Paul started French at school two years ago and he spoke French all the time with Marie and her family. It was very difficult for him at the beginning but soon it became ______ easier.

Choose the word among A, B, C, D that best fits the blank space in the following passage.
POCKET MONEY
      I was sixteen when I got my first job. The man who ran our local supermarket was one of my mother's friends. She told him that I was hard-working and needed to (29)………….some money. He gave me an interview, and after(30)……………..questions he told me to start work. The wages were not good, but I worked every evening for twelve weeks and saved enough money for a short holiday with my friends. I was very (31)………………to be able to pay for everything I wanted (32)………of asking my parents for money. Since that time, I have always done a job as well as studying.

30_________

Read this passage carefully and then choose the best answers to the questions below by circling the corresponding letter A, B, C, or D. 

A recent investigation by scientists at the US Geological Survey shows that strange animal behavior might help predict the future earthquake.
Investigators found such occurrences in a ten-kilometer radius of the center of a fairly recent quake. Some birds screeched and flew about wildly. Dogs yelped and ran uncontrollably.
Scientists believe that animals can perceive these environmental changes as early as several days before the disaster.
In 1976 after observing animal behavior, the Chinese were able to predict a terrible quake. Although hundreds of thousands of people were killed, the government was able to evacuate millions of people and thus keep the death toll at a lower rate.

What prediction may be made by observing animal behavior?

Đọc văn bản và trả lời các câu hỏi sau. 
Independence Day in the United States is observed every year on the Fourth of July. Today, for most communities throughout the nation, the traditional celebration includes parades down the main streets, picnics with hot dogs and lemonade, and, of course, a fireworks display at night. In some towns across the country, however, special events are planned in honor of the annual occasion. In Bristol, Rhode Island, fire engine teams from communities throughout New England compete in a contest to squirt water from their fire hoses. Flagstaff, Arizona hosts a huge three-day powwow, including a rodeo, for twenty Native American tribes. The annual Eskimo games with traditional kayak races are held in Kotzebue, Alaska. Two auto races are always scheduled for the Fourth, including- a four-hundred-mile stock car event at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona, Florida, and an annual auto race up the fourteen-thousand-foot precipice at Pike's Peak in Colorado.

Several small towns celebrate in other unique ways. Hannibal, Missouri, the hometown of Mark Twain, invites the children to participate in a fence-painting contest, reenacting a scene from Twain's novel Tom Sawyer. Lititz, Pennsylvania congregates in the Lititz Springs Park to light thousands of candles and arrange them in various shapes and images.

In Ontario, California, the townspeople combine the traditional with the unusual by setting up tables along Euclid Avenue for what they describe as "the biggest picnic table in the world". In this way, everyone in town has a front-row seat for the two-mile parade.

Children take part in a fence- painting contest in _______________.

Read the following passage and then choose the correct answer A, B, C, or D.
One of the most important discoveries of the nineteenth century was the method of using natural gas for cooking and heating. Large amounts of natural gas are found in the United States, usually several feet below the surface of the earth. Natural gas is most often found in places where petroleum, the oil from which gasoline is made, is found. Often the natural gas must be removed before the oil itself can be reached.
For many years after natural gas was first discovered, it was thought to have no value. Finally, however, people began to understand its use and to find ways of storing it and moving it from place to place. Today natural gas is stored in large tanks and used for lighting, cooking, and heating. It has also been used for electric generators and hybrid cars recently. In many ways, natural gas is one of our finest fuels. It can be used for cooking without making the room hot. It is cheap and can be moved easily from one place to another through long pipelines, some of which are hundreds of miles in length.

Which of the following is NOT true about natural gas?

Read the passage below and decide which option (A, B, C, or D) best fits each space. 

In 1853, Levi Strauss (21)_ to San Francisco from New York. His brothers ran a business there selling pillows, blankets, and clothes and Levis went to help them. He worked (22) and, over the next twenty years, he expanded the business.

One day in 1872, Levi got a letter from Jacob Davis who made men's clothes. In the letter Jacob (23) Levis about a difficult customer. He kept on tearing the pockets of his trousers. Jacob had found an answer – he had added some metal to the corners of the pockets. Levi recognized a business opportunity, (24) _ the two men started working together. They decided to make some trousers out of denim, a material which was suitable for working clothes. The first pair of denim blue jeans (25) _ produced in 1873. Today people all around the world wear Levi jeans every day.

23_________

He is already looking ______ to next summer when Marie is going to spend her holidays with his family in England

Read the following passage and choose the best answer to each question. Write your answers in the space provided. 

Of all the weather events that occur around the world, lighting is the single most powerful and most frequent. Lightning strikes somewhere around the Earth 100 times each second. A typical lightning strike carries enough electricity to power a small town. In less than a second, a lightning strike heats the surrounding air to temperatures several times hotter than the surface of the sun. Obviously, lightning strikes are powerful. But how do they work?

A lightning strike is the last of the complex chain of events that happen inside a cloud. This chain of events starts when warm air rises in the clouds and cold airdrops. As the cold air and warm air pass each other, they carry millions of tiny drops of water and ice. When these passing water drops hit each other, they create electricity. Just like the batteries in your MP3 player, this electricity has a positive and a negative side. In the cloud, the negative side is at the bottom, and the positive side is at the top of the cloud. This makes the cloud electrically unbalanced. When the imbalance becomes too great, a streak of lightning forms, reconnecting the positive and negative parts of the cloud.

Lightning has two basic forms: cloud to cloud lightning and cloud to ground lightning. Cloud to cloud lightning occurs inside a cloud and never touches the ground. Sometimes called heat lightning, cloud to cloud lightning is most common in the late afternoon and evening, when temperatures begin to fall and there is more movement between hot and cold air inside a cloud. Cloud to ground lightning is far more dangerous. Cloud to ground lightning usually occurs during a thunderstorm. Many people think that cloud-to-ground lightning will hit the latest available object, but this is not always true. Cloud to ground lightning is very unpredictable and can even hit objects very low to the ground.

The word “strikes” in the passage is closest in meaning to

Pick out ONE best option (A, B, C, or D) to fill in each numbered blank, completing the meaning of the passage: 

   The International Space Station (ISS) is a large spacecraft that was launched in 1998. It orbits the Earth and is the place where astronauts live and conduct research in microgravity (25)…..

   Below is about the day in the life of an astronaut aboard the International Space Station.

   Astronauts sleep in sleeping bags. The microgravity makes them (26)……. They have to attach themselves so they don’t float about.

   Hair is washed with a “senseless” shampoo that does not need water. For toothbrushing, a small (27)……of water is used with toothpaste and then swallowed.

   The crew spend their day doing science experiments. They also carry out checks for the maintenance of the station. The Mission Control Centre on Earth (28)……their operations.

   The astronauts eat various foods (29)……fruits, nuts, chicken, beef, seafood, brownies, salt and pepper (in liquid forms), etc. Drinks include coffee, tea, and fruits juice (all packaged). Foods can be heated up or kept cool with special machines.

   A popular pastime while orbiting Earth is (30)……looking out of the windows to admire its beauty. In their free time, astronauts exercise, watch movies, play music, read books, play cards, and talk to their families.

   How are astronauts trained? Anyone can apply to train as an astronaut as long as they have a bachelor’s degree in science, mathematics, or engineering, experience as a jet pilot, and are (31)…… If they get accepted, there are several phases of training. The first phase requires them to pass a swimming test in a flight suit. They take parabolic flights that produce weightlessness. They also learn about various spaceship systems. In the second phase, they are trained to operate spacecraft systems and deal with emergencies. The training is often (32)……in a water tank laboratory so that trainees become familiar with crew activities in simulated microgravity in order to perform spacewalks.

25.__________

Pick out ONE best option (A, B, C, or D) to fill in each numbered blank, completing the meaning of the passage. 

   Before the (25)……of newspapers, town criers would go through city streets ringing a bell. They shouted the latest news as they were walking.

   In Vietnam, people love reading newspapers and magazines. The Tuoi Tre is one of the (26)……newspapers and is widely read by young and old alike.

   Thanks to television people can get the latest information and enjoy interesting programs in an inexpensive and convenient way. Nowadays, viewers can watch a (27)……of local and international programs on different channels.

   The next stage in the development of television is interactive TV. Viewers are able to ask questions about the show (28)……their remote controls.

   The Internet has (29)……developed and become part of our everyday life. People find the Internet useful. People use the Internet for many purposes. Some access the Internet to look for information, some surf the web for entertainment, and (30)……rely on the Internet as a means of education.

   The mass media plays an important (31)……in collecting and passing on information. The information may be local, national, or international. It can cover a wide range of topics, from news and weather to entertainment. News stories contain information about politics, the economy, and such international affairs (32)……wars or natural disasters.

28._________

Đọc đoạn văn sau đó chọn phương án thích hợp cho mỗi câu dươi dây.

Almost all our energy comes from oil, coal, and natural gas. We call them fossil fuels. The earth’s fossil fuels are running out. What would happen if there were no oil, coal, and gas on earth?

Scientists are trying to find and use other alternative sources of energy. We can use energy from the sun, the wind, and the water.

Solar energy is unlimited. It supplies all the energy used to grow plants, evaporate water for rain, and maintain the temperature of the planet. All are necessary for human life. If we’re able to collect solar energy, we’ll be sure to make good use of this abundant source of power.

Another source of energy from nature is the wind. Wind power is clean and plentiful. Energy from the wind has been used for centuries to move ships, grind grain, pump water, and do other kinds of work. In more recent times, wind power has been used to generate electricity.

Water can also provide power. For a long time, people have used water to power machines. Some early uses of water power were to mill grain, saw wood, and power machinery for the textile industry. Today water power is mostly used to generate electricity.

We are asking the question “What would happen if there were no oil, coal, and gas on earth?” because………

Read the passage below then pick out ONE best option (A, B, C, or D) to complete each of the following sentences. (1.5 points)

    Sydney was founded as a British colony in 1788. Sydney was the first everlasting European settlement in Australia and today it is the country's largest city area, with about 4 million residents. Sydney is the seat of state government as the capital of New South Wales, Australia's most populous and economically important state. The city is an active cultural center with a varied economy based on service industries, tourism, manufacturing, and international commerce. Its port is one of the leading centers of intercontinental trade in the Asia-Pacific region. Sydney is located on Australia’s southeastern coast at Port Jackson, a large, sheltered, deep-water inlet of the Tasman Sea.

   Sydney is well-known for its Opera House. The Sydney Opera House is the centerpiece of the city’s places for live performances of ballet, opera, and classical music. The Australian Opera, Australian Ballet, and Sydney Dance companies regularly stage performances there. Moreover, the place often hosts internationally touring performances. Sydney also has many places for musical theater, drama, and popular music. The Sydney Theatre Company is one of many successful theatre companies in the city. Sydney is also home to the internationally praised Australian Chamber Orchestra and Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

   The cultural life of Sydney is exciting and varied, reflecting the multicultural nature of the city. Many festivals, parades, and outdoor concerts cheer up the city streets in the summer months. Annual events include the Sydney Festival in January and February, the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in March, the Royal Easter Show in April, and the multicultural festival Carnivale in September and October. Sydney has also become world-renowned for its street parties and fireworks on New Year's Eve and Australia Day celebrated on Sydney's Founding date, January 26.

In the last paragraph, the word “annual” means……

Read the text and then choose the best answer A, B, C, or D.

    Visit the Edinburgh Festival

Every year, thousands of people come to Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland, to be part of the Edinburgh Festival. For three weeks every August and September the city is filled with actors and artists from all over the world. They come to Edinburgh for the biggest arts festival in Britain. During this time, the streets of the city are alive with music and dance from early in the morning untill late at night. You can even see artists painting pictures on the streets.

Tens of thousands of tourists come to the festival to see new films and plays and to hear music played by famous musicians. This year, you can see over five hundred performances with actors from more than forty countries.

The tickets for these performances are quite cheap, and it is usually easier to see your favourite star in Edinburgh than it is in London. So come to Edinburgh next summer!

How much are the tickets for these performances?

A lot of people live in Marseilles and ______ are many interesting shops and cafes there.

Read, then choose the best answer by circling the corresponding letter A, B, C, or D. 

Radar is an electronic device that can “see” great distances (1) ……. fog, rain, snow, cloud, and darkness. It can find and (2) ……… locate missiles, aircraft, ships, cities, rainstorms, and mountains. Radar uses radio waves, (3) ……….. light waves, which the human eye uses in seeing. This makes it (4) …….. for radar to locate many kinds of objects at (5) …….. greater distances than the eye can see. Radar became an important military device during World War II. Today, networks of radar lookout stations guard the United States and Canada 24 hours a day against (6) ……. missiles and airplanes. Patrol planes and ships (7) …….. the oceans with radar for hostile ships and aircraft. Airports use radar to (8).…. planes safety to earth in fog or storms. Ships use it to steer clear of other (9) ……… or icebergs.  Radar helps weathermen warn of (10) ……. hurricanes or tornadoes.

8....................

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.

Television is one of man’s important means of communication. It brings events and sounds around the world into millions of homes. A person with a television set can sit in his house and watch the president making a speech or visit a foreign country. He can see war being fought and watch statesmen try to bring peace. Through TV, home viewers can see and learn about people, places, and things in faraway lands. Television even takes its viewers out of this world. It brings them coverage of America’s astronauts as the astronauts explore outer space.

In addition to these things, TV brings its viewers a steady stream of programs that are designed to entertain. In fact, TV provides many more entertainment programs than any other kind. The programs include action-packed dramas, light comedies, sporting events, and motion pictures.

Which of the following is NOT true?

Circle A, B, C, or D  which best completes each blank in the following passage. 

The traffic light signal was invented by a railway signaling engineer. It was installed (36)_______the House of Parliament in 1868. It (37)_______like any railway signal of the time, and was operated by gas. However, it exploded and killed a policeman, and the accident (38)_______ further development until cars became common.

Modern traffic lights are an American invention. Red-green systems were installed in Cleveland in 1914. Three-color signals, (39)_______by hand from a tower in the middle of the street, were installed in New York in 1918. The first lights of this type to (40)_______in Britain were in London, on the junction between St. James street and Piccadilly in 1925.

40_________

Read this passage carefully and then choose the best answers to the questions below by circling the corresponding letter A, B, C, or D. 

A recent investigation by scientists at the US Geological Survey shows that strange animal behavior might help predict the future earthquake.
Investigators found such occurrences in a ten-kilometer radius of the center of a fairly recent quake. Some birds screeched and flew about wildly. Dogs yelped and ran uncontrollably.
Scientists believe that animals can perceive these environmental changes as early as several days before the disaster.
In 1976 after observing animal behavior, the Chinese were able to predict a terrible quake. Although hundreds of thousands of people were killed, the government was able to evacuate millions of people and thus keep the death toll at a lower rate.

Which of the following statements is not true?

Read the following passage and choose the correct answer to each of the following questions from 46 to 50.

On January 17, 1995, a powerful earthquake hit the city of Kobe, Japan. Many buildings burned or collapsed. Part of an expressway fell over. Train lines were damaged, so trains could not run, and supplies of electricity, gas, and water were cut off. Soon after the earthquake was over, people in Kobe began working together to save their city. Neighbors pulled each other out of collapsed buildings. Ordinary people put out fires even before the fire trucks arrived. Volunteers in Kobe organized themselves into teams. They worked out a system to send help to where it was needed. Some people brought food, water, clothes, and electric generators to different parts of the city. Other teams searched for belongings in damaged stores and homes. Some volunteers took care of the children who had lost their parents. Teams of volunteers from outside Japan helped, too. A rescue team with search dogs came from Switzerland. A group of doctors called Doctors Without Borders came from all over the world. A group called the International Rescue Corps also sent its members to help.

Today, Kobe has been rebuilt. But people there still remember the outpouring of support they received from all over the world back in 1995.

In 1995, Japan was hit by___________.

Decide if the following statements are True or False or Not Given according to the text.

Hello students. Today I'd like to tell you some information about types and sources of energy. Energy is classified into two main groups: renewable and non-renewable.

The energy generated from natural sources such as the sun, wind, rain, and tides is called renewable energy. They are plentiful and can be generated again and again. They also have low carbon emissions so they are considered green and environment-friendly. Moreover, using renewable energy can reduce your electricity bills. Unfortunately, solar energy can be only used during the daytime but not during night or the rainy season. Geothermal energy also can bring toxic chemicals beneath the earth's surface to the top and can create environmental changes.

Non-renewable energy is the energy taken from other sources that are available on earth. They are limited and will run out in the future. They can't be re-generated in a short time. Fossil fuels - natural gas, oil and coal - are examples of them. They are cheap and easy to use. However, when burnt, they release toxic gases in the air so they cause serious environmental changes such as global warming. And the important thing is that non-renewable sources will expire someday.

Non-renewable energy can be generated in a short time.

Đọc đoạn văn sau đó chọn phương án thích hợp cho mỗi câu dươi dây.

Almost all our energy comes from oil, coal, and natural gas. We call them fossil fuels. The earth’s fossil fuels are running out. What would happen if there were no oil, coal, and gas on earth?

Scientists are trying to find and use other alternative sources of energy. We can use energy from the sun, the wind, and the water.

Solar energy is unlimited. It supplies all the energy used to grow plants, evaporate water for rain, and maintain the temperature of the planet. All are necessary for human life. If we’re able to collect solar energy, we’ll be sure to make good use of this abundant source of power.

Another source of energy from nature is the wind. Wind power is clean and plentiful. Energy from the wind has been used for centuries to move ships, grind grain, pump water, and do other kinds of work. In more recent times, wind power has been used to generate electricity.

Water can also provide power. For a long time, people have used water to power machines. Some early uses of water power were to mill grain, saw wood, and power machinery for the textile industry. Today water power is mostly used to generate electricity.

Up till now, water energy has been used for………………………