VIII. Choose the word or phrase among A, B, C or D that best fits the blank space in the following passage.

The country and the city have advantages and (1) ………………. People in the country live in more beautiful surroundings. They enjoy (2) ……………… and quietness, and can do their work at their (3) ……………… pace because no one is in a (4) ………………. they live in larger, more comfortable houses, and their neighbors are more friendly, and ready to help them (5) ………………. they need it. Their life, however, can be (6) ……………….and they may be isolated, which is a serious problem (7) ………………. they are ill or want to take children to school.

     The city has all the services that the country lacks, but it (8) …………… has a lot of disadvantages. Cities are often polluted. They not (9) …………… have polluted air but also have noisy streets. Everyone is always in a hurry and this (10) ……………… that people have no time to get to know each other and make friends.

1.  A. joy                     B. enjoyment         C. happiness         D. disadvantages

2.  A. quiet                   B. quietly               C. peace                 D. peaceful

3.  A. less                     B. own                   C. just                    D. only

4.  A. hurry                  B. hurried              C. hurriedly                       D. hurrying

5.  A. when                  B. which                C. what                  D. that

6.  A. bore                   B. bored                 C. boring                D. bores

7.  A. unless                 B. because             C. although                        D. if

8.  A. also                    B. yet                     C. already              D. so

9.  A. never                  B. ever                   C. hardly                D. only

10.  A. aims                 B. means                C. asks                   D. said

I. READING 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

The country and the city have advantages and disadvantages. People in the country live in more beautiful surroundings. They enjoy (19) …………….. and quietness, and can do their work at their own pace because no one is in a (20) …………………... They live in larger, more comfortable houses, and their neighbors are more friendly, and ready to help them (21) ……………….. they need it. Their life, however, can be boring and they may be isolated, which is serious problem (22) ……………… they are ill or want to take children to school. The city has all the services that the country lacks, but it also has a lot of disadvantages. Cities are often polluted. They not only have polluted air but also have noisy streets. Everyone is always in hurry and this means that people have no time to get to know each other and make friends.

Question 19. A. quietly B. peaceful C. peace D. quiet

Question 20. A. hurried B. hurrying C. hurriedly D. hurry

Question 21. A. what B. when C. which D. that

Question 22. A. unless B. although C. because D. if

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

The country is more beautiful than a town and more pleasant to live in. Many people think so, and go to the country for the summer holidays though they cannot live there all the year round. Some have a cottage built in a village so that they can go there whenever they can find the time. English villages are not all alike, but in some ways they are not very different from one another. Almost every village has a church, the round or square tower of which can be seen from many miles around. Surrounding the church is the church yard, where people are buried. The village green is a wide stretch of grass, and houses or cottages are built round it. Country life is now fairly comfortable and many villages have running water brought through pipes into each house. Most villages are so close to some small towns that people can go there to buy what they can’t find in the village shops.

Question 23. When do city people often go to the country?

A. At the weekends.

B. All the year round.

C. At Christmas.

D. . The summer holidays.

Question 24. What is the advantage of city people when they have a cottage built in the

village?

A. They can have their houses rented.

B. They can go to the country at weekends.

C. They can go to the country when they are busy.

D. They can go to the country whenever they can find the time.

Question 25. What is NOT mentioned in the life of English villages?

A. The village green

B. Running water

C. The church

D. The Internet

Question 26. What can villagers do when their villages are close to small towns?

A. They can go there to buy cheaper things.

B. They can go there to buy whatever they want.

C. They can go there to buy luxury goods.

D. They can go there to buy what is not found in the village shops.

IV. Choose the word or phrase among A, B, C or D that best fits the blank space in the following passage.

     English is the most important in the world today. A very large (21)______ of people understand and use English in many countries of the world.

   Indeed English is a very useful language. If we speak English we can go to any place or country we like. We shall not find it hard to (22) _______people understand what we want to say.

English also helps us to learn all kinds of subjects. Hundreds of books are published in English every day in many countries to teach people many useful things. The English language has, (23)_______, helped to spread ideas and knowledge to all the corners of the world. There is no subject that cannot be taught in English.

As English is used so much everywhere in the world, it has helped to make the countries in the world friendlier. The leaders of the world use English (24) _____one another. The English language has also helped to spread better understanding and friendship among countries of the world.

Lastly, a person who knows English is respected by people. It is for all these (25) ____that I want to learn English.

21. A. few                   B. deal                         C. amount                   D. number

22. A. get                    B. let                           C. persuade                 D. make

23. A. however           B. therefore                 C. athough                  D. otherwise

24. A. understand       B. understanding        C. to understand         D. understood

25. A. reasons             B. causes                     C. effects                    D. results

Choose the word or phrase among A, B, C or D that best fits the blank in the following passage

 My village is about 50 kilometers from the city center. It is a very (1)_________ place where people (2)_________ flowers and vegetables only. It is very famous of its pretty roses and picturesque scenes. The air is quite fresh, however, the smell of the roses make people (3)___________ cool. In spring, my village looks (4)____________ a carpet with plenty of colors. Tourists come to visit it so often. Nowadays, with electricity, it doesn’t take the villagers much time (5)___________ the roses.

Choose the word or phrase among A, B, C or D that best fits the blank space in the following passage.

              COMMUNAL HOUSE (RONG HOUSE)

The Rong House can only be (1) in villages to the north of the Central Highlands, especially in Gia Lai and Kon Turn provinces. It is a large, imposing, beautifully decorated stilt house built (2) in the middle of the village. It is where community activities (3) , meetings, wedding ceremonies, or playing ceremonies. It is also the place for reception of guests. The Rong house of each ethnic group has its own architectural style, design, and decor. Yet there are shared (4) . In the village, it is often (5) house roofed with yellow-dried thatch leaves and having 8 big wood columns. The rafters are decorated with patterns of bright colour, depicting religious scenes, legendary stories about ancient heroes, stylized animals, and other familiar things of the village life. The most distinction of the decor of the Rong House is the (6) of  the  brilliant  God  of  Sun.  The  Rong  House  is  a  (7) of the culture of Central Highlanders, an age-old and stable culture. The bigger the house, the wealthier the village is. It is a (8) of the whole village.

1. A. found B. find C. to find D. finding

2. A. on B. in C. at D. under

3. A. happens B. take on C. take place D. occurs

4. A. features B. cultures C. customs D. designs

5. A. a big B. a bigger C. biggest D. the biggest

6. A. portrait B. photo C. image D. painting

7. A. signal B. sign C. symbol D. scene

8. A. design B. pride C. proud D. respect

III. Choose the word or phrase among A, B, C or D that best fits the blank space in the following passage. Have a walk (1) a beach, listen to the sound of the sea waves, and suddenly you see a lot of rubbish on the beach. Pollution takes away all the (2) of our beaches. I feel really annoyed (3) I see plastic bags lying on the sand, cigarette ends buried in the sand, and soda cans floating in the sea. There are a lot of things that we can do. (4) we see rubbish, we should do our part in the protecting the land (5) picking it up and throwing it in dust bins. (6) , we can form some kind of organization that helps (7) the beaches. If everyone does their part, the beaches will be a wonderful and beautiful place. We need to start now (8) the beaches are damaged beyond repair. 1. A. on B. in C. at D. over 2. A. beauty B. beautifully C. beautiful D. being beautiful 3. A. before B. after C. when D. while 4. A. While B. Soon C. Unless D. If 5. A. by B. with C. of D. in 6. A. Nevertheless B. Moreover C. However D. Therefore 7. A. cleaning up B. cleaning up C. clean up D. clean off 8. A. when B. after C. until D. before