00 A.M and 10 A.M.

In other studies, both birthdays and bachelorhood have been implicated as risk factors. Statistics reveal that heart attack rates increase significantly for both females and males in the few days immediately preceding and following their birthdays. And unmarried men are more at risk for heart attacks than their married counterparts. Though stress is thought to be linked in some way to all of the aforementioned risk factors, intense research continues in the hope of further comprehending why and how heart failure is triggered.

In line 2, the word “potential” could best be replaced by which of the following?

A. possible 

B. harmful 

C. primary 

D. unknown 

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following questions

______, Joe was annoyed to find that he had left his key at the coffee shop.

A. After returned to his office 

B. To have just returned to his office 

C. Upon returning to his office 

D. Having been returned to his office 

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following questions

______, women are responsible for the chores in the house and taking care of the children.

A. With tradition

B. On tradition 

C. Traditional 

D. Traditionally 

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that is closest in meaning to each of the following questions

Some of Peter’s expressions make me think of my brother.

A. Some of Peter’s expressions remind me of thinking of my brother

B. Some of Peter’s expressions make me remember of my brother

C. Some of Peter’s expressions remind me of my brother

D. Some of Peter’s expressions remember me to my brother

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that best combines each pair of sentences in the following questions

His friends supported and encouraged him. He did really well in the competition.

A. If his friends had given him support and encouragement, he could have done really well in the competition

B. No matter how much his friends supported and encouraged him, he couldn't do well in the competition

C. Such were his friends' support and encouragement that he couldn't do really well in the competition

D. Had it not been for his friends' support and encouragement, he couldn't have done so well in the competition

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that best combines each pair of sentences in the following questions

His wife gave birth to their first child. He understood what true responsibility meant.

A. Never has he understood true responsibility before he became a parent himself

B. Were his first child not to be born, he wouldn’t understand true responsibility

C. Hardly had he understood true responsibility when their first child was born

D. Not until he became a parent did he understand what true responsibility meant

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the most suitable response to complete each of the following exchanges

Mr. Collin:“You’ve been making very good progress. I’m proud of you!”

-Brain:“_____”

A. No problem

B. Don’t worry about it!

C. Everything’s right. Thank you.

D. I really appreciate you saying that

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 35 to 42.

Washington was the first city in history to be created solely for the purpose of governance. Following the Revolution, members of Congress had hotly debated the question of a permanent home for themselves and for those departments – the Treasury, the Patent Office and so on – which even the sketchiest of central governments would feel obliged to establish. In 1790, largely in order to put an end to congressional bickering, George Washington was charged with selecting a site for the newly designated federal district. Not much to anyone’s surprise but to the disappointment of many he chose a tract of land on the banks of the Potomac River, a few miles upstream from his beloved plantation Mount Vernon.

The District of Columbia was taken in part from Virginia and in part from Maryland. At the time it was laid out, its hundred square miles consisted of gently rolling hills, some under cultivation and the rest heavily wooded, with a number of creeks and much swampy land along the Potomac. There is now a section of Washington that is commonly referred to as Foggy Bottom; that section bore the same nickname a hundred and eighty years ago.

Two ports cities, Alexandria and Georgetown, flourished within sight of the new capital and gave it access by ship to the most important cities of the infant nation – Charleston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Newport, Salem and Portsmouth – and also to the far-off ports of England and the Continent.

Which of the following does the word “it” in paragraph 2 refer to?

A. the District of Columbia

B. part 

C. Virginia 

D. Maryland 

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following questions

When ______ the 2018 Oscar for the best Actor in a Supporting Role, Sam Rockwell thanked his mom and dad for inspiring him with the love for movies

A. was awarded 

B. having awarded

C. awarding 

D. awarded