Plastic
bags are often thought of as free, no-brainer solutions to carry your groceries
or to use as trashcan liners. However, research has shown that as a consequence
of carefree usage of plastic bags millions of tons of plastic particles __31__
in our seas each year. Reversing this trend and finding ways to maintain both
the health of our oceans and the human benefits associated with it are
complicated tasks. Most people appreciate and value the importance of the ocean
and see marine litter as a global problem.__32__, the challenge is connecting
the dots. So many of human behaviors and decisions contribute to this problem,
but rarely are there attempts to link their impact to the environment. Behavioral
science has been recognized as __33__ to understand drivers of human behavior
which support ongoing initiatives to clean up our environments. For instance,
behavioral scientists have suggested that the public could become more __34__
if powerful images were carried on everyday products, similar to that already
being used on cigarette packaging.
31. . . . .
(A) accumulate
(B) accumulator
(C) accumulation
(D) accumulating
(E) accumulative
32. . . . .
(A) Therefore
(B) In contrast
(C) Also
(D) In other words
(E) After that
33. . . . .
(A) a gap
(B) a cure
(C) an advantage
(D) an alternative
(E) an impediment
34. . . . .
(A) aware
(B) elated
(C) excited
(D) optimistic
(E) interested
Despite
their advantages, technological advancements have led to the polarization of
the labor market. While middle-skill jobs become increasingly automated,
high-skill jobs that require a combination of cognitive skills, creative acumen
and leadership expertise have not been affected. Similarly, low-skill jobs that
require customer service have been drastically changed by automated systems.
Therefore, it is the low-class and middle-skill routine occupations that have
been decimated by the technological revolution.
As
low-skill and middle-skill opportunities shrink, giving rise to high jobs,
wages also become either high or low. This disparity has already impacted the
economy and will continue to change the labor market’s landscape. Although it
naturally impacts current employees, students and job-seekers should also take
heed of the patterns that have emerged. Since the jobs that are harder to
automate involve creativity, cognition and social skills, job-seekers should
develop these intangible qualities to make themselves more valuable to
potential employers.
The
medical field has also been impacted by automated machines. Many diagnostic
tests and surgical tools have become automated by complex machines and
programs. However, the human touch in the medical field is essential as it
ensures that a patient is being treated as a human instead of just as a body. A
nurse’s interaction with his or her patients is invaluable and impossible to
effectively replicate. Similarly, while machines can assist with tasks before,
during, and after a surgery, a machine cannot replace a skilled human surgeon
since it lacks intuitions and instincts.
35. The following are
questions that the passage tries to address EXCEPT. . . .
(A) Who is affected by
the automation of jobs?
(B) How has the labor
market become polarized?
(C) What is the impact
of automation to wage conditions?
(D) How can the
government balance automation and human labor?
(E) Why is human touch
irreplaceable in the medical field?
36. What can be
inferred about high-skill jobs?
(A) There is a decline
in vacancy.
(B) They are at great
risk for automation.
(C) They require more
cognitive skills than social skills.
(D) They play a role
in the automation of low-skill and middle-class jobs.
(E) They are
relatively safe from being automated in the labor market.
37. What is the best title
for the passage?
(A) The Future of
Healthcare
(B) Automation and the
Future of Work
(C) The Impacts of
Technology on Living Standards
(D) Unemployment due
to Technological Advancements
(E) Technology and the
Productivity of Low-Skill and Middle-Skill Jobs
38. The author’s
purpose is to. . .
(A) define the term
labor automation
(B) advocate the
automation of high-skill jobs
(C) elaborate the view
that labor automation is harmful
(D) describe the
drawbacks of labor automation
(E) explain the
effects of automated machines to the job Market
39. What is the tone
of the passage?
(A) Outraged
(B) Sarcastic
(C) Persuasive
(D) Introspective
(E) Objective
The
discovery of gold nuggets in the Sacramento Valley in early 1848 sparked the
Gold Rush, arguably one of the most noteworthy events to shape American history
during the first half of the ninetieth century.__40__, thousands of prospective
gold miners traveled by sea or over land to San Francisco and the surrounding
area. By the end of 1849, the non-native population of the California territory
was some 100,000 (compared with the pre-1848 figure of less than 1,000). A
total of 2 billion dollars’ worth of precious metal __41__ from the area during
the Gold Rush, which peaked in 1852.
Throughout
1849, people around the United States (mostly men) borrowed money, mortgaged
their property or spent their life savings to make the arduous journey to
California. In pursuit of the kind of wealth they had never dreamed of, they
left their families and hometowns. In turn, women left behind took on new
responsibilities such as running farms or businesses and caring for their
children alone. Thousands of would-be gold miners, known as ’49ers, traveled
overland across the mountains or by sea, sailing to Panama or even around Cape
Horn, the southernmost point of South America.
To
accommodate the needs of the ’49ers, gold mining towns had sprung up all over
the region, complete with shops, saloons, brothels and other businesses seeking
to make their own Gold Rush fortune. The overcrowded chaos of the mining camps
and towns __43__ ever more lawless, including rampant banditry, gambling,
prostitution and violence.
After
1850, the surface gold in California largely disappeared. Though gold mining
continued throughout the 1850s, it had reached its peak by 1852, when some
eighty-one million dollars was pulled from the ground. After that year, the
total take__44__. Settlement in California continued, however, and by the end
of the decade the state’s population was 380,000.
40. . . . .
(A) As the discovery
of news spread
(B) As of the
discovery news spread
(C) As news of the
discovery spread
(D) Spread as news of
the discovery
(E) The news as spread
of discovery
41. . . . .
(A) extracted
(B) was to extract
(C) was extracted
(D) was extracting
(E) was to be
extracted
42. The italic phrase
took on in paragraph 2 means. . . .
(A) shared
(B) shouldered
(C) declined
(D) established
(E) volunteered
43. . . . .
(A) grow
(B) grew
(C) has grown
(D) were growing
(E) would have grown
44. . . . .
(A) reached a peak
(B) took a soar
(C) became surprising
(D) remained lucrative
(E) declined gradually
45. This sentence “San
Francisco, for its part, developed a bustling economy and became the central
metropolis of the new frontier.” should be. . . .
(A) the last sentence
of paragraph 1
(B) the second
sentence of paragraph 2
(C) the last sentence
of paragraph 2
(D) the last sentence
of paragraph 3
(E) the second sentence of
paragraph 4
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