SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO KỲ THI CHỌN ĐỘI TUYỂN THAM DỰ KỲ THI

QUẢNG NGÃI CHỌN HSG QUỐC GIA NĂM 2020

Ngày thi: 26/9/2019
ĐỀ CHÍNH THỨC Môn thi: TIẾNG ANH
Thời gian làm bài: 180 phút

(Đề thi gồm có 16 trang. Thí sinh làm bài trên giấy thi.)

I. LISTENING (5 pts.)
Part 1. For questions 1-5, you will hear two students, Bella and Tom, discussing an
article they have read about a woman astronaut. For questions 1-5, decide whether
the following statements are True (T) or False (F). Write your answers in the
corresponding numbered boxex provided.

1. The speakers agree that being an astronaut is an unexpected job for woman.
2. Bella particularly admires the astronaut Ellen Ochoa because of her determination to
fulfil a childhood dream.
3. Tom was surprised to learn that people who want to become astronauts should have
experience as aeroplane pilots.
4. Bella thinks the most interesting part of Ellen’s life is coping with unexpected
problems.
5. Tom and Bella both now decide to go to some talks on space travel in films and
literature.
Part 2: For questions 6-12, listen to a report on the Natural phenomena that science
cannot explain and supply the blanks with the missing information. Write NO
MORE THAN THREE WORDS taken from the recoding for each answer in the
space provided.
There are a lot of (6) ______________ things in the world such as animals raining
from the sky.
Mammatus clouds – which means "mammary cloud", is a (7) ______________ of
pouches hanging underneath the base of a cloud, these are typically heavy
cumulonimbus rainclouds.
Scientists have been studying the Great Pyramid of Giza and have found strange heat
(8) ______________ that have no explanation.
Australia is the home of the unusual (9) ______________ 600 meters long and
surrounded by a rim of sand and thick woods of eucalyptus trees, this place still
surprises and intrigues scientists.
Socotra Island has been called the most (10) ______________ place on Earth, and a
“lost world” because the heat and drought conditions of the island have produced
around 800 rare species of (11) ________________ .

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Mount Kelimutu has three (12) ______________ crater lakes that vary colors from
each other at different times, making them surreal and exciting to be discovered.
Part 3: You will hear an interview with an artist called Liam Carolan. For
questions 13 – 17, choose the answer A, B, C or D which fits best according to what
you hear.
13. What comment do people sometimes make about Liam’s painting?
A. It’s old-fashioned. B. It lacks formal training.
C. It’s so intellectual. D. It lacks individuality.
14. According to Liam, people generally prefer to have paintings in their home to
photos because
A. paintings look more pleasant than photos.
B. they suit the design of most houses.
C. they are not produced by machine.
D. they don’t look as modern as photos.
15. Why does Liam prefer painting portraits with the sitter in front of him?
A. He thinks the final result is more interesting and alive.
B. He enjoys working with other people in the room.
C. He finds the work more challenging.
D. He receives instant feedback from his sitters.
16. According to Liam, the sitter’s personality is revealed in portraits as a result of ___
A. good artistic technique. B. artistic interpretation.
C. the artist’s acute observation. D. the way people look at portraits.
17. What problems does Liam have when he is painting a self-portrait?
A. He lacks time to practice painting self-portraits.
B. He has difficulty staying in the same position while painting.
C. He cannot make himself look as relaxed or as handsome as he would like.
D. He cannot get close enough to the image he is painting.
Part 4: For questions 18-25, Listen to a piece of news report about the loss of
rainforests and complete the summary below. WRITE NO MORE THAN THREE
WORDS OR A NUMBER taken from the recording for each answer in the space
provided.
Since the beginning of 20th century rainforests have been under threat of extinction.
One major cause of deforestation is repurposing the land for (18) ________ such as
growing rubber or palm oil on its property.
The loss of this dense biodiversity can pose several threats to our modern society. It is
estimated that (19) ________ modern medicines would be lost along with thousands of
(20) _______ derived from plants while underprivileged groups are relying on
rainforest plants for medicines. According to World Health Organization, herbal
remedies take up to 50% of all medicines in China. Another major problem is climate
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change. Known as (21) _________, rainforests absorb CO2, clearing it from the
atmosphere. A rise in carbon dioxide levels and a fall in rainforest acreage would
contribute to (22) _______ and severe droughts. More seriously, (23) __________
over resources such as farming land has led to farmers’ deaths globally.
It is not easy to find a feasible approach to stopping deforestation as many people on
Earth survive by means of natural resource (24) __________. A typical example is
palm oil industry which helps to (25) _______ by creating jobs for millions of farmers.
Switching to another production of alternative vegetable oils like sunflower or
soybean would even cause more land destruction.
II. LEXICO – GRAMMAR (2 pts)
Part 1: For question 26-40, choose the correct answer A, B, C, or D to each of the
following questions. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes
provided.
26. Don't worry; you are as safe as houses here as long as you are in my good ______.
A. graces B. feelings C. likes D. regards
27. Samuel couldn't find any reasonable arguments to _______ his claims in the court.
A. assure B. enforce C. persist D. uphold
28. Numerous _______ have prevented us from going to the lakeside again this year.
A. inhibitions B. deterrents C. impairments D. adversities
29.Although the patient received intensive treatment, there was no________
improvement in her condition.
A. decipherable B. legible C. discernible D. intelligible
30. Judging by the latest results, the team look ________ to return without a single
medal.
A. doomed B. forecast C. convicted D. sentenced
31. Tourism provides people with jobs – albeit often rather ________ ones!
A. superficial B. menial C. trivial D. remedial
32. He’s a fairly pleasant child but he has a strong ________ of stubbornness when he
doesn’t get his own way.
A. trait B. streak C. character D. mark
33. He ________ so much harm on the nation during his regime that it has never fully
recovered.
A. indicted B. inferred C. induced D. inflicted
34.Because of cutbacks in council spending, plans for the new swimming pool had to
be ________.
A. stockpiled B. overthrown C. shelved D. disrupted
35. I’m opting out of the ________race and going to live on a small farm in the
countryside.
A. horse B. dog C. rat D. cat and mouse

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36. I have enough money on me, but I’ll take my credit card with me to be________.
A. at the safe side B.on the safe side C. in the safe side D.with the safe side
37. Few people do creative work unless they are in the right of ________mind.
A. attitude B.tendency C. trend D. frame
38. In spite of his poor education, he was a most________ speaker.
A. articulate B.ambigous C.attentive D. authoritarian
39. British and Australian people share the same language, but in other respects they
are as different as________.
A. cats and dogs B. salt and pepper C. chalk and cheese D. here and there
40. Some employers impose a(n) ________ working in regime on under-aged
employees.
A. abusive B. manipulative C. exploitative D. oppressive

Part 2. For questions 41-45, write the correct form of each bracketed word in the
numbered space provided in the column on the right. 0 has been done as an example
The signal broke a seven-hour wait of (0. AGONY) ______
intensity and sparked scenes of jubilation at the European Space 0. agonising
Agency’s mission control in Darmstadt. The team in charge of the
Rosetta mission achieved what at times seemed an impossible task
by landing a robotic (41. CRAFT) ______ on a comet for the first 41. ___________
time in history. The moment the tension broke came shortly after
1600 GMT when the Philae called home. “We are there. We are
sitting on the surface. Philae is talking to us,” said a (42. 42. ___________
JUBILEE) ______ Stephan Ulamec, Philae lander manager at the
DLR German space centre. “We are on the comet.” Andrea
Accomazzo, the Rosetta flight operations director, added: “We
cannot be happier than we are now.”
But celebrations were tempered by the later discovery that the
probe’s two harpoons had not fired to fasten the craft down in the
(43. LOW) ______ gravity. Scientists now think the probe may 43. ___________
have bounced after first coming into contact with the surface.
Ulamec said: “Maybe today we didn’t just land once, we landed
twice.” The safe, if precarious (44. TOUCH) ______ of the 44. ___________
lander gives scientists a unique chance to ride onboard a comet
and study from the surface what happens as its activity ramps up
as it gets closer to the sun. The first images beamed back from the
lander’s descent revealed a dramatic (45. SCAPE) ______ of pits 45. ___________
and precipices, craters and boulders. However, there have been
gaps in its radio link with the orbiting Rosetta mothership.

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III/ READING (5 pts)
Part 1. For questions 46-55, fill each of the following numbered blanks with ONE
suitable word. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.
Vitamins are substances required for the proper functioning of the body. In this
century, thirteen vitamins have been (46) __________. A lack of any vitamins in a
person’s body can cause illness. In some cases, an excess of vitamins can also (47)
__________ to illness. For example, sailors in the past were prone to (48) __________
from scurvy that is a disease resulting from the lack of vitamin C. It causes bleeding of
the gum, loss of teeth and skin rashes. Sailors suffer from scurvy because they did not
eat fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables (49) __________vitamin C which is
necessary for good (50) __________.
Vitamin B complex is composed of eight different vitamins. A lack of any of
these vitamins will lead to different (51) __________. For instance, a person who has
too little vitamin B1 will suffer from beri-beri, a disease that causes heart problems
and mental (52) __________. A lack of vitamin B2 results in eye and skin problems
while deficiency of vitamin B6 causes problems of the nervous system. Too little
vitamin B12 will cause anemia. The (53) __________ that vitamin deficiencies caused
certain diseases led doctors to cure people suffering from these illnesses by giving
them doses of the (54) __________ vitamins.
Today, vitamins are (55) __________ in the form of pills and can easily be
bought at any pharmacy.
Part 2: Read the following passage and do the tasks that follow

IMPLEMENTING THE CYCLE OF SUCCESS: 

A CASE STUDY
       Within Australia, Australian Hotels Inc (AHI) operates nine hotels and employs
over 2000 permanent full-time staff, 300 permanent part-time employees and 100
casual staff. One of its latest ventures, the Sydney Airport hotel (SAH), opened in
March 1995. The hotel is the closest to Sydney Airport and is designed to provide the
best available accommodation, food and beverage and meeting facilities in Sydney's
southern suburbs. Similar to many international hotel chains, however, AHI has
experienced difficulties in Australia in providing long-term profits for hotel owners, as
a result of the country's high labor-cost structure. In order to develop an economically
viable hotel organization model, AHI decided to implement some new policies and
practices at SAH.
The first of the initiatives was an organizational structure with only three levels of
management - compared to the traditional seven. Partly as a result of this change, there
are 25 per cent fewer management positions, enabling a significant saving. This
change also has other implications. Communication, both up and down the

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organization, has greatly improved. Decision-making has been forced down in many
cases to front-line employees. As a result, guest requests are usually met without
reference to a supervisor, improving both customer and employee satisfaction.
     The hotel also recognized that it would need a different approach to selecting
employees who would fit in with its new policies. In its advertisements, the hotel
stated a preference for people with some 'service' experience in order to minimize
traditional work practices being introduced into the hotel. Over 7000 applicants filled
in application forms for the 120 jobs initially offered at SAH. The balance of the
positions at the hotel (30 management and 40 shift leader positions) was
predominantly filled by transfers from other AHI properties.
      A series of tests and interviews were conducted with potential employees, which
eventually left 280 applicants competing for the 120 advertised positions. After the
final interview, potential recruits were divided into three categories. Category A was
for applicants exhibiting strong leadership qualities, Category C was for applicants
perceived to be followers, and Category B was for applicants with both leader and
follower qualities. Department heads and shift leaders then composed prospective
teams using a combination of people from all three categories. Once suitable teams
were formed, offers of employment were made to team members.
       Another major initiative by SAH was to adopt a totally multi-skilled workforce.
Although there may be some limitations with highly technical jobs such as cooking or
maintenance, wherever possible, employees at SAH are able to work in a wide variety
of positions. A multi-skilled workforce provides far greater management flexibility
during peak and quiet times to transfer employees to needed positions. For example,
when office staff are away on holidays during quiet periods of the year, employees in
either food or beverage or housekeeping departments can temporarily The most crucial
way, however, of improving the labor cost structure at SAH was to find better, more
productive ways of providing customer service. SAH management concluded this
would first require a process of 'benchmarking'. The prime objective of the
benchmarking process was to compare a range of service delivery processes across a
range of criteria using teams made up of employees from different departments within
the hotel which interacted with each other. This process resulted in performance
measures that greatly enhanced SAH's ability to improve productivity and quality.
       The front office team discovered through this project that a high proportion of
AHI Club member reservations were incomplete. As a result, the service provided to
these guests was below the standard promised to them as part of their membership
agreement. Reducing the number of incomplete reservations greatly improved guest
perceptions of service.
In addition, a program modeled on an earlier project called 'Take Charge' was
implemented. Essentially, Take Charge provides an effective feedback loop from both
customers and employees. Customer comments, both positive and negative, are

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recorded by staff. These are collated regularly to identify opportunities for
improvement. Just as importantly, employees are requested to note down their own
suggestions for improvement. (AHI has set an expectation that employees will submit
at least three suggestions for every one they receive from a customer.) Employee
feedback is reviewed daily and suggestions are implemented within 48 hours,if
possible,or a valid reason is given for non-implementation.If suggestions require
analysis or data collection , The Take Charge team has 30 days in which to address the
issue and come up with recommendations.
Although quantitative evidence of AHI’s initiatives at SAH is limited at present,
anecdotal evidence clearly suggests that these practices are working. Indeed AHI is
progressively rolling out these initiatives in other hotels in Australia, while numerous
overseas visitors have come to see how the program works.
Questions 56-60: Choose the best answer
56. The high costs of running AHI’s hotels are related to their __________.
A. management B. size C. staff D. policies
57. SAH’s new organizational structure requires__________.
A. 75%of the old management positions B. 25%of the old management positions
C. 25% more management positions D. 5% fewer management positions
58. The SAH’s approach to organizational structure required changing practices in
______
A. industrial relations B. firing staff C. hiring staff D. marketing
59. The total number of jobs advertised at the SAH was __________.
A. 70 B. 120 C. 170 D. 280
60. Categories A,B and C were used to select __________.
A. front office staff B. new team
C. department heads D. new managers
Questions 61-66 : Complete the following summary of the last four paragraphs of
Reading Passage using ONE OR TWO WORDS from the Reading Passage for each
answer.
WHAT THEY DID AT SAH
Teams of employees were selected from different hotel departments to participate in a
(61) __________ exercise. The information collected was used to compare (62)
__________ processes which, in turn, led to the development of  (63) __________ that
would be used to increase the hotel's capacity to improve productivity as well as
quality. Also, an older program known as “Take Charge” was introduced at SAH. In
this program, (64) __________ is sought from customers and staff. Wherever possible

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(65) __________  suggestions are implemented within 48 hours. Other suggestions are
investigated for their feasibility for a period of up to (66) __________.
Part 3. In the passage bellow, seven paragraphs have been removed. For questions
67-73, read the passage and choose from the paragraph A-H the one which fits
each gap. There is ONE extra paragraph which you do not need to use. Write your
answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.

FAMILY BUSINESS

‘Look here, it’s no good’ said my Dad. We were in the car on the way back to
London. My father, with my brother Maurice in tow, had just collected me and my
trunk from the posh girls’ school I attended. He had also just sat through Parents’ Day,
in the course of which I was presented with the Latin prize and the prize for the girl
who had done best in her end-of- school exams. He had had a long conversation with
my headteacher, and now here we were bound for home and holidays.

67
‘So?’ I said, brazening it out. ‘Mightn’t that be useful?’ ‘I am also given to
understand,’ he went on, and then I knew the confrontation was coming, ‘that you
have ambitions to be a barrister. A barrister of all things!’ My father knew quite a lot
about barristers and the law.

68
‘I don’t know about that,’ I said. ‘All I know is what I see in television dramas.’ ‘Be
that as it may,’ he went on, pulling himself together, ‘I feel your heart’s never going to
be in the business now. Obviously. you’ll go to Oxford University, and after that I
can’t see you fancying it.’

69
‘It’s too soon to know,’ I said feebly. ‘I tell you you’re not going to want to join us,’
said my father, who had an annoying way of usually being right in such prophecies,
‘and it’s a pity because you’ve got the gifts — the brains, the nerves, the vision.’

70
It was not as if my mother was around to lend a hand — she had died early in my
childhood and my father had brought me and Maurice up. Maurice was two years
younger than I was, and because he was motherless, early in our lives I got into the
habit of taking care of him. It was not a hardship. I loved Maurice. Because the
business was so successful we lived in a good deal of luxury — in a big house in
London, posh schools for both of us, nice clothes, parties, theatres, operas. My father
knew all kinds of people — politicians, actors, businessmen and our house buzzed
with good talk and interesting encounters.

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 71
‘OK,’ I said, relieved to be spared immediate choices and decisions, and especially the
bout of depression and sulks my father would sink into if I opposed him. This was the
way he controlled us. So it happened. In my last term at school, and then on vacations
from university, I lent a hand, never more than about twice a year, and always on the
safer assignments. I became one of the smarter undergraduates. with a little house of
my own, a small but powerful white car, designer clothes, and a black dress with a
Paris label that I intended to wear when l took my final exams.

72
This was not to be. My father told me that, in about a week, he needed me to do one
last assignment for him, that it was the most important piece of business the family
firm had ever attempted, and that he would see that it was more than worth my while.
‘But Dad,’ I protested, ‘I’ve got my final exams coming up, and I just need to
concentrate on that. It’s really important that I do well and l don’t want to have to
think about anything else just now.’

73
That was not all. As he described the procedures I saw more clearly than ever before
the single-mindedness of my father the clarity and resourcefulness with which he set
about his life’s work, the dynamic energy, the perfect self-control of the man. In his
way he was a sort of genius and I bowed to that in him. It made my own plans and
hopes seem less important.
‘All right,’ I said. ‘I’ll do it.
The missing paragraphs:
A. It was in my last term that my father came up to see me and drove me out to a
village for a meal and a chat. There were only a few weeks to go. My tutor predicted I
would get a First Class degree (in Law), and l knew that if I kept my head and spent
these last precious days carefully arranging information in my mind, he might well be
right. I felt poised, confident, concentrated.
B. The trouble was that, like most children of hereditary trades, I did feel confined by
the family expectations. I could see there were various professions open to me, and I
wanted to explore the possibilities. At the same time, like a coward, I didn’t want to
upset my father. I wasn’t as frightened of him as Maurice was — I was the favourite
— but I found him formidable.
C. ‘What isn’t?’ I said, though I had guessed the trend of his thoughts from my
father’s unusual silence. He was a talkative man as a rule. ‘You can’t fool me. You’ll
do what you want now,’ he said. ‘What with all those certificates, I was told you will
get a scholarship to Oxford.’

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D. I was studying hard one day when a letter arrived from Maurice. He mentioned that
a friend had asked him to join him in setting up a business, that he was really attracted
to the idea, but that Father was against it. He wrote that Father was a danger to us both
and did not care about us as much as he pretended. He wondered whether now was the
time for him to break free of Father.
E. ‘There’s still Maurice,’ I said, sullen. My father snorted. We both knew Maurice
hated the business. ‘Anyway,’ I went on, ‘you could always use me as a sort of
consultant.’
F. I could tell that such pressures were simply beyond my father’s imagination (or
was it that he was somehow jealous of my life away from him?) and that he would
interpret a refusal from me as a heartless betrayal in his hour of need.
G. ‘I just said that,’ I said. ‘I couldn’t think of anything else to say!’ ‘And apparently,’
he went on, ‘you have the right sort of personality — you can pick the bones out of a
mass of material pretty quickly, you have the gift of the gab and you enjoy
performing.’
H. ‘I tell you what,’ my father continued our conversation. ‘You can go on helping us
out in holidays until you leave Oxford, and then if you decide to leave us you can. It
will give you a bit of pocket money, and be a real help to me.”
Part 4. For questions 74-83, read an extract from an article and choose the answer
A, B, C or D which you think fits best according to the text. Write your answers in
the corresponding numbered boxes provided.
Paul Bunyan is perhaps America’s best-known folk hero. A fictional
logger of incredible strength, he was most likely based on an actual
nineteenth-century logger from the northern United States or Canada. As a
Line folk hero, he struck a chord with Americans on some level, perhaps because
(5) he was incredibly strong but also because he was hard-working and capable,
ingenious in solving problems, and fun-loving.
Though there is evidence that Paul Bunyan tales were part of oral
tradition in the nineteen century, Paul Bunyan stories did not appear in
written form until the early twentieth century. Journalist James McGillivray
(10) included descriptions of Bunyan in a series of essay entitled “The Round
River Drive” which appeared in a number of Midwestern newspapers
between 1906 and 1910. However, it was through an extensive advertising
campaign that Paul Bunyan moved solidly into print.
Recognizing the appeal of Paul Bunyan as a figure for his company’s
(15) advertising, William Laughead, an advertising executive for the Red River
Lumber Company, initiated a campaign that consisted of a series of
publications featuring Paul Bunyan. For several decades, the company
distributed these publications free of charge and made no attempt to obtain a

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 copyright on them. In fact, the company vigorously encouraged other writers
(20) to make use of Paul Bunyan because it felt that the use of this character
enhanced the name recognition of the Red River Lumber Company
inasmuch as the name of the folk hero and the name of the company had
become interwoven.
The Bunyan stories published by Red River and further circulated by
(25) others were tall tales of gigantic proportions. In these tales, Banyan is
depicted as a man of superhuman proportions, who is strong, hard-working,
entrepreneurial, and innovative. In one story, for example, Paul is credited
with digging the Great Lakes in order to create a watering hole for his giant
ox, Babe. In another of these tales, Paul caused an entire winter of blue snow
(30) to fall by swearing a blue streak after he injured himself by smashing his
thumb with a large hammer. A third story in the series describes Paul’s role
in establishing the Mississippi River.
Fascination with Paul Bunyan has continued to grow, and today he is
a standard of American folklores. The prevalence of Bunyan as a figure of
(35) folklore today is evidenced by references to him in countless stories,
cartoons, poems, and songs as well as the numerous community festivals and
logging competitions featuring Paul Bunyan that can be found throughout
the sections of the country where logging has strong tradition.
74. The purpose of this passage is to ______.
A. present the actual feats of a real-life logger
B. provide an overview of American folktales
C. describe logging in North America
D. discuss a “larger than life” folk hero
75. It is NOT stated in the passage that Paul Bunyan is known for his ______.
A. unusual strength B. dedication to work
C. ingenuity in difficult situations D. serious nature
76. The passage states that Paul Bunyan tales first appeared ______.
A. in oral stories B. in advertising
C. in newspapers D. in a series of essays
77. Which of the following CANNOT be inferred about the Red River Lumber
Company’s advertising campaign featuring Paul Bunyan?
A. It endured for quite a time.
B. The company did not protect its ownership of the stories.
C. The campaign did little to enhance the company’s profitability.
D. The company wanted the name Paul Bunyan to be known as widely as possible.
78. The pronoun “them” in line 19 refers to ______.
A. publications B. series C. decades D. writers
79. The word “interwoven” in line 23 could be best replaced by ______.

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 A. unfashionable B. mixed together
C. not compatible D. too separate
80. Where in the passage does the author discuss a weather phenomenon that Paul
Bunyan supposedly caused?
A. Lines 3-5 B. Lines 16-20 C. lines 27-29 D. Lines 29-34
81. The word “countless” in line 35 could be best replaced by the expression ______.
A. an overestimated number of B. an insubstantial number of
C. a large number of D. a specified number of
82. Which paragraph describes the plots of some of the tales of Paul Bunyan?
A. The second paragraph B. The third paragraph
C. The fourth paragraph D. The fifth paragraph
83. The author’s tone in this passage is ______.
A. humorous B. neutral C. sarcastic D. pessimistic

Part 5: You are going to read a newspaper article in which women talk about their
attitudes toward cars. For questions 84-95, choose from the women (A-D). When
more than one answer is required, these may be given in any order.

WOMEN DRIVERS
What do women think about the cars they drive? We talked to four women about
their views.
A. Megan Fields
Megan Fields lives in rural Hertfordshire, just outside a small village. In recent
years the bus service in the village has improved, and there is also a good link now to
the nearest town. Consequently, she uses a car mainly to commute to her office almost
forty miles away. Megan works normal office hours, Mondays to Fridays, and this
means she has to make a round trip of very nearly eighty miles a day in the enervating
rush-hour traffic. However, since the latest increases in the price of fuel, she and her
husband feel they have to think more carefully about car maintenance costs.
Megan was forced to purchase a new car only a short while ago: she was
recently involved in a collision with a lorry. It was an unequal contest, and Megan’s
car was a write-off. Fortunately, nobody was badly hurt, but Megan was shaken by the
experience. She promised herself that her next car would have more robust bodywork
in case anything like that ever happens again. Since their old car had been on its last
ages anyway, she and her husband had been looking at the options available on the
market even before the crash, and they had narrowed the choice down to three or four
models. Before they made their final decision, they took a number of other factors into
consideration. They wanted a car that would be fuel-efficient and that would produce
as few harmful emissions as possible. Megan left the choice of car to her husband; she

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claims she is ignorant of the technical issues involved and has no desire to learn. She
stresses that she would rather be able to manage without a car at all. However, given
their circumstances, doing without a car does not appear to be a viable option.

B. Vera Aziz
Vera is one of the growing numbers of people who have purchased an SUV – a
sports utility vehicle. In her view, there is something very reassuring about the height
of the vehicle, which places the driver and passengers above the majority of other road
users. Though she has no statistics to back up her opinion, she is convinced that this
means she would be far better off in an accident. There is another practical factor at
work in her choice of vehicle: her SUV seats eight people quite comfortably, and she
needs this room since she regularly ferries her two daughters and their four friends to
and from ballet classes.
Vera says that a car is an absolute necessity for her. Public transport in the part
of survey where she lives in woefully inadequate and there is no school bus, so when
the weather is bad she has to drive the children to their school nearby. About once a
fortnight she and her husband go up to London for the day and they need the car to get
them to the local train station. Otherwise, she admits, the car stays in the garage most
of their time. When asked about what influenced her choice of vehicle, she is
unequivocal: safety was the crucial point, and she imagines that this is the case for the
vast majority of women.
C. Sue Henderson
The new charges for drivers entering inner London, coupled with exorbitant
parking fees throughout the capital, mean that the situation has changed for Sue. She
says she would far rather take the train to the city instead of driving in from Faversham
in Kent, so these days she mostly uses the car to stock up with groceries from the local
supermarket on Friday evenings. But there has been another more radical change in
her driving habits over the past few months. Some good neighbors of hers, who only
used their cars very occasionally, were thinking of buying a new one, and Sue
suggested that instead of going to the expense and trouble this would involve, they
should just use hers whenever they wanted to. Sue says that some careful planning is
required to make this arrangement work smoothly, but it has resulted in considerable
savings for everyone concerned. She also makes the point that a scheme like this
works best if people are relaxed about the car they drive and don’t insist on a
spotlessly clean high-performance model. Sue’s present car is fairly old, large and
sturdy – one of the Scandinavian models that offer their owners a sense of security.
She is rather dismissive of SUVs, which she doesn’t consider particularly safe. This is
because she read somewhere that they can roll over quite easily. Furthermore, they are
a danger to cyclists because SUV drivers tend not to notice them. Sue also has strong
opinions about the jokey stereotype of the bad woman driver, which she regards as
absolute nonsense. She is similarly dismissive of the ideas that men are natural born
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drivers, claiming that statistics prove the opposite, and that men cause far more
accidents than women, especially serious ones.
D. Heather Adams
Four years ago Heather Adams’s husband injured his leg in an accident which
left him unable to drive. Heather herself then reluctantly took charge of the car not
only driving it but also making sure it was serviced regularly and generally looking
after it. The Adams’s children are still very young, so Heather is the only one in the
family who uses the car now. In fact, she only passed her driving test three and a half
years ago, so she had little practical experience with vehicles of any until then. Their
present car is the only one she has ever driven, apart from the car at the driving school
when she was learning to drive. She says she never expected to get such enormous
pleasure from sitting behind the wheel, and believes that learning to drive gave her a
sense of independence and confidence that she lacked when she was younger. She
regards a car as an essential part of her life now – public transport in the northern city
where she lives is unreliable and not convenient for her needs.
Her husband has clearly influenced her views on road safety. He believes it is
important to be able to put your foot down and accelerate away from trouble. Heather
agrees and clearly relishes driving a car with a powerful engine. For her, this would be
a prime consideration if she were to buy another car.
Which woman _____

has only had a driving license for a few years? 84. ______
has a prejudice against a particular kind of car? 85. ______
feels safety considerations are paramount when buying a car? 86. ______
wanted a car that would have a minimal impact on the 87. ______
environment?
didn’t want to be responsible for the car at first? 88. ______
acknowledges that she knows little about cars? 89. ______
uses other means of transport because of rising costs? 90. ______
drives a kind of car which is becoming increasingly popular? 91. ______
needs a large car? 92. ______
is an enthusiastic driver? 93. ______
wishes she didn’t need to rely on a car? 94. ______
dissuaded someone from buying a car? 95. ______

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IV. WRITING: (6pts)
Part 1: Read the following extract and use your own words to summarise it. Your
summary should be between 100 and 120 words long.

This majestic creature is unfortunately not the most attractive. It is an

endangered species but it is neither cute nor lovable like the panda or the orangutan.

What makes this giant so odd? Well, its legs appear too short to support its
weight. The rhinoceros' skin hangs loosely over its body. It is huge. A full grown rhino
is about two meters high and about four meters long from nose to tail. African rhinos
have two horns, one much larger than the other. It is a heavy animal weighing more
than a ton. The animal has a keen sense of smell and acute hearing but it has very
weak eyesight. The rhino cannot see until it is almost in front of its target.
Clumsy as it looks, the rhino is an agile animal. It can easily climb up steep
slopes, charge at 50 km an hour and leap up from a lying position.

The rhino's temper is also well known. It often attacks trucks, jeeps and even
moving trains. Yet it is also considered a wild African animal that is very easy to tame.
A penned rhino will even eat out of the hands of its keeper.

The black rhino is also very adaptable. It can be found over a large area - from
mountainous areas, to plains, and desert areas. The two countries with the most rhinos
are Kenya and Tanzania.

About fifty years ago, the rhinoceros was a common animal in Africa.
However, today it is becoming rare. It is being hunted to extinction for its horn.
Unfortunately, the rhino horn is considered very powerful medicine, especially for
men. The horn can fetch several thousand dollars in Asia. The lure of money means
the animal is hunted even though it is a protected species. The Sumatran rhino is
almost extinct and if we are not careful, the African rhino will follow suit.

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2. The diagrams below show the changes that have taken place at Queen Mary
Hospital since its construction in 1960.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make
comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.

Part 3:
Some people believe that the Earth is being damaged by human activities. Others
argue that human activities have made the Earth a more livable planet

Write an essay of about 350 words to discuss both these views and give reasons and
specific examples to support your opinions.

------------THE END ------------

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