KỲ THI HỌC SINH GIỎI CÁC TRƯỜNG THPT CHUYÊN

KHU VỰC DUYÊN HẢI VÀ ĐỒNG BẰNG BẮC BỘ

LẦN THỨ XI, NĂM 2018
ĐỀ THI MÔN: TIẾNG ANH LỚP 10
(ĐỀ GIỚI THIỆU) Thời gian làm bài: 180 phút
(Đề thi gồm 15 trang)

SECTION I: LISTENING (50/200)

Part 1.Complete the information below. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS
AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.(10 pts)
City Library
Head Librarian: Mrs. Phillips
Hours: (1) __________________________to 4:30
Books
Ground floor: (2) ______________________________
Second floor: Adult collection
Third floor: (3) ______________________________
Book carts
Brown cart: books to re-shelve
Black cart: books to (4) _________________________
White cart: books to (5) ________________________
Part 2. You will hear two psychologists talking about modern childhood. Choose the
answer (A, B, C or D), which fits best according to what you hear. (10 pts)
1.What does Daniel imply about past images of childhood?
A. They are entirely fictional. B. They all show the misfortunes of childhood.
C. They are diverse. D. They represent the innocence of childhood.
2. When mentioning the children throwing bags on the bus stop, Louise is
A. critical. B. amused. C. angry D. sarcastic.
3. According to Daniel,
A. children are failing to learn adequate social skills.
B. children do not eat a balanced diet.
C. children are becoming involved in political scandals.
D. children are far more social than they used to be.
4. What does Louise say about the media?
A. Manipulative actors have a negative effect on children.
B. It encourages celebrities to inspire young children.
C. Adverts are aimed more at young people than adults.
D. It glorifies unrealistic ideals.
5. Daniel implies that
A. children would be happier if their parents taught them at home.
B. machines are more of a menace to children than people are.
C. teachers aren’t helping children to be competitive enough.
D. most teenage problems stem from an unbalanced diet.
Your answers
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Part 3. You will hear an extract from a radio programme and decide whether the
statements are true or false. (10 pts)
1.Mrs Kent is worried about the weather in the near future.
2. According to Tom Sheridan, people don’t talk about the weather any more.
3. Paul Spenser does the production of a cookery programme.
4. Jane thinks that students should be given free books.
5. An elderly listener doesn’t think young people should have to pay in the discos.
Your answers
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Part 4. You will hear part of a scientific television for young people in which the
speaker explains what ‘meteors’ are. Complete the sentence with no more than three
words for each space. (20 pts)
‘Meteor’ is another name for (1) _____________________. To help explain
meteors, planet Earth is compared to a (2) _____________________. You can think of
meteors as a group of (3) _____________________. In reality, meteors are very small
chunks of (4) _____________________. The circular path the Earth travels around the
Sun is called its (5) _____________________ . When Earth comes close to a meteor, the
meteor is pulled (6) _____________________ by gravity. A meteor travels very fast – a
hundred times faster than (7) _____________________ . Due to the speed it travels
through the air, the meteor becomes (8) _____________________. Because of the heat,
the meteor becomes less hard, (9) _____________________ and then burns. We are lucky
that most meteors burn up and never (10) _____________________.
SECTION II: LEXICO – GRAMMAR (50 points)
Part 1. Choose the best answer A, B, C or D to complete each of the following
sentences.
1. I’m not a serious investor, but I like to _______ in the stock market.
A. splash B. splatter C. paddle D. dabble
2. In all _______ there will never be a Third World War.
A. odds B. probability C. certainty D. possibilities
3. He had to retire from the match, suffering from a _______ ligament.
A. torn B. broken C. slipped D. sprained
4. You have to be rich to send a child to a private school because the fees are _______.
A. astrological B. aeronautical C. astronomical D. atmospherical
5. Archaeology is one of the most interesting scientific _______.
A. divisions B. disciplines C. matters D. compartments
6. It is doubtful whether the momentum of the peace movement can be _______.
A. sustained B. supplied C. supported D. subverted
7. Conversations you strike up with travelling acquaintances usually tend to be _______.
A. trivial B. perverse C. insufficient D. imperative
8. Charles Babbage’s difference engine was widely regarded as the _______ of the
computer.
A. ancestor B. precursor C. antecedent D. premonition
9. He was in his late fifties, with staring eyes and a _____ hairline.
A. straggling B. receding C. bushy D. curly
10. After several hours on the road, they became ____ to the fact that they would never
reach the hotel by nightfall.
A. dejected B. resigned C. depressed D. disillusioned
11. The professor’s _______ theory is that singing preceded speech.
A. preferable B. pet C. fond D. fancied
12. A local charity benefited from the _______ of the annual summer fate.
A. earnings B. income C. pay D. proceeds
13. Two months is _______ time to allow for the job to be completed.
A. profuse B. protracted C. ample D. extensive
14. After her eye operation she had to wear an eye _______ for protection.
A. patch B. veil C. glass D. screen
15. The noise of the machinery _______ the words of the factory manager.
A. covered B. suppressed C. drowned D. deadened
16. All that was left for breakfast was some _____ bread and tea.
A. stale B. rotten C. sour D. rancid
17. Emma fell down and _____ her knee.
A. skimmed B. grazed C. rubbed D. scrubbed
18. The Press thought the football manager would be depressed by his dismissal but he
just _____.
A. ran it down B. called it off C. turned it down D. laughed it off
19. Lindsay’s excuses for being late are beginning to _____ rather thin.
A. get B. turn C. wear D. go
20.The train service has been a _____ since they introduced the new schedules.
A. shambles B. rumpus C. chaos D. fracas
Your answers:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
Part 2. Underline and correct the ten mistakes in the following passage. (10 points)
‘Oh, you’re so lucky live in Bath, it’s such a wonderful, lovely, historic place,’ people
say enthusiastically, and all you can think about is the awful parking, the crowd of tourists,
the expensive shops, the narrow-minded council, and the terrible traffic.
Luckily I don’t live in Bath but nearly ten miles away in a village called Limpley
Stoke in the Avon Valley. It seems to be normal in the countryside those days for
professional people who work in the town to prefer to live in the villages; this makes the
housing so expensive that the villagers and agricultural workers have to live in a cheaper
accommodation in town, as the result that the farmers commute out to the farm and
everyone else commutes in. Certainly, there’s nobody in the village who could be called
an old-style villager. The people nearest to me involve a pilot, an accountant, a British Rail
manager, a retired teacher … nor a farm worker amongst them. But I don’t think there is
anything wrong with that – it’s just that the nature of villages are changing and there is
still quite a strong sense of community here.
Your answers:
1. 6.
2. 7.
3. 8.
4. 9.
5. 10.
Part 3. Fill in the blank with a suitable preposition or adverb particle.(10 points)
1. I got the job _______ the strength of your recommendation.
2. You must be weak _______ the head if you believe that.
3. The shock put years _______ him.
4. Prospects of success in the talks were put _______ zero.
5. She was weighed _______ _______ parcels.
6. His appearance was the subject _______ some critical comment.
7. She went _______ the roof when I told her I’d crashed her car.
8. If you do that again I’ll have the law _______ you.
9. The government’s decision is a real kick _______ the teeth for the unions.
10. She resembles her brother _______ looks.
Your answers:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Part 4. Use the correct form of the word in brackets to complete the passage. (10
points)
In the deserts, as (1. where), rocks at the earth’s surface are changed by (2. weather),
which may be defined as the (3. integrate) of rocks where they lie. Weathering processes
are either chemical when (4. alter) of some of the (5. constitute) particles is involved; or
(6. mechanize), when there is merely the physical breaking apart and (7. fragment) of
rocks. Which process will dominate depends (8. primary) on the (9. mineral) and (10. text)
of the rock and the local climate, but several individual processes usually work together to
the common end of rock breakdown.
Your answers:
1. 6.
2. 7.
3. 8.
4. 9.
5. 10.

SECTION III: READING COMPREHENSION (50/200)

Part 1. Read the passage below and decide which answer (A, B, C or D) best fits each
gap. Write your answer in the numbered boxes. (10 pts)
HOW TO COMPLAIN IN SHOPS
People love to complain. Moaning to friends can be a source of relief from the
stresses and strains of work, study or relationships. But when it comes to protesting to a
retailer about (1) ____ goods and services, many of us find we don't have the nerve and
chose to suffer in silence.
 By the time we do (2) _____summon up the courage to make our point, we have
generally already allowed the problem to get to us, and we are angry. In this state, we can
all too (3) ____ become aggressive, gearing up for battle and turning what should be a
rational discussion into a conflict.
To complain effectively, you need to be specific about your problem and
communicate it clearly using words which are objective and fair. (4) ____ over the top
with emotional language and unreasonable claims will get you nowhere. Good negotiators
tend to be calm and logical. They start by explaining the situation and stating their
requirements clearly, without threat. Most complaints prompt a defensive (5) ____ from
the other person, but by being reasonable yourself, you (6) ____ more chance of achieving
the positive (7) ____ you want.
If you feel angry or upset about what has happened, by all means tell the company,
but do so calmly, (8) ____that you understand the situation from all points of (9) ____, but
explaining what you will do if your complaint is ignored. Be sure to remember, however,
that is unwise to (10) ____ threats unless you are in a position to carry them out.
1. A. faulty B. inexpert C. improper D. scruffy
2. A. essentially B. especially C. exceptionally D. eventually
3. A. easily B. happily C. simply D. casually
4. A. Being B. Going C. Getting D. Feeling
5. A. response B. respect C. revenge D. regard
6. A. spend B. attract C. stand D. establish
7. A. fallout B. outcome C. turnout D. output
8. A. revealing B. exhibiting C. displaying D. demonstrating
9. A. mind B. opinion C. view D. reason
10. A. make B. bear C. do D. carry
Your answers
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Part 2. Read the text below and think of the word which best fits each space. Use only
ONE word in each space. (10 pts)
 Mammals have brains. So they can feel pain, experience fear and react in disgust. If
a wildebeest did not feel pain, it would carry on grazing as lions chewed it hind leg first. If
an antelope did not sense fear, it would not (1) _____ into a sprint at the first hint of
cheetah. If a canine were not disgusted, it would not vomit; it would not be, as the (2)
_____ goes, sick as a dog.
Pain, fear and disgust are (3) _____ of the mammalian survival machinery provided
by tens of millions of years of (4) _____. Homo sapiens have, however, only been around
for about 200,000 years. So all three emotional states (5)_____something to mammal
origins. If football hooligans can feel those emotions, then (6) _____ do deer, foxes and
dogs. The argument is about how "aware" or "conscious" non-human mammals might be
during these emotional events. When an animal knows it is being chased and starts to run,
is it obeying some instinct (7) _____ from ancestors that knew when to flee a danger zone
or does it actually "know" to be afraid?
That might be the wrong question. A human startled by a strange shape in a
darkened corridor experiences a pounding heart, and lungs (8) _____ for air, and a body in
recoil. This is the well-known flight or fight reaction. A human appreciated the full force
of fear and has already started to counter the danger a fraction of a second before the brain
has time to absorb and order the information contained in menacing shape. This is because
mental calculations are too slow to cope with surprise attack. Pain (9) _____ logic. Touch
something hot and you withdraw your hand even before you have time to think about
doing so. Once again, the wisdom is (10) _____ the event.
Your answers
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Part 3. Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer A, B, C or D. (15 pts)
Image and the city
In the city, we are barraged with images of the people we might become. Identity is
presented as plastic, a matter of possessions and appearances; and a very large proportion
of the urban landscape is take up by slogans, advertisements, flatly photographed images
of folk heroes - the man who turned into a sophisticated dandy overnight by drinking a
particular brand of drink, the girl who transformed herself into a femme fatale with a squirt
of cheap scent. The tone of the wording of these advertisements is usually pert and
facetious, comically drowning in its own hyperbole. But the pictures are brutally exact;
they reproduce every detail of a style of life, down to the brand of cigarette - lighter; the
stone in the ring and the economic row of books on the shelf.
Yet, if one studies a line of ads across from where one is sitting on a tube train,
there images radically conflict with each other. Swap the details about between the
pictures, and they are instantly made illegible if the characters they represent really are
heroes, then they clearly have no individual claim to speak for society as a whole. The
clean-cut and the shaggy, rakes, innocents, brutes, home-lovers, adventurers, clowns all
compete for our attention and invite emulations. As a gallery, they do provide a glossy
mirror of the aspirations of a representative city crowd: but it is exceedingly hard to
discern a single dominant style an image of how most people would like to see themselves.
Even in the business of the mass - production of images of identity, this shift from
the general to the diverse and particular is quite recent. Consider another line of stills: the
back-lit, soft-focus portraits of the first and second generations of great movie stars. There
is a degree of romantic unparticularity in the face of each one, as if they were communal
dream-projections of society at large. Only in the specialized genres of westerns, farces
and gangster movies were stars allowed to have odd, knobby cadaverous faces. The hero
as loner belonged to history or the underworld: he spoke from the perimeter of society,
reminding us of its dangerous edges.
The stars of the last decade have looked quite different. Soft-focus photography has
gone, to be replaced by a style which searches out warts and bumps, emphasizes the
uniqueness not the generality of the face. Voices, too, are strenuously idiosyncratic;
whines, stammers and low rumbles are exploited as features of star quality. Instead of
romantic heroes and heroines, we have a brutalist, hard-edged style in which isolation and
egotism are assumed as natural social conditions.
In the movies, as in the city, the sense of stable hierarchy has become increasingly
exhausted; we no longer live in a world where we can all share the same values, the same
heroes. (It is doubtful whether this world, so beloved of nostalgia moralists, ever existed;
but lip-service was paid to it, the pretence, at least was kept up). The isolate and the
eccentric push towards the centre of the stage; their fashions and mannerisms are
presented as having as good a claim to the limelight and the future as those of anyone else.
In the crowd on the underground platform, one may observe a honeycomb of fully-
worked-out words, each private, exclusive, bearing little comparison with its nearest
neighbor. What is prized in one is despised in another. There are no clear rules about how
one is supposed to manage one’s body, dress, talk, or think. Though there are elaborate
protocols and etiquettes among particular cults and groups within the city, they subscribe
to no common standard.
For the new arrival, this disordered abundance is the city’s most evident and
alarming quality. He feels as if he has parachuted into a funfair of contradictory
imperatives. There are so many people he might become and a suit of clothes, a make of
car, a brand of cigarettes will go some way towards turning him into a personage even
before he has discovered who that personage is. Personal identity has always been deeply
rooted in property, but hitherto the relationship has been a simple one - a question of
buying what you could afford, and leaving your wealth to announce your status. In the
modern city, there are so many things to buy, such a quantity of different kinds of status,
that the choice and its attendant anxieties have created a new pornography of taste.
The leisure pages of the Sunday newspapers, fashion magazines, TV plays, popular
novels, cookbooks, window displays all nag at the nerve for our uncertainty and snobbery.
Should we like American cars, hard-rock hamburger joints, Bauhaus chairs...? Literature
and art are promoted as personal accessories: the paintings of Mondrian or the novels of
Samuel Beckett ‘go’ with certain styles like matching handbags. There is in the city a
creeping imperialism of taste, in which more and more commodities are made over to
being mere expressions of personal identity. Tire piece of furniture, the pair of shoes, the
book, the film, are important not so much in themselves but for what they communicate
about their owners; and ownership is stretches to include what one likes or believes in as
well as what one can buy.
1. What does the word ‘barraged’ mean?
A. manipulated B. bombarded C. impressed D. obsessed
2. What does the writer say about advertisements in the first paragraph?
A. Certain kinds are considered more effective in cities than others.
B. The way in which some of them are worded is cleverer than it might appear
C. They often depict people that most other people would not care to be like
D. The pictures in them accurately reflect the way that some people really live.
3. The writer says that if you look at a line of advertisements on a tube train, it is
clear that.
A. city dwellers have very diverse ideas about what image they would like to have.
B. some images in advertisements have a general appeal that others lack.
C. city dwellers are more influenced by images on advertisements than other people are.
D. some images are intended to be representative of everyone’s aspirations.
4. What does the writer imply about portraits of old movie start?
A. They tried to disguise the less attractive features of their subjects.
B. Most people did not think they were accurate representations of the stars in them
C. They made people feel that their own faces were rather unattractive
D. They reflected an era in which people felt basically safe.
5. What does the word ‘cadaverous’ mean?
A. extremely pale and thin B. energetic and enthusiastic
C. dangerous D. skeptical
6. What does the writer suggest about the stars of the last decade?
A. Some of them may be uncomfortable about the way they come across.
B. They make an effort to speak in a way that may not be pleasant on the ear
C. They make people wonder whether they should become more selfish.
D. Most people accept that they are not typical of society as a whole
7. What does the word ‘hierarchy’ mean?
A. methodology B. hypothesis C. ideology D. system
8. The writer uses the crowd on an underground platform to exemplify his belief that.
A. no single attitude to life is more common than another in a city.
B. no one in a city has strict attitudes towards the behavior of other.
C. views of what society was like in the past are often inaccurate.
D. people in cities would like to have more in common with each other
9. The writer implies that new arrivals in a city may
A. change the image they wish to have too frequently.
B. underestimate the importance of wealth.
C. acquire a certain image without understanding what that involves.
D. decide that status is of little importance
10. What point does the writer make about city dwellers in the final paragraph?
A. They are unsure as to why certain things are popular with others.
B. They are aware that judgments are made about them according to what they buy.
C. They want to acquire more and more possessions.
D. They are keen to be the first to appreciate new styles.
Your answers
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Part 4. The reading passage below has eight paragraphs, A-H. Reading the passage
and do the tasks below. (10 pts)
A. The history of human civilization is entwined with the history of the ways we have
learned to manipulate water resources. As towns gradually expanded, water was
brought from increasingly remote sources, leading to sophisticated engineering
efforts such as dams and aqueducts. At the height of the Roman Empire, nine major
systems, with an innovative layout of pipes and well-built sewers, supplied the
occupants of Rome with as much water per person as is provided in many parts or
the industrial world today.
B. During the industrial revolution and population explosion of the 19 th and 20th
centuries, the demand for water rose dramatically. Unprecedented construction of
tens of thousands of monumental engineering projects designed to control floods,
protect clean water supplies, and provide water for irrigation and hydropower
brought great benefits to hundreds of millions of people. Food production has kept
pace with soaring populations mainly because of the expansion of artificial
irrigation systems that make possible the growth of 40% the world’s food. Nearly
one fifth of all the electricity generated worldwide is produced by turbines spun by
the power of falling water.
C. Yet there is a dark side to this picture: despite our progress, half of the world’s
population still suffers, with water services inferior to those available to the ancient
 Greeks and Romans. As the United Nations report on access to water reiterated in
November 2001, more than one billion people lack access to clean drinking water;
some two and a half billion do not have adequate sanitation services. Preventable
water - related diseases kill an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 children every day, and
the latest evidence suggests that we are falling behind in efforts to solve these
problems.
D. The consequences of our water policies extend beyond jeopardizing human health.
Tens of millions of people have been forced to more from their homes - often with
little warning or compensation - to make way for the reservoirs behind dams. More
than 20% of all freshwater fish species are now threatened or endangered because
dams and water withdrawals have destroyed the free-flowing river ecosystems
where they thrive. Certain irrigation practices degrade soil quality and reduce
agricultural productivity. Groundwater aquifers are being pumped down faster than
they are naturally replenished in parts of India, China, the USA and elsewhere. And
disputes over shared water resources have led to violence and continue to raise
local, national and even international tensions.
E. At the outset of the new millennium, however, the way resource planners think
about water is beginning to change. The focus is slowly shifting back to the
provision of basic human and environmental needs as top priority - ensuring ‘some
for all,’ instead of ‘more for some’. Some water experts are now demanding that
existing infrastructure be used in smarter ways rather than building new facilities,
which is increasingly considered the option of last, not first resort. This shift in
philosophy has not been universally accepted, and it comes with strong opposition
from some established water organizations. Nevertheless, it may be the only way to
address successfully the pressing problems of providing everyone with clean water
to drink, adequate water to grow food and a life free from preventable water-related
illness.
F. Fortunately - and unexpectedly - the demand for water is not rising as rapidly as
some predicted. As a result, the pressure to build new water infrastructures has
diminished over the past two decades. Although population, industrial output and
economic productivity have continued to soon in developed nations, the rate at
 which people withdraw water from aquifers, rivers and lakes has slowed. And in a
few parts of the world, demand has actually fallen.
G. What explains this remarkable turn of events? Two factors: People have figured out
how to use water more efficiently, and communities are rethinking their priorities
for water use. Throughout the first three-quarters of the 20 th century, the quantity of
freshwater consumed pen person doubled on average; in the USA, water
withdrawals increased tenfold while the population quadrupled. But since 1980, the
amount of water consumed per person has actually decreased, thanks to a range of
new technologies that help to conserve water in homes and industry. In 1965, for
instance, Japan used approximately 13 million gallons of water to produce $1
million of commercial output; by 1989 this had dropped to 3.5 million gallons (even
accounting for inflation) - almost a quadrupling of water productivity. In the USA
water withdrawals have fallen by more than 20% from their peak in 1980.
H. On the other hand, dams, aqueducts and other kinds of infrastructure will still have
to be built, particularly in developing countries where not been met. But such
projects must be built to higher specifications and with more accountability to local
people and their environment than in the past. And even in regions where projects
seem warranted, we must find ways to meet demands with fewer resources,
respecting ecological criteria and to a smaller budget.
For questions 1-7, choose the correct heading for paragraphs B-H from the list of
headings below Write the correct number, i-ix.

List of headings

i. Scientists’ call for a revision of policy

ii. An explanation for reduced water use
iii. How a global challenge was met
iv. Irrigation systems fall into disuse
v. Environmental effects
vi. The financial cost of recent technological improvements
vii. The relevance to health
viii. Addressing the concern over increasing populations
 ix. A surprising downward trend in demand for water
x. The need to raise standards
xi. A description of ancient water supplies
Example: Paragraph A: xi
1. Paragraph B …….
2. Paragraph C …….
3. Paragraph D …….
4. Paragraph E ….…
5. Paragraph F …….
6. Paragraph G …….
7. Paragraph H …….
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage. For
question 8-10 write down
Yes If the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
No If the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
Not given If it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
8. Feeding increasing populations is possible due primarily to improved irrigation systems
9. Modern water systems imitate those of the ancient Greeks and Romans
10. Industrial growth is increasing the overall demand for water.
Your answers
8. 9. 10.
SECTION IV: WRITING (50 points)
Part 1. Finish each of the following sentences in such a way that it means exactly the
same as the sentence printed. (10 points)
1. We didn’t see a soul all day.
→ Not ……………………………………………………………….
2. Gerry has applied for the job of financial director.
 Gerry has put ……………………………………………………………….
3. Our teacher used Sophia as an example of a good student.
 Our teacher held ……………………………………………………………….
4. I’m not much interested in sports.
 I don’t really go ……………………………………………………………….
5. Terry was rude but Anne got her revenge on him.
 Anne paid ……………………………………………………………….
Part 2. Write a new sentence as similar as possible in meaning to the original
sentence, using the words given in capital letters. These words must not be altered in
any way. (10 points)
1. The houses that were very close to the blast were badly damaged. (immediate)
………………………………………………………………………………….
2. They were married last year. (man)
………………………………………………………………………………….
3. He admits he’s not one of the important members of the organization. (cog)
………………………………………………………………………………….
4. You’ve been deceived by them. (ride)
………………………………………………………………………………….
5. It didn’t take us long to finish doing the accounts. (short)
………………………………………………………………………………….
Part 3. Essay writing ( 30 points)
Some people say that taking online classes is nowadays a new trend while other
people prefer going to traditional classes.
Which opinion do you agree with?
Write an essay of 200 – 250 words to explain your idea.
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