Choose the best answer:
______ more information, please telephone our main office.

 

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s was the only surviving son of Leopold and Maria Pertl Mozart. Leopold was a successful composer, violinist, and assistant concertmaster at the Salzburg court. Wolfgang's mother, a constantly ill housewife, was born to a middle-class family of local community leaders. His only sister was Maria Anna. With their father’s encouragement and guidance, they both were introduced to music at an early age. Leopold started Anna on the keyboard when she was seven, as three-year-old Wolfgang looked on. Mimicking her playing, Wolfgang quickly began to show a strong understanding of chords, tonality, and tempo. Soon, he too was being tutored by his father.

Leopold was a devoted and task-oriented teacher to both his children. He made the lessons fun, but also insisted on a strong work ethic and perfection. Fortunately, both children excelled well in these areas. Recognizing their special talents, Leopold contributed much of his time to their education in music as well as other subjects. Wolfgang soon showed signs of excelling beyond his father's teachings with an early composition at age five and demonstrating outstanding ability on harpsichord and the violin. He would soon go onto play the piano, organ and viola.

The word outstanding is closest 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:
At 7pm on a dark, cold November evening, thousands of people are making their way across a vast car park. They’re not here to see a film, or the ballet, or even the circus. They are all here for what is, bizarrely, a global phenomenon: they are here to see Holiday on Ice. Given that most people don’t seem to be acquainted with anyone who’s ever been, the show’s statistics are extraordinary: nearly 300 million people have seen Holiday on Ice since it began in 1943; it is the most popular live entertainment in the world.
But what does the production involve? And why are so many people prepared to spend their lives travelling round Europe in caravans in order to appear in it? It can't be glamorous, and it's undoubtedly hard work. The backstage atmosphere is an odd mix of gym class and workplace. A curtained-off section at the back of the arena is laughably referred to as the girls' dressing room, but is more accurately described as a corridor, with beige, cracked walls and cheap temporary tables set up along the length of it. Each girl has a small area littered with pots of orange make-up, tubes of mascara and long false eyelashes.
As a place to work, it must rank pretty low down the scale: the area round the ice-rink is grey and mucky with rows of dirty blue and brown plastic seating and red carpet tiles. It's an unimpressive picture, but the show itself is an unquestionably vast, polished global enterprise: the lights come from a firm in Texas, the people who make the audio system are in California, but Montreal supplies the smoke effects; former British Olympic skater Robin Cousins is now creative director for the company and conducts a vast master class to make sure they're ready for the show's next performance.
The next day, as the music blares out from the sound system, the cast start to go through their routines under Cousins’ direction. Cousins says, The aim is to make sure they're all still getting to exactly the right place on the ice at the right time - largely because the banks of lights in the ceiling are set to those places, and if the skaters are all half a metre out they'll be illuminating empty ice. Our challenge, ‘he continues, ‘is to produce something they can sell in a number of countries at the same time. My theory is that you take those things that people want to see and you give it to them, but not in the way they expect to see it. You try to twist it. And you have to find music that is challenging to the skaters, because they have to do it every night.’
It may be a job which he took to pay the rent, but you can't doubt his enthusiasm. “The only place you'll see certain skating moves is an ice show,” he says, “because you're not allowed to do them in competition. It's not in the rules. So the ice show world has things to offer which the competitive world just doesn't.” Cousin knows what he's talking about because he skated for the show himself when he stopped competing - he was financially unable to retire. He learnt the hard way that you can't put on an Olympic performance every night. “I'd be thinking, these people have paid their money, now do your stuff, and I suddenly thought”, “I really can't cope. I'm not enjoying it”. The solution, he realised, was to give 75 per cent every night, rather than striving for the sort of twice-a-year excellence which won him medals.
To be honest, for those of us whose only experience of ice-skating is watching top-class Olympic skaters, some of the movements can look a bit amateurish, but then, who are we to judge? Equally, it's impossible not to be swept up in the whole thing; well, you'd have to try pretty hard not to enjoy it.

According to paragraph 1 the writer is surprised to see that although Holiday on Ice is popular     .

In the world of ---143--- apps, those developed by Arvedlon, Inc., stand out for their innovation and ease of use. The newly released Forward Path app ---144--- tablets and smartphones are no exception. Forward Path connects with home exercise equipment such as stationary bicycles and rowing machines. Users can select video footage of dozens of real-world routes. Then they can choose from several speed options ---145--- the video to the pace of their workouts. ---146---. While nothing can replace an outdoor workout, Forward Path comes closer than any other app currently on the market. Our testers highly recommend it.

146................

 In the South, ______ development concentrated on rice cultivation, and nationally, rice and rubber were the main items of export.

(294)______

DAKAR (August 4) – Nentique Laboratories, Inc., announced today the development of a new variety of organic wheat that ---143--- heat. Dozens of plants were cross-pollinated over many years to produce this variety, known as GR-712. It joins a growing list of ---144--- that can withstand high temperatures during extended dry periods. "Some farmers in regions close to the equator focus---145--- on rice production because rice grows well in hot climates. But in the Sahara, it is too dry for much of the year," explains company spokesman Ahmad Niang. "But for a small investment in GR-712 seeds, farmers will now be able  to  grow  wheat  in  our  region."  146---.  This added income can, in turn, be reinvested in better machinery, which will encourage more environmentally friendly farming practices.

143. ...................

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
(1) ........ .........most scientists dismiss tales of out-of-body experiences on the operating table as dreams and delusions, there are some cases which seem to defy rational explanation. Take Margaret Frobisher. In 2003, she was undergoing a routine operation under general anaesthetic at Sansdown Hospital in Kent. There were serious complications, (2) ......................... , and her heart stopped beating. Try (3) ......................... they might, the surgeon and anaesthetist were unable to resuscitate her. Finally, after eight minutes, they succeeded. (4) ......................... having been clinically dead, Margaret suffered no brain damage and no adverse side effects. The story doesn't stop there, (5) ......................... . When the anaesthetist went to visit her in her hospital bed, Margaret Frobisher recounted an amazing story. She said she vividly remembered floating above the operating table. And (6) ......................... her never having been conscious in that room at any time, she described the room and the resuscitation attempt in great detail. She said that (7) ......................... three of the walls were bright white, one was dark grey. This was true. She also said that, on the top of a cabinet in a corner of the operating theatre, there was an old book. (8) ......................... the anaesthetist didn't - and couldn't - believe her, she checked. There, just as Margaret Frobisher had described it, was the book. (9) ......................... as they tried, no one at the hospital could explain how Margaret could have known about the book. Even (10) ......................... one does not believe in a 'soul' or in life after death, it is difficult to explain what happened in that operating theatre when Margaret Frobisher's heart stopped beating

______it was so cold, he went out without an overcoat.
(130)_______

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. 
3. The author implies that the bar code: 

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks.
Everyone wants to reduce pollution. But the  pollution (1)........... is as complicated as it is serious. It is complicated because much pollution is caused by things that benefit people. (2)............. , exhaust from automobiles causes a large percentage of air pollution. But the automobile provides transportation for millions of people. Factories discharge much of the material that pollutes the air and water but factories give (3).......... to a large number of people.
Thus, to end or greatly reduce pollution immediately, people would have to (4)............. using many things that benefit them. Most of the people do not want to do that, of course. But pollution can be gradually reduced in several ways. Scientists and engineers can work to find ways to lessen the amount of pollution that such things as automobiles and factories cause. Governments can pass and enforce laws (5).............require businesses and traffic to stop, or to cut down on certain polluting activities.

(5).....................

FAMILY HISTORY

In an age when technology is developing faster than ever before, many people are being (21).........  to the idea of looking back into the past. One way they can do this is by investigating their own family history. They can try to (22) ............ out more about where their family came from and what they did. This is now a fast-growing hobby, especial in countries with a (23).............  short history, like Australia and the United States.

It is (24).................  thing to spend some time (25) ................... through a book on family history and to take the (26) .............. to investigate your own family’s past. It is (27) ............. another to carry out the research work successfully. It is easy to set about it in a disorganised way and (28) ................ yourself many problems which could have been (29)............ with a little forward planning.

If your own family stories tell you that you are (30) ........... with a famous character, whether hero or criminal, do not let this idea take over your research. Just treat it as an interesting possibility. A simple system for collecting and storing your path. The most important thing, though, is to get started. Who knows what you might find?

(21).........

She asked _____.

(227)_____

Choose the best answer:
The health of our children is being ...... by exhaust fumes.

Choose the best answer:
Not until the seventeenth century ______ to measure the speed of light.

Rewrite sentences without changing the meaning
Interacting with friends through the internet is fun.

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D): The term "dyslexia” is used to describe a number of problems associated with reading, writing or spelling. Short-term memory, mathematics, concentration, personal organization and sequencing may also be affected. We do not know exactly what causes dyslexia, but we do know that it tends to run in the family. We also know that more boys suffer from dyslexia than girls and that dyslexia is more common in urban areas than in rural. One of the most common signs of dyslexia is “reversals”. People with this kind of problem often confuse letters like “b” and "a" when reading and writing or they sometimes read and write words like "tip" and "won" as “pit” and “now”. Other common characteristics are lack of punctuation, misspelling, mixed-up sentence structure and poor grammatical construction. People are born with dyslexia, but it is only when they begin to learn to write that it becomes a noticeable problem. For children with dyslexia, going to school can be a traumatic experience. Poor achievement can make them feel frustrated and insecure. They are reluctant to go to school and sometimes even skip school together, Cheating, stealing and experimenting with drugs can also occur when children regard themselves as failures. It is a common misconception that dyslexic people are of inferior intelligence. Yet Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison and Hans Christian Andersen were apparently all dyslexic. There is no total cure for dyslexia; however, the effects of dyslexia can be lessened with the guidance of skilled specialists and a lot of determination.
3. The passage states that one common characteristic of dyslexics is that they...

Choose the best answer:
to/ Mary/ like/ buy/ English – Vietnamese/ an/ would/ dictionary.

Rewrite the sentence
My house is bigger than your house.

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?

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

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
Learning to Dig Jazz Music
It has been said that jazz is America’s greatest contribution to music. It mixes the powerful rhythm of African traditions with elements of European classical music. The beginnings of jazz music are a bit unclear, but many people believe it originated in New Orleans during the late 1800s. New Orleans was a melting pot where local tribes mixed with immigrants who came from Africa and Europe to form a new, unique culture. Jazz has several elements which set it apart from other styles of music. Compared to rock music, jazz is more complex and versatile. Whereas rock bands typically consists of a drummer, some guitarists, and a singer, jazz bands can be big or small and they are made up from a wide variety of instruments. Another thing which sets jazz apart from other forms of music is improvisation. Musicians start with a basic structure, perhaps a few chords, and then they decide what to play in the moment. Therefore, even if the same songs are repeated, you can be certain that no two jazz concerts are the same. Over the years, many sub-genres of jazz came about. Ragtime is one of the first styles that came about, and it consists mainly of upbeat piano compositions. Dixieland Jazz started in the 1920s and it incorporated blue music and brass bands. Next came the Big Band era, which showcased groups with 10 or more musicians playing different instruments. In the Bebop era of the 1940s, jazz musicians returned to smaller groups of four to six musicians, but they started playing far more complex melodies.  If you are just becoming interested in jazz, you should start by listening to the works of some of its masters. Louis Armstrong is considered one of the grandfathers of jazz, as he helped to spread jazz to the masses in the 1920s. Armstrong is perhaps best-known today for singing the classic song “What a Wonderful World”, but in his prime, he was a talented bandleader and an incredible trumpet player. Charlie Parker was all the rage during the bebop age, as every saxophone player was trying to imitate him. Miles Davis is another pioneering jazzman who everyone should check out, as he was always changing his style. During his long career, Davis won nine Grammy awards. Although jazz music is an acquired taste, once you begin to appreciate it, it is like a fine wine that gets better with age.
2. What is the second paragraph mainly about?