Choose the best answer:
Some people think of 'traditional ' gender roles as being like a 1950s TV sitcom: Dad puts (8) _____ his suit and goes to the office, while Mum, in her apron, stays at home and (9) ____ the housework. But for most of human history, it has taken the efforts of both men and women, whether working in an office (10) _____ in the fields, to look after the family. And that's the situation to which we now seem to be returning. By 2050, women will make up 47% of the workforce in the United States, up from 30% in 1950. But some experts are predicting that, at (11) _____ in the short term, the number of women in the workforce may actually overtake the number of men. What's the reason? During the economic recession that began in 2008, many jobs disappeared from industries traditionally dominated by male workers, such as manufacturing. Unless many more manual manufacturing jobs (12) _____, it may be that women, who traditionally work in healthcare, education and other service industries, will take the lead in the labour market

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The (31) _________ for many young people today is to communicate with others over the Internet and have a life online. The way they do this is through social networking web sites such as Facebook and Twitter. However, the people who (32) _________ their lives online are also putting themselves at risk, and they may not even understand how they are doing so. The key to limiting risk is to keep certain pieces of information private. If you do any banking online, for example, it is important to note that dates of birth are often used as a(n) (33) _________ feature by banks. They will need to know your identification number and possibly your address as well, but to (34) _________ your identity, they might ask you for your date of birth. If a criminal were to gain access to your account number at a bank, and then obtain your address from public records, the one thing that he would not have would be your birth date. These days, however, a lot of people list their dates of birth openly on Facebook (35) _________ their friends can wish them well on their birthdays. Unfortunately, doing so could end up being a recipe for disaster

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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 brought about 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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I grew up with precious little choice about anything. You ate what you were given, went to school where you were told, wore your sister's hand-me-downs. And twice a year - birthday, Christmas - you got a present. We weren't poor at all but that was entirely normal and I don't remember feeling remotely deprived. Today, as we can see all around us, children seem to have everything - designer clothes, computer games, fussy eating habits and the attention span of itchy gnats. A report yesterday from the Children's Society found that one in ten kids now has mental illness diagnosed and it concluded that materialistic consumer pressure may be partly to blame, with children from poor backgrounds the main victims. Where is it coming from, this consumer pressure? First, from television, and the false dreams on offer there. Children from poor backgrounds, as well as having less money to buy the latest clothes or electronic games, are more likely to have parents without time to spend with them, and homes without access to outside space, so are far more likely to end up spending hours in front of the telly soaking up adverts alongside the easy gratification offered by cartoon; fantasy or drama. You cannot just blame the parents for this; many will be working hard, with no choice, just to put food on the table; after all, how many can afford a house with a garden in a city or suburb these days? Of course parents can correct bouts of consumerism in their children by teaching them what is and is not affordable, but why subject them to the clever traps of marketing people in the first place? Pressure is bad enough as it is, from schoolfriends and celebrity excess, without allowing some of the cleverest adult minds in the sharpest advertising agencies in the world to manipulate them as well. But why is it in a child's interests to be treated like a consumer? It has yet to be proven that giving even adults a wide range of choices improves their lives. In many instances, from too many yoghurts in the supermarket all the way up to a supposed choice of doctor or school, it is just confusing and stressful. I think the fewer, carefully selected, choices we can give young children, the more we help them. Watch the exhausted face of a six-year-old confronted by all this year's Christmas presents, without the time to play with any of them for more than a few minutes, and see what I mean. We are spoilt, and we are spoiling our children. They need to be taught to look down as well as up; to choose to feel fortunate, and not envious -and to recognise that gratification isn't as easy as buying a new toy or switching on a dream. And, as my mother would have been delighted to hear, it will not cost a thing.
3. According to paragraph 2, what is the major concern surrounding poor children being exposed to the television?

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In 1985, there was a terrible famine in the African country of Sudan. Richard Curtis, a British comedy writer, and his friend, Alexander Mendis saw the news reports and wanted to make (25) _____. They began a charity called Comic relief, with the help of charity worker Jane Tewson. In 1988, the charity had an idea of selling red plastic noses to raise money. It was the (26) _____ success and selling red noses became a regular part of the Britain’s charity to organize sponsored events. In 1997, BBC television supported Comic Relief with a whole afternoon and evenings of special TV programmes, calling it Red Nose Day. People around Britain organized fund-raising events around the same time and sent their money to Red Nose Day. In (27) _____, the event raised over £27 million for charity. Since it began, Comic Relief has raised more than £600 million, (28) _____ the generosity of the British public and the help of the celebrities (29) _____ take part. The charity produces books, CDs and other items help to raise money. In 2001, JK Rowling wrote two books for Comic Relief based on famous Harry Potter novels and all the money from the sales went to the charity

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 he often do at school?

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The beautiful white bears found in the Arctic are in grave danger, and human beings are very (31) _________ the cause of this danger. As we bum fossil fuels to generate electricity or get us around town in our cars and trucks. We create a massive amount of carbon dioxide. This gas has increased in (32) _________ so much over the past few centuries that it is causing global warming. Polar bears need sea ice in order to live because this ice is their hunting (33) _________. The bears’ main source of food is the meat and blubber of seals. These animals come to the surface holes in the ice to breathe. It is there that the polar bears have (34) _________ to ambush the seals. Without any ice, there is nowhere for the bears to stalk their prey. The seals rarely venture onto land and spend their time out on the sea ice. In recent years, the sea ice has disappeared in the Arctic during the late summer. This is dangerous for the polar bears, as they rely almost exclusively on seals for food. (35) _________ brown and black bears, polar bears do not hibernate during the winter

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One of the strangest phenomena in the universe is the black hole. For years, scientists have studied black holes in an (15) _______ to better understand how they function. Like vacuum cleaners, black holes will suck up anything (16) _______ crosses their path. The incredible sucking power that black holes generate comes from gravity. They can quickly swallow up anything including planets, space debris, and anything else imaginable. Even light cannot escape the (17) _______ of black holes. Since they are able to pull in light, black holes are nearly impossible to see even with high-powered telescopes. (18) _______ scientists are able to detect the presence of black holes in space because of their effect on an observed area. Black holes can originate in a few ways. One type of black holes occurs when a star comes to the end of its lifecycle and it dies in a supernova explosion. They can also occur when the mass of a neutron star becomes so great that it collapses in on itself. Black holes may also occur when several large and dense stars collide with one (19) _______ in space.

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
THE THREAT TO THE ENVIRONMENT
Nowadays people are more aware that wildlife all over the world is in danger. Many (1)________of animals are threatened, and could easily become (2)______ if we do not make an effort to protect them. There are many (3)_______ for this. In some cases, animals are hunted for their fur or for othervaluable parts of their bodies. Some birds, such as parrots, are caught (4)________and sold as pets. For many animals and birds, the problem is that their habitat - the (5)________where they live - is disappearing. More (6)________is used for farms, for houses or industry, and there are fewer open (7)________than there once were. Farmers use powerful chemicals to help them grow better (8)________, but these chemicals pollute the environment and (9)________wildlife. The most successful animals on earth - human beings - will soon be the only Ones left, unless we can (10)________this problem

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Bodies are made to move! They are not (36) _____ for sitting around in front of the television or reading magazines. Keeping fit doesn't (37) _____ you have to be a super-athlete, and even (38) _____ exercise can give you a lot of fun. When you are fit and healthy, you will find you look better and feel better. You will develop more energy and self-confidence.Every time you move, you are exercising. The human body is designed to bend, stretch, run, jump and climb. (39) _____ it does, the stronger and fitter it will become. Best of all; exercise is fun. It's what your body likes doing most - keeping on the (40) _____

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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 brought about 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

Choose the best answer:
People do many crazy things to raise money for charity. The latest crazy stunt came from an English man who decided to push a Brussels sprout up the highest mountain in Wales - with his nose. He wanted to raise $8,500 for a cancer charity. Stuart Kettell, 49, said he loves challenges and will try to do anything for charity. His other challenges include walking 800 kilometers on stilts and sitting in a box for a week. He said: "I have seen firsthand the amazing charity work that Macmillan Cancer Support does, not only for the patient but their family and friends too." He added: "People's cancer stories inspire me even more to carry on, and my challenges are going to get even more crazy."  It took Mr. Kettell three days to push the Brussels sprout up the 1,085 meters high Mount Snowden. He wore a specially designed face mask so he wouldn't scrape the skin off his face. He practised for his charity mission by pushing a Brussels sprout around his garden. He chose a large sprout for his Snowden challenge. It was about the size of a table-tennis ball. He said he wanted a larger one because it would not fall down a crack. He spent three days on his hands and knees with his nose a centimeter or two above the ground. He told reporters there was "a huge amount of pain" in his knees, wrists and back. He said he was happy because his training worked, he reached the summit, and he raised money for the charity.   
3. According to Kettell, who has inspired him to take on more challenges?

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Part of what makes summers so hot is also what causes thunderstorms. As heat from the sun beats down on Earth, the heat evaporates some of the water in lakes and oceans. The evaporated water stays in the air. This evaporated water makes the air feel heavy and humid. Humid air is what makes you feel hot and sticky (1) _______ the summer. Warm humid air usually does not stay in one place. The wind can move it higher in the sky (2) _______ it will cool off. When warm humid air cools, it forms clouds. As more water is moved from lakes and oceans to the airs, the clouds get bigger and bigger. Since summer, the air near the ground is hotter than it is during other seasons of the year. When this hot air mixes with cool air from (3) _______ area, there will be changes in the weather. Greater differences between the (4) _______ of the hot and cold air will cause greater changes in the weather. Imagine putting an ice (5) _______ in a warm drink. As soon as the ice hits the warm drink, it will crack and pop. But if you put the ice cube in a cool drink, it will not crack or pop as much. When warmer and cooler clouds get close to one another, there may be some popping and cracking as the weather changes. There may be more clouds or storms. A thunderstorm may be on its way.

Choose the best answer:
Educational systems outside of the Western Hemisphere have long followed the lead of the most influential countries, although not always to their advantage. The major problem is that many developing countries have a much greater need for technical institutes (1) ____ than for academic universities, so that they can produce professionals and scientists able to address their particular problems. In these (2) ____, language is often a problem because much of the technology developed in the West requires a vocabulary that many languages do not have. Reading skills in English are widely cultivated (3) ____ these purposes.  Modern trends in higher education indicate a willingness worldwide to learn from the strengths of the (4) ____ systems. Schools in North America frequently suffer from a lack of the uniformity of educational standards that European systems provide through centralized bureaucratic control. Coordinated national accrediting organizations solve much of this problem. European universities have moved toward greater autonomy in curriculum development, and steps have been (5) ____ so that broader segments of the population can benefit from higher education

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The Spring festival season in Vietnam starts with the Lunar New Year and closes with the celebration honoring the mythical founding fathers, the Hung Kings, on the tenth day of the third lunar month. Underlying the origins of these rituals is the farming cycle and its association with fertility rites and ancestor worship. Ancestor worship is a belief of wet-rice farmers who keep their ancestors' graves in their village. This strong attachment to the village of one's birth and the recognition that the inhabitants all descend from the same ancestral line creates strong bonds. The village festival is based on the spirit of unity and family. The farmers are the festivals' creators, actors and audience.  Ancient ceremonies related to farming sometimes take on additional meanings: the commemoration of heroic deeds and the village heroes' birth or death. Each village in the North of Vietnam has such a heroic or super-human figure as a tutelary or guardian spirit. The heroes were honored in their own temples and communal houses which became the heart of the village activities.  There are basic themes which are common to all Spring festivals in the Red River Delta. For instance, water takes on an essential role. Water is collected and blessed and later used for ritual washing. There are boat races, fishing contests, snake dances and water puppet performances. In Chem village, in the suburbs of Hanoi on the banks of the Red River, the main part of the festival actually occurs on a barge carrying over 200 people waving flags, singing, dancing and chasing a unicorn. The barge sails from the temple out into the middle of the Red River, while elders in smaller boats fetch three large jars of water to be blessed and used in rituals during the year. The next day the blessed water is used for the symbolic washing of the wooden statue of the village guardian.
5. Which of the following is true about the blessed water in the festival of Chem village?

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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 brought about 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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If cartoons are anything to go by, then the attitude of the British towards the family, and of British men towards the (31) ________ sex, has not changed much recently, despite attempts to shame people into admitting their prejudices. The mother-in-law, frequently of horrific (32)______ and usually either about to visit, or being somehow driven from the house is still a favorite butt of this kind of humor. Marriage itself has been reduced to the skinny male, dominated by a massive female who habitually lies in wait with the rolling pin behind the door for the return of her drunken spouse. Children are rarely shown other than as screaming infants, or else as ill-favoured urchins who (33) _____ all their time being objectionable or asking for money. The old are simply (34) _____ as comic characters. The problem is, how do such cartoons relate to the way people truly see each other? Does a joke always contain some grain of truth, however much we may dislike to admit it? In other words, is life really a series of mother- in-law jokes? Or do jokes have a life of their own, with a (35) _______ of stereotypes we can recognize, like the Englishman with his umbrella and bowler hat, or the Frenchman with his striped jumper and beret?

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People in the UK enjoy fewer years of good health before they die than the citizens of most comparable European countries as well as Australia and Canada, a major report shows. While life expectancy has improved by 4.2 years in the UK over the two decades, other countries have improved faster. In 2010, Spain topped the league. Its people could expect 70.9 years of healthy life - before disease and disability began to take a toll. Second came Italy, with 70.2 years and third was Australia, on 70.1 years. In the UK, we can expect 68.6 healthy years of life. Hunt said the UK was a long way behind its global counterparts and called for action by local health commissioners to tackle the five big killers - cancer, heart disease, stroke, respiratory and liver diseases. Drinking and drug use have been the main issues behind the worsening of the UK’s ranking in early deaths among adults aged 20-54. In 2010, drugs were the sixth leading cause of death in this age group and alcohol was 18,h - up from 32nd and 43rd place respectively 20 years earlier. Hunt will on Tuesday announce a strategy to tackle cardiovascular disease, which he says could save 30,000 lives a year. “Despite real progress in cutting deaths, we remain a poor relative to our global cousins on many measures of health, something I want to change,” he said. “For too long we have been lagging behind and I want the reformed health system to take up this challenge and turn this shocking underperformance around.” However, the problem is only in part to do with hospital care - much of it is about the way we live. Our diet, our drinking and continuing smoking habits all play a part, which assumes its responsibilities on 1 April
1. The best title for this passage could be _______

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British people have a reputation for being rather quiet and reserved. However, a new study has (1) ____ that Britons are actually quite sociable and the (2) ____ person claims to have 14 close friends. Although a minority of those questioned (3) ____ that they had no best friend, a quarter said that they had more than 18 close friends. Experts said that this is (4) ____ to changes in the way people (5) ____ their free time. They are now more (6) ____ to invite friends to their homes or go out socialising than previous generations. The increasing use of mobile phones and emails has also made it easier to (7) ____ a greater number of friendships.  Men's relationships are not (8) ____ though they tend to have more friends. Women, (9) ____ prefer to have a small number of friends they can trust (10) ____, and with whom they can feel completely at (11) ____. The idea that people in the north of England are more neighbourly than those in the south seems to be backed (12) ____ by the survey. However, despite having friends, it seems that family still (13) ____ an important part in most people's lives. When asked who they would (14) ____ to for help if they were ill or had a problem, the majority said that they would (15) ____ upon a relative first rather than a friend

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Geothermal energy offers enormous potential for direct, low-temperature applications. Unlike indirect applications, this new technology relies on the Earth's natural thermal energy to heat or cool a house or multifamily dwelling directly without the need to convert steam or other high-temperature fluids into electricity, using expensive equipment. A geothermal system consists of a heat pump and exchanger plus a series of pipes, called a loop, installed below the surface of the ground or submerged in a pond or lake. Fluid circulating in the loop is warmed and carries heat to the home. The heat pump and exchanger use an electrically powered vapor-compression cycle - the same principle employed in a refrigerator - to concentrate the energy and to transfer it. The concentrated geothermal energy is released inside the home at a higher temperature, and fans then distribute the heat to various rooms through a system of air ducts. In summer, the process is reversed: excess heat is drawn from the home, expelled to the loop, and absorbed by the Earth. Geothermal systems are more effective than conventional heat pumps that use the outdoor air as their heat source (on cold days) or heat sink (on warm days) because geothermal systems draw heat from a source whose temperature is more constant than that of air. The temperature of the ground or groundwater a few feet beneath the Earth's surface remains relatively stable – between 45°F and 70°F. In winter, it is much easier to capture heat from the soil at a moderate 50°F than from the atmosphere when the air temperature is below zero. Conversely. in summer, the relatively cool ground absorbs a home's waste heat more readily than the warm outdoor air. The use of geothermal energy through heat-pump technology has almost no adverse environmental consequences and offers several advantages over conventional energy sources. Direct geothermal applications are usually no more disruptive of the surrounding environment than a normal water well. Additionally, while such systems require electricity to concentrate and distribute the energy collected, they actually reduce total energy consumption by one-fourth to two-thirds, depending on the technology used. For each 1,000 hones with geothermal heat pumps, an electric utility can avoid the installation of 2 to 5 megawatts of generating capacity. Unfortunately, only a modest part of the potential of this use for geothermal energy has been developed because the service industry is small and the price of competing energy sources is low.
5. The word "adverse” in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to ______

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Sylvia Earle is an underwater explorer and marine biologist who was born in the USA in 1935. She became interested in the world’s oceans from an early age. As a child, she liked to stand on the beach for hours and look at the sea, wondering what it must be like under the surface. When she was 16, she finally got a chance to make her first dive, which motivated her to become an underwater explorer. Since then, she has spent more than 6,500 hours under water, and has led more than seventy expeditions worldwide. She has also made the deepest dive ever, reaching a record – breaking depth of 381 metres.
In 1970, she became famous around the world when she became the caption of the first all- female team to live under water. The team spent two weeks in an underwater “house”. The research they carried out showed the damage that pollution was causing to marine life, and especially to coral reefs. Her team also studied the problem of over- fishing. Fishing methods meant that people were catching too many fish, Earle warned, and many species were in danger of becoming extinct. Since then she has written several books and magazine articles in which she suggests ways of reducing the damage that is being done to the world’s oceans. One way, she believes, is to reply on fish farms for seafood, and reduce the amount of fishing that is done out at sea. Although she no longer eats seafood herself, she realizes the importance it plays in our diets, It would be wrong to tell people they should stop eating fish from the sea, she says. However, they need to reduce the impact they are having on the ocean’s supplies.
5. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage as Earle’s role?