We are pleased to announce that the installation of the new manufacturing equipment in our main plant has been completed. The new machines---131--- workflow by allowing for flexibility in production. With six mixing tanks of ---132--- sizes, we expect to be able to fill a wider range of orders, from small to very large. This ---133--- is an important way to ensure that Balm Manufacturing continues to be a leader in the fragrance industry.---134---. Jim Martel, who is organizing this effort, will contact each of you soon with details.

131. .................

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
Birthday is the day when a person was (1) _______. In many places, on a person's birthday, he or she celebrates with friends and family at a party, where they eat cake or other food, and get gifts. Many religions celebrate the birth of their founders or religious figures with special holidays. In each country, (2) _______ there is a different version of the song call “Happy Birthday”, they still share the same meaning as well as rhythm. In many legal systems, the age of that newborn is 0 years old. But in Korea, they are already one years old. This creates confusion to many people who work with Koreans because they can’t (3) _______ the rules of calculating age. A person could be 16 in the US but 18 (4) _______ he or she is Korean, despite being born in the same year. This is why Koreans usually tell their age by saying the year they were born in instead of (5) _______ telling their age

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
The principal difference between urban growth in Europe and in the North American colonies was the slow evolution of cities in the former and their rapid growth in the latter. In Europe they grew over a period of centuries from town economies to their present urban structure. In North America, they started as wilderness communities and developed to mature urbanism in little more than a century. In the early colonial days in North America, small cities sprang up along the Atlantic Coastline, mostly in what are now New England and the Middle Atlantic states in the United States and in the lower Saint Lawrence valley in Canada. This was natural because these areas were nearest England and France, particularly England, from which most capital goods were imported. Merchandising establishments were, accordingly, advantageously located in port cities from which goods could be readily distributed to interior settlements. Here, too, were the favored locations for processing raw materials prior to export. Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Montreal, and other cities flurished, and as the colonies grew, these cities increased in importance. This was less true in the colonial South, where life centered around large farms, known as plantations, rather than around towns, as was the case in the areas further north along the Atlantic coastline. The local isolation and the economic self-sufticiency of the plantations were antagonistic to the development of the towns. The plantations maintained their independence because they were located on navigable streams and each had a wharf accessible to the small shipping of that day. In fact, one of the strongest factors in the selection of plantation land was the desire to have it front on a water highway. When the United States became an independent nation in 1776, it did not have a single city as large as 50,000 inhabitants, but by 1820 it had a city of more than 100,000 people, and by 1880 it had recorded a city of over one million. It was not until after 1823, after the mechanization of the spinning and weaving industries, that cities started drawing young people away from farms. Such migration was particularly rapid following the Civil War (1861 -1865)
8. It can be inferred from the passage that, compared with northern cities, most southern cities were .

Choose the letter A, B, C or D to complete the sentences with given words:
Napoleon/ attack/ the/ West Indian island/ of/ Santo Domingo/ 1801.

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
The Finer Points of Fair Trade
Throughout the year, we buy foods and beverages from a variety of sources. However, few of us take the time to consider the lives of the people who make these things. In many cases, these goods are produced by poor workers who have trouble surviving on their salaries. A social movement called “Fair Trade” is trying to change this by ensuring that workers are paid decent wages for their efforts. The Fair Trade movement aims to create a membership between customers and producers that is based on respect and fairness. Consumers hope that by supporting fair trade goods they are empowering workers in developing countries to live better lives. Consumers also benefit because they receive high-quality products and have peace of mind that these workers aren’t mistreated. Fair Trade also benefits the environment, as Fair Trade goods are produced with minimal pesticides and pollutants. The first Fair Trade mark was introduced in 1988 by a Dutch group called Solidaridad, which focused on labeling fair trade coffee imported into Holland from Mexico. Shortly after, other groups in North America and Europe followed their lead. These groups started to seek Fair Trade benefits for workers producing wine, honey, bananas, flowers, and several other goods. Then, in 1997, the Fairtrade Labeling Organization International (FLO) was established to unite all of these independent groups into one organization and set unified standards worldwide. In 2002, the FLO launched the FAIRTRADE Certificate Mark, which became an international symbol that labeled goods met the environmental, economic, and social requirements set by FAIRTRADE International (FLO). If consumers spot this mark on goods, they are assured that the workers producing them are receiving a suitable payment for their services. Major corporations are also getting involving in the Fair Trade movement, deluding Starbucks. The multi-national coffee retailer now purchases over 93 percent of its coffee from ethical sources. Furthermore, it has pledged to increase that number to 100 percent by 2025. If you are willing to join Starbucks and millions of other consumers around the globe, keep your eyes out for the FAIRTRADE mark next time you go food shopping.
2. What is the third paragraph mostly about?

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Thanks to our modern lifestyle, with more and more time spent sitting down in front of computers than ever before, the number of overweight people is at a new high. As people frantically search for a solution to this problem, they often try some of the popular fad diets being offered. Many people see fad diets as innocuous ways of losing weight, and they are grateful to have them. Unfortunately, not only don't fad diets usually do the trick, they can actually be dangerous for your health. Although permanent weight loss is the goal, fewareabletoachieveit. Expertsestimate that 95 percent of dieters return to their starting weight, or even add weight. While the reckless use of fad diets can bring some initial results, long-term results are very rare. Nonetheless, people who are fed up with the difficulties of changing their eating habits often turn to fad diets. Rather than being moderate, fad diets involve extreme dietary changes. They advise eating only one type of food, or they prohibit other types of foods entirely. This results in a situation where a person's body doesn't get all the vitamins and other things that it needs to stay healthy. One popular fad diet recommends eating lots of meat and animal products, while nearly eliminating carbohydrates. A scientific study from Britain found that this diet is very high in fat. According to the study, the increase of damaging fats in the blood can lead to heart disease and, in extreme cases, kidney failure. Furthermore, diets that are too low in carbohydrates can cause the body to use its own muscle for energy. The less muscle you have, the less food you use up, and the result is slower weight loss. Veteran dieters may well ask at this point, "What is the ideal diet?" Well, to some extent, it depends on the individual. A United States government agency has determined that to change your eating habits requires changing your psychology of eating, and everyone has a different psychology. That being said, the British study quoted above recommends a diet that is high in carbohydrates and high in fiber, with portions of fatty foods kept low. According to the study, such a diet is the best for people who want to stay healthy, lose weight, and keep that weight off. And, any dieting program is best undertaken with a doctor's supervision.
5. Which is not mentioned as an effect of the meat and animal product diet?

Chọn câu đồng nghĩa:
His eel soup is better than any other soups I have ever eaten.

8) He is too ....................... to lend me his bicycle.

(523)______

Choose the best answer:
____________ beautiful girl!

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
One of the most important social developments that helped to make possible a shift in thinking about the role of public education was the effect of the baby boom of the 1950’s and 1960’s on the schools. In the 1920’s, but especially in the Depression conditions of the 1930’s, the United States experienced a declining birth rate – every thousand women aged fifteen to forty-four gave birth to about 118 live children in 1920, 89.2 in 1930, 75.8 in 1936, and 80 in 1940. With the growing prosperity brought on by the Second World War and the economic boom that followed it, young people married and established households earlier and began to raise larger families than had their predecessors during the Depression. Birth rates rose to 102 per thousand in 1946, 106.2 in 1950, and 118 in 1955. Although economics was probably the most important determinant, it is not the only explanation for the baby boom. The increased value placed on the idea of the family also helps to explain this rise in birth rates. The baby boomers began streaming into the first grade by the mid-1940’s and became a flood by 1950. The public school system suddenly found itself overtaxed. While the number of schoolchildren rose because of wartime and postwar conditions, these same conditions made the schools even less prepared to cope with the flood. The wartime economy meant that few new schools were built between 1940 and 1945. Moreover, during the war and in the boom times that followed large numbers of teachers left their profession for better-paying jobs elsewhere in the economy. Therefore, in the 1950’s and 1960’s, the baby boom hit an antiquated and inadequate school system. Consequently, the “custodial rhetoric” of the 1930’s and early 1940’s no longer made sense; that is, keeping youths aged sixteen and older out of the labor market by keeping them in school could no longer be a high priority for an institution unable to find space and staff to teach younger children aged five to sixteen. With the baby boom, the focus of educators and of laymen interested in education inevitably turned toward the lower grades and back to basic academic skills and discipline. The system no longer had much interest in offering nontraditional, new, and extra services to older youths
6. The word “inevitably” in parapraph 2 is closest in meaning to _________

The concept of urban agriculture may conjure up images of rooftop, backyard or community gardens scattered among downtown city streets and surrounding neighborhoods. But in the Seattle area, and within and beyond the Puget Sound region, it means a great deal more. "Urban agriculture doesn't necessarily equate to production that occurs only in a metropolitan urban area, "says Jason Niebler, who directs the Sustainable Agriculture Education (SAgE) initiative at Seattle Central Community College. "It means we are providing for growing population food needs from surrounding rural landscapes, as well as from the core urban landscape."

Picture a series of concentric circles, with an urban core that produces some food at varying capacities, surrounded by a series of outlying rings of small farms that become increasingly more rural with distance. The hope is that such land use planning, from the inner core to the outer rings, will encourage local ecologically sound sustainable food production. This, in turn, will create local jobs and decrease reliance on distant food products that originate from petroleum-intensive large scale farms.

That's the idea behind SAgE, believed to be the nation's first metropolitan-based community college sustainable agriculture program that emphasizes farming practices across diverse landscape types from urban centers to surrounding rural environs. "It's small scale agriculture with an urban focus" Niebler says. "Any urban population, large or small, can practice sustainable agriculture, improve food security and protect the environment, which ultimately results in resilient food systems and communities."

SAgE is a part of National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Program, which is providing the project with $157,375 over two years. ATE's goal is to support projects that strengthen the skills of technicians who work in industries regarded as vital to the national's prosperity and security. The support largely goes to community colleges that work in partnership with universities, secondary schools, businesses and industries, as well as government agencies, which design and implement model workforce initiatives.

The SAgE project focuses on the environmental, socioeconomic, political and cultural issues related to sustainable food systems, within Puget Sound watersheds through student and community education and research, and technological innovation. The curriculum offers courses that cover such issues as agricultural ecology, urban food systems, food politics and ethics, soil science, sustainable food production and technology, the integration of food and forests, and career opportunities.

"We've created a curriculum that is fundamental in nature, addressing the principles of sustainable agriculture and what a food system is - how it functions both locally and globally," Niebler says. "These courses are challenging, robust and inspirational. One of the really wonderful things about them is that we offer service learning opportunities, where students volunteer a portion of their time to working with local partner organizations. They can do a research project, or a service learning option. The ideal would be to prompt students into careers that involve sustainable practices in an urban agriculture setting."

Adapted from "Promoting Sustainable Agriculture" by Mariene Cimons

The word "concentric" in paragraph 2 is closet in meaning to________.

Choose the best answer:
He could do nothing  = He couldn’t do ________

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
It’s in Your Genes
Every human being has about 25,000 genes. Your genes are part of your DNA. They give your body instructions on how to develop. For example, if your genes tell your body to build long, thin fingers, then you will have long, thin fingers. Your genes come from your parents, and they decide everything about you. They decide your hair colour, your eye colour, your height, and so on. Genes are still a bit of a mystery to scientists, but they are learning new things about them all the time. One issue that people often debate is this: Do our genes influence our personalities? These days, most people agree that the answer to this question is yes. Recent studies have shown that genes especially influence our self-control and our sense of purpose. Your sense of purpose is your desire to have goals in your life. If a person really wants to accomplish something and do well in life, he or she has a sense of purpose. A person who does not care about goals has no sense of purpose. Although scientists agree that our genes influence our personalities, there is another question. How much do they influence us? Can we control ourselves, or do our genes control us? People everywhere are still debating this issue. So far, we don’t really have an answer. Genes also affect your health. If a gene has a problem, it is called a mutated gene. Some mutated genes can cause diseases. That is why if a person has a certain health problem, his or her child is more likely to have that same problem. The child also has the mutated gene. As scientists and doctors learn more about genes, they are also developing a new kind of medicine: gene therapy. Therapy is help for a mental or a physical problem. Gene therapy means fixing or replacing mutated genes. Scientists are still experimenting on gene therapy. It is possible that in the future, gene therapy will help doctors prevent and cure diseases that are caused by mutated genes.
2. Which of the following is NOT influenced by genes?

In between the (1) _______ are the Prairie Provinces and the eastern provinces of Ontario and Québec. Rolling wheat (2) _______ cover much of the Prairie Provinces—Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. They (3) _______ more than one-fifth of the world’s wheat. (4) _______ of Canada’s people live in Ontario and Québec. These two provinces are Canada’s business and (5) _______ heartland. Toronto, Canada’s largest city, is in Ontario. So is Canada’s capital, Ottawa. Montréal, the second largest city, is in Québec.

(39)______

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the undelined part that needs correction in each of the following questions:
The cause of tooth decay is acid, which is produced by bacteria in the mouth. The acid removes minerals from tooth enamel, allowing tooth decay to begin; the saliva in your mouth encourages remineralization and neutralizes the acid. The rate at which bacteria in the mouth produce acid depends on the amount of plaque on the teeth, the composition of the microbial flora, and whether the bacteria of the plaque have been "primed" by frequent exposure to sugar. To keep your teeth healthy, a regular dental hygiene program should be followed.
Removing plaque with a toothbrush and dental floss temporarily reduces the numbers of bacteria in the mouth and thus reduces tooth decay. It also makes the surfaces of the teeth more accessible, enabling saliva to neutralize acid and remineralize lesions. If fluoride is present in drinking water when teeth are forming, some fluoride is incorporated into the enamel of the teeth, making them more resistant to attack by acid. Fluoride toothpaste seems to act in another way, by promoting the remineralization of early carious lesions.
In addition to a regular dental hygiene program, a good way to keep your teeth healthy is to reduce your intake of sweet food. The least cavity-causing way to eat sweets is to have them with meals and not between. The number of times you eat sweets rather than the total amount determines how much harmful acid the bacteria in your saliva produce. But the amount of sweets influences the quality of your saliva. Avoid, if you can, sticky sweets that stay in your mouth a long time. Also try to brush and floss your teeth after eating sugary foods. Even rinsing your mouth with water is effective. Whenever possible, eat foods with fiber, such as raw carrot sticks, apples, celery sticks, etc., that scrape off plaque, acting as a toothbrush. Cavities can be greatly reduced if these rules are followed when eating sweets.

The word "scrape off" 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.
(1)...................... in technology have made a lot of changes to our everyday lifestyles, but one of the biggest has got to be how we read books. Since the invention of the e–book, there has been a significant change to our reading habits. Given the choice between taking a couple of heavy paperbacks on holiday or an e–book device like a Kindle, most of us, including our parents and grandparents, would unsurprisingly opt (2)................... the Kindle.
But  what  would  our  lives  be  like  with  no  books  at  all?  It’s  a  (3).......... question. Some educational specialists are making predictions that in the future we won’t even see books in classrooms – everything will be done online! (4).................. of the idea of getting rid of books say that there will always be a need for paper–based versions of materials. However, to be realistic, we have to accept that there is a (5)..............chance that in a decade’s time schools and classrooms will be book–free! What do you think of that?

(4)...............................

Read the passage below and choose one correct answer for each question.

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 grey 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 got short brown hair and green eyes. She likes bird watching and travelling too, so whenever my parents are able to they go some places interesting for nature watching. Since we 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 seventy- eight 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 are smokers, which was really a great tragedy because I didn’t get a chance to know them. My other grandmother died just a few years ago. I also have a lot of aunts, uncles, and cousines. The cousine 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.

My parents have assigned  me certain duties around the house. I don’t mind helping out because everyone in a family should contribute in some way. I help with the washing up, the vacuuming and the shopping. Of course I also have to help keep my room tidy as well. My brother is responsible for the dusting and the mopping. He also has to clean his own room. Even though my brother and I sometimes fight about who has to do what job, we are still very close. I am also very close to my parents and I can rely on them to help me. My parents work together to keep our home well maintained and it seems they always have some projects or another that they are working on. They respect each other’s opinions and even if they disagree they can always come to a compromise. I hope in the future that I have a family like ours.

What happened to the writer’s grandfathers?

Anyone where works is regarded as a useful member of our society.

(284)______

Choose the best answer:
I'd rather_____ in the field than_____ at home.

The train ______ by bad weather. I am not sure.

(395)________

Choose the best answer:
In Physics, we have a lot of ………. …………...