Choose the letter A, B, C or D to complete the sentences with given word

The winner/ be/ chosen/ a celebrity panel/ and/ home viewers.

Different cultures follow their own special customs when a child's baby teeth fall out. In Korea, for example, they have the custom of throwing lost teeth up on the roof of a house. According to tradition, a magpie will come and take the tooth. Later, the magpie will return with a new tooth for the child. In other Asian countries, such as Japan and Vietnam, children follow a similar tradition of throwing their lost teeth onto the roofs of houses.

   Birds aren't the only animals thought to take lost teeth. In Mexico and Spain, tradition says a mouse takes a lost tooth and leaves some money. However, in Mongolia, dogs are responsible for taking teeth away. Dogs are highly respected in Mongolian culture and are considered guardian angels of the people. Tradition says that the new tooth will grow good and strong if the baby tooth is fed to a guardian angel. Accordingly, parents in Mongolia will put their child's lost tooth in a piece of meat and feed it to a dog.

What is the passage mainly about?

Read the passage and do the tasks below.

A new hearing device is now available for some hearing-impaired people. This device uses a magnet to hold a detachable sound-processing portion in place. Like other aids, it converts sound into vibrations. But it is unique in that it can transmit the vibrations directly to the magnet and then to the inner ear. This produces a clearer sound. The new device will not help all hearing-impaired people only those with a hearing loss caused by infection or some other problems in the middle ear. It will probably help no more than 20 percent of all people with hearing problems. Those people who have persistent ear infections, however, should find relief and restored hearing with the new device.

According to the passage, what does the device not do?

 A rather surprising geographical feature of Antarctica is that a huge freshwater lake, one of the world’s largest and deepest, lies hidden there under four kilometers of ice. Now known as Lake Vostok, this huge body of water is located under the ice block that comprises Antarctica. The lake is able to exist in its unfrozen state beneath this block of ice because its waters are warmed by geothermal heat from the earth’s core. The thick glacier above Lake Vostok actually insulates it from the frigid temperatures on the surface.

   The lake was first discovered in the 1970s while a research team was conducting an aerial survey of the area. Radio waves from the survey equipment penetrated the ice and revealed a body of water of indeterminate size. It was not until much more recently that data collected by satellite made scientists aware of the tremendous size of the lake; the satellite-borne radar detected an extremely flat region where the ice remains level because it is floating on the water of the lake.

   The discovery of such a huge freshwater lake trapped under Antarctica is of interest to the scientific community because of the potential that the lake contains ancient microbes that have survived for thousands of years, unaffected by factors such as nuclear fallout and elevated ultraviolet light that have affected organisms in more exposed areas

All of the following are true about the 1970 survey of Antarctica EXCEPT that it______.

Choose the letter A, B, C or D to complete the sentences with given words

The cellphone/ be/ portable/ so/ I/ can/ bring/ everywhere.

Read the article and answer the questions that follow.

Is There Really a Generation Gap?

According to the results of a survey in USA WEEKEND Magazine, there isn’t really a generation gap. The magazine’s “Teens & Parents” survey shows that today’s generation of young people generally get along well with their parents and appreciate the way they’re being raised. Most feel that their parents understand them, and they believe their parents consider family as the No. 1 priority in their lives. Although more than a third of teens have something in their rooms they would like to keep secret from their parents, it is usually nothing more harmful than a diary or a CD.

Such results may seem surprising in the context of the violent events that people hear about in the media. Maybe because of the things they hear, parents worry that their own kids might get out of control once they reach the teenage years. However, the facts in the survey should make us feel better. The survey shows us that today’s teens are loving and sensible. They are certainly happier than the angry people in the teenage stereotypes we all know about. True, some teenagers are very angry, and we need to recognize their needs, but the great majority of teens are not like that at all.

In contrast to some stereotypes, most teens believe they must be understanding about differences among individuals. Many of them volunteer for community service with disadvantaged people. When they talk about themselves, their friends and their families, they sound positive and proud. Generally, these are very nice kids.

Is this spirit of harmony a change from the past? Only a generation ago, parent-child relations were described as the “generation gap”. Yet even then, things were not so bad. Most kids in the 1960s and 1970s shared their parents’ basic values.

Perhaps, however, it is true that American families are growing closer at the beginning of this new millennium. Perhaps there is less to fight about, and the dangers of drug abuse and other unacceptable behavior are now well known. Perhaps, compared to the impersonal world outside the home, a young person’s family is like a friendly shelter, not a prison. And perhaps parents are acting more like parents than they did 20 or 30 years ago.

According to paragraph two, parents hear things that make them worry about their own kids. What kind of things do they hear?

  Scientists do not yet thoroughly understand just how the body of an individual becomes sensitive to a substance that is harmless or even wholesome for the average person. Milk, wheat, and egg, for example, rank among the most healthful and widely used foods. Yet these foods can cause persons sensitive to them to suffer greatly. At first, the body of the individual is not harmed by coming into contact with the substance. After a varying interval of time, usually longer than a few weeks, the body becomes sensitive to it, and an allergy has begun to develop. Sometimes it's hard to figure out if you have a food allergy, since it can show up so many different ways. Your symptoms could be caused by many other problems. You may have rashes, hives, joint pains mimicking arthritis, headaches, irritability, or depression. The most common food allergies are to milk, eggs, seafood, wheat, nuts, seeds, chocolate, oranges, and tomatoes. Many of these allergies will not develop if these foods are not fed to an infant until her or his intestines mature at around seven months. Breast milk also tends to be protective. Migraines can be set off by foods containing tyramine, phenathylamine, monosodium glutamate, or sodium nitrate. Common foods which contain these are chocolate, aged cheeses, sour cream, red wine, pickled herring, chicken livers, avocados, ripe bananas, cured meats, many Oriental and prepared foods (read the labels!). Some people have been successful in treating their migraines with supplementsof B-vitamins, particularly B6 and niacin. Children who are hyperactive may benefit from eliminating food additives, especially colorings, and foods high in salicylates from their diets. A few of these are almonds, green peppers, peaches, tea, grapes. This is the diet made popular by Benjamin Feingold, who has written the book “Why your Child is Hyperactive”. Other researchers have had mixed results when testing whether the diet is effective.

The author states that the reason that infants need to avoid certain foods related to allergies has to do with the infant's ___________ .

Choose the letter A, B, C or D to complete the sentences with given words

The second/ priority/ train/ young people/ job application skills

One day in 1924, five men who were camping in the Cascade Mountains of Washington saw a group of huge apelike creatures coming out of the woods. They hurried back to their cabin and locked themselves inside. While they were in, the creatures attacked them by throwing rocks against the walls of the cabin.

   After several hours, these strange hairy giants went back into the woods. After this incident the men returned to the town and told the people of their adventure. However, only a few people accepted their story. These were the people who remembered hearing tales about footprints of an animal that walked like a human being.

The five men, however, were not the first people to have seen these creatures called Bigfoot. Long before their experience, local Native Americans were certain that a race of apelike animals had been living in the neighboring mountain for centuries. They called these creatures Sasquatch.

   In 1958, workmen, who were building a road through the jungles of Northern California often found huge footprints in the earth around their camp.

 The word neighboring would BEST be replaced with

There are a number of options when it refers to choosing childcare. These range from child minders and nannies through to Granny or the kind lady across the street. In reality, however, many parents do not have any choice; they have to accept anything they can get. Be prepared! No (1)_____ how good the childcare may be, some children are going to protest wildly if they are left. This is a (2)_____ normal stage of child development. Babies separate well in the first six months, but soon after that they start to get a crush on Mum and close family (3)_____. Make sure that in the first week, you allow plenty of time to help your child settle in. All children are different. Some are independent, while others are more (4)_____ to their mothers. Remember that if you want to do the best for your children, it’s not the quantity of time you spend with them; it’s the (5)_____ that matters.

(3)_______

Thanksgiving is associated with the time when Europeans first came to North America. In 1620 the ship the Mayflowers arrived, bringing about 150 people who today are usually called Pilgrims. They arrived at the beginning of a very hard winter and could not find enough to eat, so many of them died. But in the following summer Native Americans showed them what foods were safe to eat, so that they could save food for the next winter. They held a big celebration to thank God and the Native Americans for the fact that they had survived.

   Today people celebrate Thanksgiving to remember these early days. The most important part of the celebration is a traditional dinner with foods that come from North America. The meal includes turkey, sweet potatoes (also called yams) and cranberries, which are made into a kind of sauce or jelly. The turkey is filled with stuffing or dressing, and many families have their own special recipe. Dessert is pumpkin made into a pie.

   On Thanksgiving there are special television programs and sports events. In New York there is the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, when a long line of people wearing fancy costumes march through the streets with large balloons in the shape of imaginary characters. Thanksgiving is considered the beginning of the Christmas period, and the next day many people go out to shop for Christmas presents.

Which of the following statements is not TRUE about Thanksgiving ______?

In the 1960s, The Beatles were probably the most famous pop group in the whole world. Since then, there have been a great many groups that have achieved enormous fame, so it is perhaps difficult now to imagine how sensational The Beatles were at that time. They were four boys from the north of England and none of them had any training in music. They started by performing and recording songs by black Americans and they had some success with these songs. Then they started writing their own songs and that was when they became really popular. The Beatles changed pop music. They were the first pop group to achieve great success from songs they had written themselves. After that it became common for groups and singers to write their own songs. The Beatles did not have a long career. Their first hit record was in 1963 and they split up in 1970. They stopped doing live performances in 1966 because it had become too dangerous for them - their fans were so excited that they surrounded them and tried to take their clothes as souvenirs! However, today some of their songs remain as famous as they were when they first came out. Throughout the world, many people can sing part of a Beatles song if you ask them.

What is NOT true about the Beatles?

Most of us are interested in one kind of sport or another, even if we don't go in for it actively. Lots of people take up a particular sport at an early age, for example tennis, skiing, or ice-skating. If they get up to a suitably high standard, they may go in for local competitions or even championships. But special training is hard work and most young people don't keep it up. Many of them opt out when they come up against tough competition.

To become a professional in any sport, you have to go through with a strict training schedule. And it's not easy! It means doing without some of life's little pleasures, too. For example, to build up your physical strength you may have to stick to a special diet and give up some of your favorite foods. Smoking and alcohol are out, and to keep fit you have to work out regularly every day.

Sometimes it all pays off, but the road to success is long and there are no guarantees. No wonder that countless young talents decide to settle for a regular job instead, and, as far as professional sport is concerned, for looking on as spectators.

The word “opt out” in the passage means _____

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.

Research has shown that over half the children in Britain who take their own lunches to school do not eat (1)______ in the middle of the day. In Britain schools have to (2)_____ meals at lunchtime. Children can choose to bring their own food or have lunch at the school canteen. One shocking finding of this research is that school meals are much healthier than lunches prepared by parents. There are strict (3) ___ for the preparation of school meals, which have to include one (4) ___ of fruit and one of vegetables, as well as meat, a dairy item and starchy food like bread or pasta. Lunchboxes (5) ___ by researchers contained sweet drinks, crisps and chocolate bars. Children consume twice as much sugar as they should at lunchtime.

Research has shown that over half the children in Britain who take their own lunches to school do not eat (1)______ in the middle of the day.

Orchids are unique in having the most highly developed of all blossoms, in which the usual male and female reproductive organs are fused in a single structure called the column. The column is designed so that a single pollination will fertilize hundreds of thousands, and in some cases millions, of seeds, so microscopic and light they are easily carried by the breeze. Surrounding the column are three sepals and three petals, sometimes easily recognizable as such, often distorted into gorgeous, weird, but always functional shapes. The most noticeable of the petals is called the labellum, or lip. It is often dramatically marked as an unmistakable landing strip to attract the specific insect the orchid has chosen as its pollinator. To lure their pollinators from afar, orchids use appropriately intriguing shapes, colors, and scents. At least 50 different aromatic compounds have been analyzed in the orchid family, each blended to attract one, or at most a few, species of insects or birds. Some orchids even change their scents to interest different insects at different times.

   Once the right insect has been attracted, some orchids present all sorts of one-way obstacle courses to make sure it does not leave until pollen has been accurately placed or removed. By such ingenious adaptations to specific pollinators, orchids have avoided the hazards of rampant crossbreeding in the wild, assuring the survival of species as discrete identities. At the same time they have made themselves irresistible to collectors.

The word "discrete" in line 16 is closest in meaning to

 The American type of football was developed in the 19th century from soccer and rugby football. Played by professionals, amateurs, college and high school students, or young children, football in American is one of the most popular sports besides basketball and baseball. It attracts millions of fans each fall and people are very supportive of their favourite teams. The football playing field of today is rectangular in shape and measures 100 yards long and 53.5 yards wide. White lines are painted on the playing field to mark off the distances to the end zone. The games is divided into four quarters, each fifteen minutes long. The first two quarters are known as the first half. There is a rest period between two halves which usually last about fifteen minutes. Each team has eleven players. Each team has offensive players who play when the team has possession of the ball and defensive players who play when the other team has the possession of the ball. Because of the body contact players have during the game, helmets are worn to protect their head and face area, whereas pads are worn to protect the shoulders, arms, and legs.

 Playing American football is the most similar to playing

My family consists of four people. There's my father whose name is Jan, my mother whose name is Marie, my brother, Peter and of course, me. I have quite a large extended family as well but, only the four of us live together in our apartment in a block of flats. My father is fifty-two years old. He works as an accountant in an insurance company. He is tall and slim, has got short brown and gray hair and blue eyes. My father likes gardening very much as well as listening to music and reading books about political science. His special hobbies are bird watching and travelling.

Now I’ll describe my mother and my brother. My mother is forty-seven and she works as a nurse in a hospital. She is small, and slim, has short brown hair and green eyes. She likes bird watching and travelling too, so whenever my parents are able to they go someplace interesting for nature watching. Since we have a cottage with a garden they both spend a lot of time there. My brother is sixteen. He is slim and has short brown hair and blue eyes. He also attends high school. He is interested in computers and sports like football and hockey. He also spends a lot of time with his friends.

   I have only one grandmother left still living. She is in pretty good health even at the age of seventyeight so she still lives in her own flat. I enjoy spending time with her when I can. Both my grandfathers died from cancer because they were smokers, which was really a great tragedy because I didn't get chance to know them. My other grandmother died just a few years ago. I also have a lot of aunts, uncles, and cousins. The cousin I’m closest to is my uncle’s daughter Pauline. We have a lot in common because we are both eighteen and so we are good friends.

 What does the writer's father do?

All foods contain water - cabbage and other leaf vegetables contain as much as 93% water, potatoes and other root vegetables 80%, lean meat 75% and fish anything from 80% to 60% depending on how fatty it is. If this water is removed, the activity of the bacteria which cause food to go bad is checked.

      Fruit is sun-dried in Asia Minor, Greece, Spain and other Mediterranean countries, and also in California, South Africa and Australia. The methods used vary, but in general the fruit is spread out on trays in drying yards in the hot sun. In order to prevent darkening, pears, peaches and apricots are exposed to the fumes of burning sulphur before drying. Plums for making prunes, and certain varieties of grapes for making raisins and currants, are dipped in an alkaline solution in order to crack the skins of the fruit slightly and remove their wax coating, so increasing the rate of drying.

The word “checked” in the second paragraph is closest in meaning to ______.

Choose the letter A, B, C or D to complete the sentences with given words

 City/ children/ have/ more/ interesting life/ country ones.

Last year I went to Nepal for three months to work in a hospital. I think it's important to see as much of a country as you can, but it is difficult to travel around Nepal. The hospital let me have a few days’ holiday, so I decided to go into the jungle and I asked a Nepalese guide, Kamal Rai, to go with me.

We started preparing for the trip at six in the morning, and left camp with two elephants carrying our equipment. It was hot but Kamal made me wear shoes and trousers to protect me from snakes. In the jungle there was a lot of wildlife, but we were trying to find big cats, especially tigers. We climbed onto the elephants' backs to get better view, but it is unusual to find tigers in the afternoon because they sleep in the heat of the day.

Then, in the distance, we saw a tiger, and Kamal told me to be very quiet. We crept nearer and found a dead deer, still bleeding. This was the tiger's lunch! Suddenly I started to feel very frightened.

We heard the tiger a second before we saw it. It jumped out like a flash of lightning, five hundred kilos plus and four meters long. I looked into its eyes and face, and saw right down the animal's throat. It grabbed Kamal's leg between its teeth, but I managed to pull Kamal away. One of our elephants ran at the tiger and made it go back into the grass, so we quickly escaped to let the tiger eat its lunch. That night it was impossible to sleep!

It's difficult to find tigers in the afternoon because ________

University Entrance Examination is very important in Vietnamese students. High school graduates have to take it and get high results to be admitted to universities. The pressure on the candidates remains very high despite the measures that have been taken to reduce the heat around these exams, since securing a place in a state university is considered a major step towards a successful career for young people, especially those from rural areas or disadvantaged families. In the year 2004, it was estimated that nearly 1 million Vietnamese students took the University Entrance Examination, but on average only 1 out of 5 candidates succeeded. Normally, candidates take 3 exam subjects, and each lasts; 180 minutes for the fixed group of subjects they choose. There are 4 fixed groups of subjects: Group A: Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry; Group B: Mathematics, Biology, and Chemistry; Group C: Literature, History, and Geography; Group D: Literature, Foreign Language, and Mathematics.

In addition to universities, there are community colleges, art and technology institutes; professional secondary schools, and vocational schools which offer degrees or certificates from a-few-month to 2-year courses.

According to Vietnam's Ministry of Education and Training, there are currently 23 non-public universities, accounting for 11% of the total number of universities. These non-public universities are currently training 119,464 students, or 11.7% of the total number of students. The government is planning to increase the number of non-public universities to 30% by 2007.

 University Entrance Examination in Vietnamese is very _______.