READING PASSAGE 1

One of my favorite vacation places is Mexico. I really like the weather there because it never gets cold. The people are very nice too. They never laugh at my bad Spanish. The food is really good. Mexico City is a very interesting place to visit. It has some great museums and lots of fascinating old buildings. The hotels are too expensive to stay but there are more affordable options. For example, you can stay at one of the beach resorts like Acapulco. If you are planning to visit Mexico, you should definitely see the Mayan temples near Merida.

Read the passages above and choose the correct options according to the readings!

• Sam likes warm weather

• Sam doesn't like warm weather at all

• Sam hates warm water

• Sam likes cold weather

Answer explanation

I really like the weather there because it never gets cold. It means that Sam likes the warm weather.

One of my favorite vacation places is Mexico. I really like the weather there because it never gets cold. The people are very nice too. They never laugh at my bad Spanish. The food is really good. Mexico City is a very interesting place to visit. It has some great museums and lots of fascinating old buildings. The hotels are too expensive to stay but there are more affordable options. For example, you can stay at one of the beach resorts like Acapulco. If you are planning to visit Mexico, you should definitely see the Mayan temples near Merida.

Read the passages above and choose the correct options according to the readings!

• His Spanish is very good

• He speaks Spanish very well

• He is Spanish

• He doesn't speak Spanish very well

Answer explanation

They never laugh at my bad Spanish. It means his Spanish is not good and he cannot speak it well.

One of my favorite vacation places is Mexico. I really like the weather there because it never gets cold. The people are very nice too. They never laugh at my bad Spanish. The food is really good. Mexico City is a very interesting place to visit. It has some great museums and lots of fascinating old buildings. The hotels are too expensive to stay but there are more affordable options. For example, you can stay at one of the beach resorts like Acapulco. If you are planning to visit Mexico, you should definitely see the Mayan temples near Merida.

Read the passages above and choose the correct options according to the readings!

• There's a lot to see and do in Mexico

• There aren't a lot of beautiful places in Mexico

• Mexico is a dirty place

• Tourists never come to Mexico

One of my favorite vacation places is Mexico. I really like the weather there because it never gets cold. The people are very nice too. They never laugh at my bad Spanish. The food is really good. Mexico City is a very interesting place to visit. It has some great museums and lots of fascinating old buildings. The hotels are too expensive to stay but there are more affordable options. For example, you can stay at one of the beach resorts like Acapulco. If you are planning to visit Mexico, you should definitely see the Mayan temples near Merida.

Read the passages above and choose the correct options according to the readings!

• Hotels are very cheap in Mexico

• The hotels aren't comfortable there

• Hotels are all poor in Mexico

• The hotels in Mexico are pretty expensive

Answer explanation

The hotels are too expensive to stay but there are more affordable options.

Last summer, we decided to spend our vacation at the beach because the weather was very hot in the mountains. The travel agent said that traveling by bus was the cheapest way, but we went by plane because it was faster. We wanted to have more time to spend at the beach. The weather was beautiful and we had a great time.

We decided to go to the beach because ----.

• it was cheaper than going to the mountains

• the travel agent said that it was the cheapest

• of the hot weather in the mountains

• we wanted to spend time at the beach

Answer explanation

we decided to spend our vacation at the beach because the weather was very hot in the mountains.

Last summer, we decided to spend our vacation at the beach because the weather was very hot in the mountains. The travel agent said that traveling by bus was the cheapest way, but we went by plane because it was faster. We wanted to have more time to spend at the beach. The weather was beautiful and we had a great time.

The bus was the ---- way to travel.

• best

• easiest

• cheapest

• slowest

Answer explanation

bus was the cheapest way

Last summer, we decided to spend our vacation at the beach because the weather was very hot in the mountains. The travel agent said that traveling by bus was the cheapest way, but we went by plane because it was faster. We wanted to have more time to spend at the beach. The weather was beautiful and we had a great time.

Traveling by plane was ---- than by bus.

• easiest

• cheapest

• expensive

• faster

Answer explanation

we went by plane because it was faster.

Last summer, we decided to spend our vacation at the beach because the weather was very hot in the mountains. The travel agent said that traveling by bus was the cheapest way, but we went by plane because it was faster. We wanted to have more time to spend at the beach. The weather was beautiful and we had a great time.

We ---- our vacation.

• don't like

• hated

• enjoyed

• regretted

Answer explanation

We wanted to have more time to spend at the beach.

Last summer, we decided to spend our vacation at the beach because the weather was very hot in the mountains. The travel agent said that traveling by bus was the cheapest way, but we went by plane because it was faster. We wanted to have more time to spend at the beach. The weather was beautiful and we had a great time.

We had very ---- weather during our vacation.

• good

• bad

• terrible

• freezing

Answer explanation

The weather was beautiful

Tomatoes & Lycopene

You may have heard that tomatoes and processed tomato products like tomato sauce and canned tomatoes protect against some types of cancer. The cancer-preventing properties of tomato products have been attributed to lycopene. It is a bright red pigment found in tomatoes and other red fruits and is the cause of their red color. Unlike other fruits and vegetables, where nutritional content such as vitamin C is diminished upon cooking, the processing of tomatoes increases the concentration of lycopene. Lycopene in tomato paste is four times more than in fresh tomatoes. This is because lycopene is insoluble in water and is tightly bound to vegetable fiber. Thus, processed tomato products such as pasteurized tomato juice, soup, sauce, and ketchup contain the highest concentrations of lycopene. Cooking and crushing tomatoes as in the canning process and serving in oil-rich dishes such as spaghetti sauce or pizza greatly increase assimilation from the digestive tract into the bloodstream. Lycopene is a fat-soluble substance, so the oil is said to help absorption to a great extent.

According to the passage, it is true that lycopene ----.

• can only be found in processed tomato products

• loses its cancer-preventing property when the tomato is processed

• lowers the risk of having cancer only when it is consumed together with vitamin

• is absorbed by the body more easily when accompanied by the oil

• is a pigment which is solved quickly in water