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Stephen Hawking was 21 years old and just embarking upon his career as a researcher in cosmology at the University of Cambridge when his father noticed he was tripping and falling frequently. After a series of tests, Hawking was (26) _______ with 50 ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) and doctors estimated he had two and a half years left to live. The news was, of course, devastating, but Hawking avoided an emotional (27) _______ by taking new interest in his studies and his research. His disease continued to progress, (28) _______, and by the mid-1970s he needed more care and his speech was so slurred only his family could understand him. In 1985, Hawking came down with pneumonia and needed a tracheotomy, (29) _______ left him without the ability to speak at 60 all. He did make a full recovery, however, allowing him to finish writing A Brief History of Time, which sold 10 million copies around the world. Although it would be easy to dwell on what ALS has cost him, Hawking has chosen to focus on (30) _______ that he still has in life. His brilliant mind remains unaffected by the disease and as a result Hawking has 65 made significant breakthroughs in his field and has received twelve honorary degrees, as well as multiple awards, medals and prizes

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During the sixth century, the inhabitants of Gujarat (India) have developed a method of gaining access to clean water

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
Here is a wonderful opportunity at a (1) ________ cost to visit the truly remarkable island of Cuba. We have (2) ________ rooms at some of the finest hotels for periods of 7 and 14 nights. You may (3) ________ your time between relaxing and exploring this beautiful country by taking advantage of our extensive excursion programme. The (4) ________ of such a small country is amazing and, as it is set in the warm waters of Caribbean, it is (5) ________ to have one of the most pleasant climates in the world. Cuba, being so small, is not only an ideal country to tour, but it's also a place where visitors can relax and (6) ________ in exotic surroundings. Not only has nature (7) ________ Cuba with magnificent coast and some fine sandy beaches, but there are also extensive (8) ________ near them. Most beaches are close to important sites such as international parks with their (9) ________ wildlife, flora and fauna . Because the south of the island is blessed with being the driest region in the country most hotels are situated here. Rain is however (10) ________ in the north from December to July

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
The heart has long been considered to be (1) _______ feelings of love dwell. In love songs throughout the ages, love almost always goes together (2) _______  the heart. The heart has continuously been viewed (3) _______ the place where love begins and develops. Even the Bible gives (4) _______ to love and the heart. The role of the heart in love must come from what happens to it when a person feels strongly (5) _______ to someone. The strong feelings (6) _______ the other person, especially in the early stages of a relationship, have the results that the heart starts beating faster and breathing starts speeding (7) _______.According to psychologists, a love relationship is a situation that (8) _______ a lot of stress and the body reacts to this by getting ready to face the unknown. This has been called the "fight or flight" (9) _______, meeting danger by fighting it or running away. So with love, the heart accelerates and (10) _______ becomes quick

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Universities love overseas students – they are clever and hardworking, they bring different cultures to seminars and student life and they pay their way. In Britain, universities are getting ready to enroll more overseas students. The British Council has published a report predicting that overseas student numbers could soar to more than 800,000 by 2018. In 2010, figures put the total at over 400,000 international students out of two and a half million students in UK higher education and it is clear that this influx is having an enormous impact on universities and colleges. These students bring welcome fees, of course, but they are also likely to be very intelligent students who inject new cultural influences and bring changes to the old university systems. Their demand for vocational subjects such as business, biotechnology and information technology, rather than traditional academic subjects, is affecting what is taught as well. The impressive expansion of foreign students has already had a significant impact on higher education. Overseas student numbers, including European Union students, have risen from 270,000 in 2002 to 400,000 in 2010. During this time the number from China jumped more than tenfold, and numbers from India have been going up. In contrast, the number of students from other countries has fallen, reflecting their governments’ efforts to educate more of their young people at home, as well as competition from Australia and the USA. But as the Asian tiger economies expand their own universities, the good news for places like the London School of Economics is that there are more and more graduates looking to improve their qualifications or to pursue research in their subjects.
5. According to the passage, which of the following is true?

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Fathers in today families are spending more time with their children than at any point in the past 100 years. (1) ____ the number of hours the average woman spends at home with her children has declined since the early 1900s, as more and more women enter the workforce, there has been a decrease in the number of children per family and an increase in (2) ____ attention to each child. As a result, mothers today in the United States, (3) ____ those who work part- or full-time, spend almost twice as much time with each child as mothers did in the 1920s. People (4) ____ raised children in the 1940s and 1950s typically report that their own adult children and grandchildren communicate far better with their kids and spend more time (5) ____ with homework than they did. America's children are also safer today than they've (6) ____ been. An infant was four times more likely to die in the 1950s than today. A parent then was 27 per cent more likely to lose an older teen (7) ____ death. If we look back over the last millennium, we can see that families have always been diverse. In each period, families have solved one set of problems only to face new (8) ____. What works for a family in one economic and cultural setting doesn't work for a family in another. What's helpful (9) ____ one stage of a family's life may be (10) ____ at the next stage. If there is one lesson to be (11) ____ from the last millennium of family history, it's that families always have to (12) ____ with a changing world.

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Charles Lutwidge Dodgson is perhaps not a name that is universally recognized, but Dodgson did achieve enormous success under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. He created this pseudonym from the Latinization, Carolus Ludovicus, of his real given name. It was under the name Lewis Carroll that Dodgson published the children's books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel Through the Looking Glass (1872). Though Dodgson achieved this success in children's literature, he was not an author of children's books by training or profession. His education and chosen field of pursuit were far removed from the field of children's literature and were instead focused on theoretical mathematics. Dodgson graduated with honors from Christ Church, Oxford, in 1854 and then embarked on a career in the world of academia. He worked as a lecturer in mathematics at Oxford and, later in his career, published a number of theoretical works on mathematics under his own name rather than under the pseudonym that he used for his children's stories. He produced a number of texts for students, such as A Syllabus of Plane Algebraical Geometry (1860), Formulae of Plane Trigonometry (1861), which was notable for the creativity of the symbols that he used to express trigonometric functions such as sine and cosine, and A Guide for the Mathematical Student (1866). In a number of more esoteric works, he championed the principles of Euclid; in Euclid and his Modern Rivals (1879), he presented his ideas on the superiority of Euclid over rival mathematicians in a highly imaginative fashion, by devising a courtroom trial of anti-Euclid mathematicians that he named "Euclid-wreakers" and ultimately finding the defendants guilty as charged. Curiosa Mathematica (1888-1893) made a further defense of Euclid's work, focusing on Euclid's definition of parallel lines. These academic works never had the universal impact of Dodgson's works for children using the name Lewis Carroll, but they demonstrate a solid body of well-regarded academic material.
1. The word " pseudonym " in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to _______.

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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

Choose the correct A, B, C, D

Dear Peter,     

Thank you for your letter. It’s very interesting to know about schools in the USA.      

I think schools in Vietnam are a little different. Vietnamese students usually wear school uniform when they are at school. Classes start at 7.00 each morning and end at 11.15. Students have a 30-minute break after three periods. At break, many students play games. Some go to the canteen and buy something to eat or drink. Others talk together. Our school year lasts for nine months, from September to May. Then we have a three-month summer vacation.     

Please write soon and tell me about your summer vacation. 

Your friend, (Hoa)  

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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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One of the greatest concerns parents have when facing an international move is “What schooling will be available to my child? Will my child be disadvantaged academically as a result of this move?”. (12) _____ this fear is certainly strongest in families moving overseas for the first time, even those who may be more experienced often have concerns about their children’s education. Dr. Ernest Mannino, Director of the State Department’s Office of Overseas Schools, and Dr.Keith Miller, Deputy Director of the office, spoke candidly (13) _____ some of the common concerns parents have regarding the education of their children. Dr. Mannino and Dr. Miller (14) _____ parents against making assumptions about their children’s education. To make an educated choice, parents need to (15) _____ through schooling issues and to research post schools as far in advance of a move as possible. Children (16) _____ are internationally mobile have many choices of schools to attend. In most major cities, there are schools based on the U.S, French, German, and British systems. Some parents also choose to become their children’s teachers through home education. Which school is appropriate for your child is an individual decision based on many factors

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Earthquakes are one of the scariest natural phenomena because they are so unpredictable. Scientists have tried to come up with a method to predict them but they have always failed. Unlike other destructive phenomena such as hurricanes or even solar storms, earthquakes come without any (31) _________ whatever. Some people believe that animals are able to (32) _________ when earthquakes are coming. There are many anecdotes about dogs barking before an earthquake happens. In some cases, strange phenomena have been observed in creatures like toads, where a few days before a major earthquake hit, they left their breeding ground. The toads did not reappear (33) _________ the quake had happened. Another strange creature that some believe may hold the key (34) _________ quakes is the oarfish. These strange fish normally live in very deep water. (35) _________ of these fish are very rare, but in 2013, oarfish were found to beach themselves in San Francisco, and this caused some to believe that a major earthquake was coming. What was the reason for this?

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Life span usually is measured in units of time. Although this may seem eminently logical, certain difficulties may arise. In cold blooded animals in general, the rate of metabolism that determines the various life processes varies with the temperatures to which they are exposed. If aging depends on the expenditure of a fixed amount of vital energy, an idea first proposed in 1908, life span will vary tremendously depending on temperature or other external variables that influence life span. There is considerable evidence attesting at least to the partial cogency of this argument. So long as a certain range is not exceeded, cold blooded invertebrates do live longer at low than at high temperalures. Rats in the laboratory live longest on a somewhat restricted diet that does not permit maximum metabolic rate. Of perhaps even greater significance is the fact that many animals undergo dormant periods. Many small mammals hibernate; a number of arthropods have life cycles that include periods during which development is arrested. Under both conditions the metabolic rate becomes very low. It is questionable whether such periods should be included in computing the life span of a particular organism. Comparisons between species, some of which have such inactive periods while others do not, are dangerous. It is possible that life span could be measured more adequately by total metabolism; however, the data that are necessary for this purpose are almost entirely lacking.  Length of life is controlled by a multitude of factors, which collectively may be termed environment, operating on a genetic system that determines how the individual will respond. It is impossible to list all the environmental factors that may lead to death. For analytical purposes it is, however, useful to make certain formal separations. Every animal is exposed to (1) a pattern of numerous events, each with a certain probability of killing the individual at any moment and, in the aggregate, causing a total probability of death or survival; (2) climatic and other changes in the habitat, modifying the frequency with which the various potentially fatal events occur; and (3) progressive systemic change, inasmuch as growth, reproduction, development, and senescence are characteristics intrinsic in the organism and capable of modifying the effects of various environmental factors. 
8. Which of the following will NOT probably lead an animal to death according to the passage?

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The United States has many different types of families. (25) _____ most American families are traditional, consisting of a father, a mother and one or more children, 22 percent of all American families in 1998 were headed by one parent, usually a woman. In a few families in the United States, there are no children. These (26) _____ couples may believe that they would not make good parents; they may want freedom from responsibilities of childbearing; or, perhaps they are not (27) _____ able to have children. Other families in the United States have one adult who is a stepparent. A stepmother or stepfather is a person who joins a family by marrying a father or a mother. Americans (28) _____ and accept these different types of families. In the United States people have right to privacy and Americans do not believe in telling other Americans (29) _____ type of family group they must belong to. They respect each other’s choices regarding family groups. Families are very important to Americans

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Culture has a strong influence on non–verbal communication. Even the simple act of looking someone in the eye is not at all that simple. In the USA, Americans are (5) _____ to look directly at people when speaking to them. It shows interest in what they are saying and is thought to carry a (6) _____ of honesty. Meanwhile, in Japan and Korea, people avoid long periods of eye contact. It is considered more polite to look to the side during a conversation. The Lebanese, (7) _____, stand close together and look intensely into each other's eyes. The action shows sincerity and gives people a better sense of what their counterparts want. Given such differences with even the most common expressions, people (8) _____ travel or work abroad have a real need to learn the other culture's body language. People tend to be unaware of the messages they are sending to others. So, it is (9) _____ to consider your own body language before dealing with people from other cultures. Knowing about the body language of friends, clients, and colleagues can be very helpful in improving understanding and avoiding miscommunication

Fill in the gap with the most suitable provided words

There are (1)................. seasons in North of Vietnam. I like the spring and (2) ............ most. In the spring, it is warm and there are many kinds of (3) .............. blowing. I live in the countryside so the air is very fresh in the spring. The view looks like a beautiful picture. In the summer, it is very (4)............. I and my friends usually go (5)............... and (6) ................. our kites. Sometimes we (7) ............... fishing. I don't like the (8) .................. because the (9).................... is very cold and there is a lot of cold wind. I like living in the (10)......................

(7).....................

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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

Choose the best answer:
Sometimes our parents don't understand us. They don't understand some problems and things which are very important in teens' life; for example, the lifestyles of young people, piercing, tattoos, drugs, sex, relationship with friends and teachers. So, sometimes teens can't tell them about their private life. Some parents don't want to understand modern views, ideals and system of values.  Elderly people usually compare their childhood and youth with the present, and regard old times as better, always talking about "the good old days”. The young people, on the other hand, tend to think their times as the best. Teens look at the world with fresh eyes. Everything is new, interesting to them. Sometimes they cannot solve their everyday problems. But they want to cope with them by themselves. So, adults shouldn't prevent them from making their own mistakes.  People are said to become wiser with age. Sometimes, it is true and sometimes it is not. I think that you can meet a wise man among the old as often as among the young. It is false that when old age wisdom has come, useless illusions have disappeared. Sometimes when we talk to adults, a monologue is a preferred form of expressing your ideas in such talks. That's why some teens don't like to talk to adults.  I think that it's in people's nature to give advice. It seems to people that giving advice they can help somebody or put somebody on the right track. But if a person takes their advice and fails, he can blame an adult all of his life.  Our parents have their own ideas and views that their children don't share and understand. They think that their children won't find their place in life. They often say that now teens are very difficult to socialize with and dumpy. But children should settle all problems peacefully because they are their parents. They brought them up with loving care. And if children come to their parents for advice and help, they will do their best and help children to cope with problems and difficulties.
2. The word "them" in the passage refers to ____

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

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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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Any change in one part of an ecosystem can cause changes in other parts. Droughts, storms and fires can change ecosystems. Some changes (1)______ ecosystems. If there is too (2) ______ rainfall, plants will not have enough water to live. If a kind of plant dies off, the animals that (3) ______ it may also die or move away. Some changes are good for ecosystems. Some pine forests need (4) ______ for the pine trees to reproduce. The seeds are sealed inside pinecones. Heat from a forest fire melts the seal and lets the seeds (5)______. Polluting the air, soil, and water can harm ecosystems. Building (6) ______ on rivers for electric power and irrigation can harm ecosystems (7) ______ the rivers. Bulldozing wetlands and cutting down (8) ______ destroy ecosystems. Ecologists are working with companies and governments to find better ways of (9) ______ fish, cutting down trees, and building dams. They are looking for ways to get food, lumber, and other products for people (10)______ causing harm to ecosystems