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:
Composers today use a wider variety of sounds than ever before, including many that were once considered undesirable noises. Composer Edgard Varese (1883-1965) called thus the “liberation of sound…the right to make music with any and all sounds.” Electronic music, for example – made with the aid of computers, synthesizers, and electronic instruments – may include sounds that in the past would not have been considered musical.
Enviromental sounds, such as thunder, and electronically generated hisses and blips can be recorded, manipulated, and then incorporated into a musical composition. But composers also draw novel sounds from voices and non-electronic instruments. Singers may be asked to scream, laugh, groan, sneeze, or to sing phonetic sounds rather than words. Wind and string players may lap or scrape their instruments. A brass or woodwind player may hum while playing, to produce two pitches at once; a pianist may reach inside the piano to pluck a string and then run a metal blade along it. In the music of the Western world, the greatest expansion and experimentation have involved percussion instruments, which outnumber strings and winds in many recent compositions. Traditional persussion instruments are struck with new types of beaters; and instruments that used to be couriered unconventional in Western music – tom-toms, bongos, slapsticks, maracas – are widely used.
In the search for novel sounds, increased use has been made in Western music of Microtones. Non-Western music typically divides and intervals between two pitches more finely than Western music does, thereby producing a greater number of distinct tones or micro tones, within the same interval. Composers such as Krzysztof Penderecki create sound that borders on electronic noise through tone clusters – closely spaced tones played together and heard as a mass, block, or band of sound. The directional aspect of sound has taken on new importance as well Loudspeakers or groups of instruments may be placed at opposite ends of the stage, in the balcony, or at the back and sides of the auditorium. Because standard music notation makes no provision for many of these innovations, recent music scores may contain graph like diagrams, new note shapes and symbols, and novel ways of arranging notation on the page.

The word “thereby” in line 18 is closet in meaning to     .

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The universe is so interesting that human want to know more about it.

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What ............... should we take to reduce pollution?

Choose the sentence A, B, C or D which in closest in meaning to the printed sentence.
You will never eat there at the weekend unless you have made a reservation.

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Both hardware _________ software are important to a computer.

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The Great Energy Debate
Modern civilization is heavily dependent on energy. Without reliable power sources, we couldn’t operate machines, use transportation, communicate via Internet, or do many other things. Although everyone recognizes the importance of energy, deciding what kind of energy the world should use in the future is not a simple task. The two leading candidates for this role are green energy and nuclear energy. Currently, most of the energy we use is derived from fossil fuels. Although this energy source has got us this far, there are several problems with it. For starters, it is a finite resource which is quickly running out. Some analysts have even estimated that the Earth could run out of coal and oil within the next 50 years. Burning fossil fuels also creates large amount of pollution, which is harmful to the environment. Although fossil fuels still provide the majority of our power, governments are seeking better energy sources to use going forward. Green energy is one option that is becoming increasingly attractive. It includes technologies such as solar, wind, and hydro power. These are seen as clean sources of energy because they cause very little pollution. In addition, they are completely renewable, so there is no danger that it will run out. The major disadvantage with green energy sources is that they are not cheap. The other alternative is nuclear power. Like green energy, it is also a renewable source of power that will not run out, and it also doesn’t produce air pollution. In addition, nuclear power is more reliable than green energy, as it doesn’t depend on sunshine, rain, or wind to operate. The major issues with nuclear power are safety concerns and nuclear waste. Nuclear power plants create a considerable amount of nuclear waste which is extremely hazardous to people’s health. If they happen to have a meltdown, this could destroy the surrounding area for years to come. The recent nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan brought this reality into the spotlight once again. In response, Germany announced it would close down eight of its nuclear plants immediately, and close the rest by 2022. Meanwhile, other nations refuse to give up on nuclear power, stating that these disasters are rare. The debate of whether to use green or nuclear power will likely continue for some time. In the end, it is quite possible that both energy sources will be used to fuel our planet.
1. What is the focus of the passage?

It was the worst winter _____ anyone could remember.

(275)____

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Harvard University, today recognized as part of the top echelon of the world's universities, came from very inauspicious and humble beginning. This oldest of American universities was founded in 1636, just sixteen years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. Included in the Puritan emigrants to the Massachusetts colony during this period were more than 100 graduates of England's prestigious Oxford and Cambridge universities, and these universities graduates in the New Word were determined that their sons would have the same educational opportunities that they themselves had had. Because of this support in the colony for an institution of higher learning, the General Court of Massachusetts appropriated 400 pounds for a college in October of 1636 and early the following year decided on a parcel of land for the school; this land was in an area called Newetowne, which was later renamed Cambridge after its English cousin and is the site of the present-day university. When a young minister named John Harvard, who came from the neighboring town of Charlestown, died from tuberculosis in 1638, he willed half of his estate of 1,700 pounds to the fledgling college. In spite of the fact that only half of the bequest was actually paid, the General Court named the college after the minister in appreciation for what he had done. The amount of the bequest may not have been large, particularly by today's standard, but it was more than the General Court had found it necessary to appropriate in order to open the college. Henry Dunster was appointed the first president of Harvard in 1640, and it should be noted that in addition to serving as president, he was also the entire faculty, with an entering freshmen class of four students. Although the staff did expand somewhat, for the first century of its existence the entire teaching staff consisted of the president and three or four tutors.
4. The pronoun "they" in paragraph 2 refers to: 

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Mrs. Stevens, along with  her cousins from Canada, are planning to attend the firework display in Da Nang, Vietnam.

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Bill works ..................... his brother.

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.
2. According to the passage, dyslexic children

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Tourists can do and see a lot in Ha Long Bay at a ________ price.

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It’s Winnie’s graduation tomorrow. She has finally _____________ her dream.

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If one type of manufacturing expands, it is like that another type will shrink considerably.

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A school outfit is no longer ____.

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When someone …………… a poem or other piece of writing, they say it aloud after they have learn it.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the word or phrase that is CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined part in each of the following questions.
James holds ambivalent views on whether or not computer is a lucrative invention

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I come to the countryside to get __________ from city’s bustle life.

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Rain pounded down on the roof. I was trying to read but the sound was too loud. I couldn’t help myself from being a little grumpy. I wanted to be outside playing, but the rain was keeping me inside. My mom had gone to the grocery store, and my dad was spending Saturday at the office. I had planned to spend the day hiking, but Mother Nature decided that today was the perfect day for rain. It meant that I would have to entertain myself. I spent most of the morning playing with my stuffed animals and reading. I was sitting next to the window staring out when I got a strange idea: why not just go outside anyway? I put on my boots and a big raincoat and stepped out into the wet world. It was raining hard but it wasn’t cold. All I could hear were raindrops and the wind. I decided to go on my hike anyway. My feet didn’t make any sound on the wet ground and the forest seemed different. I went to my favourite place and sat down. In the summer, my best friend Ellen and I would come here and sit for hours. It was our special place. All of a sudden, I thought I heard someone shouting my name. I turned and saw Ellen walking up behind me. “Oh my Gosh! It’s really you, Martha!” she said. “I can’t believe that you are out here right now. I thought I would be the only person crazy enough to go for a walk in the rain.” I was very happy to have some company. We decided that hiking in the rain was just as fun as hiking in the sunshine. We planned on hiking in the rain again.
3. What was keeping Martha inside?

Nowadays people are more aware that wildlife all over the world is in (1)________. Many species of animals are threatened, and could easily become (2)________ if we do not make an effort to protect them. In some cases, animals are hunted for their fur or for other valuable parts of their bodies. Some birds, such as parrots, are caught (3)________and sold as pets. For many animals and birds the problem is that their habitat - the place where they live - is disappearing. More land is used for farms, for houses or industry, and there are fewer open spaces than there once were. Farmers use powerful chemicals to help them to grow better crops, but these chemicals pollute the environment and (4)________ wildlife. The most successful animals on earth - human beings - will soon be the only ones (5)________, unless we can solve this problem.

(74)________

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"You have just got a promotion, haven't you? Congratulation!" Peter said to his friend.