Bài 2:

AN UGLY HABIT

Smoking is one of the most common and deadliest habits in the world. You have
probably seen thousands of cigarettes smoked in your lifetime, (1) ... perhaps not
by your family. Even though fewer people smoke today than in the past, one (2) ...
every four adults still smokes, and there are parts of the world where smoking is
increasing. Most people who become regular smokers started when they were
young. This is the time to get the facts straight: smoking does no one (3) ... good,
and it does a great (4) ... of harm to your health. It also often means giving up a lot
later in life, such as the chance to excel in sports, extra spending money, and even
years of one’s life. There is a lot of to lose. Most smokers have a hard time
explaining why they started – and why they continue. They know it is harmful, and
many even know someone who has died from a smoking-related illness, like lung
cancer or heart disease. But (5) ... the same time, these smokers continue lighting
up when they go out for a drink, take a break from work, or hear alarming news.
Some smokers even light up when they learn about the dangers of smoking,
because they become worried. (6) ... the reason people start smoking, the habit
soon loses (7) ... attraction. (8) ... from the obvious health risks, smoking is an ugly,
unpleasant habit. Most people would prefer to avoid a room that someone was
filling with smelly smoke.

Bài 3:

THE WONDROUS WORLD OF COFFEE

A cup of coffee, like any (1) ... experience, can be enriched by selection and
consciousness. "No beans about it," the best coffee decisions (2) ... the ones most
pleasant to one's own palate - the selection of one's coffee is a matter of personal
preference. Choosing coffee beans can also be a perplexing experience, (3) ...
there is a huge range of coffee types and beans blends from all around the world.
The final flavour and quality involves many complex factors, beginning with the
coffee seed, the beans' botanics, a wide variety of soil and climate conditions,
cultivation altitudes, and the care (4) ... in harvesting the beans. Raw green coffee
beans are then subjected (5) ... many influencing factors, including various
processing, production, roasting, blending and brewing methods. On a global
note, (6) ... many species and varieties of coffee trees from different areas of the
world also offer their own distinctive flavours. There are more than forty-five
coffee-exporting countries - all of (7) ... use different classification systems - that
supply the world with coffee beans, in sizes ranging over sixty known species of
coffee plants. No wonder coffee can involve a puzzling java jargon! Fortunately,
the world's coffee nomenclature, from mountain to market, can be classified (8) ...
simple categories. This briefly outlines the basics of bean botanics, coffee
cultivation and processing, and global classifications used by the coffee trade and
coffee-producing countries.

Bài 4:

SOLAR ENERGY

Solar energy is derived ultimately from the sun. It can be divided (1) ... direct and
indirect categories. Most energy sources on Earth are forms of indirect solar
energy, (2) ... we usually don’t think of them in that way. Coal, oil and natural gas
derive from ancient biological material (3) ... took its energy from the sun millions
of years ago. (4) ... the energy in wood and foodstuffs also comes (5) ... the sun.

Movement of the wind, and the evaporation of water to form rainfall which
accumulates in rivers and lakes, are also powered by the sun. (6) ..., hydroelectric
power and wind and wave power are forms of indirect solar energy. Direct solar
energy is (7) ... we usually mean when we speak of solar power – (8) ... is the use
of sunlight for heating or generating electricity. Solar energy research and
applications have been receiving increasing attention throughout the world as
solar energy must play a much greater role in the energy mix in upcoming years

Bài 5:

DUBLIN

More than just about any other city we know, Dublin wears its history (1) ... its
sleeve. Dubliners themselves are highly passionate scholars of their own history -
and we mean their own history. Perhaps (2) ... it continues to have (3) ... a strong
bearing on modern life, it's near impossible for (4) ... two Irish people to agree on
the details of any one historical episode.

However, they'll instantly unite against an outsider's version, and there are great
contradictions (5) ... Irish and English historical accounts of events that (6) ... place
here. Take Oliver Cromwell for example. An Irish text would describe him (7) ... an
English parliamentarian (8) ... raped, pillaged and plundered his way through
Ireland - a complete and utter bastard. If you picked up an English history book on
the other hand, you might learn that Cromwell defeated the Royalists in the
English Civil War and apparently used to holiday in Ireland.

Bài 6 :THE SPANISH LANGUAGE

The history of Spanish language is a part of the history of Spain and Spanish
America. The events that make up the history of (1) ... Iberian Peninsula –
settlements, invasions, wars, and political upheaval – (2) ... shaped the history of
the Spanish language. The Roman invasion is (3) ... fundamental in this respect, (4)
... other events have also been decisive, such as the Muslim invasion and the
subsequent Reconquest of the Peninsula, the discovery of America, the
Renaissance, and the Enlightenment.

All of these events are reflected (5) ... the Spanish language: (6) ... the Roman
invasion, the language of Iberia might still be Iberian, or (7) ... Visigothic or Arabic.
Without the Muslim invasion and the Reconquest , it is doubtful that Modern
Spanish would be based (8) ... the Castilian variety or dialect. Had there been no
Renaissance or Enlightenment, the vocabulary of Spanish might lack its rich strata
of Latinisms and Hellenisms, i.e., learned borrowings from Latin and Greek

Bài 7 :

Taste

Taste is (1) ... simply the preserve of a tiny aristocracy, of the court culture of the
European. Abbasid or Chinese past or the ‘foodie’ cutting-edge of the present. In
the social history of ordinary people, calorie intake, the threat of famine and the
supply of urban centres are among the topics (2) ... have given us (3) ... idea of the
fragility and difficulty of pre-industrial life. The relevance of the history of food in
its (4) ... basic sense needs (5) ... justification.

The exchange of products resulting (6) ... the discovery of the New World, the
dependence of societies (7) ... one overwhelmingly important food source, or the
impact of modern warfare on civilian diet (8) ... all clearly major topics. In the mid-
twentieth century historians’ interest in the conditions of society, and particularly
the history of ordinary people, inevitably involved questions of how peasants or
workers lived in the past; how well or ill-nourished they were; how they coped
with the unpredictability of harvests, food supply and prices.

Bài 8 :

DUTCH PAINTING

Dutch painting may properly (1) … described as an outcome of the independence

of Holland as a state. So long (2) ... the Netherlands formed a whole, the
predominant art was that of Flanders, and there was (3) ... Dutch art to speak of,
as distinct (4) ... the Flemish.

But the long and bloody war (5) ... the Spanish rule led for the northern and the
southern provinces respectively to very different results, and (6) ... of these results
was a decided divergence in the development of art in the two regions. Still this
community of origin was never entirely ignored, and Flemish and Dutch painting
were (7) ... agreement with the one essential characteristic, that they sought and
found the means of poetical expression in colour rather (8) ... in form. The year
1609, in which the conclusion of a truce for twelve years carried with it virtually
the recognition of the seven United Provinces as an independent state, may be
said to have witnessed the birth of Dutch painting.

Bài 9 :

CONSERVATION PLANNING

Planners everywhere rely (1) … models; conservation planning is no exception. It is

also no easy task – especially (2) ... planning for conservation on large landscapes.
Just making a list (3) ... the ingredients one might want to include in a model can
be exhausting. For a start, one will almost certainly need to model the population
dynamics, perhaps even the meta-population dynamics, of one (4) ... more
species.

Their habitat preferences will be important, so they (5) ... must be modelled, and
this (6) ... turn creates a need for vegetation and landscape modelling. Events may
(7) ... an important role in the landscape dynamics, so the model might need (8) ...
include flood, drought, wildfire, harvesting, high winds and hurricanes. The model
will likely be used by multiple stakeholders with conflicting objectives, so their
concerns must be addressed.

Bài 10 :

THE EVOLUTION AND DOMESTICATION OF THE DOG

Though the evolution and domestication of the dog have long been studied, the
story is (1) ... no means fully understood as (2) ... . There are currently more than
thirty species of Canidae, the dog-like animals (3) ... include wolves and coyotes,
jackals and foxes, but the Grey Wolf, Canis Lupus, is the domestic dog’s sole wild
ancestor and cousin, and it (4) ... exists.

Some modern breeds of dog retain (5) ... wolf-like characteristics of behaviour and
appearance to this day, and the two species remain genetically close (6) ... to be
able to interbreed easily. (7) ... the use of DNA evidence may lead eventually (8) ...
greater clarity, the precise classification of fossil remains from remote periods of
prehistory can be uncertain when dealing with such very closely related species.
There would undoubtedly have been many contacts, hostile, neutral and
occasionally friendly between individual wolves or proto-dogs and human
communities.

Bài 11:

THE GREAT DEPRESSION

The Wall Street collapse of September-October 1929 and the Great Depression (1)
... followed it were (2) ... the most important events of the twentieth century.
They made the Second World War possible, though not inevitable, and by
undermining confidence in the efficacy of the market and the capitalist system,
they helped to explain (3) ... the absurdly inefficient and murderous system of
Soviet communism survived for (4) ... long.

Indeed, it could be argued that the ultimate emotional and intellectual

consequences of the Great Depression were not finally erased (5) ... the mind of
humanity (6) ... the end of the 1980s, (7) ... the Soviet collectivist alternative (8) ...
capitalism crumbled in hopeless ruin and the entire world accepted there was no
substitute for the market. Granted the importance of these events , then, the
failure of historians to explain either their magnitude or duration is one of the
great mysteries of modern historiography.

Bài 12:
Machu Picch
In one of the most spectacular settings on earth, the great Inca ruler Pachacuti
built a royal retreat and sacred center that is known (1) ... Machu Picchu.
Commenced in the middle of the fifteenth century, it was used by Pachacuti and
his panaca (royal corporate family group), (2) ... continued to improve the site
until the empire was destroyed by the conquering Spaniards in the 1530s. (3) ...
there is evidence that the Spaniards were aware (4) ... a place called Piccho, there
is (5) ... record that they ever visited this site.

Certainly, the sacred rocks, defaced by Spaniards in (6) ... locations, remained
intact here. Centuries of Jungle growth enveloped the great granite structures and
temples, (7) ... the castle in “Sleeping Beauty,” for (8) ... than three hundred fifty
years. Then, in 1911, a young American explorer named Hiram Bingham led an
expedition into the Urubamba Valley, looking for a “lost city of Incas.”

Bài 13:

Precious Metals

Of course, the positions of precious metals (1) … the periodic table are not their
only basis for value. Virtually all precious metals exhibit extraordinary properties
that establish value based on function. (2) ..., from an earthy viewpoint, gold,
silver, and the platinum group are uniquely deposited throughout the globe.
Mining and refining processes (3) ... difficult. Discovery is tedious. Recovery is
expensive. All of this adds (4) ... the allure of precious metals. Eventually,
technology or invention can displace usage. By the (5) ... token, technology or
invention can create new roles and applications. There are strong indications that
precious metals may account (6) ... political and monetary power at some point in
the future. Control over (7) ... metals may represent control over government and
society. Ownership is a sign of power. Power is a means to dominate. For (8) ...,
humans are an aggressive species. This implies that power and dominance will
continue as our motivation throughout the twenty-first century and beyond.

Bài 14:

THE SAHARA
SAH’RA is an Arabic word (1) … means dun or mouse-coloured. For the Arabs it
signified originally a flat, barren expanse of grey-brown earth. This is the meaning
it has in pre-islamic Arab literature. Sah’ra is the colour of death. El Yakubi, a
geographer of the ninth century, (2) ... uses the word Sah’ra as synonymous with
cemetery. But in the same century it (3) ... appears in a work entitled “The
Conquest of North Africa” by an Egyptian Ibn el Hakam, probably for the first time,
to designate a part of the North African desert. To the European the oases are
part of the Sahara, like emeralds set (4) ... dull bronze. To the casual visitor, in fact,
the oases are undoubtedly the highlights of his experience of the desert. But (5) ...
who inhabit the desert, and particularly the nomads, (6) ... associate the Sahara
(7) ... the grey pallor of death. (8) ... they speak of it, they are not thinking of the
palm-groves, the wells and the oases as living islands in an ocean of barren sand
and rubble.

Bài 15 :

Earth's Fiercest Storms

A hurricane’s immense power - capable (1) … killing thousands of people –

captures the imagination of people around the world, even those who expect
never to experience (2) ... a storm. The complex interplay of forces that create
hurricanes and similar storms makes them even more fascinating to those who
want to learn a little (3) ... how nature works.

New images and reports of Hurricane Katrina’s physical and human devastation to
New Orleans and coastal areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, beginning
on August 30, 2005, showed the world (4) ... only the power of a strong hurricane,
but (5) ... the consequences (6) ... to individuals and the society of not being
prepared to cope (7) ... such a storm (8) ... ample warnings. Hurricanes are neither
the largest nor strongest storms, but their combination of size and strength make
them the deadliest and most destructive storms on Earth.

Bài 16 :

The Art of Climbing

There are no easy ways to improve your climbing performance. It will always
require sweat and determination. To believe (1) ... is folly. But by losing the
ancient dogmas and applying sport science (2) ... your efforts, the rewards will
come faster and with (3) ... effort. Whether you prefer to focus (4) ... one aspect of
the climbing spectrum, or tackle them all, you can only succeed with a solid
foundation of fitness.

(5) ... the luck of the genetic draw can carry you only so far: a less gifted climber
who trains smarter will blow you (6) ... .Don’t underestimate the value of training,
(7) ... . A University of Mexico study of twenty-four male and twenty female
climbers evaluated a wide range of variables that can affect performance on sport
routes. Nobody consciously (8) ... out to train “dumb”. Ask most climbers and they
will vehemently deny their training efforts have been a waste of time – and in the
next breath admit they could be doing more.

Bài 17 :

TOBACCO

People have used tobacco for thousands of years. They've smoked it, snorted it,
chewed it, and (1) ... drank its juice. Native Americans used tobacco in ceremonies
and rituals. In (2) ... cases, healers used the plant that tobacco comes from as
medicine. European colonists picked (3) ... the tobacco habit, and smoking
became popular in European cities like London. Demand grew quickly.

At the (4) ... time, England's new colony in Virginia was (5) ... the brink of failure.
When the English settler John Rolfe landed in Virginia in 1609, he found that
tobacco grew well in the region. Rolfe's discovery turned tobacco (6) ... a cash
crop for England and gave colonists a reason to expand the territory (7) ... the
expense of the Native Americans already living there. (8) ... ten years, the colony
was producing so mu

Bài 18 :
Electronic Clerks

The word computer is a misleading name (1) ... the ubiquitous machine that sits
on our desks. If we go (2) ... to the Victorian period, or even the World War II era,
the word meant an occupation, defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as "one
who computes; a calculator, reckoner; specifically a person employed to make
calculations in an observatory, in surveying, etc."

In (3) ..., although modern computer can work with numbers, (4) ... main use is for
storing and manipulating information, (5) ... is, for doing the kinds of jobs
performed by a clerk--defined in the Oxford English Dictionary (6) ... "one
employed in a subordinate position in a public or private office, shop, warehouse,
etc., to make written entries, (7) ... accounts, make fair copies of documents, do
the mechanical work of correspondence and similar 'clerkly' work." The electronic
computer (8) ... be said to combine the roles of the human computer and the
human clerk.

Bài 19 :

Gift from the Baltic

Amber jewellery has always been much sought after and, through trade, amber
pieces often ended (1) ... in areas distant from their source. The discovery of
amber thought to (2) ... come from the Baltic but found in caches, excavations,
and burial grounds throughout Europe and North Africa has led to the
reconstruction of the ancient amber trade routes. These routes, the details of
(3) ... are still somewhat controversial, varied depending upon the amber source
and the period, but were active during the Greek and Roman periods.

(4) ... distant trade accounts for the finding of Baltic amber beads in Etruscan
tomb as well as in excavations in Mycenae, Egypt, and Rome. Amber was also
(5) ... demand by the Arabic and Oriental cultures, and worn Baltic amber beads
(6) ... appear today in necklaces from Morocco, Iran, and Tibet. The lore and study
of amber has always been an integral (7) ... of the Baltic cultures, and from time
immemorial (8) ... the present, amber has been collected from the shores of the
Baltic Sea.

Bài 20 :
FOOTBALL IN BRITAIN

Both the varieties of football that originally hailed (1) ... Britain, the Rugby and
Association games, have probably (2) ... been as popular as they are now. The
association game, or soccer as it has become generally known, is now almost
globally popular and judging by the last few World Cups, (3) ... long a team from
Asia, Africa or North America will go on to win the trophy. Rugby's progress has
been (4) ... dramatic but the game is becoming increasingly international and is
surely destined to continue to expand.

Of course, periodically it is (5) ... that both varieties of football will be afflicted
(6) ... problems stemming from a downturn in the world economy and difficulties
generated by financial mismanagement. Collectively, however, their future
appears bright. Peculiarly enough, (7) ... this very little is known about the origins
of modern football and many questions relating to (8) ... growth and development
remain unanswered. Football is a very old game, especially in Britain.

Bài 21:

The Role of Antibiotics in Our Life

Although there are many strains of antibiotic bacteria now present in hospital
wards, antibiotics have effectively served (1) ... original purpose over the course of
the past eighty years. They have been able to treat the infections of countless
individuals and saved millions of lives. Antibiotics have changed the way in (2) ...
many common diseases are viewed. (3) ... infected with bacterial pneumonia, for
instance, is no longer considered fatal. Rather, it is viewed as a mundane infection
which can be cured (4) ... a simple course of antibiotics. The number of antibiotics
available for use has also affected their impact (5) ... society. Even if one antibiotic
is ineffective at treating a disease, there are, for most common infections, a host
of (6) ... drugs that can be used to effectively cure the disease. The development
of antibiotics over the past eighty years has changed the relationship between
humans and disease. Antibiotics have given humans the power to fight back
effectively (7) ... microorganisms in a way that (8) ... have been considered
impossible just a century ago.