TA- test

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, D on your answer sheet to indicate the best answer to each of the following questions from 1 to 3.

[I] Do you find yourself yawning all day at school? You probably need more sleep. [II] However, it is not just how much sleep you get that is important. [III] What you do before bedtime also has a huge effect on how you feel the next day. [IV] If you spend time chatting to someone on social media, or reading a book on your e-reader, you are not alone.

All devices’ screens give out a large amount of blue light, which affects the body’s production of the sleep hormone, melatonin, which can change your sleep patterns. So it is not just getting to sleep that becomes hard, but the quality of your sleep also suffers. The result is that you can wake up several times during the night, and have difficulty getting up in the morning.

Sleep is food for the brain, so not sleeping well can be a severe problem for anyone, especially for teenagers, because their brains are still developing. When you do not sleep well, it can be difficult to concentrate at school, which makes it harder to learn and get good grades. It can also affect your mood, making you feel sad or anxious.

So, it is clear you should not use your phone before you go to sleep. Why not leave it in another room? Nothing on social media is so important that it cannot wait a few hours! You should rediscover paper books and enjoy feeling tired and sleepy before bedtime rather than wondering why your best friend has not liked your photo! How will you wake up? You do not have to use the alarm on your phone. Go and buy yourself an old-fashioned alarm clock! The negative effects that screen time is having on sleep have been in the news a lot recently, so manufacturers of smartphones and tablets have added a feature to the mobile devices that can help reduce these. Most new phones have a night-time setting that changes the colour of the screen so that it gives out less blue light. If you really cannot avoid going onto social media at bedtime, think about turning on this setting on your phone.

Where in paragraph 1 does the following sentence best fit?

Experts recommend that teenagers get at least 8 to 10 hours of sleep each night.

The word it in paragraph 4 refers to ________.

According to the passage, which of the following is NOT mentioned as a consequence of poor sleep?

Dear Mai,

a. I’d love to come and cheer Hieu Thu Hai on during the final round! How about you?

b. I hope this email finds you well.

c. Everyone’s been buzzing about how talented they are; it’s no surprise they reached this stage of the competition.

d. I’m so incredibly excited to hear that we’re going to enjoy the final round of Anh Trai Say Hi. What an amazing show!

e. Are you free on the day when the event takes place? Would you like to go with me?

Write back soon.

Thao

a. Anxious and angry, I tried to chase him, but he disappeared into the crowd.

b. On my holiday in Paris, while I was enjoying a delicious croissant in a café, someone snatched my purse right off the chair.

For those willing to give cooking a try, it’s possible to (9) ______ a delicious meal in a short (10) ______ of time. Online resources provide many (11) ______ ideas, allowing people to experiment with new dishes. (12) ______ the variety of options available, many still rely on fast food for convenience, which can impact their health over time.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the best answer to each of the following questions from 23 to 30.

A friend jumps out at you when you’re turning a corner. Your heart starts pounding and you gasp. “You scared me to death!” But is it really possible for you to die from being too scared?

Surprisingly, the answer is yes. In fact, any strong emotional reaction can trigger the production of fatal amounts of certain hormones in the body, and even though these cases are very rare, they can still happen to anyone. The risk of death from fear or another strong emotion is greater for individuals with pre-existing heart conditions, but people who are perfectly healthy can also fall victim.

How exactly does our body’s chemical response result in death, though? To understand this, we have to understand the fact that when the nervous system is stimulated, it releases a great deal of adrenaline or another similar chemical messenger, preparing the body for action. The problem is that adrenaline and similar chemicals in large doses are toxic to the heart, which can trigger what could cause sudden death upon being affected.

Adrenaline opens calcium to the heart. With a lot of calcium going to the heart, the organ has trouble slowing down, which is something that can cause ventricular fibrillation, a specific type of abnormal heart rhythm. Irregular heartbeat prevents the organ from successfully pumping blood to the body and can lead to sudden death unless treated immediately.

(Adapted from britannica.com)

The word it in paragraph 3 refers to ______.