SECTION A [25 min.]
In this section there are four passages followed by fifteen questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that you think is the correct answer.
Text A
The Stone Age was a period of history which began in approximately 2 million B.C. and lasted until 3000 B.C. Its name was derived from the stone tools and weapons that modern scientists found. This period was divided into the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic Ages. During the first period (2 million to 8000 B.C.), the fist hatchet and use of fire for heating and cooking were developed. As a result of the Ice Age, which evolved about 1 million years into the Paleolithic Age, people were forced to seek shelter in caves, wear clothing, and develop new tools.
During the Mesolithic Age (8000 to 6000 B.C.) people made crude pottery and the first fish hooks, took dogs hunting, and developed a bow and arrow which was used until the fourteenth century A.D.
The Neolithic Age (6000 to 3000 B.C.) saw humankind domesticating sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle, being less nomadic than in previous eras, establishing permanent settlements and creating governments.
66. Which of the following developments is not related to the conditions of the Ice Age?
A. Farming.
B. Clothing.
C. living indoors.
D. Using fire.
67. Which of the following periods saw people develop a more communal form of living?
A. Paleolithic.
B. Ice Age.
C. Mesolithic.
D. Neolithic.
68. The author states that the Stone Age was so named because _____.
A. it was very durable
B. the tools and weapons were made of stone
C. there was little vegetation
D. the people lived in caves
Text B
Discovered a mere one hundred fifty years ago and manufactured commercially just half that long, aluminum today ranks behind only iron and steel among metals serving mankind. The key to its popularity is its incredible versatility. The same metal that makes kitchen foil serves as armor for battlefield tanks. The material of lawn chairs and baseball bats also forms the vital parts of air and space vehicles -- most of their skeletons, their skins, even the rivets that bind them together.
Behind aluminum's versatility lie properties so diverse that they almost seem to belong to several different metals. For example, in its pure form, aluminum is soft enough to whittle. Yet its alloys can possess the strength of steel, with only a third of its weight. This, when Alexanedr Calder designed one of his last mobiles--a soaring creation eighty feet long -- his choice of aluminum over steel cut two tons from its weight. Aluminum also assures the masterpiece virtual immortality. The instant the metal is exposed to air; its surface acquires a transparent film that seals the interior against further corrosion.
69. According to the passage, aluminum is sometimes used to make which of the the following?
A. Photographic film.
B. Frames for stuffed furniture.
C. Foils and other fencing equipment.
D. Parts of spaceships.
70. The most important feature of aluminum is that it ______.
A. can be used for many different things
B. is soft enough to whittle
C. is strong
D. can be marketed in pure form