BÀI TẬP CLOZE TEST– ÔN THI HỌC SINH GIỎI

CLOZE TEST1
(1)
One moning last summer Jessie ……MADE/ PREPARED……. some sandwiches for her husband’s lunch.
They were sausage sandwiches. There was one small sausage (2) …LEFT…… over, so Jessie gave (3) …
IT…….. to Henry, her little dog. Henry ate it up. Half an hour (4) …LATER…., the dog got ill. He kept (5) …
ON……. shaking his head, and rubbing it (6) …WITH…… his foot. Jessie throught, “ He’s ill. He must have
eaten (7) …SOMETHING….. that didn’t agree with him. Maybe that (8) …SAUSAGE……. was bad.“ Then she
remembered her husband’s (9) …LUNCH/SANDWICHES…. She ran to the telephone and (10) …PHONED…..
Jim, at his office in town.
CLOZE TEST2
(1)
Edgar Lewis was a coal miner …FOR…. thirty years he had worked underground in a coal mine. It was hard
and dangerous (2) …WORK…….. . One day Edgar had an (3) ……ACCIDENT……… in the mine; a lot of stone
fell on him. A sharp stone cut through his left leg like a (4) ……KNIFE……. through butter. Edgar lost
consciousness. When he (5) …WOKE……., he was in bed in the mine doctor’s room. He felt around with his (6)
…HANDS/FINGERS…….. . There was no left leg (7)……WHERE……… his left leg ought to be. “ Nurse!”
he called loudly. A nurse came. “ What have you (8) …DONE…… with my left leg?” Edgar demanded. She
pointed to a brown cardboard box (9) …ON... the floor, “ (10) …THERE… it is, Mr Lewis, in that box”, she said.
CLOZE TEST3
(1)
we moved into our new house …ON… a warm September day. It was not really a new house; it was
a hundred and four years (2) …OLD…….., but it was new to us. The house had running (3) …WATER………,
gas and elecctricity, but for (4)…SOME………. reason there was no electric light in the kitchen. We had not
noticed this shortage (5) …WHEN…… we had first looked over the house. It was something quite unexpected: a
house with electricity but (6) ……WITHOUT….a kitchen light. It was especially puzzling because our (7)…
KITCHEN………was a large room, perhaps (8) …THE…. largest in the house. I telephoned for an (9) …
ELECTRICIAN…… He came and fixed it for us . And he charged £ 85 for (10) …DOING… the job.
CLOZE TEST4
(1)
The big tree at my gate was old and beautiful. I was saddened when it blew ……DOWN………… in a winter
storm. After the storm I sawed (2) …OFF/AWAY… the remains of the tree to level (3) …WITH………. the
ground. Some of the wood was rotten. Pieces came away in my (4) ……HANDS…… . But a good part of the
wood was alive and strong. I did not dig (5) ……UP……. the roots of the tree. I (6) …LEFT…….. them in the
ground.Three months (7) ……LATER………., in spring, the old tree began to grow again. It grew strong and
beautiful, straight up (8) …FROM….. the side of the sawn-off part. The colour and smell of its heart-shaped (9)
…FLOWERS…. were exactly the same as (10) ……THOSE…….. of the old tree. I felt very happy.
CLOZE TEST5
(1)
Brian’s father was a coward and not an honest man. He did not himself …TELL… a lie to a judge in a law
case, but he wanted Brian to (2) …DO……….. so, and that was worse. The facts were that Brian and Tim (3)…
HAD…. seen a man attack a boy, knock him down and kick him. The (4) POLICE… arrested the man and
brought him before a judge. Brian and Tim had to go too, to describe (5) …WHAT…. had happened. Before
Brian left home, his (6) …FATHER…. said to him: “Be careful, son. You didn’t see that man kick the boy, (7) …
DID…. you? Tell the judge you didn’t see the kick. Remember, we have (8) …TO……live in this village with
that man”. But Brian was (9) …NOT… coward. He told the (10) …JUDGE….. the truth about the attack.
CLOZE TEST6
A story is a work of imagination. The people (1)…WHO….write stories write them in order to give pleasure to
(2)……PEOPLE……. who read stories. Story-readers are, generally(3)……speaking………., women of all
ages and young men. Readers love the start of a story, where there are new and sometimes strange people to be
(4)……MET………for the 1st time. they enjpy the stoty itself, the gentleness and the violence, the loves and
the (5)……HATES.………, with which a good writer interests his (6)…READERS…… . They enjoy the end
of the story, whether it is happy or (7)…SAD… . The reader’s chief purpose in all this is to (8)…
ESCAPE……..from ordinary life for a short (9)…TIME…….. . Older men, as a rule, find their ordinary lives
(10)……TOO………….pleasant to run away from.
CLOZE TEST7
st
We have seen photographs of the whole earth taken from great distances in outer space. This is the 1 time, the
(1)……VERY……..first time, in man’s long history that such pictures have been possible.. (2)…FOR……
many years most people have believed that the earth was ball- shaped. A few thought it was round and (3)…
FLAT……, like a coin. Now we know, beyond doubt, that those few were (4)…..UNTRUE………. . The
photographs show a ball-shaped (5)…PLANET……., bright and beautiful. In color photographs of the earth,
the sky is as (6)……BLACK……as coal. The (7)……SEA……….looks much bluer than it usually does to us.
All our grey (8)……CLOUD……..are perfect white in color; because, of course, the (9)……
SUN……………….is for ever shining on them. We are (10)……NOW …….to live on the beautifl earth.
CLOZE TEST8
The big ship began to move slowly out of the port. (1)…ON….board were 9000 soldiers, on the
way home from the balltefield. They (2)……HAD……..already spent five uncomfortable weeks on the ship.
Now,as the ship (3)……PASSED……….some fishing boats at the port entrance, the soldiers on deck waved to
the fishermen. The fishermen waved (4)……BACK …….., calling out “ (5)……GOOD……….luck!” .
Suddenly there was a cry, followed (6)…BY…..a splash. “ Man overboard!” so on the ship shouted. A bell
beganto (7)…RING.. . A white lifebelt was thrown into the (8)……SEA…/ … . The ship sailed on, faster
now. No doubt the man was picked (9)……UP……………by the fishermen. In wartime, a big ship cannot stop
just (10)……FOR…..the sake of one man overboard.
CLOZE TEST9

E arly each morning Jack Dobbins left the house(1)…WHERE……… he lived and walked to a newsagent’s.
He bought the morning paper and then (2)……… CAME………………. home again. One day in 1954
Jack did that as usual, expect (3)……FOR………… one thing: he did not return to the(4)……HOUSE………
. Mrs Dobbins missed (5)………HER………..…… husband, but she was a brave woman. She took a (6)
………JOB…………. in a shop, working there full-time and earning enough money to live (7)…ON………. .
She (8)………MADE …….. a lot of new friends and found new interests. Many years (9)……
PASSED…………… , five, ten, twenty…Mrs Dobbins grew old. One morning in 1979 Jack came home. He
held up the morning (10)…NEWSPAPER’S…….. “ Not much new today,” he said to his wife.
CLOZE TEST10

T he Kemp family lived (1)…NEXT……… door to me. They were interesting and intelligent people, but
they (2)………WERE….…. always getting into some sort of trouble. It was usually either illness (3)……
OR……… accident, but there were other thing too. Their house (4)………CAUGHT…………… fire twice,
and twice the whole family had to stay (5)………… WITH………….me while repairs were made. The Kemps
were always losing things, important things (6)………LIKE……. money or keys. Pictures often fell off the
(7)…………WALLS………. in their house ; the children often fell out of their (8)……BED…….. at night. I
used to wake (9)………UP……… in the mornings and think : “ What strange thing will happen (10)……
TO……… that family today?”
CLOZE TEST11

W
hile traveling abroad, Ed Jackson ran short of money. So he wrote to his brother , asking (1)………
FOR……… £ 500. “ Send the money (2)……BY…………. telegram to the bank here,” he wrote.
After a week Ed began calling at the bank. He showed his passport (3)………TO…………… the bank clerk.
“ Nothing has come for you, Mr Jackson,” he (4)……WAS……… told. This went (5)…………ON……. for
three weeks, and Mr Jackson got very worried. He then phoned his brother, asking (6)………WHERE…….
the money was. The brother said it (7)……HAD………. been sent three weeks before. That evening Ed
Jackson was arrested for failing to (8)…PAYING….. his hotel bill. He tried to explain his problem, but no one
(9)……COULD…… believe him. He was (10)……KEPT……….to prison for 60 days.
CLOZE TEST12
Jack Pask and his(1) …WIFE….. Dora were worried about their son Danny. The boy stayed out too long,
not coming home (2)……UNTIL …… very late at night. This bad habit (3)…MADE……… the parents
anxious. So one day Jack said to Mrs. (4) …DORA……….., “I’m going to teach our son a (5)…LESSON……
. He’s got (6) …NO…… business being out till after midnight.” The next evening Danny left the house (7)
……LIKE…. usual. “ I’m going to a disco,” he (8) …SAID………. to his mother. “There’s no need to wait up
(9) ……FOR…… me.” Then the front door shut with a bang (10) ……BY….big Danny
CLOZE TEST13

I ’m Kurt Thommen (1)……FROM……… Zurich (2)…OF………. Switzerland. I’m a photographer (3)……

FOR……… a wildlife magazine. I need English because most (4)………OF………… handbooks are
written in it and I travel a lot. Next month, I’m going to visit South-East-Asia. I hope I’ll be able to make
myself understood, I’ve found that it is often easier to speak English (5)……TO ……….other foreigners than
native speakers. One American colleague doesn’t speak slowly enough (6)………FOR………. me to
understand him. It’s useful to know English but one thing I really don’t like is the way English expressions
have been incorporated (7)……INTO…. other language.
CLOZE TEST14

A new restaurant (1)………WITH ……… a difference has opened (2)……IN ……. The High Street next
door (3)……TO…… the Royal Theater Bristol. It’s called “ Starters” and it runs(4)……BY………
Carol and Phillip Wells who opened a similar restaurant in London last year. Instead (5)…OF…. a traditional
three-course meal, customers can choose whatever they want (6)……FROM …. a list of a hundred starters or
first course.The list also includes recipes from all over the world and customers are recommended to choose (7)
…AT…. least three starters to make a satisfying meal and prices vary depending (8…ON….. what you have.
CLOZE TEST15

T he “ Moon Trap” is a new film made (1)……BY…… a young Canadian director called Melvin Strang.
The main part (2)…………OF……. the film are played by Sid Cheung and Julie Plein who last appeared
in “ Music for ever” (3)…………IN…… the new film, they start as a young married couple who buy an old
house in the country (4)………AFTER…… living there (5)……FOR…. a few weeks strange things begin to
happen.
Some of the furniture in the house disappear and can’t be found, windows break and pictures fall(6)…
DOWN…. walls (7)………AT……. nights they hear crying noises, and when the Moon is up, loud
screams can be heard (8)………FROM…….. the wood nearby.
CLOZE TEST16

T his museum is (1) ……IN……… the center of the town, a few metres (2)……FROM…… the cathedral,
and near the market. It contains dolls, doll’s houses, books, games and past times, mechanical and
contructional toys (3)…………IN…………-- this collection there are toys made by all sorts (4)……OF……
toy manufactures (5)………FROM………. the most important (6)………TO…………… the smallest. Many
collectors of toys think that the second half (7)………OF………. the nineteenth century was the best
period(8)……FOR…….. toy production.
CLOZE TEST17

A long (1)……WITH…… jogging and swimming, cycling is one (2)………OF……… the best all round
forms of exercises: It can help to increase strength and energy, giving you more efficient muscles and
strong heart. But increasing your strength is not the only advantage of cycling. Because you’re not carrying the
weight of your body (3)………ON……… your feet, it’s a good form of exercise (4)………FOR ………
people (5)………WITH………… painful feet or backs. However, (6)…………WITH…………… all forms
of exercise it’s important to start slowly and build up gently. Doing too much, too quickly can damage muscles
that aren’t used (7)………TO…………… working. If you have any doubts (8)……ABOUT…………..
taking up cycling for health reasons talk (9)………TO…………… your doctor and ask his/her advice.
CLOZE TEST18

T he job sounded interesting: with a fashion house (1)………IN……………… the city centre. The
telephone conversation I had (2)………WITH………. them were relaxed and friendly, and the letter (3)
…………OF……… the boss had also been a friendly one. He had invited me to visit the office and join some
(4)………OF…… them(5)……THEM……… lunch. The appointment was (6)………AT……. 12 o’clock .
I naturally throught long and hard (7)………ABOUT………. what to wear (8)……IN……….. the
fashion business, of course, you were expected to be smart. The question was whether to be business like, or
fashionable. There was something else to think (9)……OF…… too. I had to get there (10)………BY…….
train and bus, the journey was over 2 hours, and that affects the clothes you choose.
CLOZE TEST19

M any thanks (1)………FOR…… your long and interesting letter. What a pity though, that you had to
write (2)…………ABOUT……. what Jonathan has been up (3)……………TO……………… in it. I
must say seemed (4)……TO…… me quite unnecessary. I couldn’t, of course, let Amanda read it, though she
kept asking (5)………FOR……. days, rather thoughtless (6)………OF ……. you, dear, wasn’t it because
naturally the children are interested (7)………IN……. your letters. You didn’t tell me,(8)………BY………..
the way, that there was a bomb explosion in your office building shortly (9)……AFTER…… you arrived, but
I suppose you didn’t want to worry about us, Were you (10)……IN… ……. your danger ? If things get any
worse you’ll just have to come home, and we have to manage (11) …WITH… all that money.
CLOZE TEST20

I heard (1)…………ABOUT……… the bomb (2)……FROM………. Mr Japp. A very curious visit which I
must tell you (3)………ABOUT…… He came round the other evening (4)………WITH…… the book
you wanted. It was the most time,(5)………ABOUT……. six just as we were (6)………
GOING/ABOUT……. to have dinner, but I felt that I had to invite him (7)………IN……. since he’d taken the
trouble to bring your book round and he looked rather miserable standing (8)………IN…….. the wet snow
outside the front door wearing water proof boots and funny fur hat. He didn’t need any persuading practically
knocked me over (9)………IN… his eagerness to get (10)……IN/INTO……the house.
CLOZE TEST21

S ome friends visiting me (1)……FROM…… Caribbean remarked (2)……ON…. the tobacco I was
smoking. It seemed that the same tobacco was popular (3)………IN……… their country, but I was paying
four times more (4)……FOR… it than they were. They offered to send me some when they got home again. I
was very grateful, and promised to pay them for it. Some weeks later, an official letter arrived (5)……IN… a
brown envelope. It was (6)………FROM…. the customs office, informing me that they had intercepted a
package (7)………OF……. my name and address (8)………ON….. it. The package was found to contain a
letter and some contraband: four packages (9)……OF…… tobacco.
CLOZE TEST22

A bout 3 years (1)……AGO… , in my mid forties, I had a sudden severe mental breakdown. There was
nothing unusual about the breakdown itself, (2)……OR……. about the events in my own life that (3)
………LED… up to it. The(4)……MOST…… exceptional feature was that I am (5)……A…. psychologist
and should therefore be able to view the events of my illness (6)……FROM……. two standpoints, subjectively
as the patient and(7)……MORE.……. objectively as the detached professional observer. Until I broke down I
(8)…WAS….. always regarded (9)………MYSELF………… as reasonably well-balanced: (10)…………
ALTHOUGH…………………….I had sometimes worried (11)……ABOUT…… physical illness,(12)
……………THE………………. thought that I might be subjected (13)………TO……… the torture and
humiliation of a severe mental illness had never entered my head (14)…FOR…… many years I had(15)……
ALWAYS……. out going, efficient, continually active and reasonably cheerful:(16)……PROUD…. of myself
as well-meaning but(17)………BUT……………………. possibly some what intensive (18)…………
BOTH…………….. to my own and other’s feelings(19)……HAD… never occurred to me that one day my
extistence would disintergrate(20)……INTO……….the space of a few hours.
CLOZE TEST23

A dentist in Bavaria has been haunted by a voice which swears (1)……AT…… him all the time. The voice
came (2)………FROM……. light sockets, wash basins and the telephone. It is a sharp, deep voice which
laughs(3)………AT… the dentist and mocks him. The poor dentist is suffering(4)……FROM… a bad case of
news. Recently, the voice was recorded and broadcast, so now everyone in Bavaria is looking (5)………
FOR…. the ghost, but so far no one has succeeded (6)……IN…………. finding it. People who don’t believe(7)
………IN……. ghost think it is just a practical joke. The voice always shouts(8)………AT…….. the dentist,
but speak sweetly(9)……TO…… his 17-year-old assistant, Claudia. But no one can blame Claudia(10)………
FOR……….the behavior of the ghost or accuse her(11)……OF… playing tricks (12)……ON……. her poor
boss. Engineers don’t know what to make (13)………OF…………………… it. He’s technical genius, one of
them said. The ghost has responded (14)……TO…… all this activity by saying, in a thick Bavarian accent
“You’ll never get hold (15)………OF…………………. to me”.
CLOZE TEST24

M any people persuade themselves that they cannot understand mechanical things, or that they have no
head for figures. These convictions(1)……MAKE…… them feel enclosed and safe and(2)……
OF………. course save them a great (3)………DEAL…… of trouble. But the reader who has a head for
anything at(4)…………ALL………… is pretty sure to have a head for whatever he reallywants to put his
mind(5)……TO…. . His interest, say (6)……IN…. mathematics, has usually been killed(7)………BY…….
routine teaching, in exactly the (8)……SAME…………….. way that the literary interest of ost scientists, and
for(9)……THAT… matter of most non- scientists, has been killed by the book and Shakespeare play. Few
people would argue that (10)……THOSE………. whose taste (11)……FOR..… poetry has not survived(12)
………IN…. examination syllabus are fundermentally insensitive(13)……POETRY……………………… .
Yet they cheerfully write(14)……FOR ………… the large intellectual pleasures of science(15)………
ONLY…. if they belonged only to the mind (16)………OF…. a special cast. Science is not a special sense. It is
as wide as the literal meaning (17)…AS……. its name: knowledge. The notion of the specialized mind is (18)
……IN….. comparison. (19)………AS………… modern as the notion of the specialized man, the scientist, a
word which is only(20)……AFTER……… hundred years..
CLOZE TEST25

B ristish television (TV) is the big success story of post-war years. Little(1)…MORE… than a limited
experiment before the war, it blossomed in (2)………THE……. years following 1945. (3)……IN……
1955, commercial TV began. Today 90 % of the population have television in(4)……THEIR…… home. In
1960, a committee of inquiry was(5)……SET…….up, (6)……UNDER……. the chairmanship of sir Harry
Phikington, to investigate the workings of broadcasting the Phikington Report, published in 1962, had(7)
………THIS……. to say: TV has been(8)…NOW…called…AS….. a mirror of society, but the metaphor,(9)
……HOWEVER…… striking, wholly misses the major issue of the responsibility (10)………OFF….the
broadcasting authorities. For, if we consider the first aspect of this responsibility, what is the(11)……
MIRROR…… to reflect? Is it to reflect the best or the worst(12)……ON……. us? One can not escape the
question by saying that it must be both; one must ask then (13)………IF…… it is to present the best and the
worst with complete indifference and(14)……WITHOUT…… comment. TV(15)……MUST……. not, and
can not, merely reflect the moral standards of society. It must affect(16)……THEM…. either by changing or by
reinforcing them. All broadcasting, and TV(17)………ESPECIALLY……… ……. , must be ready and
anxious to experiment, to show (18)……THE….. new and unusual, to rive a hearing(19)……TO…… dissent.
Here, broadcasting must be most willing to make mistakes, for if it does not, it will(20)……MAKE …….no
discoveries.
CLOZE TEST26

N ew technologies, like all technologise, are morally neutral. (1)…WHETHER……… their advent (2)……
MAKES……. the word a better place or (3)………NOT……… depends on the uses to which they are(4)
………PUT… . And that, (5)……IN……. turn, depends upon(6)……THE……. decisions of many people,
especially of politicians, managers, trade(7)………UNION……. leaders, engineers(8)…AND….. scientists.
The new technologies, cheap, flexible, dependent(9)…ON…… knowledge information as their main input,
can(10)……LIBERATE………. human being from many(11)……OF… their current constraints,(12)……
FOR……. example constraints of resources and geography (13)……BUT…… the new technologies could
also(14)…ENABLE…… those with power to control their fellow citizens even(15)……MORE…. effectively
than in the(16)………MOST…. efficient dictatorships (17)…OF……. . The new technological society will(18)
……MAKE….. colossal demands on our imagination and ingenuity and on the capacity(19)…OF… our
instructions to respond(20)…TO….new challenges.
CLOZE TEST27

T elevision is one of man’s most important(1)…MEANS…… of communication. It brings (2)………

PICTURES……. and sounds from around the world into millions of homes. A person with a TV set can
sit in his house and watch the president(3)……MAKING…… a speech or visit a foreign country(4)……
THROUGH… television, viewers can see and learn about people, places and things in far lands. In (5)……
ADDITION… to all those things, TV brings its viewers a steady stream of programs(6)………WHICH…….
are designed to entertain. In fact, TV is very useful to our spiritual life and it is a continuos cheap source of (7)
……ENTERTAINMENT……. and(8)……………………….. .