SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO KỲ THI CHỌN HỌC SINH GIỎI TỈNH CẤP THPT

HÀ TĨNH
NĂM HỌC 2014 - 2015
ĐỀ CHÍNH THỨC Môn thi: TIẾNG ANH 11
Thời gian làm bài: 180 phút
(Đề thi có 10 trang, gồm 12 phần)

 Thí sinh không sử dụng bất kể tài liệu nào, kể cả từ điển.

 Thí sinh làm bài trực tiếp vào đề thi, ghi câu trả lời vào các chổ trống hoặc các ô cho sẵn.
 Riêng phần trắc nghiệm thí sinh chỉ ghi đáp án A, B, C hoặc D.
 Giám thị không giải thích gì thêm.

Điểm của toàn bài thi Các giám khảo Số phách

(Bằng số) (Bằng chữ) (Ký và ghi rõ họ tên) (Do Trưởng Ban chấm thi ghi)
Giám khảo 1:

Giám khảo 2:

LISTENING
Part I. Listen and finish questions (1-10). You are allowed to listen TWICE.
* Questions 1-4: You will hear the introduction to a lecture about consumer habits. Complete the note with
NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR NUMBERS.

Spending money

Point 1
- The age groups:
 Young people
 Families
 (1) ___________________________
Point 2
- Male and female (2) _________________________
- Three age groups are
 Young people aged (3) _________________________
 Families aged from 30-55
 Mature adults (4) ______________________________

* Questions 5-7: Listen to the next part of the recording and answer the questions. Select three options
from the list (A-G).
What do families spend their money on?
A. Furniture and household goods B. Clothes, music and entertainment C. Cars and outings
D. Electronic equipment E. Gardening tools F. Food, toys and outings
G. Cars and travelling
Your answers

5. 6. 7.
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* Questions 8-10: Listen to the last part of the recording and answer the questions. Write NO MORE
THAN THREE WORDS OR A NUMBER.
8. What do men spend twice as much as women on?
________________________________________________
9. What do women spend most on?
________________________________________________
10. Which group spends most on eating in restaurants?
________________________________________________

Part II. You will hear an interview with Elizabeth Holmes about her experience
working in Africa. For questions 1-10, complete the sentences. Write NO MORE
THAN TWO WORDS. You are allowed to listen TWICE.

Elizabeth worked for a (1)__________________________ before she went to Africa.

Elizabeth first found out about working as a volunteer from a (2) __________________ she saw at the dentist’s.

The course in London that Elizabeth attended was called (3)_____________________________.

Elizabeth’s job in Africa was teach (4)_______________________________ how to market their goods.

On arrival in Africa, Elizabeth spent (5)_____________________ doing a training course with other volunteers.

Elizabeth used a (6)___________________________ to travel short distances in Africa.

Elizabeth feels that she got on best with (7)_________________________ in the area of Africa where she lived.

Back in England, Elizabeth found that she was disturbed by the (8)________________________ in the city.

At the moment, Elizabeth buys and sells (9)__________________________ from Africa.

Nowadays, Elizabeth spends more time on her favourite pastime, which is (10)________________________.

LEXICO-GRAMMAR
Part III . Choose the word or phrase that best completes each sentence. Write your answer A, B,
C or D in the numbered boxes.
1. I do wish you’d stop biting your nails, Tom! It really__________.
A. gets on my nerves B. tells me off
C. lets me down D. gets me down
2. __________ over long distances is a fact.
A. That electricity transmitting B. That electricity can be transmitted
C. That electricity D. That can be transmitted
3. The union and the management are in __________over working conditions
A. dispute B. practice C. advance D. collaboration
4. __“Do you have a minute, Dr Keith?” __ “____________ __”
A. Well. I’m not sure when B. Good, I hope so
C. Sure. What’s the problem? D. Sorry, I haven’t got it here.
5. No matter how often I explain it to him, he doesn’t seem to _________ _.
A. put it through B. take it in C. put it on D. come up with
6. ___________ one day by a passing car, the dog never walked properly again.
A. Having injured B. Injuring C. Injured D. To be injured

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7. __________ you had to find a new job, what would you like to do?
A. Provided or else D. Though D. Supposing
8. No one wants to have extra homework tonight, __________?
A. don’t they B. do they C. doesn’t he D. does it
9. At first there was silence. Then _________ that I knew.
A. a voice came B. a voice comes C. came a voice D. a voice is coming
10. I am well _________ with the problems encountered in starting a business.
A. aware B. informed C. acquainted D. knowledgeable
11. There was a ___________ table in the kitchen.
A. beautiful large round wooden B. large beautiful round wooden
C. beautiful round large wooden D. golden large beautiful round
12. The football match tomorrow evening will be broadcasted _________ on TV and radio.
A. stimulatingly B. simultaneously C. jointly D. uniformly
13. __ “Make yourself at home!” __ “____________”
A. Yes, I can help you. B. Why not? I will make it to the best of my ability.
C. Thanks. The same to you. D. That’s kind of you. Thank you.
14. In the years __________ all the trees will disappear if nothing is done to protect them.
A. come B. coming C. to come D. will come
15. Only in the last few days __________ to repair the swimming pool.
A. anything has been done B. has done anything
C. has anything been done D. has there anything been done
16. The first people to live in ___________ Hawaii were the Polynesians, who sailed there in large canoes from
other Pacific Islands about 2,000 years ago.
A. now where is B. what is now C. it is now D. now this is
17. __ “When are you planning to resign?” __“By Christmas _______.”
A. no later B. until lately C. at the latest D. if not later
18. I’ve been __________ advised not to say anything in that situation.
A. seriously B. greatly C. strongly D. significantly
19. __________ of transportation has given someone the idea for a new type of toy.
A. Mostly forms B. Most every form C. Almost forms D. Almost every form
20. Tony is so __________ that his friends tend to tell him all their problems.
A. confidential B. critical C. optimistic D. sympathetic
Your answers

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
11. 12. 13. 14. 15.
16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

Part IV. Supply the correct form of the word to complete the text. Write your answers in the
numbered boxes.
Your answers
Beavers
1. …………………………
After the recent floods, __1__ (CONSERVE) are calling for beavers to be
reintroduced to Britain. You may wonder how animals that build dams prevent 2. …………………………
floods when __2__ (SURE) the opposite is true. However, beavers construct
3. …………………………
dams in upland areas, creating small pools and __3__ (DIVERT) that retain
water and release water to lowland areas much more __4__(GRADUAL). Until 4. …………………………
the 16th century, Beavers lived wild in parts of Britain, but they were hunted to
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__5__(EXTINCT ) for their fur. However, recently __6__(VARY) British 5. …………………………
wildlife organisations have applied to reintroduce beavers to the countryside.
Along with their potential value in flood prevention, they would create wetland 6. …………………………
habitats and promote__7__ (TOUR). But such measures are __8__ 7. …………………………
(CONTROVERSY). Beavers recently reintroduced to Estonia have flooded large areas
of forest and __9__(AGRICULTURE) land, and this, in turn, has damaged 8. …………………………
crops. As a result, it has been necessary to cull beavers when the
9. …………………………
population becomes too large. Many people think it __10__(ETHIC) to
reintroduce a species which will then be killed. 10. ………………………

Part V. From the four underlined parts of each sentence, find a mistake then correct it.
1. If allowed to turn yellow while still on the plant, bananas lose their characteristically good flavor, the skin
break open, insects enter the inside, and the fruit rots.
2. Proper lighting is a necessarily good eyesight; however, human night vision can be temporary impaired by
extreme flashes of light.
3. There are twenty species of wild roses in North American, all of which have prickly stems, pinnate leaves, and
large flowers which usually smell sweetly.
4. Naturalists say that there is evidence to support the assertion that anthropoids sometimes beat its breasts
5. Fish are unable to sleep, but sometimes a fish in an aquarium will lie on its side and appear to be completely
unaware for everything around it.
6. Popping in corn occurs whenever there is an explosion caused by the expansion under pressure of moisture in
the starch grains during the kernel is dry heated.
7. Martin Luther King distinguished himself as an American clergyman or nonviolent civil rights leaders.
8. Many early black musicals learned to play band instruments from Claiborne Williams, who went from town
to town in response to the leadings of young adults.
9. An unexpected increase in the cost of life as well as a decline in employment opportunities has resulted in the
rapid creation by Congress of new government programs for the unemployed.
10. Economists have tried to discourage the use of the phrase "underdeveloped nation" and encouraging the
more accurate phrase developing nation" in order to suggest an ongoing process.
Your answers

1. 6.
2. 7.
3. 8.
4. 9.
5. 10.

READING
Part VI. Read the passage carefully then circle the best answer A, B, C or D for each space.

Getting to the root of Bonsai crime

Bonsai trees have always been a source of great fascination to people. They are perfect miniatures,
grown in pots small enough to sit on a windowsill. You have to keep reminding yourself that these trees are (1)
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_____ real and identical to their larger cousins in all respects except their size. Rather like other small and
perfectly-formed artifacts, bonsai trees (2) _____ quite a high price in the marketplace and so it doesn’t come as
a great surprise to find that they also attract the attention of thieves. It seems that quite a flourishing business has
(3) _____, in which they are stolen from the homes of growers and collectors, then repotted and trimmed by
unscrupulous dealers, to be sold on, at good prices, to unsuspecting buyers.
One of Britain’s top collectors of bonsai trees, Paul Widdington, believes that he has found a solution,
however. After losing his life’s work, (4) _____ at £250,000, when burglars broke into his home one night, Paul
decided to (5) _____ the possibilities of electronically tagging the trees he bought as a replacement. This ( 6)
_____ injecting a microchip the size of a (7) _____ of rice into the trunk of each tree. Each chip is a laser-etched
with information which is (8) _____ in a central register held by the police. Paul is quite aware that this kind of
data-tagging doesn’t prevent thieves from stealing the trees in the first (9) _____, although it may increase the
(10) _____ of getting them back. So he’s also installing a security alarm system, complete with infra-
red detectors, in his home.
1. A. deeply B. eventually C. actually D. greatly
2. A. obtain B. expect C. command D. charge
3. A. erupted B. evolved C. adapted D. arrived
4. A. prized B. treasured C. valued D. coated
5. A. look into B. set about C. try out D. go after
6. A. requires B. includes C. involves D. reflects
7. A. crumb B. speck C. bean D. grain
8. A. stored B. detained C. locked D. piled
9. A. turn B. time C. point D. place
10. A. counts B. chances C. choices D. claims
Your answers
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Part VII. Read the passage carefully then complete each space with a suitable word
Through out the ages, the surface of the earth has been built up in some places and worn down in other
places. The wearing down of the land is called erosion.
Wind, water, ice and heat all help to cause erosion. As the wind ___1___ over the land, it often picks up small
grains of sand. When these grains of sand strike against solid rocks, the rocks are slowly worn away. Later, the
wind may pick up these new rock particles, and with them wear other rocks. In this __2__ even very hard rocks
are worn away by the wind.
When particles of rock or soil become loosened in any way, running ___3___ carries them down the hillsides.
Some rock and soil particles are carried into streams. The streams may then carry them into rivers, and the rivers
may carry them into the ___4___.
Land that is ___5___ with trees, grass and other plants wears away very slowly, and so loose very little of its
soil. The ___6___ of plants help to hold the rocks and the soil in place. When rain falls in a forest, the leaves of
the trees and the soft soil beneath them are able to hold a great deal of water. Water that falls on grasslands runs
away more slowly than does water that falls on ___7___ ground. Water that flows slowly carries less soil
particles than water that flows rapidly. Thus, forests and grasslands help to slow down erosion.
Even ___8___ the land is thickly covered with plants, some erosion goes on. Sometimes there is a long period
of rainy weather. In the spring the ___9___ snow turns to large quantities of water. At these times the soil can not
hold all the water. It then runs downhill in streams. As the streams carry away some of the___10__, the
streambed gets deeper and deeper. After thousands of years of such erosion, wide valleys are formed.
Your answers
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
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Part VIII. You are going to read an article about customer service in banks. Six sentences have been
removed from the article. Choose from the sentences A-G the one which fits each gap. There is one extra
sentence which you do not need to use.
A. Although people do not expect much from the internet these days, this will change in the future.
B. The managers recognise that customers find them impersonal and unnatural.
C. First National is also preparing to adopt this personal approach to its internet banking.
D. They have the attitude that some skills, such as keyboard skills and so on, can be taught, but a member of
staff can’t be taught to be a nice person.
E. Telephones are very personal because staff are speaking to people on their own territory.
F. And if customers try to contact the bank by telephone, they are put through to a call centre in another country
where they have to speak slowly in order to be understood.
G. Not everyone wants a chatty, friendly service.
Customer Service in Banks
The banking profession doesn’t have a very good reputation for customer service at the moment, and it’s not just
due to loss of savings. High street branches are shutting down and where banks are available, their opening
hours are inconvenient. Staff at the desks are surly, increasingly under-qualified and often unable to answer
questions.
____1____ Astonishingly, however, 86% of the customers at one bank are either ‘extremely satisfied’ or ‘very
satisfied’ with the service they receive. And what is even more surprising is that the bank in question has no
High Street outlets at all.
First National bank is run entirely through the telephone and the internet. And its success shows that customer
service is just about face-to-face contact with clients. The primary concern of the bank is recruiting the right
people. ___2____ So they only recruit people who already exhibit good communication skills.
And unlike other services that operate primarily over the telephone, the staff at First National do not use
scripts. __3__ What this bank asks for is that staff be themselves and establish a rapport with their customers.
Part of this is recognizing people’s needs. ___4___ Some want the process to be swift and efficient. The
member of staff has to pick up on the caller’s mood and react accordingly. ___5___ The idea that customer
service can be improved on a medium where there is no actual contact with a member of staff may seem strange
at first. However, the website designers at First National spend a great deal of time understanding their
customers and offering services which meet their needs. ___6__ First National is already taking steps to fill this
demand. They already offer a service in which customers receive a text when funds are received or when their
account falls below a certain level. In the future, online systems may pre-empt customers’ needs in even more
sophisticated ways.
Your answers

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Part IX. Read the sentences below and the extracts from a text about branding. For questions 1-7, choose
which extract each sentence refers to. The extracts may be chosen more than once.
A- Having a good brand identity is critical. It can not only position a company above its competitors, but it also
communicates to your customers the reason why they should choose you instead of your competitors. But
developing a strong brand image takes time, money and effort, and it involves much more than redesigning a
logo or developing a new tagline. Your new brand identity should evolve from your previous identity. Be careful
not to start from scratch and come up with something completely new, as you may end up losing loyal customers
who have forged emotion ties with your product.
B- It’s important to understand that changing the visual aspects of your company, your logo, your packaging and
so forth, you are not actually changing your brand identity. Your brand identity is the promise a company makes
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to its customers – its features, quality, values and service support. Just modernising visual image does not entail
a change in brand values. Many companies, sadly, are led to believe by branding agencies that visual changes
will alter customer’s perception of their products. But such changes only inform consumers that a company is
concerned about how it looks. At best, they will assume the company is modern; at worst they will accuse the
company of unnecessary extravagance.
C- Successful branding may not be actually connected with the product at all, but may represent a greater sense
of purpose or a more satisfying experience. They may affirm that drinking a cup of coffee can really make a
difference, or that exercising may bring about a sense of challenge and personal achievement. Many successful
brands study emerging societal ideals and trends, so that they can take advantage of how customers wish they
could be. Then they push forward the message that by using their product, their dreams can be fulfilled, and the
customer can gain the lifestyle he or she is looking for, be it a sense of glamour, freedom, popularity or self-
satisfaction.
D- Lack of consistency is probably the most common pitfall when it comes to designing an image for your
brand. You need to provide a consistent message in your proposals and presentations so that your company
develops credibility and gets noticed and remembered. To ensure that your branding ins consistent, gather all the
information that leaves your company, be it faxes, emails, advertisements, invoices or packages. Examine them
for discrepancies in your company’s image. Doing so will also give you the chance to evaluate the image you are
trying portray.
Which section, A, B, C or D, does each statement 1-7 refer to?
Your answers
1 a list of some items which should display your brand identity
2 the difference between brand identity and logo design
3 brands which do not reflect the product itself
4 how companies are fooled by companies offering branding services
5 what is involved in creating an image for your brand
6 why companies study current social trends to develop a brand
7 a warning about redesigning your brand

Part X. 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.

Music can bring us to tears or to our feet, drive us into battle or lull us to sleep. Music is indeed
remarkable in its power over all humankind, and perhaps for that very reason, no human culture on earth has
ever lived without it. From discoveries made in France and Slovenia even Neanderthal man, as long as 53,000
years ago, had developed surprisingly sophisticated, sweet-sounding flutes carved from animal bones. It is
perhaps then, no accident that music should strike such a chord with the limbic system – an ancient part of our
brain, evolutionarily speaking, and one that we share with much of the animal kingdom. Some researchers even
propose that music came into this world long before the human race ever did. For example, the fact that whale
and human music have so much in common even though our evolutionary paths have not intersected for nearly
60 million years suggests that music may predate humans. They assert that rather than being the inventors of
music, we are latecomers to the musical scene.

Humpback whale composers employ many of the same tricks that human songwriters do. In addition to
using similar rhythms, humpbacks keep musical phrases to a few seconds, creating themes out of several
phrases before singing the next one. Whale songs in general are no longer than symphony movements, perhaps
because they have a similar attention span. Even though they can sing over a range of seven octaves, the whales
typically sing in key, spreading adjacent notes no farther apart than a scale. They mix percussive and pure tones
in pretty much the same ratios as human composers – and follow their ABA form, in which a theme is
presented, elaborated on and then revisited in a slightly modified form. Perhaps most amazing, humpback
whale songs include repeating refrains that rhyme. It has been suggested that whales might use rhymes for
exactly the same reasons that we do: as devices to help them remember. Whale songs can also be rather catchy.
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When a few humpbacks from the Indian Ocean strayed into the Pacific, some of the whales they met there
quickly changed their tunes – singing the new whales’ songs within three short years. Some scientists are even
tempted to speculate that a universal music awaits discovery.
1. Why did the author write the passage?
A. To describe the music for some animals, including humans.
B. To illustrate the importance of music to whales.
C. To show that music is not a human or even modern invention.
D. To suggest that music is independent of life forms that use it.
2. The word “sophisticated” in line 4 is closest in meaning to ________.
A. complex B. intricate C. well-developed D. entangled
3. The word “one” in line 6 can be replaced by ________.
A. the chord B. the left brain C. the right brain D. the limbic system
4. According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE of humpback whales
A. Their tunes are distinctively different from human tunes.
B. They can sing over a range of seven octaves.
C. They do not use rhyme, unlike humans.
D. Whale songs of a particular group cannot be learned by other whales.
5. Which of the following is NOT true about humpback whale music?
A. It uses similar patterns to human songs.
B. It’s comparative in length to symphony movements.
C. It’s easy to learn by other whales.
D. It’s in a form of creating a theme, elaborating and revisiting in rhyming refrains.
6. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
A. The earliest human beings came from France and Slovenia.
B. Music helped to shape the whale brain.
C. Humpback whales imitate the way human composers in creating their own music.
D. The research of musical brain will lead to a discovery of a universal music.
7. The word ‘their’ in line 23 refers to ________.
A. Indian Ocean humpbacks B. Pacific Ocean humpbacks
C. all whales D. whale songs

Your answers
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

WRITING
Part XI. Rewrite each of the following sentences so that its meaning stays the
same as the original sentence.
1. Our profits this year are higher than they have ever been.
→ Never ………………………………………………………………..
2. Macbeth is the play that I enjoyed the most.
→ There ………………………………………………………………..
3. Nobody remained on the ship after the captain had left it.
→ The captain …………………………………………………………
4. The factory seemed to have been damaged by fire.
→ It looked …………………………………………………………….
5. Is this the only way we can solve the problem.
→ Isn’t there …………………………………………………………..
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6. We had to postpone the meeting because of bad weather.
→ Bad weather led……………………………………………………..

7. Peter remembered and so did Mary.

→ Peter didn’t …………………………………………………………..
8. “You really must explain why the Finance Director acted as he did”, said the chairman.
→ The chairman insisted on ……………………………………………….
9. No one could explain why the money had disappeared.
→ No one could account …………………………………………………………….
10. This cough machine doesn’t affect your ability to drive.
→ This cough machine has no ……………………………………………………..

Part XII. Essay writing

Some people say every night students spend much time doing homework, so they don’t have enough time to do other
necessary things. Others argue against this. They believe that homework is essential. Do you think that homework
should be abolished? In about 250 words, write an essay to assert your point of view on this question.

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