II. Grammar and Vocabulary
Section A
Directions: After reading the passages below, fill in the blanks to make the passages coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.
(A)
My stay in New York
After graduation from university, I had been unable to secure a permanent job in my small town. So I decided to leave home for New York, (25) ______ I might have a better chance to find a good job. (26) ______ (earn) some money to pay the daily expenses, I started work in a local café as a waiter. I believed that (27) ______ I was offered a good position, I would resign at once.
Over time, the high cost of living became a little burden on my already (28) ______ (exhaust) shoulders. On the other hand, my search for a respectable job had not met with much success. As I had studied literature at university, I found it quite difficult to secure a suitable job in big companies. Mother had said that (29) ______ ______ ______ I wanted to have a better career advancement, I had to find work in the city. Perhaps, (30) ______ my mother had told me was deeply rooted in my mind. I just did as she had expected.
Soon I had lived in the city for over six months but I still did not like it. Apparently, I had difficulty (31) ______ (adapt) myself to life in the city, let alone finding a job to my delight. After nine months of frustration. I eventually decided to go back to my small town. Not until I returned (32) ______ I realise that a quiet town life was the best for me.
(B)
The giant vending machine(自动售货机)is a new village shop
Villagers have long been used to facing a drive when they run out of basic supplies. However, help is now nearer at hand in the form of the country's first automatic push-button shop. Now residents in the Derbyshire village of Clifton can buy groceries around the clock after the huge vending was installed outside a pub in the village this week.
Peter Fox, who is (33) ______ electrical engineer, spent two and a half years working on the project. The machine (34) ______ (equip) with security cameras and alarms, and looks like a mini shop with a brick front, a grey roof and a display window.
Mr. Fox said he hoped his invention, (35) ______ is set to be installed in other villages in the area over the coming months, will mark a return to convenience shopping for rural communities.
He said: "I had this idea a few years ago but I couldn't find a manufacturer who could deliver what I wanted, so I did it by (36) ______. The result is what amounts to a huge outdoor vending machine. Yet I think the term automatic shop is far (37) ______ (appropriate)."
In recent years, the commercial pressure from supermarket chains (38) ______ (force) village shops across the country to close. In 2010, it was estimated that about 400 village shops closed, (39) ______ (urge) the local government to give financial support to struggling shops or set-up new community stores.
Hundreds of communities have since stepped in and opened up their own volunteer-run shops, but Mr. Fox hopes his new invention will offer a solution (40) ______ those villages without a local shop.
Section B
Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.
A. alert B. classify C. commit D. delicately E. gentle F. impose
G. labels H. moderation I. relieve J. signals K. simply
Let's say you've decided you want to eat more healthfully. However, you don't have time to carefully plan menus for meals or read food _41_ at the supermarket. Since you really _42_ yourself to a healthier lifestyle, a little help would come in handy, wouldn't it? This is where a "choice architect" can help _43_ some of the burden of doing it all yourself. Choice architects are people who organize the contexts in which customers make decisions. For example, the person who decides the layout of your local supermarket-including which shelf the peanut butter goes on, and how the oranges are piled up—is a choice architect.
