Read the passage and choose the correct answer:

J. K. Rowling was born in Chipping Sodbury, July 31st, 1965. Her childhood was generally happy, although she does remember getting teased because of her name, “Rowling” – She recalls often getting called “Rowling pin” by her less than ingenious school friends. J. K. Rowling says she never really warmed to her own name, although, she does remember having a fondness for the name Potter from quite an early age. J. K. Rowling studied at St Michael’s Primary School in Gloucestershire, before moving to Chepstow, South Wales at the age of nine.

From an early age, J. K. Rowling had the ambition to be a writer. She often tried her hand at writing, although little came from her early efforts. Aged six she wrote a book about a rabbit with measles. After her mother praised her effort. Rowling replied ‘Well get it published then.’ She admits it was a ‘Bit of an odd thing for a child of six to think. I don’t know where it came from…”.

At the age of nine, J. K. Rowling studied at St Michael’s Primary School in Gloucestershire.

Read the following passage and choose A, B, C,  or D to fill in the gaps
I have always wanted to go fishing. Last summer, I went on a trip to Taiwan. (41) the last day of my vacation, I went fishing on a beautiful lake. Unfortunately, I didn't catch (42) fish, and I got bored. I decided to go (43). When I stood up, my wallet fell (44) my pocket and into the water. It had all my money, my passport, my plane tickets- everything. I (45) into the lake to look (46) it, but I didn't find anything. The next morning, I wasn't able to leave the hotel. I had (47) money to pay the bill and no plane ticket or passport to go home. So what did I do? I called my boss and asked (48) some money. I have (49) had (50) a terrible experience.

50_________

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. 

33_________

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.

Living in Vietnam today (23) ________ greatly from the lifestyle of 100 years ago. People in the past mainly worked in agriculture (24) _________ today there are significantly fewer people working in this sector of the economy. These days, by comparison, people are more likely to be employed in manufacturing and tourism than in the rice fields. Moreover, Vietnam, which was (25)________ agrarian, is transforming into an entirely different country. While agriculture is still an important component of the Vietnamese economy, other enterprises are (26) ________ an increasing amount of economic activity. However, along with the differences, similarities also exist. The people of Vietnam have retained many of the characteristics of their forefathers. The Vietnamese people are as friendly today as they were in the past. This is best exemplified in the way they welcome foreigners (27) __________their unique country. Moreover, the resilience and determination of the people of Vietnam have not changed. The Vietnamese work collectively and happily towards the development of their country.

24.____________

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.

Hemingway _____.

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) ________

14__________

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

If you ask me about the person who has the most influence on my life, I must (13)_______ you it is my father. You ask me what I think about my father. Great! great! My father is the best person in the world. Do you know what I (14)_____? He is a considerate and generous man who is loved not only by his family (15)_____ by all his friends. His great sense of humor (16)_________ him from others. To his colleagues, he is a (17)_________ a father. I love him so much. Happy him as a friend, an advisor, and (18)_______ man who is always helpful and creative in his job. In a word, my father’s terrific! I’m so happy to have Father’s Day, Daddy!

15__________

Read the following passage and then choose the best answer to the questions by circling the corresponding letter A, B, C or D. Mark your choice on the answer sheet
Sam went slowly upstairs to his room. He sat down at his desk, where his pen, paper and books lay waiting for him. He felt tired and knew he wasn't in the mood for his homework. "Ill listen to some music until I feel better!" he thought. So he turned on the radio. After twenty minutes, he turned it off, because it wasn't the kind of music he liked. He looked again at his books. There was so much homework that he couldn't do it all in one evening! While he was thinking this, he began to feel hungry, although he had only recently had supper. "Shall I make a sandwich, or just have an apple?" he wondered. He ate an apple, and then picked up his pen. "Right!" he said to himself. "It's difficult, but I'm going to do it!"

 He__________ his homework.

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)
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 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.

Where was Mark Zuckerberg born?

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

 English is considered as one of our __________ languages.

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. 

31________

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) ________

8_________

Read the following passage and choose A, B, C,  or D to fill in the gaps:
John Lennon, (41)  member of the Beatles, (42) murdered just before 11 p.m (43) the 8th December 1980, outside his home in New York City. He had just gotten out of a car, and was walking to the entrance (44) a voice called "Mr. Lennon". Lennon turned and (45) five times. The killer threw his gun down and stood there smiling.
Lennon was (46) to hospital in a police patrol car, but it was (47) late. The killer was 25-year-old Mark Chapman from Hawaii. Earlier the same evening he had asked Lennon for his autograph. (48) fact, he had been hanging around outside the apartment building for several days. Chapman was a (49) of the Beatles and Lennon and had tried to imitate him in many ways. It is (50) that he even believed he was John Lennon.

45__________

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.

The word “mature” in the passage is closest in meaning to __________ .

Read the passage and choose the best answer.

Man discovered fire many thousands of years ago. The first time he saw the fire was probably when a tree was struck by lightning. He soon learned how to make fire for himself. However, the man probably made his fire by rubbing two sticks together.

The fire was very important to man. He needed fire to keep himself warm at night. He used fire to cook his food. He used fire to frighten away enemies and wild animals. In some parts of the world, he used fire to signal messages. Red Indians, for example, used fire to make smoke signals. In some other countries, people lit fires to warn their friends of danger. The fire was very also used to give light. Before the invention of the oil lamp, men used burning sticks as torches. And before man discovered gas and electricity, he hung small fires in wire baskets from posts to light the streets.

One man even used fire to tell the time. He invented a candle clock. He made a candle that took exactly twelve hours to burn. Then he marked this candle in twelve equal parts. He lit the candle and could tell the time by counting the number of parts left of the burning candle. But the candle clock did not always work well. If there was a wind blowing on the candle, the flame burned too quickly.

The fire was used by Red Indians…………….

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

Barack Hussein Obama II was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, __________ (6) 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 __________ (7), 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 __________ (8) age of 10, Obama was sent back to Hawaii to live with his maternal grandparents. His mother and half-sister later joined them.

Barack Obama was the 44th president of the United States and the first African-American commander-in-chief. He __________ (9) two terms, in 2008 and 2012. The son of parents from Kenya and Kansas, Obama was born and raised in Hawaii. He graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was president of the Harvard Law Review. After serving on the Illinois State Senate, he __________ (10) a U.S. senator representing Illinois in 2004. He and his wife Michelle Obama have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.

A year __________ (7), the family moved to Jakarta, Indonesia, where Obama's half-sister, Maya Soetoro Ng, was born in 1970. 

Read the passage and choose the correct answer:

Inanimate objects are deployed to endless would-be-scary effect in Annabelle, and it’s not just the supremely creepy doll that is its star.

Set in the late 1960s, the story concerns young married couple John (Ward Horton) and Mia (Annabelle Wallis). Mia is heavily pregnant (and is the character’s name a sly homage to the star of Rosemary’s Baby?), and her husband gifts her with the large-size doll she’s apparently been coveting to complete her collection. That fact that the horrific-looking thing resembles Bette Davis in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? seems not to concern them in the slightest. Before Mia gives birth, the kindly elderly couple next door is murdered by their wayward daughter Annabelle and her boyfriend, members of a Manson Family-type satanic cult. In the film’s best and most truly terrifying scene, the intruders subsequently break into John and Mia's house, with the male shot dead by police and Annabelle slashing her own throat while clutching the doll.

The understandably rattled couple quickly moves into a creepy apartment building in Pasadena, but the shift in locale doesn't prevent things from inevitably going bump in the night. The doll, which John had dumped in the trash, makes a miraculous reappearance in one of the moving boxes and assumes a place in the infant's bedroom.

Although we never see the doll orchestrating any of the mayhem — it remains steadfastly immobile throughout — Mia is soon subject to a series of increasingly terrifying events, with a pair of neighboring children contributing to the air of dread via some crudely monstrous drawings. Looking for answers in a local bookstore, Mia tells the friendly proprietress (Alfre Woodward) that "I think we’re being haunted by a ghost." Her crisp reply: "Aisle four — follow me."

 John and Mia becomes worried and scared. They move to another flat

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

 He ____________ abroad before I met him in Sydney.