Read the passage the do the tasks that follow. (Hãy đọc đoạn văn này và làm các bài tập theo sau.)

Everyone has a number of acquaintances, but no one has many friends, for true friendship is not common, and there are many people who seem to be incapable of it. For a friendship to be close and lasting, both the friends must have some very special qualities.

The first quality is unselfishness. A person who is concerned only with his own interests and feelings cannot be a true friend. Friendship is a two-sided affair; it lives by give-and-take, and no friendship can last lone which is all give on one side and all take on the other.

Constancy is the second quality. Some people do not seem to be constant. They take up an interest with enthusiasm, but they are soon tired of it and feel the attraction of some new object. Such changeable and uncertain people are incapable of a lifelong friendship.

Loyalty is the third quality. Two friends must be loyal to each other, and they must know each other so well that there can be no suspicions between them. We do not think much of people who readily believe rumours and gossip about their friends. Those who are easily influenced by rumours can never be good friends.

Trust is perhaps the fourth quality. There must be mutual trust between friends, so that each can feel safe when telling the other his or her secrets. There are people who cannot keep a secret, either of their own or of others’. Such people will never keep a friend long.

Lastly, there must be a perfect sympathy between friends - sympathy with each other’s aims, likes, joys, sorrows, pursuits and pleasures. Where such mutual sympathy does not exist, friendship is impossible. 

Task 1. Fill each blank with a suitable word /phrase. (Điền vào mỗi chỗ trống bằng một từ/ cụm từ thích hợp.)

  Acquaintance        mutual         give-and-take       loyal to

  incapable of          unselfish      friend                   suspicious 

1. Good friendship should be based on…………….understanding.

2.The children seem to be………..working quietly by themselves.

3. He is a(n)………..man. He always helps people without thinking of his own benefit.

4. A(n) …………is a person one simply knows, and a(n)………….is a person with whom one has a deeper relationship.

5. You can't always insist on your own way - there has to be some…………..

6. Despite many changes in his life, he remained   …………his working principles.

7. He started to get………….when she told him that she had been to Britain for many times.

Task 2. Which of the choices A, B, C or D most adequately sums up the ideas of the whole passage? (Lựa chọn nào trong A, B, C hoặc D tóm tắt thích hợp nhất các ý tưởng của đoạn văn.)

A. A friend in need is a friend indeed

B. Conditions of true friendship

C. Features of a good friend

D. Friends and acquaintances

Friendship is one of the most precious presents of life. Friendship makes life, sweet and pleasant experience. Friendship is indeed, an asset in life.

Friendship is good and necessary. Man cannot live all alone because he is a social being. He needs someone to share his joys and sorrows. There goes a saying “Friendship increases happiness and diminishes misery by doubling our joy and dividing our grief”.

Friendship can make or break us. It all depends on how we choose our friends. We spent much of our time with them. Their mental outlook, behaviour, attitudes affect us too. Today, many youngsters have become social nuisance mainly due to bad friends. Therefore, we have to choose our friends very carefully. We have to remember the maxim “All that glitters is not gold”. We have to distinguish between fair-weather friends and true friends. True friends remain with us through thick and thin while fair-weather friends are found only during sunny days.

True friendship is a feeling of love, sharing and caring. It is a feeling that someone understands and appreciates you as you are, without any flattery. It gives a feeling that you are ‘wanted’ and that you are ‘someone’ and not a faceless being in the crowd. True friendship knows no boundaries of caste, creed, race and sex.

Good friends are great pillars of life. A person who has true friends in life is lucky enough. It does not matter how often you meet your friends, but how much you care and feel for another in good times as well as in bad times.

- Các bạn đặt câu hỏi giúp mình cho đoạn văn này. Mình đang cần gấp.

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 from 36 to 42.

The Census Counts!

          Every ten years there is a national census to count the number of people. The census counts the number of people in each area, the number of men and women, their ages, their profession, their family size and status. The census is the only way to count everyone. Its results are used by a great many people and are available to everyone. The census is useful; it helps to work  out present and future needs for housing by seeing how many people are housed now, or the sizes and ages of their families. In addition, the size of annual grants made by the Government to  public services depends largely on the numbers and needs of people in the area provided by the census. Furthermore, the census shows how many people have moved from one area to another and how the number of the local work force is changing.

          The census is taken in order to provide the figures about the nation as a whole. It does not give information about any named person, family or household. Therefore, names and addresses are needed on the forms but they are not fed into the computer. After the census, the forms with the names on are locked away and will not be released to anyone outside the Census Office for 100 years. The answers people give on their census forms will be treated in strict confidence. Everyone working on the census is sworn to secrecy and can be sued if he or she improperly reveals information

Which of the following statement is NOT true?

A. There are names and age on the census forms

B. The census reveals everyone’s personal information

C. People must supply personal information

D. The census information is stored in a computer

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 from 36 to 42.

The Census Counts!

          Every ten years there is a national census to count the number of people. The census counts the number of people in each area, the number of men and women, their ages, their profession, their family size and status. The census is the only way to count everyone. Its results are used by a great many people and are available to everyone. The census is useful; it helps to work  out present and future needs for housing by seeing how many people are housed now, or the sizes and ages of their families. In addition, the size of annual grants made by the Government to  public services depends largely on the numbers and needs of people in the area provided by the census. Furthermore, the census shows how many people have moved from one area to another and how the number of the local work force is changing.

          The census is taken in order to provide the figures about the nation as a whole. It does not give information about any named person, family or household. Therefore, names and addresses are needed on the forms but they are not fed into the computer. After the census, the forms with the names on are locked away and will not be released to anyone outside the Census Office for 100 years. The answers people give on their census forms will be treated in strict confidence. Everyone working on the census is sworn to secrecy and can be sued if he or she improperly reveals information

Which of the following is true about the information of names and addresses in the census?

A. It is stored in the computer for 100 years

B. It is not usually correct

C. It will not be seen by anyone

D. It will be made public after 100 years

Read the passage carefully and decide if the statements are true (T) or false (F)

I like to think that I’m qualified to talk about friendship. See, I hardly have any friends, so I can look at the issue objectively, as an outsider. I could get all emotional about the topic of friendship, and the drama that can cause some friendships to end. However, friendship is something that can be considered to be seasonal or unconditional.

So, for me, it’s interesting to look at it from the perspective of our various life stages, and to see which friendships survive each transition. Friendship conjures a few interesting memories for me, the main one was in primary school, where my schoolmates would spend most of break time arguing or discussing various going-ons, from who could have a piece of whose snack to who was whose best friend.

ĐÚNG      SAI

1. The writer has a lot of friends. 

2. Friendship is considered to be seasonal or unconditional. 

3. We can look at friend from different life stages. 

4. An interesting memory of the writer about friendship happened in primary school. 

5. His primary schoolmates would spend most of break time on playing sports and studying. 

1. Their ………. has lasted a life time. friend

2. Everyone has a number of ..… but none has many true friends. acquaint

3. Cats are supposed to have nice ………… . live

4. The evening was ……….. spent playing and talking . enjoy

5. The cost of ……….. must be paid by the buyer . carry

6. After his illness , he started worrying that he was ………… . weigh

7. He lives in an attractive….part of Sydney RESIDE

8. We must learn about keeping the environment ………… . pollute

9. He finds it difficult to accept ……from others. CRITICISE

10. The film is entertaining but full of historical…….. ACCURATE

GIẢI THÍCH RA NỮA Ạ

Ex1: complete the following sentences, using a suitable preposition for each gap:

1. There are many people who seem to be incapable________making friends.

2. Knowledge can help to brighten________your future.

3. Selfish people are concerned only________their own interests and feelings.

4. I always think_________my son.

5. Friendship is a two-sided affair , it lives_______give-and-take.

6. He takes_______an English course to improve his English.

7. They seem to be tired______doing the same things every day.

8. All soldiers must loyal______his country.

9. Those who are easily influenced_______rumours can never be good friends.

10. Those people seem to have no sympathy_______his abject condition.

11. Good friendship should be based________mutual understanding.

12. He insisted_______paying for the meal.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, c, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer for each of the questions from 46 to 55.

Increasing numbers of parents in the u.s. are choosing to teach their children at home. In fact, the u.s. Department of Education has estimated that in 1999, about 850,000 children were being homeschoolded. Some educational experts say that the real number is double this estimate, and the ranks of homeschooled children seem to be growing at the average rate of about eleven percent every year.

At one time, there was a theory accounting for homeschooling: it was traditionally used for students who could not attend school because of behavioral or learning difficulties. Today, however, more parents are taking on the responsibility of educating their own children at home due to their dissatisfaction with the educational system. Many parents are unhappy about class size, as well as problems inside the classroom. Teacher shortages and lack of funding mean that, in many schools, one teacher is responsible for thirty or forty students. The children are, therefore, deprived of the attention they need. Escalating classroom violence has also motivated some parents to remove their children from school.

Although there have been a lot of areuments for and against it, homeschooling in the u.s. has become a multi-million dollar industry, and it is growing bigger and bigger. There are now plenty of websites, support groups, and conventions that help parents protect their rights and enable them to learn more about educating their children. Though once it was the only choice for troubled children, homeschooling today is an accepted alternative to an educational system that many believe is failing.

The number of parents who want to teach their own children in the u.s. is__________

A. remaining unchanged

B. remaining the same

C. going up

D. going down