Choose the best answer:
It was once thought that forests and the wood that could be taken from them were in endless supply. Especially in areas like South America, where vast areas of the continent were covered by rainforests, logging and clearing of forests for farming seemed like a harmless endeavor. (31) _________ the clearing of rainforests been kept in moderation, it may have become a stable source of wood and a(n) (32) _________ for the people in the region. It was not, though, and the amount of damage that has been (33) _________ to the entire planet has been terrible because of the clearing of rainforests. The rainforests are considered the lungs of the world because they breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen. We need the oxygen to survive, and the more we clear rainforests, the more carbon dioxide begins to concentrate in the atmosphere. In addition to the clearing of forests, the burning of fossil fuels for energy (34) _________ more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. It makes the problems of global warming get worse, as we keep adding more carbon dioxide while simultaneously taking away the planet’s (35) _________ to deal with this gas

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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.
3. According to paragraph 3, what is stated regarding decline in motorization?

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When you wake up in the morning, do you assume that you're going to have a great day or that you're going to have a difficult day? If you normally have positive expectations, you might consider yourself an optimist, and if your expectations are usually negative, you may be a pessimist. According to research done by the Mayo Clinic, optimism can have a strong positive effect on your health. Their research shows that optimists may live longer, get colds less often, and be less likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease. Optimists may even deal with stress better than pessimists do. If you think you might be a pessimist and would like to try to be more optimistic, pay attention to what some call “self-talk.” The term “self-talk” refers to the automatic thoughts that go through your head all the time. You know-the ideas, worries, beliefs, and hopes that run through your mind as you're driving, washing dishes, folding laundry. Are those thoughts negative like, “Everyone knows so much more than I do,” or positive like, “I'm learning a lot at this job”? If your self-talk is negative, there are some things you can do to steer it in a more positive direction. First, you can simply stop your negative self-talk. Every time you catch yourself thinking something negative, you can stop yourself by actually saying, “Stop,” out loud. Alternatively, you can revise your self-talk. For example, if you catch yourself saying, “I’m terrible at giving presentations,” revise that to a question like, “How can I improve my presentation skills?” Another idea is to think of yourself as a friend. When you “hear” a negative sentence go through your mind, think about whether or not you would feel comfortable saying it to a friend. If the sentence seems too mean to say to a friend, think about what would sound better
4. The word “it” in paragraph 4 refers to ______

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Further education in Britain means education after the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQ) exam taken around the age of 16. It includes courses of study leading to A levels which students take at their school or sixth-form college. Some students go straight to a college of further education which offers a wider range of full- and part-time courses. Further education also includes training for professional qualifications in nursing, accountancy and management, and in fields such as art and music. The term higher education is used in Britain and the US to refer to degree courses at universities.  In the US further education usually means any other education after secondary school. It can mean study at college, or any study towards a professional qualification, and it can have a meaning similar to that of adult education or continuing education, i.e. something that people do after completing their main education, often for personal interest and satisfaction.  Many students in Britain take vocational training courses in fields such as building, engineering, hair-dressing or secretarial skills. Colleges of further education offer courses leading to National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) and other certificates and diplomas. Work-related courses are designed with advice from industry, with the aim of producing students who will have the skills employers require. On longer courses students may do placement (AmE internships) (= periods of work) lasting several months with companies. On other courses, called sandwich courses, students divide their time between periods of paid work and periods of study. A common arrangement is for students to get day release from their work to attend college one or two days a week over several years. Some students do a formal apprenticeship, learning their skills on the job and attending college part-time.  The British government is keen to persuade more young people to remain in education as long as possible to build up a more highly skilled, better educated workforce. About 3.9 million people take part-time further education courses, while another 1.1 million are full-time students.   
5. Which of the following can best describe Britain's workforce according to the passage? 

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The greenhouse effect is always reported as being a negative consequence of current human lifestyle practices. However there certainly have been numerous suggestions of positive consequences of the greenhouse effect.  A slight temperature increase in some of the colder parts of the world may improve conditions for agriculture and changing rainfall patterns may favor some species over others. However, they do not balance with overall negative impacts. The social, economic and ecological disorders brought about by such climatic changes worldwide are projected to greatly outweigh regional benefits.  The impacts of global warming and climate change could become a source of increased tension between nations and regions. While the developed, industrialized world is responsible for 75% of all CO2 emissions, these impacts will most likely hit hardest upon the poorer, underdeveloped parts of the world. For example, as sea levels rise countries like Bangladesh will suffer much more from the loss of valuable and populated lands than European or North American countries, even though they have emitted only a tiny fraction of the greenhouse gases.  The effect of drowning coastlines could lead to hundreds of millions of climate refugees. Where will these refugees go? How will they be cared for? Undoubtedly, such a disaster will seriously worsen the already critical refugee problem in the world. A severe disorder of the world's food supplies through floods, droughts, crop failures and diseases brought about by climate change would lead to famines, wars and civil disorder in many countries.  
5. According to the passage, climate change will result in all of the following EXCEPT ____

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Pablo Picasso is considered to be one of the most (26)_______painters in the twentieth century.(27)_______ was born in Malaga, Spain on October 20, 1881.(28)______painting, Picasso also tried (29)______ kinds of job such as a printmaker, ceramicist, stage designer, poet and playwright. From the age of seven, Picasso received formal artistic training from his father in figure drawing and oil painting. On one occasion, the father found his son painting over his unfinished sketch of a pigeon. Observing the (30)______ of his son’s technique, the father felt that the thirten-year-old Picasso had surpassed him, and vowed to (31)______ painting. Picasso grew up to become one of the greatest (32)______most influential artists of the 20th century, he is known (33)______ co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture, the co-invention of collage, and for (34)_____ styles that he helped develop and explore. Picasso is now regarded as one of the artists (35)______ most defined the revolutionary developments in the plastic arts in the opening decades of the 20th century

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Nowadays people are more aware that wildlife all over the world is in (25) _____. Many species of animals are threatened, and could easily become (26) _____ if we do not make an effort to protect them. There are many reasons for this. In some cases animals are hunted for their fur or for other valuable parts of their bodies. Some birds, such as parrots, are caught (27) _____, and sold as pets. For many animals and birds, the problem is that their habitats-the place where they live-is disappearing. More land is used for farm, for houses and industry, and there are fewer open spaces than there once were. Farmers use powerful chemicals to help them grow better crops, (28) _____these chemicals pollute the environment and harm wildlife. The most successful animals on Earth, human beings, will soon be the only ones (29) _____ unless we can solve this problem

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
Air pollutant emission factors are (1) ___________ representative values that attempt to relate the quantity of a pollutant released to the ambient air with an activity associated (2) ___________ the release of that pollutant. These factors are usually expressed as the weight of (3) ___________ divided by a unit weight, volume, distance, or duration of the activity emitting the pollutant. Such factors facilitate estimation of emissions from (4) ___________ sources of air pollution. In most cases, these factors are simply averages of all available data acceptable quality, and are generally assumed to be representative of (5) ___________ averages. (6) ___________ are 12 compounds in the list of persistent organic pollutants. Dioxins and furans are two of them and (7) ___________ created by combustion of organics, like open burning of plastics. These compounds are also endocrine disruptors and can mutate the human genes. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (8) ___________ published a complication of air pollutant emission factors for a wide range of industrial sources. (9) ___________ United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and many other countries have published similar compilations, (10) ___________ well as the European Environmental Agency

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The traffic light signal was invented by a railway signaling engineer. It was installed (26)_________The House of Parliament in 1868. It (27)_________like any railway signal of the time, and was operated by gas. (28)_________, it exploded and killed a policeman, and the accident (29)_________further development until cars became common.             (30)_________traffic lights are an American invention. Red-green (31)_________were installed in Cleveland in 1914. Three-color signals, (32)_________by hand from a tower in the (33)_________of the street, were installed in New York in 1918. The (34)________lights of this type to (35)________in Britain were in London, on the junction between St James’s street and Piccadilly in 1925.

Read the email, choose the best answer A, B, c or D and write.

From: an@fastmail.com
To: nick@fastmail.com
Subject: My best friend
Hi Nick,

It’s great to hear from you. I want to tell you about my best friend.

My grandma is my best friend. She’s 68 years old. She lives with our family. She was a Maths teacher at a secondary school. She likes getting up early and watering the flowers in our garden, she usually helps me with my homework. In the evening, she tells me interesting stories. She also listens to me when I’m sad, which makes me love her the most.

I love my grandma very much. What about you? Who’s your best friend?

Please write to me soon.

Bye bye,

The e-mail is about ..........................................

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
There are many Chinese festivals in Hong Kong. The Western New Year starts on the first day of January but the Chinese begin New Year on the first day of the first moon of the Chinese calendar. Before New Year's Day comes, people clean and decorate their houses, (1)_____ a lot of traditional food and go shopping for presents and new clothes. New Year’s Eve is the time (2) _____every family gathers its members together for dinner. People (3)____ the New Year with a music performance and a firework display to light up the sky. On New Year's Day, they visit their friends and relatives. The children get lucky money in red envelopes. Many people go to the (4)____ to wish for good health and good luck. Chinese people in Hong Kong celebrate the New Year with (5) _____ and happiness

Read and circle the best option A, B, C or D to complete the passage:

I live in a house near the sea. It is ...(1)... old house, about 100 years old and...(2)... very small. There are two bed rooms upstairs...(3)... no bathroom. The bathroom is downstairs ...(4)... the kitchen and there is a living room where there is a lovely old fire place. There is a garden...(5)... the house. The garden...(6)... down to the beach and in spring and summer...(7)... flowers every where. I like alone...(8)... my dog, Rack, but we have a lot of visitors. My city friends often stay with ...(9)...

I love my house for... (10)... reasons: the garden, the flowers in summer, the old fire place, but the best thing is the view from my bedroom window.

(6)......................

Choose the best answer:
Planet earth is part of a system of planets and their moons, as well as numerous asteroids and comets which (26)_________around a huge star we call the Sun. The Sun itself (27)_________of gas. Nuclear reactions inside its core (28)_______the heat and light that make life on the Earth (29)________. The Earth is the third of four small terrestrial (Earth like) planets that orbit close to the (30)_________. Further out in our Solar System are four huge gas planets, while distant Pluto, (31)_________planet, is made (32)_________rock and ice. Our Earth is one of the ten planets that orbit the Sun- a huge, burning-hot star in the center of our Solar System. The Solar System and all the stars in the (33)_________are part of our galaxy-the Milky Way, which (34)________as many as 200 billions stars. Beyond our galaxy (35)_________millions more galaxies. They all add together to make up the Universe

Choose the best answer:
Planet earth is part of a system of planets and their moons, as well as numerous asteroids and comets which (26)_________around a huge star we call the Sun. The Sun itself (27)_________of gas. Nuclear reactions inside its core (28)_______the heat and light that make life on the Earth (29)________. The Earth is the third of four small terrestrial (Earth like) planets that orbit close to the (30)_________. Further out in our Solar System are four huge gas planets, while distant Pluto, (31)_________planet, is made (32)_________rock and ice. Our Earth is one of the ten planets that orbit the Sun- a huge, burning-hot star in the center of our Solar System. The Solar System and all the stars in the (33)_________are part of our galaxy-the Milky Way, which (34)________as many as 200 billions stars. Beyond our galaxy (35)_________millions more galaxies. They all add together to make up the Universe

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Speed reading is not just about reading first. It is also about how much information you can remember when you have finished reading. The World Championship Speed-Reading Competition says that its top competitors average between 1.000 and 2,000 words a minute. But they must remember at least 50 percent of this in order to qualify for the competition. Nowadays, speed reading has become an essential skill in any environment (46) _______ people have to master a large volume of information. Professional workers need reading skills to help them (47) _______ many documents every day, while students under pressure to deal with assignments may feel they have to read more and read faster all the time. (48) _______ there are various methods to increase reading speed, the trick is deciding what information you want first. For example, if you only want a    (49) _______ outline of an issue, then you can skim the material quickly and extract the key facts. However, if you need to understand every detail in a document, then you must read it slowly enough to understand this. Even when you know how to ignore irrelevant detail, there are (50) _______ improvements you can make to your reading style which will increase your speed

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The philosopher Aristotle said, “In poverty and other misfortunes of life, true friends are a sure refuge. They keep the young out of mischief; they comfort and aid the old in their weakness, and they incite those in the prime of life to noble deeds. “Growing up”, my mother always used to tell me “your friends are a reflection of you”. I did not quite understand this (20) _____ I started meeting individuals who kept, not so healthy friends in their lives and suddenly, as a young teenager, I learned to understand that the friends I keep in my life (21) _____ who I am and desire to be as a person and therefore I have learned to choose my friends wisely over the years. I do not care about the superficial (22) _____ such as looks, money, success or status but rather I emulate those (23) _____ bring laughter, joy, honesty and who can be there for me and also give me a firm kick in the butt when I need it. I always find it intriguing to meet friends of people I know because I can really get a sense of that person by the company they choose to (24) _____ in their life

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ASEAN was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok by the five original member countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Brunei Darussalam joined on 8 January 1984, Vietnam on 28 July 1995, Laos and Myanmar on 23 July 1997, and Cambodia on 30 April 1999.  The ASEAN Declaration states that the aims and purposes of the Association are: (1) to accelerate the economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region through joint endeavors in the spirit of equality and partnership in order to strengthen the foundation for a prosperous and peaceful community of Southeast Asian nations, and (2) to promote regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law in the relationship among countries in the region and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter. In 1995, the ASEAN Heads of State and Government re-affirmed that "Cooperative peace and shared prosperity shall be the fundamental goals of ASEAN.”  The Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) in Southeast Asia, signed at the First ASEAN Summit on 24 February 1976, declared that in their relations with one another, the High Contracting Parties should be guided by the following fundamental principles:  • Mutual respect for the independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity, and national identity of all nations;  • The right of every State to lead its national existence free from external interference, subversion, or coercion;  • Non-interference in the internal affairs of one another;  • Settlement of differences or disputes by peaceful manner;  • Renunciation of the threat or use of force; and  • Effective cooperation among themselves.  The TAC stated that ASEAN political and security dialogue and cooperation should airn to promote regional peace and stability by enhancing regional resilience. Regional resilience shall be achieved by cooperating in all fields based on the principles of self confidence, self-reliance, mutual respect, cooperation, and solidarity, which shall constitute the foundation for a strong and viable community of nations in Southeast Asia. 
7. The word "which" in the passage refers to ____

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Despite the wealth of information campaigns telling people about global warming and its causes, most people have yet to realize how severe the problem is. Coming climate changes could alter as (1) ____ as one third of plant and animal habitats (2) ____ the end of the 22nd century. These changes could in (3) ____ cause widespread extinctions among plant and animal (4) ____ around the globe.  Coastal and island habitats are perhaps in the greatest danger (5) ____ they face the combined threats of warming oceans and rising sea (6) ____. As habitats change, many animals will come (7) ____ intense pressure to find more suitable homes for themselves. Mass (8) ____ of at least some animals are certainly to be expected, but the fact remains that many animals will simply not be able to move fast enough.  Such dire predictions may sound alarmist, but they are based on the rather moderate estimate that the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will double by 2100. Many scientists believe, however, that this figure is actually very conservative, and they claim that a tripling is (9) ____ more realistic. If they are (10) ____, the effects on nature will be even more dramatic

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Many older cities are having modern makeovers and they are being given a new (1) ____. Sometimes the impetus for this (2) ____ of change comes from the need to provide new (3) ____ for particular events being held in the city - a sporting event, or something (4) ____. On other (5) ____ the change just seems to (6) ____ place almost naturally.  Take Birmingham, for instance, (7) ____ it was previously an (8) ____ place to live, it has now become trendy, and this change has been (9) ____ largely by the new-look architecture that can be found everywhere in the city. The old shopping centre has been (10) ____ down and completely rebuilt, and new shopping malls are competing to attract shoppers with the high quality of their services and goods. The area located around the canal, once hidden away and surrounded by decaying factories was often used as a rubbish (11) ____, but it has now become a trendy place (12) ____ up of modern offices, bars, sought-after apartments and restaurants. To (13) ____ up, Birmingham has become the place to be. Even in what was formerly the poorest part of the city an old factory has been (14) ____ into a lively complex of studios, galleries and coffee bars. With its theatres, museums and football teams Birmingham is (15) ____ worth visiting and has something for everyone

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Forget global terrorism - for most of the world's population, ticking time bombs like earthquakes, supervolcanoes and hurricanes pose a far greater threat. Natural disaster expert Bill McGuire reveals a few of the top catastrophes waiting to happen. With NASA's eminent climate scientist, Jim Hansen, concerned that collapsing polar ice sheets could result in sea levels rising 1-2m this century and several more in the next, prospects for the Earth's coastal zones are bleak. A 1m rise would threaten one third of the world's agricultural land, while a 4m rise would maroon Miami 60km offshore. Rising sea levels is not the only threat to coastal regions. The Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Canary Island of La Palma is slowly creeping seawards. During a future eruption, this gigantic landslide will plunge into the ocean, pushing up a bulge of water close to a kilometre high, spawning a mega-tsunami capable of devastating all the coastal areas surrounding the North Atlantic. Coastal regions also face the menace of desertification. By 2030, over half a billion people living around the shores of the Mediterranean will be viewing the encroaching desert with increasing panic. An area bigger than the UK, and home to 16 million people, is threatened - by the end of the century- with transformation from a green and pleasant land to a baking wilderness of sand and rock. However, these disasters seem pale in comparison to the mega-catastrophes waiting to happen like supervolcanoes, for instance. Every 50 millennia or so, a colossal volcanic blast expels sufficient ash and gas to cover a continent and block the Sun's rays for years on end, heralding a bitter volcanic winter. At Yellowstone in Wyoming, US, two such super-eruptions have shattered the crust in the last 2.1 million years and the volcano there remains restless. An asteroid attack is another threat which would have devastating consequences. A total of 713 asteroids with diameters of 1km or more, and the potential to clobber the Earth at some future date, have been identified. A 2km asteroid would load the atmosphere with dust and trigger a sustained global freeze. Harvests would fail and billions would die. Fortunately, such collisions only happen every couple of million years.
7. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

Ba is a student. He’s 12 years old. He studies at Yen Hoa 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 Ba do?