I was granted two days’ sick-leave because I had         headache, running nose, and fever. 

(A) digressive
(B) exotic
(C) excruciating
(D) defective

Though Hong Kong reverted to Chinese         in 1997, a border still runs between the territory and mainland China. (A) autonomy (B) bureaucracy (C) plutocracy (D) sovereignty

Heavy rain persisted and further _______ the road conditions of the disaster areas hard hit by the devastating typhoon. (A) aggravated (B) extinguished (C) fusilladed (D) pasteurized

Carbon dioxide from the human burning of fossil fuel is building up in the atmosphere at a _____  pace, enough to double the present concentration in a century. (A) shuffling (B) chasing (C) dragging (D) frightening

Jack started a _______ body building program, which involved four hours of weight training, jogging, and swimming every other day. (A) brittle (B) fluvial (C) jocular (D) rigorous

Everest has its immense psychic gravity that pulls people into its orbit.  (A) Being immense, Everest has enough power to stabilize people’s life. (B) People need to know the psychic power to find the orbit to reach Everest. (C) Only people who are in the orbit are aware of Everest’s psychic gravity. (D) Everest possesses an enormous charm that invites people to visit it.

Just as technology helped create the attention deficit generation, technology is also providing ways of coping with fragmented lives.  (A) Interrupting people too frequently, technology also allows people to regain their attention to find back their lives. (B) Damaging people’s attention capacity, technology also enables people to pay better attention to pieces of their lives. (C) Shortening people’s attention span, technology also provides people with means to tear apart their lives. (D) Causing people to become less focused, technology also empowers people to attend to their frequently interrupted lives.

A decade after its first film debut, the final chapter of the Harry Potter saga has broken box-office records. (A) The first film in the series is the best all-time performer at the box office. (B) The last Harry Potter movie continued to surpass its own previous records. (C) It took a decade for the final chapter of the saga to turn into a franchise success. (D) By breaking box-office records with the first film debut, the movie Harry Potter was overrated.

In order to keep ourselves composed, we should let go of the belief that people are entitled to let out their emotions in all circumstances.(A) We’ve been taught to believe that it’s inappropriate to let out our emotions. (B) Letting go of the uncontrollable things in our life helps us to keep our composure.(C) The right time to let out our emotions is when we know we have the right to do so. (D) To remain composed, we need to know the right time and place to let out our emotions.

The description of these events in the article corresponds closely to other accounts reported on the news.  (A) What is written about the events in the article is highly related to what is written on the news. (B) The description of the incidents in the article is in contrast to something that’s reported on the news. (C) The paper carefully describes the events that happened before and were reported on the news.  (D) People who describe those events write a letter directly to those who report the news.

The crowd gathering in the square gave a _______ cheer when the news was announced that an agreement had been reached. (A) prospective (B) controversial (C) spontaneous (D) transparent