Kì thi chọn đội tuyển chính thức dự thi HSG quốc gia lớp 12 THPT Vĩnh Long năm học 2018-2019 môn thi Tiếng Anh

KÌ THI HỌC SINH GIỎI THPT CẤP TỈNH
VÀ CHỌN ĐỘI TUYỂN THI HỌC SINH GIỎI CẤP QUỐC GIA NĂM HỌC 2018 - 2019
MÔN THI : TIẾNG ANH
Thời gian : 180 phút (không kể thời gian giao đề)
(Đề thi gồm có 13 trang)
Ngày thi : 23 / 9 / 2018 Chữ ký Chữ ký Tổng điểm Tổng điểm Số phách Giám khảo 1 Giám khảo 2 (Bằng số) (Bằng chữ) Số thứ tự Điể m từng phần: I. ……………….
Hướng dẫn thi Nghe hiểu: II. ………………
• Thí sinh có 3 phút để nghiên cứu các câu hỏi.
• Bài nghe gồm 3 phần , mỗi phần được nghe 2 lần.
III. ………………
• Bắt đầu mỗi phần đều có thông báo (bằng tiếng Anh)
• Bắt đầu và kết thúc phần thi nghe là đoạn nhạc. IV. ………………
Cộng: ………….….....
I. LISTENING (5 points)
Part 1: Questions 1-10
You will hear a woman telephoning a tourist office to ask about free activities. For questions 1-6:
choose the correct letter, A, B, or C. CIRCLE the correct answers.
Free activities in the Burnham area
Example: The caller wants to find out about events on ______ . A. 27 June B. 28 June C. 29 June
1. The “Family Welcome” event in the art gallery begins at ____________. A. 10 am. B. 10.30 am. C. 2 p.m.
2. The film that is now shown in the “Family Welcome” event is about ______. A. sculpture B. painting C. ceramics
3. When do most of the free concerts take place? A. in the morning B. at lunch time C. in the evening
4. Where will the 4 pm concert of Latin American music take place? A. in a museum B. in a theatre C in a library
5. The boat race begins at __________ . A. Summer Pool B. Charlesworth Bridge C. Offord Marina
6. One of the boat race teams _____________ .
A. won a regional competition earlier this year
B. has represented the region in a national competition
C. has won several regional competitions Trang 1 / 13
For questions 7-10: Complete the sentences below. Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer. Paxton Nature Reserve 7
Paxton is a good place for seeing rare ____________________ all year round. 8
This is a particularly good time for seeing certain unusual ____________________. 9
Visitors will able to learn about ________________________ and then collect some. 10
Part of the ________________________ has been made suitable for swimming.
Part 2: Questions 11-19
You will hear a report on how English has become a global language. For questions 11-19, complete
each sentence with NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS. You will listen to the recording twice.
___________________________________________________________________________
The spread of English around the globe means it is now termed a (11) ____________________
English first started to spread when explorers made (12) ____________________________ to the other side of the world.
The influence of Britain in the past and the influence of American businesses are the (13)
__________________________ which give English its present significance.
The number of people whose (14) ______________________ is English is significantly greater in the USA than in the UK.
It is difficult to (15) ______________________ the communicative functions of English in some countries.
It is sometimes suggested that English is (16) _______________________ superior to other languages.
People tend to judge languages using subjective rather than (17) __________________________.
English sentence structure is (18) _________________________.
Language success is (19) _________________________ on a variety of different things.
Part 3: Questions 20-25
You will hear a radio discussion about writing a novel. For questions 20-25, CIRCLE the answer (A,
B, C or D) which fits best according what you hear. You will listen to the recording twice.
_______________________________________________________________________________
20. What does Louise say about Earnest Hemmingway’s advice to writers?
A. It is useful to a certain extent.
B. It applies only to inexperienced novelists.
C. It wasn’t intended to be taken seriously.
D. It might confuse some inexperienced novelists.
21. Louise says that you need to get feedback when you _________ .
A. have not been able to write anything for some time
B. are having difficulty organizing your ideas
C. are having contrasting feelings about what you have written
D. have finished the book but not shown it to anyone
22. Louise says that you should get feedback from another writer because _____.
A. it is easy to ignore criticism from people who are not writers
B. another writer may be kinder to you than friends and relatives
C. it is hard to find other people who will make an effort to help you
D. another writer will understand what your intentions are Trang 2 / 13
23. What does Louise regard as useful feedback?
A. a combination of general observations and detailed comments
B. both identification of problems and suggested solutions
C. comments focusing more on style than on content
D. as many points about strengths as weaknesses
24. What does Louise say about the people she gets feedback from?
A. Some of them are more successful than her.
B. She doesn’t only discuss writing with them.
C. She also gives them feedback on their work.
D. It isn’t always easy for her to get together with them.
25. One reaction to feedback that Louise mentions is that ____________ .
A. it is justified but would require too much effort to act on
B. it focuses on unimportant details rather than key issues
C. it has been influenced by reading other people’s novels
D. it is not suggesting that major changes to the novel are required
II. LEXICO - GRAMMAR (4 points)
Part 1: Choose the best answer (A, B, C or D) to each of the following questions and write your
answers (A, B, C, D) in the corresponding numbered boxes:
1. Prices at Greek hotels are still affordable, but in Switzerland they are ___________. A. moderate B. inaccessible C. reasonable D. exorbitant
2. The threat of a general strike can only be __________ through government intervention. A. averted B. converted C. subverted D. diverted
3. This kind of occupation does not offer any __________ for creative thinking. A. orbit B. rope C. scope D. infection
4. Employees who have a __________ are encouraged to discuss it with the management. A. hindrance B. grievance C. disturbance D. precaution
5. It isn’t easy to make friends with him, he puts up a __________ between himself and other people. A. barrier B. barricade C. border D. boundary
6. I couldn’t decide what to write about, when I suddenly ___________ upon the idea of doing
something on the writer’s block. A. thought B. changed C. hit D. arrived
7. Do you believe in that old ___________ about not walking under a ladder? A. curse B. misfortune C. uncertainty D. superstition
8. But what you’re saying now is not ______________ with what you said last week. A. coherent B. consistent C. confirmed D. continuous
9. They made _____________ preparations in anticipation of the arrival of their celebrity guests. A. degenerate B. decadent C. elaborate D. strenuous
10. The mere sight and smell of the dish had us all _________ in anticipation of the gastronomic treat we were in for. A. devouring B. garnishing C. munching D. salivating
11. Four miles off the southern coast of Massachusetts _____________, a popular summer resort.
A. lies the island of Martha’s Vineyard
B. the island of Martha’s Vineyard lies there
C. does lie the island of Martha’s Vineyard
D. where the island of Martha’s Vineyard lies
12. The spores of ferns are almost microscopic and are far simpler than _______ in structure. A. that of seeds B. so are seeds C. seeds do D. seeds
13. That wall would fall over if it wasn’t _________ up with blanks of wood. A. mounted B. sprang C. propped D. thrown
14. With age, the mineral content of human bones decreases, _______ them more fragile. A. make B. and to make C. thereby making D. which it makes Trang 3 / 13 Your answers 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.
Part 2: For questions 15-20, write the correct form of each bracketed word in the corresponding
numbered boxes. There is an example at the beginning.
Septon’s Secret is a rich and (0) ____________ collection of twelve STARTLE
short stories from the actress Shelley Rodger, best known for her (15) PORTRAY
____________ of Melon in Tim Deal’s Oscar-winning film, Nowhere.
With a deftness of touch reminiscent of John Kennedy Toole, the
twelve stories draw the reader into the numerous worlds enveloping
Septon, the book’s central character. Septon is surrounded by a cast of
eccentric and generally unpleasant miscreants, including his (16) NEUROSIS
___________ and possessive wife, his ambitious friends and his
malicious and thoroughly (17) __________ business partner. With each SCRUPLE
successive story, more is revealed about Septon, and with each
revelation we get closer to the secret referred to in the book’s title. Plot
lines and the principal characters are brought crashing together in the
appropriately titled Shock, the book’s twelfth and final story. All is
revealed in a cleverly worked climax that is as disturbing as it is unexpected.
Shelly Rodger is a master of her craft. Her characters are vividly drawn
and wholly convincing, her writing is (18) ___________ without being EVOKE
pretentious or overbearing and her plotting is assured and compelling.
On its (19) _________ in the United States two months ago, Septon’s PUBLISH
Secret met with great critical acclaim. Within a month it had shot to
the top of US bestseller lists. A work of (20) ___________ power by an ORDINARY
exceptionally gifted writer, Septon’s Secret comes out in the UK next week.
Your answers : 0. startling 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
III. READING (4 points)
Part 1: For questions 1- 10, read the text below and decide which answer best fits each gap.
The mystique surrounding Henry Ford makes it difficult to (1) _________ his true motivations,
but the wage increases benefited the company in many ways. In addition to motivating his
workers, Ford was, by giving his employees more (2) _________ income (or any at all), also
creating a consumer base for his product. He later claimed that with the $5 day “we really started
our business, for on that day we first created a lot of customers.” But he was also (3) _________
by the Progressive and populist movements and may truly have been animated by (4)
___________. “Our company is making enough money to do some good in the world,” he said,
“and I’m glad to do it.”
Still, his generosity, it soon emerged, came with strings. What few noticed on January 5 was that
workers did not automatically (5) __________ for the raise just by doing their jobs. Women, who Trang 4 / 13
had been earning on average $2.04 per day, did not qualify at all. “I consider women only a (6)
________ factor in industry,” Ford explained. “I pay our women well so they can dress
attractively and get married.” Men would have to live in Detroit and work at the plant for six
months before they could (7) ___________ the full amount.
Even then they had to meet Ford’s social standards to (8) __________. He shared the worry of
many of the wealthy that laborers would (9) ___________ their enlarged paychecks on vice and
cheap thrills. Lee explained that the money might “work a tremendous handicap along the paths of
rectitude and right living and would make them a (10) ___________ to society, and so it was
established at the start that no man was to receive the money who could not use it advisedly and conservatively.” 1. A. engage B. pinpoint C. underestimate D. favor
2. A. predisposal B. imposing C. possible D. disposable
3. A. influenced B. touched C. lead D. mislead 4. A. ferocity B. greed C. generosity D. malice 5. A. get B. meet C. quantify D. qualify 6. A. strong B. temporary C. false D. unnecessary 7. A. earn B. deserve C. score D. demand 8. A. benefit B. help C. advance D. promote 9. A. invest B. save C. squander D. double
10. A. convenience B. presence C. foray D. menace Your answers here 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Part 2 : For questions 11-19. Read the following passage and , for each question, choose one
best answers (A, B, C or D) based on what stated in the passage or on what can be inferred from
the passage. Write your answers (A, B, C, D) in the corresponding numbered boxes:
Visitors to Prince Edward Island, Canada, delight in the “unspoiled” scenery – the well-kept
farms and the peaceful hamlets of the island’s central core and the rougher terrain of the east
and west. In reality, the Island ecosystems are almost entirely artificial.
Islanders have been tampering with the natural environment since the eighteenth century and
long ago broke down the Island’s natural forest cover to exploit its timber and clear land for
agriculture. By 1900, 80 percent of the forest had been cut down and much of what remained
had been destroyed by disease. Since then, however, some farmland has been abandoned and
has returned to forest through the invasion of opportunist species, notably spruce. Few
examples of the original climax forest, which consisted mostly of broadleaved trees such as
maple, birch, and oak, survive today.
Apart from a few stands of native forest, the only authentic habitats on Prince Edward Island
are its sand dunes and salt marshes. The dunes are formed from sand washed ashore by waves
and then dried and blown by the wind to the land beyond the beach. The sand is prevented from
spreading farther by marram grass, a tall, long-rooted species that grows with the dunes and
keeps them remarkably stable. Marram grass acts as a windbreak and allows other plants such
as beach pea and bayberry to take hold. On dunes where marram grass is broken down – for
instance, where it is trampled – the dunes may spread inland and inundate agricultural lands or
silt up fishing harbors. The white dunes of the north coast are the most impressive. There are
also white dunes on the east and west coasts. Only in the south are there red dunes, created
when the soft sandstone cliffs crumble into the sea and subsequently wash ashore as red sand. Trang 5 / 13
The dunes were once used as cattle pasture but were abandoned as the early settlers moved inland.
Salt marshes are the second remaining authentic habitat. These bogs are the result of the
flooding of low coastal areas during unusually high tides. In the intervals between tides, a
marsh area remains and plants take root, notably cord grass, the “marsh hay” used by the early
settlers as winter forage for their livestock. Like the dunes, though, the marshes were soon
dismissed as wasteland and escaped development.
11. On what aspect of Prince Edward Island does the author focus?
A. Its tourist industry B. Its beaches
C. Its natural habitats D. Its agriculture
12. Why does the author use quotation marks around the word unspoiled in line 1?
A. He is quoting from the other author.
B. The scenery is not as attractive as it once was.
C. The scenery looks unspoiled but is not.
D. He disagrees with the ideas in this paragraph.
13. The phrase tampering with in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to _______________ . A. preserving
B. interfering with C. remembering D. dealing with
14. What can be inferred about Prince Edward Island’s forests?
A. Only a few small stands of trees still exist.
B. They are more extensive than they were in 1900.
C. They are virtually the same as they were in the eighteenth century.
D. About 80 percent of the island is covered by them.
15. Which of the following type of tree is most common in the forests of Prince Edward Island today? A. Oak B. Birch C. Spruce D. Maple
16. What does the author say about the beach pea and bayberry?
A. They have become commercially important plants.
B. They grow on dunes after marram grass is established.
C. They were once an important food crop for early settlers.
D. They are spreading across the Island, destroying important crops.
17. According to the passage, what effect does the destruction of marram grass have?
A. It permits the sand dunes to cover farmland.
B. It creates better conditions for fishing.
C. It allows seawater to flood agricultural land.
D. It lets the sand wash into the sea.
18. What conclusion can be drawn from the passage abut both the sand dunes and salt marshes of Prince Edward Island?
A. They were once used but have long since been abandoned.
B. They have never been used.
C. They have been used continuously since the island was first settled.
D. They were long unused but have recently been exploited.
19. In which of these paragraphs does the author discuss the destruction of an ecosystem? A. The first B. The second C. The third D. The fourth
Write your answers here 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Trang 6 / 13
Part 3: Questions 20-33 are based on the reading passage below.
The creation of lasting memories
Many studies of the brain processes underlying the creation of memory consolidation (lasting
memories) have involved giving various human and animal subjects treatment, while training them to
perform a task. These have contributed greatly to our understanding.
In pioneering studies using goldfish, Bernard Agranoff found that protein synthesis inhibitors injected
after training caused the goldfish to forget what they had learned. In other experiments, he administered
protein synthesis inhibitors immediately before the fish were trained. The remarkable finding was that
the fish learned the task completely normally, but forgot it within a few hours – that is, the protein
synthesis inhibitors blocked memory consolidation, but did not influence short-term memory.
There is now extensive evidence that short-term memory is spared by many kinds of treatments,
including electro-convulsive therapy (ECT), that block memory consolidation. On the other hand, and
equally importantly, neuroscientists Ivan Izquierdo found that drug treatments can block short-term
memory without blocking memory consolidation. Contrary to the hypothesis put forward by Canadian
psychologist Donald Hebb, in 1949, long-term memory does not require short-term memory, and vice versa.
Such findings suggest that our experiences create parallel, and possibly independent stages of memory,
each with a different life span. All of this evidence from clinical and experimental studies strongly
indicates that the brain handles recent and remote memory in different ways; but why does it do that?
We obviously need to have memory that is created rapidly: reacting to an ever rapidly changing
environment requires that. For example, most current building codes require that the heights of all steps
in staircase be equal. After taking a couple of steps, up or down, we implicitly remember the heights of
steps and assume that the others will be the same. If they are not the same, we are very likely to trip and
fall. Lack of this kind of rapidly created implicit memory would be bad for us and for insurance
companies, but perhaps good for lawyers. It would be of little value to us if we remembered the heights
of steps only after delay of many hours, when the memory becomes consolidated.
The hypothesis that lasting memory consolidates slowly over time is supported primarily by clinical
and experimental evidence that the formation of long-term memory is influenced by treatments and
disorders affecting brain functioning. There are also other kinds of evidence indicating more directly
that the memories consolidate over time after learning. Avi Kami and Dov Sagi reported that the
performance of human subjects trained in a visual skill did not improve until eight hours after the
training was completed, and that improvement was even greater the following day. Further more the
skill was retained for several years.
Studies using human brain imaging to study changes in neural activity included by learning have also
reported that the changes continue to develop for hours after learning. In an innovative study using
functional imagining of the brain, Reza Shadmehr and Henry Holcomb examined brain activity in
several brain regions shortly after human subjects were trained in a motor learning task requiring arm
and hand movements. They found that while the performance of the subjects remained stable for
several hours after completion of the training, their brain activity did not; different regions of the brain
were predominantly active at different times over a period of several hours after training. The activity
shifted from the prefrontal cortex to two areas known to be involved in controlling movements, the
motor cortex and cerebellar cortex. Consolidation of the motor still appeared to involve activation of
different neural systems that increased the stability of the brain processes underlying the skill.
There is also evidence that learning-included changes in the activity of neurons in the cerebral cortex
continue to increase for many days after the training. In an extensive series of studies using rats with
electrodes implanted in the auditory cortex, Norman Weinberger reported that, after a tone of specific Trang 7 / 13
frequency was paired a few times with footshock, neurons in the rats’ auditory cortex responded more
to that specific tone and less to other tones of other frequencies. Even more interestingly, the selectivity
of the neurons’ response to the specific tone used in training continued to increase for several days after the training was terminated.
It is not intuitively obvious why our lasting memories consolidate slowly. Certainly, one can wonder
why we have a form of memory that we have to rely on for many hours, days or a lifetime, that is so
susceptible to disruption shortly after it is initiated. Perhaps the brain system that consolidates long-
term memory over time was a late development in vertebrate evolution. Moreover, maybe we
consolidate memories slowly because our mammalian brains are large and enormously complex. We
can readily reject these ideas. All species of animals studied to date have both short and long-term
memory; and all are susceptible to retrograde amnesia. Like humans, birds, bees, and molluscs , as well
as fish and rats, make long-term memory slowly. Consolidation of memory clearly emerged early in evolution, and was conserved.
Although there seems to be no compelling reasons to conclude that a biological system such as brain
could not quickly make a lasting memory, the fact is that animal brains do not. Thus, memory
consolidation must serve some very important adaptive function or functions. There is considerable
evidence suggesting that the slow consolidation is adaptive because it enables neurobiological
processes occurring shortly after learning to influence the strength of memory for experiences. The
extensive evidence that memory can be enhanced, as well as impaired, by treatments administered
shortly after training, provides intriguing support for this hypothesis.
Questions 20 - 24
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C, or D. Write the answers A, B, C, or D in the numbered boxes.
20. Experiments by Bernard Agranoff described in the reading passage involved _____
A. injecting goldfish at different stages of the experiments.
B. training goldfish to do different types of task.
C. using different types of treatment on goldfish.
D. comparing the performance of different goldfish on certain tasks.
21. Most findings from recent studies suggest that ___________
A. drug treatments do not normally effect short-term memories.
B. long-term memories build upon short-term memories.
C. short and long-term memories are formed separate processes.
D. ECT treatment affects both short and long-term memories.
22. In the fifth paragraph, what does the writer want to show by the example of staircases?
A. Prompt memory formation underlines the performance of everyday tasks.
B. Routine tasks can be carried out unconsciously.
C. Physical accidents can impair the function of memory.
D. Complex information such as regulations can not be retained by the memory.
23. Observations about memory by Kami and Sagi ___________
A. cast doubt on exiting hypotheses.
B. related only to short-term memory.
C. were based on tasks involving hearing.
D. confirmed other experimental findings.
24. What did the experiment by Shadmehr and Holcomb show?
A. Different areas of the brain were activated by different tasks.
B. Activity in the brain gradually moved from one area to other areas.
C. Subjects continued to get better at a task after training had finished.
D. Treatment given to subjects improved their performance on a task. Trang 8 / 13 20 21 22 23 24
Questions 25 - 29
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage.
In the boxes 25-29 write YES
if the statement agrees with the views of the writer NO
if the statement contradicts the views of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this 25
The training which Kami and Sagi’s subjects were given was repeated over several days. 26
The rats in Weinberger’s studies learned to associate a certain sound with a specific experience. 27
The results of Weinberger’s studies indicated that the strength of the rats’ learned associations increases with time. 28
It is easy to see the evolutionary advantage of the way lasting memories in humans are created. 29
Long-term memories in humans are more stable than in many other species.
Write your answers here 25 26 27 28 29
Questions 30 - 33
Compete the summary with ONE word in each blank. Write your answers in the given spaces. Long-term memory
Various researchers have examined the way lasting memories are formed. Laboratory experiments
usually involve teaching subjects to do something (30) __________________, and treating them with
mild electric shocks or drugs. Other studies monitor behavior after a learning experience, or use
sophisticated equipment to observe brain activity.
The results are generally consistent: they show that lasting memories are the result of a (31)
_______________ and complex biological process.
The fact that humans share this trait with other species, including animals with (32) ______________
brains, suggests that it developed (33) _________________ in our evolutionary history.
Part 4: You are going to read a short story. Seven paragraphs have been removed from the story.
Choose from the paragraphs A-H the one which fits each gap (34-40). There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use.
_______________________________________________________________________________ Trang 9 / 13 REMOVAL DAY
With her children now grown, widowed Susan faces leaving the family home
The van said, Susan noticed, ‘Removers of Distinction,’ a
(37) __________________________
nd indeed, every distinguishing
feature of the house was being removed.
Then, from the quay below the house, where
Everything which made it particularly was
fish were uploaded from the inshore boats, a
being wrapped in newspaper and packed in
little crane was borrowed, and dragged up the
boxes by Fred the removal man, his enormous
hill by means of the local farmer’s tractor.
fingers like sausages tenderly handling all the
Finally, the piano was wrapped in blankets,
breakables; and his team of helpers, not so
hooked to the crane and gently swung safely gentle.
through the gaping window, while the
entranced children danced with joy at the sight
(34) _______________________________ of it.
When told that they had bought this house,
(38) ______________________________
Robert, then five, had asked thoughtfully,
‘Mum, when you buy a house, how d’you get it
The children were increasingly too busy to
home? You could miss a little boy in the
come home at weekends, and Susan was no
physical presence of the adult he had become;
longer so mobile in the house, and puffing as
Robert was here, helping, and in particular
she climbed the stairs. The thought of the stairs
making sure she didn’t let on about the piano.
interrupted her daydream. The banister rails
Francesca was here too, also helping, in her
were still not quite parallel; they had not been
bossy way, stubbornly certain that nobody but
put back perfectly all that time ago. She ought
she, the family daughter, would be cartful
to have warned the removers, surely she ought.
enough over a fine instrument like a Steinway
But now it was too late. Any moment now they piano.
would find it. She looked around, dazed and panic-stricken.
(35) ______________________________
(39) ______________________________ She could easily imagine.
Truth to tell she was just on the edge of them.
Left to herself, Susan would have warned the
How odd that simply moving things made them
removers about the piano before accepting the
matter. Chairs and cups and things, hundreds of
estimate. Robert had said sternly that it was
things, that one never noticed or gave a
their business to see the problem, and their bad
moment’s thought to while they stayed put,
luck if they didn’t. The piano now stood in
now they were displaced, were full of pathos,
solitary glory in the upstairs sitting room, the
crying out to be cared about – and she would
best room in the house. They would leave it till
have cried out to be cared about – and she
last, naturally. Sitting on the bottom stair, for
would have cried, in a moment, surely she
all the chairs were gone now, she remembered would. the time they had arrived.
(40) _______________________________
(36) _______________________________
It was Robert who laughed first, but then they
They brought it up to the turn of the stairs, and
couldn’t stop laughing, relieved that it was all
down again, and cut out banister rails, and got it
over. All three of them, helplessly, leaning
jammed anyway, while little Robert looked on
against each other, gasping for breath and
enthralled, and young Francesca wailed, ‘We
can’t live in a house without a piano! We can’t!
laughing more. ‘What’s the joke, then?’ asked
I’d rather die!’ And of course they couldn’t; not
Fred, but he merely started them off again. So
that, as they went, the three of them, arm in arm
with a musical daughter destined to be a
down the path for the last time, the only tears
concert pianist. They had to find a way to get it she shed were tears of laughter. in; and had been found. Trang 10 / 13 A
Peter, her late husband, had come home to the crisis and had resolved it. The piano had been
left in the garden while the other furniture was brought in – there was much less of it then; they
had been relatively young and hard up. And next day, to everyone’s surprise, a builder had been
engaged to take out the first floor window. B
To the children’s undisguised pleasure, the piano was miraculously unharmed after its bumpy
journey. As soon as the going was safe, Francesca celebrated with an impromptu recital so full
of happy relief that it moved her mother to tears. C
Only just then the piano appeared, lurching at the top of the stairs, with Fred backing down in
front of it and one of the others behind. It tipped slightly. ‘Easy does it!’ cried Fred, and they
carried it smoothly down the stairs and out of the front door, and put it down behind the removal van on the road. D
‘Are you all right, love?’ Fred was saying. ‘Mind yourself, it’s just the piano to come now, and
then we’ll be on our way.’ She moved from the bottom stair, heart beating. Robert and
Francesca had both appeared, standing in the back of the hallway to watch. ‘No tears then?’ Fred said, conversationally. E
‘She doesn’t look like she’s going to cry on us,’ observed Fred. ‘That’s something.’ ‘Do people
cry?’ Susan asked, intrigued. ‘You’d be surprised,’ said Fred. ‘They go around merry as
magpies helping out till it’s all in the van, then you look round and there they are, crying in the
middle of an empty room. They’re fine when we get to the new place, mind. It’s just seeing
everything taken apart that upsets them.’ F
It was a lovely house that she was leaving, an elegant four-storeyed building overlooking a tiny
harbour. The years she had spent there, the years of the children growing up and leaving, hung
around in the air, faintly present like agitated dust. G
However, the whole process had cost so much it was months before they could afford to have
the piano professionally tuned. ‘That’s that,’ Peter had said. ‘That’s there for ever.’ But for ever is a long time. H
The day she was ling through now was like that day filmed and run backwards – the piano had
been carried in first. And it had got stuck on the stairs. For nearly two hours the team of
removal men struggled manfully with it, until it seemed they would simply have to give up. IV. WRITING (5 points)
Part 1: Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence, using the
word given. Do not change the word given. You must use between three and eight words, including the word given.
1. The doctor’s advice was to just wait and see what happened and the baby would be fine. nature
The doctor said that we should ______________________________ and the baby would be fine.
2. Daniel didn’t get the job because he was considerably less experienced than Hannah. deal
Hannah got the job because she had ___________________________________________ Daniel.
3. The new theatre is extremely ugly and spoils the view of the village. blot
The new theatre is _____________________________________ and spoils the view of the village.
4. Given that he has no experience, will Glyn be able to do this job? affect
Will Glyn’s ___________________________________________________ ability to do this job?
5. When it comes to punctuality, Fiona really takes after her mother. concerned
As ______________________________________________, Fiona really takes after her mother. Trang 11 / 13
Part 2: Write an essay about 250 words on the following topic.
Some people believe that studying at a university or college is the best route to a successful
career, while others believe that it is better to get a job straight after school.
Discuss both sides and give your opinion. Provide specific reasons and examples to support your answer.
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Part 3: The table shows the number of mobile phones sold in millions for a period of six years.
Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons
where relevant. Write your answer to the task in at least 150 words. Nokia Ecrisson Samsung Motorola Apple 2006 345 74 117 210 2007 436 102 154 165 2.3 2008 475 95 202 108 12 2009 442 57 238 59 24 2010 463 42 282 39 42 2011 422 33 330 40 89 2012 335 28 196.5 28 135.8
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(NB: You may continue your writing on the back page if you need more space) ---HẾT--- Trang 13 / 13