University of Science and Technology

Faculty of Civil Engineering

ENGLISH FOR CIVIL ENGINEERING

FINAL EXAM
Exam Code: 02
Time: 60 minutes
PART I [27 pts]
Multiple choice questions: Circle the letter that best fits in the blank.
A. A structure .….(1)….. a dwelling house, or a pyramid in Egypt, the statue of
Christ on the Andes, or a dam built by beavers across a Canadian river. A
building is a structure with a roof and .….(2)….. of civil engineering structural
design is the design of building structures. The building as a whole is designed
by an architect, particularly in a densely populated area. For water engineers,
sewage-treatment engineers, and municipal engineers, structures are not always
an important part of their work even though a road or a pipe is a structure since
they both .….(3)….. load.
1. a. includes b. will be c. consists of d. may be
2. a. many b. several c. much d. a number of
3. a. supports b. resists c. have d. carry
B. In modern building construction foundations are usually of concrete, and must
be carried down to a layer of earth or rock .….(4)….. enough to bear the weight
of the building and its contents and to withstand the force of the wind blowing
on .….(5)….. of the building. The nature of the .….(6)….. has to be studied
and the weight it can safely carry has to be calculated most carefully, for if too
great a load is applied the ground will sink, or "settle", causing the building to
crack.
4. a. strong b. deep c. soft d. weak
5. a. top b. surfaces c. height d. bottom
6. a. wind b. construction c. building d. ground
C. In one kind of .….(7)….., blocks of materials such as brick, stone, or concrete
are put together to form solid walls. These materials are heavy, however, they
can support the structural loads because they have the property of .….(8)…..
compressive strength. Walls made up of blocks both support the building and
divide the .….(9)….. in the building.
7. a. materials b. construction c. foundations d. architecture
8. a. low b. maximum c. high d. good
9. a. weight b. height c. shape d. space

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PART II [18 pts]
Translate the three paragraphs in part I into Vietnamese
Paragraph A:
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Paragraph B:
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Paragraph C:
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PART III [20 pts]
Reading comprehension
The two most important men on a construction site are the contractor's agent
and the navvy. The agent is important because he acts for the contractors and has the
authority of the contractor on the site. The navvy is important because he, with
perhaps hundreds of other navvies, does most of the work. Compared with these two,
although no civil engineer will happily admit it, the resident engineer comes third, for
without him the work would be completed in time, though perhaps badly and at high
cost to the client. Most of the civil engineering design has been done by the time the
contract has been signed, and the contractor is bound to follow the design as it is laid
down in the drawings, though normally no contract is left without the supervision of a
resident engineer or at least of a clerk of the works or a civil engineering inspector.
But between the agent and the navvy there are many other men who organize
the work, help it to go smoothly, see to the arrival of the essential materials, check
their quality and help to get the contract finished on time. The chief of these is the
general foreman, a man who has worked for many years on construction sites, either
as a navvy and then as a ganger in charge of a group (gang) of navvies, or more
usually, as a tradesman and then a foreman of his trade.
Tradesmen in civil engineering or building is the name given to masons,
bricklayers, carpenters, plasterers, mechanical fitters and others who do a special kind
of work with their hands (a trade) for which they gained the skill by a boyhood
apprenticeship to a skilled man.
Since navvies do the concreting and digging which are essential to most
foundation work, and foundations are the first work after the demolition and site
clearance, navvies are usually the first men employed on a building site.
Do the following statements agree with the information in the passage?
Write:
TRUE - if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE - if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN - if there is no information on this
1. A foreman might have worked for many years on construction sites as a ganger
in charge of a group of navvies.
2. There are more bricklayers than carpenters on the site.
3. Tradesmen are sometimes called civil engineers.
4. Demolition and site clearance need to be done before the foundation work.

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PART IV [15 pts]
Fill in the blanks with an appropriate word from the list
compressible, incompressible, heavy, light, combustible, non-combustible,
strong, weak, hard, corrosion resistant, soft, stiff, flexible, permeable,
impermeable, transparent, opaque, a good conductor of heat, a poor conductor
of heat
1. The ceramic tiles on the floor cannot be scratched easily by people walking on
them. This means that ceramic tiles are................................
2. Asbestos sheeting can be used to fireproof doors. In other words asbestos
is................................
3. Glass wool can help to keep a house warm in the winter and cool in the
summer, i.e. glass wool is...............................
PART V [20 pts]
Match a line in A with a line in B
A B
1. Pad foundations a. where the bearing capacity of the soil is low
2. Strip foundations are enough to necessitate a strip so wide that
transverse bending occurs .
3. Widestrip foundations used
b. where the soil at normal foundation level
4. Raft foundations cannot support ordinary pad, strip, etc.
5. Bearing piles c. for soils of low bearing capacity or where
structural columns or other loaded areas are
so close in both directions.
d. for load-bearing walls and for rows of
columns which are spaced so closely that
pad foundations would nearly touch each
other.
e. to support structural columns.
1. 1–( )
2. 2–( )
3. 3–( )
4. 4–( )
5. 5–( )

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