1.  A. The smartphone is a convenient and essential part of our personal and business

lives. B. But is it secure if its lost or stolen? C. Not likely. Here's another twist:

D. Even if you've got the phone in your hand, it may not be safe.

2.  A. Steve McCov was 20 years old when his wife, Michelle, gave birth to their first

children - a son named Leroy. B. It was 1996. C. McCoy was living in the tiny town

of Cherokee, North Carolina. D. He was the first member of his family to go to college.

3.  A. The 1918 flu pandemic fueled many scientific advances, including the discovery

of the influenza virus. B. However, the virus itself did not caused all of the deaths.

C. Instead, a fraction of individuals infected by the virus were susceptible to

pneumonia due to secondary infection by bacteria. D. In an era before antibiotics.

9. A Elephants have a lower incidence of cancer than would be expected statistically.

B suggesting that they have evolved ways to protect itself against the disease. c A

new study reveals how elephants do it: D An old gene that was no longer

functional was recycled, enabling them to cull potentially cancerous cells early.

10. A Newcomers to America, according to Eduardo Díaz, are always mindful of two

homes: B their community of residence (where they immigrated from) and c their

community of origin (where they emigrated from). D To ignore that internal

conflict would miss an opportunity to engage with what being an American

A la recherche du temps perdu, ( 1 )In Search of Lost Time and Remembrance of Things Past in English, is a novel in seven parts by Marcel Proust (1871-1922). It was published in French from 1913 to 1927. The novel is the story of Proust's own life, told as an allegorical (2 ) truth. It is ( 3 ) one of the greatest works of fiction.

In January 1909, Proust experienced the involuntary recall of a childhood memory when he tasted a rusk, which in his novel became a madeleine (a kind of small sponge cake), dipped in tea. In July, he ( 4 ) the world to write his novel, finishing the first draft in September 1912. The first volume, Du côté de chez Swann (The Way by Swann's), was ( 5 ) on several occasions, but was finally published at the author's ( 6 ) in November 1913. Proust at this time planned only two further volumes.

During the war years, he revised the remainder of his novel, enriching and deepening its feeling, texture, and construction, enhancing the realistic and satirical elements, and tripling its length. In ( 7 ), he transformed it into one of the most profound achievements of the human imagination.

In June 1919, the second volume, A l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs (In the Shadows of Young Girls in Flower) appeared ( 8 ) a reprint of Swann. In Prix Goncourt, which is an annual December 1919, À l'ombre received the ( 9) French literary prize, and Proust suddenly became world-famous. Two more instalments appeared in his lifetime.

The last three parts of À la recherche were published ( 10 ) in an advanced but not final stage of revision. The first authoritative edition of the entire work was published in 1954.

1. A. also known for B. calling as C. in translation D. translated as

2. A. meaning from B. metaphor to C. search for D. story in

3. A. regarded B. regarded as C. regarded being D. regarded to be

4. A. disappeared away B. faded of C. retired from D. vanished outside

5. A. admitted B. failed C. praised D. refused

6. A. cost B. expense C. fund D. money

7. A. doing B. doing them C. so doing D. that doing

8. A. as soon as B. at the same time on C. in combination D. simultaneously with

9. A. eminence B. famously C. prestigious D. renown

10. A. precedingly B. prematurely C. posthumously D. postmortem

Speaking, writing, and signing are the three ways in which a language lives and breathes. They are the three mediums through which a language is passed on from one generation to the next. If a language is a healthy language, this is happening all the time. Parents pass their language on to their children, who pass it on to their children, and the language lives on.

Languages like English, Spanish, and Chinese are healthy languages. They exist in spoken, written, and signed forms, and they are used by hundreds of millions of people all over the world. But most of the 6,000 or so of the world's languages aren't in such a healthy state. They are used by very few people. The children aren't learning them from their parents. And as a result the languages are in real danger of dying out.

When does a language die?

A language dies when the last person who speaks it dies. And this is happening in many parts of the world. There are several dozen languages which have only one speaker left. And several more where the speakers are just a few dozen or fewer. For example, many of the languages spoken by the tribal peoples of Brazil or Indonesia have only a handful of speakers.

Languages which have only a few speakers, and which are likely to die out soon, are called endangered languages. Most of the world's endangered languages are spoken in countries on either side of the equator. There are hundreds of languages spoken in Southeast Asia, in such countries as Papua New Guinea. Hundreds more are spoken across India and Africa. Many more are in South America. These are the places where languages are dying out very quickly.

But we can find endangered languages anywhere. Most of the Aboriginal languages of Australia are endangered. And so are the Celtic languages of Britain, Ireland, and France. Fewer and fewer people speak Gaelic, the Celtic language of Scotland. And the last native speakers of Manx, the language of the Isle of Man, died out a few decades ago.

Perhaps half the languages of the world are going to die out in the next 100 years. That's 3,000 languages disappearing in 1,200 months. If we work out the average, we'll find that there's a language dying out somewhere in the world every two weeks or so. This is much faster than anything that's happened in the past.

There's nothing new about a language dying. Languages have always disappeared when the people who spoke them died out. Two thousand years ago there were many languages spoken throughout the Middle East that no longer exist today. Think of all the peoples who invented writing systems, such as the Hittites, the Assyrians, and the Babylonians. Those cultures came and went, over thousands of years, as one defeated another, and the languages disappeared along with the peoples. 

We know something about these ancient languages because some of them were written down. Unfortunately, many languages of the past were never written down, so they are lost for ever. That's still the case today. About 2,000 of the world's languages have never been written down. If they die before linguists get a chance to record them, they too will be gone for ever.

When a culture dies out, it leaves behind evidence of how the people lived. Archaeologists can dig up all sorts of things-pots, skeletons, boats, coins, weapons, bits of houses - but spoken language leaves nothing behind when it disappears. After all, speech is only vibrations in the air. So when a spoken language dies which has never been recorded in some way, it is as if it has never been.

There's nothing unusual about a single language dying. But what's going on today is extraordinary when we compare the situation to what has happened in the past. We're seeing languages dying out on a massive scale. It's a bit like what's happening to some species of plants and animals. They're dying out faster than ever before. Why is this?

1. According to the article, a healthy language such as Spanish is usually passed on to

the next generation

A. if the children learn it at school.

B. through either speaking, writing, or signing.

C. when it has a signed form in addition to a spoken form.

D. with the massive efforts of a few people.