Choose the best answer:
This exercise is very boring. I wish the teacher ______ us some more interesting things to do.

 

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
Plants that Can Help You
We have already talked about some dangerous plants, but we don’t want to give anyone the wrong idea. Please don’t think that most plants are dangerous. The truth is that although some plants can hurt you, most are completely harmless. In fact, there are plenty of plants that are actually very useful to humans. That is why plants are so popular in Chinese medicine. Chinese medicine has been using plants for at least 4,800 years. One of the most popular plants in Chinese medicine is ginseng. Doctors of Chinese medicine believe that ginseng can help your lungs, clean your blood, and do many other things. Ginseng is also a source of energy. In fact, many modern energy drinks that you see in stores contain ginseng. In some parts of the US, there is a plant called lady fern. This is the plant you need if you have been stung by a bee, or if you have got a small burn or a cut. Lady ferns are great for making your skin feel better. All you have to do is roll one of its leaves and crush it in your hands. The juices inside the leaf will help your skin feel better. If you are ever hiking in Europe, look for a flower called tansy. This yellow flower is a natural insect repellent. You just rub it on your skin, and insects will leave you alone. Sage is one of the most useful plants in the world. Because it has so many uses, it is also quite valuable. Human beings have been using sage for a very long time. In Europe, before refrigerators existed, people often used sage to preserve food. Over the years, people have used sage to fight all kinds of health problems. Sage has been used to treat colds, stop muscle problems, and reduce swelling. There are all kinds of other things that people have used sage for. In fact, sage is so useful that it comes from the Latin word “salvere” which means “to be saved”.
4. All of the following are true about sage EXCEPT that ___________

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
Microtrends: It’s a Small World After All
In today’s world, it seems like everyone is focused on “the big picture”. However, coming up with large-scale solutions is not always what is needed. Sometimes it pays to think small – and that is exactly what many people are doing these days. By thinking small, lots of big minds have created some pretty amazing things. One example of this is microloans. Microloans are tiny loans, in some cases just a few dollars, which are available to people in developing countries. Although this may not seem like a lot of money, microloans can help workers to escape poverty and start their own businesses. The person behind the modern microloan movement is a Bangladeshi man named Muhammad Yunus. He started the project in the 1970s by offering villagers low-interest loans using his own money. Yunus wanted to offer poor people access to small loans so they wouldn’t be forced to turn to gangsters if they needed funds. In 1983, he founded the Grameen Bank and soon after, similar organizations started popping up around the globe. Although there are still some issues with microloans, at the very least they offer everyone the potential of becoming an entrepreneur. For most of the 20th century, companies required large sums of money and plenty of manpower to compete at the highest levels. In the late 1990s, the Internet changed this and many microenterprises came about. Microenterprises are smaller companies that employ less than 10 people and only require small sums of money to start. Being small offers lots of flexibility to these companies as they can react more quickly than corporate giants when a business opportunity arises. Many technology companies that produce mobile apps and websites fall into this category. Keep in mind that having a small staff doesn’t mean small profits, as microenterprises can earn hundreds of millions of dollars per year. Thinking small can also lead to a tremendous improvement in quality. One example of this is microbreweries, which are smaller-sized breweries that produce far less beer than traditional breweries. Since microbreweries don’t have to target large markets and make millions of sales to stay open, they can monitor the brewing process carefully to make sure everything is perfect. In addition, microbreweries can experiment with unique flavours that many traditional brewers would shy away from. So the next time you are asked to “think big”, remember that good things may also come in small packages.
3. The word “they” in paragraph 2 refers to __________.

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:
Most of the time, we avoid strangers. It is one of the first lessons we learn (1)__________  children. But according to Dr. Richard Wiseman, it is a habit we should change. Talking to strangers opens up new possibilities in life. It increases the chances of finding luck and friendship. Choosing which strangers to talk to obviously requires a bit of common (2)___________ and judgement, but Liz Barry and Bill Wetzel from New York were so inspired by the idea that they started the “Talk to Me” project. For three years, they sat at bus stops, on street corners and any other place they could find in New York holding a sign saying ‘Talk to me’. They encountered hostility and (3)__________ sometimes, but in general they were surprised by the kindness they encountered. Many philosophical and religious traditions tell us that happiness can be found by living in the present. Now there is some scientific support (4)___________ this belief. Recent research by Harvard University psychologists found that we spend 46.9 percent of our (5)____________ time daydreaming. And when we daydream, we are less happy, the research found.

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:
Climate change is caused by the (1)____________ high levels of dangerous chemicals in the atmosphere, particularly carbon dioxide. It is estimated that average global temperatures will rise (2)___________ between two and six degrees by the end of this century. We all know the effects could be catastrophic, but are we (3)__________ of the possible solutions? Crazy as it sounds, a group of academics from British universities is making a plan to build a 12-mile pipe, held up by a huge balloon, that would pump (4)___________ quantities of toxic chemicals, such as sulphur dioxide, into the atmosphere. Surprisingly, there is good science behind the idea. The chemicals would form a (5)_____________ layer around the earth that would reflect sunlight and so cool the earth, much like the effects of a volcanic eruption

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
Clean and Popular
Wind power is a very clean source of energy. This is how wind power works. Wind makes windmills spin. When the windmills spin, they make electricity. Then we can use the electricity. Many people think that wind power is new, but that is not true. For thousands of years, people have used wind to sail boats and move water. We still do those things today, but these days we mostly use wind power to make electricity. Wind power is a very popular source of energy. Most people think that should use it more and more. First of all, it is clean. Windmills don’t pollute the environment at all. Second, we can use wind power forever. After all, we will always have wind. In addition, wind power is cheap, and it is getting even cheaper. A lot of people don’t understand wind power very well. They believe that there are problems with wind power, but many of those problems are not real. For example, some people say that windmills are dangerous for birds. That used to be true, but it isn’t true anymore. Old windmills killed birds because they spun very fast. New windmills spin slowly, and they aren’t dangerous for birds. However, there are real problems with windmills. One problem is that many people think windmills are very ugly. This is a problem for some people, because windmills are often in very pretty areas. Besides, wind doesn’t blow all the time, so we can’t use wind power all year round. Finally, windmills are noisy. Wind power is becoming more and more common. Right now, more than 80 countries use wind power. About 2.5 percent of the world’s power comes from the wind. For some countries, that number is a lot higher. Wind power gives Denmark more than 25 percent of its electricity.
3. The word “it” in paragraph 4 refers to _________

Choose the best answer:
He was playing very softly_____________ he _____________ disturb anyone.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks.

Rapid urbanization can hold long-term economic, social and environmental promise for developing countries (23) ____ investments made now in infrastructure, housing and public services are efficient and sustainable, the World Bank says in a new report.

In the next two decades, cities are (24) ____ to expand by another two billion residents, as people move in unprecedented numbers from rural areas to pursue hopes and aspirations in cities. More than 90% of this urban population growth is expected to occur in the developing world, (25) ____ many cities are already struggling to provide basic needs such as water, electricity, transport, health services and education.

Report authors note that most new urban growth will not take (26) ____ in the “megacities” of the world e.g. Rio de Janeiro, Jakarta or New Delhi but rather in less commonly recognized “secondary” cities - places like Fushun in China, and Surat in India.

To help policymakers prepare for and manage growth, the report distills lessons learned from 12 countries across all geographic regions and stages of urbanization. It then translates these global lessons (27) ____ practical policy advice.

27.................

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 :
For athletes who like to (1) _________ a variety of endurance sports in a single race, triathlons are a great fit. These competitions (2) _________ running, cycling, and swimming into one race, and they take place one after the other in a single continuous timed race. Athletes who participate must be in top physical form and have the skills needed to complete each portion of the race. Training for triathlons means the athletes have to become proficient not only in the sport required in each stage, but they also have to become familiar with what (3) _________ from one to the other does to their bodies. Many inexperienced triathletes are surprised to (4) _________ hard it can be to switch from swimming to cycling to running, and how tired their muscles can suddenly feel. One thing all triathletes can agree (5) _________ is that no one ever told them that running a triathlon would be easy

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
Some Amazing Apps for Your Smartphone
It is hard to imagine life in modern society without smartphones. These handy little devices keep us entertained and enable us to manage important tasks on the go. Although smartphones feature powerful hardware, they wouldn’t be so useful without thousands of handy applications. Here are a few free and helpful apps that you can download to help you throughout the day. If you have a habit of forgetting things and want to organize your life, give Evernote a try. It promises to help users remember everything. With a few clicks, you can send all of your photos, documents, and audio notes to Evernote. Then, your digital information can be stored in folders or tagged with useful keywords. When you need to access this data, you can perform a simple search and it will appear in seconds. Evernote is available on smartphones, tablets, and computers, so you can access your data from everywhere. Imagine this scenario. You are watching a TV show and you hear a cool song in the background. You want to buy it but there is one problem. You don’t know the name of the song. SoundHound is an app that will make this problem a thing of the past. It enables users to quickly identify songs by launching the app and holding their phone in the air. The app takes the song playing and compares it to thousands of other songs until it finds a match. Within seconds, it can tell you the name, artist, and album of the song you just heard. Another spectacular app is Lookout. Hopefully, you won’t have to use it often, but when you do need it. Lookout can be a lifesaver. Its main function is to help you find your phone if it goes missing. Lookout does this by using your smartphone’s data connection to locate your lost device. To see where your phone is on a map, simply log into Lookout from any web browser. In the worst-case situation, if someone steals your phone and you fear it has gone for good, you can wipe out all of its data with a few clicks. This will ensure no one will see any private information on your phone. These helpful apps are just the tip of the iceberg. If you do some searching online, you are certain to find many other apps that will make your life more convenient.
3. What could best replace the word “appear” in paragraph 2?

 In most _______ developed countries, up to 50% of _____ population enters higher education at some time in their lives. 

(233)____

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:
Climate change is caused by the (1)____________ high levels of dangerous chemicals in the atmosphere, particularly carbon dioxide. It is estimated that average global temperatures will rise (2)___________ between two and six degrees by the end of this century. We all know the effects could be catastrophic, but are we (3)__________ of the possible solutions? Crazy as it sounds, a group of academics from British universities is making a plan to build a 12-mile pipe, held up by a huge balloon, that would pump (4)___________ quantities of toxic chemicals, such as sulphur dioxide, into the atmosphere. Surprisingly, there is good science behind the idea. The chemicals would form a (5)_____________ layer around the earth that would reflect sunlight and so cool the earth, much like the effects of a volcanic eruption

If the tie is not broken after two overtime ______, a penalty shootout will determine the winner.

(412)____

Choose the best answer:
Thanh Giong Festival/ commemorate/ Saint Giong/, an imaginary/ hero/ the/ Vietnamese.

Choose the best answer:
It _______________last night because the ground is really wet.

I have been trying to ring him up all day and I could not _____ through.

(472)_____

Choose the best answer:
Nam is ____________ boy in my class.

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
Space Debris
Once something is considered rubbish, we want to throw it away and forget about it. Yet if we are not careful about where we store it, our garbage could come back to haunt us. On the Earth, poorly discarded garbage can cause land, water, and air pollution. And now, people are starting to learn that space debris can also cause a host of different problems. Space debris is defined as a collection of objects that orbit the Earth. Space debris can be classified into two categories. One is man-made rubbish, such as old satellites, rockets, and other machinery left in space after past missions. The other is natural objects, such as meteors that are traveling through space. If you think the man-made garbage doesn’t amount to much, guess again. Researchers estimate that there are over 20,000 pieces of large debris floating around in space and approximately 300,000 smaller pieces in orbit as well. Traveling at speeds of up to 17,500 miles per hour, these objects create a great degree of danger for any spaceships when they leave or return to the Earth. We are lucky to some degree that there haven’t been too many accidents caused by space debris as of yet. Still some incidents have occurred. In 1996, a French satellite was damaged after it crashed into debris from an old French rocket. Then in 2009, an old Russian satellite collided with a working US satellite. The end result was an additional 2,000 pieces of space junk that was added to the junk pile. As the current situation can only worsen, it is now up to the international community to cooperate and create a plan to deal with space debris. For starters, several nations have pledged to take more care with the items they discard in space to cut down on future debris. Researchers are working on devising a way to label space junk, so it can be avoided. Others have proposed more creative techniques to recapture the garbage and discard it on the Earth, or destroy it with lasers. The nightmare scenario that everyone fears is if the Kessler Syndrome starts to occur. This is when the density of garbage becomes so high that it sets off a chain reaction of collisions which would raise the probability of accidents even further. Although there is not a long-term solution in place for space debris, nations are starting to understand the seriousness of this problem.
4. What is the third paragraph mainly about?

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the sentence that best combines each pair of sentences in the following questions.
“I will help you with the housework”, Mai said to me.

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 :
The oceans of the world are precious because of (1)_________ they do for all life on the Earth. They help regulate the temperature of the planet and they are home to a myriad of sea creatures – many of which we depend on (2)________ sources of food. However, due to our consumption and improper disposal of plastic items, human beings have created a swirling mess of garbage. The one located in the Pacific now known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and it is not a pretty sight. In an ideal world, all of the plastic would be recycled and there would be zero waste. This is not the case, however, and a huge amount of the plastic ends up making its (3)_________ to our oceans due to carelessness. (4)__________ the plastic is part of rain runoff coming from a landfill or just a thoughtless discard of a piece of plastic onto the ground, if it ends up in the Pacific Ocean, it will eventually become part of the disgusting patch of garbage. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch may be impossible to (5)__________ but it is doing a lot of harm to sea life. If anything, we can do our best to avoid over-using plastic

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
The story of gold is an adventure involving kings, queens, pirates, explores, conquerors, and the native peoples they conquered. Throughout history, gold had (1)_____a magic spell over those it touch. Gold is beautiful and rare; a soft shiny metal that can be moulded into many (2)_____.It has been used for money, jewellery, and to decorate special buildings such as palaces and places of worship. (3)_____the precious metal was discovered, prospectors rushed to mine it, starting new cities and countries as they went. Gold and the people who love it have helped shape the world we live in today. Gold is one of many elements, or substances that cannot be changed by normal chemical (4)_____, that are found in the Earth’s crust. Gold has a warm, sunny colour and (5)_____it does not react (6)_____air, water, and most chemicals, its shine never fades. In its natural (7) _____, gold is soft and easily shaped. When heated to 1,062 Celsius it melts and can be poured(8)_____ moulds to form coins, gold bars, and other objects. Stories have been told, movies (9)_____and legends born about the (10)_____of the world’s great gold deposits. It is a saga of dreams, greed, ambition and exploration.