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

SIMPLE WAYS TO LOSE WEIGHT ON A BUDGET

Plan to Cook at home

Instead of buying costly prepared meals, which often tend to be high in calories, cook your own at home. Plan out our meals with high–fiber foods like beans and whole grains which will keep you full and are a cheaper, healthier alternative to rich proteins and more processed grains.

Eat less

Eating less leads to weight loss, and cost savings, especially if you cut down on the right things. Start by cutting your portions of spicy meat and poultry. Or swap out meat and poultry for cheaper vegetarian proteins likes beans, lentils, tofu, and eggs for some of your meals.

Double Up on Vegetables

Vegetables are great for weight loss, as well as all-around health. They are low in calories and high in water and fiber – two things that keep you feeling full. Save cash by shopping for those that are in season. Frozen vegetables can be a great bargain, with just as much nutrition as fresh, since they are picked and frozen at their peak ripeness.

Get Creative with your exercise options

You don’t need to shell out a monthly gym fee to get moving. Instead, find fun activities you enjoy for free. If you’re just getting started with a regular exercise routine, try your beginning with daily walks: start slowly and build uptime and speed.

Make friends with someone

One of the most powerful resources you have for helping you lose weight is your social network. Find a friend who is also trying to lose weight and agree to help each other say motivated. One study found that when friends participated in a group weight–loss program together, they lost more weight than people who did the same program on their own.

In order to cut down on your daily calories, you should do all the following things EXCEPT _________.

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

Television is one of _________ (1) inventions of human beings. Today we can find television almost everywhere ___________ (2) the world. The first television was invented in 1927 by a 21 years old inventor – Philo Taylor Farnsworth. Watching television __________ (3) both recreational and informative. There are some news programs for adults _________ (4) information. There are also tutorial channels based on specific subjects for the students. ___________ (5), it’s harmful to spend too much time watching television. Some shows are too violent for the children to watch because they may imitate.

READING COMPREHENSION.
Choose the best answer from A, B, C or D to complete the dialogue.
A: Hello, Dove. Have you had a good day at (31) ………..?
B: Yes, quite good,(32)…….. that the manager was unpleasant (33)…………day. How about you?  
A: It was a quiet day. There wasn’t much work (34)………. so I got home early.
B: Good for you. What for dinner? 
A: Well, when (35)……….dinner at a restaurant? It was (36)…………time ago that I can’t remember. Can’t we go tonight?
B: Well, it’s a good idea, but let’s not (37)………tonight because I want to watch football on the television.
A: Oh, I forgot (38)………….you. There’s something (39)………the television. I want to watch a programme this afternoon but I (40) …………. get a picture.
B: All right, I believe you. Which restaurant do you want to go to?

35__________

Read the following passage carefully then choose the best answer (A, B, C, or D.
Mr. Smith is 54. Until last year he was a manager in a factory. He had worked for the same company since he left school. He had a good job. When his company had to close because of difficulties, he became unemployed.
“It’s funny really. I don’t feel old but it’s not easy to start looking for a job at my age. I’m interested in learning a new skill but nobody wants to train me. I’m tired of sitting around the house. When I was with my company I was bored with doing the same thing every day, but now I really enjoy doing the job again.”

Nobody wants to train him because he..........

Choose the letter A, B, C or D to answer these following questions

Mark Zuckerberg is co-founder and CEO of the social-networking website Facebook, as well as one of the world's youngest billionaires. Zuckerberg was born on May 14th, 1984, in White Plains, New York, into a comfortable, well-educated family. He was raised in the nearby village of Dobbs Ferry.

Zuckerberg developed an interest in computers at an early age; when he was about 12, he used Atari BASIC to create a messaging program he named "Zucknet." His father used the program in his dental office, so that the receptionist could inform him of a new patient without yelling across the room. The family also used Zucknet to communicate within the house. Together with his friends, he also created computer games just for fun. "I had a bunch of friends who were artists," he said. "They'd come over, draw stuff, and I'd build a game out of it."

In June 2004, Zuckerberg dropped out of college and moved the company to Palo Alto, California. By the end of that year, Facebook had 1 million users. One year later, Zuckerberg's enterprise received a huge boost from the venture capital firm Accel Partners. Accel invested $12.7 million into the network, which at the time was open only to Ivy League students.

Zuckerberg's company then granted access to other colleges, high school and international schools, pushing the site's membership to more than 5.5 million users by December 2005. The site began attracting the interest of other companies that wanted to advertise with the popular social hub like Yahoo! and MTV network.

What is the job of his father?

Read the passage carefully and choose the correct answer

Ernest Hemingway was one of the greatest American writers. He was born in Illinois in a family of a doctor. In his schooldays, Ernest became an excellent sportsman. He played football, was a member of the swimming team, and learned to box, as a result of which his nose was broken and an eye injured. At school he was a successful student. He wrote prose and poetry for the school library magazine, and edited the school newspaper.

In 1917, when World War I broke out, he wanted to join the army but was refused because of his eye. Then he left home and went to Kansas City, where he worked as a newspaper reporter. In 1918 he tried to join the army again and was given a job of driving American Red Cross ambulances on the Italian front. Two months later he was badly wounded. In 1920, he returned to the USA. He began to support himself by his pen. To get the material for his future stories and  novels, Hemingway traveled to many places all over the world. His first work, “Three Stories and Ten Poems”, was written in 1923. Then followed his masterpiece, the novel “A Farewell to Arms”, a protest against war, which was published in 1929 and made the author famous.

During World War II, Hemingway was a war-correspondent. Hemingway’s last work, “The Old Man and the Sea”, written in 1952, is about the courage of an old fisherman, who was fighting a big fish and the sea for many hours and won the victory over them. In 1954, the author was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, and “The Old Man and the Sea” was mentioned as one of his best works. Hemingway passed way in 1961 in the USA.

He began to support himself by his pen.

Read the following passage carefully then choose the answer (A, B, C, or D) which you think is best suited to each gap
A. Michael Faraday, the great English physicist was born ....(31)... 1791 in London. His family ...(32)... very poor and he didn’t learn ...(33)..... When he was 14, he worked in a bookshop ....(34).... he had a good chance to read books. He ....(35).... to some talks about science. One day Michael went to a ....(36)..... by Humphry Davy, England’s ....(37).... scientist of the time. He liked his talks very much, and ....(38).... months later he became Davy’s laboratory assistant. Like Davy, he became ....(39).... in electricity. He spent a lot of time ...(40).... it and at last he saw that electricity could be made by a machine. He died in 1867. 

32_______

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

Barack Hussein Obama II was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, __________ (1) August 4th, 1961. His father left soon after his death, and the couple divorced two years later. In 1965, Dunham married Lolo Soetoro, a University of Hawaii student from Indonesia. A year __________ (2), the family moved to Jakarta, Indonesia, where Obama's half-sister, Maya Soetoro Ng, was born in 1970. Several incidents in Indonesia left Dunham afraid for her son's safety and education so, at __________ (3) age of 10, Obama was sent back to Hawaii to live with his maternal grandparents. His mother and half-sister later joined them.

Read the following passage carefully then choose the best answer (A, B, C, or D)
I had a terrible time last Saturday. It ...(41)... rather cold, but quite sunny, ...(42)... after lunch, I walked into town. I wanted ...(43)...a pullover. I was looking in the window of a clothes shop when ...(44...) stole my wallet. While I ...(45)...home, it started to rain and I arrived home cold and miserable. I decided to have a hot bath. I was getting ready to have my bath ...(46)... the doorbell rang. It was a salesman and it ...(47)... me several minutes to make ...(48)... go away. Unfortunately, all the time he was talking to me the water ...(49).... You can imagine the state of the...(50)...! 

50_______

Choose the word or phrase (A, B, C, or D) that best fits each space in the following passage.

UNICEF was created in 1946 to help bring food and medicine to children who suffered during World War II in Europe. It began as a temporary agency, but became a permanent part of the United Nations in 1953 (1) _______ the need for its services around the world. UNICEF's primary concern is to help governments of developing countries improve the quality of life for (2) ________ one billion children. UNICEF's main office is in the United Nations offices in New York City, but it also has more than 40 offices and 100 programs (3) _______. In 1965, UNICEF won the Nobel Peace Prize for its work helping children and building brighter future.

UNICEF works with governments to provide three kinds of services. First, UNICEF plans and develops programs in developing countries. These programs serve the community (4)_______ providing health care, information about nutrition, basic education, and safe water and sanitation. Then UNICEF trains people to work in these programs. UNICEF also provides supplies and equipment that (5) _______ the programs to work.

(3) __________

Read the passage then answer the questions.
Thien Mu pagoda was built on Ha Khue hill, on the left bank of the Perfume River. According to the legend, Lord Hoang Long, the founder of the Nguyen dynasty, after being appointed to protect the southern land of the Gianh River, met an old lady in red who showed him a place to set up his headquarters in Kim Long village. They were built there and a pagoda was also constructed on the hill where the lady had appeared, and was called Thien Mu pagoda. The pagoda covers an area about four hectares. There are some note-worthy works and objects of value such as the seven-tier Phuoc Duyen tower, which is 21.24 metres high. The bell in the tower, called Dai Hong Chung, was cast in the 18th century and was decorated with beautiful patterns. This is a beautiful and romantic pagoda which attracts deeply to all Hue’s inhabitants.

Thienthe old lady had appeared there Mu pagoda was built there because________.

Reliable studies have shown that the children of working mothers have no more problems than children whose mothers stay at home. My personal view is that mothers should work if they wish.
Some women have invested so much in a career that they cannot (31) _______ to give it up. Others have to work because of economic necessity, and there are also those who are simply not (32) _______ out to be full-time parents.
There appear to be several options when it comes to choosing childcare. These range from child minders through to granny or the kind lady across the street. (33) _______, however, many parents don't have any choice; they have to accept anything they can get.
No (34) _______ how good the available childcare may be, some children protest if their parents are not around. This is a perfectly normal stage in a child’s development. Babies over the age of six months become dependent on mum and close family members, so make sure that you allow (35) _______ time to help your child settle in.
And don’t forget; if you want to do the best for your children, it's not the quantity of time you spend with them, it’s the quality that matters.

(33)............................................

People spend a lot of their free time in the home, where the (2) popular leisure activity is watching television, the average viewing time being 25 hours a week. People often (3) ________programs on videos so that they can watch later, and video recorders are also used (4) ______ watching videos hired from a video rental shop
(3).......
 

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

Did you know that on average we forget about 80% of the medical information a doctor might give us? This fascinating information came to light as a result of a study carried out by Utrecht University. What is even more interesting is that almost half of what we think we remember is wrong.

Why do you think this is? Well, it’s not as complicated as you may think. You see, going to the doctor fills most people with anxiety, and when we are really nervous and stressed we are more likely to focus on the diagnosis rather than the treatment. Therefore, we know what is wrong with as but have no idea what to do about it.

Here are some good tips to keep in mind when seeing a doctor. Always write down any important information. What would be even better is, if your doctor agreed, to record your consultation. This way, you can replay the advice at home, where you are more likely to absorb it. If you believe the situation is serious or you’re really worried, seek the help of a family member. Just ask them to accompany you to listen in. This way you can be absolutely sure about what the doctor has told you and avoid falling into the same trap that most people do.

The word “absorb” in the passage is closest in meaning to___________.

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.

       Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and popular travel (23)_______ in Quang Ninh Province, Vietnam. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various shapes and sizes. Ha, Long Bay is a center of a larger zone which (24)______ Bai Tu long Bay to the northeast, and Cat Ba island to the southwest.

       Ha Long Bay has an area of around 1,553km2, including 1,9600 – 2,000 islets, most of (25)______ are limestone. The core of the bay has an area of 334km2  with a high density of 775 islets. The limestone in the bay has gone through  500 million years of formation in different conditions and environments. The evolution of the karst in this bay has taken 29 million years (26)_______ the impact of the tropical wet climate. The geo-diversity of the environment in the area has created (27)________, including a tropical evergreen biosystem, oceanic and sea shore biosystem. Ha Long Bay is home to 14 endemic floral species and 60 endemic faunal species.

25__________

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.

When we feel anxious, we often give ourselves negative messages like: “I can’t do this”, “I’m useless” and “I’m going to fail”. It can be difficult but (23)__________to replace these with positive thoughts such as: ‘this is just anxiety, it can’t harm me’ and, ‘relax, concentrate – it’s going to be okay"

Picturing how you’d like things to go can help you feel more (24)________. Try to imagine yourself (25)_______up to an exam feeling confident and relaxed. You turn over your paper, write down what you do know, and come away knowing you tried your best on the day.

It can sometimes feel like your whole future depends on (26)_______grades you get. There can be a lot of pressure for young people to do well in exams which can cause a lot of stress and anxiety. You might have (27)________certain grades or put into a higher set, and feel if you don’t get the grade you’ll let your teachers or parents on.

Remember, exams are important – but they’re not the only way to a successful future. Lots of people go succeed in life without doing well in school exams.

25___________

Read the following passage carefully then choose the answer (A, B, C, or D) which you think is best suited to the gap
Many people who work in London prefer to live ...(41)...it, and to go into their offices, factories or schools every day...(42)...train, car or bus, even though this means they have to get up ...(43)...in the morning and come home later in the evening.
One advantage of living outside London is that houses are cheaper. 
Even a small flat in London without a garden ...(44)...a lot to rent. With the same money, one can get a little house in the country ...(45)...a garden of one’s own.
Then, in the country one can rest from the ...(46)...and hurry of the town. Although one has ...(47)...up earlier and spend more time in trains or buses, one can sleep better at night, and during weekends. ...(48)...summer evenings one can enjoy the fresh, clean air of the country. ...(49)... one likes gardens, one can spend one’s free time digging, planting, watering and doing the hundred and one other jobs ...(50)...are needed in the garden.    

42__________

Choose the word or phrase that best fits each space in the following passage. (15 pts)

We often assume the best way to (1)__________ to a decision is to spend ages taking into account a lot of information before we arrive at our conclusion. We (2)_______ the evidence in the belief that instant decisions are unreliable. However, there are arguments for a reassessment of that (3)________ It may be that (4)____________ our subconscious mind does a better job in a moment than our conscious mind does. When Evelyn Harrison, a(n) (5)_________ on sculpture, was shown a statue that the J. Paul Getty Museum had purchased for $10 million, she (6)__________ out that it was a fake. It came (7)___________ a shock to the museum. Harrison was (8)_______________ to explain why she had formed that impression, but it was enough to (9)_______   doubt on the statue. Now, most experts have come round to her (10)_______, but now did she (11)________ the difference between that and the (12)________ article so quickly? It’s probable that her subconscious mind sorted through the information that escaped the (13)__________ of her conscious mind. Although we are rarely, (14)_________ , aware of our subconscious mind, it can be surprisingly (15) ________

7._________

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

Lorna: I might retire early. don’t know. I’m 55 and my husband retired last year. He spends most of his time in the garden. I’d really like to be there with him though I am not quite fond of the tasks. I’m definitely going to learn a new language. I hate going abroad and speaking English.

Cass: I’m only 26, so I’m not going to retire soon! In fact, I want to have more chances to earn our living. Jamie and I are going to have a baby next year and we’re really excited about that. We want to have a big family and live in a big house. Then, when I retire, my children and grandchildren will all be able to stay.

Sue: Well, Roger and I don’t agree about retiring. I love work and I don’t want to retire! I know I won’t have anything to do.

Roger: I asked my boss at work recently and I might be able to retire next year. I might buy a house in France and spend the time that my family deserved to have with me long before. I’d love to have my first long-awaited visit to Paris with my wife one day.

Linda: I want to retire as soon as possible. I have three sons and now I don’t even have time to play with them. They will become mature very soon and don’t want to spend quality time with me. I can’t stand the thought.

Which of the following is NOT true about Cass?

The man who made and lost a fortune .............. kitchen furniture is back in business again.