Đề thi thử Chọn học sinh giỏi quốc gia THPT năm 2019
Đề thi thử Chọn học sinh giỏi quốc gia THPT năm 2019 giúp các bạn học sinh sắp tham gia các kì thi Tiếng Anh tham khảo, học tập và ôn tập kiến thức, bài tập và đạt kết quả cao trong kỳ thi sắp tới. Mời bạn đọc đón xem!
Môn: Đề thi chọn học sinh giỏi Tiếng Anh lớp 12 THPT & đội tuyển dự thi học sinh giỏi Quốc gia THPT
Trường: Đề thi chọn HSG Tiếng Anh từ lớp 9 đến lớp 12 cấp trường, quận/ huyện, tỉnh/ thành phố
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Đề thi chọn học sinh giỏi Tiếng Anh lớp 12 THPT & đội tuyển dự thi học sinh giỏi Quốc gia THPT
Trường:
Đề thi chọn HSG Tiếng Anh từ lớp 9 đến lớp 12 cấp trường, quận/ huyện, tỉnh/ thành phố
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PAGE TÀI LIỆU TIẾNG ANH NÂNG CAO
KỲ THI HỌC SINH GIỎI QUỐC GIA THPT
ĐỀ THI THỬ HSGQG SỐ 06 NĂM 2020 Môn thi: TIẾNG ANH
Thời gian thi:
180 phút (không kể thời gian giao đề) Ngày thi:
Đề thi có 18 trang
* Thí sinh không được sử dụng tài liệu, kể cả từ điển
* Giám thị không giải thích gì thêm. I. LISTENING (50 POINTS)
Part 1. For questions 1-5, listen to a conversation between a student and an officer of customer
services in a bank and decide whether these statements are True (T) or False (F). Write your answers
in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.
1. The student has recently visited the bank.
2. The student needs to produce a letter from her course tutor.
3. The student gets worried because she has no money left.
4. The government regulations are trying to target criminal activities.
5. With current accounts, the use of ATMs and overdrafts are available. Your answers 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Part 2. For questions 6-14, listen to a report on a scandal in education and supply the blanks with the
missing information. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS taken from the recording for each
answer in the space provided.
- At least 50 people, including wealthy parents, college sports coaches and administrators have been
charged with participating in 6)_________________ to influence undergraduate admissions decisions at
several top American universities. The scheme involved either cheating on standardized tests or
7)_________________ college coaches to accept students as college athletes.
- U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling called this the largest 8)_________________ ever prosecuted by the
Justice Department. The offences are also described as 9)_________________, selfish and shameful.
- Parents are reported to have paid more than $25 million to Rick Singer, who orchestrated the whole
scheme. Singer disguised bribe payments as charitable contributions to a purported nonprofit that was,
in fact, a 10)_________________ he used to launder the illegal money.
- Fabrication of sports credentials was carried out in different ways. Firstly, bribed coaches labelled
students as 11)_________________, which gave their applications an advantage. Secondly, Singer
helped parents take 12)_________________ photographs of their children engaged in particular sports.
Finally, Photoshop was used to insert a photograph of a student's face onto a photograph of another
person participating in the sport to document purported athletic activity.
- College admissions counselors believe 13)_________________ are the main sufferers of the fraud.
The institutions involved in the scandal took steps to punish the offenders, with Standford’s
14)_________________ being dismissed. 1
Part 3. For questions 15-19, listen to a discussion between two environmentalists, Ken Forbes and
Maggie Dimas, who are talking about cars of the future and cyclists and choose the correct answer A,
B, C, or D which fits best according to what you hear. Write your answers in the corresponding
numbered boxes provided.
15. What main point does Ken make about the driverless cars?
A. They will mean that cyclists will be in more danger.
B. They will make punishments for drivers redundant.
C. They will ensure that cyclists remain unharmed.
D. They will be perfect in every way but construction.
16. When discussing the implications of driverless cars, Maggie reveals
A. that non-drivers, not driverless vehicles, might be the biggest problem.
B. that she is frightened by the idea of cars having no driver.
C. her doubt that increased road regulations will guarantee safety.
D. her concern that Ken is too optimistic about the future.
17. On what subject do Ken and Maggie share a common view?
A. Non-drivers will use the driving lanes if given the chance.
B. Traditional street lights must not be removed.
C. The jobs of those in charge will become more difficult.
D. Automatic braking systems will save many lives.
18. When discussing driverless cars and research, both environmentalists
A. acknowledge that various organisations are involved in it.
B. agree that the Google organisation is leading the way.
C. suggest there are still many design problems to be solved.
D. admit they cannot predict when driverless cars will be marketable.
19. What can be inferred from Ken’s closing remarks?
A. He feels driverless technology will have a positive effect on cyclists.
B. He is certain that special laws will be needed to make driverless cars safe.
C. He is in two minds about how driverless technology will affect cyclists.
D. He believes faster cars will pose a threat to both passengers and cyclists. Your answers 15. 16. 17. 18. 19.
Part 4. For questions 20-25, listen to a talk about the 3D PRINTING and supply the blanks with the
missing information. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS taken from the recording for each
answer in the space provided.
The 3D printing process builds an object by successively adding material layer by layer, which is why it
is also called 20)_________________. This method is more economical and time-saving compared to 21)_________________.
The first step in 3D printing involves creating a blueprint of the 3D modelled object. This can be done
either by using 22)_________________ to create your own designs or by finding objects on websites.
Once the data has been transmitted to the printer, the material is pulled, melted and deposited to the
23)_________________ where the cooling process takes place.
The development of new materials has flourished 3D printing food, in which beautiful
24)_________________ are created.
3D printing also has practical values in the medical sector where bio-materials are tested to invent 25)_________________. 2
II. LEXICO-GRAMMAR (20 POINTS)
Part 1. For questions 26-39, choose the correct answer A, B, C or D to each of the following
questions and write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.
26. If you need help, please don’t hesitate to call me. I can be there _______. A. in a fix B. in a flash C. in a daze D. in the bag
27. My car broke down and I had to _______ a huge sum of money to have it towed and serviced. A. splash out B. fork out C. put aside D. pay off
28. After the hurricane, all that was left of our house was a pile of _______. A. rabble B. rubble C. ramble D. rumble
29. To say it is the best novel written in the last twenty years is going far _______. A. a long way B. over the top C. through a bad patch D. to great lengths
30. This week’s programme is given _______ a profile of an eminent scientist. A. down on B. in to C. over to D. up on
31. He gave speeches all over the world to _______ support for his “Help the Homeless” Campaign. A. trot out B. turn to C. weigh up D. whip up
32. The new professor is way ahead of the _______with his research into genetics. A. twist B. circle C. spin D. curve
33. If there happened to be both rich and poor people, as there happen to be both black and white ones,
then the advantages of the _______ might well spread in time to the hard-up. A. well-heeled B. big-hearted C. open-handed D. tight-fisted
34. As much as the candidate tried to convince people of his honesty, he could not shake off his _______ past. A. serene B. tranquil C. shady D. frigid
35. The greedy man wouldn’t hesitate to _______ away his valued assets if he thought it would bring him more money. A. wager B. bet C. gamble D. stake
36. His talent meant he could create wondrous things, but his _______ meant he hardly ever felt like working. A. adversity B. lethargy C. ineptitude D. tactlessness
37. The founder of the company decided to take a back _______ and let the board members run the business. A. stage B. seat C. row D. door
38. The local authorities annually ______ between £50 million and £100 million on art projects. A. disperse B. disband C. disburse D. dispose
39. Everyone was living off tens of thousands of years of accumulated groundwater, like a ______ heir squandering his wealth. A. stingy B. miserly C. spendthrift D. penny- pincher Your answers 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39.
Part 2. For questions 40-45, write the correct form of each bracketed word in the numbered space provided.
The European Court of Justice has ruled that workers who become ill during their holidays have the
right to take additional paid time off later. The Luxembourg-based court stated that “the purpose of (40.
TITLE) __________ to paid annual leave is to enable the worker to rest and enjoy a period of relaxation
and leisure. The purpose of sick leave is different. It is to enable a worker to recover from an (41. AIL)
__________ that has caused him to be unfit for work.” It concluded that it would be arbitrary and (42.
CONTRADICT) __________ to the purpose of paid annual leave to deny workers holiday time in exchange for time spent sick.
Business groups in the UK warn that applying the courts’ rules will be detrimental to the wider UK
economy and say that the rulings (43. LINE) __________ the need for Britain’s ministers to resist the 3
court. But, unfortunately, while the UK has an opt-out on parts of the (44. DIRECT) __________ that
the ruling relates to, it has no exemption on sick pay and holiday.
The UK government estimates that adopting the rules will cost British employers more than £100
million annually. The UK’s Business Secretary described the court’s rulings as “an unnecessary burden
on businesses” and “completely (45. DEFEND) __________ during a time of economic strain”. Your answers 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. III. READING (50 POINTS)
Part 1. For questions 46-55, fill each of the following numbered blanks with ONE suitable word and
write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.
June 8th is World Oceans Day – an idea instituted by the United Nations to celebrate and protect our
natural heritage. Just as our own central nervous 46)______ controls every part of our body, so the
oceans control every part of our planet. They regulate climate, weather and ecosystems.
Unfortunately, human activities have led to pollution and the destruction of marine habitats. Another
result of human 47)______ in the natural environment is climate change with its accompanying extreme
weather 48)______. A rise in greenhouse gas emissions has led to an increase in global temperatures
and as a consequence sea levels have risen. Plastic pollution is also a big issue.
In 2016, as 49)______ of World Oceans Day, thousands of people took part in ‘the better bag challenge’
and promised to use reusable bags instead of plastic ones. 80 per cent of plastic rubbish 50)______ on
land ends up in the sea, usually washed there via 51)______ – where rivers empty into the sea. You may
have seen such debris washed up onto your local beach at low 52)______. Most plastic bags are made of
polyethene – a 53)______ compound which is not biodegradable. Plastic bags break down into tiny
visible 54)______, which are ingested by fish and marine mammals. ‘The better bag challenge’ aims to
halt this devastating process and give new 55)______ to our oceans. Your answers 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55.
Part 2. For questions 56-68, read the following passage and do the tasks that follow. The Mystery of Sleep
Sleep takes up precious time and leaves us vulnerable, so why do we do it?
A. The question of why we sleep has been on people’s minds at least since the time of Aristotle, who
believed that the warming and cooling of the body as a result of digestion caused sleep. Though we
know this is incorrect today, other early theories have held up better. The possibility of a ‘sleep toxin’ –
a substance that built up during the day, causing drowsiness, and was subsequently relieved by sleep –
was put forward by Henri Pieron in the early 1900s, and this concept is not unlike some contemporary
ideas about sleep that researchers are pursuing today. It was not until 1953 that Nathaniel Kleitman and
his colleagues identified two different kinds of sleep; REM and non-REM sleep. Many say that this
breakthrough paved the way for modern sleep research. But since then, despite the great deal of effort
that has been made to better understand sleep, it is still largely a mysterious phenomenon. 4
B. Among living things, sleep is practically universal. Even jellyfish, which have no brains, experience
something called sleep pressure – the need to rest longer after being kept awake. Tiny worms, with only
a few neurons, spend time in a sleep-like state and die more quickly when exposed to stress if this state
is prevented. Sharks and dolphins, which must keep moving at all times in order to breathe, have the
ability to sleep with one hemisphere of the brain at a time. Yet, when an animal sleeps, it cannot protect
itself from danger, it cannot eat or reproduce. Sleep is high-risk and costly, so why is it such a universal
phenomenon? Clearly, it must be important.
C. One theory about the reason for sleep is that it arose simply as a way to save energy. If there were
times when it was difficult or hazardous for an animal to move around, then it might make sense for
them to simply enter a sleep state when all of their physical systems slow down. That way, they would
require less food, and could hide away from danger. The observation that animals with few natural
predators, lions, for example, sleep up to 15 hours a day, while small prey animals seldom sleep more
than 5 hours a day, seems to contradict this, however. In addition, the objection has been raised that
sleep only lowers the metabolism by 10-15 per cent, so not much energy is, in fact, saved. According to
Serge Daan, a researcher who studied arctic ground squirrels, something else must be taking place. He
found that the ground squirrels would periodically come out of their suspended-animation-like state of
hibernation in order to sleep. For these animals, sleep was actually energetically expensive, so it must
serve some other essential purpose.
D. It is well established that the act of sleeping is important for essential brain functions such as
memory and learning. A rapidly increasing body of cognitive research suggests that sleep allows us to
consolidate and process information that has been acquired during the day. Sleep scientist Matthew
Walker used MRI scans to visualise activity in the brains of people who were learning a series of finger
movements. One group was allowed to sleep and the other was not. He found differences in the areas of
the brain that were activated when they recalled the movements; the group that had slept showed less
activity in the brain, and better recollection of the task. In other words, the way the memory was stored
had become more efficient. Walker believes that this could explain why toddlers, who are constantly
learning new motor skills, require so much more sleep than adults. Furthermore, Ted Abel, while
assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania, found that mice deprived of sleep for the first five
hours after learning did not remember their physical surroundings, while their memory of facts and
events was not affected. This result allowed him to specify that sleep regulates memory in a specific part
of the brain, the hippocampus, which is responsible for memories related to spatial and contextual
information. But despite numerous studies, there are still more questions than answers on the role of sleep in memory and learning.
E. Another theory about the role of sleep is that it is essential for cleanup and repair in the brain and
body. Support for this theory is provided by research that shows periods of REM sleep increase
following periods of sleep deprivation and strenuous physical activity. During sleep, the body also
increases its rate of cell division and protein synthesis, further suggesting that repair and restoration
occurs during sleeping periods. Recently, new evidence supporting the repair and restoration theory has
been uncovered. Research has shown that the cellular structure of the brain is altered during sleep, and
more space forms between cells. This allows fluid to move between the cells and flush out toxic waste
products. It is believed that these toxins increase in the central nervous system during waking times, and
the restorative function of sleep is a consequence of their removal.
F. It may seem that all of this new evidence is not making the question of why we sleep any clearer;
indeed, the evidence seems to point to different explanations. In this context, it seems important to
remember that there may not be one correct answer, but instead it could be a combination. While the 5
idea that sleep is a method of energy conservation seems to be falling out of favour, it seems more and
more likely that benefits for memory and learning, the cleanup of the brain and the repair of the body
can all be attributed to a good night’s sleep
Questions 56-61: There are six paragraphs marked A-F in the passage. In which paragraph is the
following mentioned? Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided.
56. how researchers can see what is happening inside the brain
57. how many reasons for sleep there might realistically be
58. an example of lack of sleep being deadly
59. a particular discovery that was essential for how we view sleep today
60. how sleep might have arisen from threatening conditions
61. how the brain physically changes during sleep Your answers 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61.
Questions 62-64: Look at the following statement and the list of researchers below. Match each
statement with the correct researcher, A-E. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided. A Henri Pieron B Nathaniel Kleitman C Serge Daan D Matthew Walker E Ted Abel 62
Sleep is essential for the recollection only of certain types of memory. 63
The fact that sleep requirements vary with age alludes to its role. 64
A chemical that promotes sleep accumulates throughout the day. Your answers 62. 63. 64.
Questions 65-66: Choose TWO letters, A-E. Which TWO theories does the writer question the validity
of? Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided.
A Sleep pressure is proof of the necessity of sleep.
B Animals’ sleeping habits are related to their place on the food chain.
C Sleep is related to changes in body temperature.
D Sleep prevents the unnecessary burning of calories.
E There are different types of sleep with different functions.
Questions 67-68: Choose TWO letters, A-E. Which TWO points does the writer mention in support of
the importance of sleep for memory? Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided.
A During sleep, unimportant memories are removed.
B Sleep makes recollection more effortless.
C Sleep results in more activity throughout the brain.
D The function of a specific brain region is affected by sleep.
E Sleep duration modifies learning Your answers 65. 66. 67. 68. 6
Part 3. In the passage below, seven paragraphs have been removed. For questions 69-75, read the
passage and choose from the paragraphs A-H the one which fits each gap. There is ONE extra
paragraph which you do not need to use. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided.
Living in a Dream World
Daydreaming can help solve problems, trigger creativity, and inspire great works of art and science.
By Josie Glazier.
Most people spend between 30 and 47 per cent of their waking hours spacing out, drifting off, lost in
thought, wool-gathering or building castles in the air. Yale University emeritus psychology professor
Jerome L. Singer defines daydreaming as shifting attention “away from some primary physical or
mental task toward an unfolding sequence of private responses” or, more simply, “watching your own
mental videos.” He also divides daydreaming styles into two main categories: “positive-constructive,”
which includes upbeat and imaginative thoughts, and “dysphoric,” which encompasses visions of failure or punishment. 69.
Such humdrum concerns figured prominently in one study that rigorously measured how much time we
spend mind wandering in daily life. In a 2009 study, Kane and his colleague Jennifer McVay asked 72
students to carry Palm Pilots that beeped at random intervals eight times a day for a week. The subjects
then recorded their thoughts at that moment on a questionnaire. The study found that about 30 per cent
of the beeps coincided with thoughts unrelated to the task at hand and that mind wandering increased
with stress, boredom or sleepiness or in chaotic environments and decreased with enjoyable tasks. That
may be because enjoyable activities tend to grab our attention. 70.
We may not even be aware that we are daydreaming. We have all had the experience of “reading” a
book yet absorbing nothing—moving our eyes over the words on a page as our attention wanders and
the text turns into gibberish. “When this happens, people lack what I call ‘meta-awareness,’
consciousness of what is currently going on in their mind,” he says. But aimless rambling can be
productive as they can allow us to stumble on ideas and associations that we may never find if we intentionally seek them. 71.
So, why should daydreaming aid creativity? It may be in part because when the brain is floating in
unfocused mental space it serves a specific purpose. It allows us to engage in one task and at the same
time trigger reminders of other, concurrent goals so that we do not lose sight of them. There is also the
belief that we can boost the creative process by increasing the amount of daydreaming we do or
replaying variants of the millions of events we store in our brains. 72. 7
The mind's freedom to wander during a deliberate tuning out could also explain the flash of insight that
may coincide with taking a break from an unsolved problem. A study conducted at the University of
Lancaster in England into this possibility found that if we allow our minds to ramble during a
moderately challenging task, we can access ideas that are not easily available to our conscious minds.
Our ability to do so is now known to depend on the normal functioning of a dedicated daydreaming network deep in our brain. 73.
It was not until 2007, however, that cognitive psychologist Malia Fox Mason, discovered that the
default network — which lights up when people switch from an attention-demanding activity to drifting
reveries with no specific goals, becomes more active when mind wandering is more likely. She also
discovered that people who daydream more in everyday life show greater activity in the default network
while performing monotonous tasks. 74.
The conclusion reached in this ground-breaking study was that the more complex the mind wandering
episode is, the more of the mind it is going to consume. This inevitably leads to the problem of
determining the point at which creative daydreaming crosses the boundary into the realms of
compulsive fantasising. Although there is often a fine dividing line between the two, one question that
can help resolve the dilemma relates to whether the benefits gained from daydreaming outweigh the cost
to the daydreamer’s reputation and performance. 75.
On the other hand, there are psychologists who feel that the boundary is not so easily defined. They
argue that mind wandering is not inherently good or bad as it depends to a great extent on context.
When, for example, daydreaming occurs during an activity that requires little concentration, it is
unlikely to be costly. If, however, it causes someone to suffer severe injury or worse by say, walking
into traffic, then the line has been crossed.
A Although these two findings were significant, mind wandering itself was not measured during the
scans. As a result, it could not be determined exactly when the participants in her study were “on task”
and when they were daydreaming. In 2009 Smallwood, Schooler and Kalina Christoff of the University
of British Columbia published the first study to directly link mind wandering with increased activity in
the default network. Scans on the participants in their study revealed activity in the default network was
strongest when subjects were unaware they had lost focus.
B However, intense focus on our problems may not always lead to immediate solutions. Instead
allowing the mind to float freely can enable us to access unconscious ideas hovering underneath the
surface — a process that can lead to creative insight, according to psychologist Jonathan W. Schooler of
the University of California, Santa Barbara
C Yet to enhance creativity, it is important to pay attention to daydreams. Schooler calls this “tuning
out” or deliberate “off-task thinking.”, terms that refer to the ability of an individual to have more than 8
just the mind-wandering process. Those who are most creative also need to have meta-awareness to
realise when a creative idea has popped into their mind.
D On the other hand, those who ruminate obsessively—rehashing past events, repetitively analyzing
their causes and consequences, or worrying about all the ways things could go wrong in the future - are
well aware that their thoughts are their own, but they have intense difficulty turning them off. The late
Yale psychologist Susan Nolen-Hoeksema does not believe that rumination is a form of daydreaming,
but she has found that in obsessive ruminators, the same default network as the one that is activated
during daydreaming switches on.
E Other scientists distinguish between mundane musings and extravagant fantasies. Michael Kane, a
cognitive psychologist at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, considers “mind wandering”
to be “any thoughts that are unrelated to one's task at hand.” In his view, mind wandering is a broad
category that may include everything from pondering ingredients for a dinner recipe to saving the planet
from alien invasion. Most of the time when people fall into mind wandering, they are thinking about
everyday concerns, such as recent encounters and items on their to-do list.
F According to Schooler, there are two steps you need to take to make the distinction. First, notice
whether you are deriving any useful insights from your fantasies. Second, it is important to take stock of
the content of your daydreams. To distinguish between beneficial and pathological imaginings, he adds,
“Ask yourself if this is something useful, helpful, valuable, pleasant, or am I just rehashing the same old
perseverative thoughts over and over again?” And if daydreaming feels out of control, then even if it is
pleasant it is probably not useful or valuable.
G Artists and scientists are well acquainted with such playful fantasizing. Filmmaker Tim Burton
daydreamed his way to Hollywood success, spending his childhood holed up in his bedroom, creating
posters for an imaginary horror film series. Orhan Pamuk, the Turkish novelist who won the Nobel Prize
in Literature in 2006, imagined “another world,” to which he retreated as a child, Albert Einstein
pictured himself running along a light wave—a reverie that led to his theory of special relativity.
H Like Facebook for the brain, the default network is a bustling web of memories and streaming
movies, starring ourselves. “When we daydream, we're at the center of the universe,” says neurologist
Marcus Raichle of Washington University in St. Louis, who first described the network in 2001. It
consists of three main regions that help us imagine ourselves and the thoughts and feelings of others,
draw personal memories from the brain and access episodic memories. Your answers 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75.
Part 4. For questions 76-85, read an extract from an article on language and choose the answer A, B,
C or D that fits best according to the text. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.
Language diversity has always been part of the national demographic landscape of the United States. At
the time of the first census in 1790, about 25% of the population spoke languages other than English
(Lepore, 2002). Thus, there was a diverse pool of native speakers of other languages at the time of the
founding of the republic. Today, nationwide, school districts have reported more than 400 languages
spoken by language-minority students classified as limited English proficient (LEP) students (Kindler,
2002). Between 1991 and 2002, total K-12 student enrollment rose only 12%, whereas LEP student
enrollment increased 95% during this same time period (National Clearinghouse for English Language 9
Acquisition, 2002b). This rapid increase and changing demographics has intensified the long debate
over the best way to educate language-minority students.
Historically, many groups attempted to maintain their native languages even as they learned English,
and for a time, some were able to do so with relatively little resistance until a wave of xenophobia swept
the country during World War 1 (Kloss, 1977/1998). Other groups, Africans, and Native Americans
encountered repressive politics much earlier. During the 1960s, a more tolerant policy climate emerged.
However, for the past two decades there has been a steady undertow of resistance to bilingualism and
bilingual education. This article provides historical background and analyzes contemporary trends in
language-minority education within the context of the recent national push for accountability, which
typically takes the form of high-stakes testing.
The origins of persistent themes regarding the popular antagonisms toward bilingual education and the
prescribed panaceas of "English immersion" and high-stakes testing in English need to be scrutinized.
As background to the contemporary context, we briefly discuss the history of language politics in the
United States and the ideological underpinnings of the dominant monolingual English ideology. We
analyze the recent attacks on bilingual education for what this attack represents for educational policy
within a multilingual society such as the United States. We emphasize multilingualism because most
discussions of language policy are framed as if monolingualism were part of our heritage from which
we are now drifting. Framing the language policy issues in this way masks both the historical and
contemporary reality and positions non-English language diversity as an abnormality that must be cured.
Contrary to the steady flow of disinformation, we begin with the premise that even as English has
historically been the dominant language in the United States since the colonial era, language diversity
has always been a fact of life. Thus, efforts to deny that reality represent a "malady of mind" (Blaut,
1993) that has resulted in either restrictionist or repressive language policies for minorities.
As more states ponder imposing restrictions on languages of instruction other than English-as
California, Arizona, and Massachusetts have recently done-it is useful to highlight several questions
related to the history of language politics and language planning in the United States. Educational
language planning is frequently portrayed as an attempt to solve the language problems of the minority.
Nevertheless, the historical record indicates that schools have generally failed to meet the needs of
language-minority students (Deschenes, Cuban, & Tyack, 2001) and that the endeavour to plan
language behaviour by forcing a rapid shift to English has often been a source of language problems that
has resulted in the denial of language rights and hindered linguistic access to educational, social,
economic, and political benefits even as the promoters of English immersion claim the opposite.
The dominance of English was established under the British during the colonial period, not by official
decree but through language status achievement, that is, through "the legitimization of a government's
decisions regarding acceptable language for those who are to carry out the political, economic, and
social affairs of the political process" (Heath, 1976, p.51). English achieved dominance as a result of the
political and socioeconomic trade between England and colonial administrators, colonists, and traders. 10
Other languages coexisted with English in the colonies with notable exceptions. Enslaved Africans were
prohibited from using their native tongues for fear that it would facilitate resistance or rebellion. From
the 1740s forward, southern colonies simultaneously institutionalized "compulsory ignorance" laws that
prohibited those enslaved from acquiring English literacy for similar reasons. These restrictive slave
codes were carried forward as the former southern colonies became states of the newly United States
and remained in force until the end of the Civil War in 1865 (Weinberg, 1977/1995). Thus, the very first
formal language policies were restrictive with the explicit purpose of promoting social control.
76. What is the primary purpose of including the statistic from the 1790 census in the introductory paragraph?
A) To explain how colonizing the US eradicated language diversity
B) To show concrete evidence that language diversity in the US is not a new phenomenon
C) To note that before that time, there was no measure of language diversity in the US
D) To demonstrate that census data can be inaccurate
77. The article compares two sets of statistics from the years 1991-2002, increases in K-12
enrollment and increases in LEP students, to highlight.
A) That the two numbers, while often cited in research, are insignificant
B) That while many people with school-age children immigrated to the US during this time, an equal
amount left the country as well
C) That language diversity had no impact on US student enrollment during this time
D) That while the total amount of students enrolled in US schools may have grown slowly, the amount
of those students who were LEP increased dramatically
78. According to the second paragraph, many groups maintained their native languages without
resistance into the 20th-century EXCEPT__________.
A) Native Americans and African Americans
B) Irish Americans and African Americans
C) Mexican Americans and Native Americans
D) Native Americans and Dutch Americans
79. Why is the word "undertow" emphasized in the second paragraph?
A) To explain how certain groups continued to carry their native languages with them despite the
opposition from those against language diversity
B) To show the secretive and sneaky nature of those opposed to language diversity
C) To call attention to the ebb and flow of language resistance during the 20th century, experiencing
periods of both rest and extremism
D) To explain that, while many groups tried to maintain their native languages, many gave in to social
and political pressure to use only English
80. What is the best way to describe the function of the third paragraph in this excerpt?.
A) The paragraph provides its primary thesis as well an outline of the article's main points 11
B) The paragraph is an unnecessary and irrelevant inclusion
C) The paragraph serves to reveal the conclusions of the article before detailing the data
D) The paragraph firmly establishes the article's stance against language diversity
81. What is the best summary of why the phrase "multilingualism" is emphasized in the third paragraph?
A) Language repression stems from the US's unwillingness to recognize the languages of its foreign allies
B) Because language is constantly changing and often goes through multiple phases over time
C) The authors firmly believe that speaking more than one language gives students a substantial benefit in higher education.
D) Language policy discussions often assume that the US has a monolinguistic history, which is untrue
and poses language diversity as threatening
82. Phrases such as "prescribed panaceas" and "malady of the mind" are used in the third
paragraph to__________.
A) Defend the point that the US must standardize its language education or there will be severe results
B) Point out that language is as much a physical process as an intellectual one
C) Illustrate how certain opponents of language diversity equate multilingual education with a kind of national disease
D) Demonstrate how the stress of learning multiple languages can make students ill
83. According to the fourth paragraph, all of the following are potential negatives of rapid English
immersion EXCEPT__________.
A) It can lead to a denial of language rights for particular groups
B) Students become more familiar with conversational expressions and dialect
C) It can prevent access to certain benefits that are always available to fluent speakers
D) It can promote feelings of alienation among groups that are already in a minority status
84. The best alternate definition of "language status achievement" is __________.
A) When enough scholarly work has been produced in a language, it is officially recognized
B) Those who are in power socially and economically determine the status of a language
C) Languages fall into a hierarchy depending upon the numbers of populations that speak them
D) The position of a language in which no others may coexist with it
85. From the context of the final paragraph, what does "compulsory ignorance" mean?
A) Populations at the time were required only to obtain a certain low level of education
B) Slave populations were compelled to only speak in their native languages and not learn English
C) That slaves were forcibly prevented from developing their native language skills out of fear that they would gain power
D) Slave owners would not punish slaves who did not wish to learn and speak only English 12 Your answers 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85.
Part 5. The passage below consists of five sections marked A-E. For questions 86-95, read the
passage and do the task that follows. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided. The Machine Age
A As the pace of technological development advances at ever greater speeds, society has had to come to
terms with some exceedingly rapid changes. This has led to some deep collective soul searching about
the effects of technology on ordinary lives. The question being as to whether the sudden adoption of the
virtual world of cyberspace is having a profound effect on human isolation. Do people talk any more?
Or is communication now mainly through the various electronic media that so many people use? Many
lament the rise of these media within society and wonder how far this virtual life will go. Will we reach
the stage where we can actually transpose our brains into an avatar and live our lives vicariously in
cyberspace? This could finally be the route to immortality that has long been a subtle human desire, the
ability to cheat death once and for all.
B But just how real the fears about the role of technology in our lives are, is a complex question to
answer. And there is some evidence that we are simply worrying about the wrong thing. Research does
not support the idea that the increased connectivity afforded people by the internet has led to greater
social isolation. In fact, it appears to have had the opposite effect, in that the people who are the most
connected on social networks tend to have greater social interaction and are more engaged in public life
than those who do not use them. The ease of use and convenience of new technologies have induced
people to adapt to them and to do so at great speed. It is this speed of change that has alarmed some
people. It’s a phenomenon that could simply be described as ‘The Shock of the New’ and it’s one that
has greeted all major societal changes throughout history and it could, reasonably, be regarded as
nothing more alarming than a process by which change comes to be accepted.
C So, are there any valid fears with regard to this sudden rise in technological breakthroughs? One
possibly legitimate fear is that the machines may, in the not so distant future, attain greater intelligence
than humans. As technology becomes more sophisticated, we come closer to the reality of an artificial
intelligence that exceeds our own. The danger of this is that with so much of our future lives likely to be
very deeply interconnected with machines, they will, in a real sense, control our behaviour even if it is
only in very subtle, unobtrusive ways. There is also something to be said for the idea that even now
machines have extensive control in the developed world. Were they to be suddenly switched off, entire
sectors of our society would simply collapse. There would be no access to banking, shopping, transport or communication.
D In the end, we need to ask ourselves, as a society, whether this interconnectedness with technology is
something we should embrace or resist. And the truth of the matter is that it is almost impossible to
envisage an ideology that would seek to reverse the march of technology. Technology is now an
inherent part of our society and culture, and so interwoven into every aspect of our lives that to remove
it would essentially mean the collapse of our civilisation as it currently exists. No one would have
thought it credible that suddenly, in the 19th century, the brakes should have been put on the industrial
revolution and Europe and North America should have returned to a rural farming existence. The same
argument stands for the technology of today.
E So, in essence, we have no real choice but to embrace technology and its inexorable rise within
society. To try to do otherwise is counterproductive to our own good as a species as well as an exercise
in futility. That the machines will gain in intelligence in the near future is inevitable, but there are ways
to safeguard our systems from nefarious control, as long as we remember that all systems need to have
built-in checks and balances, whether that be the systems within, or external to, the machines in our
lives. Humanity is, without doubt, now set firmly on a path which is dominated by the integral
coexistence of man and machine. 13
In which section are the followings mentioned? Your answers:
a refutation of a popular assumption about the way people socialise nowadays 86.
the possibility of living forever in the form of an avatar 87.
an explanation for anxiety about the advancing intelligence of machines 88.
the idea that face-to-face contact is diminishing rapidly 89.
why concern about intelligent machines may be justified 90.
the possibility of human existence becoming an entirely virtual experience 91.
the need to ensure that all structures within society have measures to prevent 92. them from becoming corrupt
the inevitability of the development of the intellectual capability of machines 93.
an example from the past used to illustrate the ridiculousness of a current idea 94.
the parts of society already entirely dependent on machine input 95. IV. WRITING (60 points)
Part 1. Read the following extract and use your own words to summarise it. Your summary should be
between 140 and 160 words long.
Buzzwords come and go, but there’s one at the moment that’s taking the world by storm and looks set to
stay. This word, which rolls off the tongue as well as it reads on the page, not only describes a process
but a whole approach and mentality, while simultaneously conjuring up images in the mind of fun and
excitement. That word is ‘gamification’ and it’s set to reform culture, business and education!
So what is it and how does it work? Put simply, it is the application of game-design principles in non-
game contexts. In other words, gamification is engagement: a transformation, where any task, no matter
how menial or mundane, can become interesting and motivational. By harnessing the entertaining
qualities of games, gamification technology enables business, educators or coaches to interact with their
audiences in highly relevant new ways. Indeed, in the modern world, people demand things that provoke
a reaction and offer instant gratification and fulfilment, and the millennial generation especially is more
attuned to games than any other. Some experts have hailed gamification as the next level of human-
technological interaction, and with impressive real-world implications in numerous areas of life such as
work, health and self-improvement, it’s easy to understand why.
The real beauty of gamification and its mechanics lies in its simplicity. By offering rewards for
performance such as points, badges and coins, users can progress through levels and track themselves on
leaderboards. This competitive element galvanises and encourages people to persist with things they are
struggling with and immerse themselves in the chosen activity, be it learning a new language or
improving productivity in the workplace.
A very real benefit of gamification is its huge positive impact on behaviour and its ability to offer
radical solutions to cultural, social and economic problems, by helping us shed our reluctance to do
things that we might otherwise dislike or dread. For example, companies such as Recyclebank use
compelling and interesting gamified systems to encourage people to recycle more and engage in green
activities. In Sweden, gamification elements have been tested to make people more law-abiding citizens.
The Speed Camera Lottery concept encourages people to follow the speed limit by taking pictures of the
people NOT speeding and entering them into a special competition. Winners would receive a cash prize,
that rather fittingly, would come from the money generated from the fines of those caught speeding!
When tested in Stockholm, the new venture saw a twenty-two percent reduction in speeding within the
first week alone! This example shows how game thinking provides very real and measurable change.
And it’s not just social and ecological issues. Gamification has opened new doors for improvements in
the areas of health, fitness and overall well-being. You are likely familiar with the numerous apps on the
market for smartphones and smartwatches that urge us on with rewards for setting, reaching and
breaking personal fitness and exercise targets. However, the mechanism also accounts for change in 14
much more serious and profound areas of health than your next morning jog. Gamification has been
shown to also help patients with serious illnesses manage their medication and treatments, through
rewards, progress reports and positive feedback, while also improving their emotional states and
behavioural traits, which is crucial in their fight against the illness.
That so many amazing and varied things can come about as the result of simple games is really quite
extraordinary, and shows the remarkable power of gamification as a social tool. This unique ability
could play a major part in making us receptive to important changes within ourselves, society and the
planet as a whole. Tolstoy famously said that ‘everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks
of changing himself.’ Perhaps gamification, with its emphasis on self-improvement, gives us the
opportunity to do both, at once!
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Part 2. The bar chart below shows the percentage of Australian men and women in different age
groups who did regular physical activity in 2010.
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Part 3. Write an essay of 350 words on the following topic:
“The surest indicator of a great nation is not the achievements of its rulers, artists, or scientists
but the general welfare of all its people.”
Present your perspective on this issue, using relevant reasons and examples to support your views.
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....................................................................................................................................................................... V. SPEAKING (20 POINTS)
Nowadays there is a growing shift towards the use of cashless transactions. While some people
argue in support of a cashless society, claiming that it is beneficial to citizens, others raise
concerns about security. Which side of this argument do you, personally, agree with, and why?
You have 5 minutes to sketch out what you are going to say. Your talking time should not exceed 5 minutes. 18
Document Outline
- Part 2. For questions 6-14, listen to a report on a scandal in education and supply the blanks with the missing information. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS taken from the recording for each answer in the space provided.
- - At least 50 people, including wealthy parents, college sports coaches and administrators have been charged with participating in 6)_________________ to influence undergraduate admissions decisions at several top American universities. The scheme inv...
- - U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling called this the largest 8)_________________ ever prosecuted by the Justice Department. The offences are also described as 9)_________________, selfish and shameful.
- - Parents are reported to have paid more than $25 million to Rick Singer, who orchestrated the whole scheme. Singer disguised bribe payments as charitable contributions to a purported nonprofit that was, in fact, a 10)_________________ he used to laun...
- - Fabrication of sports credentials was carried out in different ways. Firstly, bribed coaches labelled students as 11)_________________, which gave their applications an advantage. Secondly, Singer helped parents take 12)_________________ photograph...
- - College admissions counselors believe 13)_________________ are the main sufferers of the fraud.
- The institutions involved in the scandal took steps to punish the offenders, with Standford’s 14)_________________ being dismissed.
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- Part 2. The bar chart below shows the percentage of Australian men and women in different age groups who did regular physical activity in 2010.
- Part 3. Write an essay of 350 words on the following topic: