SỞ GIÁO DỤC ĐÀO TẠO BÀI THI THỬ KỲ THI TỐT NGHIỆP TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG

ĐỀ CHÍNH THỨC NĂM HỌC 2017- 2018

(Đề gồm có 04 trang) MÔN TIẾNG ANH ~ MÃ ĐỀ 001
5 Thời gian: 60 phút - không tính thời gian giao đề
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word that differs from the other three in the
position of primary stress in each of the following questions.
Question 1:A. machine B. confine C. engine D. entail
Question 2:A. develop B. envelope C. telescope D. antelope
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or
phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks from 03 to 07.
CHANGING MANNERS
Many Americans believe that manners have gotten worse and official figures confirm this. In a recent survey, nearly 70%
said that people are ...(3)... than they were 20 or 30 years ago. This is true of both large and small towns, although 74% of ...
(4)... living in cities said that people have become ruder, compared with 67% in rural areas. However, few people believe
that they have bad manners themselves! For example, only 8% in the questionnaire ...(5)... they have ever used their cell
phones in public in a loud or annoying way. Many people ...(6)... new technology for our changing manners. Computers,
MP3 players, and cell phones take us away from face-to-face contact, as well as being very annoying in public places. "All
of these things result in a world with more stress, more chances for people to be rude to each other," said Peter Post, an
instructor on business manners.
But what can we do about it? Some people would like to see a rail car ...(7)... for cell phone users so that the rest of us can
travel in peace and quiet. In fact, one train company, Amtrak, has banned cell phones in one car of some trains, which is
called a "Quiet Car".
Question 3:A. ruder B. older C. wiser D. smarter
Question 4:A. those B. them C. they D. ones
Question 5:A. confess B. admit C. accept D. agree
Question 6:A. reproach B. reprimand C. command D. blame
Question 7:A. founded B. prepared C. reserved D. suited
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to
each of the questions from 08 to 14.
COMEDIANS
What drives moderately intelligent persons to put themselves up for acceptance or disparagement? In short, what sort of
individual wants to be a comedian? When we hear the very word, what does the label suggest? Other professions, callings
and occupations attract separate and distinct types of practitioner. Some stereotypes are so familiar as to be cheaply
laughable examples from the world of travesty, among them absent-minded professors, venal lawyers, gloomy detectives and
cynical reporters. But what corny characteristics do we attribute to comedians? To a man or woman, are they generally
parsimonious, vulgar, shallow, arrogant, introspective, hysterically insecure, smug, autocratic, amoral, and selfish? Read
their superficial stories in the tabloids and so they would appear.
Rather than look at the complete image, perhaps we need to explore the initial motives behind a choice of career. Consider
first those who prefer a sort of anonymity in life, the ones who’d rather wear a uniform. The psychological make-up of
individuals who actively seek to resign their individuality is apparent among those who surrender to the discipline of a
military life. The emotional and intellectual course taken by those who are drawn to anonymity is easily observed but not
easily deflected. They want to be told what to do and then be required to do it over and over again in the safety of a routine,
often behind the disguises of a number of livery. If their egos ache with the need for recognition and praise, it’s a pain that
must be contained, frustrated or satisfied within the rut they occupy. The mere idea of standing up in front of an audience and
demanding attention is abhorrent.
Nor will we find our comics among the doormats and dormice, the meek. There’s precious little comedy in the lives of
quiet hobbyists, bashful scholars, hermits, anchorites and recluses, the discreet and the modest, ones who deliberately select
a position of obscurity and seclusion. Abiding quietly in this stratum of society, somewhere well below public attention level,
there is humour, yes, since humour can endure in the least favourable circumstances, persisting like lichen in Antarctica. And
jokes. Many lesserknown comedy writers compose their material in the secret corners of an unassuming existence. I know of
two, both content to be minor figures in the civil service, who send in topical jokes to radio and TV shows on condition that
their real names are not revealed.
In both cases I've noticed that their comic invention, though clever, is based upon wordplay, puns and similar equivoques,
never an aggressive comic observation of life. Just as there may be a certain sterility in the self-effacement of a humble life,
so it seems feasible that the selection process of what’s funny is emasculated before it even commences. If you have no
ginger and snap in your daily round, with little familiarity with strong emotions, it seems likely that your sense of fun will be
limited by timidity to a simple juggling with language.
 If the comedian’s genesis is unlikely to be founded in social submission, it’s also improbable among the top echelons of
our civilisation. Once again, humour can be found among the majestic. Nobles and royals, statesmen and lawmakers, have
their wits. Jokes and jokers circulate at the loftiest level of every advanced nation, but being high-born seems to carry no
compulsion to make the hoi polloi laugh. Some of our rulers do make us laugh but that’s not what they’re paid to do. And, so
with the constricted comedy of those who live a constricted life, that which amuses them may lack the common touch.
Having eliminated the parts of society unlikely to breed funnymen, it’s to the middle ranks of humanity, beneath the
exalted and above the invisible, that we must look to see where comics come from and why. And are they, like nurses and
nuns, called to their vocation? As the mountain calls to the mountaineer and the pentameter to the poet, does the need of the
mirthless masses summon forth funsters, ready to administer relief as their sole raison d’etre? We’ve often heard it said that
someone’s a ‘born comedian’ but will it do for all of them or even most of them? Perhaps we like to think of our greatest
jesters as we do our greatest painters and composers, preferring to believe that their gifts are inescapably driven to
expression. But in our exploration of the comedy mind, hopefully finding some such, we are sure to find some quite
otherwise.
[Source: PROFICIENCY TESTBUILDER 4th Edition, Macmillan, 2013]
Question 8: In the fourth paragraph, the writer criticises the kind of comedy he describes for its lack of......
A. spirit. B. originality. C. sophistication. D. coherence.
Question 9: What does the writer wonder in the last paragraph?
A. whether comedians can be considered great in the way that other people in the arts can
B. whether people’s expectations of comedians are too high
C. whether comedians realise how significant they are in the lives of ordinary people
D. whether it is inevitable that some people will become comedians
Question 10: What does the writer imply about comedians in the first paragraph?
A. People in certain other professions generally have a better image than them.
B. It is harder to generalise about them than about people in other professions.
C. They often cannot understand why people make negative judgements of them.
D. It is possible that they are seen as possessing only negative characteristics.
Question 11: The writer says that people at the top of society......
A. are unaware of how ridiculous they appear to others.
B. would not be capable of becoming comedians even if they wanted to.
C. take themselves too seriously to wish to amuse anybody.
D. have contempt for the humour of those at lower levels of society.
Question 12: Which word/phrase can be a substitution for “the hoi polloi”?
A. the eliete B. the mass media C. ordinary people D. the showbitz
Question 13: The writer says in the third paragraph that shy people......
A. fear that what they find humorous would not amuse others.
B. are capable of being more humorous than they realise.
C. may be able to write humorous material but could not perform it.
D. do not get the recognition they deserve even if they are good at comedy.
Question 14: What does the writer say about people who wear uniforms?
A. The desires they have are never met when they are at work.
B. They are more aware of their inadequacies than others may think.
C. They criticise performers for craving attention.
D. It is unusual for them to break their normal patterns of thought.
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word(s) CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined
word(s) in each of the following questions.
Question 15: It's not my cup of tea.
A. the kind of thing I like. B. my field of study
C. my responsibiltity. D. my best choice.
Question 16: He looked at her aghast.
A. shocked and worried B. amazed C. frightened D. surprised
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word whose underlined part differs from the other
three in pronunciation in each of the following questions.
Question 17:A. seizure B. heifer C. sheila D. receive
Question 18:A. apostrophe B. rhyme C. recipe D. psyche
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that best completes each of the following
exchanges.
Question 19: ~ A: “.................” ~ B: “She must be vexed and forlorn, I’m sure.”
A. No one was invited to her farewell party.
 B. What would she say if he came back to her?
C. How did Jenny feel when they broke up?
D. Guess what? I saw Annetta driving a new Audi to class.
Question 20: ~ A: “I’'m really excited about my holiday.” ~ B: “......................”
A. I’'m not surprised. Have a safe trip! B. Who with, may I ask?
C. You haven’'t had one for years. Take this for free. D. No wonder. It’s a long way to travel.
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word(s) OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined
word(s) in each of the following questions.
Question 21: "Can I try out your new bicycle?" ~ "Be my guest."
A. Sorry, you can't. B. You're kidding. C. Never mind D. No problem.
Question 22: They managed to surmount all objections to their plans.
A. give in B. yield to C. give up D. lose
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the underlined part that needs correction in each of the
following questions.
Question 23: Ocean currents have an enormous affect on life on this planet.
A. Ocean B. on life C. enormous affect D. have
Question 24: Petroleum is composed of a complex mix of hydrogen and carbon.
A. Petroleum B. and C. composed of D. mix
Question 25: A vast quantity of radioactive material is made when a hydrogen bomb explode.
A. A vast quantity B. explode C. material D. is
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to
each of the questions from 26 to 33.
SO MUCH TO SAVE
The idea of preserving biological diversity gives most people a warm feeling inside. But what, exactly, is diversity? And
which kind is most worth preserving? It may be anathema to save-the-lot environmentalists who hate setting such priorities,
but academics are starting to cook up answers.
Andrew Solow, a mathematician at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and his colleagues argue that in the eyes of
conservation, all species should not be equal. Even more controversially, they suggest that preserving the rarest is not always
the best approach. Their measure of diversity is the amount of evolutionary distance between species. They reckon that if
choices must be made, then the number of times that cousins are removed from one another should be one of the criteria.
This makes sense from both.a practical and an aesthetic point of view. Close relatives have many genes in common. If those
genes might be medically or agriculturally valuable, saving one is nearly as good as saving both. And different forms are
more interesting to admire and study than lots of things that look the same. Dr Solow's group illustrates its thesis with an
example. Six species of crane are at some risk of extinction. Breeding in captivity might save them. But suppose there were
only enough money to protect three. Which ones should be picked?
The genetic distances between 14 species of cranes, including the six at risk, have already been established using
a technique known as DNA hybridisation. The group estimated how likely it was that each of these 14 species would become
extinct in the next 50 years. Unendangered species were assigned a 10% chance of meeting the Darwinian reaper-man; the
most vulnerable, a 90% chance. Captive breeding was assumed to reduce an otherwise endangered species' risk to the 10%
level of the safest. Dr Solow's computer permed all possible combinations of three from six and came to the conclusion that
protecting the Siberian, white-naped and black-necked cranes gave the smallest likely loss of biological diversity over the
next five decades. The other three had close relatives in little need of protection. Even if they became extinct, most of their
genes would be saved.
Building on the work of this group, Martin Weitzman, of Harvard University, argues that conservation policy needs to take
account not only of some firm measure of the genetic relationships of species to each other and their likelihood of survival,
but also the costs of preserving them. Where species are equally important in genetic terms, and - an important and
improbable precondition - where the protection of one species can be assuted at the expense of another, he argues for making
safe species safer, rather than endangered species less endangered.
In practice, it is difficult to choose between species. Most of those at risk - especially plants, the group most likely to yield
useful medicines - are under threat because their habitats are in trouble, not because they are being shot, or plucked, to
extinction. Nor can conservationists choose among the millions of species that theory predicts must exist, but that have not
yet been classified by the biologists assigned to that tedious task.
This is not necessarily cause for despair. At the moment, the usual way to save the genes in these creatures is to find the
bits of the world with the largest number of species and try to protect them from the bulldozers. What economists require
from biologists are more sophisticated ways to estimate the diversity of groups of organisms that happen to live together, as
well as those which are related to each other. With clearer goals established, economic theory can then tell environmentalists
where to go. [from The Economist]
 Question 26: Dr Solow believes that.........
A. very rare species can't be saved B. all very rare species should be saved
C. all species should be saved D. only some species are worth saving
Question 27: Dr Solow's work depended on......
A. the premise that all cranes should be protected B. previous biological research
C. the cost of preserving cranes D. the premise that not all species are the same
Question 28: Three of the six species of endangered cranes........
A. were less interesting to admire than others B. could be allowed to become extinct
C. were so rare they couldn't be saved D. shouldn't be protected
Question 29: Dr Weitzman believes that if two species are equally important genetically we should protect.......
A. the one that is more attractive B. them both
C. the less endangered one D. the rarer one
Question 30: Endangered species of cranes can be saved by......
A. stopping hunters from killing them B. protecting their habitats
C. encouraging them to mate with their cousins D. keeping them in zoos or wildlife parks
Question 31: Most species are endangered because.......
A. biologists haven't classified them B. they are hunted or picked
C. we don't care enough about them D. the places they live in are being destroyed
Question 32: Dr Weitzman's ideas.......
A. confirm Dr Solow's B. contradict Dr Solow's
C. disregard Dr Solow's D. take Dr Solow's ideas one step further
Question 33: According to the writer what has to be done first is for.........
A. biologists to instruct economists B. biologists to classiry undiscovered species
C. developers to stop destroying habitats D. economists to instruct biologists
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following questions.
Question 34: ‘You and Terry seem to be good mates.’ ~ ‘Well, I ......him all my life.’
A. have known B. know C. have been knowing D. knew
Question 35: ‘Will Rebecca help with the Christmas party?’ ~ ‘Well, ......other years so I’m sure she will this year, too.’
A. she was helping B. she’s helped C. she’d helped D. she’s been helping
Question 36: Ella is......of sitting still for two minutes together.
A. unwilling B. disable C. unable D. incapable
Question 37: ‘Are flights with this company often delayed?’ ~ ‘No, they ......on schedule.’
A. usually left B. have usually left C. are usually leaving D. usually leave
Question 38: Sarah blushes,easily......she is always getting blamed for things she hasn’t done.
A. this means B. that means C. which means D. what means
Question 39: I wish I had someone of my own age ......I could trust.
A. in whom B. in which C. with whom D. which
Question 40: Alana ......halfway to the shops when she realized she’d left her purse at home.
A. was getting B. had got C. had been getting D. has got
Question 41: The depletion of the rain forests has...to a decline in the number of species there.
A. resulted B. attributed C. got D. led
Question 42: Shining her torch, Maria could just......a shadowy figure crouched behind a tree.
A. draw out B. work out C. make out D. put out
Question 43: With a sigh, Paul...himself that he was visiting the city for the very last time.
A. reminded B. reminisced C. remembered D. recalled
Question 44: The results of the experiment were studied with......interest by the scientists.
A. sharp B. keen C. firm D. utter
Question 45: I don’t get on with my brother but I’m extremely......of my sisters.
A. affectionat B. close C. attached D. fond
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that is closest in meaning to each of the
following questions.
Question 46: It was only when we arrived in Kenya that we saw hippos and giraffes.
A. When we arrived in Kenya we only saw hippos and giraffes.
B. We arrived in Kenya only when we saw hippos and giraffes.
C. We only arrived in Kenya when we saw hippos and giraffes.
D. Only when we arrived in Kenya did we see hippos and giraffes.
Question 47: I’d hardly unpacked in my hotel room when my phone rang.
 A. Had I hardly unpacked in my hotel room, my phone rang.
B. I was unpacking in my hotel hard when my phone rang.
C. Hardly had I unpacked in my hotel room when my phone rang.
D. It was hard for me to unpack in my hotel when my phone rang.
Question 48: The local people are in no way to blame for the destruction of the forest.
A. In no way are the local people to blame for the destruction of the forest.
B. The local people have no way to blame for the destruction of the forest.
C. It no use to blame the local people for the destruction of the forest.
D. There is no way for the local people to blame for the destruction of the forest.
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that best combines each pair of sentences
in the following questions.
Question 49: Tam Vy loved travelling in Europe very much. She decided not to go to France because of her fears of
terrorism.
A. Tam Vy would have gone to France if she hadn‘t been scared of terrorism so much because Europe was her favourite
travel spot.
B. As France had become a high-risk terrorism spot, Tam Vy, who normally loved Europe, was afraid to go there.
C. Although Tam Vy liked touring Europe ever since the threat of terrorism started, she hadn‘t been to France.
D. Even though Tam Vy liked touring Europe very much, she was afraid of the terrorism in France, so she chose not to
go there.
Question 50: Mum regretted not having planted a garden this year. She felt bad when buying vegetables at the
supermarket.
A. If Mum had planted a garden this year, she wouldn‘t have had to buy her vegetables from the supermarket.
B. When she realized that the vegetables at the supermarket were so bad, Mum decided to grow her own from then on.
C. Feeling sorry that she hadn‘t planted a garden this year, Mum did not feel good about purchasing vegetables from the
supermarket.
D. The garden that Mum had not planted, which she regretted not doing, would have produced better vegetables than
the ones she got at the supermarket.

The End
SỞ GIÁO DỤC ĐÀO TẠO BÀI THI THỬ KỲ THI TỐT NGHIỆP TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG
ĐỀ CHÍNH THỨC NĂM HỌC 2017- 2018
(Đề gồm có 04 trang) MÔN TIẾNG ANH ~ MÃ ĐỀ 002
Thời gian: 60 phút - không tính thời gian giao đề
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or
phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks from 01 to 05.
CHANGING MANNERS
Many Americans believe that manners have gotten worse and official figures confirm this. In a recent survey, nearly 70%
said that people are ...(1)... than they were 20 or 30 years ago. This is true of both large and small towns, although 74% of ...
(2)... living in cities said that people have become ruder, compared with 67% in rural areas. However, few people believe
that they have bad manners themselves! For example, only 8% in the questionnaire ...(3)... they have ever used their cell
phones in public in a loud or annoying way. Many people ...(4)... new technology for our changing manners. Computers,
MP3 players, and cell phones take us away from face-to-face contact, as well as being very annoying in public places. "All
of these things result in a world with more stress, more chances for people to be rude to each other," said Peter Post, an
instructor on business manners.
But what can we do about it? Some people would like to see a rail car ...(5)... for cell phone users so that the rest of us can
travel in peace and quiet. In fact, one train company, Amtrak, has banned cell phones in one car of some trains, which is
called a "Quiet Car".
Question 1:A. smarter B. older C. ruder D. wiser
Question 2:A. ones B. they C. those D. them
Question 3:A. confess B. admit C. accept D. agree
Question 4:A. reproach B. reprimand C. command D. blame
Question 5:A. founded B. suited C. reserved D. prepared
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word whose underlined part differs from the other
three in pronunciation in each of the following questions.
Question 6:A. rhyme B. recipe C. psyche D. apostrophe
Question 7:A. heifer B. seizure C. sheila D. receive
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following questions.
Question 8: ‘Will Rebecca help with the Christmas party?’ ~ ‘Well, ......other years so I’m sure she will this year, too.’
A. she’s been helping B. she’d helped C. she was helping D. she’s helped
Question 9: Ella is......of sitting still for two minutes together.
A. unable B. incapable C. disable D. unwilling
Question 10: Shining her torch, Maria could just......a shadowy figure crouched behind a tree.
A. put out B. work out C. make out D. draw out
Question 11: ‘Are flights with this company often delayed?’ ~ ‘No, they ......on schedule.’
A. usually leave B. have usually left C. usually left D. are usually leaving
Question 12: With a sigh, Paul...himself that he was visiting the city for the very last time.
A. recalled B. remembered C. reminisced D. reminded
Question 13: Sarah blushes,easily......she is always getting blamed for things she hasn’t done.
A. this means B. which means C. that means D. what means
Question 14: ‘You and Terry seem to be good mates.’ ~ ‘Well, I ......him all my life.’
A. know B. have been knowing C. have known D. knew
Question 15: The results of the experiment were studied with......interest by the scientists.
A. sharp B. keen C. firm D. utter
Question 16: I wish I had someone of my own age ......I could trust.
A. which B. with whom C. in whom D. in which
Question 17: The depletion of the rain forests has...to a decline in the number of species there.
A. got B. resulted C. attributed D. led
Question 18: I don’t get on with my brother but I’m extremely......of my sisters.
A. close B. attached C. fond D. affectionat
Question 19: Alana ......halfway to the shops when she realized she’d left her purse at home.
A. was getting B. had been getting C. has got D. had got
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the underlined part that needs correction in each of the
following questions.
Question 20: Petroleum is composed of a complex mix of hydrogen and carbon.
A. mix B. composed of C. and D. Petroleum
Question 21: Ocean currents have an enormous affect on life on this planet.
 A. Ocean B. on life C. enormous affect D. have
Question 22: A vast quantity of radioactive material is made when a hydrogen bomb explode.
A. material B. explode C. is D. A vast quantity
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word(s) OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined
word(s) in each of the following questions.
Question 23: They managed to surmount all objections to their plans.
A. lose B. give in C. yield to D. give up
Question 24: "Can I try out your new bicycle?" ~ "Be my guest."
A. You're kidding. B. No problem. C. Sorry, you can't. D. Never mind
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that best completes each of the following
exchanges.
Question 25: ~ A: “.................” ~ B: “She must be vexed and forlorn, I’m sure.”
A. No one was invited to her farewell party.
B. What would she say if he came back to her?
C. Guess what? I saw Annetta driving a new Audi to class.
D. How did Jenny feel when they broke up?
Question 26: ~ A: “I’'m really excited about my holiday.” ~ B: “......................”
A. No wonder. It’s a long way to travel. B. Who with, may I ask?
C. I’'m not surprised. Have a safe trip! D. You haven’'t had one for years. Take this for free.
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word that differs from the other three in the
position of primary stress in each of the following questions.
Question 27:A. confine B. machine C. entail D. engine
Question 28:A. telescope B. envelope C. develop D. antelope
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to
each of the questions from 29 to 35.
COMEDIANS
What drives moderately intelligent persons to put themselves up for acceptance or disparagement? In short, what sort of
individual wants to be a comedian? When we hear the very word, what does the label suggest? Other professions, callings
and occupations attract separate and distinct types of practitioner. Some stereotypes are so familiar as to be cheaply
laughable examples from the world of travesty, among them absent-minded professors, venal lawyers, gloomy detectives and
cynical reporters. But what corny characteristics do we attribute to comedians? To a man or woman, are they generally
parsimonious, vulgar, shallow, arrogant, introspective, hysterically insecure, smug, autocratic, amoral, and selfish? Read
their superficial stories in the tabloids and so they would appear.
Rather than look at the complete image, perhaps we need to explore the initial motives behind a choice of career. Consider
first those who prefer a sort of anonymity in life, the ones who’d rather wear a uniform. The psychological make-up of
individuals who actively seek to resign their individuality is apparent among those who surrender to the discipline of a
military life. The emotional and intellectual course taken by those who are drawn to anonymity is easily observed but not
easily deflected. They want to be told what to do and then be required to do it over and over again in the safety of a routine,
often behind the disguises of a number of livery. If their egos ache with the need for recognition and praise, it’s a pain that
must be contained, frustrated or satisfied within the rut they occupy. The mere idea of standing up in front of an audience and
demanding attention is abhorrent.
Nor will we find our comics among the doormats and dormice, the meek. There’s precious little comedy in the lives of
quiet hobbyists, bashful scholars, hermits, anchorites and recluses, the discreet and the modest, ones who deliberately select
a position of obscurity and seclusion. Abiding quietly in this stratum of society, somewhere well below public attention level,
there is humour, yes, since humour can endure in the least favourable circumstances, persisting like lichen in Antarctica. And
jokes. Many lesserknown comedy writers compose their material in the secret corners of an unassuming existence. I know of
two, both content to be minor figures in the civil service, who send in topical jokes to radio and TV shows on condition that
their real names are not revealed.
In both cases I've noticed that their comic invention, though clever, is based upon wordplay, puns and similar equivoques,
never an aggressive comic observation of life. Just as there may be a certain sterility in the self-effacement of a humble life,
so it seems feasible that the selection process of what’s funny is emasculated before it even commences. If you have no
ginger and snap in your daily round, with little familiarity with strong emotions, it seems likely that your sense of fun will be
limited by timidity to a simple juggling with language.
If the comedian’s genesis is unlikely to be founded in social submission, it’s also improbable among the top echelons of
our civilisation. Once again, humour can be found among the majestic. Nobles and royals, statesmen and lawmakers, have
their wits. Jokes and jokers circulate at the loftiest level of every advanced nation, but being high-born seems to carry no
compulsion to make the hoi polloi laugh. Some of our rulers do make us laugh but that’s not what they’re paid to do. And, so
with the constricted comedy of those who live a constricted life, that which amuses them may lack the common touch.
Having eliminated the parts of society unlikely to breed funnymen, it’s to the middle ranks of humanity, beneath the
exalted and above the invisible, that we must look to see where comics come from and why. And are they, like nurses and
nuns, called to their vocation? As the mountain calls to the mountaineer and the pentameter to the poet, does the need of the
mirthless masses summon forth funsters, ready to administer relief as their sole raison d’etre? We’ve often heard it said that
someone’s a ‘born comedian’ but will it do for all of them or even most of them? Perhaps we like to think of our greatest
jesters as we do our greatest painters and composers, preferring to believe that their gifts are inescapably driven to
expression. But in our exploration of the comedy mind, hopefully finding some such, we are sure to find some quite
otherwise.
[Source: PROFICIENCY TESTBUILDER 4th Edition, Macmillan, 2013]
Question 29: What does the writer imply about comedians in the first paragraph?
A. It is possible that they are seen as possessing only negative characteristics.
B. It is harder to generalise about them than about people in other professions.
C. People in certain other professions generally have a better image than them.
D. They often cannot understand why people make negative judgements of them.
Question 30: What does the writer say about people who wear uniforms?
A. They criticise performers for craving attention.
B. It is unusual for them to break their normal patterns of thought.
C. The desires they have are never met when they are at work.
D. They are more aware of their inadequacies than others may think.
Question 31: The writer says in the third paragraph that shy people......
A. are capable of being more humorous than they realise.
B. fear that what they find humorous would not amuse others.
C. do not get the recognition they deserve even if they are good at comedy.
D. may be able to write humorous material but could not perform it.
Question 32: The writer says that people at the top of society......
A. would not be capable of becoming comedians even if they wanted to.
B. take themselves too seriously to wish to amuse anybody.
C. are unaware of how ridiculous they appear to others.
D. have contempt for the humour of those at lower levels of society.
Question 33: In the fourth paragraph, the writer criticises the kind of comedy he describes for its lack of......
A. coherence. B. originality. C. sophistication. D. spirit.
Question 34: What does the writer wonder in the last paragraph?
A. whether it is inevitable that some people will become comedians
B. whether people’s expectations of comedians are too high
C. whether comedians can be considered great in the way that other people in the arts can
D. whether comedians realise how significant they are in the lives of ordinary people
Question 35: Which word/phrase can be a substitution for “the hoi polloi”?
A. ordinary people B. the showbitz C. the mass media D. the eliete
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to
each of the questions from 36 to 43.
SO MUCH TO SAVE
The idea of preserving biological diversity gives most people a warm feeling inside. But what, exactly, is diversity? And
which kind is most worth preserving? It may be anathema to save-the-lot environmentalists who hate setting such priorities,
but academics are starting to cook up answers.
Andrew Solow, a mathematician at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and his colleagues argue that in the eyes of
conservation, all species should not be equal. Even more controversially, they suggest that preserving the rarest is not always
the best approach. Their measure of diversity is the amount of evolutionary distance between species. They reckon that if
choices must be made, then the number of times that cousins are removed from one another should be one of the criteria.
This makes sense from both.a practical and an aesthetic point of view. Close relatives have many genes in common. If
those genes might be medically or agriculturally valuable, saving one is nearly as good as saving both. And different forms
are more interesting to admire and study than lots of things that look the same. Dr Solow's group illustrates its thesis with an
example. Six species of crane are at some risk of extinction. Breeding in captivity might save them. But suppose there were
only enough money to protect three. Which ones should be picked?
The genetic distances between 14 species of cranes, including the six at risk, have already been established using
a technique known as DNA hybridisation. The group estimated how likely it was that each of these 14 species would become
extinct in the next 50 years. Unendangered species were assigned a 10% chance of meeting the Darwinian reaper-man; the
most vulnerable, a 90% chance. Captive breeding was assumed to reduce an otherwise endangered species' risk to the 10%
level of the safest. Dr Solow's computer permed all possible combinations of three from six and came to the conclusion that
protecting the Siberian, white-naped and black-necked cranes gave the smallest likely loss of biological diversity over the
next five decades. The other three had close relatives in little need of protection. Even if they became extinct, most of their
genes would be saved.
Building on the work of this group, Martin Weitzman, of Harvard University, argues that conservation policy needs to take
account not only of some firm measure of the genetic relationships of species to each other and their likelihood of survival,
but also the costs of preserving them. Where species are equally important in genetic terms, and - an important and
improbable precondition - where the protection of one species can be assuted at the expense of another, he argues for making
safe species safer, rather than endangered species less endangered.
In practice, it is difficult to choose between species. Most of those at risk - especially plants, the group most likely to yield
useful medicines - are under threat because their habitats are in trouble, not because they are being shot, or plucked, to
extinction. Nor can conservationists choose among the millions of species that theory predicts must exist, but that have not
yet been classified by the biologists assigned to that tedious task.
This is not necessarily cause for despair. At the moment, the usual way to save the genes in these creatures is to find the
bits of the world with the largest number of species and try to protect them from the bulldozers. What economists require
from biologists are more sophisticated ways to estimate the diversity of groups of organisms that happen to live together, as
well as those which are related to each other. With clearer goals established, economic theory can then tell environmentalists
where to go. [from The Economist]
Question 36: Dr Solow believes that.........
A. very rare species can't be saved B. all species should be saved
C. all very rare species should be saved D. only some species are worth saving
Question 37: Most species are endangered because.......
A. the places they live in are being destroyed B. we don't care enough about them
C. they are hunted or picked D. biologists haven't classified them
Question 38: Dr Weitzman's ideas.......
A. disregard Dr Solow's B. confirm Dr Solow's
C. take Dr Solow's ideas one step further D. contradict Dr Solow's
Question 39: Endangered species of cranes can be saved by......
A. encouraging them to mate with their cousins B. keeping them in zoos or wildlife parks
C. stopping hunters from killing them D. protecting their habitats
Question 40: Dr Weitzman believes that if two species are equally important genetically we should protect.......
A. the rarer one B. the less endangered one
C. the one that is more attractive D. them both
Question 41: Dr Solow's work depended on......
A. the premise that all cranes should be protected B. previous biological research
C. the cost of preserving cranes D. the premise that not all species are the same
Question 42: According to the writer what has to be done first is for.........
A. biologists to classiry undiscovered species B. developers to stop destroying habitats
C. economists to instruct biologists D. biologists to instruct economists
Question 43: Three of the six species of endangered cranes........
A. shouldn't be protected B. could be allowed to become extinct
C. were less interesting to admire than others D. were so rare they couldn't be saved
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word(s) CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined
word(s) in each of the following questions.
Question 44: He looked at her aghast.
A. shocked and worried B. frightened C. amazed D. surprised
Question 45: It's not my cup of tea.
A. my field of study B. my best choice.
C. my responsibiltity. D. the kind of thing I like.
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that is closest in meaning to each of the
following questions.
Question 46: I’d hardly unpacked in my hotel room when my phone rang.
A. I was unpacking in my hotel hard when my phone rang.
B. It was hard for me to unpack in my hotel when my phone rang.
 C. Hardly had I unpacked in my hotel room when my phone rang.
D. Had I hardly unpacked in my hotel room, my phone rang.
Question 47: The local people are in no way to blame for the destruction of the forest.
A. In no way are the local people to blame for the destruction of the forest.
B. The local people have no way to blame for the destruction of the forest.
C. It no use to blame the local people for the destruction of the forest.
D. There is no way for the local people to blame for the destruction of the forest.
Question 48: It was only when we arrived in Kenya that we saw hippos and giraffes.
A. When we arrived in Kenya we only saw hippos and giraffes.
B. Only when we arrived in Kenya did we see hippos and giraffes.
C. We arrived in Kenya only when we saw hippos and giraffes.
D. We only arrived in Kenya when we saw hippos and giraffes.
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that best combines each pair of sentences
in the following questions.
Question 49: Mum regretted not having planted a garden this year. She felt bad when buying vegetables at the
supermarket.
A. The garden that Mum had not planted, which she regretted not doing, would have produced better vegetables than
the ones she got at the supermarket.
B. When she realized that the vegetables at the supermarket were so bad, Mum decided to grow her own from then on.
C. If Mum had planted a garden this year, she wouldn‘t have had to buy her vegetables from the supermarket.
D. Feeling sorry that she hadn‘t planted a garden this year, Mum did not feel good about purchasing vegetables from the
supermarket.
Question 50: Tam Vy loved travelling in Europe very much. She decided not to go to France because of her fears of
terrorism.
A. Tam Vy would have gone to France if she hadn‘t been scared of terrorism so much because Europe was her favourite
travel spot.
B. Even though Tam Vy liked touring Europe very much, she was afraid of the terrorism in France, so she chose not to
go there.
C. As France had become a high-risk terrorism spot, Tam Vy, who normally loved Europe, was afraid to go there.
D. Although Tam Vy liked touring Europe ever since the threat of terrorism started, she hadn‘t been to France.

The End
SỞ GIÁO DỤC ĐÀO TẠO BÀI THI THỬ KỲ THI TỐT NGHIỆP TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG
ĐỀ CHÍNH THỨC NĂM HỌC 2017- 2018
(Đề gồm có 04 trang) MÔN TIẾNG ANH ~ MÃ ĐỀ 003
Thời gian: 60 phút - không tính thời gian giao đề
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word that differs from the other three in the
position of primary stress in each of the following questions.
Question 1:A. machine B. engine C. entail D. confine
Question 2:A. envelope B. develop C. antelope D. telescope
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word whose underlined part differs from the other
three in pronunciation in each of the following questions.
Question 3:A. receive B. seizure C. heifer D. sheila
Question 4:A. psyche B. recipe C. apostrophe D. rhyme
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following questions.
Question 5: Sarah blushes,easily......she is always getting blamed for things she hasn’t done.
A. that means B. this means C. what means D. which means
Question 6: Shining her torch, Maria could just......a shadowy figure crouched behind a tree.
A. put out B. draw out C. work out D. make out
Question 7: ‘You and Terry seem to be good mates.’ ~ ‘Well, I ......him all my life.’
A. have known B. knew C. know D. have been knowing
Question 8: ‘Will Rebecca help with the Christmas party?’ ~ ‘Well, ......other years so I’m sure she will this year, too.’
A. she’s been helping B. she’d helped C. she was helping D. she’s helped
Question 9: ‘Are flights with this company often delayed?’ ~ ‘No, they ......on schedule.’
A. usually left B. usually leave C. are usually leaving D. have usually left
Question 10: I wish I had someone of my own age ......I could trust.
A. which B. with whom C. in whom D. in which
Question 11: The results of the experiment were studied with......interest by the scientists.
A. firm B. sharp C. utter D. keen
Question 12: With a sigh, Paul...himself that he was visiting the city for the very last time.
A. reminded B. reminisced C. recalled D. remembered
Question 13: The depletion of the rain forests has...to a decline in the number of species there.
A. got B. attributed C. led D. resulted
Question 14: I don’t get on with my brother but I’m extremely......of my sisters.
A. close B. attached C. fond D. affectionat
Question 15: Ella is......of sitting still for two minutes together.
A. incapable B. unwilling C. unable D. disable
Question 16: Alana......halfway to the shops when she realized she’d left her purse at home.
A. has got B. had been getting C. was getting D. had got
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that best combines each pair of sentences
in the following questions.
Question 17: Tam Vy loved travelling in Europe very much. She decided not to go to France because of her fears of
terrorism.
A. Even though Tam Vy liked touring Europe very much, she was afraid of the terrorism in France, so she chose not to
go there.
B. Although Tam Vy liked touring Europe ever since the threat of terrorism started, she hadn‘t been to France.
C. Tam Vy would have gone to France if she hadn‘t been scared of terrorism so much because Europe was her favourite
travel spot.
D. As France had become a high-risk terrorism spot, Tam Vy, who normally loved Europe, was afraid to go there.
Question 18: Mum regretted not having planted a garden this year. She felt bad when buying vegetables at the
supermarket.
A. If Mum had planted a garden this year, she wouldn‘t have had to buy her vegetables from the supermarket.
B. When she realized that the vegetables at the supermarket were so bad, Mum decided to grow her own from then on.
C. Feeling sorry that she hadn‘t planted a garden this year, Mum did not feel good about purchasing vegetables from the
supermarket.
D. The garden that Mum had not planted, which she regretted not doing, would have produced better vegetables than
the ones she got at the supermarket.
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word(s) OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined
word(s) in each of the following questions.
 Question 19: "Can I try out your new bicycle?" ~ "Be my guest."
A. Never mind B. No problem. C. Sorry, you can't. D. You're kidding.
Question 20: They managed to surmount all objections to their plans.
A. give up B. yield to C. give in D. lose
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the underlined part that needs correction in each of the
following questions.
Question 21: Petroleum is composed of a complex mix of hydrogen and carbon.
A. and B. composed of C. mix D. Petroleum
Question 22: A vast quantity of radioactive material is made when a hydrogen bomb explode.
A. is B. explode C. A vast quantity D. material
Question 23: Ocean currents have an enormous affect on life on this planet.
A. on life B. Ocean C. enormous affect D. have
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to
each of the questions from 24 to 30.
COMEDIANS
What drives moderately intelligent persons to put themselves up for acceptance or disparagement? In short, what sort of
individual wants to be a comedian? When we hear the very word, what does the label suggest? Other professions, callings
and occupations attract separate and distinct types of practitioner. Some stereotypes are so familiar as to be cheaply
laughable examples from the world of travesty, among them absent-minded professors, venal lawyers, gloomy detectives and
cynical reporters. But what corny characteristics do we attribute to comedians? To a man or woman, are they generally
parsimonious, vulgar, shallow, arrogant, introspective, hysterically insecure, smug, autocratic, amoral, and selfish? Read
their superficial stories in the tabloids and so they would appear.
Rather than look at the complete image, perhaps we need to explore the initial motives behind a choice of career. Consider
first those who prefer a sort of anonymity in life, the ones who’d rather wear a uniform. The psychological make-up of
individuals who actively seek to resign their individuality is apparent among those who surrender to the discipline of a
military life. The emotional and intellectual course taken by those who are drawn to anonymity is easily observed but not
easily deflected. They want to be told what to do and then be required to do it over and over again in the safety of a routine,
often behind the disguises of a number of livery. If their egos ache with the need for recognition and praise, it’s a pain that
must be contained, frustrated or satisfied within the rut they occupy. The mere idea of standing up in front of an audience and
demanding attention is abhorrent.
Nor will we find our comics among the doormats and dormice, the meek. There’s precious little comedy in the lives of
quiet hobbyists, bashful scholars, hermits, anchorites and recluses, the discreet and the modest, ones who deliberately select
a position of obscurity and seclusion. Abiding quietly in this stratum of society, somewhere well below public attention level,
there is humour, yes, since humour can endure in the least favourable circumstances, persisting like lichen in Antarctica. And
jokes. Many lesserknown comedy writers compose their material in the secret corners of an unassuming existence. I know of
two, both content to be minor figures in the civil service, who send in topical jokes to radio and TV shows on condition that
their real names are not revealed.
In both cases I've noticed that their comic invention, though clever, is based upon wordplay, puns and similar equivoques,
never an aggressive comic observation of life. Just as there may be a certain sterility in the self-effacement of a humble life,
so it seems feasible that the selection process of what’s funny is emasculated before it even commences. If you have no
ginger and snap in your daily round, with little familiarity with strong emotions, it seems likely that your sense of fun will be
limited by timidity to a simple juggling with language.
If the comedian’s genesis is unlikely to be founded in social submission, it’s also improbable among the top echelons of
our civilisation. Once again, humour can be found among the majestic. Nobles and royals, statesmen and lawmakers, have
their wits. Jokes and jokers circulate at the loftiest level of every advanced nation, but being high-born seems to carry no
compulsion to make the hoi polloi laugh. Some of our rulers do make us laugh but that’s not what they’re paid to do. And, so
with the constricted comedy of those who live a constricted life, that which amuses them may lack the common touch.
Having eliminated the parts of society unlikely to breed funnymen, it’s to the middle ranks of humanity, beneath the
exalted and above the invisible, that we must look to see where comics come from and why. And are they, like nurses and
nuns, called to their vocation? As the mountain calls to the mountaineer and the pentameter to the poet, does the need of the
mirthless masses summon forth funsters, ready to administer relief as their sole raison d’etre? We’ve often heard it said that
someone’s a ‘born comedian’ but will it do for all of them or even most of them? Perhaps we like to think of our greatest
jesters as we do our greatest painters and composers, preferring to believe that their gifts are inescapably driven to
expression. But in our exploration of the comedy mind, hopefully finding some such, we are sure to find some quite
otherwise.
[Source: PROFICIENCY TESTBUILDER 4th Edition, Macmillan, 2013]
Question 24: What does the writer imply about comedians in the first paragraph?
A. It is harder to generalise about them than about people in other professions.
 B. They often cannot understand why people make negative judgements of them.
C. It is possible that they are seen as possessing only negative characteristics.
D. People in certain other professions generally have a better image than them.
Question 25: The writer says that people at the top of society......
A. have contempt for the humour of those at lower levels of society.
B. are unaware of how ridiculous they appear to others.
C. would not be capable of becoming comedians even if they wanted to.
D. take themselves too seriously to wish to amuse anybody.
Question 26: Which word/phrase can be a substitution for “the hoi polloi”?
A. the mass media B. the eliete C. the showbitz D. ordinary people
Question 27: In the fourth paragraph, the writer criticises the kind of comedy he describes for its lack of......
A. coherence. B. sophistication. C. originality. D. spirit.
Question 28: The writer says in the third paragraph that shy people......
A. fear that what they find humorous would not amuse others.
B. may be able to write humorous material but could not perform it.
C. are capable of being more humorous than they realise.
D. do not get the recognition they deserve even if they are good at comedy.
Question 29: What does the writer wonder in the last paragraph?
A. whether comedians can be considered great in the way that other people in the arts can
B. whether it is inevitable that some people will become comedians
C. whether people’s expectations of comedians are too high
D. whether comedians realise how significant they are in the lives of ordinary people
Question 30: What does the writer say about people who wear uniforms?
A. It is unusual for them to break their normal patterns of thought.
B. The desires they have are never met when they are at work.
C. They are more aware of their inadequacies than others may think.
D. They criticise performers for craving attention.
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that best completes each of the following
exchanges.
Question 31: ~ A: “.................” ~ B: “She must be vexed and forlorn, I’m sure.”
A. What would she say if he came back to her?
B. How did Jenny feel when they broke up?
C. No one was invited to her farewell party.
D. Guess what? I saw Annetta driving a new Audi to class.
Question 32: ~ A: “I’'m really excited about my holiday.” ~ B: “......................”
A. No wonder. It’s a long way to travel. B. Who with, may I ask?
C. I’'m not surprised. Have a safe trip! D. You haven’'t had one for years. Take this for free.
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to
each of the questions from 33 to 40.
SO MUCH TO SAVE
The idea of preserving biological diversity gives most people a warm feeling inside. But what, exactly, is diversity? And
which kind is most worth preserving? It may be anathema to save-the-lot environmentalists who hate setting such priorities,
but academics are starting to cook up answers.
Andrew Solow, a mathematician at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and his colleagues argue that in the eyes of
conservation, all species should not be equal. Even more controversially, they suggest that preserving the rarest is not always
the best approach. Their measure of diversity is the amount of evolutionary distance between species. They reckon that if
choices must be made, then the number of times that cousins are removed from one another should be one of the criteria.
This makes sense from both.a practical and an aesthetic point of view. Close relatives have many genes in common. If those
genes might be medically or agriculturally valuable, saving one is nearly as good as saving both. And different forms are
more interesting to admire and study than lots of things that look the same. Dr Solow's group illustrates its thesis with an
example. Six species of crane are at some risk of extinction. Breeding in captivity might save them. But suppose there were
only enough money to protect three. Which ones should be picked?
The genetic distances between 14 species of cranes, including the six at risk, have already been established using
a technique known as DNA hybridisation. The group estimated how likely it was that each of these 14 species would become
extinct in the next 50 years. Unendangered species were assigned a 10% chance of meeting the Darwinian reaper-man; the
most vulnerable, a 90% chance. Captive breeding was assumed to reduce an otherwise endangered species' risk to the 10%
level of the safest. Dr Solow's computer permed all possible combinations of three from six and came to the conclusion that
protecting the Siberian, white-naped and black-necked cranes gave the smallest likely loss of biological diversity over the
next five decades. The other three had close relatives in little need of protection. Even if they became extinct, most of their
genes would be saved.
Building on the work of this group, Martin Weitzman, of Harvard University, argues that conservation policy needs to take
account not only of some firm measure of the genetic relationships of species to each other and their likelihood of survival,
but also the costs of preserving them. Where species are equally important in genetic terms, and - an important and
improbable precondition - where the protection of one species can be assuted at the expense of another, he argues for making
safe species safer, rather than endangered species less endangered.
In practice, it is difficult to choose between species. Most of those at risk - especially plants, the group most likely to yield
useful medicines - are under threat because their habitats are in trouble, not because they are being shot, or plucked, to
extinction. Nor can conservationists choose among the millions of species that theory predicts must exist, but that have not
yet been classified by the biologists assigned to that tedious task.
This is not necessarily cause for despair. At the moment, the usual way to save the genes in these creatures is to find the
bits of the world with the largest number of species and try to protect them from the bulldozers. What economists require
from biologists are more sophisticated ways to estimate the diversity of groups of organisms that happen to live together, as
well as those which are related to each other. With clearer goals established, economic theory can then tell environmentalists
where to go. [from The Economist]
Question 33: Endangered species of cranes can be saved by......
A. stopping hunters from killing them B. encouraging them to mate with their cousins
C. keeping them in zoos or wildlife parks D. protecting their habitats
Question 34: Most species are endangered because.......
A. they are hunted or picked B. we don't care enough about them
C. biologists haven't classified them D. the places they live in are being destroyed
Question 35: Three of the six species of endangered cranes........
A. shouldn't be protected B. were so rare they couldn't be saved
C. were less interesting to admire than others D. could be allowed to become extinct
Question 36: Dr Solow believes that.........
A. all very rare species should be saved B. all species should be saved
C. very rare species can't be saved D. only some species are worth saving
Question 37: Dr Weitzman's ideas.......
A. take Dr Solow's ideas one step further B. contradict Dr Solow's
C. disregard Dr Solow's D. confirm Dr Solow's
Question 38: Dr Solow's work depended on......
A. previous biological research B. the cost of preserving cranes
C. the premise that all cranes should be protected D. the premise that not all species are the same
Question 39: Dr Weitzman believes that if two species are equally important genetically we should protect.......
A. them both B. the less endangered one
C. the one that is more attractive D. the rarer one
Question 40: According to the writer what has to be done first is for.........
A. developers to stop destroying habitats B. biologists to instruct economists
C. biologists to classiry undiscovered species D. economists to instruct biologists
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word(s) CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined
word(s) in each of the following questions.
Question 41: It's not my cup of tea.
A. my best choice. B. my field of study
C. my responsibiltity. D. the kind of thing I like.
Question 42: He looked at her aghast.
A. amazed B. shocked and worried C. frightened D. surprised
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that is closest in meaning to each of the
following questions.
Question 43: It was only when we arrived in Kenya that we saw hippos and giraffes.
A. Only when we arrived in Kenya did we see hippos and giraffes.
B. When we arrived in Kenya we only saw hippos and giraffes.
C. We only arrived in Kenya when we saw hippos and giraffes.
D. We arrived in Kenya only when we saw hippos and giraffes.
Question 44: The local people are in no way to blame for the destruction of the forest.
A. In no way are the local people to blame for the destruction of the forest.
 B. The local people have no way to blame for the destruction of the forest.
C. There is no way for the local people to blame for the destruction of the forest.
D. It no use to blame the local people for the destruction of the forest.
Question 45: I’d hardly unpacked in my hotel room when my phone rang.
A. It was hard for me to unpack in my hotel when my phone rang.
B. Hardly had I unpacked in my hotel room when my phone rang.
C. Had I hardly unpacked in my hotel room, my phone rang.
D. I was unpacking in my hotel hard when my phone rang.
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or
phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks from 46 to 50.
CHANGING MANNERS
Many Americans believe that manners have gotten worse and official figures confirm this. In a recent survey, nearly 70%
said that people are ...(46)... than they were 20 or 30 years ago. This is true of both large and small towns, although 74%
of ...(47)... living in cities said that people have become ruder, compared with 67% in rural areas. However, few people
believe that they have bad manners themselves! For example, only 8% in the questionnaire ...(48)... they have ever used their
cell phones in public in a loud or annoying way. Many people ...(49)... new technology for our changing manners.
Computers, MP3 players, and cell phones take us away from face-to-face contact, as well as being very annoying in public
places. "All of these things result in a world with more stress, more chances for people to be rude to each other," said Peter
Post, an instructor on business manners.
But what can we do about it? Some people would like to see a rail car ...(50)... for cell phone users so that the rest of us can
travel in peace and quiet. In fact, one train company, Amtrak, has banned cell phones in one car of some trains, which is
called a "Quiet Car".
Question 46:A. older B. smarter C. wiser D. ruder
Question 47:A. those B. ones C. they D. them
Question 48:A. agree B. confess C. accept D. admit
Question 49:A. blame B. reprimand C. reproach D. command
Question 50:A. suited B. reserved C. prepared D. founded

The End
SỞ GIÁO DỤC ĐÀO TẠO BÀI THI THỬ KỲ THI TỐT NGHIỆP TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG
ĐỀ CHÍNH THỨC NĂM HỌC 2017- 2018
(Đề gồm có 04 trang) MÔN TIẾNG ANH ~ MÃ ĐỀ 004
Thời gian: 60 phút - không tính thời gian giao đề
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to
each of the questions from 01 to 07.
COMEDIANS
What drives moderately intelligent persons to put themselves up for acceptance or disparagement? In short, what sort of
individual wants to be a comedian? When we hear the very word, what does the label suggest? Other professions, callings
and occupations attract separate and distinct types of practitioner. Some stereotypes are so familiar as to be cheaply
laughable examples from the world of travesty, among them absent-minded professors, venal lawyers, gloomy detectives and
cynical reporters. But what corny characteristics do we attribute to comedians? To a man or woman, are they generally
parsimonious, vulgar, shallow, arrogant, introspective, hysterically insecure, smug, autocratic, amoral, and selfish? Read
their superficial stories in the tabloids and so they would appear.
Rather than look at the complete image, perhaps we need to explore the initial motives behind a choice of career. Consider
first those who prefer a sort of anonymity in life, the ones who’d rather wear a uniform. The psychological make-up of
individuals who actively seek to resign their individuality is apparent among those who surrender to the discipline of a
military life. The emotional and intellectual course taken by those who are drawn to anonymity is easily observed but not
easily deflected. They want to be told what to do and then be required to do it over and over again in the safety of a routine,
often behind the disguises of a number of livery. If their egos ache with the need for recognition and praise, it’s a pain that
must be contained, frustrated or satisfied within the rut they occupy. The mere idea of standing up in front of an audience and
demanding attention is abhorrent.
Nor will we find our comics among the doormats and dormice, the meek. There’s precious little comedy in the lives of
quiet hobbyists, bashful scholars, hermits, anchorites and recluses, the discreet and the modest, ones who deliberately select
a position of obscurity and seclusion. Abiding quietly in this stratum of society, somewhere well below public attention level,
there is humour, yes, since humour can endure in the least favourable circumstances, persisting like lichen in Antarctica. And
jokes. Many lesserknown comedy writers compose their material in the secret corners of an unassuming existence. I know of
two, both content to be minor figures in the civil service, who send in topical jokes to radio and TV shows on condition that
their real names are not revealed.
In both cases I've noticed that their comic invention, though clever, is based upon wordplay, puns and similar equivoques,
never an aggressive comic observation of life. Just as there may be a certain sterility in the self-effacement of a humble life,
so it seems feasible that the selection process of what’s funny is emasculated before it even commences. If you have no
ginger and snap in your daily round, with little familiarity with strong emotions, it seems likely that your sense of fun will be
limited by timidity to a simple juggling with language.
If the comedian’s genesis is unlikely to be founded in social submission, it’s also improbable among the top echelons of
our civilisation. Once again, humour can be found among the majestic. Nobles and royals, statesmen and lawmakers, have
their wits. Jokes and jokers circulate at the loftiest level of every advanced nation, but being high-born seems to carry no
compulsion to make the hoi polloi laugh. Some of our rulers do make us laugh but that’s not what they’re paid to do. And, so
with the constricted comedy of those who live a constricted life, that which amuses them may lack the common touch.
Having eliminated the parts of society unlikely to breed funnymen, it’s to the middle ranks of humanity, beneath the
exalted and above the invisible, that we must look to see where comics come from and why. And are they, like nurses and
nuns, called to their vocation? As the mountain calls to the mountaineer and the pentameter to the poet, does the need of the
mirthless masses summon forth funsters, ready to administer relief as their sole raison d’etre? We’ve often heard it said that
someone’s a ‘born comedian’ but will it do for all of them or even most of them? Perhaps we like to think of our greatest
jesters as we do our greatest painters and composers, preferring to believe that their gifts are inescapably driven to
expression. But in our exploration of the comedy mind, hopefully finding some such, we are sure to find some quite
otherwise.
[Source: PROFICIENCY TESTBUILDER 4th Edition, Macmillan, 2013]
Question 1: What does the writer imply about comedians in the first paragraph?
A. They often cannot understand why people make negative judgements of them.
B. It is possible that they are seen as possessing only negative characteristics.
C. People in certain other professions generally have a better image than them.
D. It is harder to generalise about them than about people in other professions.
Question 2: What does the writer wonder in the last paragraph?
A. whether comedians can be considered great in the way that other people in the arts can
B. whether comedians realise how significant they are in the lives of ordinary people
C. whether it is inevitable that some people will become comedians
D. whether people’s expectations of comedians are too high
 Question 3: The writer says that people at the top of society......
A. are unaware of how ridiculous they appear to others.
B. have contempt for the humour of those at lower levels of society.
C. take themselves too seriously to wish to amuse anybody.
D. would not be capable of becoming comedians even if they wanted to.
Question 4: In the fourth paragraph, the writer criticises the kind of comedy he describes for its lack of......
A. sophistication. B. originality. C. coherence. D. spirit.
Question 5: Which word/phrase can be a substitution for “the hoi polloi”?
A. ordinary people B. the showbitz C. the eliete D. the mass media
Question 6: The writer says in the third paragraph that shy people......
A. may be able to write humorous material but could not perform it.
B. are capable of being more humorous than they realise.
C. do not get the recognition they deserve even if they are good at comedy.
D. fear that what they find humorous would not amuse others.
Question 7: What does the writer say about people who wear uniforms?
A. They criticise performers for craving attention.
B. They are more aware of their inadequacies than others may think.
C. The desires they have are never met when they are at work.
D. It is unusual for them to break their normal patterns of thought.
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on 12 00.
CHANGING MANNERS
Many Americans believe that manners have gotten worse and official figures confirm this. In a recent survey, nearly 70%
said that people are ...(8)... than they were 20 or 30 years ago. This is true of both large and small towns, although 74% of ...
(9)... living in cities said that people have become ruder, compared with 67% in rural areas. However, few people believe
that they have bad manners themselves! For example, only 8% in the questionnaire ...(10)... they have ever used their cell
phones in public in a loud or annoying way. Many people ...(11)... new technology for our changing manners. Computers,
MP3 players, and cell phones take us away from face-to-face contact, as well as being very annoying in public places. "All
of these things result in a world with more stress, more chances for people to be rude to each other," said Peter Post, an
instructor on business manners.
But what can we do about it? Some people would like to see a rail car ...(12)... for cell phone users so that the rest of us can
travel in peace and quiet. In fact, one train company, Amtrak, has banned cell phones in one car of some trains, which is
called a "Quiet Car".
Question 8:A. ruder B. older C. wiser D. smarter
Question 9:A. those B. ones C. they D. them
Question 10:A. accept B. agree C. confess D. admit
Question 11:A. blame B. command C. reprimand D. reproach
Question 12:A. reserved B. founded C. prepared D. suited
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following questions.
Question 13: ‘Will Rebecca help with the Christmas party?’ ~ ‘Well, ......other years so I’m sure she will this year, too.’
A. she’s helped B. she’d helped C. she was helping D. she’s been helping
Question 14: The depletion of the rain forests has...to a decline in the number of species there.
A. got B. led C. attributed D. resulted
Question 15: ‘Are flights with this company often delayed?’ ~ ‘No, they ......on schedule.’
A. have usually left B. are usually leaving C. usually left D. usually leave
Question 16: Sarah blushes,easily......she is always getting blamed for things she hasn’t done.
A. that means B. this means C. what means D. which means
Question 17: Alana ......halfway to the shops when she realized she’d left her purse at home.
A. was getting B. had got C. has got D. had been getting
Question 18: ‘You and Terry seem to be good mates.’ ~ ‘Well, I ......him all my life.’
A. knew B. know C. have been knowing D. have known
Question 19: I don’t get on with my brother but I’m extremely......of my sisters.
A. close B. fond C. affectionat D. attached
Question 20: With a sigh, Paul...himself that he was visiting the city for the very last time.
A. remembered B. reminisced C. recalled D. reminded
Question 21: I wish I had someone of my own age ......I could trust.
A. with whom B. in which C. in whom D. which
Question 22: Shining her torch, Maria could just......a shadowy figure crouched behind a tree.
 A. put out B. work out C. draw out D. make out
Question 23: Ella is......of sitting still for two minutes together.
A. disable B. unable C. unwilling D. incapable
Question 24: The results of the experiment were studied with......interest by the scientists.
A. keen B. sharp C. utter D. firm
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word whose underlined part differs from the other
three in pronunciation in each of the following questions.
Question 25:A. sheila B. seizure C. receive D. heifer
Question 26:A. rhyme B. apostrophe C. psyche D. recipe
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to
each of the questions from 27 to 34.
SO MUCH TO SAVE
The idea of preserving biological diversity gives most people a warm feeling inside. But what, exactly, is diversity? And
which kind is most worth preserving? It may be anathema to save-the-lot environmentalists who hate setting such priorities,
but academics are starting to cook up answers.
Andrew Solow, a mathematician at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and his colleagues argue that in the eyes of
conservation, all species should not be equal. Even more controversially, they suggest that preserving the rarest is not always
the best approach. Their measure of diversity is the amount of evolutionary distance between species. They reckon that if
choices must be made, then the number of times that cousins are removed from one another should be one of the criteria.
This makes sense from both.a practical and an aesthetic point of view. Close relatives have many genes in common. If
those genes might be medically or agriculturally valuable, saving one is nearly as good as saving both. And different forms
are more interesting to admire and study than lots of things that look the same. Dr Solow's group illustrates its thesis with an
example. Six species of crane are at some risk of extinction. Breeding in captivity might save them. But suppose there were
only enough money to protect three. Which ones should be picked?
The genetic distances between 14 species of cranes, including the six at risk, have already been established using
a technique known as DNA hybridisation. The group estimated how likely it was that each of these 14 species would become
extinct in the next 50 years. Unendangered species were assigned a 10% chance of meeting the Darwinian reaper-man; the
most vulnerable, a 90% chance. Captive breeding was assumed to reduce an otherwise endangered species' risk to the 10%
level of the safest. Dr Solow's computer permed all possible combinations of three from six and came to the conclusion that
protecting the Siberian, white-naped and black-necked cranes gave the smallest likely loss of biological diversity over the
next five decades. The other three had close relatives in little need of protection. Even if they became extinct, most of their
genes would be saved.
Building on the work of this group, Martin Weitzman, of Harvard University, argues that conservation policy needs to take
account not only of some firm measure of the genetic relationships of species to each other and their likelihood of survival,
but also the costs of preserving them. Where species are equally important in genetic terms, and - an important and
improbable precondition - where the protection of one species can be assuted at the expense of another, he argues for making
safe species safer, rather than endangered species less endangered.
In practice, it is difficult to choose between species. Most of those at risk - especially plants, the group most likely to yield
useful medicines - are under threat because their habitats are in trouble, not because they are being shot, or plucked, to
extinction. Nor can conservationists choose among the millions of species that theory predicts must exist, but that have not
yet been classified by the biologists assigned to that tedious task.
This is not necessarily cause for despair. At the moment, the usual way to save the genes in these creatures is to find the
bits of the world with the largest number of species and try to protect them from the bulldozers. What economists require
from biologists are more sophisticated ways to estimate the diversity of groups of organisms that happen to live together, as
well as those which are related to each other. With clearer goals established, economic theory can then tell environmentalists
where to go. [from The Economist]
Question 27: Dr Solow believes that.........
A. all very rare species should be saved B. only some species are worth saving
C. all species should be saved D. very rare species can't be saved
Question 28: Three of the six species of endangered cranes........
A. shouldn't be protected B. could be allowed to become extinct
C. were less interesting to admire than others D. were so rare they couldn't be saved
Question 29: According to the writer what has to be done first is for.........
A. economists to instruct biologists B. developers to stop destroying habitats
C. biologists to instruct economists D. biologists to classiry undiscovered species
Question 30: Dr Weitzman's ideas.......
A. confirm Dr Solow's B. disregard Dr Solow's
 C. contradict Dr Solow's D. take Dr Solow's ideas one step further
Question 31: Dr Weitzman believes that if two species are equally important genetically we should protect.......
A. the one that is more attractive B. the less endangered one
C. the rarer one D. them both
Question 32: Most species are endangered because.......
A. the places they live in are being destroyed B. biologists haven't classified them
C. we don't care enough about them D. they are hunted or picked
Question 33: Dr Solow's work depended on......
A. the premise that all cranes should be protected B. the premise that not all species are the same
C. the cost of preserving cranes D. previous biological research
Question 34: Endangered species of cranes can be saved by......
A. stopping hunters from killing them B. keeping them in zoos or wildlife parks
C. encouraging them to mate with their cousins D. protecting their habitats
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that best completes each of the following
exchanges.
Question 35: ~ A: “I’'m really excited about my holiday.” ~ B: “......................”
A. You haven’'t had one for years. Take this for free. B. I’'m not surprised. Have a safe trip!
C. No wonder. It’s a long way to travel. D. Who with, may I ask?
Question 36: ~ A: “.................” ~ B: “She must be vexed and forlorn, I’m sure.”
A. Guess what? I saw Annetta driving a new Audi to class.
B. What would she say if he came back to her?
C. How did Jenny feel when they broke up?
D. No one was invited to her farewell party.
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word(s) CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined
word(s) in each of the following questions.
Question 37: He looked at her aghast.
A. amazed B. frightened C. surprised D. shocked and worried
Question 38: It's not my cup of tea.
A. my field of study B. the kind of thing I like.
C. my responsibiltity. D. my best choice.
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that is closest in meaning to each of the
following questions.
Question 39: It was only when we arrived in Kenya that we saw hippos and giraffes.
A. Only when we arrived in Kenya did we see hippos and giraffes.
B. When we arrived in Kenya we only saw hippos and giraffes.
C. We only arrived in Kenya when we saw hippos and giraffes.
D. We arrived in Kenya only when we saw hippos and giraffes.
Question 40: The local people are in no way to blame for the destruction of the forest.
A. In no way are the local people to blame for the destruction of the forest.
B. There is no way for the local people to blame for the destruction of the forest.
C. The local people have no way to blame for the destruction of the forest.
D. It no use to blame the local people for the destruction of the forest.
Question 41: I’d hardly unpacked in my hotel room when my phone rang.
A. Had I hardly unpacked in my hotel room, my phone rang.
B. Hardly had I unpacked in my hotel room when my phone rang.
C. I was unpacking in my hotel hard when my phone rang.
D. It was hard for me to unpack in my hotel when my phone rang.
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word that differs from the other three in the
position of primary stress in each of the following questions.
Question 42:A. machine B. engine C. entail D. confine
Question 43:A. envelope B. develop C. telescope D. antelope
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the underlined part that needs correction in each of the
following questions.
Question 44: A vast quantity of radioactive material is made when a hydrogen bomb explode.
A. A vast quantity B. material C. is D. explode
Question 45: Ocean currents have an enormous affect on life on this planet.
A. Ocean B. have C. on life D. enormous affect
 Question 46: Petroleum is composed of a complex mix of hydrogen and carbon.
A. and B. mix C. Petroleum D. composed of
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word(s) OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined
word(s) in each of the following questions.
Question 47: They managed to surmount all objections to their plans.
A. yield to B. give in C. give up D. lose
Question 48: "Can I try out your new bicycle?" ~ "Be my guest."
A. No problem. B. Sorry, you can't. C. You're kidding. D. Never mind
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that best combines each pair of sentences
in the following questions.
Question 49: Tam Vy loved travelling in Europe very much. She decided not to go to France because of her fears of
terrorism.
A. As France had become a high-risk terrorism spot, Tam Vy, who normally loved Europe, was afraid to go there.
B. Although Tam Vy liked touring Europe ever since the threat of terrorism started, she hadn‘t been to France.
C. Tam Vy would have gone to France if she hadn‘t been scared of terrorism so much because Europe was her favourite
travel spot.
D. Even though Tam Vy liked touring Europe very much, she was afraid of the terrorism in France, so she chose not to
go there.
Question 50: Mum regretted not having planted a garden this year. She felt bad when buying vegetables at the
supermarket.
A. When she realized that the vegetables at the supermarket were so bad, Mum decided to grow her own from then on.
B. If Mum had planted a garden this year, she wouldn‘t have had to buy her vegetables from the supermarket.
C. The garden that Mum had not planted, which she regretted not doing, would have produced better vegetables than
the ones she got at the supermarket.
D. Feeling sorry that she hadn‘t planted a garden this year, Mum did not feel good about purchasing vegetables from the
supermarket.

The End
 SỞ GIÁO DỤC ĐÀO TẠO BÀI THI THỬ KỲ THI TỐT NGHIỆP TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG
ĐỀ CHÍNH THỨC NĂM HỌC 2017- 2018
(Đề gồm có 04 trang) MÔN TIẾNG ANH ~ MÃ ĐỀ 005
Thời gian: 60 phút - không tính thời gian giao đề
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following questions.
Question 1: I wish I had someone of my own age ......I could trust.
A. which B. in which C. in whom D. with whom
Question 2: Alana ......halfway to the shops when she realized she’d left her purse at home.
A. has got B. was getting C. had got D. had been getting
Question 3: I don’t get on with my brother but I’m extremely......of my sisters.
A. close B. affectionat C. fond D. attached
Question 4: Ella is......of sitting still for two minutes together.
A. unable B. unwilling C. incapable D. disable
Question 5: Sarah blushes,easily......she is always getting blamed for things she hasn’t done.
A. that means B. what means C. which means D. this means
Question 6: With a sigh, Paul...himself that he was visiting the city for the very last time.
A. reminded B. remembered C. reminisced D. recalled
Question 7: ‘Are flights with this company often delayed?’ ~ ‘No, they ......on schedule.’
A. usually leave B. usually left C. are usually leaving D. have usually left
Question 8: The results of the experiment were studied with......interest by the scientists.
A. utter B. firm C. keen D. sharp
Question 9: Shining her torch, Maria could just......a shadowy figure crouched behind a tree.
A. put out B. work out C. draw out D. make out
Question 10: The depletion of the rain forests has...to a decline in the number of species there.
A. led B. resulted C. attributed D. got
Question 11: ‘Will Rebecca help with the Christmas party?’ ~ ‘Well, ......other years so I’m sure she will this year, too.’
A. she’s helped B. she was helping C. she’s been helping D. she’d helped
Question 12: ‘You and Terry seem to be good mates.’ ~ ‘Well, I ......him all my life.’
A. have been knowing B. know C. knew D. have known
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that best combines each pair of sentences
in the following questions.
Question 13: Mum regretted not having planted a garden this year. She felt bad when buying vegetables at the
supermarket.
A. If Mum had planted a garden this year, she wouldn‘t have had to buy her vegetables from the supermarket.
B. Feeling sorry that she hadn‘t planted a garden this year, Mum did not feel good about purchasing vegetables from the
supermarket.
C. When she realized that the vegetables at the supermarket were so bad, Mum decided to grow her own from then on.
D. The garden that Mum had not planted, which she regretted not doing, would have produced better vegetables than
the ones she got at the supermarket.
Question 14: Tam Vy loved travelling in Europe very much. She decided not to go to France because of her fears of
terrorism.
A. Tam Vy would have gone to France if she hadn‘t been scared of terrorism so much because Europe was her favourite
travel spot.
B. Although Tam Vy liked touring Europe ever since the threat of terrorism started, she hadn‘t been to France.
C. As France had become a high-risk terrorism spot, Tam Vy, who normally loved Europe, was afraid to go there.
D. Even though Tam Vy liked touring Europe very much, she was afraid of the terrorism in France, so she chose not to
go there.
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the underlined part that needs correction in each of the
following questions.
Question 15: Ocean currents have an enormous affect on life on this planet.
A. on life B. enormous affect C. have D. Ocean
Question 16: Petroleum is composed of a complex mix of hydrogen and carbon.
A. composed of B. Petroleum C. and D. mix
Question 17: A vast quantity of radioactive material is made when a hydrogen bomb explode.
A. A vast quantity B. material C. explode D. is
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that is closest in meaning to each of the
following questions.
 Question 18: The local people are in no way to blame for the destruction of the forest.
A. In no way are the local people to blame for the destruction of the forest.
B. It no use to blame the local people for the destruction of the forest.
C. There is no way for the local people to blame for the destruction of the forest.
D. The local people have no way to blame for the destruction of the forest.
Question 19: I’d hardly unpacked in my hotel room when my phone rang.
A. Had I hardly unpacked in my hotel room, my phone rang.
B. It was hard for me to unpack in my hotel when my phone rang.
C. Hardly had I unpacked in my hotel room when my phone rang.
D. I was unpacking in my hotel hard when my phone rang.
Question 20: It was only when we arrived in Kenya that we saw hippos and giraffes.
A. We only arrived in Kenya when we saw hippos and giraffes.
B. Only when we arrived in Kenya did we see hippos and giraffes.
C. When we arrived in Kenya we only saw hippos and giraffes.
D. We arrived in Kenya only when we saw hippos and giraffes.
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word(s) OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined
word(s) in each of the following questions.
Question 21: "Can I try out your new bicycle?" ~ "Be my guest."
A. No problem. B. Sorry, you can't. C. You're kidding. D. Never mind
Question 22: They managed to surmount all objections to their plans.
A. give up B. lose C. yield to D. give in
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that best completes each of the following
exchanges.
Question 23: ~ A: “I’'m really excited about my holiday.” ~ B: “......................”
A. You haven’'t had one for years. Take this for free. B. No wonder. It’s a long way to travel.
C. I’'m not surprised. Have a safe trip! D. Who with, may I ask?
Question 24: ~ A: “.................” ~ B: “She must be vexed and forlorn, I’m sure.”
A. What would she say if he came back to her?
B. How did Jenny feel when they broke up?
C. Guess what? I saw Annetta driving a new Audi to class.
D. No one was invited to her farewell party.
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to
each of the questions from 25 to 32.
SO MUCH TO SAVE
The idea of preserving biological diversity gives most people a warm feeling inside. But what, exactly, is diversity? And
which kind is most worth preserving? It may be anathema to save-the-lot environmentalists who hate setting such priorities,
but academics are starting to cook up answers.
Andrew Solow, a mathematician at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and his colleagues argue that in the eyes of
conservation, all species should not be equal. Even more controversially, they suggest that preserving the rarest is not always
the best approach. Their measure of diversity is the amount of evolutionary distance between species. They reckon that if
choices must be made, then the number of times that cousins are removed from one another should be one of the criteria.
This makes sense from both.a practical and an aesthetic point of view. Close relatives have many genes in common. If
those genes might be medically or agriculturally valuable, saving one is nearly as good as saving both. And different forms
are more interesting to admire and study than lots of things that look the same. Dr Solow's group illustrates its thesis with an
example. Six species of crane are at some risk of extinction. Breeding in captivity might save them. But suppose there were
only enough money to protect three. Which ones should be picked?
The genetic distances between 14 species of cranes, including the six at risk, have already been established using
a technique known as DNA hybridisation. The group estimated how likely it was that each of these 14 species would become
extinct in the next 50 years. Unendangered species were assigned a 10% chance of meeting the Darwinian reaper-man; the
most vulnerable, a 90% chance. Captive breeding was assumed to reduce an otherwise endangered species' risk to the 10%
level of the safest. Dr Solow's computer permed all possible combinations of three from six and came to the conclusion that
protecting the Siberian, white-naped and black-necked cranes gave the smallest likely loss of biological diversity over the
next five decades. The other three had close relatives in little need of protection. Even if they became extinct, most of their
genes would be saved.
Building on the work of this group, Martin Weitzman, of Harvard University, argues that conservation policy needs to take
account not only of some firm measure of the genetic relationships of species to each other and their likelihood of survival,
but also the costs of preserving them. Where species are equally important in genetic terms, and - an important and
improbable precondition - where the protection of one species can be assuted at the expense of another, he argues for making
safe species safer, rather than endangered species less endangered.
In practice, it is difficult to choose between species. Most of those at risk - especially plants, the group most likely to yield
useful medicines - are under threat because their habitats are in trouble, not because they are being shot, or plucked, to
extinction. Nor can conservationists choose among the millions of species that theory predicts must exist, but that have not
yet been classified by the biologists assigned to that tedious task.
This is not necessarily cause for despair. At the moment, the usual way to save the genes in these creatures is to find the bits
of the world with the largest number of species and try to protect them from the bulldozers. What economists require from
biologists are more sophisticated ways to estimate the diversity of groups of organisms that happen to live together, as well
as those which are related to each other. With clearer goals established, economic theory can then tell environmentalists
where to go. [from The Economist]
Question 25: Dr Weitzman believes that if two species are equally important genetically we should protect.......
A. them both B. the less endangered one
C. the rarer one D. the one that is more attractive
Question 26: Dr Solow believes that.........
A. very rare species can't be saved B. only some species are worth saving
C. all very rare species should be saved D. all species should be saved
Question 27: Most species are endangered because.......
A. we don't care enough about them B. they are hunted or picked
C. the places they live in are being destroyed D. biologists haven't classified them
Question 28: Dr Solow's work depended on......
A. the premise that all cranes should be protected B. the cost of preserving cranes
C. the premise that not all species are the same D. previous biological research
Question 29: Dr Weitzman's ideas.......
A. disregard Dr Solow's B. take Dr Solow's ideas one step further
C. confirm Dr Solow's D. contradict Dr Solow's
Question 30: According to the writer what has to be done first is for.........
A. biologists to instruct economists B. developers to stop destroying habitats
C. economists to instruct biologists D. biologists to classiry undiscovered species
Question 31: Endangered species of cranes can be saved by......
A. keeping them in zoos or wildlife parks B. stopping hunters from killing them
C. encouraging them to mate with their cousins D. protecting their habitats
Question 32: Three of the six species of endangered cranes........
A. could be allowed to become extinct B. were so rare they couldn't be saved
C. shouldn't be protected D. were less interesting to admire than others
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to
each of the questions from 33 to 39.
COMEDIANS
What drives moderately intelligent persons to put themselves up for acceptance or disparagement? In short, what sort of
individual wants to be a comedian? When we hear the very word, what does the label suggest? Other professions, callings
and occupations attract separate and distinct types of practitioner. Some stereotypes are so familiar as to be cheaply
laughable examples from the world of travesty, among them absent-minded professors, venal lawyers, gloomy detectives and
cynical reporters. But what corny characteristics do we attribute to comedians? To a man or woman, are they generally
parsimonious, vulgar, shallow, arrogant, introspective, hysterically insecure, smug, autocratic, amoral, and selfish? Read
their superficial stories in the tabloids and so they would appear.
Rather than look at the complete image, perhaps we need to explore the initial motives behind a choice of career. Consider
first those who prefer a sort of anonymity in life, the ones who’d rather wear a uniform. The psychological make-up of
individuals who actively seek to resign their individuality is apparent among those who surrender to the discipline of a
military life. The emotional and intellectual course taken by those who are drawn to anonymity is easily observed but not
easily deflected. They want to be told what to do and then be required to do it over and over again in the safety of a routine,
often behind the disguises of a number of livery. If their egos ache with the need for recognition and praise, it’s a pain that
must be contained, frustrated or satisfied within the rut they occupy. The mere idea of standing up in front of an audience and
demanding attention is abhorrent.
Nor will we find our comics among the doormats and dormice, the meek. There’s precious little comedy in the lives of
quiet hobbyists, bashful scholars, hermits, anchorites and recluses, the discreet and the modest, ones who deliberately select
a position of obscurity and seclusion. Abiding quietly in this stratum of society, somewhere well below public attention level,
there is humour, yes, since humour can endure in the least favourable circumstances, persisting like lichen in Antarctica. And
jokes. Many lesserknown comedy writers compose their material in the secret corners of an unassuming existence. I know of
two, both content to be minor figures in the civil service, who send in topical jokes to radio and TV shows on condition that
their real names are not revealed.
In both cases I've noticed that their comic invention, though clever, is based upon wordplay, puns and similar equivoques,
never an aggressive comic observation of life. Just as there may be a certain sterility in the self-effacement of a humble life,
so it seems feasible that the selection process of what’s funny is emasculated before it even commences. If you have no
ginger and snap in your daily round, with little familiarity with strong emotions, it seems likely that your sense of fun will be
limited by timidity to a simple juggling with language.
If the comedian’s genesis is unlikely to be founded in social submission, it’s also improbable among the top echelons of
our civilisation. Once again, humour can be found among the majestic. Nobles and royals, statesmen and lawmakers, have
their wits. Jokes and jokers circulate at the loftiest level of every advanced nation, but being high-born seems to carry no
compulsion to make the hoi polloi laugh. Some of our rulers do make us laugh but that’s not what they’re paid to do. And, so
with the constricted comedy of those who live a constricted life, that which amuses them may lack the common touch.
Having eliminated the parts of society unlikely to breed funnymen, it’s to the middle ranks of humanity, beneath the
exalted and above the invisible, that we must look to see where comics come from and why. And are they, like nurses and
nuns, called to their vocation? As the mountain calls to the mountaineer and the pentameter to the poet, does the need of the
mirthless masses summon forth funsters, ready to administer relief as their sole raison d’etre? We’ve often heard it said that
someone’s a ‘born comedian’ but will it do for all of them or even most of them? Perhaps we like to think of our greatest
jesters as we do our greatest painters and composers, preferring to believe that their gifts are inescapably driven to
expression. But in our exploration of the comedy mind, hopefully finding some such, we are sure to find some quite
otherwise.
[Source: PROFICIENCY TESTBUILDER 4th Edition, Macmillan, 2013]
Question 33: The writer says that people at the top of society......
A. are unaware of how ridiculous they appear to others.
B. would not be capable of becoming comedians even if they wanted to.
C. take themselves too seriously to wish to amuse anybody.
D. have contempt for the humour of those at lower levels of society.
Question 34: What does the writer imply about comedians in the first paragraph?
A. They often cannot understand why people make negative judgements of them.
B. It is harder to generalise about them than about people in other professions.
C. It is possible that they are seen as possessing only negative characteristics.
D. People in certain other professions generally have a better image than them.
Question 35: Which word/phrase can be a substitution for “the hoi polloi”?
A. the showbitz B. ordinary people C. the mass media D. the eliete
Question 36: In the fourth paragraph, the writer criticises the kind of comedy he describes for its lack of......
A. coherence. B. spirit. C. originality. D. sophistication.
Question 37: The writer says in the third paragraph that shy people......
A. do not get the recognition they deserve even if they are good at comedy.
B. fear that what they find humorous would not amuse others.
C. may be able to write humorous material but could not perform it.
D. are capable of being more humorous than they realise.
Question 38: What does the writer say about people who wear uniforms?
A. It is unusual for them to break their normal patterns of thought.
B. They are more aware of their inadequacies than others may think.
C. They criticise performers for craving attention.
D. The desires they have are never met when they are at work.
Question 39: What does the writer wonder in the last paragraph?
A. whether comedians realise how significant they are in the lives of ordinary people
B. whether comedians can be considered great in the way that other people in the arts can
C. whether people’s expectations of comedians are too high
D. whether it is inevitable that some people will become comedians
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or
phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks from 40 to 44.
CHANGING MANNERS
Many Americans believe that manners have gotten worse and official figures confirm this. In a recent survey, nearly 70%
said that people are ...(40)... than they were 20 or 30 years ago. This is true of both large and small towns, although 74%
of ...(41)... living in cities said that people have become ruder, compared with 67% in rural areas. However, few people
believe that they have bad manners themselves! For example, only 8% in the questionnaire ...(42)... they have ever used their
cell phones in public in a loud or annoying way. Many people ...(43)... new technology for our changing manners.
Computers, MP3 players, and cell phones take us away from face-to-face contact, as well as being very annoying in public
places. "All of these things result in a world with more stress, more chances for people to be rude to each other," said Peter
Post, an instructor on business manners.
But what can we do about it? Some people would like to see a rail car ...(44)... for cell phone users so that the rest of us can
travel in peace and quiet. In fact, one train company, Amtrak, has banned cell phones in one car of some trains, which is
called a "Quiet Car".
Question 40:A. older B. wiser C. ruder D. smarter
Question 41:A. those B. ones C. them D. they
Question 42:A. accept B. agree C. admit D. confess
Question 43:A. command B. blame C. reprimand D. reproach
Question 44:A. reserved B. suited C. prepared D. founded
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word whose underlined part differs from the other
three in pronunciation in each of the following questions.
Question 45:A. psyche B. apostrophe C. recipe D. rhyme
Question 46:A. seizure B. receive C. sheila D. heifer
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word(s) CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined
word(s) in each of the following questions.
Question 47: It's not my cup of tea.
A. my best choice. B. the kind of thing I like.
C. my field of study D. my responsibiltity.
Question 48: He looked at her aghast.
A. frightened B. amazed C. surprised D. shocked and worried
Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word that differs from the other three in the
position of primary stress in each of the following questions.
Question 49:A. confine B. engine C. entail D. machine
Question 50:A. envelope B. telescope C. develop D. antelope

The End