q('This is an example of how to do this test. You should [read#peruse,study,examine^If you don\'t know the missing word, you will probably find the following texts too difficult![ the text carefully, then decide which word is missing. Type your answer, then press Enter. <br><br>Note: The number of dots in the reading text does NOT correspond to the number of letters in the missing word! However, if you click <i>Hint</i>, you will see the first letter of the missing word, followed by some asterisks. The number of asterisks DOES correspond to the number of missing letters.');
q('For many years, all [books#manuscripts^[ were written by hand.  Because it took so long to write one book, there were only a few of them.  Most people could never own a book.  Then sometime between 1450 and 1460, Johannes Gutenberg got the idea of carving separate letters and moving them to make new words.  This was the invention of moveable type.  From then on, the numbers of books printed grew quickly. ');
q('The solar system is believed to have formed, perhaps 5 billion years [ago#^[ , from a spinning cloud of gas called a nebula. As this nebula contracted it began to spin faster and faster and probably, as it became more disk-like, spun off rings of planetary matter. These rings later contracted into planets. ');
q('Humpback whales will sometimes leap clear up out of the water, an act known as breaching. Since a humpback whale can weigh thirty tons and measure 15 meters in length, it takes an enormous amount of energy to do this. It is believed that [breaching#it,this^[ may be one of the ways that these whales use to communicate with each other. ');
q('The largest organ in the human body is the skin. One of its functions is to help regulate the amount of body heat that flows in and out of the body. When it is cold, we cover the skin with extra layers of clothing to slow down the outward flow of heat. When it is [hot#^[ , evaporation of sweat cools us down. ');
q('The largest set of [wings#^[ on any bird, more than three meters across, is found on the albatross. They are so heavy that it is difficult for the albatross to flap them in order to take off and fly. They often nest on steep cliffs so that they can simply fall off into the air. Once they are airborne, they soar gracefully. ');
q('Lake  Baikal in central Asia is the deepest lake in the world.  In places, it is 1.5 kilometers deep.  The lake contains about one sixth of the world\'s fresh water supply.  It contains over 1200 species of animals and 500 species of plants, many of which are not to be found [anywhere#^[ else on earth. ');
q('Ice floats on water because it is not quite as dense as water is.  If ice were [denser#^[ than water, then lakes and other bodies of water would freeze from the bottom up during the winter.  Fish would surface and eventually die. ');
q('Bats are able to maneuver in the dark even if they are blindfolded, but if their ears are taped shut they cannot find their way.  Bats emit very high pitched sound waves through their nostrils.  The reflection of these sound waves reaching their sensitive [ears#^[ enables bats to avoid obstacles and capture even very tiny insects. ');
q('The cheetah, which is found mostly in Africa and India, is one of the fastest land animals.  It has long and muscular legs.  Cheetahs have been known to sprint at a [speed#^[ of over 60 miles per hour.  On a long distance run, however, a cheetah can be overtaken by a horse. ');
q('It is estimated that the temperature of the inner core of the planet earth is between four and five thousand degrees Celsius. Lava, the molten rock that flows down the sides of an erupting volcano, is much [cooler#^[ than that. Even so, fresh lava is hot enough to emit light. A night view of an erupting volcano is a spectacular sight. ');
q('The elephant is about as heavy as a land animal can be. The larger an animal is, the larger the diameter of its legs. An antelope has slender legs. A horse\'s legs are somewhat thicker and those of an elephant are even [thicker#^[ .If the elephant were much larger, its legs would touch one another and it wouldn\'t be able to move at all. ');
q('Many fish that live in the middle or deepest parts of the ocean emit light. It is still not exactly understood what purpose this serves. It is believed that some fish emit [light#^[ to signal to other fish. Others emit light from their undersides in order to disguise themselves so as to look like distant parts of the ocean. ');
q('In the colder regions of the world, the feathers of birds help retain their body warmth. On the other [hand#^[ , the feathers of birds that live in the desert often serve to keep the external heat out. Because of this insulation, there are many kinds of birds that can sit in the desert heat all day and not be harmed by it. ');
q('The internal temperature of our bodies is regulated very closely. For most [people#^[ it is 37° Celsius when they are in good health. Sometimes, during an operation, surgeons will deliberately lower the body temperature of a patient in order to slow down body processes so that they can have more time to carry out the operation. ');
q('We live at the bottom of an ocean of air that is about 20 miles deep. Because of its weight, the air above us exerts a force of about 15 pounds on every square inch of our bodies. On top of a high mountain the air above you [weighs#^[ much less. ');
q('The surface of the earth is broken up into seven large plates that are about sixty miles thick. These continental plates float on a fluid layer of hot rock and move with a speed of one to four inches per year. On the other hand, lava from an erupting volcano can move as [fast#^[ as sixty miles an hour. ');
q('Since the second world war, life expectancy in areas where people are well- nourished has improved greatly. For [example#^[ , a newborn infant in Scandinavia can be expected to live more than seventy years. On the other hand, where diet and health conditions are not good, newborns may have a life expectancy as short as thirty years. ');
q('It is likely that early in the history of the solar system the climate of Mars was very much like that of Earth as we know it today. It was warm enough for water to flow. Now it is so cold on Mars that carbon dioxide [freezes#^[ at the Poles during the Martian winter. Frozen carbon dioxide is called "dry ice". ');
q('In the colder regions of the world, the feathers of birds help retain their body warmth. On the other hand, the feathers of birds which live in the desert often serve to keep the external heat out. Because of this insulation, there are many kinds of [bird#^[ that can sit in the desert heat all day and not be harmed by it. ');
q('Of course it\'s not true that cats have nine lives. They have good memories, keen eyesight, and excellent senses of smell and hearing. These combine with their speed and agility to help them out of danger. So even though a cat may escape with its life many times, it still lives only [once#^[ , just as any other animal. ');
q('There are different stages in a butterfly\'s life. The first [stage#^[ begins when the female lays her eggs on a plant which will provide food. Soon a caterpillar starts to form inside each egg and after a few days or weeks it will emerge as a butterfly. ');
q('The bad-smelling odor of skunks is contained in a liquid which the animal produces and then discharges if it is frightened is in danger. The liquid is called musk. [Musk#^[ is produced by two glands at the base of the skunk\'s tail and squirted at any animal that tries to attack it. ');
q('There are many characteristics that distinguish mammals from other types of animals. For example, mammals give birth to live young; they have a backbone; they are warm-blooded; they have a well-developed brain and [their#^[ bodies are covered with hair. ');
q('The longest-lived creature in the insect world is the queen termite. she has been known to live for over 50 years. During that time, the queen can lay over 30,000 [eggs#^[ each day, so in her 50 years of life, it is possible for her to give birth to half a billion children. ');
q('This is how a bat can fly at night. As it flies it emits a high squeaking sound, unable to be heard by human ears. As the sound travels outwards, it hits objects and bounces back. These sound waves tell the bat where objects are so that they can be avoided. So bats can fly safely at night by using their ears and not their [eyes#^[ . ');
q('Although rabbits and hares belong to the same animal family and look so much alike, there is a [difference#^[ between them. For example, rabbits are born blind, without fur and cannot move about, whereas hares are born with their eyes open, have a full coat of fine fur, and can hop about within a few hours after birth. ');
q('Why don\'t spiders get trapped in their own webs? The reason is that they use two different kinds of threads to spin their webs. One kind is sticky, and is used to catch the flies and insects that spiders like to eat. The other kind of thread is a non-sticky thread. It is on the non-sticky threads that the spider [walks#^[ when it wants to get to different parts of its web. ');
q('Many people think that the camel stores water in its hump, but in fact it [does#^[ not. Instead it stores something else there - food. The camel\'s hump is really a hump of fat. When the camel is travelling across the desert and food is scarce, it can lived off the stored fat in its hump. ');
q('The elephant\'s memory has been greatly exaggerated. It does [remember#^[ things, but the statement, "An elephant never forgets," is not true. ');
q('Fish cannot close their [eyes#^[ but they do sleep. They sleep by keeping very still in the water. In this way their bodies rest, just as yours does when you are asleep. ');
q('Although an octopus has eight arms, it does not use them for [swimming#^[ . It uses its arms to catch food. In order to move in the water, an octopus squirts water out from a tube just under its head. ');
q('All living things on earth have one thing in common - they are all made up of cells. Your entire body contains more than 10,000,000,000,000 cells. Most of these cells are so [small#^[ that you can only see them under a microscope. ');
q('When you eat, your food is broken down and sent to the cells of your body. These cells take in the food and grow bigger. Then each cell [divides#^[ and becomes two cells exactly like itself. Each cell divides again, making four cells, and so on. ');
q('There are two times in your life when you grow very quickly. The first time is right after you were born until you were about 6 months old, and the second time usually starts when you reach the age of 11 or 12. Your head stops [growing#^[ earlier than the rest of you. By the time a child is 10 years old, his or her head is nearly full size. ');
q('Look in the mirror and stick your tongue out. See the little bumps on the surface of it. Inside each of these tiny [bumps#^[ are the organs called taste buds which help us taste our food. ');
q('You do not have to be a smoker to be affected by tobacco smoke. If you are in a room, car or bus with someone who smokes, you are breathing in the smoke from their cigarettes. It has been estimated that several hundred non-smokers die each year from [diseases#illness,illnesses,problems^[ caused by passive smoking. ');
q('Smoking causes shortness of breath and makes you less effective at active sports. In Britain over 100,000 people die each year from smoking-related diseases. That is one person dying every 5 minutes, which is about how long it takes to smoke one cigarette. On average smokers shorten their [lives#^[ by one day for every week that they smoke. ');
q('Christmas is supposed to be a time of happiness, but for many pets the [opposite#^[ is true. The number of neglected or abandoned animals increases by about 20% at the end of each year. This is because in the weeks before Christmas, many older animals are put out on the streets by their owners who want to exchange them for puppies, kittens or other pets. ');
q('A computer mouse is a hand-operated device that allows you to control the location of a pointer on your computer screen. When you move the mouse on your desk, the pointer makes the same [movement#^[ in the same direction. ');
q('Every second three more people are born into the world. The human race is expanding by the equivalent of the populations of Frankfurt and Munich every week. This growth in world population is also happening faster than ever before. It has doubled [since#^[ 1950 and now stands at 5.4 billion in what has been called a population explosion. ');
q('Every year a large area of tropical rainforest, the size of Austria and Belgium combined, is cleared to make way for new farms and villages. Whole regions in Africa and Asia are turning into deserts because there is not [enough#^[ land to feed the extra people and animals. ');
q('Ancient people began to measure things by comparing them to the length of a stick or a stone. Then measurements were made by comparing parts of the human body to the length or width of the object to be measured. However, because no human bodies were identical in size none of these [measurements#^[ was very accurate. ');
q('The wheel is one of man\'s most important inventions, but no-one [knows#^[ for sure how, when or where it was first developed. It is probable that early in man\'s development, the idea came to someone of using a tree trunk as a huge roller for moving heavy objects. ');
q('Most people all over the world, even if they don\'t understand English, understand and use the American expression "OK". Nobody knows for sure exactly where or [when#^[ that expression became part of the English language but many think it was first used by President Jackson in the 18th century. ');
q('Long ago, the Dutch people found that wooden shoes, called "clogs", were ideal for walking on damp, marshy ground that covers much of the Netherlands. Clogs kept their feet [drier#^[ than leather shoes and did not get spoiled from the dampness as the leather ones did. ');
q('English holds the record as the language with the greatest number of words - over 800,000. But [although#^[ English is used by more than 360 million people throughout the world, it is not the most widely spoken language. That record is held by Mandarin, a variety of Chinese, which is spoken by about 575,000,000 people. ');
q('There are more than one million people in Germany whose sight is so poor that they are [unable#^[ to read these words. Visual handicaps range from inability to read normal print or recognise faces to total blindness. Some of these problems are easy to remedy, for example, by the use of glasses or simple operations. But other handicaps cannot be cured and the sufferers are condemned to a life permanent darkness. ');
q('If you walk along a [beach#^[ when the tide is out, you will probably find pieces of seaweed which have been washed ashore. Seaweed belongs to a group of plants known as algae. There are more than 20,000 species of algae in the world and most live in seawater. ');
q('When you have a wash at the end of the day, you clean away dirt and bacteria. Bacteria are living things that are neither animals nor plants. They are so [small#^[ that it would take more than 50 of the largest bacterial cells to cover the full stop at the end of this sentence. ');