V.  Read the passage and choose the words from the box that best fit the blank spaces. There is one word you don’t need to use (1pt).

leave           from           reduced        which        increased

       The first passenger plane was introduced by British Airway and Air France in 1976. Concord holds many world records, including the fastest crossing of the Atlantic (1) ______________ New York to London, which was achieved in 2 hours 45 seconds. Flying at twice the speed of sound means that flying time is (2) ______________ by half, which is why the Concord flight between London and New York is used a lot by businessmen and film stars. You can (3) ______________ Britain at 10.30 and arrive in New York an hour earlier than usual. Twenty planes have been built up to the present day. But there are no plans to build any more. Each plane is produced at a cost of fifty five million pounds (4) ______________ makes them very expensive.

Question 5. Choose the word (A, B, C or D) that best fits each of the blank spaces to complete the passage. (1pt):

MY DREAM HOUSE

My dream house is (21) _____ the countryside. It has lots of rooms and windows. There is a big bookshelf in the living room. Everyone in my family can read their favourite (22) _____ in this room. There is a kitchen in my dream house. There my mum and I can (23) ______ together. There is a fridge and it has drinks and snacks. There (24) ____   extra bedrooms, so my friends can sleep over. My dream house also has a big garden. I can plant flowers(25) _____ vegetables there.

21. A. on                              B. in                                     C. at                                     D. for

22. A. toys                          B. pens                                C. notebooks                      D. books

23. A. do                             B. make                               C. cook                                D. have

24. A. is                               B. are                                   C. give                                 D. be

25. A. and                           B. so                                    C. or                                     D. but

• For questions (1 - 8), read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap. Use only one word in each gap. There is an example at the beginning (0).

                                                                                                      BLUE DIAMONDS

  Blue diamonds are the world’s most expensive diamonds, with some valued (0) ...... AT....... over 350 million US dollars. However, no one knew (1) ............... recently precisely where these rare stones came from.

  Most diamonds are formed from pure carbon under extreme heat 150 to 200 kilometers underground, and (2) ............... is thought that volcanic eruptions bring them to the earth’s surface. Research by scientists has revealed, however, that blue diamonds were probably formed somewhere (3) ............... 600 and 800 kilometers down, in a part of the earth’s interior known (4) ............... the lower mantle.

  These researchers analyzed 46 blue diamonds, all of (5) .............. contained minerals only found in the lower mantle. (6) .............. only were these stones formed four times nearer the earth’s core (7) ............... normal diamonds, but they also contain an element called boron that is mostly found on the earth’s surface. What seems to have happened, (8) ............... to the researchers, is that billions of years ago, rocks containing boron were carried down into the lower mantle by movements of the earth’s tectonic plates, and were eventually returned to the surface by volcanic action.

Read the text below and think of the word which best fits each space. Use only one word in each space.

LEARNING VOCABULARY

Do you (1)________ hours trying to memorize lists of words? Do you look (2) ________ in a dictionary the meaning of every word you don't know? If  so, you may not be  doing yourself a favor. Research suggests that the (3) ________ way of building your vocabulary is by seeing words (4) ________ context and the obvious way to do that is to read as  often as you (5) ________. Regular exposure to written English, say 15 minutes every day, will be much (6) ________ useful than working really hard (7) ________ the evening once a week. This is (8) ________ the brain remembers information best when (9) ________ is associated with other information. The more you enjoy reading the more you will read. Pop songs (as long  as  they are in English) and TV programs will help in the same way. Who says that learning can’t (10) ________ fun?

• For questions 9 – 16, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap. Use only one word in each gap. There is an example at the beginning (0).

                                                                                                 A HISTORY OF SURFING

The history of surfing undoubtedly goes (0) BACK a long way. It seems to (9) .......... formed a central part of the culture of the Polynesian people, who were inhabitants of islands in the Pacific Ocean (10) .......... as Samoa, Tonga, and Hawaii. These people did not regard surfing (11) .......... a mere recreational activity. For them, it was much (12) .......... of an art. Although surfing disappeared from many parts of Polynesia in (13) .......... early twentieth century, a small number of people in Hawaii kept the tradition alive. In 1912, it spread to the east coast of the United States, and in particular to Virginia Beach, (14) .......... became an important surfing center. Surfing developed quite rapidly from then on, and the design of surfboards became more sophisticated. However, (15) .......... was not until the 1960s that surfing came to be a truly global phenomenon, boosted not only by the success of surfing films (16) .......... also by pop songs about surfing culture.

I.       Choose the word (a, b, c or d) that best fits each of the blank spaces.

(16) _____ country is more beautiful than a town and (17) _____ to live in. Many people think so, and go to the country for the summer holidays though they cannot live there all the year (18) _____. Some have a cottage (19) _____ in a village (20) _____ they can go there whenever they can find the time.

English villagers are not all alike, but in some (21) _____ they are not very different (22) _____ each other. Almost every village has a church, the round or square tower of which can be seen for many miles around. Surrounding the church is the churchyard, where people are buried.

The village green is a (23) _____ stretch of grass, and houses or cottages are built round it. Country life is now fairly comfortable and many villages have water (24) _____ through pipes into each house.

Most villages are (25) _____ close to some small towns that people can go there to buy what they can’t find in the village shops.

16. a. A                               b. An                                c. The                             d. Æ

17. a. pleasant                     b. please                           c. pleased                       d. pleasure

18. a. round                        b. through                        c. length                         d. whole

19. a. build                          b. built                             c. building                      d. builds

20. a. because                     b. if                                  c. such that                     d. so that

21. a. roads                         b. streets                          c. ways                           d. routes

22. a. with                           b. from                             c. between                      d. on

23. a. width                        b. wide                             c. wider                          d. widely

24. a. brought                     b. brings                           c. bringing                      d. bring

25. a. such                           b. too                               c. enough                        d. so

Read the following passage and choose the letter A, B, C or D to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks:

Brazil’s most popular and festive holiday is Carnival. In fact, many people (25) _______ Carnival one of the world’s biggest celebrations. Each spring, on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday, the streets of Brazil’s (26) ________ city, Rio de Janeiro, come alive with parties, festivals and glamorous dances.

The Samba School Parade is the highlight of the (27) ________ event. About 3000 performers, in colourful costumes embellished with feathers, beads and thousands of sequin dance down the parade route into the Sambadrome - a dance stadium (28) ________ for the event. Judges award a prize to the most spectacular group of dancers.

Câu 25: _TH_

A. believe B. regard C. consider D. hope

Câu 26: _TH_

A. the largest B. largest C. larger D. most large

Câu 27: _TH_

A. four days B. four-day C. fouth day D. four-days

Câu 28: _TH_

A. built B. build C. to build D. building

IX. Read the text below and think of the word which best fits each space. Use only ONE word in each space.  (20 points)

         If the teacher (1) _____________a question, you (2)____________ expected to give an answer. If you do not understand the question, you should (3)_________your hand and ask the teacher to repeat the question. If you do not know the answer, it is all right to tell the teacher that you do not know. Then he (4)_____________ she knows what you need to learn.

        There is no excuse for not (5)_____________ your homework. If you are absent, you should call your (6)_______________ or someone who is in your class and ask for the assignment. It is your responsibility (7)_____________ find out what assignments you have missed. It is not (8)______________ teacher’s responsibility to remind you of missed assignments.

        You must not be absent on a test day. If you are seriously ill, call and let the teacher know you will not be there for the test. (9)______________ your teacher allows make-up tests, you should take the test within one or two days after returning to class. Serious illness is the (10)_____________ reason for missing a test.

Read the text and think of the word which best fits each space. Use only ONE word in each space.

THE ORIGINS OF CHESS
A great (9) .................................... has been written about
the origins of modern chess, and there is still considerable debate
about the subject. (10) .................................... theory most
widely accepted is that its earliest ancestor was Shaturanga, a game
played in India from around AD 600. (11) .................................
with modern chess, Shaturanga was played on a board with 64 squares.
Pieces such as Kings, Queens and Knights were able to move in
different ways with (12) .................................... aim of
capturing other pieces and, at the end of the game, the opponent’s King. Unlike chess, it was played by four
people, (13) .................................... with their own army. And the other main difference is the use of
dice to decide which piece moved each turn. Some chess historians believe that the game in fact derives (14)
........................... a Persian game, Shatranj, the first references to which also (15) ..............................
from the sixth century. In Shatranj, the powers of the King to move and capture pieces (16)
.................................... more limited than in Shaturanga. (17) .................................... there may
be disagreement about its origins, it is generally accepted that chess in essentially the form it is played today
appeared in southern Europe around the end of the fifteenth century and quickly spread (18)
................................. the continent. (19) .................................... this time, the Queen had become
the most powerful piece of all. Today, chess has become one of the world’s (20) ....................................
popular games. It is played by millions of people both informally and in tournaments, and the number of people
playing online is increasing with access to the Internet.