

PASSAGE A. When you think of animals that pose a serious risk to our safety, lions and tigers might make an (1) ___________ near the top of the list. However, whole it would be certainly be a mistake to (2)____________ just how dangerous these big cats are should you ever have to (3)________ one in the wild, they are nowhere near the most deadly animals as far as human concerned. Crocodiles and alligators also have terrifying (4)_____________ and it is estimated the Nile crocodiles alone kill over a hundred people each year. Perhaps more (5)____________, Cape buffalo in Africa are just dangerous. In fact, these extremely strong, fast and aggressive herbivores are responsible for several hundred (6) ____________ a year All of these figures pale into (7)_____________, though, when you consider smaller creatures. Mosquitoes for example, which can transmit a range of deadly diseases, kill millions of people annually. Finally, perhaps we should acknowledge that humans themselves can be held (8)___________ for the loss of very large numbers of lives. | 1. APPEAR 2.ESTIMATE 3. FRONT 4. REPUTE 5.SURPRISE 6. FATAL 7. SIGNIFY 8.ACCOUNT |
PASSAGE B. Conventional wisdom has it that most of the common languages. Spoken in Europe, as well as some from Asia, are (1) _________ of an ancient language that is sometimes referred to as Proto-Indo-European. Some (2) __________ in historical linguistics believe that this common ancestor originated 5,500 to 6,000 years ago. (3)_________ in animal husbandry allowed people to migrate and the language to (4)_________ in an area stretching from north of the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea. An alternative theory proposes that the (5) _________ of speakers of the language occurred two or three thousand years earlier and started in what is now Turkey. Obviously, there i no written record of the Proto-Indo-European language, no studying it (6)_________ carrying out a careful examination of words from living and dead Indo-European languages, By using (7)_________ modelling researchers can study the rate at which words change over time, giving them more accurate information about when the (8)_______ of various languages took place. It is hoped that further study will reveal more about what was the source of so many of our modern languages. | 1. SHOOT 2. SPECIAL 3. DEVELOP 4. CIRCLE 5.DISPERSE 6.NECESSARY 7. STATISTIC 8. DIVERGE |