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 from 28 to 34.

Carnegie  Hall,  which  is  a  famous  concert  hall  in  New  York  City,  has  again  undergone  a  restoration. While  this  is  not  the  first,  it  is  certainly  the  most  extensive  in  the  building’s  history.  As  a  result  of  this new restoration, Carnegie Hall once again has the quality of sound that it had when it was first built.

Carnegie Hall owes its existence to Andrew Carnegie, the wealthy owner of a steel company in the late 1800s. The hall was finished in 1891 and quickly gained a reputation as an excellent performing arts hall where accomplished musicians gained fame. Despite its reputation, the concert hall suffered from several detrimental renovations over the years. During the Great Depression, when fewer people could afford to attend performances, the directors sold part of the building to commercial businesses. As a result, a coffee shop was opened in one comer of the building, for which the builders replaced the brick and terra cotta walls with windowpanes. A renovation in 1946 seriously damaged the acoustical quality of the hall when the makers of the film Carnegie Hall cut a gaping hole in the dome of the ceiling to allow for lights and air vents. The hole was later covered with short curtains and a fake ceiling, but the hall never sounded the same afterwards.

In  1960,  the  violinist  Isaac  Stem  became  involved  in  restoring  the  hall  after  a  group  of  real  estate developers unveiled  plans  to  demolish  Carnegie  Hall  and  build  a  high-rise  office  building  on  the  site. This threat spurred Stem to rally public support for Carnegie Hall and encourage the City of New York to buy  the  property.  The  movement  was  successful,  and  the  concert  hall  is  now  owned  by  the  city.  In  the current restoration, builders tested each new material for its sound qualities, and they replaced the hole in the ceiling with a dome. The builders also restored the outer walls to their original appearance and closed the  coffee  shop.  Carnegie  has  never  sounded  better,  and  its  prospects  for  the  future  have  never  looked more promising.

Câu 28 : What is this passage mainly about?

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Câu 29 : In the second paragraph, what is the meaning of the word “detrimental”?

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Câu 30 : What major change happened to the hall in 1946?

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Câu 31 : Who was Andrew Carnegie?

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Câu 32 : What was Isaac Stem’s relationship to Carnegie Hall?

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Câu 33 : What was probably the most important aspect of the recent renovation?

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Câu 34 : Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word “unveiled” in the last paragraph?

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