Choose the letter A, B, C or D to answer these following questions:
   Dinosaurs were reptiles that lived during a period of earth’s history called the Mesozoic Era, which is also known as the Age of Reptiles. The first dinosaurs appeared more than 200 million years ago. For many millions of years, they dominated the land with their huge size and strength. Then about 65 million years ago, they died out rather suddenly, never to re-emerge. The word “dinosauras” comes from two Greek words meaning “terrible lizard”. Dinosaurs were not lizards, but their appearance could be truly terrifying. The biggest ones weighed more than ten times as much as a mature elephant and nearly equalled the size of most modern-day whales. The famous kinds of dinosaurs, including the brontosaur and tyrannosaurus rex, reached 80 to 90 feet in length. Not all dinosaurs were giant, however, some were actually not larger than a chicken. Scientists still do not know what caused dinosaurs to disappear. One theory involves a change of the earth’s climate. It is believed that temperatures dropped significantly towards the end of the Cretaceous protection, it is possible that the climate became too chilly for dinosaurs. In contrast, other species having protection, such as the mammals and birds, were able to survive.

According to the passage, what is true about the size of dinosaurs?

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions:
The poaching crisis wiping out Africa's elephants is costing the continent's economies millions in lost tourism revenue, according to a new study. Researchers looked at visitor and elephant data across 25 countries, and modeled financial losses from fewer visitors in protected areas due to the illegal wildlife trade, which has caused elephant numbers to plummet by more than 100,000 in the last decade. (A)
The study team combined visitor numbers across 164 protected areas in 25 countries in forest and savannah elephants, and elephant population data from 2009 to 2013, to reach a “per elephant" value in terms of tourism income.
They concluded that Africa was most likely losing $26m in tourism revenue a year. (B) Around $9m of that is lost from tourists' direct spending, such as staying at hotels and buying crafts, with the rest through indirect value in the economy such as farmers and other suppliers supporting the tourist industry. 
The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, found that in most cases the revenue losses were higher than paying for stronger anti-poaching measures to keep elephant populations stable. (C) Dr. Robin Naidoo, the paper's lead author and , senior conservation wildlife scientist at WWF and his team found. In the case of central Africa's forest elephants, which are harder for tourists to see and therefore attract fewer visitors, the costs of protecting them exceed the benefits from tourism. Demand from south-east Asia has seen the price of ivory triple since 2009 and it is estimated that one elephant is killed every 15 minutes. (D) Corruption, a lack of resources, and, most importantly, increasingly sophisticated poachers have hamstrung African countries' efforts to stem the trade.
Naidoo said that the research was not suggesting economic issues should be the only consideration when protecting elephants, but framing the poaching crisis as a financial one could motivate African governments and communities.
“It gives an additional reason for some groups of people, who may not necessarily be motivated by intrinsic reasons for conversation, to engage with biodiversity conservation. It makes it clear to them that it's not just in the best interests of the world to conserve this stuff, but tangible reasons for a whole different group," he said.

Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

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. 
More than 200 reindeer have died of starvation on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, with scientists blaming their deaths on climate change. The wild deer carcasses were found on the Arctic islands this summer by researchers from the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI), which said it had never logged so many deaths at once in 40 years of monitoring the animals’ population level. “It’s scary to find so many dead animals,” project leader Ashild Onvik Pedersen told state broadcaster NRK. “This is an example of how climate change affects nature. It is just sad.”
Svalbard’s capital Longyearbyen, the northernmost town on earth, is thought to be warming quicker than any other settlement on the planet, climate scientists warned earlier this year. The milder temperatures in the region led to unusually heavy rainfall in December, leaving a thick layer of ice when the precipitation froze. This meant the reindeer could not dig through the hardened tundra to reach the vegetation they graze on in their usual pastures, the NPI said. Svalbard’s reindeer have been observed eating seaweed and kelp when food is scarce, but these are less nutritious and cause them stomach problems.
A relatively high number of calves born last year increased the death toll, as the youngest and weakest are often the first to die in harsh conditions. “Some of the mortality is natural because there were so many calves last year. But the large number we see now is due to heavy rain, which is due to global warming,” said Ms Onvik Pedersen.
A team of three scientists spent 10 weeks investigating population of the Svalbard reindeer earlier this year. Researchers warned the decline of reindeer would cause unwanted plant species, currently kept in check by the animals’ grazing, to spread across Arctic ecosystems in Europe, Asia and North America.
Arctic reindeer and caribou populations have declined 56 per cent in the last two decades, a report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said last year. The report said food security was partly to blame for falling herd numbers, while warmer summers could also put the animals at greater risk of diseases spread by flies and parasites. The average temperature in Longyearbyen has risen by 3.7C since 1900, more than three times the global average increase of about 1C. In 2016, the entrance to the town’s “Doomsday” seed vault – which stores specimens of almost all the world’s seeds – was flooded following heavy rainfall.

It can be inferred from the passage that ______________.

In the West, cartoons are used chiefly to make people laugh. The important feature of all these cartoons is the joke and the element of surprise which is contained. Even though it is very funny, a good cartoon is always based on close observation of a particular feature of life and usually has a serious purpose.
Cartoons in the West have been associated with political and social matters for many years. In wartime, for example, they proved to be an excellent way of spreading propaganda. Nowadays cartoons are often used to make short, sharp comments on politics and governments as well as on a variety of social matters. In this way, the modern cartoon has become a very powerful force in influencing people in Europe and tlie United States.
Unlike most American and European cartoons, however, many Chinese cartoon drawings in the past have also attempted to educate people, especially those who could not read and write. Such cartoons about the lives and sayings of great men in China have proved extremely useful in bringing education to illiterate and semi-literate people throughout China.
Confucius, Mencius and Laozi have all appeared in very interesting Stories presented in the form of cartoons. The cartoons themselves have thus served to illustrate the teachings of the Chinese sages in a very attractive way.
In this sense many Chinese cartoons are different from Western cartoons in so far as they do not depend chiefly on telling jokes. Often, there is nothing to laugh at when you see Chinese cartoons. This is not their primary aim. In addition to commenting on serious political and social matters, Chinese cartoons have aimed at spreading the traditional Chinese thoughts and culture as widely as possible among the people.
Today, however, Chinese cartoons have an added part to play in spreading knowledge.
They offer a very attractive and useful way of reaching people throughout the world, regardless of the particular country in which they live. Thus, through cartoons, the thoughts and teachings of the old Chinese philosophers and sages can now reach people who live in such countries as Britain, France, America, Japan, Malaysia or Australia and who are unfamiliar with the Chinese culture.
Until recently, the transfer of knowledge and culture has been overwhelmingly from the West to the East and not vice versa. By means of cartoons, however, publishing companies in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore are now having success in correcting this imbalance between the East and the West.
Cartoons can overcome language barriers in all foreign countries. The vast increase in the popularity of these cartoons serves to illustrate the truth of Confucius's famous saying "One picture is worth a thousand words.”

The pronoun "this" in paragraph 4 mostly refers to  ............................

Probably the most famous film commenting on the twentieth-century technology is Modem Times, made in 1936. Charlie Chaplin was motivated to make the film by a reporter who, while interviewing him, happened to describe the working conditions in industrial Detroit. Chaplin was told that healthy young farm boys were lured to the city to work on automotive assembly lines. Within four or five years, these young men's health was destroyed by the stress of work in the factories.
The film opens with a shot of a mass of sheep making their way down a crowded ramp. Abruptly, the film shifts to a scene of factory workers jostling one another on their way to a factory. However, the rather bitter note of criticism in the implied comparison is not sustained. It is replaced by a gentle note of satire. Chaplin prefers to entertain rather than lecture.
Scenes of factory interiors account for only about one-third of Modern Times, but they contain some of the most pointed social commentary as well as the most comic situations. No one who has seen the film can ever forget Chaplin vainly trying to keep pace with the fast-moving conveyor belt, almost losing his mind in the process. Another popular scene involves an automatic feeding machine brought to the assembly line so that workers need not interrupt their labor to eat. The feeding machine malfunctions, hurling food at Chaplin, who is strapped in his position on the assembly line and cannot escape. This serves to illustrate people's utter helplessness in the face of machines that are meant to serve their basic needs.
Clearly, Modern Times has its faults, but it remains the best film treating technology within  a social context. It does not offer a radical social message, but it does accurately reflect the sentiment of many who feel they are victims of an over - mechanized world

According to the passage, the opening scene of the film is intended   .................

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.

Successful students often do the following while studying. First, they have an overview before reading. Next, they look for important information and pay greater attention to it (which often needs jumping forward or backward to process information). They also relate important points to one another. Also, they activate and use their prior knowledge. When they realize that their understanding is not good, they do not wait to change strategies. Last, they can monitor understanding and take action to correct or "fix up" mistakes in comprehension.

Conversely students with low academic achievement often demonstrate ineffective study skills. They tend to assume a passive role in learning and rely on others (eg, teachers, parents) to monitor their studying, for example, low achieving students often do not monitor their understanding of content they may not be aware of the purpose of studying, and they show little evidence of looking back, or employing "fix-up strategies to fix understanding problems.

Students who struggle with learning new information seem to be unaware that they must extent effort beyond simply reading the content to understand and remember it. Children with learning disabilities do not plan and judge the quality of their studying. Their studying may be disorganized. Students with learning problems face challenges with personal organization as well. They often have difficulty keeping track of materials and assignments, following directions, and completing work on time. Unlike good studiers who employ a variety of study skills in a flexible yet purposeful manner, low-achieving students use a restricted range of study skills. They cannot explain why good study strategies are important for learning, and they tend to use the same, often ineffective study approach for all learning tasks, ignoring task content, structure or difficulty.

What is the topic of the passage?

Choose the best answer

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is an international (1) ____ governmental organization for the (2) ____, research, and restoration of the environment. The organization was (3) ____ as a charitable trust on September 11, 1961, in Morges, Switzerland, under the name World Wildlife Fund. It was an initiative of Julian Huxley and Max Nicholson. It is the world's largest independent conservation organization with over 5 million (4) ____ worldwide, working in more (5) ____ 90 countries, supporting 100 conservation and environmental projects around the world. It is a charity, with (6) ____ 9% of its funding coming from voluntary, (7) ____ by private individuals and businesses.

The group says its mission is "to halt and reverse the (8) ____ of our environment". Currently, much of its work focuses on the conservation of three biomes that contain most of the world's biodiversity: forests, freshwater ecosystems, and oceans and coasts. Among other issues, it is also concerned (9) ____ endangered species, pollution, and climate change. The organization (10) ____ more than 20 field projects worldwide. In the last few years, the organization set up offices and operations around the world.

(10) ____

Choose the letter A, B, C or D to complete the passage below

An endangered species is an animal or plant that's considered at …..(1)… of extinction. A species can be listed as endangered at the state, federal, and international level. On the federal level, the endangered species list is managed …..(2)…. the Endangered Species Act.

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) was ….. (3)…. by Congress in 1973. Under the ESA, the federal government has the responsibility to protect endangered species (species that are likely to become extinct throughout all or a large portion of their range), threatened species (species that are likely to become endangered in the near future), and critical habitat (areas vital to the survival of endangered or threatened species).

The Endangered Species Act has lists of protected plant and animal species….(4)….. nationally and worldwide. When a species is given ESA protection, it is said to be a "listed" species. Many additional species are evaluated for possible protection under the ESA, and they …..(5)…called “candidate” species.

(3) ..............

Chọn từ thích hợp điền vào chỗ trống:

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.

(10)________

Read the following passage and choose the best answer for each blank.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is an international (26) _____- governmental organization for the (27) _____, research, and restoration of the environment. The organization was (28) _____ as a charitable trust on September 11, 1961, in Morges, Switzerland, under the name World Wildlife Fund. It was an initiative of Julian Huxley and Max Nicholson.It is the world's largest independent conservation organization with over 5 million (29) _____ worldwide, working in more (30) _____ 90 countries, supporting 100 conservation and environmental projects around the world. It is a charity, with (31) ____ 9% of its funding coming from voluntary (32) ___ by private individuals and businesses.The group says its mission is "to halt and reverse the (33) _____ of our environment". Currently, much of its work focuses on the conservation of three biomes that contain most of the world's biodiversity: forests, freshwater ecosystems, and oceans and coasts. Among other issues, it is also concerned (34) _____ endangered species, pollution, and climate change. The organization (35) ____ more than 20 field projects worldwide. In the last few years, the organization set up offices and operations around the world.

(27) _____

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks.
Engineers have dreaming of an underwater link between Britain and France (35)_____1802. Finally in 1994 the Channel Tunnel ( nicknamed "The Chunnel" by the English) was (36)______ opened.
This fifteen billion dollar project took seven years to (37)_____. It is about 50 km long and built 45metres under the seabed .The trains which go through the Chunnel can travel at up 300 km/h due to the (38)_______electrical system.
The journey from London to Paris via the Chunnel takes just three hours. It is also (39)______ for drivers since they can load their cars onto the trains. They don't need to book in (40)______ , as trains (41)_______every few minutes. However, while on the train, there isn't much to do and many (42)_________ the Chunnel for this (43)________ the ferries , there is no duty-free shopping , no videogame parlou or refreshment stand (44)________can you look outside and enjoy the view . As a result, many would find the Chunnel unappealing and would take the ferry instead.
(35).........................
 

Reading to oneself is a modern activity which was almost unknown to the scholars of the classical and medieval worlds, while during the fifteenth century the term "reading" undoubtedly meant reading aloud. Only during thenineleenthcenturydid silent reading become commonplace.
One should be wary, however, of assuming that silent reading came about simply because reading aloud was a distraction to others. Examinations of factors related to the historical development of silent reading have revealed that it became the usual mode  of reading for most adults mainly because the tasks themselves changed in character.
The last century saw a steady gradual increase in literacy and thus in the number of readers. As the number of readers increased, the number of potential listeners declined and thus there was some reduction in the need to read aloud. As reading for the benefit of listeners grew less common, so came the flourishing of reading as a private activity in such public places as libraries, railway carriages and offices, where reading aloud would cause distraction to other readers.
Towards the end of the century, there was still considerable argument over whether books should be used for information or treated respectfully and over whether the reading of  materials such as newspapers was in some way mentally weakening. Indeed, this argument remains with us still in education. However, whatever its virtues, the old shared literacy  culture had gone and was replaced by the printed mass media on the one hand and by books and periodicals for a specialised readership on the other.
By the end of the twentieth century, students were being recommended to adopt attitudes to books and to use reading skills which were inappropriate, if not impossible, for the oral reader. The social, cultural and technological changes in the century had greatly altered what the term "reading" implied.

All of the following might be the factors that affected the continuation of the old shared literacy culture EXCEPT   ...................

Choose the best answer

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is an international (1) ____ governmental organization for the (2) ____, research, and restoration of the environment. The organization was (3) ____ as a charitable trust on September 11, 1961, in Morges, Switzerland, under the name World Wildlife Fund. It was an initiative of Julian Huxley and Max Nicholson. It is the world's largest independent conservation organization with over 5 million (4) ____ worldwide, working in more (5) ____ 90 countries, supporting 100 conservation and environmental projects around the world. It is a charity, with (6) ____ 9% of its funding coming from voluntary, (7) ____ by private individuals and businesses.

The group says its mission is "to halt and reverse the (8) ____ of our environment". Currently, much of its work focuses on the conservation of three biomes that contain most of the world's biodiversity: forests, freshwater ecosystems, and oceans and coasts. Among other issues, it is also concerned (9) ____ endangered species, pollution, and climate change. The organization (10) ____ more than 20 field projects worldwide. In the last few years, the organization set up offices and operations around the world.

(3) ____

Choose the best answer:
After more than fifty years of television, it might seem only obvious to conclude that it is here to (1) ______ . There have been many objections to it during this time, of course, and (2) ______ a variety of grounds. Did it cause eye-strain? Was the (3) ______ bombarding us with radioactivity? Did the advertisements contain subliminal messages, persuading us to buy more? Did children turn to violence through watching it, either because so (4) ______ programmes taught them how to shoot, rob, and kill, or because they had to do something to counteract the hours they had spent glued to the tiny screen? Or did it simply create a vast passive (5) ______ drugged by glamorous serials and inane situation (6) ______ ? On the other hand did it increase anxiety by sensationalizing the news [or the news which was (7) ______ by suitable pictures] and filling our living rooms with war, famine and political unrest? (8) ______ in all, television proved to be the all-purpose scapegoat for the second half of the century, blamed for everything, but above all, eagerly watched. For no (9) ______ how much we despised it, feared it, were bored by it, or felt that it took us away from the old paradise of family conversation and hobbies such as collecting stamps, we never turned it off. We kept staring at the screen, aware that our own tiny (10) ______ was in if we looked carefully.
8.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions:
The poaching crisis wiping out Africa's elephants is costing the continent's economies millions in lost tourism revenue, according to a new study. Researchers looked at visitor and elephant data across 25 countries, and modeled financial losses from fewer visitors in protected areas due to the illegal wildlife trade, which has caused elephant numbers to plummet by more than 100,000 in the last decade. (A)
The study team combined visitor numbers across 164 protected areas in 25 countries in forest and savannah elephants, and elephant population data from 2009 to 2013, to reach a “per elephant" value in terms of tourism income.
They concluded that Africa was most likely losing $26m in tourism revenue a year. (B) Around $9m of that is lost from tourists' direct spending, such as staying at hotels and buying crafts, with the rest through indirect value in the economy such as farmers and other suppliers supporting the tourist industry. 
The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, found that in most cases the revenue losses were higher than paying for stronger anti-poaching measures to keep elephant populations stable. (C) Dr. Robin Naidoo, the paper's lead author and , senior conservation wildlife scientist at WWF and his team found. In the case of central Africa's forest elephants, which are harder for tourists to see and therefore attract fewer visitors, the costs of protecting them exceed the benefits from tourism. Demand from south-east Asia has seen the price of ivory triple since 2009 and it is estimated that one elephant is killed every 15 minutes. (D) Corruption, a lack of resources, and, most importantly, increasingly sophisticated poachers have hamstrung African countries' efforts to stem the trade.
Naidoo said that the research was not suggesting economic issues should be the only consideration when protecting elephants, but framing the poaching crisis as a financial one could motivate African governments and communities.
“It gives an additional reason for some groups of people, who may not necessarily be motivated by intrinsic reasons for conversation, to engage with biodiversity conservation. It makes it clear to them that it's not just in the best interests of the world to conserve this stuff, but tangible reasons for a whole different group," he said.

The word sophisticated in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to ____.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks. 
Despite the wealth of information campaigns telling people about global warming and its causes, most people have (23) _______to realize how severe the problem is. Coming climate changes could alter as much as one third of plant and animal habitats by the end of the 22nd century. These changes could in (24) ____ cause widespread extinctions among plant and animal species around the globe. 
Coastal and island habitats are perhaps in the greatest danger (25) _______ they face the combined threats of warming oceans and rising sea levels. As habitats change, many animals will come under intense pressure to find more suitable homes for themselves. Mass (26) ____ 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 far more realistic. If they are (27) ____, the effects on nature will be even more dramatic

If they are (27) ____, the effects on nature will be even more dramatic

It's often said that we learn things at the wrong time. University students frequently do the minimum of work because they're crazy about a good social life instead. Children often scream before their piano practice because it’s so boring. They have to be given gold stars and medals to be persuaded to swim, or have to be bribed to take exams. But the story is different when you’re older.
Over the years, I've done my share of adult learning. At 30, I went to a college and did courses in History and English. It was an amazing experience. For starters, I was paying, so there was no reason to be late - I was the one frowning and drumming my fingers if the tutor was late, not the other way round. Indeed, if I could persuade him to linger for an extra five minutes, it was a bonus, not a nuisance. I wasn't frightened to ask questions, and homework was a pleasure not a pain. When I passed an exam, I had passed it for me and me alone, not for my parents or my teachers. The satisfaction I got was entirely personal
Some people fear going back to school because they worry that their brains have got rusty. But the joy is that, although some parts have rusted up, your brain has learnt all kinds of other things since you were young. It has learnt to think independently and flexibly and is much better at relating one thing to another. What you lose in the rusty department, you gain in the maturity department.
In some ways, age is a positive plus. For instance, when you're older, you get less frustrated. Experience has told you that, if you're calm and simply do something carefully again and again, eventually you'll get the hang of it. The confidence you have in other areas - from being able to drive a car, perhaps - means that if you can’t, say, build a chair instantly, you don't, like a child, want to destroy your first pathetic attempts. Maturity tells you that you will, with application, eventually get there.
I hated piano lessons at school, but I was good at music. And coming back to it, with a teacher who could explain why certain exercises were useful and with musical concepts that, at the age of ten, I could never grasp, was magical. Initially, I did feel a bit strange, thumping out a piece that I'd played for my school exams, with just as little comprehension of what the composer intended as I'd had all those years before. But soon, complex emotions that I never knew poured out from my fingers, and suddenly I could understand why practice makes perfect.

The phrase "For starters" in paragraph 2 could best be replaced by "     "

Mark the letter A, B, C or D to indicate the underlined part that needs correction in each of the following questions.
The Principal demanded that the heaters repair immediately. Winter is coming!

Probably the most famous film commenting on the twentieth-century technology is Modem Times, made in 1936. Charlie Chaplin was motivated to make the film by a reporter who, while interviewing him, happened to describe the working conditions in industrial Detroit. Chaplin was told that healthy young farm boys were lured to the city to work on automotive assembly lines. Within four or five years, these young men's health was destroyed by the stress of work in the factories.
The film opens with a shot of a mass of sheep making their way down a crowded ramp. Abruptly, the film shifts to a scene of factory workers jostling one another on their way to a factory. However, the rather bitter note of criticism in the implied comparison is not sustained. It is replaced by a gentle note of satire. Chaplin prefers to entertain rather than lecture.
Scenes of factory interiors account for only about one-third of Modern Times, but they contain some of the most pointed social commentary as well as the most comic situations. No one who has seen the film can ever forget Chaplin vainly trying to keep pace with the fast-moving conveyor belt, almost losing his mind in the process. Another popular scene involves an automatic feeding machine brought to the assembly line so that workers need not interrupt their labor to eat. The feeding machine malfunctions, hurling food at Chaplin, who is strapped in his position on the assembly line and cannot escape. This serves to illustrate people's utter helplessness in the face of machines that are meant to serve their basic needs.
Clearly, Modern Times has its faults, but it remains the best film treating technology within  a social context. It does not offer a radical social message, but it does accurately reflect the sentiment of many who feel they are victims of an over - mechanized world

The author refers to all of the following notions to describe Modern Times EXCEPT  “     ”.

In the West, cartoons are used chiefly to make people laugh. The important feature of all these cartoons is the joke and the element of surprise which is contained. Even though it is very funny, a good cartoon is always based on close observation of a particular feature of life and usually has a serious purpose.
Cartoons in the West have been associated with political and social matters for many years. In wartime, for example, they proved to be an excellent way of spreading propaganda. Nowadays cartoons are often used to make short, sharp comments on politics and governments as well as on a variety of social matters. In this way, the modern cartoon has become a very powerful force in influencing people in Europe and tlie United States.
Unlike most American and European cartoons, however, many Chinese cartoon drawings in the past have also attempted to educate people, especially those who could not read and write. Such cartoons about the lives and sayings of great men in China have proved extremely useful in bringing education to illiterate and semi-literate people throughout China.
Confucius, Mencius and Laozi have all appeared in very interesting Stories presented in the form of cartoons. The cartoons themselves have thus served to illustrate the teachings of the Chinese sages in a very attractive way.
In this sense many Chinese cartoons are different from Western cartoons in so far as they do not depend chiefly on telling jokes. Often, there is nothing to laugh at when you see Chinese cartoons. This is not their primary aim. In addition to commenting on serious political and social matters, Chinese cartoons have aimed at spreading the traditional Chinese thoughts and culture as widely as possible among the people.
Today, however, Chinese cartoons have an added part to play in spreading knowledge.
They offer a very attractive and useful way of reaching people throughout the world, regardless of the particular country in which they live. Thus, through cartoons, the thoughts and teachings of the old Chinese philosophers and sages can now reach people who live in such countries as Britain, France, America, Japan, Malaysia or Australia and who are unfamiliar with the Chinese culture.
Until recently, the transfer of knowledge and culture has been overwhelmingly from the West to the East and not vice versa. By means of cartoons, however, publishing companies in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore are now having success in correcting this imbalance between the East and the West.
Cartoons can overcome language barriers in all foreign countries. The vast increase in the popularity of these cartoons serves to illustrate the truth of Confucius's famous saying "One picture is worth a thousand words.”

In general, Chinese cartoons are now aiming at.......................

Chọn từ thích hợp điền vào chỗ trống:

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.

(3)________