ĐỀ THI THỬ THPT QUỐC GIA NĂM 2019 – LẦN 2 Môn thi: TIẾNG ANH (Đề 1)

But for his kind support, I _______. 

- Jean: “Why didn’t you tell me about the plans for the merge?”

- Jack: “I would have told you _______.”

This year, so far, we ________ 28,000 dollars and are still counting

It is now over seventy years since Lindbergh _______ across the Atlantic

All applications to courses at tertiary institutions are made through UCAS, a central agency _______ UK universities and colleges of higher education. 

Books are still a cheap _______ to get knowledge and entertainment

Galileo proved that the earth _______ round the sun.

Getting promotion also means getting more _______. 

Fire engines and ambulances have _______ over other traffic

By the end of last March, I _______ English for five years

_______ he hasn’t had any formal qualifications, he has managed to do very well

We are considering having ______ for the coming lunar New Year

Tim looks so frightened and upset. He _______ something terrible

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.

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

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 from 20 to 21. 

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 from 20 to 21

Did she get the better of you in the argument? 

I didn’t go to work this morning. I stayed at home due to the morning rain

It was a very wonderful opportunity for us to catch.

I could only propose a(n) partial solution to the crisis in the company

“What a boring lecture!” – “_______” 

“Oh, I’m sorry! Am I disturbing you? – “_______”

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 25 to 29.

People of different countries have quite different life styles. We American are wasteful people, (25) _______ saving.

Our grandfathers began this pattern, for nature’s resources seemed so plentiful that no one ever imagined a shortage. Within a few years of the first Virginia settlement, for example, pioneers burned down their houses when they were ready to move to west. They only wanted to have the nails for (26) _______ use. No one ever gave a thought to the priceless hardwoods that went up in smoke. We the people in the United States destroy many things that other peoples save. I (27) _______ this when I was living in Britain. I received a letter from one of England’s largest banks. It was enclosed in a used envelop that had been readdressed to me. Such a practice would be (28) _______ in the United States. American banks, (29) _______ the smallest, always use expensive stationery with the names of all twenty-eight vice-presidents listed on one side of the page.

Điền vào ô 25

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 25 to 29.

People of different countries have quite different life styles. We American are wasteful people, (25) _______ saving.

Our grandfathers began this pattern, for nature’s resources seemed so plentiful that no one ever imagined a shortage. Within a few years of the first Virginia settlement, for example, pioneers burned down their houses when they were ready to move to west. They only wanted to have the nails for (26) _______ use. No one ever gave a thought to the priceless hardwoods that went up in smoke. We the people in the United States destroy many things that other peoples save. I (27) _______ this when I was living in Britain. I received a letter from one of England’s largest banks. It was enclosed in a used envelop that had been readdressed to me. Such a practice would be (28) _______ in the United States. American banks, (29) _______ the smallest, always use expensive stationery with the names of all twenty-eight vice-presidents listed on one side of the page.

Điền ô số 26

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 25 to 29.

People of different countries have quite different life styles. We American are wasteful people, (25) _______ saving.

Our grandfathers began this pattern, for nature’s resources seemed so plentiful that no one ever imagined a shortage. Within a few years of the first Virginia settlement, for example, pioneers burned down their houses when they were ready to move to west. They only wanted to have the nails for (26) _______ use. No one ever gave a thought to the priceless hardwoods that went up in smoke. We the people in the United States destroy many things that other peoples save. I (27) _______ this when I was living in Britain. I received a letter from one of England’s largest banks. It was enclosed in a used envelop that had been readdressed to me. Such a practice would be (28) _______ in the United States. American banks, (29) _______ the smallest, always use expensive stationery with the names of all twenty-eight vice-presidents listed on one side of the page.

Điền ô số 27

 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 25 to 29.

People of different countries have quite different life styles. We American are wasteful people, (25) _______ saving.

Our grandfathers began this pattern, for nature’s resources seemed so plentiful that no one ever imagined a shortage. Within a few years of the first Virginia settlement, for example, pioneers burned down their houses when they were ready to move to west. They only wanted to have the nails for (26) _______ use. No one ever gave a thought to the priceless hardwoods that went up in smoke. We the people in the United States destroy many things that other peoples save. I (27) _______ this when I was living in Britain. I received a letter from one of England’s largest banks. It was enclosed in a used envelop that had been readdressed to me. Such a practice would be (28) _______ in the United States. American banks, (29) _______ the smallest, always use expensive stationery with the names of all twenty-eight vice-presidents listed on one side of the page.

Điền ô số 28

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 25 to 29.

People of different countries have quite different life styles. We American are wasteful people, (25) _______ saving.

Our grandfathers began this pattern, for nature’s resources seemed so plentiful that no one ever imagined a shortage. Within a few years of the first Virginia settlement, for example, pioneers burned down their houses when they were ready to move to west. They only wanted to have the nails for (26) _______ use. No one ever gave a thought to the priceless hardwoods that went up in smoke. We the people in the United States destroy many things that other peoples save. I (27) _______ this when I was living in Britain. I received a letter from one of England’s largest banks. It was enclosed in a used envelop that had been readdressed to me. Such a practice would be (28) _______ in the United States. American banks, (29) _______ the smallest, always use expensive stationery with the names of all twenty-eight vice-presidents listed on one side of the page.

Điền ô số 29

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

Safari is an organized trip to hunting or photograph wild animals, usually in Africa. 

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

There is estimated that the Orion nebula contains enough matter to form 10,000 stars. 

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. 

Great apes are in crisis of becoming extinct

 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 38.

Sylvia Earle, a marine botanist and one of the foremost deep-sea explorers, has spent over 6,000 hours, more than seven months, underwater. From her earliest years, Earle had an affinity for marine life, and she took her first plunge into the open sea as a teenager. In the years since then she has taken part in a number of landmark underwater projects, from exploratory expeditions around the world to her celebrated “Jim dive” in 1978, which was the deepest solo dive ever made without cable connecting the diver to a support vessel at the surface of the sea.

Clothed in a Jim suit, a futuristic suit of plastic and metal armor, which was secured to a manned submarine, Sylvia Earle plunged vertically into the Pacific Ocean, at times at the speed of 100 feet per minute. On reaching the ocean floor, she was released from the submarine and from that point her only connection to the sub was an 18-foot tether. For the next 2½ hours, Earle roamed the seabed taking notes, collecting 15 specimens, and planting a U.S. flag. Consumed by a desire to descend deeper still, in 1981 she became involved in the design and manufacture of 20 deep-sea submersibles, one of which took her to a depth of 3,000 feet. This did not end Sylvia Earle’s accomplishments.

When did Sylvia Earle discover her love of the sea?

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 38.

Sylvia Earle, a marine botanist and one of the foremost deep-sea explorers, has spent over 6,000 hours, more than seven months, underwater. From her earliest years, Earle had an affinity for marine life, and she took her first plunge into the open sea as a teenager. In the years since then she has taken part in a number of landmark underwater projects, from exploratory expeditions around the world to her celebrated “Jim dive” in 1978, which was the deepest solo dive ever made without cable connecting the diver to a support vessel at the surface of the sea.

Clothed in a Jim suit, a futuristic suit of plastic and metal armor, which was secured to a manned submarine, Sylvia Earle plunged vertically into the Pacific Ocean, at times at the speed of 100 feet per minute. On reaching the ocean floor, she was released from the submarine and from that point her only connection to the sub was an 18-foot tether. For the next 2½ hours, Earle roamed the seabed taking notes, collecting 15 specimens, and planting a U.S. flag. Consumed by a desire to descend deeper still, in 1981 she became involved in the design and manufacture of 20 deep-sea submersibles, one of which took her to a depth of 3,000 feet. This did not end Sylvia Earle’s accomplishments.

It can be inferred from the passage that Sylvia Earle _______. 

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 38.

Sylvia Earle, a marine botanist and one of the foremost deep-sea explorers, has spent over 6,000 hours, more than seven months, underwater. From her earliest years, Earle had an affinity for marine life, and she took her first plunge into the open sea as a teenager. In the years since then she has taken part in a number of landmark underwater projects, from exploratory expeditions around the world to her celebrated “Jim dive” in 1978, which was the deepest solo dive ever made without cable connecting the diver to a support vessel at the surface of the sea.

Clothed in a Jim suit, a futuristic suit of plastic and metal armor, which was secured to a manned submarine, Sylvia Earle plunged vertically into the Pacific Ocean, at times at the speed of 100 feet per minute. On reaching the ocean floor, she was released from the submarine and from that point her only connection to the sub was an 18-foot tether. For the next 2½ hours, Earle roamed the seabed taking notes, collecting 15 specimens, and planting a U.S. flag. Consumed by a desire to descend deeper still, in 1981 she became involved in the design and manufacture of 20 deep-sea submersibles, one of which took her to a depth of 3,000 feet. This did not end Sylvia Earle’s accomplishments. 

The author’s opinion of Sylvia Earle 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 33 to 38.

Sylvia Earle, a marine botanist and one of the foremost deep-sea explorers, has spent over 6,000 hours, more than seven months, underwater. From her earliest years, Earle had an affinity for marine life, and she took her first plunge into the open sea as a teenager. In the years since then she has taken part in a number of landmark underwater projects, from exploratory expeditions around the world to her celebrated “Jim dive” in 1978, which was the deepest solo dive ever made without cable connecting the diver to a support vessel at the surface of the sea.

Clothed in a Jim suit, a futuristic suit of plastic and metal armor, which was secured to a manned submarine, Sylvia Earle plunged vertically into the Pacific Ocean, at times at the speed of 100 feet per minute. On reaching the ocean floor, she was released from the submarine and from that point her only connection to the sub was an 18-foot tether. For the next 2½ hours, Earle roamed the seabed taking notes, collecting 15 specimens, and planting a U.S. flag. Consumed by a desire to descend deeper still, in 1981 she became involved in the design and manufacture of 20 deep-sea submersibles, one of which took her to a depth of 3,000 feet. This did not end Sylvia Earle’s accomplishments.

What will the paragraph following this passage probably be about?

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 38.

Sylvia Earle, a marine botanist and one of the foremost deep-sea explorers, has spent over 6,000 hours, more than seven months, underwater. From her earliest years, Earle had an affinity for marine life, and she took her first plunge into the open sea as a teenager. In the years since then she has taken part in a number of landmark underwater projects, from exploratory expeditions around the world to her celebrated “Jim dive” in 1978, which was the deepest solo dive ever made without cable connecting the diver to a support vessel at the surface of the sea.

Clothed in a Jim suit, a futuristic suit of plastic and metal armor, which was secured to a manned submarine, Sylvia Earle plunged vertically into the Pacific Ocean, at times at the speed of 100 feet per minute. On reaching the ocean floor, she was released from the submarine and from that point her only connection to the sub was an 18-foot tether. For the next 2½ hours, Earle roamed the seabed taking notes, collecting 15 specimens, and planting a U.S. flag. Consumed by a desire to descend deeper still, in 1981 she became involved in the design and manufacture of 20 deep-sea submersibles, one of which took her to a depth of 3,000 feet. This did not end Sylvia Earle’s accomplishments.

The main purpose of this passage 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 33 to 38.

Sylvia Earle, a marine botanist and one of the foremost deep-sea explorers, has spent over 6,000 hours, more than seven months, underwater. From her earliest years, Earle had an affinity for marine life, and she took her first plunge into the open sea as a teenager. In the years since then she has taken part in a number of landmark underwater projects, from exploratory expeditions around the world to her celebrated “Jim dive” in 1978, which was the deepest solo dive ever made without cable connecting the diver to a support vessel at the surface of the sea.

Clothed in a Jim suit, a futuristic suit of plastic and metal armor, which was secured to a manned submarine, Sylvia Earle plunged vertically into the Pacific Ocean, at times at the speed of 100 feet per minute. On reaching the ocean floor, she was released from the submarine and from that point her only connection to the sub was an 18-foot tether. For the next 2½ hours, Earle roamed the seabed taking notes, collecting 15 specimens, and planting a U.S. flag. Consumed by a desire to descend deeper still, in 1981 she became involved in the design and manufacture of 20 deep-sea submersibles, one of which took her to a depth of 3,000 feet. This did not end Sylvia Earle’s accomplishments. 

Which of the following is not true about the Jim dive? 

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 39 to 45.

Long before they can actually speak, babies pay special attention to the speech they hear around them. Within the first month of their lives, babies' responses to the sound of the human voice will be different from their responses to other sorts of auditory stimuli. They will stop crying when they hear a person talking, but not if they hear a bell or the sound of a rattle. At first, the sounds that an infant notices might be only those words that receive the heaviest emphasis and that often occur at the ends of utterances. By the time they are six or seven weeks old, babies can detect the difference between syllables pronounced with rising and falling inflections. Very soon, these differences in adult stress and intonation can influence babies' emotional states and behavior. Long before they develop actual language comprehension, babies can sense when an adult is playful or angry, attempting to initiate or terminate new behavior, and so on, merely on the basis of cues such as the rate, volume, and melody of adult speech.

Adults make it as easy as they can for babies to pick up a language by exaggerating such cues. One researcher observed babies and their mothers in six diverse cultures and found that, in all six languages, the mothers used simplified syntax, short utterances and nonsense sounds, and transformed certain sounds into baby talk. Other investigators have noted that when mothers talk to babies who are only a few months old, they exaggerate the pitch, loudness, and intensity of their words. They also exaggerate their facial expressions, hold vowels longer, and emphasize certain words.

More significant for language development than their response to general intonation is observation that tiny babies can make relatively fine distinctions between speech sounds. In other words, babies enter the world with the ability to make precisely those perceptual discriminations that are necessary if they are to acquire aural language.

Babies obviously derive pleasure from sound input, too: even as young as nine months they will listen to songs or stories, although the words themselves are beyond their understanding. For babies, language is a sensory-motor delight rather than the route to prosaic meaning that it often is for adults. 

What does the passage mainly discuss? 

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 39 to 45.

Long before they can actually speak, babies pay special attention to the speech they hear around them. Within the first month of their lives, babies' responses to the sound of the human voice will be different from their responses to other sorts of auditory stimuli. They will stop crying when they hear a person talking, but not if they hear a bell or the sound of a rattle. At first, the sounds that an infant notices might be only those words that receive the heaviest emphasis and that often occur at the ends of utterances. By the time they are six or seven weeks old, babies can detect the difference between syllables pronounced with rising and falling inflections. Very soon, these differences in adult stress and intonation can influence babies' emotional states and behavior. Long before they develop actual language comprehension, babies can sense when an adult is playful or angry, attempting to initiate or terminate new behavior, and so on, merely on the basis of cues such as the rate, volume, and melody of adult speech.

Adults make it as easy as they can for babies to pick up a language by exaggerating such cues. One researcher observed babies and their mothers in six diverse cultures and found that, in all six languages, the mothers used simplified syntax, short utterances and nonsense sounds, and transformed certain sounds into baby talk. Other investigators have noted that when mothers talk to babies who are only a few months old, they exaggerate the pitch, loudness, and intensity of their words. They also exaggerate their facial expressions, hold vowels longer, and emphasize certain words.

More significant for language development than their response to general intonation is observation that tiny babies can make relatively fine distinctions between speech sounds. In other words, babies enter the world with the ability to make precisely those perceptual discriminations that are necessary if they are to acquire aural language.

Babies obviously derive pleasure from sound input, too: even as young as nine months they will listen to songs or stories, although the words themselves are beyond their understanding. For babies, language is a sensory-motor delight rather than the route to prosaic meaning that it often is for adults. 

Why does the author mention a bell and rattle in paragraph 1? 

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 39 to 45.

Long before they can actually speak, babies pay special attention to the speech they hear around them. Within the first month of their lives, babies' responses to the sound of the human voice will be different from their responses to other sorts of auditory stimuli. They will stop crying when they hear a person talking, but not if they hear a bell or the sound of a rattle. At first, the sounds that an infant notices might be only those words that receive the heaviest emphasis and that often occur at the ends of utterances. By the time they are six or seven weeks old, babies can detect the difference between syllables pronounced with rising and falling inflections. Very soon, these differences in adult stress and intonation can influence babies' emotional states and behavior. Long before they develop actual language comprehension, babies can sense when an adult is playful or angry, attempting to initiate or terminate new behavior, and so on, merely on the basis of cues such as the rate, volume, and melody of adult speech.

Adults make it as easy as they can for babies to pick up a language by exaggerating such cues. One researcher observed babies and their mothers in six diverse cultures and found that, in all six languages, the mothers used simplified syntax, short utterances and nonsense sounds, and transformed certain sounds into baby talk. Other investigators have noted that when mothers talk to babies who are only a few months old, they exaggerate the pitch, loudness, and intensity of their words. They also exaggerate their facial expressions, hold vowels longer, and emphasize certain words.

More significant for language development than their response to general intonation is observation that tiny babies can make relatively fine distinctions between speech sounds. In other words, babies enter the world with the ability to make precisely those perceptual discriminations that are necessary if they are to acquire aural language.

Babies obviously derive pleasure from sound input, too: even as young as nine months they will listen to songs or stories, although the words themselves are beyond their understanding. For babies, language is a sensory-motor delight rather than the route to prosaic meaning that it often is for adults.

The word “diverse” in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to _______. 

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 39 to 45.

Long before they can actually speak, babies pay special attention to the speech they hear around them. Within the first month of their lives, babies' responses to the sound of the human voice will be different from their responses to other sorts of auditory stimuli. They will stop crying when they hear a person talking, but not if they hear a bell or the sound of a rattle. At first, the sounds that an infant notices might be only those words that receive the heaviest emphasis and that often occur at the ends of utterances. By the time they are six or seven weeks old, babies can detect the difference between syllables pronounced with rising and falling inflections. Very soon, these differences in adult stress and intonation can influence babies' emotional states and behavior. Long before they develop actual language comprehension, babies can sense when an adult is playful or angry, attempting to initiate or terminate new behavior, and so on, merely on the basis of cues such as the rate, volume, and melody of adult speech.

Adults make it as easy as they can for babies to pick up a language by exaggerating such cues. One researcher observed babies and their mothers in six diverse cultures and found that, in all six languages, the mothers used simplified syntax, short utterances and nonsense sounds, and transformed certain sounds into baby talk. Other investigators have noted that when mothers talk to babies who are only a few months old, they exaggerate the pitch, loudness, and intensity of their words. They also exaggerate their facial expressions, hold vowels longer, and emphasize certain words.

More significant for language development than their response to general intonation is observation that tiny babies can make relatively fine distinctions between speech sounds. In other words, babies enter the world with the ability to make precisely those perceptual discriminations that are necessary if they are to acquire aural language.

Babies obviously derive pleasure from sound input, too: even as young as nine months they will listen to songs or stories, although the words themselves are beyond their understanding. For babies, language is a sensory-motor delight rather than the route to prosaic meaning that it often is for adults. 

The word “They” in paragraph 2 refers to _______. 

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 39 to 45.

Long before they can actually speak, babies pay special attention to the speech they hear around them. Within the first month of their lives, babies' responses to the sound of the human voice will be different from their responses to other sorts of auditory stimuli. They will stop crying when they hear a person talking, but not if they hear a bell or the sound of a rattle. At first, the sounds that an infant notices might be only those words that receive the heaviest emphasis and that often occur at the ends of utterances. By the time they are six or seven weeks old, babies can detect the difference between syllables pronounced with rising and falling inflections. Very soon, these differences in adult stress and intonation can influence babies' emotional states and behavior. Long before they develop actual language comprehension, babies can sense when an adult is playful or angry, attempting to initiate or terminate new behavior, and so on, merely on the basis of cues such as the rate, volume, and melody of adult speech.

Adults make it as easy as they can for babies to pick up a language by exaggerating such cues. One researcher observed babies and their mothers in six diverse cultures and found that, in all six languages, the mothers used simplified syntax, short utterances and nonsense sounds, and transformed certain sounds into baby talk. Other investigators have noted that when mothers talk to babies who are only a few months old, they exaggerate the pitch, loudness, and intensity of their words. They also exaggerate their facial expressions, hold vowels longer, and emphasize certain words.

More significant for language development than their response to general intonation is observation that tiny babies can make relatively fine distinctions between speech sounds. In other words, babies enter the world with the ability to make precisely those perceptual discriminations that are necessary if they are to acquire aural language.

Babies obviously derive pleasure from sound input, too: even as young as nine months they will listen to songs or stories, although the words themselves are beyond their understanding. For babies, language is a sensory-motor delight rather than the route to prosaic meaning that it often is for adults. 

The passage mentions of the following as ways adults modify their speech when talking to their babies EXCEPT _______. 

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 39 to 45.

Long before they can actually speak, babies pay special attention to the speech they hear around them. Within the first month of their lives, babies' responses to the sound of the human voice will be different from their responses to other sorts of auditory stimuli. They will stop crying when they hear a person talking, but not if they hear a bell or the sound of a rattle. At first, the sounds that an infant notices might be only those words that receive the heaviest emphasis and that often occur at the ends of utterances. By the time they are six or seven weeks old, babies can detect the difference between syllables pronounced with rising and falling inflections. Very soon, these differences in adult stress and intonation can influence babies' emotional states and behavior. Long before they develop actual language comprehension, babies can sense when an adult is playful or angry, attempting to initiate or terminate new behavior, and so on, merely on the basis of cues such as the rate, volume, and melody of adult speech.

Adults make it as easy as they can for babies to pick up a language by exaggerating such cues. One researcher observed babies and their mothers in six diverse cultures and found that, in all six languages, the mothers used simplified syntax, short utterances and nonsense sounds, and transformed certain sounds into baby talk. Other investigators have noted that when mothers talk to babies who are only a few months old, they exaggerate the pitch, loudness, and intensity of their words. They also exaggerate their facial expressions, hold vowels longer, and emphasize certain words.

More significant for language development than their response to general intonation is observation that tiny babies can make relatively fine distinctions between speech sounds. In other words, babies enter the world with the ability to make precisely those perceptual discriminations that are necessary if they are to acquire aural language.

Babies obviously derive pleasure from sound input, too: even as young as nine months they will listen to songs or stories, although the words themselves are beyond their understanding. For babies, language is a sensory-motor delight rather than the route to prosaic meaning that it often is for adults.

What point does the author make to illustrate that babies are born with the ability to acquire language? 

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 39 to 45.

Long before they can actually speak, babies pay special attention to the speech they hear around them. Within the first month of their lives, babies' responses to the sound of the human voice will be different from their responses to other sorts of auditory stimuli. They will stop crying when they hear a person talking, but not if they hear a bell or the sound of a rattle. At first, the sounds that an infant notices might be only those words that receive the heaviest emphasis and that often occur at the ends of utterances. By the time they are six or seven weeks old, babies can detect the difference between syllables pronounced with rising and falling inflections. Very soon, these differences in adult stress and intonation can influence babies' emotional states and behavior. Long before they develop actual language comprehension, babies can sense when an adult is playful or angry, attempting to initiate or terminate new behavior, and so on, merely on the basis of cues such as the rate, volume, and melody of adult speech.

Adults make it as easy as they can for babies to pick up a language by exaggerating such cues. One researcher observed babies and their mothers in six diverse cultures and found that, in all six languages, the mothers used simplified syntax, short utterances and nonsense sounds, and transformed certain sounds into baby talk. Other investigators have noted that when mothers talk to babies who are only a few months old, they exaggerate the pitch, loudness, and intensity of their words. They also exaggerate their facial expressions, hold vowels longer, and emphasize certain words.

More significant for language development than their response to general intonation is observation that tiny babies can make relatively fine distinctions between speech sounds. In other words, babies enter the world with the ability to make precisely those perceptual discriminations that are necessary if they are to acquire aural language.

Babies obviously derive pleasure from sound input, too: even as young as nine months they will listen to songs or stories, although the words themselves are beyond their understanding. For babies, language is a sensory-motor delight rather than the route to prosaic meaning that it often is for adults. 

According to the author, why do babies listen to songs and stories, even though they cannot understand them? 

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. 

The plan may be ingenious. It will never work in practice. 

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. 

He did not remember the meeting. He went out for a coffee with his friends then.

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.

I’m sure it wasn’t Ms. Katie you saw because she is in Norway. 

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.

She asked if I had passed the English test the week before. 

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.

They stayed for hours, which tired us.