Fill in the gap with the most suitable provided words

Peter: Hello, Mary. How (1) ....?

Mary: I'm fine, (2) .... . And you?

Peter: Fine, thank.

Mary: Peter, this (3) ....Tom. Tom, this is Peter.

Tom: Hi, Peter.

Peter: Hi, Tom. How (4) ....?

Tom: (5) .... six.

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

This/ be/ my classmate /./ His name/ be/ Minh.

Choose the best answer:
Is the west falling out of love with the car? For environmentalists it seems an impossible dream, but it is happening. While baby boomers and those with young families may carry on using four wheels, a combination of our ageing societies and a new attitude among the young seems to be breaking our 20th- century car addiction. Somewhere along the road, we reached the high point of the car and are now cruising down the other side. The phenomenon was first recognised in The Road... Less Traveled, a 2008 report by the Brookings Institution in Washington DC, but had been going on largely unnoticed for years. Japan reached it in the 1990s. They talk there of “demotorisation”. The west had its tipping point in 2004. That year the US, UK, Germany, France, Australia and Sweden all saw the start of a decline in the number of kilometres the average person travelled in a car that continues today. What could be driving us off the road? Fuel costs and rising insurance premiums may be a factor. And urban gridlock, combined with an absence of parking places and congestion charging, makes an increasing number of us look on the car as a dumb way to move around in cities where there are public transport alternatives. Demographics are another possible explanation. It is surely no accident that ‘peak car’ happened first in Japan, which has the world’s oldest population. Pensioners do not drive to work, and many don’t drive at all. There is also the rise of “virtual commuters” who work from home via the Internet. Besides these new employment patterns, leisure lifestyles are also changing. Social scientists detect a new ‘culture of urbanism’. The stylish way to live these days is in inner-city apartments, not the suburbs. Richard Florida, an urban studies theorist at the University of Toronto in Canada, points out that the young shop online, telecommute, live in walkable city neighbourhoods near public transport and rely more on social media and less on face-to-face visiting. Given those changes, they can think of better ways to spend their money than buying a car. Some think car use will revive if and when economies recover. But it looks like something more profound is going on. Florida calls it a “great reset” in society that will have profound consequences – not least for the environment. Even our most treasured consumer aspirations can have a peak. Enough can be enough.
2. The word “cruising” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to _______

Choose the best answer:
It can take a long time to become successful in your chosen field, no matter how talented you are. One thing you have to be aware of is that you will face criticism along the way. The world is full of people who would rather say something negative than positive. If you’ve made up your (15) _____ to achieve a certain goal, such as writing a novel, don’t let the negative criticism of others (16) _____ you from reaching your target, and let the constructive criticism have a positive (17) _____ on your work. If someone says you’re totally in the lack of talent, ignore them. That’s negative criticism. If, (18) _____ , someone advises you to revise your work and gives you a good reason for doing so, you should consider their suggestions carefully. There are many film stars who were once out of work . There are many famous novelists (19) _____ made a complete mess of their first novel – or who didn’t, but had to keep on approaching hundreds of publishers before they could get it published. Being successful does depend on luck, to a certain extent. But things are more likely to turn out well if you persevere and stay positive

Choose the best answer:
Thailand's most celebrated festival is the Songkran Festival. It starts on April 13 and lasts between three to ten days, depending on where you are in Thailand. The word Songkran is from Sanskrit, meaning the beginning of a new solar year.  The festival begins on April 13 and everyone is awakened at dawn to the sound of firecrackers used to drive away evil spirits. This is the day when everything is scrupulously cleaned from the self, clothes, Buddha images, to houses, shops and streets in preparation for the New Year.  April 14 is the day between the old year and the new year. It is customary not to quarrel or use harsh words on one another. The morning is spent shopping and preparing food for the following day, while the afternoon is reserved for visiting a temple in the neighborhood. It is imperative that they carry a fistful of sand with them to compensate for the dirt that they have carried away from the temple during their visits throughout the year. The sand is then sculpted into stupa-shaped piles.  April 15 marks the New Year's Day called Wan Phya Wan. It is a day of great importance. It is customary to visit the temple early in the morning to take food to the monks, as a form of merit making and later in the afternoon to return to place small banners, known as Thung, on the top of the stupas built the day before.  After that, visits to family and relatives are carried out. The gifts during the visit include areca nuts, clove leaves, turmeric water and acacia oil. Family members ask for forgiveness from their respected elders for any wrong doings they may have committed throughout the year and to receive their blessings for the year to come. At the end of this ceremony, a little water is sprinkled onto the hands and heads of the old people as a blessing and then quite a lot is thrown at the rest of the family in anticipation of the water wars that are to follow.  Traditionally water should be thrown on April 16 but nowadays it is not unusual for water to be thrown throughout the whole of the Songkran festival. Armed with high-powered water pistols, bowls, buckets or anything that will hold water revelers gather on the streets to throw water at one another. Even the policemen directing traffic are not spared. Each and every participant is expected to receive the 'blessing' with good humor.  If you want to stay dry and still do not want to miss the fun, you can always view the scene from inside an air-conditioned tourist bus - just remember not to open the windows.  To attract tourists, other activities are held in big cities. These include the sand-stupa building contests, local cultural performances and Miss Songkran Beauty Queen Contests. Demonstrations of Thai cooking and handicraft making are also held at well-known hotels in cities like Bangkok
8. The word "they" in the passage refers to ____

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For athletes who like to (31) _________ a variety of endurance sports in a single race, triathlons are a great fit. These competitions (32) _________ running, cycling, and swimming into one race, and they take place one after the other in a single continuous timed race. Athletes who participate must be in top physical form and have the skills needed to complete each portion of the race. Training for triathlons means the athletes have to become proficient not only in the sport required in each stage, but they also have to become familiar with what (33) _________ from one to the other does to their bodies. Many inexperienced triathletes are surprised to (34) _________ hard it can be to switch from swimming to cycling to running, and how tired their muscles can suddenly feel. One thing all triathletes can agree (35) _________ is that no one ever told them that running a triathlon would be easy

Choose the best answer:
The unprecedented pandemic has caused massive disruptions to the country and the government is waiting until economic conditions are more favourite

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
There are many reasons (1) ____ it is important to have a hobby. First of all, a hobby can be a remedy for your (2) ____. Because it is the activity you choose for yourself, it will always give you pleasure and (3) ____ you relax. Even if you just spend a little time enjoying your hobby, you can see the difference (4) ____ your spirit. Second, some hobbies can also (5) ____ you financially. Many old people enjoy gardening. They grow a lot of trees and vegertable, so they can sell them for some money. In (6) ____, a hobby can help you connect with other people. If you like colecting stamps, you can (7) ____ a stamp club to share your albums with other collectors. If your hobby is caving eggshells, you can give your products to your friends (8) ____ gifts

Choose the best answer:
Sometimes our parents don't understand us. They don't understand some problems and things which are very important in teens' life; for example, the lifestyles of young people, piercing, tattoos, drugs, sex, relationship with friends and teachers. So, sometimes teens can't tell them about their private life. Some parents don't want to understand modern views, ideals and system of values.  Elderly people usually compare their childhood and youth with the present, and regard old times as better, always talking about "the good old days”. The young people, on the other hand, tend to think their times as the best. Teens look at the world with fresh eyes. Everything is new, interesting to them. Sometimes they cannot solve their everyday problems. But they want to cope with them by themselves. So, adults shouldn't prevent them from making their own mistakes.  People are said to become wiser with age. Sometimes, it is true and sometimes it is not. I think that you can meet a wise man among the old as often as among the young. It is false that when old age wisdom has come, useless illusions have disappeared. Sometimes when we talk to adults, a monologue is a preferred form of expressing your ideas in such talks. That's why some teens don't like to talk to adults.  I think that it's in people's nature to give advice. It seems to people that giving advice they can help somebody or put somebody on the right track. But if a person takes their advice and fails, he can blame an adult all of his life.  Our parents have their own ideas and views that their children don't share and understand. They think that their children won't find their place in life. They often say that now teens are very difficult to socialize with and dumpy. But children should settle all problems peacefully because they are their parents. They brought them up with loving care. And if children come to their parents for advice and help, they will do their best and help children to cope with problems and difficulties.
2. The word "them" in the passage refers to ____

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A team of social psychologists from California has spent six years studying the reactions of people in cities around the world to different situations. The results show that cities where people have (37) _______ money generally have friendlier populations. The psychologists from California State University say it has got more to do with environment than culture or nationality. They carried out a study into the way locals treated strangers in 23 cities around the world. The team conducted their research through a series of tests, in (38) _______ they dropped pens or pretended they were blind and needed help crossing the street. The study concludes that people are more helpful in cities with a more relaxed (39) _______ of life such as Rio. While they were there, researchers received help in 93 percent of cases, and the percentage in Lilongwe was only a little lower. (40) _______ , richer cities such as Amsterdam and New York are considered the least friendly. Inhabitants of Amsterdam helped the researchers in 53 percent of cases and in New York just 44 percent. The psychologists found that, in these cities, people tend to be short of time, so they hurry and often (41) _______ strangers

Choose the best answer:
Learning to manage your time involves using a variety of life skills together. First of all, you need to know yourself. Only you know (1) ____ you are a morning or an evening person, for example. Understanding when you are (2) ____ your best can help you decide when to do certain things you have to do - like studying. Then, you need to prioritise and decide which things are the most (and least) important. After that, you need to get organised and start planning a schedule, (3) ____ could include when to study, as well as when to relax. It is important to be (4) ____ when you are trying to manage your time. You need to factor in time to sleep, (5) ____, and this should be based on your normal sleep patterns there is no (6) ____ in planning to study at six in the morning if you have never managed to get out of bed before eight. Many people forget to include socialising, but this is a mistake because it is unhealthy to avoid seeing people, just as it is a mistake to (7) ____ all your time socialising while your list of things to do grows longer and longer.  On the subject of lists, it is important to remember that these may have to change. You need to plan for the unexpected - a visit from a friend, for example - and this means that you may have to (8) ____ your to-do list, perhaps (9) ____ something that is less important. Flexibility is the key here, (10) ____ you risk becoming extremely disorganised. It is better to have to change a plan than to lose it completely.  Finally, remember the old saying - 'If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. In the end, managing your time better will help you avoid stress, and that can only be a good thing

Choose the best answer A, B, C or D to answer the following question

Binh is a student. He’s 12 years old. He studies at Tran Hung Dao primary school. He usually leave home for school at 6.30 a.m. He lives quite near the school, so he usually walks to school with some of his friends. But today his father is driving him to school. He loves Literature and English. Today he has Physics, Chemistry and English. At school, he often plays volleyball with his best friends.

What does Binh do?

Choose the best answer:
If you want to prepare yourself for great achievement and have more to _____ (27) to your education or your work, try reading more books. _____ (28) up some of the interestingly informative books and search for well - researched materials that can help you grow. We should encourage our children to read more books and spend less time watching TV. Some people have commented that this is inconsistent. "Why is the written word a superior way to get information than television?" That is _____ (29) interesting point of view worth further _____ (30). Reading is a skill that is in much greater demand than the demand for watching TV. There are no jobs that require a person to be able to watch TV but reading is an integral part of many jobs. The written word is an incredibly flexible and efficient way of communication. You can write something down and, in no time, it can be communicated to many different people. Not only that, we can _____ (31) vast amounts of information through reading in a very short time. A good reader can acquire more information in reading for two hours than someone watching TV can acquire in a full day. You are able to gain a lot of information quickly because you are a fast reader with good comprehension skills. It will save you massive amounts of time and you will be able to assimilate vast quantities of information

Choose the best answer:
Few people have packed more into a day trip than Michael and Lillian Long from Kent who took the ferry from their home in England to Boulogne in France in 1987. On Easter Sunday this adventurous couple went for a short walk around the town. In no time they were spectacularly lost and showing all the qualities of born explorers. 'We walked and walked,' Mrs Long recalled, 'and the further we walked to try to get back, the further we walked away from Boulogne.' Unable to speak French, they felt embarrassed about asking the way, so they walked throughout the night until finally the next morning a driver gave them a lift to a small village they did not recognise. Here they caught a train to the wrong destination - Paris. In the French capital they spent all their remaining money on catching what they thought was the express train back to Boulogne. After an enjoyable trip they arrived in Luxembourg on Monday. Two hours later police put them on the train back to Paris, but it divided and their half ended up in Basel, an attractive medieval town in the north of Switzerland. Having no money, they tried to find work, but without success. The railway company offered them a free ticket to Belfort, thinking that this was where they had come from. Once they got off the train, our heroes hiked forty-two miles to Vesoul, hitched a lift to Paris and then nearly boarded the train to Bonn in Germany. Diverted just in time to the right platform, they finally reached Boulogne a week after they had set out on their walk. They had covered a distance of almost 1,700 km without luggage, maps or any idea of where they were. When he arrived at Dover harbour, Mr Long said it was the first time they had travelled abroad and that they would not be leaving England again.
4. The word “it” in paragraph 3 refers to _______

Choose the best answer:
There is a natural balance to all things: life and death, good and bad, happiness and sadness, pleasure and pain. The very idea that you should focus on positives and ignore negatives, likewise with strengths versus weaknesses, is not only delusional; it's a recipe for disaster. Let me tell you a couple of stories to show how dealing with reality as openly and genuinely as possible is the path to success and happiness, while focusing only on the positives and strengths can destroy your career and your company. It's no secret that Steve Jobs was forced out of Apple in 1984 because his management style had become toxic to the company. Much later, Jobs would come to realize that getting fired from the company he cofounded "was the best thing that could have ever happened” to him. He called it “awful-tasting medicine" that "the patient needed." He also likened it to life hitting him in the head with a brick. That forced Jobs to look in the mirror and see the truth - that he wasn't as capable or as strong a leader as he could be. And as he addressed the issues that stood in his way, the result was the founding of NeXT and Pixar, his eventual return to Apple, and the greatest turnaround in corporate history that built the most valuable company on Earth. It's easy to miss the obvious connection staring us right in the face, that it wasn’t just Apple that had hit a wall, fallen on hard times, and found itself in need of a turnaround. The same was true of Jobs. And there was an undeniable connection between the two. It's also easy to miss the insightfulness of Jobs' realization that none of his later achievements would have occurred if he hadn't faced reality. That sort of introspection only comes from someone who's had some sort of intervention and gone through gut-wrenching change as a result. Not to compare myself with Jobs, but the truth is I've gotten a couple of those bricks to the head myself. I've been fired more than once and lost my wife early in our marriage. But in every case I looked in the mirror, faced what I saw, made some changes, and bounced back stronger than ever. If I'd just tried to stay positive, focused on my strengths, and searched for the silver lining in the clouds, I never would have figured out what was wrong and become a better person, a better husband, and a better leader. I never would have achieved so much in my career or won my wife back. While life is full of ups and downs, one thing is certain: If you attempt to filter your consciousness and disallow negative thoughts or make believe the weaknesses holding you back don't exist, you'll never get past those hurdles and get to the next stage in your personal and professional development. And neither will your business.
4. The writer uses the phrase "the two" in paragraph 5 to refer to ____.

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
George Orwell did not expect to be a successful writer. In fact, he spent much of his life anticipating failure. In an essay about his schooldays, he wrote that until he was about thirty he always planned his life with the (1)____that any major undertaking was bound to fail. He wanted success and worked hard to (2) ____it but he was never quite able to give up the notion that his efforts would always come up short. At the age of 46, (3)____before he died, he confided in his private notebook that a deep sense of inadequacy had haunted him throughout his career. He stated that there had been literally not one day in which he did not feel that he was being lazy, that he was behind with his current job and that his rate of work was miserably small. Even in the first months after the tremendous success of “Animal Farm”, he was quick discount his achievement, declaring that his next book was bound to be a failure. Of course, no conscientious author is ever completely (4)____with their work, but Orwell’s doubts were so (5)____that he often appeared more comfortable (6)____defeat than acknowledging success. In 1940, after the publication of his eighth book, he (7)____to an admiring letter from another writer by (8)____ out of his way to show the man why he was not (9)____of his praise. “It makes me laugh,” he wrote, “to see you referring to me as “famous” and “successful”. I wonder if you (10)____ how little my books sell!

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
The gap in male-female earning has great significance because more than 16  percent of U.S. households are (1) ______ by women. Low-paying jobs keep many  of these households in poverty. Women’s groups such as National Organization  for Women have demanded that equal opportunities and equal pay (2) ______ to  women. According to women’s (3) ______ Maggie McAnany, “It is imperative that  the government help to change the situation (of employment for women). We  cannot wait for the companies to (4) ______ themselves. Change must come (5)  ______ the law.”

Choose the best answer:
Maria Alcalá of Madrid speaks for many Mediterranean people when she says that “a meal without olive oil would be a bore.” No one knows when the Mediterranean civilizations initially fell in love with olives. That occurred before recorded history. However, there is evidence that the cultivation of olive trees began in countries around the Mediterranean Sea in approximately 4000 B.C., and 2,000 years after that people in the eastern Mediterranean region began to produce oil from olives. The Mediterranean still accounts for 99 percent of all world olive oil production. From ancient times until today, the basic process of producing the oil is the same. First, whole olives are crushed. Then, the liquid is separated from the solids. After that, the valuable oil is separated from the water. Many olive growers maintain their ancient traditions and still harvest the olives by hand. “We harvest in the traditional way,” says Don Celso, an olive farmer from Tuscany, Italy. "It would be less expensive to do it with machines, but it's more a social thing. Twenty people come to help with the harvest, and we pay them in oil." Olive oil has had a variety of uses through its long history. In ancient times, olive oil was used as money and as medicine. It was even used during war-heated up and dropped down on attackers. It is still used in religious ceremonies. It is great for protecting the freshness of fish and cheese. There are even olive oil lamps and olive oil soaps. Olive oil enhances the lives of people everywhere. Its benefits, recently confirmed by science, were already understood in ancient times. Mediterranean people are happy to share their secret with the world.
4. The word ‘it’ in paragraph 2 refers to _______

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
To: Engineering Department
From: Peter Manning
Re: Pedestrian Hike and Bike Trail System
Date: Aug. 27, 2008
We are pleased to announce that Callahan Construction Company has won the bid for the pedestrian
hike and bike trail system to be constructed in Towson, Maryland. However, due to a problem with the
timetable, the local government cannot agree to our proposed deadline. As such, we were unable to receive the (1) ------- we asked for. We now have to finish the hike and trail system one month earlier than the project completion date we planned for. In light of this development, we are asking all engineers to give attention only to toppriority projects (2)------- this one. We will be holding our initial meeting on Thursday at 10:00 A.M. It is important for us to finalize our strategies to meet the new deadline. Let us use this time for (3)---- a new plan for the project.

Read the passage and complete the blanks.

There are many things that I like to do in my free time. They are my hobbies. I am sure other people have their hobbies, (1)______. The hobby I like most is playing my guitar. It was given to me by my mother for my eighth birthday. My uncle, who is a guitarist, teaches me (2)_______to play it. Now I can play a few simple tunes. I begin to sing while playing the guitar but I am not so good at this. My uncle tells me that I need to (3)______ a lot to become good at playing the guitar.

Another hobby that I spend time on is keeping fish. I have a glass aquarium where I keep different kinds of little fish. Some of them were bought from the shop while some of them were caught from the stream near where I live. They look so beautiful swimming about in the aquarium and I love to just watch (4)________. It is very relaxing to do so. Even my uncle loves watching them. However, they do die and it is not a pleasant job to remove the dead ones. Also, it is quite a difficult job cleaning the aquarium but I have to do this whenever it gets (5)______.

There are other things that I like to do but they are not so interesting. Playing the guitar is my favourite pastime. Next comes taking care of my fish. These things really keep me occupied. I am glad I am able to do them.

(2)_____

Choose the best answer:
It can be shown in facts and figures that cycling is the cheapest, most convenient, and most environmentally desirable form of transport (26)______ towns, but such cold calculations do not mean much on a frosty winter morning. The real appeal of cycling is that it is so (27)______. It has none of the difficulties and tensions of other ways of travelling so you are more cheerful after a ride, even through the rush hour.             The first thing a non-cyclist says to you is: “But isn’t it (28) ______ dangerous?” It would be foolish to deny the danger of sharing the road with motor vehicles and it must be admitted that there are an alarming (29) ______ of accidents involving cyclists. However, although police records (30) ______ that the car driver is often to blame, the answer lies with the cyclist. It is possible to ride in such a way as to reduce risks to a minimum. ut such cold calculations do not mean much on a frosty winter morning. The real appeal of cycling is that it is so (27)______. It has none of the difficulties and tensions of other ways of travelling so you are more cheerful after a ride, even through the rush hour.