Choose the best answer:
Do you have to buy this hat? – No, I _____. It isn't necessary.

 

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Water these plants or they will die.

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
Deserts are hot, dry places made up mostly of sand, rock, and mountains. In general, deserts are defined as areas (1) _______ more water evaporates in the air than falls to the ground as rain. Even in these harsh and forbidding conditions, few deserts are completely barren. There are plants and animals that have (2) _______ to survive in this habitat. Plants often have thin, tough leaves or(3) _______ stems (like cactus) to store water, and some remain dormant during dry times, only coming to life when one of the brief rainstorms comes along. Animals survive in deserts by living underground or resting in burrows during the heat of the day. Some creatures get the moisture they need from their food, (4) _______ they don’t need to drink much water, if any. (5)_______ live along the edges of deserts, where there are more plants and shelter.

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This price reduction is due to ………… among suppliers.

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Marie ___________ the dream of a scientific career which seemed impossible for a woman at that time.

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Are you interested __________ travelling around Vietnam?

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
Billboards that Recognize You
Have you ever felt you were being watched? Some new technologies might make you feel that way. Digital billboards are being created that have the ability to recognize certain characteristics. These high-tech devices have cameras pointed at the people on the street, and software that tries to recognize people by age and gender. A computer inside the billboard then uses this information to display ads that are directed at the people who are looking at the billboard. For example, if a man passes a billboard featuring an ad for cosmetics, the computer can change the ad to something that is more likely to catch the man’s attention, such as a restaurant, or sporting goods. While advertisers see _this_ as a great opportunity to reach their target customers, some people feel that this kind of profiling is an invasion of their privacy. People are now much more aware of how information is exposed, shared, bought, and sold on the Internet. Now this debate will include technologies such as these “smart” billboards. But advertisers claim that they are sensitive to people’s concern about privacy – companies that have tested the billboards in Japan and the US assure consumers that the billboards can only guess your age and gender, but they will not be able to recognize your face or obtain any personal information about you. Until recently, this kind of “personal” advertising has been mostly limited to the Internet. Search engines like Google and Bing can follow what we search for because each computer that connects to those sites has a unique identity. Companies then pay search engines to use this information to display ads for products and services that you have searched for. So if you search for travel information, you are likely to see ads for airlines and hotels. This kind of advertising has proven to be much more effective and valuable than traditional advertising. In addition to taking steps to deliver more personalized messages, advertisers are using billboards to offer more useful information. Digital billboards can connect to the Internet to display information such as the time, weather, and news headlines. In the future, this technology could be used to reflect activity on social media sites or to broadcast ads that relate to local events. In today’s world, people ignore thousands of ads every day. Advertisers are trying to change that trend by personalizing the experience of seeing an ad. So pay attention the next time you see a billboard – it could be talking to you.
1. What is another possible title for the passage?

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions :
We are truly at a(n) (1)__________ between imagination and reality, especially when it comes to film. No longer are we able to tell what is real and what isn’t. In the past, it was easy to tell if a scene in a film was created artificially, as the special effects were never very good. To a person who grew up with the special effects that Hollywood can create today, the effects in films from 50 years ago are laughable. The scenes from these films come (2)__________ as so obviously fake that they are almost painful to watch. Today, however, a line has been crossed. Computer-generated animation has made it nearly impossible to (3)_________ between what was actually filmed and what was created by lines of computer code by a programmer. Not only is scenery created by computers, but also many actors known as extras. In the past, a film director would have to hire dozens and possibly hundreds of extras in order to show a crowd scene. This is no longer the (4)____________, and the one film that proved thus was achievable was Titanic, directed by James Cameron. However, years later, computer animation was taken to yet another (5)__________ by the same director with the movie Avatar

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
Don’t Handle with Care
People always go shopping for the latest and greatest gadgets. Speed, performance, and the latest functions are always key factors before making a purchase. Yet the most important factor of all, which often isn’t considered, is a product’s durability. After all, if a product breaks easily and can’t be repaired, the buyer will have wasted their investment. In other cases, weakly-designed product can cost someone their life. Thankfully, today’s inventors and engineers coming up with some incredible ways to ensure that many products can survive the most difficult situations. One area where durability is absolutely essential is in designing weaponry. In the industry, lapses in quality can lead to death. Designers of military vehicles have recently made great strides in creating some extra tough bulletproof vehicles. Researchers were inspired by the advances made with a similar technology, bulletproof vests. This equipment, which keeps police officers and soldiers protected from gunfire, has been continually upgraded as time has gone on. In order to get tougher, these vests have got lighter, so officers and soldiers can move more freely while working. Beautiful screens, a fast computer processor, and the latest software are probably the biggest concerns for most people shopping for new smartphones. Yet, since most mobiles will be subject to their fair share of bumps and bruises during their life cycle, durability should also be a major concern. A major breakthrough in recent years was the invention of Gorilla Glass. This technology not only prevents devices from breaking when dropped on hard surfaces, but it also makes them scratch-resistant as well. Gorilla Glass screens are given molten alkaline salt baths that produce a hard, compressed layer at the surface. Before a screen can crack, it will have to penetrate this rugged surface, which takes a large degree of force. Recently, another new technique called electrospinning was developed that could make future products even tougher to break. The process involves applying high voltage to a polymer to create a strand of nanofiber. Products designed with the material will be able to absorb more energy without breaking. Researchers are aiming to lighten up aircraft and potentially decrease the damage planes suffer in crashes. Hopefully, these advances are just the beginning. Although science has come a long way in helping manufacturers to create more durable products, the next century should surely bring some even more incredible improvements.
5. The word “penetrate” in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to ________

Fill in each numbered blank with one suitable word or phrase.

The Early Life of Bill Gates

While Bill Gates had to work (1)………..to become what he is today, his story isn’t exactly a rags-to-riches one as he was born into a fairly wealthy family. His father was a successful attorney while his mother was a school teacher who went onto a member of the Board of Directors of the First Interstate Bank. Gates was a bright student and (2) ……….well academically, especially in mathematics. And, this was exemplified by the 800 points that young Bill Gates scored in the mathematics part of an intelligence test.

Bill Gates developed a (3) ………..for computers and programming as early as 13. At the same age, Gates enrolled in the Lakeside School, a private preparatory school. While Gates was still at the school, the school administration decided to buy a computer from the General Electric Company. (4) ………his flare in programming, the school administration excused Gates from classes to allow him to (5) ………….his interest. On the GEC machine, Bill Gates built his first ever computer program.

At the school, Gates met Paul Allen and they worked (6)………..to find bugs in a system belonging to Computer Center Corporation. In exchange for computer time and royalties, Gates and Allen along with two other students wrote a payroll program for Information Sciences. This led to Gates’ school becoming fully aware (7)………..his talent and they had him build a program (8)………..scheduled students in classes.

Gates and Allen continue to build software and at just the age of 15, Bill Gates sold a software to optimize traffic for $$ 20,000. A few years later, he developed another software and earned $$ 30,000 from (9)...... And, this was the start of Bill Gates’ journey to a billion-dollar (10)…………..

(1)……….

Choose the best answer:
I have to ask my father ________ permission to go camping with my classmates.

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Some technological developments are the results of years of diligent work. Others are stumbled upon by accident. The discovery of X-rays is in the second category. In 1895, X-ray radiation was accidentally discovered by a physicist named Wilhelm Rontgen, while he was working in his lab. Rontgen discovery greatly advanced medical science. One night in 1895, Wilhelm Rontgen was working with an electric device called a Crookes tube. A Crookes tube is a glass tube with metal components inside it. When turned on, the tube produces a stream of electrons. Rontgen and other scientists observed a new form of energy escaping from the front end of the Crookes tube. Rontgen wanted to be the first to discover this new mysterious energy. To do this, he needed to make sure the tube was covered with black cardboard. This would make the room completely dark and allow him to better see this new form of energy. Rontgen was hoping to observe this new energy on a special screen that would be placed right in front of the Crookes tube. Amazingly, before the screen was placed near the Crookes tube, Rontgen already noticed the screen was glowing. He bought the screen closer, and the glow became brighter. (1) He then placed a book between the end of the tube and the screen-the glow was still there. (2) Rontgen realized that a new and different form of radiation must be causing the screen to glow. (3) As he didn't know what kind of radiation it was, he named it "X". (4) Rontgen soon started studying the new type of radiation. He designed experiments which allowed him to test how far X- rays could penetrate. He also had the bright idea of trying to take photographs with X-rays. One day, he tested his theories by asking his wife to put her hand between a photographic plate and a Crookes Tube. Sure enough, the resulting image of the bones in his wife's hand was the first ever X-ray photograph of the human body. After taking that first photograph, Rontgen understood how X-rays could benefit doctors and patients. He shared his discovery, and soon X-ray machines were appearing in hospitals. X-rays were very useful for medicine because they let doctors see a patient's bones. If a patient had a broken bone, it was made visible by the X-ray image. This let doctors know the right way to repair the fracture. Wilhelm Rontgen's accidental discovery has now been helping people for over one hundred years. Thanks to X-rays, broken bones can be repaired reliably and effectively. We should be grateful to Wilhelm Rontgen for making his discovery freely available and greatly advancing medical science. Because of this, we humans are able to live longer, healthier lives.
10. Choose the best location (1), (2), (3) or (4) for the following sentence: "It was giving a faint, white light."

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
Inside a 4D Film
A lot of people think that 3D films are pretty cool. When you watch a 3D film, it sometimes feels like you can reach out and touch the things that you see. In the future, however, 3D might be replaced by something even more advanced: 4D. What you see in a 4D film is the same as what you see in a 3D film. The screen is the same, and the glasses are the same. 4D films are different because they don’t use 3D technology. People in the audience also feel physical things during the films. Let’s look at a few examples. Let’s say that you are watching a film about earthquakes. If you are watching a 4D film, maybe your seat will suddenly start to shake. It will feel like you are in the middle of an earthquake, but you are not. The 4D effects make your seat shake. Or perhaps during the film, one of the characters gives flowers to another character. The people in the cinema might suddenly smell flowers. The point of 4D films is to make people feel like they are in the film. When we watch films these days, we only use two senses: our sense of sight and our sense of hearing. If we use our other senses, the film might feel more real to us. 4D films already exist. The film Avatar was released everywhere in 3D, but in Korea and Hong Kong, it was also released in 4D. People who watched Avatar in 4D feel wind and rain. They also smelled smoke from the weapons in the film, and sometimes their seats moved. Will 4D replace 3D films? It is possible, but we can’t be sure yet. One problem with 4D films is that it is very expensive to show them in theaters. Before a theater shows a 4D film, it has to buy a lot of special equipment. However, 4 films are catching on. Other films shown in 4D include Shrek 4-D, and Iron Man 3.
5. What would only happen during a 4D film?

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
The ubiquitous bar code, developed more than twenty years ago, is not a stagnant product. On the contrary, the technology has been improved so that it can be used more efficiently. Much less expensive than a computer chip, the bar code can hold more information than it had in the past by adding a second dimension to the structure. The bar code consists of a series of parallel vertical bars or lines of two different widths, although sometimes four widths are used, printed in black on a white background. Barcodes are used for entering data into a computer system. The bars represent the binary digits 0 and 1, just like basic computer language, and sequences of these digits can indicate the numbers from 0 to 9, which can then be read by an optical laser scanner and processed by a digital computer. Arabic numbers appear below the code. The traditional bar code has been used to monitor skiers at ski lifts and to determine price and perform inventory control on groceries, drugs, medical supplies, manufactured parts, and library books to name a few. The bar code used on grocery products, introduced in the 1970s, is called a universal product code (or UPC) and assigns each type of food or grocery product a unique code. The five digits on the left are assigned to a particular manufacturer or maker and the five digits on the right are used by that manufacturer to identify a specific type or mark of product. Traditional single dimension bar codes are not readily customizable because there is little extra space. The two-dimensional bar code, with an information density of 1,100 bytes, allows a considerably greater amount of information to be coded than does the traditional bar code, including customized information. [A] It also has built-in redundancy, meaning that the identical information is duplicated on the same code. [B] Therefore, if the code is damaged, it can still be read. [C] The technology even allows pictures or texts to be contained within the code, as well as bar code encryption. [D] The new technology dramatically reduces the errors of the single dimensional bar code and reduces the enormous costs that some companies have reported in the past. 
6. Which of the following can be a UPC symbol?

Choose the best answer:
"Don’t wait for me if I'm late", Ann said.

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
One of the most important social developments that helped to make possible a shift in thinking about the role of public education was the effect of the baby boom of the 1950’s and 1960’s on the schools. In the 1920’s, but especially in the Depression conditions of the 1930’s, the United States experienced a declining birth rate – every thousand women aged fifteen to forty-four gave birth to about 118 live children in 1920, 89.2 in 1930, 75.8 in 1936, and 80 in 1940. With the growing prosperity brought on by the Second World War and the economic boom that followed it, young people married and established households earlier and began to raise larger families than had their predecessors during the Depression. Birth rates rose to 102 per thousand in 1946, 106.2 in 1950, and 118 in 1955. Although economics was probably the most important determinant, it is not the only explanation for the baby boom. The increased value placed on the idea of the family also helps to explain this rise in birth rates. The baby boomers began streaming into the first grade by the mid-1940’s and became a flood by 1950. The public school system suddenly found itself overtaxed. While the number of schoolchildren rose because of wartime and postwar conditions, these same conditions made the schools even less prepared to cope with the flood. The wartime economy meant that few new schools were built between 1940 and 1945. Moreover, during the war and in the boom times that followed large numbers of teachers left their profession for better-paying jobs elsewhere in the economy. Therefore, in the 1950’s and 1960’s, the baby boom hit an antiquated and inadequate school system. Consequently, the “custodial rhetoric” of the 1930’s and early 1940’s no longer made sense; that is, keeping youths aged sixteen and older out of the labor market by keeping them in school could no longer be a high priority for an institution unable to find space and staff to teach younger children aged five to sixteen. With the baby boom, the focus of educators and of laymen interested in education inevitably turned toward the lower grades and back to basic academic skills and discipline. The system no longer had much interest in offering nontraditional, new, and extra services to older youths
1. What does the passage mainly discuss?

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
Helpful Home Remedies
When something is bothering us, it is natural to try and make it go away. We might head to the doctor or make a trip to the local pharmacy for medicine. Unfortunately, these methods can be time-consuming and expensive. But have no fear, because you might be able to whip up an effective home remedy with nothing more than a few simple ingredients from your cupboard. At one time or another, it seems everyone comes down with flu. Our temperature will rise, we may feel nauseous, and we will likely have a stuffy nose and a cough. Aside from taking it easy and getting plenty of rest, you can turn to chicken soup to make you feel better. Mothers from around the world have been making it for thousands of years for sick relatives. The hot soup warms you up and its flavorful smell helps to clear up your nose. It is often prepared with garlic, onions, and carrots which all provide vitamins that increase circulation and reduce inflammation. In addition, the liquid will keep you hydrated. Last but not least, it is usually delicious. Nothing drives people mad quite like getting the hiccups. If you are fortunate, they will only last for a few minutes. Yet in some cases, nothing seems to drive them away. Next time you have a bad case of the hiccups, try this sweet solution. Take a full teaspoon with sugar and swallow it down. The sugar is thought to change instructions to your nerves and get your throat muscles to relax. Just don’t overdo it, or else you might have to go to the dentist to get some cavities fixed. Headaches are another annoyance that we can do all without. If you get one, try this home remedy which doesn’t require taking any food or liquids at all. Instead, try putting a pencil in between your teeth. A major cause of headache is stress, and when we are anxious, we often tighten our jaws, which strains a muscle that connects to the temples of our head, and this action causes the pain. By placing a pencil in our mouths, we are giving our minds a signal to relax our jaw. This can reduce the intensity of headaches almost immediately. Just remember not to bite down, unless you are in the mood for a lead sandwich.
4. The word “it” in paragraph 2 refers to ____________

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Not until the seventeenth century ______ to measure the speed of light.

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Rain pounded down on the roof. I was trying to read but the sound was too loud. I couldn’t help myself from being a little grumpy. I wanted to be outside playing, but the rain was keeping me inside. My mom had gone to the grocery store, and my dad was spending Saturday at the office. I had planned to spend the day hiking, but Mother Nature decided that today was the perfect day for rain. It meant that I would have to entertain myself. I spent most of the morning playing with my stuffed animals and reading. I was sitting next to the window staring out when I got a strange idea: why not just go outside anyway? I put on my boots and a big raincoat and stepped out into the wet world. It was raining hard but it wasn’t cold. All I could hear were raindrops and the wind. I decided to go on my hike anyway. My feet didn’t make any sound on the wet ground and the forest seemed different. I went to my favourite place and sat down. In the summer, my best friend Ellen and I would come here and sit for hours. It was our special place. All of a sudden, I thought I heard someone shouting my name. I turned and saw Ellen walking up behind me. “Oh my Gosh! It’s really you, Martha!” she said. “I can’t believe that you are out here right now. I thought I would be the only person crazy enough to go for a walk in the rain.” I was very happy to have some company. We decided that hiking in the rain was just as fun as hiking in the sunshine. We planned on hiking in the rain again.
2. The word “grumpy” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to

Chọn câu đồng nghĩa:
Their chances of success are small.

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The hotel/ must/ near/ rainforest/ because/ hotel/ offer/ guided tours.