PRACTICE 4 (ADVANCED)

CHOOSE THE WORD OR PHRASE THAT BEST FITS EACH BLANK BELOW.
1. The hotel room was __________ furnished with only a bed, a wardrobe and an ancient armchair.
A. thinly B. sparsely C. lightly D. sketchily
2. The main disadvantage to our house is that the only__________ to the garden is through a bedroom.
A. passage B. doorway C. access D. communication
3. I've had my car examined three times now but no mechanic has been able to __________ the problem.
A. pinpoint B. focus C. specify D. highlight
4. Our hosts had prepared a__________ meal with seven courses to celebrate our arrival.
A. generous B. profuse C. lavish D. spendthrift
5. Don't thank me for helping in the garden. It was__________ pleasure to be working out of doors.
A. plain B. mere C. simple D. sheer
6. She had__________ mind which kept her alert and well-informed even in old age.
A. an examining B. a demanding C. an enquiring D. a querying
7. The police decided to__________ the department store after they had received a bomb warning.
A. abandon B. evacuate C. evict D. expel
8. The company was declared bankrupt when it had__________ more debts than it could hope to repay.
A. inflicted B. incurred C. entailed D. evolved
9. After months of bitter arguing the couple had to accept that they were__________.
A. incongruous B. incompatible C. dissident D. disaffected
10. The BBC has__________ a young composer to write a piece of music for the Corporation's centenary.
A. ordered B. consulted C. commissioned D. decided
11. You ............. wonderful! Is that a new perfume you're wearing?
A. are smelling B. smell C. will smell D. have been smelling
12. It gets on my nerves that way that Carol ............ about her job.
A. forever boasts B. is forever boasting C. never boasts D. is never boasting
13. We ............. to the new Harry Potter film on Saturday. If we can get tickets, would you like to come too?
A. were going to go B. were thinking of going
C. had planned to go D. had been meaning to go
14. Given the chance, many children ............. TV uninterruptedly for hours.
A. are watching B. will have watched C. will be watching D. will watch
15. .............. nocturnal creature(s).
A. Owl is a B. An owl is a C. The owl is aD. The owls are
16. The engagement ring he gave her ............. been more beautiful.
A. couldn't have B. might have C. shouldn't have D. must have
17. I would normally have been on that train that was derailed yesterday, but ............ told me I should take
my car to work instead.
A. anything B. everything C. something D. nothing
18. I wish you ............. when I'm telling you something important.
A. won't interrupt B. wouldn't interrupt C. didn't interrupt D. hadn't interrupted
19. Oh no! It looks like my rucksack ........... behind in the scramble to get on the bus.
A. has left B. has got left C. had left D. had been left
20. This test is just ............ I can finish it in no time.
A. green fingers B. child’s play C. a sweet tooth D. cold shoulders
21. Since smokers appear to be unable to act in a socially responsible way by voluntarily refraining ...........
smoking in public, it seems there must be a law.
A. from B. into C. off D. behind
22. He's a little confused and a little ........... balance, but he knows his routine and heads to his car.
A. under B. against C. off D. in
23. My client accepts the formal apology ........... prejudice to any further legal action she may decide to take.
A. without B. onto C. in D. for
24. If you get goods ........... the cheap, you get them for a low price, often from someone you know who
works in the company or business that produces them.
A. on B. for C. at D. within
25. A pay rise is not ........... the realms of possibility, I'm afraid.
 A. behind B. under C. within D. against
26. Although the others ........... him, and his lies, Kirk persists in keeping the pretence going.
A. see through B. turn up C. look back on D. come across
27. He failed to recover from a leg injury and ........... on a trip to Barcelona
A. missed out B. came up C. turned down D. made up
28. Next year we intend to ........... several new products but at the moment we're still testing them.
A. bring out B. cut back C. take over D. go ahead
29. This heat has made me ........... an itchy red rash.
A. come out in B. take up C. tone up D. put on
30. When we discussed how much our wedding was going to cost, it ........... over two thousand pounds!
A. added up to B. moved on to C. sent away for D. went ahead with
READING COMPREHENSION
Long before they can actually speak, babies pay special attention to the speech they hear around them. Within
the first month of their lives, babies' responses to the sound of the human voice will be different from their
responses to other sorts of auditory stimuli. They will stop crying when they hear a person talking, but not if
they hear a bell or the sound of a rattle. At first, the sounds that an infant notices might be only those words
that receive the heaviest emphasis and that often occur at the ends of utterances. By the time they are six or
seven weeks old, babies can detect the difference between syllables pronounced with rising and falling
inflections. Very soon, these differences in adult stress and intonation can influence babies' emotional states
and behavior. Long before they develop actual language comprehension, babies can sense when an adult is
playful or angry, attempting to initiate or terminate new behavior, and so on, merely on the basis of cues such
as the rate, volume, and melody of adult speech.
Adults make it as easy as they can for babies to pick up a language by exaggerating such cues. One researcher
observed babies and their mothers in six diverse cultures and found that, in all six languages, the mothers
used simplified syntax, short utterances and nonsense sounds, and transformed certain sounds into baby talk.
Other investigators have noted that when mothers talk to babies who are only a few months old, they
exaggerate the pitch, loudness, and intensity of their words. They also exaggerate their facial expressions,
hold vowels longer, and emphasize certain words.
More significant for language development than their response to general intonation is observation that tiny
babies can make relatively fine distinctions between speech sounds. In other words, babies enter the world
with the ability to make precisely those perceptual discriminations that are necessary if they are to acquire aural
language.
Babies obviously derive pleasure from sound input, too: even as young as nine months they will listen to songs
or stories, although the words themselves are beyond their understanding. For babies, language is a sensory-
motor delight rather than the route to prosaic meaning that it often is for adults.
1. What does the passage mainly discuss?
A. How babies differentiate between the sound of the human voice and other sounds
B. The differences between a baby's and an adult's ability to comprehend language
C. How babies perceive and respond to the human voice in their earliest stages of language development
D. The response of babies to sounds other than the human voice
2. Why does the author mention a bell and a rattle?
A. To contrast the reactions of babies to human and nonhuman sounds
B. To give examples of sounds that will cause a baby to cry
C. To explain how babies distinguish between different nonhuman sounds
D. To give examples of typical toys that babies do not like
3. Why does the author mention syllables pronounced with rising and falling inflections?
A. To demonstrate how difficult it is for babies to interpret emotions
B. To illustrate that a six-week-old baby can already distinguish some language differences
C. To provide an example of ways adults speak to babies
D. To give a reason for babies' difficulty in distinguishing one adult from another
4. The word "noted" in line 17 is closest in meaning to __________.
A. theorized B. requested C. disagreed D. observed
5. The word "They" refers to _________.
A. mothers B. investigators C. babies D. words
6. The passage mentions all of the following as ways adults modify their speech when talking to babies
EXCEPT __________.
A. giving all words equal emphasis B. speaking with shorter sentences
C. speaking more loudly than normal D. using meaningless sounds
7. The word "emphasize" is closest in meaning to __________.
A. stress B. repeat C. explain D. leave out
8. Which of the following can be inferred about the findings described in paragraph 2?
A. Babies who are exposed to more than one language can speak earlier than babies exposed to a single
language.
B. Mothers from different cultures speak to their babies in similar ways.
C. Babies ignore facial expressions in comprehending aural language.
D. The mothers observed by the researchers were consciously teaching their babies to speak.
9. What point does the author make to illustrate that babies are born with the ability to acquire language?
A. Babies begin to understand words in songs.
B. Babies exaggerate their own sounds and expressions.
C. Babies are more sensitive to sounds than are adults.
D. Babies notice even minor differences between speech sounds.
10. According to the author, why do babies listen to songs and stories, even though they cannot understand
them?
A. They understand the rhythm. B. They enjoy the sound.
C. They can remember them easily. D. They focus on the meaning of their parents' words.

CLOZE TEST THE TRUTH BEHIND A SMILE

People smile a great deal, and we seem to know instinctively that some smiles are more genuine than others.
But is there any scientific (1) __________ for this? Recent research suggests that a mechanism in the brain
can help us (2) __________ whether a smile is really heartfelt - or whether it is just being (3) __________
on for show.
According to various long-held traditions, a genuine smile involves the eyes as well as the mouth. In the
nineteenth century, a French anatomist (4) __________ to prove this. He used electrodes to stimulate the
facial muscles of volunteers, (5) __________ creating false smiles. He found that real smiles were always (6)
__________ with the contraction of a muscle around the eye, but that his artificially induced ones were not.
During more recent research, volunteers were shown a variety of human facial (7) __________ and
their reactions to these were monitored. When they were shown a happy face, 35% of the volunteers
immediately started looking at the eye area, checking for tell-tale crinkles that would (8) __________ that the
smile was genuine; but when shown a sad or neutral face, they did not. So why did the human brain evolve to
distinguish between real and false smiles? It could be that this ability to (9) __________ a quick assessment of
a smile has an important role to play in successful communication. A genuine smile (10) __________ as a
gesture of conciliation in conflict, and it’s important to know whether we are really being offered a truce or not.
1. A. sign B. basis C. root D. fact
2. A. recollect B. accept C. admit D. recognize
3. A. put B. brought C. created D. stuck
4. A. got down B. set out C. went off D. carried out
5. A. despite B. thereby C. however D. nonetheless
6. A. associated B. mixed C. joined D. accompanied
7. A. exhibitions B. resemblances C. appearances D. expressions
8. A. assure B. confirm C. justify D. approve
9. A. make B. earn C. do D. hold
10. A. aims B. serves C. portrays D. applies
WORD FORMATION
1. Fill each of the following sentences with the correct form of the given word in parentheses:

1. Globalization is the ongoing process that deepens and broadens the relationships and ____________
(depend) among countries.
2. A bath is not the same thing as sleep, but anything that lets you relax for a while is ____________ (restore),
too.
3. Not sick, Mai guessed, but probably ____________ (hang) now that she drank a lot at the party last night.
4. These students voluntarily spent their summer vacations helping the ____________ (advantage).
5. Mr. Joseph Tan is working in the ____________ (crime) department. He’s always carrying out investigations.
6. Eating fish and lots of vegetables greatly increases your life ____________ (expect).
7. Her kindness to my children greatly ____________ (dear) her to me.
8. This chemical removes unsightly ____________ (color) in order to restore wood to its natural color.
9. The lawyer said that his ____________ (defense) is accused of smuggling cigarettes into Long An province.
10. In one shop, I _______ (earth) a wonderful collection of traditional dolls.

ERROR IDENTIFICATION
The following passage contains 10 errors. Identify and correct them
(Line 1) Tornadoes are one of the most severe types of weather phenomenon. While many people fear
tornadoes and their destructive power, few people understand their real causes and effects, nor are they aware
of how to protect themselves from their devastating force.
(Line 4) Tornadoes, violently rotating columns of air, occur when a change in wind direction, couple
with an increase in wind speed, results from a spinning effect in the lower atmosphere. These whirling
movements, which may not be visible to the naked eye, are exacerbated when the rotated air column shifts
from a horizontal to a vertical position. As the revolving cloud draws in the warm air that surrounds it at ground
level, its spinning motion begins to accelerating, thereby create a funnel that extends from the cloud above it
to the ground below. In this way, tornadoes become pendent from low pressure storm clouds.
(Line 11) When a tornado comes into contact the ground, it produces a strong upward draft known as
a vortex, a spiraling column of wind that can reach speeds in excess of 200 miles per hour. Traveling on the
landscape, the tornado wreaks a path of concentrated destruction. It is uncommon for these twisters to lift
heavy objects, like cars or large animals, and throw them several miles. Houses that succumb to the force of
the tornado seem to explode if the low air pressure inside the vortex collides with the normal air pressure inside
the buildings.
TRANSFORMATION
1. Jack is so affluent a man, so Linda is dating with him.
 But …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
 So ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
2. It is likely that they forgot about the extra class.
 They ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
3. You should not lock this door for any reason when the building isn’t restricted anymore. OPEN
 Under no ..................................................................................................................... the public.
4. Doctors say a bee sting is more likely to cause death these days than a snake bite.
 According …………………………, death...................................................................................................
5. If something’s worrying you, you should tell me about it now. CHEST
 If you have ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… now?
6. We believed that Tom was not telling the truth about what happened. TEETH
 Tom ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… about what happened.
7. Perhaps my sister was bad-tempered because she was tired. FACT
 I put my sister’s ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… she was tired.
8. The car was too expensive, but Tony managed to buy it. MEANS
 Much ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

THE END
4. TRẮC NGHIỆM VỀ SỰ KẾT HỢP TỪ - COLLOCATIONS AND IDIOMS
1. Mr Simkins is the big __________ in the company as he has just been promoted to the position of
Managing Director.
A. bread B. apple C. cheese D. meat
2. This is a good hair dye but the colour gradually__________ after a few weeks.
A. fades B. vanishes C. disappears D. pales
3. Breaking his leg dealt a __________ to his chances of becoming a professional footballer.
A. thump B. strike C. hit D. blow
4. The judge's ruling__________ a wave of protest campaigns across the country.
A. provoked B. instigated C. launched D. commenced
5. Despite her poor exam results, Alice put a __________ face on the situation.
A. tough B. brave C. courageous D. bold
6. My grandmother was a lovely person who__________ pleasure from helping others.
A. gathered B. derived C. deduced D. collected
7. For busy people in today's society, lifestyle management is gaining __________.
A. points B. speed C. ground D. terrain
8. Once at the skating rink, Ivan was allowed to skate to his heart's __________.
A. happiness B. content C. contentment D. delight
9. Benjamin Britten, the composer, is probably most __________ for his opera "Peter Grimes".
A. famous B. conspicuous C. remarkable D. distinguished
10. He slammed my hand in the car door and, to add insult to__________, didn't stop to apologise.
A. damage B. harm C. injury D. infamy
ĐÁP ÁN:
1. C. cheese
2. A. fades
3. D. blow
4. A. provoked
5. B. brave
6. B. derived
7. C. ground
8. B. content
9. D. distinguished
10. C. injury