ĐỀ LUYỆN THI HSG

Listen to five short conversations and choose the best option (A, B or C) to each
question (5 points):
1. When will they go on holiday?
A. In June B. In July C. In September
2. How is Patti going to travel?
A. By train B. By plane C. By car
3. What will Sam do?
A. He will phone her B. He will send a postcard C. He will send a letter
4. What was the weather like in Portugal?
A. Cloudy B. Rainy C. Sunny
5. What has the girl broken?
A. A glass B. A bottle C. A picture

Listen to the recording and choose the correct answer to each question. (6.0 points)
6. The new job that Sarah is talking about is ___________.
A. a sales manager B. a secretary C. an accountant
7. Sarah usually starts work at ___________.
A. 6:00 B. 8:30 C. 9:00
8. In the new job, Jane can earn ___________.
A. £160 a week B. £180 a week C. £210 a week
9. Sarah has lunch ___________.
A. in a café B. in a park C. at home
10. In the new job, Jane can have ___________.
A. 3 weeks’ holiday B. 4 weeks’ holiday C. 5 weeks’ holiday
11. The manager’s name is Mr ___________.
A. Fawset B. Fawcett C. Fausett

You will hear a woman talking on the radio about a new sports centre. For each
question, fill in the missing information in the numbered space. In each space, use
NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS/ NUMBERS. You will listen to the CD twice. (5.0
points)

NEW SPORTS CENTRE

12. It opens on (12)______________________

13. It is opposite the (13)____________________
14. The car park entrance is in (14)_________________ Road.
15. It costs (15) £ ____________ per week to be a member.
16. A (16) _____________ is provided.

Listen to the recording and state whether the statements are true (T) or false (F) (4.0
points).
17. Hannah shared a birthday party with her sister last year.
18. They agree that the barbecue was a good idea.
19. Hannah’s grandmother will let her use her house for her party.
20. Oliver would like to have a party in his grandmother’s flat.

Choose the word, phrase or expression which best completes each sentence. (8.0
points)
21. Dick: “I enjoyed myself so much at your birthday party.”
Patrice: “____________.”
A. It’s a pleasure. B. Oh, that’s kind of you.
C. Congratulations. D. Oh, I’m glad to hear that.
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22. Mark: “Mom, I’ve got mark A in the English test.”
Mother: “______”
A. Good job! B. How can you do that? C. That’s too bad! D.
Oh, really?
23. When a fire broke out in the Louvre, at least twenty _______ paintings were destroyed, including
two by Picasso.
A. worthless B. priceless C. valueless D. worthy
24. The success of the party was mainly due to the presence of several_______ .
A. celebrations B. celebrated C. celebrities D. celebrates
25. Jenny is ________ of the mistakes of others.
A. tolerant B. benevolent C. cordial D. cooperative
26. Sometimes two cultural values seem to ______ each other.
A. conflict B. contradict C. reflect D. disapprove
27. Giving up smoking is just one of the ways to ______ heart disease.
A. push off B. put off C. ward off D. throw off
28. After standing in the sun for more than an hour, two of the people in the queue passed _______
and they came ________ after some women threw water in their faces.
A. away/round B. out/back C. away/back D. out/to

Give the correct form of the words in brackets. (5.0 points)

29. How awful! What an ________ thing for anyone to do! (OUTRAGE)
30. The runner was so fast and so good that he won the race quite________. (EFFORT)
31. The destruction of World Trade Centre has led to a further ______ of the dollars. (VALUE)
32. His girlfriend does not love him anymore because of his _______. (MODEST)
33. Barack Obama is the first President of the United States with ________ background. (RACE)

Choose the underlined word or phrase in each sentence that needs correcting (3.0
points):
34. The rings of Saturn are so distant to be seen from the Earth without a telescope.
A B C D
35. The nests of most bird species are strategic placed to camouflage them against predators.
A B C D
36. In just three months H.G. Wells wrote the famous classic The Time Machine for what he won a
A B C D
Newberry Caldecot award.

Choose the word that is CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined word/phrase in the
following questions. (2.0 points)
37. Martin Luther King fought to put an end to racial segregation in the United States.
A. integration B. education C. torture D. separation
38. The aim of University education is to inure students to hardship, trials and adverse situations
in life.
A. accustom B. obliterate C. shun D. estrange

Choose the word / phrase that is OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined word / phrase
in the following questions. (2.0 points)
39. I can’t stand people who treat animals cruelly.
A. cleverly B. reasonably C. gently D. brutally
40. I'm sorry he'll be late; he's been detained at a meeting.
A. questioned B. released C. kept D. forgotten

There are FIVE blanks in the passage below. From the phrases / sentences in the box,
choose the most suitable for each blank. There is ONE EXTRA option that you DO NOT
need to use (5.0 points)

A- in a vertical direction
B- over the top of the head upwards
C- by being flat and hugging the contours
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 D- from having more food
E- by the lower eye “ moving” around the other side
F- in what might be called the obvious way

Fish that live on the sea bottom benefit (41) ________. There are two very different types of
flatfish and they have evolved in very separate ways. The skates and rays, relatives of the sharks,
have become flat (42) _______. Their bodies have grown out sideways to form great “wings”. They
look as though they have been flattened but have remained symmetrical and “the right way up”.
Conversely, fish such as plaice, sole, and halibut have become flat in a different way. There are
bony fish which have a marked tendency to be flattened (43) ______; they are much “taller” than
they are wide. They use their whole, vertically flattened bodies as swimming surfaces, which
undulate through the water as they move. Therefore, when their ancestors migrated to the
seabed, they lay on one side than on their bellies. However, this raises the problem that one eye
was always looking down into the sand and was effectively useless. In evolution this problem was
solved (44) ________. We see this process of moving around enacted in the development of every
young bony flatfish. It starts life swimming near the surface, and is symmetrical and vertically
flattened , but then the skull starts to grow in a strange asymmetrical twisted fashion, so that one
eye, for instance the left, moves (45) _________, an old Picasso-like vision. Incidentally, some
species of 20 flatfish settle on the right side, others on the left, and others on either side.

41.
42.
43.
44.
45.

Read the text below and then choose the best title for each paragraph: (5.0 points).

HEADINGS
A In investment to get excited
about
B There's money to be made
C The two winners
E Cutting down the risk
F A popular pastime in Britain
G The cheaper the successful
There must be wiser investments, but it’s doubtful whether many will provide the same sort of
excitement. If you’re looking for financial adventure, forget your savings accounts — let your
money go to the dogs.
46. _____
Greyhound racing might be suffering from an image problem, but the dogs still have their fans.
After football, it is the second biggest spectator sport in Britain. More than 70,000 races are
run each year, watched by 4 million people. And more than £2 billion is spent each year on
betting.
47. _____
In the past two years, two greyhounds — Some Picture and Tom’s the Best — were candidates
for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. However, in both cases the award went to a human.
What a shame!
48. _____
But there are significant financial rewards on offer if your dog turns out to be a champion. For
instance, if it wins the English, Irish or Scottish Derby, you collect £50,000 in prize money.
However, this is very little compared to what you can make on breeding. This can add up to
total earnings in excess of £350,000 over seven years.
49. _____

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 To avoid the uncertainty, some owners prefer to buy a dog that has proved itself and is ready
to run. The cost, though, is around £3,000, even at the bottom end of the market, and some
rich enthusiasts have been known to pay up to £25,000 for a promising young dog.
50. _____
However, some of the cheaper buys are surprisingly successful. Two years ago, a dog called
Stows Val, which had cost its owner £500, ran in the finals of the English Derby. This season a
dog called Cee Kay, which was bought at £1,500, has already won its owner £20,000 in prize
money.

Read the passage below and decide which option A, B, C or D best fits each space. (10
points)
ISLAND PLANT LIFE
Islands are geographical (51) __________ that are completely surrounded by water, yet many
islands are (52) __________ a rich assortment of plant life. It may seem surprising that so much
plant life exists on many islands, yet there are surprisingly simple explanations as to (53)
__________ the vegetation has been able to establish itself there. Some islands were formerly (54)
__________ larger bodies of land, (55) __________ others were created on their own. Islands that
were created when flooding or rising water levels cut them off from their neighbours often still
have the plant life that they had before they were cut off. In cases where islands formed (56)
__________ the ocean, they may have plant life from neighbouring lands even though they were
never actually attached to the neighbouring lands. Winds (57) __________ many seeds to islands;
some plants produce extremely light seeds that can (58) __________ thousands of feet above the
Earth and then drift down to islands where they can (59) __________ and develop. Birds also carry
seeds to islands; as birds move over open stretches of water, they can (60) __________ the
transportation system to spread seeds from place to place.
51. A. formations B. forms C. foundations D. compounds
52. A. surrounded by B. replaced with C. supplied with D. covered with
53. A. what B. how C. when D. where
54. A. connected by B. attached to C. linked with D. joined in
55. A. while B. when C. however D. even though
56. A. out of B. by C. under D. above
57. A. throw B. lead C. carry D. take
58. A. fly B. float C. drive D. run
59. A. open B. crack C. sprout D. break
60. A. work like B. serve as C. function D. do as

Read the following passage and choose the best answer to each question (10 points).
There are many theories of aging, but virtually all fall into the category of hypotheses with a
minimum of supporting evidence. One viewpoint is that aging occurs as the body's organ systems
become less efficient. Thus failures in the immune system, hormonal system, and nervous system
could all produce characteristics that we associate with aging. Following a different vein, many
current researchers are looking for evidence at the cellular and sub-cellular level. It has been
shown that cells such as human fibroblasts (generalized tissue cells) grown in culture divide only
a limited number of times and then die. Only cancer cells seem immortal in this respect. Fibroblast
cells from an embryo divide more times than those taken from an adult. Thus some researchers
believe that aging occurs at the cellular level and is part of the cell's genetic makeup. Any event
that disturbs the cell's genetic machinery such as mutation, damaging chemicals in the cell's
environment, or loss of genetic material, could cause cells to lose their ability to divide and thus
bring on aging. Other theories of aging look at different processes.
Chronological aging refers to the passage of time since birth and is usually measured in years.
While chronological age can be useful in estimating the average status of a large group of people,
it is a poor indicator of an individual person's status because there is a tremendous amount of
variation from one individual to the next in regard to the rate at which biological age changes
occur. For example, on the average, aging results in people losing much of their ability to perform
strenuous activities, yet some elderly individuals are excellent marathon runners.

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 Another type of aging is cosmetic aging, which consists of changes in outward appearance
with advancing age. This includes changes in the body and changes in other aspects of a person's
appearance, such as the style of hair and clothing, the type of eyeglasses, and the use of a
hearing aid. Like chronological aging, it is frequently used to estimate the degree to which other
types of aging have occurred. However, it is an inaccurate indicator for either purpose because of
variation among individuals and because a person's appearance is affected by many factors that
are not part of aging, including illness, poor nutrition, and exposure to sunlight.
61. The author believes the theories of aging are _______.
A. well-supported hypotheses B. poorly supported hypotheses
C. proven theories D. interesting ideas
62. In paragraph 1, the word "evidence" refers to _______.
A. evidence of aging B. evidence of cancer
C. evidence of human fibroblasts D. evidence of cell division

63. The word "vein" in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to _______.

A. part of the body B. point of view C. blood vessel D. cellular level
64. The author of the article points out that cancer cells _______.
A. divide infinitely B. divide and then die
C. divide more in adults than in embryos D. bring on aging
65. The word "culture" in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to _______ .
A. libraries B. a society's traditions and values
C. a special environment D. a toxic substance
66. It can be inferred from the passage that fibroblast cells ________.
A. malfunction in the aging process of the body's immune system
B. are not a focus in cellular research on aging
C. are similar to cancer cells in rate of division
D. divide fewer times at later stages in human life
67. As explained in this passage, the theory of aging which examines the cellular level would NOT
assign which of the following as a cause of aging?
A. Mutation B. Failure of the body's organ system
C. Loss of genetic material D. Chemical damage from the environment
68. According to the passage, chronological aging is not a good indicator of an individual's status
regarding aging because ______.
A. elderly people are often athletic
B. there is individual variation in the rate of biological aging
C. strenuous activities are not good measures of age
D. it is difficult to get accurate records of birth dates
69. The author implies all of the following about cosmetic aging EXCEPT _______.
A. It does not occur at the same rate for all people
B. It is a poor indicator of chronological age
C. Illness, poor nutrition, and exposure to sunlight cause aging to occur
D. It is described by changes in outward appearance
70. This article can be extracted from ______.
A. a fashion magazine B. a cookbook C. a health journal D. a travel brochure

D. WRITING:
I. Finish each of the following sentences in such a way that it means exactly the same
as the sentence printed before. (5.0 points)
71. People rumor that he was living with the enemy for a long time.
 He is _______________________________________________________________________________________
72. You can use it as long as you like, and it won’t wear out.
 No matter __________________________________________________________________________________

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73. It is essential that no one be told about our plans.
 You mustn’t ________________________________________________________________________________
74. Mr. Foster asked me to write this letter to you.
 It is at ______________________________________________________________________________________
75. The soldiers entered the castle while it was dark.
 Under ______________________________________________________________________________________

76. In about 120 words, write a letter to a friend to tell him/her about your dream job
and explain why you like it. (10 points)

You are required to BEGIN and END your letter as followed:

Dear Linh,
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………
Yours,
Viet Anh

77. In about 250 words, write an essay on the following topic: (15 points)

People think that students should have freedom to choose their own subjects in
the National Examination for Secondary Education. What is your opinion?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………

===HẾT===

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