Paragraph Completion Advanced Level Test – Quiz (Online Exercise With Answers) 4

This year, oil exporters could haul in $700 billion from selling oil to foreigners. This includes not only the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) but also Russia and Norway, the world's second- and third-biggest earners. _____. In real terms, this is almost double their dollar surpluses in 1974 and 1980 when Russia's hard-currency exports were tiny.

“Information wants to be free,” according to a celebrated aphorism from the early days of the internet. ____. As search-engine firms and others unveil plans to place books online, publishers fear that the services may end up devouring their business, either by bypassing them or because the initiatives threaten to make their copyrights redundant.

Across the Himalayas, there is what seismologists call a “slip deficit”—a lack of earthquakes to release the stress that is known to be accumulating. _____. Nevertheless, Roger Bilham, of the University of Colorado, says it is doubtful that the Kashmir quake released more than one-tenth of the cumulative energy stored there. Furthermore, in the past half-century, the Himalayan region has seen fewer powerful earthquakes than might be predicted from historical records.

Two years after the end of the first world war, America passed the Jones Act. _____. The war had convinced lawmakers of the need to foster a home-grown fleet for use in times of conflict or national emergency. In 1944, while a more modern war still raged in Europe, governments meeting in Chicago took inspiration from the Jones Act while laying down the regulations that would govern international air transport. These were crafted to safeguard the vital strategic role of each country’s “flag carrying” national airline.

Benjamin Franklin, one of America’s founding fathers, wrote that “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” _____. What precisely are the essential liberties which, when given up, make a liberal society unworthy of the name? In Franklin’s own country, as well as in Britain, Australia and elsewhere, these questions are proving particularly vexing to policymakers trying to deal with terrorism.

For more than two weeks, France has been gripped by unrest that began in one suburb north-east of Paris, later spreading around the capital's periphery and to scores of cities across the country. In scenes that have rocked the country and are broadcast nightly on television, more than 6,000 vehicles have been set alight in nearly 300 towns; over 1,500 people have been arrested; one man has died. By Monday November 14th, the violence had subsided in many of the worst-hit areas, though incidents were still being reported across the country; on Sunday night, more than 280 vehicles were torched and 115 people arrested. _____.

In recent weeks, the world’s public health officials have been afflicted with a sort of pandemic of meetings about bird flu. _____. Plans were hatched for how best to respond to the threat from a virus that is threatening poultry around the world and which, it is feared, may trigger a pandemic of human flu.

The airlines are constantly pressing the manufacturers to produce large and medium-sized aircraft that can fly anywhere in the world non-stop. Gradually they are getting what they want, particularly with the latest Boeing and Airbus 250-300 seaters on the way. _____. If flights like that become common, Emirates, with its giant planes and global hub, would be flying in the face of conventional wisdom.

One of the more interesting ideas to emerge from America's soul-searching after the turn-of-the-century corporate scandals is that its leading business schools may have neglected to teach students about the moral dimension of being a CEO. _____. Harvard, Stanford and others have since scrambled to introduce business ethics classes, but for any aspiring boss not fortunate enough to attend.

_____. Iraq's former ruling minority had many reasons to dislike the document's contents -the federal system split the country, they said, and allowed oil revenues to be distributed unevenly to benefit the Shia- and now they have reason to contest its legitimacy. Even before the election, some American and British officials said they were dreading this kind of result, which could stoke rather than pacify the insurgency.

Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a common problem in the United States, with a prevalence of 52 per cent in men 40 to 70 years of age and an increase of 5 per cent per decade after 40 years of age. There seems to be a cure for the dysfunction. _____. Although improvements in sexual function appear to be related to quality of life, the relationship between quality of life and successful treatment of ED has been difficult to ascertain.

Like most students, Emily was juggling a full schedule of classes. But in the middle of her junior year, she became overwhelmed by her normal routine. She rarely went out. Now a 30-year-old retail analyst. "Even though my eating habits hadn't changed, I kept gaining weight." At first, she chalked it up to the winter blues. _____.

During the earliest stages of life, when an embryo consists of fewer than a dozen or so cells, _____. Each embryonic cell is, in the jargon of biologists, totipotent: It has the ability to give rise to cells that make up the eyes, the liver, the brain, or any other part of an adult animal. Yet as an embryo develops, cells lose this ability.

Jane Addams was a peacemaker even when she was criticized for her views. She taught, wrote, and lectured about peace both nationally and internationally. Before World War I, Addams was probably the most beloved woman in America. In a newspaper poll that asked, "Who among our contemporaries are of the most value to the community?" _____.

_____. Even as a young man, Patrick Henry had that kind of influence in the American Colonies. Born in 1736, Henry, a natural leader and a brilliant speaker, believed in individual rights and independence from the British government. As a young lawyer, he astonished his courtroom audience in 1763 with an eloquent defence based on the idea of natural rights, the political theory that humans are born with certain inalienable rights.

Business diversity is associated with walking trips. Having four or more different types of businesses in a neighbourhood significantly increased the number of walking trips among residents. This is probably true because of added convenience ______.

Midsize organizations producing live performances face the most serious financial strain. Either they will have to become larger and more prestigious -which many lack the resources to do- or they will have to cut their budgets and become more community-oriented, using local talent to keep costs down. _____.

One problem with Bing Bang theory is explaining how the stars and galaxies were formed. ____. Gravity alone cannot cause this in a smooth universe, and so something had to supply the initial gravity that allowed galaxies to form. Physicists suggest that dark matter WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particles) accomplished this task Since WIMPs only affect ordinary matter gravitationally, physicists say this dark matter could be the seed of galactic formation.

Magic is used to overcome and help the good. However, it is portrayed as a positive element to be used in our daily life. ______. This emphasizes asserts that can be resolved through human willpower and effort. In this case, there is the possibility to believe in socery’s power, and thereby be drawn into helplessness and pessimism and forgetfulness of Divine Power.

_____. Some plants, such as cactus, are able to store large amounts of water in their leaves or stems. After a rainfall, these plants absorb a large supply of water to last until the mesquite, have extraordinarily deep root systems that allow them to obtain water from far below the desert’s arid surface.

Although science and technology have never been humanity’s first need, it is wrong to reject them in favour of some idealistic philosophies. _____. What is more important here is who controls science and what goals they are serving. In the hands of few irresponsible individuals, science might make the world into hell, whereas no one has ever been hurt from a gun in the hands of an angel. Science and technology are desirable as long as they serve human values, bring peace and hapiness, contribute to international hormony, and help solve humanity’s material and spiritual problems.

In English, there are many different kinds of expressions that people use to give a name to anything whose name is unknown or momentarily forgotten. The word gatget is one such word. ______. In everyday use, the word has a more general meaning. Other words are also used to give a name to something unnamed or unknown, and these words tend to be somewhat imaginative.

Blood plasma is a clear, almost colourless liquid. It consists of blood from which the red and white blood cells have been removed. It differs in several important ways from whole blood. At the very beginning, plasma can be mixed for all donors and doesn’t have to be from the right blood group, as whole blood does. ______.

Penguins are the most highly specialized of all birds for marine life. They swim entirely by means of their flipperlike wings, using their webbed feet as rudders. Their stiff feathers serve as insulation and are waterproof when oiled. Since their legs are set far back on their bodies, they waddle awkwardly on land often travel by swinging on their bellies over the ice as they migrate sometimes great distances. Underwater they can swim up to 25 miles (40.3km) per hour as they pursue the fish, squid, and shrimp that form their diet. _____. This results in weight losses of up to lb (33.8 kg) during the two-month incubation period.

Singapore possesses all the ingredients for traffic disaster. The Island city-state has a large population, a limited land area, booming economic growth and one of the highest automobile densities in the world. _____. Yet, Singapore’s traffic moves smoothly. Much of the explanation lies in sound urban planning and an effective mass-transit system.