50 CÂU HỎI
FAMILY LIFE IN THE UNITED STATES Family life in the United States is changing. Fifty or sixty years ago, the wife was called a “housewife”. She cleaned, cooked, and cared for the children. The husband earned the money for the family. He was usually out working all day. He came home tired in the evening, so he did not do much housework. And he did not see the children very much, except on weekends. These days, however, more and more women work outside the home. They cannot stay with the children all day. They, too, come home tired in the evening. They do not want to spend the evening cooking dinner and cleaning up. They do not have time to clean the house and do the laundry. So who is going to do the housework now? Who is going to take care of the children? Many families solve the problem of housework by sharing it. In these families, the husband and wife agree to do different jobs around the house, or they take turns doing each job. For example, the husband always cooks dinner and the wife always does the laundry. Or the wife cooks dinner on some nights and the husband cooks dinner on other nights. Then there is the question of the children. In the past, many families got help with child care from grandparents. Now families usually do not live near their relatives. The grandparents are often too far away to help in a regular way. More often, parents have to pay for child care help. The help may be a babysitter or a day-care center. The problem with t his kind of help is the high cost. It is possible only for couples with jobs that pay well. Parents may get another kind of help form the companies they work for. Many companies now let people with children work part-time. That way, parents can spend mo re time with their children. Some husbands may even stop working for a while to stay with the children. For these men there is a new word: they are called “househusbands”. In the USA more and more men are becoming househusbands every year. These changes in the home mean changes in the family. Fathers can learn to understand their children better, and the children can get to know their fathers better. Husbands and wives may also find changes in their marriage. They, too, may have a better understanding of each other. The word “they” in paragraph 5 refers to .............
A. husbands who stop working to stay with the children
B. fathers who spend more time with their children
C. parents who work part-time
D. children who spend more time with fathers than mothers
The changes in the American home mentioned in this passage may ...............
A. help families
B. not happen
C. cause problems for a marriage
D. not change the children at all
This article is about ...............
A. American men as househusbands
B. housewives in America
C. how more American women are working
D. how family life in America is changing
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 Because writing has become so important in our culture, we sometimes think of it as more real than speech. A little thought, however, will show w hy speech is primary and writing secondary to language. Human beings have been writing (as far as we can tell from surviving evidence) for at least 5000 years; but they have been talking for much longer, doubtless ever since there have been human beings. When writing did develop, it was derived from and represented speech, although imperfectly. Even today there are spoken languages that have no written form. Furthermore, we all learn to talk well before we learn to write; any human child who is not severely handicapped physically or mentally will learn to talk: a normal human being cannot be prevented from doing so. On the other hand, it takes a special effort to learn to write. In the past many intelligent and useful members of society did not acquire the skill, and even today many who speak languages with writing systems never learn to read or write, while some who learn the rudiments of those skills do so only imperfectly. To affirm the primacy of speech over writing is not, however, to disparage the latter. One advantage writing has over speech is that it is more permanent and makes possible the records that any civilization must have. Thus, if speaking makes us human, writing makes us civilized. We sometimes think of writing as more real than speech because ..............
A. writing is secondary to language
B. human beings have been writing for at least 5000 years
C. it has become very important in our culture
D. people have been writing since there have been human beings
The author of the passage argues that ...............
A. speech is more basic to language than writing
B. writing has become too important in today’s society
C. everyone who learns to speak must learn to write
D. all languages should have a written form
According to the passage, writing ...............
A. is represented perfectly by speech
B. represents speech, but not perfectly
C. developed from imperfect speech
D. is imperfect, but less so than speech
Normal human beings .................
A. learn to talk after learning to write
B. learn t o write before learning to talk
C. learn to write and to talk at the same time
D. learn to talk before learning to write
Learning to write is ..........
A. easy
B. too difficult
C. not easy
D. very easy
In order to show that learning to write requires effort, the author gives the example of ............
A. people who learn the rudiments of speech
B. severely handicapped children
C. intelligent people who couldn’t write
D. people who speak many languages
In the author’s judgment, ...............
A. writing has more advantages than speech
B. writing is more real than speech
C. speech conveys ideas less accurately than writing does
D. speech is essential but writing has important benefits
The word “advantage” in the last paragraph most closely means ...........
A. “rudiments”
B. “skill”
C. “domination”
D. “benefit”
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 It used to be that people would drink coffee or tea in the morning to pick them up and get them going for the day. Then cola drinks hit the market. With lots of caffeine and sugar, these beverages soon became the pick-me-up of choice for many adults and teenagers. Now drink companies are putting out so-called "energy drinks." These beverages have the specific aim of giving tired consumers more energy. One example of a popular energy drink is Red Bull. The company that puts out this beverage has stated in interviews that Red Bull is not a thirst quencher. Nor is it meant to be a fluid replacement drink for athletes. Instead, the beverage is meant to revitalize a tired consumer’s body and mind. In order to do this, the makers of Red Bull, and other energy drinks, typically add vitamins and certain chemicals to their beverages. The added chemicals are like chemicals that the body naturally produces for energy. The vitamins, chemicals, caffeine, and sugar found in these beverages all seem like a sure bet to give a person energy. Health professionals are not so sure, though. For one thing, there is not enough evidence to show that all of the vitamins added to energy drinks actually raise a person’s energy level. Another problem is that there are so many things in the beverages. Nobody knows for sure how all of the ingredients in energy drinks work together. Dr. Brent Bauer, one of the directors at the Mayo Clinic in the US, cautions people about believing all the claims energy drinks make. He says, - It is plausible if you put all these things together, you will get a good result.” However, Dr. Bauer adds the mix of ingredients could also have a negative impact on the body. - We just don’t know at this point,” he says. (Source: -Reading Challenge 2, Casey Malarcher & Andrea Janzen, Compass Publishing) The beverages mentioned in the first paragraph aim to give consumers .............
A. caffeine
B. sugar
C. more energy
D. more choices
The word “it” in the second paragraph refers to ...........
A. one example
B. the company
C. Red Bull
D. thirst quencher
According to the passage, what makes it difficult for researchers to know if an energy drink gives people energy?
A. Natural chemicals in a person’s body
B. The average age of the consumer
C. The number of beverage makers
D. The mixture of various ingredients
The word -plausible in the passage is closest in meaning to .............
A. impossible
B. reasonable
C. typical
D. unlikely
What has Dr. Bauer probably researched?
A. Countries where Red Bull is popular
B. Energy drinks for teenage athletes
C. Habits of healthy and unhealthy adults
D. Vitamins and chemicals in the body
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A. Bauer does not seem to believe the claims of energy drink makers.
B. Colas have been on the market longer than energy drinks.
C. It has been scientifically proved that energy drinks work.
D. The makers of Red Bull say that it can revitalize a person.
What is the main idea of this passage?
A. Caffeine is bad for people to drink.
B. It is uncertain whether energy drinks are healthy.
C. Red Bull is the best energy drink.
D. Teenagers should not choose energy drinks.
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 What is “extreme” weather? Why are people talking about it these days? “Extreme” weather is an unusual weather event such as rainfall, a drought or a heat wave in the wrong place or at the wrong time. In theory, they are very rare. But these days, our TV screens are constantly showing such extreme weather events. Take just three news stories from 2010: 28 centimetres of rain fell on Rio de Janeiro in 24 hours, Nashville, USA, had 33 centimetres of rain in two days and there was record rainfall in Pakistan. The effects of this kind of rainfall are dramatic and lethal. In Rio de Janeiro, landslides followed, burying hundreds of people. In Pakistan, the floods affected 20 million people. Meanwhile, other parts of the world suffer devastating droughts. Australia, Russia and East Africa have been hit in the last ten years. And then there are unexpected heat waves, such as in 2003 in Europe. That summer, 35,000 deaths were said to be heat-related. So, what is happening to our weather? Are these extreme events part of a natural cycle? Or are they caused by human activity and its effects on the Earth’s climate? Peter Miller says it’s probably a mixture of both of these things. On the one hand, the most important influences on weather events are natural cycles in the climate. Two of the most famous weather cycles, El Niño and La Niña, originate in the Pacific Ocean. The heat from the warm ocean rises high into the atmosphere and affects weather all around the world. On the other hand, the temperature of the Earth’s oceans is slowly but steadily going up. And this is a result of human activity. We are producing greenhouse gases that trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. This heat warms up the atmosphere, land and oceans. Warmer oceans produce more water vapour – think of heating a pan of water in your kitchen. Turn up the heat, it produces steam more quickly. Satellite data tells us that the water vapour in the atmosphere has gone up by four percent in 25 years. This warm, wet air turns into the rain, storms, hurricanes and typhoons that we are increasingly experiencing. Climate scientist, Michael Oppenheimer, says that we need to face the reality of climate change. And we also need to act now to save lives and money in the future. (Source: 2015 National Geographic Learning.www.ngllife.com/wildweather) It is stated in the passage that extreme weather is ..............
A. becoming more common
B. not a natural occurrence
C. difficult for scientists to understand
D. killing more people than ever before
The word -lethal‖ in the second paragraph probably means ............
A. far-reaching
B. long-lasting
C. happening soon
D. causing deaths
hat caused thousands of deaths in 2003?
A. a period of hot weather
B. floods after a bad summer
C. a long spell of heavy rain
D. large-scale landslides
According to the passage, extreme weather is a problem because ............
A. we can never predict it
B. it only affects crowded places
C. it’s often very destructive
D. its causes are completely unknown
The word -that in the third paragraph refers to ............
A. Earth’s oceans
B. human activity
C. greenhouse gases
D. Earth’s atmosphere
Extreme weather can be caused by ...............
A. satellites above the Earth
B. water vapour in the atmosphere
C. very hot summers
D. water pans in your kitchen
Satellites are used to .............
A. change the direction of severe storms
B. trap greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
C. measure changes in atmospheric water vapour
D. prevent climate from changing quickly
Which statement is NOT supported by the information in the passage?
A. Extreme weather is substantially influenced by human activity.
B. Unusual weather events are part of natural cycles.
C. We can limit the bad effects of extreme weather.
D. Such extreme weather is hardly the consequence of human activity.
Read carefully and do the task A number of factors related to the voice reveal the personality of the speaker. The first is the broad area of communication, which includes imparting information by use of language, communicating with a group or an individual and specialized communication through performance. A person conveys thoughts and ideas through choice of words, by a tone of voice that is pleasant or unpleasant, gentle or harsh, by the rhythm that is inherent within the language itself, and by speech rhythms that are flowing and regular or uneven and hesitant, and finally, by the pitch and melody of the utterance. When speaking before a group, a person's tone may indicate uncertainty or fright, confidence or calm. At interpersonal levels, the tone may reflect ideas and feelings over and above the words chosen, or may belie them. Here the participant’s tone can consciously or unconsciously reflect intuitive sympathy or antipathy, lack of concern or interest, fatigue, anxiety, enthusiasm or excitement, all of which are .usually discernible by the acute listener. Public performance is a manner of communication that is highly specialized with its own techniques for obtaining effects by voice and /or gesture. The motivation derived from the text, and in the case of singing, the music, in combination with the performer's skills, personality, and ability to create empathy will determine the success of artistic, political, or pedagogic communication. Second, the voice gives psychological clues to a person's self-image, perception of others, and emotional health. Self-image can be indicated by a tone of voice that is confident, pretentious, shy, aggressive, outgoing, or exuberant, to name only a few personality traits. Also the sound may give a clue to the facade or mask of that person, for example, a shy person hiding behind an overconfident front. How a speaker perceives the listener's receptiveness, interest, or sympathy in any given conversation can drastically alter the tone of presentation, by encouraging or discouraging the speaker. Emotional health is evidenced in the voice by free and melodic sounds of the happy, by constricted and harsh sound of the angry, and by dull and lethargic qualities of the depressed. What does the passage mainly discuss?
A. The function of the voice in performance
B. Communication styles
C. The connection between voice and personality
D. The production of speech
What does the author mean by staring that, "At interpersonal levels, tone may reflect ideas and feelings over and above the words chosen" ?
A. Feelings are expressed with different words than ideas are.
B. The tone of voice can carry information beyond the meaning of words.
C. A high tone of voice reflects an emotional communication.
D. Feelings are more difficult to express than ideas.
The word "Here" in line 9 refers to……………
A. At interpersonal levels
B. the tone
C. ideas and feelings
D. words chosen
Why does the author mention "artistic, political, or pedagogic communication"?
A. As examples of public performance
B. As examples of basic styles of communication
C. To contrast them to singing
D. To introduce the idea of self-image
According to the passage, an exuberant tone of voice may be an indication of a person's ..............
A. general physical health
B. personality
C. registered
D. obtained
According to the passage, an overconfident front may hide ..........
A. hostility
B. shyness
C. friendliness
D. strength
The word "drastically" in line 21 is closest in meaning to ..........
A. frequently
B. exactly
C. severely
D. easily
According to the passage, what does a constricted and harsh voice indicate?
A. Lethargy
B. Depression
C. Boredom
D. Anger
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 The rules of etiquette in American restaurants depend upon a number of factors the physical location of the restaurant, e.g., rural or urban; the type of restaurant, e.g., informal or formal; and certain standards that are more universal. In other words, some standards 5 of etiquette vary significantly while other standards apply almost anywhere. Learning the proper etiquette in a particular type of restaurant in a particular area may sometimes require instruction, but more commonly it simply requires sensitivity and experience. For example, while it is acceptable to read a magazine in a coffee shop, it is 10 inappropriate to do the same in a more luxurious setting. And, if you are eating in a very rustic setting it may be fine to tuck your napkin into your shirt, but if you are in a sophisticated urban restaurant this behavior would demonstrate a lack of manners. It is safe to say, however, that in virtually every restaurant it is unacceptable 15 to indiscriminately throw your food on the floor. The conclusion we can most likely draw from the above is that while the types and locations of restaurants determine etiquette appropriate to them, some rules apply to all restaurants. What topic is this passage primarily concerned?
A. instruction in proper etiquette
B. rules of etiquette
C. variable and universal standards of etiquette
D. the importance of good manners
According to the passage,which of the following is a universal rule of etiquette?
A. reading a magazine at a coffee shop
B. not throwing food on the floor
C. eating in rustic settings
D. tucking a napkin in your shirt
According to the passage, ................ requires sensitivity and experience?
A. reading a magazine at a coffee shop
B. not throwing food on the floor
C. eating in rustic settings
D. tucking a napkin in your shirt
Which of the following words is most similar to the meaning of “rustic” ?
A. urban
B. unsophisticated
C. agricultural
D. ancient
Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word “tuck” in line 11?
A. set
B. put
C. fold
D. hold
The word “sophisticated” in line 12 could best be replaced by?
A. famous
B. cultured
C. expensive
D. exclusive
What is the author’s main purpose in this passage?
A. to compare sophisticated and rustic restaurants
B. to assist people in learning sophisticatedmanners
C. to simplify rules of restaurant etiquette
D. to describe variations in restaurant manners
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 Who talks more – men or women? Most people believe that women talk more. However, linguist Deborah Tannen, who has the studied the communication style of men and women, says that this is a stereotype. According to Tannen, women are more verbal – talk more – in private situations, where they use conversation as the “glue” to hold relationship together. But, she says, men talk more in public situations, where they use conversation to exchange information and gain status. Tannen points out that we can see these difference even in children. Little girls often play with one ‘best friend’ and their play includes a lot of conversation. Little boys often play games in groups, their play usually involves more doing than talking. In school, girls are often better at verbal skills, while boys are often better at mathematics. A recent study at Emory University helps to shed light on the roots of this difference. Researchers studied conversation between children aged 3-6 and their parents. They found evidence that parents talk very differently to their sons than they do to their daughters. The startling conclusion was that parents use more language with their girls. Specifically, when parents talk with their daughters, they use more descriptive language and more details. There is also far more talk about emotions, especially with daughters than with sons. Which sentence best expresses the main idea of the first paragraph?
A. Women talk more than men on the whole
B. Women’s talking is a stereotype
C. Women talk more in private, and men talk more in public
D. Little boys and little girls have different ways of playing
Which word is similar in meaning to the word “glue”?
A. Games
B. sticky substance
C. rope
D. means
Which of the following phrases best explains the meaning of the word “verbal”?
A. Deriving from verbs
B. Connected with use of spoken language
C. Using very loud noise
D. Being very talkative
The word “they” refers to ................
A. Situations
B. Men
C. Men and women
D. Women
Which of the following can be inferred from the first paragraph?
A. Men and women have different styles of talking, which may begin in childhood.
B. According to Deborah Tannen, the belief that women talk more is party right but most wrong.
C. Women talk more in some situations while men talk in others
D. Men are more sociable than women
Which sentence best expresses the main idea of the second paragraph?
A. Researchers have studied the conversations of children and their parents.
B. Parents do not much about sadness with their sons.
C. Study at Emory University can help to explain the differences between communication styles of boy and girls.
D. An Emory University study found than parent talk more with their daughters than with their sons.
Which word can best replace the word “startling”?
A. Beginning
B. annoying
C. surprising
D. interesting
Which of the following statement is TRUE about the passage?
A. Parents give more love to their daughters than to their sons
B. Boys don’t like to be with their parents as much as girls do
C. Parents use more language to talk with their daughters
D. Boys don’t like showing emotions
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 Stars have been significant features in the design of many United States coins and their number has varied from one to forty-eight stars. Most of the coins issued from about 1799 to the early years of the twentieth century bore thirteen stars representing the thirteen original colonies. Curiously enough, the first American silver coins, issued in 1794, had fifteen stars because by that time Vermont and Kentucky has joined the Union. At that time it was apparently the intention of mint officials to add a star for each new state. Following the admission of Tennessee in 1796, for example, some varieties of half dimes, dimes, and halfdollars were produced with sixteen starts. As more states were admitted to the Union, however, it quickly became apparent that this scheme would not prove practical and the coins from A798 on were issued with only thirteen stars-one for each of the original colonies. Due to an error at the mint, one variety of the A828 half cent was issued with only twelve stars. There is also a variety of the large cent with only A2 stars, but this is the result of a die break and is not a true error. What is the main topic of the passage?
A. Stars on American coins
B. The teaching of astronomy in state universities
C. The star as national symbol of the United States
D. Colonial stamps and coins