EINDHOVEN, NETHERLANDS – As he cradles his young puppy in his arms,

Laurent Simons looks much like any other 9-year-old boy. Then he starts
describing his work at a university in the Netherlands, developing a
computer circuit that will replicate a part of the brain.

“What we are doing is placing neurons and making connections, to see

what the reaction is to medication in a part of the brain,” he says of the
brain-on-chip project, which combines the biomedical and electrical
engineering fields.

With an IQ of 145, the Belgian boy wonder is on track to become the

world’s youngest university graduate when he completes a bachelor’s
degree in electrical engineering at Eindhoven’s University of Technology
next month.

“I’m planning to start my Ph.D. and study a little medicine, but before
that — vacation,” he said of his postgraduation plans as Sammy the 9-
week-old puppy dozed in the arms of his mother, Lydia.

Laurent — who was born in Belgium but now lives in the Netherlands —
started university after completing high school in roughly a year and is set
to finish the three-year bachelor’s program in just nine months.

“Every professor is really enthusiastic about having Laurent, and for us it’s
a unique situation, of course, because he’s the youngest student we’ve
ever had,” said program director Sjoerd Hulshof.

“The speed of his mind — we cannot imagine what is happening in his

head. He’s maybe three times smarter than the smartest student we’ve
ever had.”
Currently the youngest person to obtain a college degree is American
Michael Kearney, who achieved the feat in June 1994 at the age of 10
years 4 months, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

When he is not at the university, Laurent says he walks the dog, plays the
video games Minecraft and Fortnite or posts pictures on Instagram.

Inspired by Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla, he plans to research

artificial organs and ultimately develop an entire artificial body in his own
laboratory. “My grandparents are heart patients,” he explained of the
choice.

Offers are flooding in from universities around the world, and Laurent’s
parents are helping him weigh the options, with the U.S. West Coast
currently a favorite destination.

His father, Alexander, doesn’t dare predict Laurent’s future because the
boy has smashed every expectation so far — but he stressed there is no
hurry.

“What he’s doing now is playing with education, just playing around,” he
said. “And that’s fine with us.”

[https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/11/22/world/offbeat-world/9-
year-old-belgian-boy-set-become-worlds-youngest-university-graduate/
#.XfCAt-j7TD5]
1. Where can you find this article?

1. Textbook 2. Academic journal

3. Newspaper 4. Novel

Answer: 3. Newspaper

2. The word “replicate” (line 3) could best be replaced by

______.

1. press 2. copy

3. take 4. Definite

Answer: 2. copy

3. According to the passage, which is not true about Laurent?

1. He was born in Netherland. 2. His pet is a dog.

3. His nationality is Belgian. 4. He is doing a

degree in electrical engineering.
Answer: 1. He was born in Netherland.

4. What is his field of study?

1. Biomedical engineering 2. Information

technology

3. Medicine 4. Electrical engineering

Answer: 4. Electrical engineering

5. What is his puppy name?

1. Lydia

2. Sammy

3. Simons

4. Sjoerd Hulshof

Answer: 2. Sammy
As the internet and digital technology become a bigger part of our lives,
more of our data becomes publicly accessible, leading to questions about
privacy. So, how do we interact with the growing digital world without
compromising the security of our information and our right to privacy?

Imagine that you want to learn a new language. You search 'Is German a
difficult language?' on your phone. You click on a link and read an article
with advice for learning German. There's a search function to find German
courses, so you enter your city name. It asks you to activate location
services to find courses near you. You click 'accept'. You then message a
German friend to ask for her advice. When you look her up on social
media, an advertisement for a book and an app called German for
Beginners instantly pops up. Later the same day, while you're sending an
email, you see an advert offering you a discount at a local language
school. How did they know? The simple answer is online data. At all
stages of your search, your devices, websites and applications were
collecting data on your preferences and tracking your behaviour online.
'They' have been following you.
In the past, it was easy for people to keep track of their personal
information. Like their possessions, people's information existed mostly in
physical form: on paper, kept in a folder, locked in a cupboard or an
office. Today, our personal information can be collected and stored
online, and it's accessible to more people than ever before. Many of us
share our physical location, our travel plans, our political opinions, our
shopping interests and our family photos online – as key services like
ordering a takeaway meal, booking a plane, taking part in a poll or buying
new clothes now take place online and require us to give out our data.

Every search you make, service you use, message you send and item you
buy is part of your 'digital footprint'. Companies and online platforms use
this 'footprint' to track exactly what we are doing, from what links we click
on to how much time we spend on a website. Based on your online
activity, they can guess what you are interested in and what things you
might want to buy. Knowing so much about you gives online platforms
and companies a lot of power and a lot of money. By selling your data or
providing targeted content, companies can turn your online activity into
profit. This is the foundation of the growing industry of digital marketing.

[https://www.saferinternetday.org/]
6. How do online platform and companies earn a lot of money?

1. By selling our data 2. By collecting our

data

3. By searching online activities 4. By tracking of our

personal information

Answer: 1. By selling our data

7. What is “digital footprint”?

1. Data

2. Online activities

3. Personal information

4. All the stuff you leave behind as you use the Internet

Answer: 4. All the stuff you leave behind as you use the Internet

8. Which is true according to the passage?

 1. Companies use your personal information to make
money.

2. Information about you is collected when you look at

websites.

3. Using different devices makes it impossible for companies

to track you.

4. The train of information you leave online is called your

‘online activities’.

Answer: 2. Information about you is collected when you look at

websites.

9. What’s the best title of the article?

1. You and your data

2. Tips to stay safe online

3. Who uses our online data, and what it's used for.

4. How to keep your internet identity safe from tracking?

Answer: 3. Who uses our online data, and what it's used for.

10. According to the passage, what’s used to create targeted

advertising?

1. Online data

2. Tracking your personal data

3. The time we spend on websites

4. Information about products you are interested in

Answer: 4. Information about products you are interested in

Situation: At a doctor’s clinic

Doctor : Hello, how are you?

Patient : Not very well, ___11____.

Doctor : Well, what seems to be the problem?

Patient : I don’t know. I have a pain all through the body.

Doctor : ___12___?
Patient : For almost a week now. It’s kind of __13___. But it’s getting
worse and worse.

Doctor : Let me see your throat. Say “Ah.” …… Well, it does not look
so serious.

Patient : But I always feel very weak, doctor. And yes, I can’t sleep at
night, I can’t eat or at least. I don’t ___14__ anything.

I can’t remember what I read and …

Doctor : Er, __15___ me, are you preparing for any tests or
examinations?

Patient : Yes. And I’ve got to do well or my parents will be very

upset.

Doctor : I see, in that case, …

11.

1. I’d confess 2. I’m afraid

3. I’d estimate 4. I’m definite

Answer: 1. I’d confess

12.

1. How bad is it 2. How serious do you

think it is

3. How often do you get it 4. How long have

you had it

Answer: 4. How long have you had it

13.

1. off and on 2. in and out

 3. up and down 4. above and beyond

Answer: 3. up and down

14.

1. mind eating 2. regret eating

3. feel like eating 4. object to eating

Answer: 3. feel like eating

15.

1. inform 2. call

3. answer 4. Tell

Answer: 4. Tell

Situation: John wants his friend to join his camping.

Mia : Hello, you have reached Ombre Inc., this is Mia

John: Hello, is Mike there?

Mia : No, he won’t be back ___6__.

John: Well, can I leave a message, please?

Mia : Of course, let me get a pen … All right.

John: ___7___and needs to know if he fancies going on the

camping trip this coming weekend.

Mia : (Writing) Hmm …camping…Okay. ___8___?

John: Yes.

Mia : ___9___phone number?

John: Yes, I think so. But just in case, it’s O2-2356-234.

Mia : O.K., he’ll probably call you back tonight.

John: _____.

Mia : That’s okay.

6.

1. again this week 2. till after five

3. by next Monday 4. before your call

Answer: 1. again this week

7.

1. Tell him John called 2. John named his friend

3. Say John is his name 4. His friend was called

John

Answer: 1. Tell him John called

8.

1. Have you heard 2. Am I right

3. Is that it 4. Did we say

Answer: 2. Am I right

9.

1. Does he have your 2. May I have his

3. Will you leave my 4. Do you have our

Answer: 1. Does he have your

10.

1. You’re welcome 2. Great, thanks

3. Don’t mention it 4. Sure, please

Answer: 2. Great, thanks

16. John and Jane don’t like _______ to the movie. They
always watch VCD or DVD at home.
1. to going 2. to go 3. goes 4. go

Answer: 2. to go

17. It’s a pity they ______attend a mathematics lecture.

1. didn’t 2. weren’t 3. doesn’t 4.
isn’t

Answer: 1. didn’t

18. Richard and I ______having a great time here in London.

1. was 2. are 3. am
4. is
Answer: 2. are

19. Dan and I went for a run. I ran 5 kilometers but Dan
stopped running after 3 kilometers. I ran ______ than Dan.

1. farer more 2. more further 3. farther 4.

farer

Answer: 3. farther

20. Why didn’t Jane apply for the job? She ______ it.

1. has got 2. could have got

3. could get 4. can get

Answer: 2. could have got

 21. Teaching young children to read and write requires a lot
of ______.

1. patient 2. patents 3. patience 4.

Patients

Answer: 3. patience

22. Bobby _____his hand when he was cooking the dinner.

1. was burning 2. burnt 3. is burning 4.

Burns

Answer: 2. burnt

23. When Tom arrived at the party. Paul ______ home.

1. had already gone 2. has already gone

3. already went 4. already go

Answer: 1. had already gone

 24. Sarah, ______ mother and ______ are cousins, looks very
much like my youngest sister.

1. whose, I 2. that, hers 3. whom, his

4. who, my

Answer: 1. whose, I

25. I haven’t finished my homework yet, I need ______.

1. some time more 2. more some time

3. a little time more 4. a little more time

Answer: 4. a little more time

26. I don’t like people ______ are never on time.

1. which 2. that 3. whom 4. Who

Answer: 4. Who
 27. I don’t like staying at hotels, but spent a couple of days
at ______very wonderful hotel by ______ sea last summer.

1. the, the 2. −, the 3. the, − 4. a, the

Answer: 4. a, the

28. I couldn’t find _____ own bag but I saw _____ under the
desk and _____ was in the drawer.

1. your, hers, my 2. my, her, yours

3. my, hers, yours 4. your, hers, mine

Answer: 3. my, hers, yours

29. In some countries, old buildings of special historical or

architectural _____ are protected by law.

1. is interested 2. interests 3. interest

4. is interesting
Answer: 3. interest

30. My brother is returning to Bangkok next month, He _____

in Singapore for 4 years.

1. had lived 2. is living

3. has been living 4. was living

Answer: 3. has been living

31. You are not allowed to stay out late _____ you tell me in
advance.

1. if only 2. unless 3. so long as 4. If

Answer: 2. unless

32. Did you turn the stove off? I think I can smell _____
burning.
 1. everything 2. someone 3. something
4. Nothing

Answer: 3. something

33. When crossing the road, you _____ be careful.

1. can 2. ought to 3.needn’t 4.

May

Answer: 2. ought to

34. Is your friend German or American? ______. She’s

Canadian.

1. Both 2. Either.

3. Neither 4. So

Answer: 3. Neither

35. Tom: ______ please shut the window? It’s too cold.

Bobby: Certainly!
 1. Must you 2. Could you 3. May I
4. Should you

Answer: 2. Could you

36. You _____ succeed in this exam unless you _____ hard.

1. will not, try 2. will, are trying

3. will, try 4. are not, are

Answer: 1. will not, try

37. A: You have heard of Harry Potter, _____ you?

B: Yes, I have.

1. don’t 2. aren’t 3. haven’t 4. weren’t

Answer: 3. haven’t
 38. Sandra gains weight after her wedding because she _____
exercise for years.

1. isn’t doing 2. didn’t do 3. doesn’t do

4. hasn’t done

Answer: 4. hasn’t done

39. Have you seen the lifeguard race into the water _____
someone?

1. rescue 2. rescued 3. for rescuing 4. to

rescue

Answer: 4. to rescue

40. Her husband is walking _____ from her.

1. to 2. upon 3. on 4. Away

Answer: 4. Away