Choose the best answer:
How many houses __________ by the storm last night?

 

 

Though called by sweet-sounding names like Firinga or Katrina, tropical cyclones are huge rotating storms 200 to 2,000 kilometers wide with winds that blow at speeds of more than 100 kilometers per hour (kph). Weather professionals know them as tropical cyclones, but they are called hurricanes in the Caribbean Sea, typhoons in the Pacific Ocean, and cyclones in the Indian Ocean. They occur in both the northern and southern hemispheres. Large ones have destroyed cities and killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Tropical cyclones begin over water that is warmer than 27 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit) slightly north or south of the earth’s equator. Warm, humid air full of water vapor moves upward. The earth's rotation causes the growing storm to start to rotate around its center (called the eye). At the certain height, the water vapor condenses, changing to liquid and releasing heat. The heat draws more air and water vapor upward, creating a cycle as air and water vapor rise and liquid water falls. If the cycle speeds up until winds reach 118 kilometers per hour, the storm qualifies as a tropical cyclone.

Most deaths in tropical cyclones are caused by storm surge. This is a rise in sea level, sometimes seven meters or more, caused by the storm pushing against the ocean's surface. Storm surge was to blame for the flooding of New Orleans in 2005. The storm surge of Cyclone Nargis in 2008 in Myanmar pushed seawater nearly four meters deep some 40 kilometers inland, resulting in many deaths.

The word "they" in paragraph 1 refers to________.

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
A long time ago, this part of the town used to be a place where people came to relax and get away from their stress. Although this was ….(1)... a shelter for people to escape, it has now become a chaotic and noisy market area. Up until a few years ago, it wasn't as bad as it is now. Although it is true that some people in the neighborhood supported the expansion of the market a few years ago, now most of them….(2)… that it has gotten out of control and created many serious problems for the area. .…(3)…., it might have already gotten too far out of control. What we really need right now is not a mere intervention by civilians but strong action from the mayor's office

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:
Niagara Falls, one of the most famous North American natural wonders, has long been a popular tourist destination. Tourists today flock to see the two falls that actually constitute Niagara Falls: the 173-foot-high Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side of the Niagara River in the Canadian province of Ontario and 182-foot-high American Falls on the U.S. side of the river in the state of New York. Approximately 85 percent of the water that goes over the falls actually goes over Horseshoe Falls, with the rest going over American Falls.
Most visitors come between April and October, and it is quite a popular activity to take a steamer out onto the river and right up to the base of the falls for a close-up view. It is also possible to get a spectacular view of the falls from the strategic locations along the Niagara River, such as Prospect Point of Table Rock, or from one of the four observation towers which have heights up to 500 feet.
Tourists have been visiting Niagara Falls in large numbers since the 1800’s; annual visitation now averages above 10 million visitors per year. Because of concern that all these tourists would inadvertently destroy the natural beauty of this scenic wonder, the State of New York in 1885 created Niagara Falls Park in order to protect the land surrounding American Falls.
A year later Canda created Queen Victoria Park on the Canadian side of the Niagara, around Horseshoe Falls. With the area surrounding the falls under the jurisdiction of government agencies, appropriate steps could be taken to preserve the pristine beauty of the area.

The expression “right up” in paragraph 2 could best be replaced by     .

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
A World without Wires
We are lucky to live in a world that is full of incredible technology. Our living rooms are packed with computers, LCD TVs, video game systems, and Blue-ray players that help us enjoy the latest entertainment. Although these items bring us joy and convenience, they also create a lot of clutter. Each device needs its own plug and adaptor to keep its batteries recharged, and over time these wires get _tangled_. Thankfully, something has come along to help get rid our homes of this mess while still supplying these devices with the power they need. It’s called wireless charging and this trend is just starting. Wireless charging, also known as inductive charging, has a lot of potential for smartphones and other electronic devices. Coils are used to create a magnetic field. Electronic devices can then absorb the electricity once they are placed on a special charging pad. There are several advantages that wireless charging offers over traditional methods. For starters, cords have a tendency to wear out with use. Wireless charging eliminates this hassle so users never have to worry about buying replacement cords. Wireless charging is also far more convenient for medical implants, as patients won’t need to recharge their devices through the skin using cords. In turn, this cuts down on the risks of infection. Wireless charging can also bring safety benefits, as wired charging devices that come in contact with water can increase the chances of getting an electric shock. Wireless charging eliminates that danger completely. Still, there are a few drawbacks to wireless charging. The first is speed. It takes a bit longer to charge devices wirelessly than it does if the device is plugged in. The process also requires more heat, so devices tend to get a bit hotter, which could create other safety issues. Also, since devices must be left on a special pad while charging, it is harder to operate them while they are powering up. This limitation may be eliminated in the future, as researchers are developing transmitters that can charge several different devices in a room without the need to connect to a charging pad. Although wireless-charging technology may be far from perfect, it seems like a step in the right direction as we move towards a less-tangled future.
5. Who would probably enjoy wireless charging the most?

Chọn câu đồng nghĩa:
Large cars use more gas than smaller ones.

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
Frozen Fitness
A man stands over a bathtub that is filled with ice. Although it is the middle of winter, he slowly slides into the tub and submerges his body underneath the water. Within seconds, he begins to shiver, but after a few minutes he is able to settle down. Despite the temperature, he will remain in the tub for the next 30 minutes. He is taking advantage of cold thermogenesis, a growing trend that could improve people’s health. Thermogenesis is an internal process that mammals undergo to generate heat when they are subjected to cold temperatures. In modern society, humans rarely requires this ability because we have heated homes and offices during the winter season. Recent studies, however, indicate that by doing so we could be missing out on some wonderful health benefits. Being subjected to cold temperatures regularly has been shown to boost men’s testosterone levels. It also boosts metabolism, which allows people to burn fat more efficiently. Some people have reported that cold thermogenesis also provides a mental lift once you have overcome the initial shock of the cold water. The positive effects of thermogenesis were known before, but it only started to become popular after the 2008 Olympics. One man who helped spark this craze was Ray Cronise, a NASA scientist and entrepreneur. He was reading an article that reported Michael Phelps ate 12,000 calories per day while training. The calories were so high that led him to believe that something else besides exercise was helping Phelps to stay thin and muscular: the icy water in the swimming pool. So he conducted his own experiment by drinking several glasses of ice water and exposing himself to cold water. After six weeks of this regiment, he had lost 30 pounds. There are several routines that a person can adopt if they are interested in starting their own thermogenesis routine. One method is ice baths. This method may be a bit too drastic for average people though. Instead, people may want to begin by dunking their face in cold water for a few seconds, and then gradually increase the time. Next, they can progress to cold showers and baths before moving on ice baths. An even more convenient way is to place an ice packet on the back of your neck for 15 to 20 minutes every evening. Although these methods may be extreme, many are willing to give them a go to improve their health
2. Thermogenesis is the body’s way of ___________ when it is cold.

Who cares where the tomatoes in your salad actually came from? ---139---, an increasing number of people do, according to a study conducted by the Consumer Group. In fact, the study shows that many consumers would pay an average of 10 percent more when given the exact source of a fresh food product. ---140--- . Some grocery stores, such as Venley Foods in Boston, have taken advantage of the trend and used it to implement ---141--- branding and marketing.  "If we can tell a story about our product," says Venley Foods CEO Minji Kim, "then we've added ---142--- in the minds of consumers."

139.....................

Choose the best answer:
The construction work was _____ by the local contractor.

Choose the best answer:
I am not used to the cold weather here, so I need to have a heating system ____.

Bonfire Night is (1)______ all over Britain on November 5th. The festival dates from 1605 when a man called Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament. He was caught and hanged, (2)______ the other conspirators. Preparations for Bonfire Night usually start weeks before the event itself .Children go from house to house (3)_______ old furniture, newspapers and anything else which will burn for their bonfires. They make a “guy”, a figure which (4)______ Guy Fawkes, from an old sack and wheel it round the streets asking for money which they use to buy fireworks. On the day itself, as soon as it is dark, the guy is put on top of bonfire, which is then lit. Fireworks are set off and everyone enjoys the display as they stand round the fire (5)______ warm and eating baked potatoes and hot dogs.

(9) ________

Choose the best answer:
Mary accused Peter of stealing her money.

Rewrite the sentence:
It was very kind of you to send me the postcard.

Rewrite sentences without changing the meaning
 I find cooking in my free time relaxing.

Choose the best answer:
Nguyen Du is a famous ____.

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
The penny press, which emerged in the United Sates during the 1830’s, was 1 a powerful agent of mass communication. These newspapers were little dailies, generally four pages in length, written for the mass taste. They differed from the 3 staid, formal presentation of the conservative press, with its emphasis on political and literary topics. The new papers were brief and cheap, emphasizing sensational reports of police courts and juicy scandals as well as human interest 5 stories. Twentieth – century journalism was already foreshadowed in the penny press of the 1830’s. 7 The New York Sun, founded in 1833, was the first successful penny paper, and it was followed two years later by the New York Herald, published by James 9 Gordon Bennett. Not long after, Horace Greeley issued the New York Tribune, which was destined to become the most influential paper in America. Greeley 11 gave space to the issues that deeply touched the American people before the Civil War – abolitionism, temperance, free homesteads, Utopian cooperative settlements, and the problems of labor. The weekly edition of the Tribune, with 13 100,000 subscribers, had a remarkable influence in rural areas, especially in Western communities. 15 Americans were reputed to be the most avid readers of periodicals in the world. An English observer enviously calculated that, in 1829, the number of 17 newspapers circulated in Great Britain was enough to reach only one out of every thirty – six inhabitants weekly; Pennsylvania in that same year had a 19 newspaper circulation which reaches one out of every four inhabitants weekly. Statistics seemed to justify the common belief that Americans were devoted to periodicals. Newspapers in the United States increased from 1,200 in 1833 to 21 3000 by the early 1860’s, on the eve of the Civil War. This far exceeded the number and circulation of newspapers in England and France.
5. Who was Horace Greeley?

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
Microtrends: It’s a Small World After All
In today’s world, it seems like everyone is focused on “the big picture”. However, coming up with large-scale solutions is not always what is needed. Sometimes it pays to think small – and that is exactly what many people are doing these days. By thinking small, lots of big minds have created some pretty amazing things. One example of this is microloans. Microloans are tiny loans, in some cases just a few dollars, which are available to people in developing countries. Although this may not seem like a lot of money, microloans can help workers to escape poverty and start their own businesses. The person behind the modern microloan movement is a Bangladeshi man named Muhammad Yunus. He started the project in the 1970s by offering villagers low-interest loans using his own money. Yunus wanted to offer poor people access to small loans so they wouldn’t be forced to turn to gangsters if they needed funds. In 1983, he founded the Grameen Bank and soon after, similar organizations started popping up around the globe. Although there are still some issues with microloans, at the very least they offer everyone the potential of becoming an entrepreneur. For most of the 20th century, companies required large sums of money and plenty of manpower to compete at the highest levels. In the late 1990s, the Internet changed this and many microenterprises came about. Microenterprises are smaller companies that employ less than 10 people and only require small sums of money to start. Being small offers lots of flexibility to these companies as they can react more quickly than corporate giants when a business opportunity arises. Many technology companies that produce mobile apps and websites fall into this category. Keep in mind that having a small staff doesn’t mean small profits, as microenterprises can earn hundreds of millions of dollars per year. Thinking small can also lead to a tremendous improvement in quality. One example of this is microbreweries, which are smaller-sized breweries that produce far less beer than traditional breweries. Since microbreweries don’t have to target large markets and make millions of sales to stay open, they can monitor the brewing process carefully to make sure everything is perfect. In addition, microbreweries can experiment with unique flavours that many traditional brewers would shy away from. So the next time you are asked to “think big”, remember that good things may also come in small packages.
1. According to the passage, who are microloans supposed to help?

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
The Great Debate over GM Foods
One of the hottest topic in agriculture today is genetically modified (GM) foods. GM foods are foods that come from plants that have had their DNA altered using biotechnology. GM foods have been on the market since 1994, when a company called Calgene started selling GM tomatoes. Since then, other GM foods including papaya, corn, and plums to name a few have been developed. The main benefit of GM foods is that they can be a more economical solution than non GM foods. Scientists found a way to modify many plants to make them more resistant to weeds, diseases, and pests. This allows the plants to grow in tougher climates and conditions, which should lead to lower food prices and increase the overall food supply. However, many consumers still have their doubts about GM foods. For one they feel that by eating GM foods people are messing with nature. Until now humans have survived on food that was produced without any interference from science. Even though many lab studies show that GM foods are safe in the short term, opponents feel that not enough long-term testing has been done yet. Another major issue in the GM foods debate is its labelling. Current US laws do not require producers to label their foods as GM. This has upset many consumers who feel they have the right to clearly know how the food they are buying is produced. On the other hand, producers are afraid to label their foods as GM because they feel it will result in less product sales, as people may assume that there is something wrong with GM foods. This controversy is not just on the level of consumers and producers. The issue of non GM foods has also become a block to a major free trade agreement between the US and Europe. GM foods are banned throughout most of Europe, while they are quite common throughout the US. Since many American GM food producers would like to sell their foods overseas in Europe, the US is requesting that European nations eliminate laws banning GM foods. However, many European nations are not fully convinced that these products are safe.
8. All of the following are the reason why European people don’t like GM foods EXCEPT that __________.

 Choose the word or phrase among A, B, C or D that best fits the blank space in the following passage:

"Men are lazy in the home, according to an official survey (1)……… today. They have about six hours a week more free time than wives, but play very little(2)…… in cooking, cleaning, washing, and ironing, according to the Social Trends Survey by the Central (3)…… Office.
 Nearly three quarters of married women (4)…… to do all or most of the housework, and among married men the proportion who admitted that their wives did all or most of the housework was only slightly lower.
 The survey (5)…… that washing and ironing was the least popular task among men, with only one percent (6)…… this duty, compared with 89 percent of women, and 10 percent sharing equally.
 Only 5 percent of men (7)….. the evening meal, 3 percent carry out household cleaning duties, 5 percent household shopping, and 17 percent wash the evening dishes. But when household gadgets break down, (8)……  are carried out by 82 percent of husbands.
 The survey says that, despite our economic problems, the majority of Britons are substantially better (9)….. than a decade ago. We’re healthier, too - eating healthier foods and smoking less.
 The (10)…..  Briton, not surprisingly, is more widely travelled than a decade ago. More people are going abroad for holidays, with Spain the favorite destination."

8. But when household gadgets break down, (8)……  are carried out by 82 percent of husbands.

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.
6. What is the benefit of using Gorilla Glass?

Choose the best answer:
You must explain your problems …………....