Paragraph Completion Advanced Level Test – Quiz (Online Exercise With Answers) 3

We owe the name and the concept of Atlantis to Plato. It was first mentioned in his dialogues Timaeus and Critias, where he claims to be reporting a conversation that had taken place between his ancestor, Solon, and an Egyptian priest. The dialogues tell us the overwhelming of a culture by a catastrophe which by modern chronology would have occurred about 9600 BC, at the end of the last Ice Age. _____. Therefore, it’s hard for archaeologists to believe that it’s fictitious and this has given rise to a host of speculations about where Atlantis might have been and even to expeditions aiming to discover, vestiges of the civilisation itself.

Every year about two and a half million animals are used in scientific experiments in Britain. The number has fallen in the last few years but it still provokes the vigorous opposition of defenders of animal rights. The scientists who carry out the experiments justify them by the argument that thousands of people owe their lives to medicines and techniques first evaluated and made safe by animal testing; in their opinion, the benefit for humanity outweighs the inevitable suffering inflicted on animals. _____. Their contention is that animals have feelings, like us, which ought to be respected.

______. It’s a piece of paper listing previous qualifications and experience. Increasing reliance on paper qualifications and the multiplication of the number of qualifications now available have led to a situation where this particular qualifications list and its presentation are an essential first step towards getting one’s foot in the door of a job.

Cosmology is the scientific inquiry into what the universe is like. By making assumptions that are not contradicted by the behaviour of the observable universe, scientists build models, or theories, that attempt to describe the universe as a whole, including its origin and its future. _____. Then the model must be modified or discarded. Cosmologists usually assume that the universe, except for small irregularities, has an identical appearance to all observers. This unproven concept is called the cosmological principle.

While it can be argued that the early Victorians invented Christmas, reinvented would be a more accurate expression. _____. In fact, the idea that Christmas should be a time for feasting and merrymaking can be traced back to pagan festivals like the Roman Saturnalia, predating Christianity itself, and the traditional Christmas pudding, containing nuts and raisins, was already on the menu two hundred years ago. The family in a Christmas Carol were following tradition in having goose for their dinner, though turkey has now taken its place as the cornerstone of the feast.

“Aborigines” are the first or original inhabitants of a country. The Australian Aborigines have been living in Australia for over 40,000 years. At one stage in their history, there were possibly over a million Aborigines. _____. Today, only about 100,000 survive. Although some still lead a traditional life in the remote and desert areas of the Australian outback, many now live in poor conditions in cities and towns.

Before a child is 14 years old, he or she views 11 thousand murders on TV. He or she begins to believe that there is nothing strange about fights, killings, and other kinds of violence. Many studies show that people become more violent after watching a certain program. They may even do the things that they saw in a violent program. _____. After it appeared on TV in the United States, twenty-nine people tried to kill themselves in a way similar to an event in the film.

Most of the world is changing rapidly. However, some North American Indian leaders - called elders - do not want to give up traditions, their old ways. Technology does not impress them. Progress is not always good. _____. Therefore, they keep the stories, the religion, and the traditions alive.

_____. Wherever they go, people turn out in the thousands to greet them. The crowds go wild trying to catch a brief glimpse of their smiling, colourfully dressed idols. They transported in their chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royces, private permanent entourage of managers, press agents, and bodyguards. Photographs of them appear regularly in the press and all their comings and goings are reported, because, like royalty, they are news.

For many years, people living in remote areas relied on the sears or Montgomery Word’s catalogues to purchase the necessities of life. These “wish books” as they were often called helped people improve the quality of their lives. Nowadays, every household in the country receives a barrage of various catalogues selling everything from electric golf cards to padded coat hangers. _____. But so often these items are just superfluous, absurd trifles.

Many people assume that music is mediated solely in the right brain. That is not so. It is true that the right brain recognizes chords and melodies and seems to mediate pure and slow tones. _____. Fast music, such as bluegrass, requires judgements about sequencing and rhythm, and for this, the left hemisphere lends its services.

A wise person thinks about the results of simple actions. He or she thinks beyond the situation and into the future. Part of being wise is intelligence. _____. In this way, he or she can easily communicate with people. A wise person is also someone who mulls causes and outcomes of his or her movements over is a wise.

In almost all major cities of the world, there are homeless people. _____. Most of them do not have jobs because of the bad economic situation in the country. Their families can no longer take care of them because of the bad economy, so they live on the streets. Taking care of these homeless people is a serious problem because of their increasing numbers in many cities and countries.

Gasoline comes from oil; oil is the raw material from the Earth that is used for many important products. _____. In other words, petroleum is a nonrenewable resource. When the supply of this important raw material is gone, there will be no more.

______. For example, customers see advertisements in magazines and newspapers. They often see television ads or hear ads on the radio. The signs along roads are advertisements. It is not unusual for people to get advertisements in the mail. However, manufacturers are always looking for the best form of advertising. They know that the best ads demonstrate products.

______. In neurotic anxiety, the person fears that his instincts will get out of control and cause him to behave in ways that will be punished. In moral anxiety, the person feels conscience-stricken or quality about unacceptable things that he feels he has done or even contemplates. Both neurotic and moral anxiety are derivatives of reality anxiety, the fear of real dangers in the external world.

_____. However, new technology may soon make this possible. Cars will have computers to tell drivers which roads have the least traffic. That way the drivers will not waste time in traffic jams. There will also be less pollution because the car engines will be running less. These new cars will be known as “smart cars.”

One hundred and thirteen million Americans have at least one bank-issued credit card. _____. They give their owners automatic credit in stores, restaurants, and hotels, at home, across the country, and even abroad, and they make many banking services available as well. More and more of these credit cards have magnetic strips on the back which can be read by automatic tellers, making it possible to withdraw or deposit money whether or not the local branch bank is open.

When people first began to try to fly in the 18th century, they used hot-air balloons. However, it was not really possible to control the balloons. They went wherever the wind was blowing. The idea of a real flying machine remained a dream for a long time to come. _____. That year Wilbur and Orville Wright made their first successful flight in an aeroplane.

In order to answer some questions about life, we have to consider the different development rates of various animals. We know, for example, that mammalian lifespans vary from a few weeks to more than a century. But is this a “real” distinction in terms of a mammal’s own perception of time and rate? Does a rat really live “less” than an elephant? ___. The heart beats more rapidly and metabolism proceeds at a greatly quick rate. In fact, for several criteria of relative time, all mammals live about the same amount.

______. Because of this, they were known as “prize-fighters”. However, boxing was very crude, for there were no rules and a prize-fighter could be seriously injured or even killed during a match.

Editors of newspapers and magazines often go to extremes to provide their readers with unimportant facts and statistics. Last year a journalist had been instructed by a well-known magazine to write an article on the president’s palace in a new African republic. _____. The article began: “Hundreds of steps lead to the high wall which surrounds the president’s palace.” The editor at once sent the journalist a telegram instructing him to find out the exact number of steps and the height of the wall.

Pumas are large, cat-like animals that are found in America. When reports came into London Zoo that a wild puma had been spotted forty-five miles south of London, they were not taken seriously. _____. Because the descriptions given by people who claimed to have seen the puma were extraordinarily similar.

There was a time when the owners of shops and businesses in Chicago had to pay large sums of money to gangsters in return for “protection”. If the money was not paid promptly, the gangsters would quickly put a man out of business by destroying his shop. _____. As long ago as the fourteenth ' century, an Englishman, Sir John Hawkwood, made the remarkable discovery that people would rather pay large sums of money than have their work destroyed by gangsters.

_____. She was carrying 1316 passengers and a crew of 891. Even by modern standards, the 66.000 ton. She was a colossal ship. At that time, however, she was not only the largest ship that had ever been built but was regarded as unsinkable, for she had sixteen watertight compartments. Even if two of these were flooded, she would still be able to float. The tragic sinking of this great liner will always be remembered, for she went down on her first voyage with heavy loss of life.