GENERAL ENGLISH FOR POLY ENTRANCE PREPARATION

MID-TERM TEST
SECTION A

(Questions 1-15) Complete the sentences. (15 minutes)

1. The widespread use of oil and gas to make chemicals 7. ______ lay its eggs in the sand on the beach that it
______ during the 1920s. goes back to the sea.
(A) has begun (A) No sooner a turtle does
(B) began (B) A turtle does not sooner
(C) beginning (C) Does no sooner a turtle
(D) begun (D) No sooner does a turtle

2. _____ sitka spruce a hundred years to grow eleven 8. Thomas Malthus claimed that disease, war, famine,
inches. and _____ act as checks on population growth.
(A) It takes (A) moral restraining
(B) To take (B) morally restrain
(C) By taking (C) moral restraint
(D) That takes (D) by moral restraint

3. The photos of the American Civil War made by 9. A silkworm has glands that secrete a liquid that
Matthew Brady and his assistants rank ______ finest hardens into silk ______ comes into contact with air.
war pictures of all time. (A) as it
(A) the (B) when
(B) in the (C) that
(C) between the (D) it
(D) among the
10. ______ tilted toward the sun, the more heat it
4. Apart from Pluto, the outer planets ______ the inner receives and the hotter it is.
planets and are made mainly of lighter materials such as (A) As more as the earth is
hydrogen and helium. (B) The more the earth is
(A) are larger than (C) The earth is more than
(B) are the largest (D) The earth is most
(C) larger than
11. ______ used for making decisions in the business
(D) are large
would, but also for forecasting and painting.
5. ______ was lowered to the sea bed in a glass (A) Not only are computers
container to make observations is debated. (B) Computers are
(A) Alexander the Great who (C) Not only computers are
(B) Whether Alexander the Great (D) Only computers are
(C) Alexander the Great
12. Fungi do not absorb sunlight but use animals and
(D) What Alexander the Great
plants, ______ dead and living, as their source of food.
6. ______ the 1987 supernova was so near, (A) furthermore
astronomers were able to study it carefully. (B) both
(A) Although (C) together
(B) Since (D) besides
(C) It was
(D) As it was

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13. ______ over long distances is a fact. 15. The Olympic Games are held every four years in a
(A) That electricity can be transmitted selected country, and ____ to athletes of all nations.
(B) That electricity transmitting (A) they are opened
(C) That electricity (B) are opened
(D) That can be transmitted (C) they are open
(D) it is open
14. The thyroid gland, ______ is located in the neck.
(A) where the hormone thyroxine is produced
(B) where produced is the hormone thyroxine
(C) the hormone thyroxine is produced there
(D) at which is produced the hormone thyroxine

(Questions 16-20) Read the following passage and answer the questions. (15 minutes)

The first black literature in America was not written but was preserved in an oral tradition, in a rich body of folklore,
songs and stories, many from African origins. There are humorous tales, Biblical stories, animal stories, and stories of
natural phenomena, of good and bad people, and of the wise and foolish. Many reflect how African Americans viewed
themselves and their lives. The lyrics of blues, spirituals, and work songs speak of suffering and hope, joy and pain, loved
ones, and religious faith, and are an integral part of the early literature of black people in America.

The earliest existing written black literature was Lucy Terry’s poem “Bars Fight”, written in 1746. Other eighteenth-
century black poets include Jupiter Hammon and George Moses Horton. The first African American to publish a book in
American was Phillis Wheatley. Black poetry also flourished in the nineteenth-century, during which the writings of
almost forty poets were printed, the most notable of whom was Paul Laurence Dunbar, the first black American to
achieve national acclaim for his work. Dunbar published eight volumes of poetry and eight novels and collections of
stories.

More than three dozen novels were written by blacks between 1853 and 1899, but autobiography dominated African-
American literature in the nineteenth-century, as it had in the eighteenth. In the twentieth century, however, fiction has
presided, with Charles W. Chestnutt, America’s first black man of letters, successfully bridging the two centuries. He
began publishing short fiction in the mid-1880s, wrote two books that appeared in 1899, and had three books published
between 1900 and 1905. He was a pioneer of the “new literature” of the early 1900s, which aimed to persuade readers
of the worth and equality of African Americans.

16. What does the passage mainly discuss?

A. The history of African-Americans in America
B. The first written African-American literature was published in 1800s
C. The origin and developments of black literature in America
D. The forms of literature that dominate America in the medieval era.

17. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage as part of the oral tradition of African Americans?
A. Humorous tales
B. Tales of adventure
C. Biblical stories
D. Animal stories

18. According to the passage, an important part of early African-American literature was
A. Novels
B. Short fiction stories
C. Biographies
D. Songs

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19. According to the passage, what form dominated African-American literature in the nineteenth century?
A. Poetry
B. Novels
C. Autobiography
D. Fiction

20. According to the passage, Charles W. Chestnutt was one the first writer to

A. Write about the suffering of African Americans

B. Publish short fiction in the early 1990s
C. Write persuasively about the worth of African Americans
D. Dominate the African-American literature tradition

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 GENERAL ENGLISH FOR POLY ENTRANCE PREPARATION
MID-TERM TEST
SECTION B

(Questions 1-15) Complete the sentences. (15 minutes)

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(Questions 16-20) Read the following passage and answer the questions. (15 minutes)

Line Red Rock Canyon, part of the Red Rock Recreation Lands in Nevada, is an escarpment of Crimson
Aztec sandstone cliffs and canyon walls that reveal the geologic history of the area. Bands of sediment layers
tell of a deep sea bed that 400 million years ago rose eastward to shoreline in present-western Utah. As the
ancient sea grew progressively more shallow, about 225 million years ago, marine limestone and shales were
overlaid by
5 sediments washed in from emerging land areas. As water in the shallow inland seas evaporated, salts and
minerals were deposited in thick beds and fluctuating shorelines created intermixed beds of limestone.
Shales, and minerals. Sediments from this period gave the canyon its name. Their red color was created from
the weathering of iron compounds within. About 180 million years ago the area became arid and was
covered in sand dunes more than 2,000 feet deep, which became cemented into the Aztec sandstone that is
prominent in
10 the canyon today. Its alternating hues of red, yellow and white are believed to have resulted from ground
water percolating through the sand and leaching out the oxidized iron.
The most significant geologic feature of the area is the Keystone Thrust fault, a fracture in the
earth’s crust. Sixty-five million years ago, intense pressure thrust one rock plate over another, a
phenomenon that can clearly be seen in the contrasting bands of gray limestone and red sandstone, where
the gray limestone cap is
15 actually older than the sandstone beneath it. The Keystone is one of the most easily identifiable thrust faults
to be found anywhere.

16. With what topic is the passage mainly concerned?

A. The creation of the Keystone Thrust Fault
B. How Red Rock Canyon acquired its name
C. The formation of Aztec sandstone
D. The geologic history of Red Rock Canyon

17. In line 15, the word “identifiable” could best be replaced by which of the following?
A. Observable
B. Significant
C. Discovered
D. Created

18. According to the passage, the red of the canyon walls is primarily a result of
A. Groundwater percolating through the sand
B. The weathering of iron compounds
C. The evaporation of the inland sea
D. Intense pressure on rock plates

19. According to the passage, when did Red Rock Canyon become dry?
A. 400 million years ago
B. 225 million years ago
C. 180 million years ago
D. 65 million years ago

20. According to the passage, all of the following remained after the sea evaporated EXCEPT
A. Shale
B. Sandstone
C. Limestone
D. minerals

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 GENERAL ENGLISH FOR POLY ENTRANCE PREPARATION
MID-TERM TEST
SECTION C

(Questions 1-20) Complete the sentences. (20 minutes)

1. Would you _______ my dog for me this weekend?

9. Choose the best word that can be replaced DECIDE
A. look A. equivocate
B. look after B. waver
C. look up C. choose
2. My neighbor _______ eggs yesterday. D. stay

A. ran 10. Choose the word that is most nearly opposite in

B. ran out of meaning to the word EVERYDAY
C. ran into A. eerie
B. unruly
3. John _______ his leg at the baseball game.
C. routine
A. broke D. tedious
B. broke down
C. broke off 11. Choose the word that is most nearly opposite in
meaning to the word DEMOLISH
4. Our boss _______ our meeting until next week. A. raze
A. put B. impair
B. put off C. generate
C. put down D. elevate
12. Choose the word that is most nearly opposite in
5. Could you _______ the music while I'm on the meaning to the word UNSETTLED
phone? A. vague
A. turn B. indeterminate
B. turn off C. straightforward
C. turn around D. conclusive

6. I don't _______ my new science teacher. 13. Choose the best word that can be replaced TEACH
A. learn
A. get up
B. appeal
B. get over
C. uphold
C. get on with
D. endure
7. We both _______ meeting your new girlfriend. E. educate
A. look
14. Choose the best word that can be replaced
B. look up
ESTABLISH
C. look forward to
A. destroy
8. Choose the word that is most nearly opposite in B. build
meaning to the word UNAPPROACHABLE C. construct
A. casual D. create
B. impenetrable 15. Choose the best word that can be replaced FLY
C. unclear A. act
D. accessible B. soar
C. relax
D. bow

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 19. Choose the best word that can be replaced CRACK
16. Choose the word that is most nearly opposite in A. unify
meaning to the word UNKNOWN B. fix
A. celebrated C. separate
B. secret D. break
C. exotic
D. successful 20. Choose the best word that can be replaced NAME
17. Choose the word that is most nearly opposite in A. announce
meaning to the word MINIMUM B. number
A. valley C. say
B. median D. label
C. apex
D. mean
18. Choose the word that is most nearly opposite in
meaning to the word BIASED
A. inclined
B. disastrous
C. neutral
D. unfair