DOMANDE PER MATERIA
1) Leggere il brano e rispondere alla seguente domandaThe Facebook messages written by the Cambridge student Giulio Regeni in the weeks leading up to his murder give the lie to any notion he was a spy or political agitator. Even before he left England, Regeni was concerned about the risks he might face doing his thesis on trade unions in Egypt, a sensitive subject in the country. But the 28-year-old thought the worst that could happen would be for him to be deported before he could finish his research. Instead, he was snatched off the street and tortured and his semi-naked body dumped by the roadside in a brutal killing for which four Egyptian security officials are due to stand trial in Italy in October.Enforced disappearances are a daily occurrence under Egypt's hardline president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi. Regeni is unusual because he was a foreigner, an Italian PhD student at Girton College who moved to Cairo in September 2015 to work on a development studies thesis about independent trade unions. Things took a worrying turn when, at a meeting of union activists, Regeni spotted a veiled young woman taking his picture on her phone, which made him fear he was under surveillance. Nine days after that his body was found, dumped on the side of the Cairo-Alexandria highway. He had been tortured; beaten, burned and stabbed before his neck was broken after he was struck from behind with a heavy, blunt object. What followed was an apparent cover-up by the authorities. President Sisi, in an interview with the Italian newspaper, La Repubblica, vowed to track down the culprits. Instead it was then claimed there had been a robbery by a gang, all now dead. But Italian investigators discovered phone records that showed the leader of the gang - all killed in a police shootout - was not even in Cairo at the time Regeni disappeared. They concluded the student's identity documents had been planted at one of their addresses. Since his death, Regeni has become a martyr - or shahid - for the disappeared in Sisi's Egypt. "That's why there's graffiti of him in Cairo," says Regeni's anonymous Facebook friend. "He is a representative figure of that."Read the extract taken from The Guardian and then choose the correct option.Italian investigators found:
- That there were no police in Cairo when Regeni was murdered.
- Regeni's documents were stolen from the gang leader's house.
- That the gang could not have murdered Regeni.
- That Regeni has become a martyr.
2) Leggere il brano e rispondere alla seguente domandaWhatsApp has launched its first major privacy- focused advertising campaign in the UK. It follows a customer backlash against changes to its terms and conditions, announced earlier this year. The platform also said it is standing firm against pressure from governments, including the UK, to compromise on the way that it encrypts messages. Authorities should "demand more security" rather than less, WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart told the BBC. "The first step of keeping people safe is, you have to have strong security, and we think governments shouldn't be out there trying to encourage tech companies to offer weak security," he said. "They should be out there trying to encourage or even mandate that companies offer the strongest security possible."WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption, which means messages can only be read on the device which sends one and the device which receives it. WhatsApp itself - and by default its parent company Facebook - cannot view or intercept them, and neither can law enforcement. Home Secretary Priti Patel has described the use of end-to-end encryption as "not acceptable" in the fight against the sharing of illegal content. WhatsApp is already blocked in mainland China, and it is suing the Indian government over new digital rules that will force it to violate its privacy protections. Around 400 million of its two billion global users are in India. While the firm cannot see the content of messages, it has developed other tools which help it block illegal material and widely-shared misinformation. In January, thousands of users threatened to leave WhatsApp, wrongly thinking it was going to start sharing messaging data with Facebook following an announcement about changes to its terms and conditions. Those who did not accept the update would begin to lose functionality, it said. Will Cathcart said the firm took responsibility for the "confusion" the announcement had created. "To reiterate, nothing about the privacy of people's personal conversations changed in our update," he said.Read the extract taken from BBC News and then choose the correct option.Why did Whatsapp launch a privacy-focused advertising campaign ?
- The new terms and conditions received a strong negative reaction.
- Governments pressured them to do so.
- Customers wanted to return to the previous terms and conditions.
- Many customers deleted the app when the terms and conditions changed.
3) Complete the sentence by using one of the options given: "The Guggenheim Museum is ______ New York".
- Under.
- In.
- At.
- On.
4) We _______ in the park before it started to rain.
- Had sat.
- Were sitting.
- Sat.
- Have sat.
5) What's the simple past of the verb "to shoot"?
- Shooting.
- Shot.
- Shooted.
- Shoots.
6) Opposite of the adjective "short"?
- Limited.
- Brief.
- Petite.
- Tall.
7) Complete the sentence by using one of the options given: "The play Romeo and Juliet ________ by Shakespeare".
- Wrote.
- Were written.
- Was written.
- Written.
8) Leggere il brano e rispondere alla seguente domandaJeff Bezos' space venture Blue Origin auctioned off a seat on its upcoming first crewed spaceflight on Saturday for $28 million. The winning bidder, whose name wasn't released, will fly to the edge of space with the Amazon founder and his brother Mark on Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket scheduled to launch on July 20. The company said it will reveal the name of the auction winner in the coming weeks. Bidding opened at $4.8 million but surpassed $20 million within the first few minutes of the auction. The auction's proceeds will be donated to Blue Origin's education-focused nonprofit Club for the Future, which supports kids interested in future STEM careers. New Shepard, a rocket that carries a capsule to an altitude of over 340,000 feet, has flown more than a dozen successful test flights without passengers, including one in April at the company's facility in the Texas desert. It's designed to carry up to six people and flies autonomously - without needing a pilot. The capsule has massive windows to give passengers a view of the earth below during about three minutes in zero gravity, before returning to Earth. Bezos and fellow billionaires Elon Musk and Sir Richard Branson are in a race to get to space, but each in different ways. Bezos' Blue Origin and Branson's Virgin Galactic are competing to take passengers on short flights to the edge of space, a sector known as suborbital tourism, while Musk's SpaceX is launching private passengers on further, multi-day flights, in what is known as orbital tourism. Blue Origin's auction may have netted $28 million, but a seat on a suborbital spacecraft is typically much less expensive. Virgin Galactic has historically sold reservations between $200,000 and $250,000 per ticket, and more recently charged the Italian Air Force about $500,000 per ticket for a training spaceflight. Musk's orbital missions are more costly than the suborbital flights, with NASA paying SpaceX about $55 million per seat for spaceflights to the ISS.Read the extract taken from CNBC and then choose the correct option.Which of the following is NOT true about New Shepherd?
- It was designed by Jeff Bezos and his brother.
- It has conducted more than 10 test flights without passengers.
- It is self-flying.
- It has very large windows.
9) Opposite of the adjective "warm"?
- Heated.
- Cold.
- Cozy.
- Hot.
10) Leggere il brano e rispondere alla seguente domandaWhatsApp has launched its first major privacy- focused advertising campaign in the UK. It follows a customer backlash against changes to its terms and conditions, announced earlier this year. The platform also said it is standing firm against pressure from governments, including the UK, to compromise on the way that it encrypts messages. Authorities should "demand more security" rather than less, WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart told the BBC. "The first step of keeping people safe is, you have to have strong security, and we think governments shouldn't be out there trying to encourage tech companies to offer weak security," he said. "They should be out there trying to encourage or even mandate that companies offer the strongest security possible."WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption, which means messages can only be read on the device which sends one and the device which receives it. WhatsApp itself - and by default its parent company Facebook - cannot view or intercept them, and neither can law enforcement. Home Secretary Priti Patel has described the use of end-to-end encryption as "not acceptable" in the fight against the sharing of illegal content. WhatsApp is already blocked in mainland China, and it is suing the Indian government over new digital rules that will force it to violate its privacy protections. Around 400 million of its two billion global users are in India. While the firm cannot see the content of messages, it has developed other tools which help it block illegal material and widely-shared misinformation. In January, thousands of users threatened to leave WhatsApp, wrongly thinking it was going to start sharing messaging data with Facebook following an announcement about changes to its terms and conditions. Those who did not accept the update would begin to lose functionality, it said. Will Cathcart said the firm took responsibility for the "confusion" the announcement had created. "To reiterate, nothing about the privacy of people's personal conversations changed in our update," he said.Read the extract taken from BBC News and then choose the correct option.Will Cathcart's statement:
- Apologised for the changes to the privacy policy.
- Explained the changes to the privacy policy.
- Revealed that there were no changes to the privacy policy.
- Reaffirmed that there were no changes to the privacy policy.
11) Complete the sentence by using one of the options given: "John has always been scared of _______, he thinks rodents are disgusting".
- Mouse.
- Mices.
- Mice.
- Mouses.
12) "The incubation period of EVD (Ebola virus disease), that is, the time interval from infection with the virus to onset of symptoms, is from 2 to 21 days. A person infected with Ebola cannot spread the disease until they develop symptoms. Symptoms of EVD can be sudden and include: fever, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and sore throat." Choose the true statement.
- During the incubation period of EVD people can not spread the disease.
- Symptoms of EVD are quite mild, and can extend to 21 days.
- During the incubation period of EVD people can spread the disease.
- Symptoms of EVD are quite mild, and can extend to 31 days.
13) Which sentence is correct?
- There be a lot of people in the room.
- There is a lot of people in the room.
- There are a lot of people in the room.
14) What's the correct translation into Italian of "We were hiking in the woods yesterday"?
- Facciamo un'escursione nel bosco ora.
- Stavamo facendo un'escursione nel bosco ieri.
- Facciamo un'escursione nel bosco ogni settimana.
- Abbiamo fatto un'escursione nel bosco l'ieri.
15) The teacher asked the students to __________ the instructions carefully before starting the test.
- Look out.
- Look through.
- Look over.
- Look into.
16) Leggere il brano e rispondere alla seguente domandaPlastic from take-out and convenience food is littering rivers and oceans - but straws are not the worst offenders, according to a new study. Scientists analysed global inventories cataloguing more than 12 million pieces of litter found in and around rivers, oceans, shorelines and the seafloor. They found eight out of 10 items listed were made of plastic. And 44% of this plastic litter related to take-out food and drinks. Single-use bottles, food containers and wrappers, and plastic bags made up the biggest share. Measures to cut plastic pollution have focused on the likes of straws, cotton buds and drink stirrers, which are relatively easy to replace. The researchers say these actions are welcome, but they recommend also tackling plastic from take-out food and drink. Writing in the journal Nature Sustainability, they suggest three possible strategies for tackling the problem: replace plastic in take-out food and drink with more-easily degradable materials; bring in regulatory bans on plastic that can be avoided, such as bags; consider deposit-refund schemes to encourage shoppers to return take-out products. The study also highlighted the problem of litter from fishing gear, such as plastic nets and ropes, which was the biggest problem in the open ocean. Dumped and discarded nets and lines can be deadly for marine wildlife. A second study by the University of Cadiz looked at litter released into the ocean from rivers in Europe alone. Plastic made up about 80% of this, dominated by bits of plastic as well as single-use plastics such as bottles, food packaging and bags. Lead researcher Dr Daniel Gonzalez said action was needed to encourage consumers to reduce their plastic consumption. "We need to act from a citizen's point of view and also from the policy side," he said.Read the extract taken from BBC News and then choose the correct option.According to the journal, Nature Sustainability, which of the following is NOT one of the strategies suggested to resolve this problem?
- Prohibit unnecessary plastics items.
- Use non-plastic fishing gear.
- Use biodegradable materials for take-out meals.
- Persuade consumers to return take-out products by introducing monetary incentives.
17) Leggere il brano e rispondere alla seguente domandaBeekeeping is one of the oldest industries in existence, but it faces numerous threats. A number of tech firms hope to help the honey bee have a brighter future. Noah Wilson-Rich, chief scientific officer of US firm Best Bees Company, says it is distressing how many American honey bee colonies, or hives as they are otherwise known, die off every year. Hit by a deadly parasitic mite, pesticides and climate change, a survey showed that between April 2019 and 2020 43.7% of US hives were lost. His Boston firm installs hives on commercial and residential properties - everywhere from roof tops to back gardens. Its staff then use an advanced software system to monitor and record the health of all the bee colonies. The data is shared with researchers at Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to help them better understand the plight of the insects. One firm also at the forefront of the honey bee industry is Irish business ApisProtect, which makes wireless in-hive sensors that collect and transmit data to a website-based "dashboard". "What we do is extract those raw data points and then use machine learning to convert that into useful information," says Chief Executive Fiona Edwards Murphy. "In a commercial operation only about 20% of hives at any given time need intervention. The problem is that beekeepers don't know which 20%. They literally go out and pick around a hive to see if it's the one they should be looking at. What we do is enable them to get a picture of what's happening in all their hives, spread across a large area, before they even leave their office in the morning. For commercial beekeepers, we see a 50% reduction in labour costs. That obviously has a huge impact on the business of beekeeping." An even more futuristic bee tech project is the pan European Hiveopolis scheme, which is studying the possibility of putting tiny "waggle dancing" robots inside hives to influence bee behaviour. The idea is that the robots will try to imitate how bees communicate using movement. And from that the hope is that the robots will be able to direct the worker bees to the best sources of nectar.Read the extract taken from BBC News and then choose the correct option.What is the purpose of the article?
- Describe the plight of honeybees.
- Promote the Best Bees Company.
- Help the reader decide which company has the best technology.
- Describe various technologies being used to help honeybees.
18) He ___ over the fence last week.
- Jump.
- Jumped.
- Jumps.
- Jumping.
19) What's the correct translation into Italian of "He's going to propose to her on their anniversary"?
- Lui le ha proposto di sposarlo ieri.
- Lui le propone di sposarlo ora.
- Lui le propone di sposarlo ogni anno.
- Lui le proporrà di sposarlo nel giorno dell'anniversario.
20) Complete the sentence by using one of the options given: "Suzie isn't a regular jogger but she goes ________ and again".
- Every.
- Present.
- Then.
- Now.
21) Leggere il brano e rispondere alla seguente domandaThe aviation industry is in crisis, there's a global push to cut carbon emissions, and many of us haven't stepped on a plane or hugged far-flung loved ones in more than a year. But now a fresh bunch of start-ups are working on supersonic and hypersonic projects. Last October frontrunner Boom Supersonic was the first to roll out an actual demonstrator aircraft, the XB1. "That barrier of time is what keeps us apart. We believe it's deeply important to break the time barrier, more so than the sound barrier", said Blake Scholl, Boom Supersonic founder and CEO. Designed to seat between 65 and 88 people, Overture will focus on over 500 primarily transoceanic routes that will benefit from the aircraft's Mach-2.2 speeds -- more than twice as fast as today's subsonic commercial jets. A journey from New York to London would take just three hours and 15 minutes while Los Angeles to Sydney would be cut down to eight and a half hours. Breaking the time barrier could be life-changing, says Scholl. "It changes where we can vacation, changes where we can do business, changes who you can fall in love with or you can be close to." Accessibility is key. His aim is that airlines will be able to set fares at a price point similar to business class -- unlike Concorde, which by the '90s was charging around $12,000 for a round trip, or $20,000 in today's money."As things get back into growth mode," says Scholl, "There's an opportunity to build a new-generation fleet that's got supersonic baked into it. That actually makes it easier to adopt." Then there's the plane's lean 199 feet (60 meters) of super- svelte lines, with no space inside for those undesirable middle seats -- an advantage post-pandemic. "Supersonic's got some inherent advantages," says Scholl. "It's about the same form factor as a 757, so it fits in narrow-body gates, which actually causes airlines to really love it." Wide-body gates are at a premium in today's super-congested airports, so big fat airplanes can be hard to find space for -- but not so for a humble Boeing 757 or a Boom Overture.The major obstacle is that "beyond just accomplishing the speed, it generates a ferocious amount of heat. Any conventional engine that you put together would melt." What will be needed is further advances in material science -- and it's dependent on further invention or discovery. Interest in Boom's project has been high, the company says it currently has $6 billion in pre-orders of Overture aircraft.Read the extract taken from CNN and then choose the correct option.What is the company's biggest obstacle?
- Achieving the speed.
- Lack of interest.
- It costs $6 billion.
- The need for new technology.
22) Complete the sentence by using one of the options given: "Karen was taken completely _______ surprise when she saw her ex‐boyfriend kissing her best friend".
- On.
- By.
- To.
- Of.
23) Complete the sentence by using one of the options given: "It's high time I ________ a new skirt".
- Buying.
- Buy.
- Bought.
- To buy.
24) Complete the sentence by using one of the options given: "I ________ to like pizza, but I can't stand it now".
- Was.
- Used.
- Use.
- Were.
25) "High technology research and production facilities have developed in Silicon Valley, south of San Francisco. The region is the biggest high-tech manufacturing centre in the United States. Thousands of high-technology companies, like Apple, eBay, Google and Yahoo!, have their headquarters in this area". According to the text, what is the region regarded as the biggest high-tech manufacturing centre in the US?
- Pasadena.
- Silicon Valley.
- Napa Valley.
- Yarra Valley.
26) Complete the sentence by using one of the options given: "Sally asked her best friend Sarah for a ______ of advice".
- Set.
- Piece.
- Sheet.
- Item.
27) Leggere il brano e rispondere alla seguente domandaUp to 10,000 people could be allowed to watch Olympic events in Tokyo this summer, after Japanese health experts approved plans to raise the number of spectators at sports venues. The proposed measure would come into force after a Covid-19 state of emergency in Tokyo and other parts of the country ends on 20 June and would last until the end of August, said Yasutoshi Nishimura, the minister overseeing Japan's coronavirus response. "It is important that we maintain thorough anti-infection measures to prevent a rebound in cases, especially as we foresee a spread of the Delta variant," Nishimura told a government advisory panel, which endorsed the spectator cap.Spectators are currently capped at 5,000 people or 50% of a venue's capacity, whichever is smaller. Tokyo, Osaka and eight other regions are under a state of emergency that is due to end on 20 June. Bars and restaurants have been banned from selling alcohol and must close at 8pm, while people have been urged to avoid non-essential outings and companies encouraged to allow employees to work from home.The Tokyo 2020 organising committee will not make a final decision on whether to allow domestic spectators to attend Olympic events until later this month. Nishimura said health experts had agreed with a government plan that would permit the increase in spectators provided that no special coronavirus infection controls were in place. Reports suggest Japan is likely to retain some rules on restaurant opening hours and other businesses that attract large numbers of people. With overseas sports fans already banned this summer, Japan's government is keen to have a limited number of domestic spectators at Olympic venues to create a semblance of atmosphere. On Tuesday, the International Olympic Committee warned competitors who breached Covid rules would face a range of punishments, including temporary or permanent expulsion from the Games.Read the extract taken from The Guardian and then choose the correct option.Health experts approved a government plan allowing more spectators:
- In the absence of covid-19 prevention measures.
- But advises that extra measures are necessary.
- If no covid-19 controls are conducted on site.
- And expect that no additional measures will be required.
28) Leggere il brano e rispondere alla seguente domandaPresident Joe Biden announced that the United States plans to donate 500 million Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine doses globally as part of his efforts to reassert US leadership on the world stage. "America knows first-hand the tragedy of this pandemic. We've had more people die in the United States than anywhere in the world, nearly 600,000 of our fellow Americans," Biden said in remarks after meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. He added, "We know the tragedy. We also know the path to recovery." The move will also serve to counter efforts by Russia and China to use their own state-funded vaccines to expand their global influence.White House officials brokered a deal with Pfizer to secure half-a-billion doses of its coronavirus vaccine over the course of just four weeks as they raced to secure a deal ahead of the G7 summit, a senior White House official told CNN. Over those four weeks, White House officials -- led by Jeffrey Zients, the White House's coronavirus coordinator whom Biden also tapped to lead the international vaccine distribution effort -- engaged in near-daily negotiations with several US-based vaccine manufacturers, ultimately selecting Pfizer because the company "could deliver the fastest." Hundreds of millions of doses of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, along with China's Sinovac and Sinopharm shots, have been making their way around the world. Only the Sinopharm vaccine has been accepted into the World Health Organization's COVAX initiative. The White House has said it has been monitoring and is concerned by efforts by Russia and China to use vaccines to make geopolitical gains.Biden had previously committed to sharing 80 million Covid-19 vaccine doses with other countries. Last week, the Biden administration announced a plan to share the first 25 million Covid-19 vaccine doses with the rest of the world and an overall framework of distributing at least 80 million doses by the end of June. About 75% of those donated vaccines will be shared with the global vaccination program called Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access, or COVAX, and about 25% will be shared directly with countries in need, the White House said. Biden said last month the US would share an additional 20 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines by the end of June on top of the 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine the President had already committed to sharing by July 4. The additional 20 million doses will consist of Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines as well as AstraZeneca, which has to be approved by federal regulators before being shipped overseas.Read the extract taken from CNN and then choose the correct option.Which statement is NOT true about Jeffrey Zients?
- He was part of a team that had meetings with vaccine manufacturers almost every day.
- It only took him one day to choose Pfizer as the supplier.
- He is the covid-19 coordinator at the White House.
- He was selected by Biden to lead the global vaccine distribution.
29) Complete the sentence by using one of the options given: "Katherine's parents often invite me to stay for ________ with them".
- Snack.
- Food.
- Meal.
- Dinner.
30) "Renewable energies are the present and future of the world's electricity production. The term "renewable" expresses the essence of this type of energy, which is available in spontaneously generated, inexhaustible quantities that are continually renewed in nature without any human intervention. Sun, wind and water, the heat of the earth: producing renewable energy means using those widespread and abundant elements of nature to generate electricity. Compared to electricity produced from conventional sources, renewable energy drastically reduces levels of carbon dioxide emissions". According to the text, how can we reduce the levels of carbon dioxide emissions?
- Generating inexhaustible quantities of energy.
- Using fossil fuels.
- Trying to stop deforestation.
- Using renewable energies.
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