Variant 1 You could have come first and won the race if you … faster

17. I hate that noisy cat of … Take it away at once!
A) you B) yours C) your D) there's
18. To cater for the fitness boom of the 80$ and provide the up-to-date facilities people want over 1,500 private health and fitness clubs ... during the past 15 years.
A) will be built B) were built C) have been built D) had been built
19. You shouldn't have let Kerry ... without apologizing for what you said to her.
A) leave B) left C) to leave D) leaving
20. I`ll put my umbrella in my bag … it rains later.
A) provided that B) unless C) as long as D) in case


The strangler fig tree, home to many birds and animals that enjoy the figs as nutrition, is found in the rain forest of Indonesia as well as in a 220000-acre park known as National Park on the island of Borneo. The trees are referred to as stranglers because of the way they envelope other trees. Yet the expression strangler is not quite accurate because the fig trees do not actually squeeze the trees nor do they actually take any nutrients from the host tree. But they may stifle the host tree’s growth as the fig tree’s roots meet and fuse together, forming rigid rings around the host’s trunk and restricting further growth of the supporting tree.
21. It is implied in the text that fig trees are referred to as stranglers because they …
A) are dangerous B) bundle up around other trees C) are extraordinary D) damage wildlife by toxic gas
22. According to the text the word strangler is not accurate because ...
A) the fig tree does not quite press the host tree
B) the host tree attacks the fig tree
C) the fig tree does not hurt environment
D) the fig tree supplies the host tree with nutrition
23. The word STIFLE in the text means ...
A) smother B) reside C) inhabit D) force
24. As it is given in the text, the fig tree does not only get nutrition from the host tree, but also ...
A) it exists at the expense of other plants. B) it is food for animals.
C) it produces nutrition to the air. D) it gives minerals to other plants.


Herodotus was a Greek historian born in Halicarnassus four years before the battle of Thermopylae. He is believed to have been exiled in his later life because of his opposition to the tyrant Lygdamis. He spent much time on Samos, thereafter travelling in the Persian Empire, Scythia and Egypt, observing with fascination the local customs and beliefs. He lived some time in Athens and travelled as an Athenian colonist to Thurii, in Italy, where he is supposed to have spent the rest of his life writing The Persian Wars, earning the title of Father of History from Caesar. This 9-book work is an inquiry into the origins of, and a description of, the Persian invasions of Greece. The first 6 books tell of the customs, geography and history of the combatants and their neighbours; the last three treat the war itself.