Choose the best answer:
He asked the children ............... too much noise.

 

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There are many thoughts on the origins of civilization. One of the major factors  involved was the increase in population. The development of techniques, primarily irrigation and food control, which permitted agriculture in special areas such as the flood plain of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, made possible the support of large population. Once populations reach a certain number, the older pattern of social organization breaks down and new ones develop. Specifically the older system whereby each individual participated in food production and maintained a similar standard of living, and whereby kinship served as the basic method of social organization, was replaced by the occupational division of labor, political and religious hierarchies, public works such as road and public building construction, class systems, codes of law, markets, new forms of warfare, and urban centres. Allied with these important sociological traits are material traits, such as monumental architecture and development of science and, in many cases, metallurgy and writing systems.  The earliest civilization, Sumer, developed in the Middle East. This was the Bronze Age of the Old World, during which people first developed the art of metallurgy, civilization also arose in other parts of the Old World first in Egypt, China and India, and later in Europe and Africa. At this time, civilization also developed independently in the New World, in the Mexican area and in Peru and its neighboring areas.  In the Old World the Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age, which saw the rise and fall of great empires and the shift of power from the Middle East to Greece and Rome and then to Western Europe. In the 1700s the Industrial Age began, leading directly to the modern civilization of today. 
2. According to the first paragraph, the increase in population ___________

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The number of people accessing the State’s and community’s priority policies and  programmes is increasing, said Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung. Vietnam has around 6.2 million people over the age of two with disabilities, making up 7.06 per cent of the country’s population. Of those, 28 per cent are severely disabled, 58 per cent female, 28 per cent children and 10 per cent living in poverty. Most live in rural areas and many are victims of Agent Orange.  Minister Dung said in the past, the State, the Party and Vietnamese people had paid much care to people with disability. Vietnam ratified the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of People with Disability in 2014. In March this year, the country ratified the International Labour Organisation’s Convention 159 about jobs for people with disability. It strongly confirmed Vietnam’s commitment ensuring the disabled would not be discriminated at work.  Last month, the Secretariat Committee issued the Instruction 39 about the Party’s leading work on affairs related to people with disability. The National Assembly later ratified the amended Law on Labour with many adjustments relating to disabled people. Dung said that every year, millions of disabled people receive an allowance from the State and all of provinces and cities had rehabilitation centres. Attending the event, Truong Thi Mai, head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Mass Mobilisation, said besides the achievements, Vietnam still sees many obstacles. Infrastructure is still limited demand for people with disability and many live below the poverty line depending heavily on their families.  Mai asked organisations to improve education to raise people’s awareness of the meaning of supportive work to people with disability. This year, more than VNĐ17 trillion (US$735.4 million) from the State budget was allocated to provinces and cities to implement policies for people with disability, according to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.  The Ministry of Planning and Investment on Thursday launched the programme “White stick for Vietnamese visual impaired people”. Its aim is to present one million white sticks to visually impaired people across the country. Training to use the device will also be provided. Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said the ministry will listen to disabled people’s demands and wishes and put them into its policies. Deputy chairwoman of the National Assembly Tong Thi Phong said Vietnam has committed to developing socioeconomy, taking care of social equality and improving social management ability.  
2. The word “Invalids” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to _______

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The Colosseum was constructed over a short decade, between 70-80 AD, by up to  100,000 slaves. Its building was overseen by different emperors who ruled under the Imperial Flavian dynasty, lending the structure its original name. Emperor Vespasian began the construction of the Flavian Amphitheater and his son Titus oversaw the construction of an additional tier after his death in 79 AD. His youngest son Domitian constructed the underground tunnels and added an extra level to increase its seating capacity. The amphitheater takes its more commonly attributed name from the Colossus of Nero, an enormous bronze statue of the Emperor which was located beside the structure.  The Colosseum was a recreational and gathering space that was used for gladiatorial contests, public spectacles, historical re-enactments, mythological theatrical performances and of course, executions. It could hold between 50,000 to 80,000 spectators and the seating arrangements reflect the stratification of Roman society: senators were seated closest to the stage while the poorest Roman citizens (and women) stood at the highest level. Its skilled architects developed an ingenious design which included 80 entrances and exits with a numbering system to allow access in and out of the structure. Unlike most ancient amphitheaters which were built into hillsides for support, the Colosseum is so impressive because it is a freestanding structure: it is made of travertine stone that was sourced from the nearby Tivoli area and held together with iron clamps.  The Colosseum is most closely associated with its gladiatorial shows, although often the combatants were not skilled professionals but rather unlucky slaves and criminals pitted against each other for the enjoyment of the public. In fact the venatio, or animal hunt, was one of the most popular shows for its novelty and shock appeal. Always in pursuit of ostentatious displays of wealth and power, the Romans procured exotic animals such as elephants, giraffes, lions, bears and crocodiles from the far reaches of the empire and sent them out into the pit, often along with unfortunate souls who would be torn to pieces. During the inaugural games of the Colosseum, most likely held in 80 AD, over 9,000 animals are believed to have been killed. The Romans also constructed elaborate stage sets on the arena floor, simulating forests and other natural environments, as backdrops to the events taking place. 
4. According to paragraph 2, what meaning does the positional arrangement for the Roman beholders communicate?

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On an Old Quarter thoroughfare of Hanoi, known as train street, locomotives rumble down an active track just inches away from homes and other buildings. The juxtaposition of train tracks and residential housing has made it hugely popular among travelers to the capital of Vietnam. But the municipal government of Hanoi has ordered that cafes alongside the heavily Instagrammed train tracks – which sprung up to cater to the tourism boom – must close. Authorities cite danger to human life as the primary motivator for the shutdown. The boiling point apparently came on Sunday, when a train traveling through Hanoi was forced to reroute because there were too many tourists on the tracks, which were built in 1902 by the French. “Though the railway cafes attract tourists, they are, in fact, violating some regulations,” Ha Van Sieu, vice chairman of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, told reporters at a press briefing. In 2018, Vietnam-based writer Dave Fox told CNN Travel that “overtourism is a new buzzword for something that has been going on a long time.” A longtime Hanoi resident, he watched as “train street” transformed from a cool novelty into a safety concern. “Travelers need to be mindful of optics,” he added. When it comes to overtourism, some destinations face more of a challenge than others. In Indonesia, moves have been made to greatly restrict traveler access to Komodo Island, home to the famous Komodo dragon. Initially, the country had considered shutting the island to tourists completely, but settled on a plan with limited access to visitors who could pay a high access fee. And nearby in Thailand, the heavily popular Maya Bay, made famous by the film “The Beach” has been closed since 2018 to repair the most severe outcome – environmental damage. 
3. The underlined word “buzzword” in the passage is closet in meaning to __________

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:
Because writing has become so important in our culture, we sometimes think of it as more real than speech. A little thought, however, will show why speech is primary and writing secondary to language. Human beings have been writing at least 5,000 years, but they have been talking for much longer, doubtless ever since there have been human beings. When writing developed, it was derived from and represented speech, although imperfectly. Even today, there are spoken languages that have no written form. Furthermore, we all learn to talk well before we learn to write; any child who is not severely handicapped physically or mentally will learn to talk: a normal man cannot be prevented from doing so. On the other hand, it takes a special effort to learn to write; in the past, many intelligent and useful members of society did not acquire the skill, and even today many who speak languages with writing systems never learn to read or write while some who learn the rudiments of those skills do so imperfectly.
To affirm the primacy of speech over writing is not to disparage the later. One advantage writing has over speech is that it is more permanent and makes possible the records that any civilization must have. Thus, if speaking makes us human, writing makes us civilized.

In order to show that learning to write requires effort, the author gives the example of     .

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You’ll be able to purchase high-quality emotions online. Emotion-sharing experiences  are the latest fad in 2045. Imagine your friend at Glastonbury can post a photo on Instagram and with it comes bundled a faint twinkling of what she was feeling right there in that moment, so you too can share emotionally in her social experience.  Recently, techniques for direct brain stimulation, like opt genetics, have made it possible to not only read but also write information into single neurons. At the moment data transfer rates are still very slow, the best we can do is a few bits per second, but this could well increase to kilobits or maybe reach broadband speeds by 2045. This means the range of human perception could expand beyond its current design limitations. One could foresee a new and extraordinary world where there is a virtual marketplace for trading high quality emotions – where artists looking for a particularly high strength brew of melancholy, or actors needing to channel regret or compassion for their next play, could purchase emotions online.  Our cities will be made from living, dynamic materials that respond to the environment. In 30 years, tall buildings made of glass and twisted steel will be seen as relics from a bygone era, in the same way we think now of 1970s concrete tower blocks: ugly, outdated and unfit for contemporary purpose. The urban environment of 2045 blends architecture with living materials that are mouldable, adaptable, responsive and disposable.  Entirely new synthetic life forms, or biological machines, made of engineered living cells from bacteria, fungi and algae will grow and evolve with the changing needs of a building’s inhabitants. They breathe in pollutants, clean wastewater, and use sunlight to make useful chemicals, energy, heat and vibrant vertical gardens. We will start to see a convergence between biology and technology, to the point where there is no longer a perceptible difference between the two. Today, synthetic biology labs are looking at the full diversity of what nature has to offer and using this to mix, match and edit genomes to design synthetic life forms. Right now, this field is just getting started and the science of synthetic biology is going to be tougher than most will admit.  We will use invisibility cloaks to “disappear” ugly objects. Invisibility has forever been a tantalizing prospect. The key to cloaking lies in the way the electromagnetic spectrum  (including visible light) interacts with objects. The human eye picks up electromagnetic radiation that falls and scatters from objects and we perceive this as light. In recent decades, scientists figured out using mathematics that it might just be possible to imagine a new class of artificial materials made of intricate tiny features with light bending properties. They named them metamaterials.  Using nanotechnology engineering, scientists have since shown cloaking actually works – in principle at least, for a narrow range of colours and only from certain viewing angles. The future applications of cloaking are highly uncertain and will likely be determined by the fads and social contagion of the time. They may be used in everything from novelty gimmicks to making unsightly construction sites and power stations seemingly ‘disappear’.   
5. The word “perceptible” in the third paragraph is closest in meaning to ______

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New Zealand is one of the countries of ....................

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Do you think computer games are just for kids? Then you should think again. You might be surprised to learn that the game industry now (1)_________ more money than Hollywood. From 2009 to 2012, the U.S. video game industry increased in size by more than 9 percent - four times the growth rate of the U.S. economy during the same period. (2)___________a family buys a new PC , all they really want to do is to play games. It is hardly surprising that video gaming has become one of the most popular (3)___________of entertainment today. One study even showed that some mental disorder patients who play games requiring physical interaction while standing on a balance board displayed improvement afterwards. A good game is like a good film; it will hold your (4)__________, capture your imagination and play with your emotions. The big (5)__________ , however, is that watching a movie is a passive task, you have to say in how the plot develops or which characters dominate the story. With computer games, you direct the action and that is what makes them so exciting

Rewrite the sentence:
It's only her second time in an international conference about further education.

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A generation gap in the workplace can make workers both young and old feel inferior, as well as hamper productivity and teamwork. Differences between generations can be seen in work ethics, habits and communication styles. Younger workers might fear not being taken seriously by their older colleagues, while older workers might fear that their experience is not valued but replaced by workers with knowledge of more current technology. However, members of each generation can close the gap between them if they’re willing to meet one another halfway. Older workers can show respect to the younger set by asking for their opinions and recognizing their contributions to the workplace as valid, or complimenting them on a job well done. Younger workers can show their elders respect by asking for advice on how to manage a situation with work, based on the older worker’s many years of experience. It’s important for both entry- and senior-level workers to see each other as equals, regardless of the type of position in which they work. No one wants to feel inferior or irrelevant just because of their age. Rather, a generation gap at work can be a learning opportunity. Workers can also put themselves in their colleagues’ shoes to determine what might be bothering them about their generational age difference. If a person is much older than another, perhaps it is bitterness about fewer job opportunities, or fear that a younger worker might seem more relevant and edge him out of his job. If workers open their minds to understand where co-workers are coming from, it can help ease any tension between them and appreciate each other’s work contributions.  If age seems to be a problem for someone at the workplace, it can be helpful to do the very opposite of what a co-worker might expect from someone of a different age set due to stereotypes. For example, if a worker is considerably younger such as right out of college, she can share researched information to indicate that she knows what she’s doing, or show curiosity instead of upset to indicate emotional maturity if the person makes a disparaging remark about her youth. Older workers can maintain an enthusiastic attitude about work instead of showing boredom or bitterness from past experiences. Workers can, moreover, directly address the concern of age differences at work with the colleague at odds with them by asking the person for constructive advice on how to handle the issue. For example, older workers who are unfamiliar with new software that younger colleagues understand might acknowledge to them that they did the same tasks differently in years past but show interest in learning the program to keep up with modern technology. Learning to speak their technological language can make them feel more connected. Likewise, a younger worker can admit to being green on the work scene, but eager to gain experience by learning from senior colleagues.  
2. Each generation should respect the other generation at work to _____________

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.

   Family life in the United States is changing. Thirty or forty years ago, the wife was called a "housewife". She cleaned, cooked, and cared for the children. The husband earned the money for the family. He was usually out working all day. He came home tired in the evening, so he did not do much housework. And he did not see the children very much, except on weekends.

   These days, however, more and more women work outside the home. They cannot stay with the children all day. They, too, come home tired in the evening. They do not want to spend the evening cooking dinner and cleaning up. They do not have time to clean the house and do the laundry. So who is going to do the housework now? Who is going to take care of the children?

   Many families solve the problem of housework by sharing it. In these families, the husband and wife agree to do different jobs around the house, or they take turns doing each job. For example, the husband always cooks dinner and the wife always does the laundry. Or the wife cooks dinner on some nights and the husband cooks dinner on other nights.

   Then there is a question of the children. In the past, many families got help with child care from grandparents. Now families usually do not live near their relatives. The grandparents often are too far away to help in a regular way. More often, parents have to pay for child care help. The help may be a babysister or a day-care center. The problem with this kind of help is the high cost. It is possible only for couples with jobs that pay well.

   Parents may get another kind of help from the companies they work for. Many companies now let people with children work part-time. That way, parents can spend more time with their children. Some husbands may even stop working for a while to stay with the children. For these men there is a new word: They are called "househusband". In the United States more ans more men are becoming househusband every year.

   These changes in the home mean changes in the family. Fathers can learn to understand their children better, and the children can get to know their fathers better. Husbands and wives may also find changes in their marriage. They, too, may have a better understanding of each other.

Sixty years ago, most women ____________.

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It was not until 1920 when women finally got the right to vote. This was 50 years after the male ex-slaves of the United States were gaining the right to vote. Though women had already right to vote, the stereotypes made women be restricted in their actions. Would you believe that women who were doing the same job as men were getting paid only the 60% of what man wear to paint? In fact, they were getting paid differently for doing exactly the same work. In the 1930s there was not a huge choice of workplace for women. They could still work as secretaries, nurses, teachers and social workers. These kinds of professions were considered typically female professions and were paid much less than other professions. That kind of restrictions themed unbearable for some women. They rejected to go on with this rules anymore. They changed their hair color, style appearance and started to fight against the existing stereotypes. Those women were named in history as “flappers”. The first time in history they started wearing short skirts which were something shocking to the society. They also started driving cars, drinking alcohol, which raised a huge boom. Those kinds of things were considered “Non-feminine”. Actions of flappers were accepted as radical, though they had their influence on the society finally. The heavy restrictions started disappearing every year and today we have what we have. For a very long time, women were considered inferior to men. However, the role of a woman in society has significantly changed during recent decades. Today the importance of women in the society is beyond any suspicion. In today’s world, women with their ambitions, intelligence and strength have proved that the word “inferior” has nothing in common with their gender.  
5. What is the general tone of the whole passage?

Rewrite the sentence:
“I am sorry but I won’t do the extra work,” Carol said.

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There are many strange superstitions in the world. The most common one is related to black cats, (1) ____ are the source of hundreds of unlucky superstitions. It’s a sign of bad luck if they walk in front of you or you step on their tails. They even bring bad luck into a house if they sneeze inside! This superstition dates (2) ____ to the Middle Ages when they became associated with witches and evil spirits. Another common superstition is about walking under a ladder. A more (3) ____ explanation can be traced back to ancient Egypt. The early Egyptians believed that the shape of the Pyramids had a special power. It was considered very bad luck to break the “power” of this shape and that’s exactly what walking under a ladder would do! In addition, in Roman times, people (4) ____ the habit of looking at themselves in pools of water. Some believed that these reflections were in fact “glimpses of the soul”. Any disruption to the water in the pool would bring bad luck to the person looking in it. This superstition lives (5)_________the fear of bad luck from breaking a mirror

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Nam wanted to know what time ...............

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The cake tastes ____.

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Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh said over the past 50 years of co- operation and development, besides security, political, cultural and social cooperation, ASEAN has been focusing on economic co-operation through the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community.  ASEAN member states have carried out such activities as one-stop-shop custom procedure, mutual recognition arrangements (MRAs) on electricity, rubber, processed food, pharmaceuticals, etc. Statistics by the Ministry of Industry and Trade reveals when Vietnam joined AFTA in 1996, the country’s two-way trade turnover with other countries in the bloc was only some 5.9 billion USD. In 2018, this number increased by more than 9.5 times and reached about 56.3 billion USD. In the first six months of 2019, Vietnam’s exports to ASEAN reached 13.067 billion USD, up 6.7 percent year-on-year.  Notably, the introduction of the AEC marked a new integration step of ASEAN economies with a goal of building a competitive, dynamic and innovative ASEAN. Tran Thanh Hai, deputy head of the Import-Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said that entering the ASEAN market, many Vietnamese products have had positive changes and become more competitive. For example, Vietnam used to acquire shrimp cultivation methods from other countries, such as Thailand in the past. However, it has made it to the list of biggest shrimp exporters in the world. On the other hand, having joined the AEC, enterprises now pay more attention to product quality, including technical standards.  Even when Vietnam enters a new era of integration with global-scale free trade agreements already put on the table for negotiation, the role of ASEAN Economic Community is still significant. AEC lays a firm foundation for Vietnam to continue its journey of global integration, insiders said. 
2. What is the tone of the paragraph 2?

Choose the best answer:
We are going to have a picnic despite the rain.

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
There are many thoughts on the origins of civilization. One of the major factors  involved was the increase in population. The development of techniques, primarily irrigation and food control, which permitted agriculture in special areas such as the flood plain of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, made possible the support of large population. Once populations reach a certain number, the older pattern of social organization breaks down and new ones develop. Specifically the older system whereby each individual participated in food production and maintained a similar standard of living, and whereby kinship served as the basic method of social organization, was replaced by the occupational division of labor, political and religious hierarchies, public works such as road and public building construction, class systems, codes of law, markets, new forms of warfare, and urban centres. Allied with these important sociological traits are material traits, such as monumental architecture and development of science and, in many cases, metallurgy and writing systems.  The earliest civilization, Sumer, developed in the Middle East. This was the Bronze Age of the Old World, during which people first developed the art of metallurgy, civilization also arose in other parts of the Old World first in Egypt, China and India, and later in Europe and Africa. At this time, civilization also developed independently in the New World, in the Mexican area and in Peru and its neighboring areas.  In the Old World the Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age, which saw the rise and fall of great empires and the shift of power from the Middle East to Greece and Rome and then to Western Europe. In the 1700s the Industrial Age began, leading directly to the modern civilization of today. 
3. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

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Nature photographer Joel Sartore is passionate about endangered species. He uses his  camera to make people aware of environmental problems. They tell the stories of animals that may disappear unless we work fast to save them.  Sartore’s latest project is called Photo Ark. The goal of the project is to make a photographic record of the world’s biodiversity. As Sartore says, “For many of Earth’s creatures, time is running out.”  When asked how he became interested in saving endangered species, Joel said “When I was a child, I read about Martha, the very last passenger pigeon. Martha died in 1914. I was shocked. In the past, there were 5 billion passenger pigeons – probably more than any other bird. But here was the last one, and there was no way to save it. How did we let this happen? I couldn’t understand it. I still feel the same way. I want to prevent this from ever happening again.” Photography is the best way to show problems to the world. It gets people to care about the problem. It’s not enough to just show pretty animals in a beautiful landscape. Now, we must show the threats to these animals as well. The good news is that there are many ways to publish stories and photographs on environmental issues. Self-publishing on the Web is one way to do this. Even nonprofessional photographers can help to make us aware of these problems
4. According to the passage, which of the following best describes Joel Sartore’s interest in saving endangered species?