Questions 26-29 refer to the following passage.

Thanks to conservation efforts, India's tiger population has increased by over 30 percent in the

past four years, from 2226 to 2967. Described by Indian Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi,__26.__ a

"historic achievement', these figures suggest that India is on track to meet its 2010 St. Petersburg

Declaration target, _ 27. __his country pledged to double its wild tiger population by 2022. At the time,

India had an estimated 1 700 wild tigers.

The figures are based on a survey __28.__ every four years by wildlife officials who trek across

380,000 square kilometers of land looking for evidence of the tiger population.

According to Modi, forest cover in India has grown in the last five years, along with increased

numbers of protected areas. He adds that India is now one of the biggest and most secure __29.__ of the tiger, making it an increasingly safer home for 70 percent of the world's tigers.

Questions 30-34 refer to the following passage.

The Lumiere Brothers opened their Cinematographe, at 14 Boulevard des Capucines in Paris, to

100 paying customers over 100 years ago, on December 8, 1895.__30.__ the eyes of the stunned,

thrilled audience, photographs came to life and moved across a flat screen.

So ordinary and routine has this become to us __31.__ it takes a determined leap of the

imagination to grasp the impact of those first moving images. But it is worth trying, for to understandthe initial shock of those images is to understand the extraordinary power and magic of cinema, theunique, fascinating__32.__ that has made film the most dynamic, effective art form of the 20th century.

One of the Lumiere Brothers' earliest films was a 30-second piece which showed a section of a

railway platform flooded with sunshine. A train appears and heads straight for the camera. And that is all that happens_ 33.__ the Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, one of the greatest of all film artists,described the film as a "work of genius". "As the train approached," wrote Tarkovsky, "panic started inthe theater: people jumped and ran away. That was the moment __34.__ cinema was born. Thefrightened audience could not accept that they were watching a mere picture. Pictures were still, onlyreality moved: this must, therefore, be reality. In their confusion, they feared that a real train was aboutto crush them."

Questions 35-38 refer to the following passage.

Just about 100 years ago, there arose an industry in the state of Arizona that seems very odd to us today. Wc know of cattle ranches and sheep ranches, but would you believe...ostrich ranches? Thisbudding business became popular as women found ostrich feathers a joyous addition to their wardrobes.

Ostriches are easy to raise. They eat and drink less than cattle, and their eggs are _ 35.__ to feed

ten people! During the heyday of ostrich ranching, feathers were sold for as much as $300 a pound, so itis easy to see why that business was so attractive.

However, women's fashions changed after World War I, and the market for ostrich plumes

__36__ . Growers had to confront a shrinking market. The price tumbled to about $10 for a bird. As

ostrich feathers become __37.__  in the fashion world, ostrich ranching came to an end.

Interestingly enough, ostrich ranchers may be coming back into vogue because __ 38. tell us

that ostrich meat is low in cholesterol. We may not go wild over the feathers, but pass the lean meat,

please. Hold the mayo, too.