English practice test

Monthly Review

Part 1: Reading comprehension:
Read the passage below to discover what causes us to see different colors and then answer the questions that follow:

The nature of Color
Why is the sky blue and the grass green? Why isn’t the sky green and the grass blue? And why is a rose red instead of purple? What we see as color is the way our brains respond to the different wavelengths of light.
Light is a form of electromagnetic energy that travels very quickly on different frequencies, or wavelengths, which we see as different colors. For example, a wavelength of 400 nanometers (nm) causes us to see violet. A wavelength of 660 nm causes us to see red. The color brown is induced by the mixing of wavelengths. Yellow can be produced by either its own wavelength or a mixture of the wavelengths for red and green. Our sky looks blue because molecules of oxygen and nitrogen in the air scatter more blue wavelengths than any other color.
White light results from a mixing of the wavelengths of all colors. Sir Isaac Newton discovered that when sunlight passed through a glass prism, the white light dispersed into a spectrum of colored light. Newton then allowed the spectrum to pass through a second prism and the colors recombined, producing a beam of white light. This simple experiment demonstrated that white light contains all the colors of the spectrum. A beautiful and dramatic example of this occurs when sunlight falls on drops of water in the air after a rain. The beam of white sunlight spatters into a rainbow of colors.
Certain colors are invisible to human eyes. Wavelengths shorter than that of violet produce ultraviolet light that can damage skin cells. Wavelengths longer than that of the color red produce infrared light, radio waves, x-rays and gamma rays. We cannot see colors produced by these wavelengths, but we can measure and use their energy.
Questions 1-5:

According to the passage, which of the statements below is true?


Light is a kind of energy produced by different wavelengths
Colors we see are energy that travel on different frequencies, or wavelengths
A form of electromagnetic energy that travels on different wavelengths, also known as light, can be seen by us as different colors


Of the following, which word is in closest meaning to the word “respond” in the passage?


react
reply
answer


According to the passage, why is the sky blue?


Because our eyes see it as blue
Because molecules of oxygen and nitrogen in the air disperse mostly blue wavelengths
Because blue wavelengths are the shortest and fastest ones.


What is an example to demonstrate that white light contains all the colors of the spectrum?


a spectrum
a glass prism
a rainbow


What are the two kinds of wavelengths that human eyes cannot see?


violet and red wavelengths
wavelengths longer than that of the color red and wavelengths shorter than that of the color violet
wavelengths shorter than that of the color red and wavelengths longer than that of the color violet

Part 2: Phonetics:
Transcribe these following words:
Nature: ……………..
Brown:………………..
Short:…………
Connection: ……………….

Color: ……………….
Allow: ……………….
Yellow:……….
Much: …………………….


Write these words/sentences in their normal spelling:




Part 3: Grammar and vocabulary:
3.1- Word formation: Fill in the gaps with the correct form of the words in brackets
It is usually forbidden to destroy ………………………. buildings (HISTORY)
It was a complete ……………….. due to poor planning. (FAIL)
…………….is a very serious problem in many countries. (EMPLOY)
I had to check the wages in ………….. to my normal work. (ADD)
During his ………… the family lived in Cornwall. (CHILD)
The gas from the chemical factory was extremely …………….. (HARM)
3.2- Find the incorrect underlined parts:
The (a) industrial part of the city is not very (b) attractive, (c) however, this part still (d) attract a lot of tourists.
Children (a) nowadays often (b) spend a lot of time (c) to watch television, (d) which is not good for them.
(a) No matter how (b) hard I (c) tried, I couldn’t find the solution (d) for this problem.
Though we tried (a) to warn him several (b) times, (c) but he still ignored all of those warnings and finally (d) got hurt.
In (a) comparison (b)with most other (c) country, Britain has a very high rate of (d) heart attacks.
Recently Sophie has (a) suffered (b) from severe (d) sleeplessness but she still refused to go to the (d) doctor.
Nothing (a) is changed since I (