READING PASSAGE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Passage 1

The History of Pencil

The beginning of the story of pencils started with a lightning. Graphite, the main material for producing pencil,
was discovered in 1564 in Borrowdale in England when a lightning struck a local tree during a thunder. Local
people found out that the black substance spotted at the root of the unlucky tree was different from burning ash
of wood. It was soft, thus left marks everywhere. Chemistry was barely out of its infancy at the time, so people
mistook it for lead, equally black but much heavier. It was soon put to use by locals in marking their sheep for
ownership and calculation.

Britain turns out to be major country where mines of graphite can be detected and developed. Even so, the first
pencil was invented elsewhere. As graphite is soft, it requires some form of encasement. In Italy, graphite sticks
were initially wrapped in string or sheepskin for stability, becoming perhaps the very first pencil in the world.
Then around 1560, an Italian couple made what are likely the first blueprints for the modern, wood-encased
carpentry pencil. Their version was a flat, oval, more compact type of pencil. Their concept involved the
hollowing out of a stick of juniper wood. Shortly thereafter in 1662, a superior technique was discovered by
German people: two wooden halves were carved, a graphite stick inserted, and the halves then glued together -
essentially the same method in use to this day. The news of the usefulness of these early pencils spread far and
wide, attracting the attention of artists all over the known world.

Although graphite core in pencils is still referred to as lead, modern pencils do not contain lead as the “lead” of
the pencil is actually a mix of finely ground graphite and clay powders. This mixture is important because the
amount of clay content added to the graphite depends on the intended pencil hardness, and the amount of time
spent on grinding the mixture determines the quality of the lead. The more clay you put in, the higher hardness
the core has. Many pencils across the world, and almost all in Europe, are graded on the European system. This
system of naming used B for black and H for hard; a pencil’s grade was described by a sequence or successive
Hs or Bs such as BB and BBB for successively softer leads, and HH and HHH for successively harder ones.
Then the standard writing pencil is graded HB.

In England, pencils continue to be made from whole sawn graphite. But with the mass production of pencils,
they are getting drastically more popular in many countries with each passing decade. As demands rise, appetite
for graphite soars. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), world production of natural
graphite in 2012 was 1,100,000 tonnes, of which the following major exporters are: China, India, Brazil, North
Korea and Canada. However, much in contrast with its intellectual application in producing pencils, graphite
was also widely used in the military. During the reign of Elizabeth I, Borrowdale graphite was used as a
refractory material to line moulds for cannonballs, resulting in rounder, smoother balls that could be fired
farther, contributing to the strength of the English navy. This particular deposit of graphite was extremely pure
and soft, and could easily be broken into sticks. Because of its military importance, this unique mine and its
production were strictly controlled by the Crown.

That the United States did not use pencils in the outer space till they spent $1000 to make a pencil to use in zero
gravity conditions is in fact a fiction. It is widely known that astronauts in Russia used grease pencils, which
don’t have breakage problem. But it is also a fact that their counterparts in the United States used pencils in the
outer space before real zero gravity pencil was invented. They preferred mechanical pencils, which produced
fine line, much clearer than the smudgy lines left by the grease pencils that Russians favored. But the lead tips
of these mechanical pencils broke often. That bit of graphite floating around the space capsule could get into
someone’s eye, or even find its way into machinery or electronics, causing an electrical short or other problems.
But despite the fact that the Americans did invent zero gravity pencils later, they stuck to mechanical pencils for
many years.

Against the backcloth of a digitalized world, the prospect of pencils seems bleak. In reality, it does not. The
application of pencils has by now become so widespread that they can be seen everywhere, such as classrooms,
meeting rooms and art rooms, etc. A spectrum of users are likely to continue to use it into the future: students to
do math works, artists to draw on sketch pads, waiters or waitresses to mark on order boards, make-up
professionals to apply to faces, and architects to produce blue prints. The possibilities seem limitless.

Questions 1-7

Complete the sentences below.

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.

Graphite was found under a 1 ________in Borrowdale, it was dirty to usebecause it was 2 ________.

Ancient people used graphite to sign 3 ________. People found graphite 4 ________in Britain.

The first pencil was graphite wrapped in 5 ________or animal skin.

Since graphite was too smooth, 6 ________was added to make it harder.

Russian astronauts preferred 7 ________pencils to write in the outerspace.

Questions 8-13

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage?

In boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if these is no information on this

8 Italy is probably the first country of the whole world to make pencils.
9 Germany used various kinds of wood to make pencils.
10 Graphite makes a pencil harder and sharper.
11 In Britain, pencils are not produced any more.
12 American astronauts did not use pencil in outer space.
13 Pencils are unlikely to be used in the future.
READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Passage 2.

Questions 14-20

Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A-G.

Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.

Write the correct number, i-ix, in boxes 14-20 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i Early research into athletes' physiology

ii A convenient method of acclimatization
iii The need for a rational approach.
iv Changes in the body
v The athletes who break the rules
vi Well-founded concerns
vii The surprising outcome of a race
viii The reversal of a decision
ix The runners who dominate

14 Paragraph A
15 Paragraph B
16 Paragraph C
17 Paragraph D
18 Paragraph E
19 Paragraph F
20 Paragraph G
 What is an unfair advantage in sport?

Olympic athletes increasingly depend on technology to help them win - but is that fair?

A What happened to the Australian athlete Ron Clarke in the 10,000 metres at the
Mexico City Olympics of 1968 is now virtually forgotten, though at the time it was headline
news. Clarke was the greatest distance runner in history he'd broken more world records
than anybody else. But in front of 55,000 horrified spectators, the event went disastrously
wrong. In the third lap, one runner keeled over and with six laps to go, two more were carried
away. Yet the race was being conducted at a relatively leisurely speed: the halfway time was
the slowest since the Paris Olympics of 1924. With two laps to go, Clarke was in the leading
pack. 'I'd never felt better in a race,' he says. But suddenly he too began to struggle, and as
the frontrunners moved up a gear, a gap opened up. Clarke remembers nothing of his last lap
which he ran in 90 seconds. ‘Normally I would run it in 64,’ he explains. He stumbled across
the line in sixth place and collapsed. He was administered oxygen and stretchered off the
track.

B Mexico City is surrounded by mountains and is over 2,240 metres above sea level.
That the altitude would have an impact on the Games was predicted. Clarke had raised the
issue himself, but had been told by the Australian sports authorities roat complaining was
regarded as bad sportsmanship. As it turned out, he had good reason to do so. Cleary, the
link between athletic performance and altitude needed further investigation.

C Although there were few standout performances in distance running at the Mexico
Games, they marked a turning point: the start of an astonishing record of success by east
Africans. While Clarke lay crumpled in a heap, runners from Kenya and Ethiopial were
celebrating their gold and silver medals. The record books confirm how entrenched this
pattern has become. The names of the seven fastest men in history over 5,000 metres are
Bekele, Gebrselassie, Komen, Kipchoge, Sihine, Songkok and Chereno. They are all from
either Kenya or Ethiopia. Between 1997 and 2011, the 10,000 metres mens world record was
smashed five times, dropping from 26:31.32 to 26: 17.53. Each time, the record was broken
by a Kenyan or an Ethiopian. While there is a complex mix of economic, political, social and
cultural explanations for the pre-eminence of east Africans, one factor is surely that many of
these athletes have lived most of their lives in thin air.

D At high altitudes, a number of physiological alterations occur, most importantly. more

red blood cells and haemoglobin are produced. This, in tum, increases the capacity of the
blood to carry oxygen, which feeds the muscles and which gives an advantage to the athletes
when they return to sea level. However, it is impossible to train with the same level of
intensity in the mountains-aerobic capacity and cardio-respiratory function both suffer at
altitude. As a result, the consensus is that the optimum approach to athletic preparation is:
Live High, Train Low (LHTL). Yet that has obvious practical drawbacks. Not many people live
in the mountains and those who do would prefer not to spend several hours each day driving
up and down winding treacherous roads.
E That's where the altitude tent-sometimes called the hypoxic tent-comes in. Around two
decades ago, two different scientists had the same exciting thought. If they could artificially
control the atmosphere within a confined space, they could simulate the effects of high
altitude and save an athlete at sea-level from the time and expense of travelling to higher
ground. Altitude tents have improved over the years: they're not as hot or as noisy as the
early prototypes, and are much cheaper too. They are also perfectly lawful. Five years ago
when the tents were investigated by Wada (the World Anti Doping Agency), it was ruled that
they did not violate the spirit of distance running. It is now routine for athletes to sleep in them
in preparation for an event.

F However, it is not the case that all new technologies gain approval. In 2008, a
staggering 105 world records were broken in swimming, the vast majority achieved by
competitors wearing the new Speedo LZR Racer suit. These suits use a high-tech fabric
tested in Nasa's wind tunnels, which reduces drag and improves buoyancy. The LZR was
initially sanctioned by Fina, the international swimming body. But as better suits were
produced by Speedo and other manufacturers, and more records were broken, they became
increasingly controversial. In a 2009 ruling, Fina changed its mind, banning all suits made
with this high-tech fabric.

G Going faster, higher, stronger is intergral to the logic of athletics in general, and the
Olympics in particular. Athletes believe they need records all the time and the only way they
can achieve records is by improving the clothing, the kit, the training, the nutrition, all to
identify minute distinctions between people of 0.0001 of a second . But when a new
technology is invented, the relevant sports authority has to consider whether to embrace or
reject it. In some cases, athletes are granted permission to use the technology: in others, it is
banned. But whatever the outcome, rulings should not appear arbitrary: arguments have to
be examined and weighed and the rules of logic ought to apply in every case.

Questions 21 and 22
Choose TWO letters, A-E
Write the correct letters in boxes 21 and 22 on your answer sheet.
Which TWO of the following statements about Ran Clarke are made in the passage?

A Clarke was not performing well immediately prior to the Mexico Games.
B The worries Clarke had before the Mexico Games were not taken into account.
C Clarke's experiences at the Mexico Games are widely talked about today.
D At one stage of the Mexico Games 10,000 metres, Clarke was near the front.
E Clarke was the only runner at the Mexico Games who appeared to be affected by the
altitude.

Questions 23-26

Complete the summary below.

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet.
Do all new technologies gain approval?

Some people may be puzzled by attitudes towards performance-enhancing technologies in

sport. For example, why is the altitude tent considered acceptable, but not the LZR Racer
suit? For distance running, Wada concluded that the attitude tent was not contrary to the 23
_______ of the sport. However, the LZR swimsuit, which is made from a special fabric that
aids buoyancy and cuts down 24 ___________ was banned.
Athletes think they have to continually set fresh 25 _________. This is made possible by
better 26 ___________ and training, as well as improved clothing and equipment. However,
when sports authorities have to decide whether to give permission for a new performance-
enhancing technology to be used, it is important that their decisions are not seen as arbitrary.

READING PASSAGE 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading
Passage 3.

Theories of planet formation questioned

A The traditional view of astronomy has been that Planets form slowly as material congeals
within the disk of gas, dust and ice known to surround young stars. First, gravity gathers
together bits of dust that merge to form boulder-sized bodies, which themselves coalesce into
bigger and bigger objects. In about a million years, these form rocky planets like Earth and
Mar. Over the ne few million years, gas from the disk settles around some of these solid
bodies and they crow far larger, becoming giants like gaseous Saturn and Jupiter. This theory
of planet formation is known as the care-accretion model. However, several astronomers now
say that this model for making planets may not be entirely correct.

B These astronomers have devised an alternative theory in which planets as massive as

Jupiter, whether orbiting our sun or a distant star, would form completely within a few
hundred years, rather than millions of years as previously believed. Both theories for planet
formation start with the same reservoir of planet-making materials. The spinning cloud of gas,
dust and ice rapidly fattens into disk-like shapes known as proto-planetary disks: and, as time
goes by, gravity causes material in these disks to clump into planet- sized objects. However it
is the speed of the clustering, and the size of the initial clumps, that provide the disparity in
the two models for planet formation.

C According to the core-accretion model, the making of Jupiter required the initial formation
of a solid core five to ten times Earth's mass. It would have taken about a million years to
achieve this. Most astronomers believe that the large core then had enough gravity to attract
a huge amount of gas from the proto-planetary disk to create a planet of the massive
proportions of Jupiter. In this core-accretion model, these gas giants may take as long as ten
million years to form.

D That is several million years too long in the opinion of Lucio Mayer of Zurich University.
Direct telescope sightings suggest that the proto-planetary disks do not last more than about
seven million years, and studies of the environment in which stars form suggest that many
disks may evaporate in much less time. Mayer asserts that most stars in the Milty Way form
in dense clouds of gas, dust and ice. Their temperatures are very intense and the ultraviolet
light they send into space can evaporate a proto-planetary disk in less than 100,000 years. In
the core-accretion model, that is not enough time for a Jupiter-like planet to form.

E Recent computer simulations show that when individual stars form, the gravitational pull
between them can result in the outer gaseous parts of the proto-planetary disks being
destroyed in 100 000 years or less. Thus, Thomas Quinn of the University of Washington
concludes that if a 'gas giant' planet cannot form quickly, it will probably never form. He also
asserts that if the core-accretion model is correct. Gas giant planets like Jupiter should be
rare. However, since 1995, astronomers have found more than one hundred planets as large
as Jupiter outside our solar system.

F Quinn and his colleagues recently analysed the standard core-accretion model of planet
formation and investigated whether not giant planets could form quickly. They looked at the
work of Gerard Kuiper who, in the 1950s, proposed that they could. Alan P Boss of the
Carnegie Institute did more extensive work on the subject in the late 1980s. Using computer
simulations, he was surprised to find that ratty could cause a proto-planetary disk. after a few
orbits of its parent star, to break into clumps as big as an average-sized planet. The clumps
would continue to pull in gas, ice and dust. This is called the gravitational-instability model of
planet formation.

G Recent calculations have suggested that many of the solid bodies that might be the rocky
core for Jupiter-size planets in the traditional theory would pin into the parent star before the
massive planet could form. Moreover, further analysis has shown that other effects could also
cause a proto-planetary disk to become unstable and split into large fragments. For instance,
within the disk, electrically charged material might accumulate, leading to fragmentation of
the disk. Or a powerful gravitational disturbance, such a he pull of a star passing nearby,
could produce instability in the proto-planetary disk.

H Nevertheless, the gravitational-instability model has problems of its own, as it is

mathematically complicated and requires sophisticated computer use. Therefore, no one has
studied the simulations long enough to establish conclusively that the model allows for the
formation of massive planets.

I In response, Mayer says that he and his team have described the results of an extensive.
simulation based on the gravitational-instability model. They spent two years refining
calculations to track what would happen to a proto-planetary disk over one thousand years,
which is more than any other simulation had done. In addition, over a decade previously
Mayer and his team had made simulations of the formation and evolution of galaxies. In
doing this, they had already developed a fast computer code that could run in parallel on
machines with hundreds of processors, and this knowledge assisted them in investigating
their gravitational-instability theory.

Questions 27-32
Reading Passage 3 has nine paragraphs, A - I
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-I, in boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet.

27 the significance of recent discoveries of a large number of massive planets

28 an explanation of the difference between the theories of planet creation
29 the difficulties of proving that the more recent theory of planet creation is correct
30 reasons why Mayer claims he was able to develop his theory
31 a detailed explanation of the long-held theory of planet creation
32 description of the destructive effect of heat in space

Questions 33-37
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-G, below
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 33-37 on your answer sheet.
33 Traditionally astronomers have believed that
34 LCIO Mayer physically observed that
35 Thomas Quinn believes that
36 Gerard Kuiper was the first to suggest that
37 Alan P Boss discovered that

A gaseous planets form before smaller rocky planets.

B large planets take millions of years to form.
C large planets must form fast or not at all.
D large planets had the potential to develop relatively fast.
E gravity could cause planet-sized pieces to break off quickly.
F hot clumps of gas, dust and ice were destroyed relatively quickly.
G computer studies of planets are too mathematically complex.

Questions 38-40
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-F, below
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet.

The core-accretion model

A hard centre becomes larger and this produces enough gravity to draw gas from the 38
______________ around it.

The gravitational-instability model

Stars can break up the outer gaseous parts which surround objects in the sky because the
attraction of the 39 ______________ from stars is very powerful. Heat caused by 40
____________ can also destroy the material surrounding the objects in a relatively short
time. Planet-sized segments may split away from the main body following several orbits of
the parent star.
A gravitational pull B ice C solid core

D ultraviolet light E Milky Way F disk

Passage 1

1
Đáp án đúng:TREE
2
Đáp án đúng:SOFT
3
Đáp án đúng:SHEEP
4
Đáp án đúng:MINES
5
Đáp án đúng:STRING
6
Đáp án đúng:CLAY
7
Đáp án đúng:GREASE
8
Đáp án đúng:TRUE
9
Đáp án đúng:NOT GIVEN
10
Đáp án đúng:FALSE
11
Đáp án đúng:FALSE
12
Đáp án đúng:FALSE
13
Đáp án đúng:FALSE