Choose the letter A, B, C or D to answer these following questions

Music is one of the greatest creations of human kind in the course of history. It is creativity in a pure and undiluted form and format. Music plays a vital role in our daily life. It is a way of expressing our feelings and emotions. Music is a way to escape life, which gives us relief in pain and helps us to reduce the stress of the daily routine. It helps us to calm down, an even excites us in the moment of joy. Moreover, it enriches the mind and gives us self-confidence.

Music surrounds our lives at different moments of lives, whether we hear it on the radio, on television, from our car and home stereos. Different kinds of music are appropriate for different occasions. We come across it in the mellifluous tunes of a classical concert or in the devotional strains of a bhajan, the wedding band, or the reaper in the fields breaking into song to express the joys of life. Even warbling in the bathroom gives us a happy start to the day. Music has a very powerful therapeutic effect on the human psyche. It has always been part of our association with specific emotions, and those emotions themselves have given rise to great music.

 

Which one is NOT the role of music?

Choose the letter A, B, C or D to complete the passage below

Education plays a vital role ____________ (1) shaping successful people. It gives us the opportunity to become a productive member of a civilized society by acquiring all the necessary skills. We learn ____________ (2) to meet challenges and overcome obstacles. We learn how to become an integrated personality and maintain the perpetuation of our culture. People learn basic norms, rules, regulations, ____________ (3) values of society through education. Moreover, high quality education enables us to ____________ (4) a successful life, enhances our intelligence, skills, knowledge, and brings positive changes in our life.

Education lays the foundation stone for our future. An illiterate person can find ____________ (5) very difficult to cope ____________ (6) some aspects of life. Education expands our vision and creates awareness. It helps us develop a disciplined life and provides us with better earning opportunities. It enables us ____________ (7) the world beyond our own surroundings. Education ____________ (8) also a prerequisite of the prosperity and modernization of any country.

Modern education is liberal, open, and exoteric. It is the premise of progress, in every family and in every society. It teaches people to reason. It is based ____________ (9) the humanism, freedom, equality, democracy, and human rights. The content of education keeps pace with the needs of modern society and is a mirror of its goals, values, and priorities. So, education is a necessary means of eradicating the unemployment problem. It is able to reduce poverty in a number of ____________ (10). But we have to remember that there is a great need for the growth of the vocational education so that every person could pursue a fulfilling career that ensures a satisfied life.

(2).......................

Read the following passage and choose A, B, C, or D to fill in the gaps:
Alice is 18 years old and she comes (41) ………. England. She is now in Hanoi and (42) ……….Vietnamese. She came to Hanoi (43) ……….July so she (44) ……….there for six months. Alice (45) ……….she likes Hanoi very much. She likes (46) ……….shopping and cycling around the town. (47) ……….month she will go to Ho Chi Minh city (48) ……….a friend of (49) ……….. Alice hopes she (50) ………. many letters from England.

50______________

Read the following passage and do the tasks below.

The traditional American family

The nuclear family, consisting of a mother, father, and their children, may be more an American ideal than an American reality. Of course, the so called traditional American family was always more varied than we had been led to believe, reflecting the very different racial, ethnic, class, and religious customs among different American groups, but today diversity is even more obvious.

The most recent government census statistics reveal that only about one third of all current American families fits the traditional mold of two parents and their children, and another third consists of married couples who either have children or have none still living at home. An analysis of the remaining one third of the population reveals that about 20 percent of the total number of American households are single people, the most common descriptor being women over sixty-five years of age. A small percentage, about 3 percent of the total, consists of unmarried people who choose to live together; the rest, about 7 percent, are single parents, with at least one child.

There are several easily identifiable reasons for the growing number of single-parent households. First, the sociological phenomenon of single-parent households reflects changes in cultural attitudes toward divorce and also toward unmarried mothers. A substantial number of adults become single parents as a result of divorce. In addition, the number of children born to unmarried women who choose to keep their children and rear them by themselves has increased dramatically. Finally, there is a small percentage of single-parent families that have resulted from untimely death. Today, these varied family types are typical and, therefore, normal.

In addition, because many families live far from relatives, close friends have become a more important part of family life than ever before. The vast majority of Americans claim that they have people in their lives whom they regard as family although they are not related. A view of family that only accepts the traditional nuclear arrangement not only ignores the reality of modern American family life, but also undervalues the familial bonds created in alternatives family arrangements. Apparently, many Americans are achieving supportive relationships in family forms other than the traditional one.

With which of the following statements would the author most probably agree?

Read the passage and choose the best answer.

Just like American students, you will have to submit your academic transcripts as part of your application for admission to a university or college. Academic transcripts are (23)……………copies of your academic work. In the US, this (24)……………your “grades” and “grade point average”(GPA), which are measurements of your academic achievement. Courses are commonly graded using percentages, which are converted (25)……………letter grades.

The grading system and GPA in the USA can be (26)……………, especially for international students. The interpretation of grades has a lot of variation. For example, two students who attended different schools (27)……………submit their transcripts to the same university. They both have 3.5 GPAs, but one student attended an average high school while the other attended a prestigious school that was academically challenging. The university might interpret their GPAs differently because the two schools have dramatically different standards.

25_____________

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

The Buddha of the Poor

More than 26,000 children now have bright (23)…………………..faces after receiving free operations. About 173,000 poor people received free treatment to regain their vision, and nearly 3,400 deaf children were given hearing aids. These are part of the (24)………………………..of the Ho Chi Minh Association for Support of Poor Patients, launched and run by Mr. Nguyen Vinh Nghiep. Mr Nghiep, the former Chairman of the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, retired in 1992, and (25)……………………his Association two years later. Together with his former colleagues, Mr Nghiep has (26)……………………… billions of VND from individual (27)……………….and organizations to support more than a million poor people nationwide through seven major (28)………………….programmes, such as “ For the children’s smile”, “Bringing light to poor blind people from birth”., “ Sound and Vouce for Deaf and Dumb Children”, : Wheelchairs for people with disabilities and paralysed children”.

The “ Free meals for patients and their relatives” programme has offered over 2.6 million free meals to poor people in 10 hospitals. Mr Nghiep said, “Helping one person to gain their (29)………means bringing happiness to him or herself, freeing two or three more people from (30)………………of the patient, and more importantly, building (31)…………………..for poor patients in society.”

In 2002, Mr Nghiep, (32)……………. “The Buddha of the Poor”, was given the national title of Labor Hero in the Reneval Process, and his Association received the title in 2005.

Question 23......................

Read the passage and choose the best answer.

There is now increasing concern about the world’s energy (23)____ , particularly about those involving fossil (24) ____. In less than a hundred years we shall probably exhaust all the present (25) ____ of oil and gas. The world’s coal (26) ____ should last langer but, once used, these cannot be renewed. It is important; therefore, that we should develop such (27) ____ sources of energy as solar energy as well as water and wind power.

25_____________

Read the passage and choose the best answer.

An artist went to a beautiful part of the country for a holiday and stayed with a farmer. Every day he went out with his paints and his brushes and painted from morning to evening, and then when it got dark, he went back to the farm and had a good dinner before going to bed.

At the end of his holiday, he wanted to pay the farmer, but the farmer said: “No, I do not want money, but give me one of your pictures. What is money? In a week it will all be finished, but your painting will be still here.”

The artist was very pleased and thanked the farmer for saying such kind of things. The farmer still smiled and answer “It is not that. I have a son in London. He wants to become an artist. When he comes here next month, I will show him your picture, and then he will not want to become an artist anymore. I think.”

Why was the artist pleased with the farmer’s request?

Read the following passage and choose the best answer:
Mercury is the smallest member of the sun's family. It is only 3.100 miles across. It is also the sun's swiftest planet. Its yearly journey around the sun is only 85 days.
Mercury always keeps one side towards the sun. On this side, it is always day, on the other side always night. We only see the lighted side.
Mercury appears to us like a yellowish-orange star. The nearest planet to the sun is always seen near the sun, either just before sunrise or soon after sunset. People sometimes call Mercury the morning star or evening star.
Mercury is half the size of the earth. Because it is much lighter, it has much less gravity. If you can visit Mercury in a spaceship, you will find it a strange world. Its low gravity makes you feel very light. If your weight on earth is 100 pounds, your weight on Mercury is only 27 pounds.
Looking at the sun from Mercury, you can see that it's much more brilliant than it is seen from the earth. And the yellow center of the sun appears three times bigger than Mercury.
On its lighted side, Mercury's temperature is about 300 degrees centigrade. But the dark side is extremely cold, but 150 degrees below zero so mercury is probably the coldest as well as the hottest of the planets.

Why do we weigh much on the earth than on Mercury? - Because .......

Read the passage and choose the best answer.

Living in a city has a (23)…………..of drawbacks. Firstly, there are many problems of traffic jams and traffic accidents. The increase (24)…………..population and the increasing number of vehicles have caused many accidents to happen every day. Secondly, air pollution negatively affects people’s health, and it also has a bad influence on the environment. More and more city dwellers (25)…………..from coughing or breathing problems. Thirdly, the city is noisy, even at night. Noise (26)…………..comes from the traffic and from construction sites. Buildings are always being knocked (27)………….. and rebuilt. These factors contribute to making city life more difficult for its residents.

25____________

Read the following passage, then choose the correct answer.

       Music can move the soul. It can be a very strong influence. Some music can calm us down, but some music can make us wild! How does music affect us? Music is used in a variety of ways. It is used in the medical field as a source of research and as a sort of therapy as well. Music has been used as therapy for seizures, to lower blood pressure,  treat mental illness, treat depression, aid in healing, treat stress and insomnia, and premature infants. 

Musicologist Julius Portnoy found that it can change heart rates, increase or decrease blood pressure, affect energy levels, and digestion, positively or negatively, depending on the type of music. 
Calming music, such as classical music was found to have a very calming effect on the body and cause the increase of endorphins, thirty minutes of such music was equal to the effect of a dose of valium. Both hemispheres of the brain are involved in processing music. The music in these studies is not the "lyrics", but the music itself, the melody, the tones, the tunes, the rhythm, the chords. Conversely, music has also been documented to cause sickness. The right, or wrong music, rather, can be like poison to the body. Studies have been done on plants where loud hard rock music, for instance, killed plants and soft classical music, make the plants grow faster. Music is very powerful, like a drug, and can even be an addiction. According to Patty Hearst, a researcher on music,  it was documented that music was used in the aid of brainwashing some people. In the book,” Elevator  Music” by Joseph Lanza, it was stated that certain types of music over prolonged periods in certain conditions were shown to cause seizures.

It can be inferred from the passage that …………………

Reading the following passage and do the tasks below.

Inventors and Inventions

Technology is the reason humans have risen to a dominant role on our planet, above all other species. We are not the strongest or the fastest, in fact we're quite weak in relation to many other animals. But our brains, and our technology have allowed us to dominate our world. The most important discovery in human history is the harnessing of fire, which allowed us to operate in darkness, keep warm in the winter, and cook food. There is no set date to think about the invention of fire, however.

The first great invention, then, was agriculture. Ancient peoples collected wild grains to eat as long ago as 20,000 BC, but didn't start growing these crops until 13,000 BC and 6,000 BC, depending on the region. One of the earliest crops to be domesticated was rice, in China in around 11,000 BC.

Agriculture includes animals, of course, and the earliest animals to be domesticated are believed to be pigs, in 13,000 BC in Macedonia. The switch to agriculture is crucial, as it provides a food surplus. This surplus means that not everyone has to be involved in food production, freeing people up to conduct trade and advance science and the arts.

Other crucial inventions are the wheel, invented by the Greeks, which allowed people to carry heavy goods; as well as nails, invented by the Romans, without which construction was difficult.

Another great, world-shaking invention was the compass. The compass was invented between 200 BC and 100 AD in China. Prior to the compass, mariners had to use the sun and stars to navigate, which meant it was impossible to steer when the sky was overcast. The invention allowed accurate navigation in any weather... though the compass was first used for feng shui, or the construction of houses to be harmonious with the environment.

Probably the most significant medieval achievement was the printing press, without which modern civilization wouldn't be possible. It was invented in Johannes Gutenberg in 1436. Though imprinting symbols or images via stencils and ink had been known in Europe and China for hundreds of years, Gutenberg mechanized the process, improving its speed and efficiency. Up until then, books had to be painstakingly copied by hand, but now they could be mass-produced easily.

About fifty years after the invention of the printing press, twenty million volumes had been mass-produced. This led to a rise of literacy never seen before and directly contributed to the Protestant Reformation as it allowed average people to access the Bible.

One of the greatest inventions, which today we take for granted, is the lightbulb. There were several contributors to the field before Thomas Edison came along, but today he is credited with the invention of the first practical incandescent light bulb. He tried thousands of times to create the light bulb before managing to do so in 1879. This invention revolutionized the world.

When asked about the thousands of times he'd failed to create the lightbulb, Edison replied 'I didn't fail. I just found 2,000 ways now not to make a light bulb; I only needed to find one way to make it work.' Who the next great inventor will be is up in the air.

How did the printing press contribute to the Protestant Reformation?

Read the passage and answer the questions that follow by circling the corresponding letter A, B, C or D of the correct answers.
London is the place where the historic past and the present come alive. A blend of history, architecture and culture has created an amazingly and constantly developing city.
Not surprisingly the capital has become a wonderful place for visitors and a great place to live with countless museums, galleries and entertainment places throughout the city. Whatever you want to buy, you can surely find out in London.
London has a population of 7.2 million people and it is one of Europe's most densely populated areas.
Throughout history, a lot of immigrants and refugees have been arriving in London. London has more women than men and its population is younger when compared to the rest of the country. The capital is housing over 306,000 students in higher education.

The population of London is_____when compared to the rest of the country.

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:

"Background, in relation to computers, on the screen, the color on which characters are displayed. For example, a white background may be used for black characters. In a windowing environment in which more than one program or document can be available to the user, open but currently inactive windows  are said to be in the background.
In the context of operating systems and program execution, background refers to a process, or task, assigned a lower priority in the microprocessor's share of time to tasks other than the task running in the foreground. A background process thus often performs its work, such as printing or checking for arriving messages on an electronic mail network, invisibly unless the user requests an update or brings the task to the foreground. Generally, only multitasking operating systems are able to support background processing. However, some operating systems that do not support multitasking may be able to perform one or more types of background tasks. For example, in the Apple Macintosh operating system running in Single-Launch Mode (with multitasking turned off), the Background Printing option can be used to print documents while the user is doing other work."

1. What is a separate area on a computer screen which shows information and which you can move around?

Read the passage and answer the questions that follow by circling the corresponding letter A, B, C or D of the correct answers.
London is the place where the historic past and the present come alive. A blend of history, architecture and culture has created an amazingly and constantly developing city.
Not surprisingly the capital has become a wonderful place for visitors and a great place to live with countless museums, galleries and entertainment places throughout the city. Whatever you want to buy, you can surely find out in London.
London has a population of 7.2 million people and it is one of Europe's most densely populated areas.
Throughout history, a lot of immigrants and refugees have been arriving in London. London has more women than men and its population is younger when compared to the rest of the country. The capital is housing over 306,000 students in higher education.

The main idea of the passage is.........

Read the following passage and choose A, B, C, or D to fill in the gaps:
Alice is 18 years old and she comes (41) ………. England. She is now in Hanoi and (42) ……….Vietnamese. She came to Hanoi (43) ……….July so she (44) ……….there for six months. Alice (45) ……….she likes Hanoi very much. She likes (46) ……….shopping and cycling around the town. (47) ……….month she will go to Ho Chi Minh city (48) ……….a friend of (49) ……….. Alice hopes she (50) ………. many letters from England.

43_________

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D:

"ADULT EDUCATION: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Early formal adult education activities focused (1) _______ single needs such as reading and writing. Many early programs were (2) _______ by churches to teach people to read the Bible. When the original purpose was (3) _______, programs were often adjusted to meet more general educational needs of the (4) _______. Libraries, lecture series, and discussion societies began in various countries during the (5) _______. As more people experienced the benefits of (6) _______, they began to participate increasingly in social, political, and occupational (7) _______. By the 19th century, adult education was developing as a formal, organized movement in the (8) _______ world.
The largest early program in the U.S., the Lyceum, (9) _______ (1826) in Massachusetts by Josiah Holbrook, was a local (10) _______ of men and women with some schooling who wanted to expand their own education (11) _______ working to establish a public school system. The Lyceum (12) _______ encouraged the development of other adult education institutions (13) _______ libraries, evening schools, and gifted lecture series. By mid-century, employers and philanthropists began to endow (14) _______ such as the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (1859) in New York City (15) _______ the Peabody Institute (1857) in Baltimore, Maryland, for adult education. Large audiences were (16) _______ to the Chautauqua movement, which began (1874) in New York State (17) _______ a summer training program for Sunday school teachers and evolved into a traveling lecture series and (18) _______ school. Chautauqua was the prototype of institutions established to further (19) _______ education in the U.S. By 1876, universities started offering extension programs that (20) _______ education directly to the public..."

11. who wanted to expand their own education (11) _______ working to establish a public school system.

Read the following passage, then choose the correct answer.

       Music can move the soul. It can be a very strong influence. Some music can calm us down, but some music can make us wild! How does music affect us? Music is used in a variety of ways. It is used in the medical field as a source of research and as a sort of therapy as well. Music has been used as therapy for seizures, to lower blood pressure,  treat mental illness, treat depression, aid in healing, treat stress and insomnia, and premature infants. Musicologist Julius Portnoy found that it can change heart rates, increase or decrease blood pressure, affect energy levels, and digestion, positively or negatively, depending on the type of music. 
Calming music, such as classical music was found to have a very calming effect on the body and cause the increase of endorphins, thirty minutes of such music was equal to the effect of a dose of valium. Both hemispheres of the brain are involved in processing music. The music in these studies is not the "lyrics", but the music itself, the melody, the tones, the tunes, the rhythm, the chords. Conversely, music has also been documented to cause sickness. The right, or wrong music, rather, can be like poison to the body. Studies have been done on plants where loud hard rock music, for instance, killed plants and soft classical music, make the plants grow faster. Music is very powerful, like a drug, and can even be an addiction. According to Patty Hearst, a researcher on music,  it was documented that music was used in the aid of brainwashing some people. In the book,” Elevator  Music” by Joseph Lanza, it was stated that certain types of music over prolonged periods in certain conditions were shown to cause seizures.

The word “it” refers to…………………

Read the passage and choose the best answer:

Bill Gates is the co-founder of Microsoft, the world’s largest PC software company. He is among the richest people in the world. Bill Gates’ interest in computers started when he was a teenager. After high school, he was accepted to several top colleges in the USA: Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. He chose to go to Harvard to study law. At Harvard, he focused more on his interest in computer than on coursework. He often relaxed by playing video games in Harvard’s computer lab. He left Harvard before graduating because he wanted to open a software company with his friend Paul Allen. However, he later said, “I don’t think dropping out is a good idea.” In 2007, he received an honorary degree from Harvard. He began his speech by saying this to his father in the audience. “I’ve been waiting more than 30 years to say this: Dad, I always told you I’d come back and get my degree.” Bill Gates is no longer working full time for Microsoft. He is now, with his wife, running The Bill và Melinda Gates Foundation which aims to improve healthcare, reduce poverty, and promote education around the world.

 Bill Gate is among the richest people in the world.

Read the passage and answer the questions that follow by circling the corresponding letter A, B, C or D of the correct answers. 
Ragtime, developed primarily by black pianists, is a style of composed piano music that was popular from the 1890s to about 1915. It is a style of jazz characterized by an elaborately syncopated rhythm in the melody and a steadily accented accompaniment. Ragtime quickly gained popularity after its first appearances, reaching millions on a national scale through sheet music, player pianos, ragtime songs, and arrangements for dance and marching bands. The leading ragtime composer was Scott Joplin, known as the "King of Ragtime," whose most famous piano piece, "Maple Leaf Rag," was published in 1899.
Ragtime piano music has a generally standard form, duple meter (2/4, or two beats per measure) performed at a moderate march tempo. The pianist's right hand plays a highly syncopated melody, while the left hand steadily maintains the beat with an "oom-pah" accompanishment. A ragtime piece usually consists of several similar melodies that take such forms as AA BB A CC DD or Introduction AA BB CC DD EE, where each letter represents a melodic phrase. "Maple Leaf Rag" is a classic example of ragtime.
The forms of ragtime derive from European marches and dances, but the rhythms are rooted in African-American folk music.

This passage would be part of required reading in which of the following courses?

Read the following passage and do the tasks below.

The traditional American family

The nuclear family, consisting of a mother, father, and their children, may be more an American ideal than an American reality. Of course, the so called traditional American family was always more varied than we had been led to believe, reflecting the very different racial, ethnic, class, and religious customs among different American groups, but today diversity is even more obvious.

The most recent government census statistics reveal that only about one third of all current American families fits the traditional mold of two parents and their children, and another third consists of married couples who either have no children or have none still living at home. An analysis of the remaining one third of the population reveals that about 20 percent of the total number of American households are single people, the most common descriptor being women over sixty-five years of age. A small percentage, about 3 percent of the total, consists of unmarried people who choose to live together; the rest, about 7 percent, are single parents, with at least one child.

There are several easily identifiable reasons for the growing number of single-parent households. First, the sociological phenomenon of single-parent households reflects changes in cultural attitudes toward divorce and also toward unmarried mothers. A substantial number of adults become single parents as a result of divorce. In addition, the number of children born to unmarried women who choose to keep their children and rear them by themselves has increased dramatically. Finally, there is a small percentage of single-parent families that have resulted from untimely death. Today, these varied family types are typical and, therefore, normal.

In addition, because many families live far from relatives, close friends have become a more important part of family life than ever before. The vast majority of Americans claim that they have people in their lives whom they regard as family although they are not related. A view of family that only accepts the traditional nuclear arrangement not only ignores the reality of modern American family life, but also undervalues the familial bonds created in alternatives family arrangements. Apparently, many Americans are achieving supportive relationships in family forms other than the traditional one.

Which of the following is the main topic of the passage?