Passage Four

　　Termites are social insects like ants, living in well-organized colonies established and centered around a queen and her mate. The queen's chief function is to lay eggs. Termites of a worker caste, white in color, tend the eggs and young and go forth to find food. Other termites form a soldier caste; they are white also but have larger heads than the workers. In the spring, young queen and king termites-brown or black in color--fly from the nest and enter the ground to mate and start new colonies.

　　The colonies are underground because the soil provides moisture the termites need to sustain life. A worker dining on a tasty door frame, for example, may make several trips below ground daily, both to bring food to the colony and to replenish its own moisture supply. If its retreat to earth is cut off, it will die. In brief, termites only go into wooden structures to eat. They can't move in and set up housekeeping there unless they find a supply of water, as from a plumbing leak in a wall. Almost every, termite infestation begins with a colony based in the soil. If you have a way of keeping the pests underground, you don't have to worry about them.

　　13. Termites have to replenish their moisture supply. This means they have to ______ their water supply.

　　A. replace B. destroy C. hide D. drain

　　14. The queen's chief job is to ______.

　　A. build tunnels B. lay eggs C. find food D. protect the colony

　　15. The termites main diet consists of ______.

　　A. water B. plant leaves C. smaller insects D. wood

　　16. What do termites feel the most important to consider before they move in the wood structure?

　　A. Food. B. Housekeeping. C. Soil. D. Water supply.

　　Passage Five

　　Luckily, the back tires of their car stayed on the road. Otherwise, the young couple would have driven right into a pit twenty feet wide and thirty feet deep!

　　The man and woman were coming home from a party. They were enjoying the landscape around Swansea, Wales. Suddenly, they found the front of their car leaning into a huge hole. The ear barely hung onto the edge of the pit. It swayed back and forth like the arm of a balance.

　　In their precarious position, the couple knew that each movement they made could be a matter of life and death. Slowly, slowly, they edged toward the backseat. Then each opened a back door. And on the count of three, they jumped out together. The accident was so scary that they ran a long way before they calmed down. But later they returned to see what had happened. They found that a big chunk of the road had sunk into the ground ! And at the bottom of the pit lay their ear--roof down and wheels up.

　　Was this mystery of the sunken road ever solved? It turned out that an abandoned mine shaft lay under the road. It had collapsed and taken the pavement with it. Layers of tunnels intersect beneath the city of Swansea. The tunnels were built so many years ago that no one knows where they end or begin. The tunnels are shaky, like those that ants build in the sand. No one knows when the entire city might collapse.

　　17. This passage is primarily about ______.

　　A. driving carefully B. the city of Swansea, Wales

　　C. a road that caved in D. tunnels that ants build

　　18. It is probably true that ______.

　　A. the other roads in Swansea are pretty safe

　　B. other sections of Swansea will eave in sometime

　　C. everyone should move out of Swansea

　　D. Swansea is a very. interesting city

　　19. The writer creates interest in the first sentence by using ______.

　　A. a funny story B. romantic imagery

　　C. a vivid description D. a precise argument

　　20. The word precarious means ______.

　　A. unexpected B. dangerous C. unusual D. ridiculous