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Part One: Reading Passage / 6 marks/

Read the text below and answer the questions following it.
The sun’s power staggers the imagination: in one second, this star of ours ( the sun is, after all,
just one of an estimated hundred billion stars in the Milky way) radiates more energy than man
has used since the beginning of civilization. The sun delivers to us in just three days as much
heat and light as would be produced by burning the earth’s entire oil and coal reserves and all
the wood of its forests. Yet earth receives only about one to two billion of the sun’s radiant
energy….

What makes the sun shine so steadily?

Scientists determined long ago that the sun was not merely burning like a great ball of coal.
Indeed, if it were merely coal it would have burned for only a few thousand years, and would
have turned to cold hinders billions of years ago. Some other explanation was required.

Finally, in 1925, Sir Arthur Eddington, a brilliant British astronomer, proposed the answer now
accepted as correct: it is atomic, or nuclear, energy that fires the stars. This energy is the same
as that of the hydrogen bomb that comes from the process we call nuclear fusion, in which the
nuclei, or cores, of hydrogen atoms collide, uniting to form helium nuclei and giving of bursts of
energy.

No other process we know of could possibly pour out such sustained quantities of energy.
Moreover, we know that for the sun to stabilize at its present size, it must have a temperature
and pressure at its core sufficient to support nuclear reactions.

Thus, deep within the sun, each second,564 million tons of hydrogen are covered to 560 million
tons of helium. The remaining four million tons each second radiate away as heat and light.

If the sun has been shining at its present brightness since the earth was formed nearly five
million years ago, each pound of solar matter must have yielded already at least 4,000,000
kilowatt hours of energy. At that rate, a pound of sun would keep a kitchen stove going with all
burners on for several hundred years.

Fantacies the sun’s overflow of energy must appear, the nuclear fusion actually goes on at a
slow pace, atomically speaking.

The sum may be considered as a very slow – burning hydrogen bomb, since it takes, on the average,
about a million years for two hydrogen nuclei to collide and fuse. These tiny particles, even in the sun’s
dense interior, are on the average almost as far apart, in proportion to their size, as the earth and
Venus. Moreover, they require a head- on crash at extraordinarily high speeds in order to fuse.

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1.Which of the following is the most accurate statement of the amount of

energy which the earth has received from the sun? Give your Answer in the Answer sheet

( 1 mark each).
a. A small amount in terms of energy now produced on earth, but a great amount of the total
energy produced by the sun.
b. A great amount in terms of energy produced on earth, but a tiny amount of the total energy
produced by the sun.
c. A small proportion of the total amount which could be produced on earth
d. A small amount at the beginning of recorded history, but a large amount in modern times
e. A large amount at the beginning of recorded history, but a small amount in recent times

2. What does this passage consists of?

a. Proven facts only C. Revelation and proven facts

b. Considered opinions only d. Proven facts, considered opinions, and revelation

e. Proven facts and considered opinions

3. What are the products of the fusion of nuclei of hydrogen atoms in the sun?

a. Helium atoms c. Energy and Helium nuclei.

b. Hydrogen bombs d. Hydrogen atoms, Helium nuclei, and energy

e. More nuclei of hydrogen atoms

4. Which of the following is Not true according to the passage?

a. The sun produces its energy by nuclear fusion.

b. The sun has been as bright as it is now for a very long time.

C. The sun is so large that hydrogen nuclei in the sun are as far apart as the earth and Venus.

d. It produces energy by a process somewhat similar to the explosion of a hydrogen bomb.

e. The sun is a star in the Milky Way.

5. Which of the following is true according to the passage?

a. Two hydrogen nuclei need not be traveling at a high speed in order to fuse.

b. Two hydrogen nuclei do not need to collide directly to fuse.

c. The creation of energy in the sun is not accompanied by any loss of matter.

d. Energy is not transferred from the sun by radiation.

e. The sun does not burn in the way that coal does.

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6. What logical conclusion could we draw from this passage?

a. The sun is very slowly decreasing in weight and will disappear in the distant future of eternity.

b. The sun may explode like a hydrogen bomb and destroy us.

c. The sun will remain the same weight forever because a unit weight of hydrogen becomes

the same weight of helium.

d. The sun is producing more energy now than in the past.

e. The sun will disappear soon and we must prepare against this danger in our lifetimes.

Part TWO: Grammar and Usage ( 14 marks)

A. Choose the most suitable answer that could complete each of the blank spaces and write

the letter of your choice in the attached answer sheet (1 mark each).
1. I would like to know _________ all your models are now covered by your standard two – year guarantee.
a. that c. how
b. but d. Whether
2. Bahar Dar _______ on the southern shores of Lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile
a. locates c. located
b. was located d. is located
3. No one would rent us an apartment __________ we owned four cats and a dog.
a. so c. but
b. for d. when
c.
4. We apologies for the delay __________ sending you own price- list which you registered last month
a. for c. in
b. to d. by
5. Food containing salt or liquids containing sugar __________ restricted by the doctor
a. has been c. is
b. were d. is being
6. _______you do not send us details of your discount by next Friday, we will be forced to approach an
alternative supplier.
a. However c. If
b. Because d. when
7. We look forward to __________ your first order soon
a. receiving c. receive
b. for receiving d. received
8. Who can remember what we ____________ yesterday.
a. have done c. do
b. did d. would have done

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9. You should avoid ___________ out of the class during break time.
a. rush c. rushing
b. to rush d. rushed
10. Taking notes ____________ listening to a lecture benefits students in several ways.
a. in which c. while
b. such as d. or

B.Write ‘R’ for grammatically correct sentences and write ‘W’ for grammatically wrong
sentences. Give your answers on the answer sheet provided (1 mark each)

1. If I were she, I would report the case to the police.


2. None of the nominees for best actress showed their anxiety as the names were being read.
3. The crowd showed excitement, happiness and there was patriotic spirit.
4. It is difficult to express feelings which are a mixture of “love” and frustration.

Part Three: General Vocabulary Items / 10 marks/

Choose the pairs that best or most closely express a relationship similar to or the same as those
expressed in the original pairs written in CAPITAL LETTERS. Write your answers in the Answer sheet.
( 1 mark each)

1. PRECEDENT: JUSTIFICATION::

a) Tradition : Novelty
b) Authority : sanction
c) Orthodoxy : heresy
d) Kindness : obedience
e) Usage : submission

2. FRIFHT: STAMPEDE :

a) Clouds : tornado

b) rain : snow

c) haste : crowds

d) wildness : cattle

e) flow of water : erosion

3. CARELESSNESS: JEOPARDIZE::

a) carefulness : security

b) crowding : discomfort

c) neglect : endanger

d) failure : discouragement

e) penalty : Chastise

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4. ALTHOUGH : NEVERTHELESS ::

a) Since : therefore

b) In spite of : consequently

c) notwithstanding : if

d) when : simultaneously

e) because : therefore

5.STRING : VIOLIN ::

a) plectrum : mandolin

b) air : flute

c) membrane : drum

d) pedal : organ

e)tunnel : mandolin

6. FORGERY: SIGNATURE ::

a) carbon copy: Original

b) faked : genuine

c) false : truth

d) proxy : delegate

e) amateur : professional

7. I : MY ::

a) him : his

b) you : You’re

c) it : it’s

d) they : there

e) who : whose

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8. ENGINEER : CAB::

a) aviator : Cockpit

b) sailor : Compass

c) driver : wheel

d) passenger : taxi

e) shepherd : flock

9. MULE : BURDEN ::

a) scholar : books

b) musician : violin

c) house : tenants

d) ship : cargo

e) animal : Operation

10. DOUGH : BREAD ::

a) sugar : cake

b) words : speech

c) ink : pen

d) paper : author

e) skates : ice

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