PRACTICE 11

I. LISTENING (50 points)

HƯỚNG DẪN PHẦN THI NGHE HIỂU
 Bài nghe gồm 4 phần, mỗi phần được nghe 2 lần, mỗi lần cách nhau 15 giây, mở đầu và kết thúc mỗi
phần nghe có tín hiệu.
 Mở đầu và kết thúc bài nghe có tín hiệu nhạc. Thí sinh có 3 phút để hoàn chỉnh bài trước tín hiệu nhạc
kết thúc bài nghe.
 Mọi hướng dẫn cho thí sinh (bằng tiếng Anh) đã có trong bài nghe.

Part 1. For questions 1-5, listen to a talk about the Ant IPO delay and decide whether these statements
are True (T), False (F) or Not Given (NG). Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes
provided. (10 points)
1.Shanghai authorities disrupted Ant’s IPO at short notice on the grounds of its fragile business plans. NG
2.Ant Group’s IPO would have been unprecedented in the fintech industry. T
3.Interference from China is the main reason accounting for the questionable status of Hong Kong as a
major financial centre. NG
4.Winston Ma forecasts that the fintech industry will not cease to enjoy a period of phenomenal growth in
the wilderness. F
5.Recent regulations from the Chinese government will shift the role of Ant Group as a fintech company.
T

Part 2. For questions 6-10, listen to a talk about Neptune and answer the questions. Write NO MORE
THAN FOUR WORDS taken from the recording for each answer in the corresponding numbered
boxes provided. (10 points)
6.What is the distance between Neptune and the Sun? 30 astronomical units
7.What is Neptune’s core made up of besides water ice? Silicate rock
8.What gives Neptune blue color? Traces of methane
9.What can strong winds recorded on Neptune do? Break the sound barrier
10. What is the name of the spacecraft that has visited Neptune? Voyager 2

Part 3. For questions 11-15, listen to part of an interview with an artist about the subject of art and
choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which fits best according to what you hear. Write your answers in the
corresponding numbered boxes provided. (10 points)

11 How does Brendan feel about his work?

A He prefers negative criticism to no reaction at all.
B His intention is to provoke critics with his art.
C He believes his art can only be viewed subjectively.
D His definition of art is at odds with general opinion.

12 According to Brendan, standing on a chair

A is an example of what art should be.
B would be art if it was intended to be.
C is an example of mediocre art.
D would not be considered art by most people.

13 Brendan says that some successful artists

A are not very good at drawing.
B have not been able to create original art.
C lack the ability to express ideas.
D use excessively old-fashioned techniques.

14 Brendan doesn't think that

A throwing paint at a canvas would constitute art.
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B it is difficult to come up with original ideas.
C critics are open-minded enough.
D modern art has nowhere left to go.

15 The invention of the camera

A allowed more people to indulge their passion for taking portraits.
B enabled photographers to imitate life more closely.
C meant that artists were no longer restricted to copying from life.
D changed the way society viewed the role of the artist.

Part 4. For questions 16-25, listen to a talk about sleep and supply the blanks with the missing
information. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS taken from the recording for each answer in
the space provided. (20 points)

SLEEP AND MENTAL HEALTH

16. The culprit behind our ______________________ relationship to sleep originates from our ancient
understanding of the subject.
17. Parents of small children have a disposition to be ______________________ in routine negotiations.
18. Every reversal becomes a drama, every disappointment turns into a catastrophe and every excitement
shifts into ______________________.
19. An innovatively ______________________ approach to bedtimes when growing up can be considered
an expression of independence and individuality.
20. There are various ways of expressing our perceptions about lives, ranging from positive narratives to
appalling tales of complete ignorance and ______________________.
21. When exhaustion sets in, we tend to think in a ______________________ way.
22. When we lie in bed, we think that we bear a resemblance to a ______________________, for instance,
a rabbit or a squirrel.
23. Given the harsh grown-up life, we need to be free to ______________________ this.
24. It is inferred from curled squirrel position that mental problems cannot be universally handled by
______________________.
25. It is not until we have treated ourselves with a ______________________ or a long night’s sleep that
we understand the reasons to live.

II. LEXICO-GRAMMAR (30 points)

For questions 26-45, choose the correct answer A, B, C, or D to each of the following questions.

26. I expected the film to be out-of-the-box, but the plot turned out to be just a(n) ___________ boy-
meets-girl scenario.
A. frivolous B. hackneyed C. archetypal D. emblematic
hackneyed (adj) = used too often and therefore boring
27. The part of her childhood memory, in which she was kidnapped, became something she found
impossible to ___________ however hard she tried.
A. expunge B. expurgate C. expatiate D. expound
expunge (v) = to remove or get rid of something
28. That friend of yours is a(n) ___________ person who cannot be trusted because she will be willing to
betray you at any time for his own benefits.
A. eccentric B. licentious C. lunatic D. perfidious: cannot be
trusted

29. Never let your thirst for knowledge be ___________ or you will, one day, be left behind by this ever-
evolving world.
A. queered B. quelled C. quenched: to satisfy a need/demand D. quilt

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30. With patience and diplomacy, he eventually ___________ the son of the billion-dollar company into
marrying him.
A. deluded B. inveigled C. cruised D. swindled
inveigle (v) = to achieve control over somebody in a clever and dishonest way, especiallyso that they
will do what you want
31. As an inevitable effect of globalization, small countries have no choice but to ___________ to the
influence of the superpowers.
A. recast B. capitulate C. concede D. perish
capitulate (v) = to stop resisting an enemy and accept that you are defeated
32. This argument may seem ___________ to those not closely involved in the world of finance.
A. arcane B. peculiar C. foolhardy D. aberrant
arcane (adj) = secret and mysterious and therefore difficult to understand
33. It really knocked me over with a ___________ when I found out that Annie passed her Chemistry test
with flying colours
A. punch B. mug C. feather D. stroke
knock sb over with a feather = to schock/confuse/astonish sb
34. Although doctors always try their best to save people’s lives, they are often ___________ by the
patients’ relatives whenever they fail.
A. heckled B. pestered C. derided D. berated
berate (v) = to criticize or speak angrily to somebody because you do not approve ofsomething they
have done
35. Given the competitiveness of the National Contest, I have to knock it out of the ___________ or I
won’t be able to win any prizes.
A. park B. nail C. roof D. ring
knock sth out of the park = to do sth extremely well
36. The agreement we reached before was just provisional so I hope you can have another meeting with
our company to ___________ the whole plan before the event.
A. pack up B. drum up C. firm up D. work up
firm up = to make arrangements more final and fixed
37. Billy, if you like History, you ___________, do not let peer pressure affect your life.
A. buy it B. do you C. be it D. be you
38. Despite being threatened, the brave and loyal soldier would rather sacrifice than ___________ to the
enemy’s demand.
A. give on B. cave in C. burrow in D. kneel down
cave in = to agree to demands that you originally opposed because you have become tired or
frightened
39. ___________ piety has degraded in the modern society as more children are disobedient and
disrespectful to their parents.
A. Filial B. Childhood C. Familial D. Fraternal
filial piety = a virtue of respect for one’s parents, elders, and ancestors
40. I don’t have anything to note here but I will try to ___________ your phone number firmly in my
mind and put it down later when I return home.
A. dwell B. key C. lodge D. set
lodge (v) = to become fixed or cause s omething to become fixed in a placeor position
41. It would be nice if I passed my exams but I don’t hold_______ much hope.
A with B up C out: To maintain hope that something will
happen or be the case D onto
42. We won’t know the_______ extent of the damage for a few days.
A full B whole C utter D absolute
43. You haven't signed a contract yet, so it’s not too late to back _______the deal.
A into B down from C away from D out of: withdraw fr a
commitment
44. All night I waited_______ . In vain.
A. that she should come B. that she might come
C. for her to come D. for her coming

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45. He was a plump, complacent child, _______ parents indulged him shamelessly.
A. whose both B. both of whom
C. the two of whose D. the both of whose
Part 2. For questions 46-55, write the correct form of each bracketed word in the numbered space
provided.
46.Paul’s _hatred_________ for the occupants grew much stronger when he learnt about his parents’ death.
(HATE)
47.It is absolutely _inexplicable_________ why the council decided to close down the youth club.
(EXPLAIN)
48.I just stood there and listened in _disbelief_________ as Ben told me the news. (BELIEVE)
49.The long-running civil war has _destabilized_________ the whole country. (STABLE)
50. After a successful career, he retired in 2004, but now he’s making a _comeback_________ and he’s
released a new CD (COME)
51.Wilkinson went on to become a great athlete, his disability _notwithstanding_________ (STAND)
52. I’m not very keen on the _wording_________ of this dictionary definition. (WORD)
53. Any actor who becomes known for one role is in danger of becoming _typecast_________ (TYPE)
54. It’s pure _hearsay_________ - there’s no evidence to support these allegations at all. (HEAR)
55. You are _expressly_________ forbidden: tuyệt đối cấm to use a calculator in this examination.
(EXPRESS)

III. READING (60 points)

Part 1. For questions 56-65, read the passage and fill each of the following numbered blanks
with ONE suitable word. (15 points)

Vocational education has always been closely related to the character of a society, the importance it
(56)_attaches_____ to work and the social values respected by the (57) _members_____ of its community.
Its primary goal is to teach the (58) _skills_____ and a practical competence requisite for different types
of employment.

In the past, professions were inherited by descendants of families from the older generations. The mastery
accomplished by forefathers and passed (59) _down_____ to their successors in vocations (60) _like_____
carpentry or weaving was incomparable to the relatively poor level of craftsmanship in the era of massive
industrialization. In the 19th century traditional skills achieved (61) _after_____ many years of rigorous
apprenticeship were abandoned giving (62) _way_____ to the factory system where experience-building
training was applied directly on the job.

Consequently, the number of craftsmen performing high-skilled manual work began to decrease as they
were gradually (63) _replaced_____ by machinery and, finally, by perfectly precise computers.
This rapid computerization, however, has created a wide gap between those whose knowledge of modern
technologies is profound and those who still lag (64) _behind_____. Given that computers and their
various uses are much more complicated than anvils or chisels, it definitely (65) _takes_____ an equally
intensive and elaborate training to educate good and productive workers nowadays.

Part 2. For questions 66-76, read the following passage and do the tasks that follow. (11 points)
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.

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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 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 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, whilst numerous overseas visitors have come to see how the program works.
 [This article has been adapted and condensed from the article by R. Carter (1996), 'Implementing the
cycle of success: A case study of the Sheraton Pacific Division', Asia Pacific Journal of Human
Resources, 34(3): 111-23. Names and other details have been changed and report findings may have been
given a different emphasis from the original. We are grateful to the author and Asia Pacific Journal of
Human Resources for allowing us to use the material in this way.] 

Questions 66-70: Choose the appropriate letters A-D

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66. The high costs of running AHI's hotels are related to their .......
      A. management.      B. size.      C. staff.      D. policies.
67. 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.
68. The SAH's approach to organizational structure required changing practices in .......
      A. industrial relations.      B. firing staff.      C. hiring staff.      D. marketing.
69. The total number of jobs advertised at the SAH was ........
      A. 70.      B. 120.      C. 170.      D. 280.
70. Categories A, B and C were used to select........
      A. front office staff.      B. new teams.      C. department heads.      D. new managers.

Questions 71-76: 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 ......
(71) .benchmarking...................... exercise. The information collected was used to compare (72)..service
delivery ...... processes which, in turn, led to the development of ...... (73) performance measures..........
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,...... (74) ....feedback
loop.................... is sought from customers and staff. Wherever possible .....
(75) ...................... .suggestions are implemented within 48 hours. Other suggestions are investigated for
their feasibility for a period of up to (76) ...suggestions...................  .

Part 3. For questions 77-85, read an extract from an article and choose the answer A, B, C or D that
fits best according to the text. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.
(9 points)
THE MAKING OF AN INTERNET SENSATION
We've all received those web links from friends 'you must watch this - it's brilliant!' Read how one such
popular Internet video was made.
It is a cold November evening and I am perched at the top of a tall stepladder in a village hall. On the
floor, 16 golden retrievers stare up at me curiously. They are arranged in a square, four by four. I watch
through the viewfinder of my video camera. This, I think to myself, could make me famous.
I hadn't thought up the idea myself - it all came about at the behest of my editor. We want you to write
about viral videos, he had told me a couple of weeks earlier. Go and find out why some videos go viral.
What makes people share them? It sounded straightforward enough. He sent me a link to Charlie Bit My
Finger, a video of a baby biting his little brother. It is currently YouTube's most watched video of all time.
"I want you to make your own viral and become Internet famous," he said. "If this can get 135 million
hits, you can do it too."
To better understand what makes people share videos, I turned to Judith Donath of MIT, who studies
online social networks. She argues that the factors driving people to share stuff over the web are not that
different from the reasons apes pick bugs out of each other's fur: it's a way of establishing social bonds.
Other researchers have argued that in human societies, language - especially gossip - has taken on the
social function of such grooming. Sharing videos via email or within social networks is just the next step,
Donath argues. "Sharing online is equivalent to small talk," she says. "It's a little gift of information. It
shows “I’m thinking of you.”
Video sharing is also a way of making a statement. "Besides, people use videos as a way of showing their
position in the “information-technology ecology,” Donath says. "A video reflects on the person who sends
it." In other words, people will pass on a video if they think it's cool - because it makes them look cool
too. I have friends and colleagues who are cool, so I quizzed them for inspiration. Eventually, we hit upon
a winning idea. I called it Pets Teach Science. The aim is to demonstrate tricky concepts ranging from
quantum physics to chemical structure with the help of man's best friend and other furry companions.

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The next question was what to film for the first episode. For what I had in mind, a degree of canine
discipline was required, so I contacted a group of dog trainers. They agreed to help, and last month we made
a film using 16 of their dogs to illustrate the structure of the atom. Some of the animals acted as the
protons and neutrons in the nucleus, while the rest circulated to mimic the electron cloud.
A few days of shamelessly begging all my friends and family to disseminate the video resulted in fewer
than 1,000 hits. The big breakthrough came after a tip from Michael Wesch, an anthropologist who studies
the behaviour of visitors to YouTube. One of the key bits of advice he gave me was to send the video to a
so-called "sneezer" - a media outlet or blogger that can quickly disseminate your video to a large number
of people. "Almost every viral has a catalyst moment at which it has a big leap of, say, 100,000 viewers at
once,” he says. For the massive videos, that sneeze can be anything from a TV appearance to a tweet by a
popular Twitterer. This catapults the video onto YouTube's daily “most popular” lists, and the chain
reaction begins. Even if only 1 in 10 people continue to share the video, you have succeeded.
It happened for me when I sent a link to the free London paper Metro. The paper gave Pets Teach Science
an enthusiastic write-up, and the video's views surged by about 8,000 within a few hours. It soon appeared
on YouTube's "pets and animals" page. In the following days, it was referred to in a couple of influential
blogs and that almost doubled my hits overnight to more than 50,000. The growth continues, proving that
with a little cunning, and some cute pets, anyone can make a video go viral. I can reveal that Charlie's
record remains intact. Still, despite my worst fears, my video turned out to be a surprising success. Next
up on the channel is a sleepy fat cat which will demonstrate Einstein's general theory of relativity with a
trampoline. Keep watching!
77. The writer is on a ladder at the beginning of the article because _____.
A. he is getting dogs ready for a video
B. someone is filming him with some animals
C. he is trying to make a special type of video
D. he is observing people making a film
78. What does the writer's editor want him to do?
A. Make them both famous
B. Investigate the success of the YouTube website
C. Get a film of some golden retrievers
D. Discover the reasons for the popularity of some videos
79. What does 'such grooming' in the third paragraph refer to?
A. Using small talk B. Sharing stuff on the web
C. Looking after each other like animals do D. Establishing social networks through gossiping
80. The word ‘via’ in the third paragraph is closest in meaning to _____.
A. ahead of B. by means of C. more than D. in compliance with
81. Which of these does Donath give as a further reason why people share videos?
A. People think it gives them a good image. B. People use videos as a statement of their ideas.
C. People enjoy entertaining their friends. D. People want to practice their technical skills.
82. What will the videos the writer is planning do?
A. Show dogs doing amusing things B. Present animals being trained in a scientific way
C. Use animals to illustrate scientific ideas D. Demonstrate some simple experiments
83. The word ‘disseminate’ in the sixth paragraph is closest in meaning to _____.
A. conceal B. publicize C. mislead D. suspect
84. Who or what acted as a 'sneezer' for the writer's video?
A. a local newspaper B. a popular online writer
C. an anthropologist D. a specific website
85. The word ‘overnight’ in the last paragraph is closest in meaning to _____.
A. trustingly B. permanently C. serially D. speedily

Part 4. You are going to read a magazine article. Seven paragraphs have been removed from the
article. Choose from the paragraphs A-H the one which fits each gap (86 - 92). There is one extra
paragraph which you do not need to use. (7 points)
Aboriginal Art
I had been admiring the works of French Post- Impressionists Gauguin and Bonnard at the Art Gallery of
New South Wales in Sydney, when I wandered away from the main exhibit - and into another world.
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I found myself in front of a slab of bark, tall as a man. On it was painted a serpent, with the head of a
crocodile, its eyes glaring malevolently like the embers of a dying fire. The image radiated a raw
strength, quite different from the gilt-framed European paintings down the hall.

86._G_____________________
However, just as this art gains international recognition - galleries like noted dealer Rebecca Hossack’s
in London are drawing enthusiastic visitors - its time- honoured traditions are in danger of disappearing.
“It’s mostly just the old men who paint on bark in the true way,” says Rebecca. “Men like 60-year-old
Thompson Yulidjirri, one of the finest bark painters alive. Their old ways could soon be lost for ever.”

87.___A___________________
At the end of the red, dusty runway, a slight, white-bearded man greets me after we land. He wears only
a broad smile and skimpy shorts; ceremonial scars circle his ebony chest. “Welcome,” he says. “I am
Yulidjirri.” Though Australian law forbids entry into Arnhem Land to anyone not invited by the
inhabitants, Thompson Yulidjirri has permitted me to be among the few outsiders to see him create a
bark from scratch. I must be patient, and wait for the following day.

88.___F___________________

"Why not take the bark from one of these trees?” I ask as we pass a grove of woollybutt eucalyptus.
“The Creators said that it can only be taken from the stringy bark,” he explains. Aborigines believe that
when the Creator Spirits roamed Arnhem Land at the beginning of time, they set a strict code of
behaviour. Known by most Australians as the Dreamtime, it’s called Djang, or The Law, by tribesmen,
and its commandments are as rigid as biblical dictates.

89.___H___________________

At last he stops at a perfectly straight stringy bark, cuts into the trunk and feels the oozing sap with his
fingers. “This one,” he murmurs.. Yulidjirri cuts out a six-foot by three-foot section, then tears away the
inch-thick covering as if peeling an orange. “That was the easiest part,” he says. “The rest of it takes
weeks.” Back at his home, Yulidjirri sits on the grass outside, trimming the edges with his curved bush
knife. For the rest of the afternoon, he patiently planes the moist yellow inside of the bark.

90.___C___________________

The next day we wade across a creek, then battle up a slope to a sacred cave. When my eyes grow
accustomed to the gloom, the hair rises on the back of my neck. On the back wall, wrapped in paper bark
and pushed into a recess, is a skull, stark-white in the gloom. “It’s the burial place of ancestors,”
Yulidjirri j says. The themes of his paintings have powerful spiritual significance: his pictures represent
tales of the Creator heroes, from the beginning of time, handed down through his ancestors’ paintings.
Yulidjirri has come to % the cave for inspiration.

91.____B__________________

Meanwhile the bark has dried and is now bone-hard. Yulidjirri can begin painting. First, to make the
brush, he deftly cuts off a piece of discarded bark the size of his hand, then chops energetically at one
edge to fray it like the bristles of a brush. Like all Kunwinjku painters, Yulidjirri uses four natural
pigments - red and yellow ochre, white clay and charcoal. He then grinds a chunk of red ochre on a flat
rock, mixing the small pile of dust with water and a fixing agent. He colours the entire bark with swift
strokes of red, which represent blood, the painter’s life source.

92.____E__________________

By nightfall a black crocodile more than three feet long has come alive on the bark. A goanna lizard
perches above its head. Floating round it are canoes and water birds. It depicts an important Creation

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 myth that Yulidjirri inherited from his ancestors. “No one can paint this story without my permission' he
says. “When I was a child, if a man painted someone else’s story, he’d be killed.” He paints more than
15 stories about Creation and has the right to paint many plants and animals.

A Two thousand feet above the forests of Arnhem Land, where a few hundred Aborigines of the
Kunwinjku tribe inhabit thousands of square miles of wilderness, our six-seater Cessna approaches
Mamadawerre, a tiny settlement some 190 miles east of Darwin. A landscape of sandstone hills and lush,
forested valley stretches below.

B Yulidjirri sketches the basic shape of the crocodile with the jet-black paint. Hours pass and the sun
beats down pitilessly, but the painter is lost in « concentration, sometimes putting aside the brush to
visualise the composition.

C Finally he rubs the surface vigorously with fig leaves; their prickly texture is as effective as fine
sandpaper. As the sun drops below the jungle I line, Yulidjirri places four stones at the bark’s corners to
ensure it stays flat when it dries.

D The tale is about two brothers who want to cross | the ocean to an island but arrive to find others have
taken their canoes. Angry, they dive into the water and overturn them. The men paddling the canoes
emerge as the first water birds, while the brothers transform themselves into the first salt-water crocodile
and goanna.

E On a boulder near the entrance is a 12-foot-long picture of a salt-water crocodile - a much-used motif
in Aboriginal art. It’s painted in the X-ray style unique to western Arnhem Land. Clearly visible are the
monster’s heart, liver, stomach and spine. Yulidjirri sits cross-legged, closes his eyes and murmurs the
words of a Kunwinjku song. Eventually he stirs and says, I’ll paint a Kinga like the one on the rock.”

F That night, as I lie on a bunk, I listen to the monsoonal rain drumming on the roof. I’m woken at
sunrise by the cackle of kookaburras in a gum tree outside my window. “We’ll fetch the bark now, while
it’s cool,” Yulidjirri says. Smoke rises from an outdoor fireplace as we head out of the settlement and
into the monsoon forest. The air is so laden with moisture it seems to sweat.

G Australian Aborigines began to make these extraordinary paintings thousands of years ago. The art is
still created today in the remotest reaches of Arnhem Land in northern Australia. “They have a startling,
powerful quality,” says Edmund Capon, the gallery’s director. “It’s as if they’ve come from the dawn of
time.”

H After three hours we are among giant stringy bark trees that obscure the sun, creating a cathedral-like
gloom. “I’ve been coming here since my father showed me this place as a child,” Yulidjirri says. “My
ancestors have been coming here for thousands of years.” Yulidjirri peers at each tree. “That’s no good,”
he says. “Termites.” Another is studded with knots as thick as a fist. Again he shakes his head.

Part 5. The passage below consists of five sections marked A-E. For questions 84-95, read the
passage and do the task that follows. Write your answers (A-E) in the corresponding numbered
boxes provided. (18 points)
Sound The Alarm
Stuart Hams reports
Many of us listen to the radio when we get up in the morning and most of us also require some external
means to persuade us to get out of bed. Thus we have the clock radio. But how do you pick a good one?
Our panel, which consisted of myself plus the inventor Tom Granger and the broadcaster Paul Bridges,
tested five currently available.

A The ‘dual alarm function’ that is advertised with this model does not allow you, as I first supposed, to
be woken by the buzzer, snooze a while and then finally be driven out of bed. The instruction booklet
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advises you to use this function to set two different wake-up times, one for work days and one for
weekends, but whose life is programmed to this extent?
Since this model costs more or less the same as the second model tested, the inclusion of a cassette player
is quite a bargain - you can fall asleep to your own soothing tapes and wake up to a day without news. We
all thought the quality of the radio excellent, too - if only the whole thing was smaller. It’s as big as a
rugby ball. Paul Bridges said, ‘any clock radio I buy has to leave enough space on the bedside table for my
keys, wallet, glasses and telephone. Anyway, I’m completely paranoid and always book a wake-up call in
case the alarm doesn’t go off.’

B This model was voted best in the beauty stakes and overall winner. Paul Bridges declared himself ‘in
love with it’, although the clock on the one he tested ‘kept getting stuck at 16.00’. I was fascinated by the
digital display, with its classy grey numbers on a gentle green background. The wide snooze bar means
you can tap it on the edge with your eyes shut. Unfortunately, the pebbles on the beach encouraged me to
run my fingers over them as if they were keys on a piano, which proved my undoing when I finally looked
at the 80-page instruction booklet.
The clock has a self-power back-up so you don’t have to reset it if someone unceremoniously pulls the
plug out in order to use a hairdryer or the vacuum cleaner; this met with unanimous approval. However,
we all found it a technical feat to set-up - though completing the learning curve made us feel ‘cool’ and
sophisticated.

C Tom Granger described this model with its extra built-in lamp as ‘unbelievably tacky’ in the way it’s
made. ‘You have to wrench the funny light out of its socket to get it to work, which makes me wonder
about the quality of the rest of it.’ He complained that he had to read the instruction booklet twice before
he could get it to work; the clock kept leaping from 12.00 to 02.00 so he had to go round again.
The light was certainly hard to position; you would never be able to read by it - it only shines on the clock,
which is illuminated anyway. Paul Bridges said he was ‘very tickled’ by the lamp idea but agreed that the
radio was hard to tune. The buzzer is reminiscent of ‘action stations’ on a submarine and made me feel
like hurling the whole thing across the bedroom. Interestingly, however, this model is the third most
popular on the market.

D Clearly aimed at young people, with its brightly- coloured casing and matching bootlace strap, this one
appealed to the child in Tom Granger and me. ‘I would choose this one because it doesn’t disappear into
the background like the others,’ he said. In fact, the traditional design of the controls made it the only one
we managed to set up without reading the instruction booklet. Too bad the alarm is allowed a hilarious 20-
minute margin for error; the manual notes, ‘the alarm may sound about 10 minutes earlier or later than the
pre-set time.’ Paul Bridges scoffed at such a notion, adding that this model was ‘terribly fiddly’ and,
indeed, ‘completely useless’.
E The simplest and cheapest of all the models tested, this scored points with Tom Granger because it
‘seemed very standard and took up little space’, but also because it has old-fashioned dial tuning. ‘It’s
more intuitive to set up. With modern push-button tuning you’re never really sure if you’ve pressed all the
buttons in the right order so you can’t have confidence that the thing will actually work.’ He accepted,
however, that manufacturers had been obliged to improve the quality of radios because of the advent of
button-tuning. I thought the tuning rather crude, as did Paul Bridges, but we agreed that the radio quality
was fine. The buzzer on this model certainly works; it succeeded in getting me out of bed in just two
beeps!

In which section(s) of the text are the following mentioned?

93.a tester admitting that he did not trust any type of alarm clock A

94. a tester later regretting having touched the controls B

95. a tester approving of a model because of its conspicuous appearance B

96. the testers being able to operate the model without reference to the manual D

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97. a tester’s praise for a model despite the existence of a technical fault B

98. doubts about the reliability of a model because of the design of an additional feature A

99. the testers feeling positive about their success in getting the model to work C

100. doubts about whether anyone would wish to follow certain instructions from the manual A

101. an explanation of why companies had started to make better radios E

102. the intended market for the model being apparent from its design D

103. a tester realising that he had drawn the wrong conclusion about a particular feature C

104. the testers agreeing on the usefulness of a particular feature E

IV. WRITING (60 points)
Part 1: Read the following article and use your own words to summarize it. Your summary should
be between 100 and 120 words long. You MUST NOT copy the original.

Many scientists believe that dolphins are very intelligent creatures because dolphins have large brains,
show intelligent behavior, and are creative. All of these factors make dolphins very compelling animals
for scientists to study. Some scientists believe that by studying dolphins, they can learn how humans
became such intelligent animals.
Dolphins’ brains are quite large compared to other animals. In fact, their brains are bigger than humans’ if
you consider their weight. However, if you look at the weight of the brain compared to overall body size,
then humans have slightly larger brains. Compared to chimpanzees, which are also considered intelligent
animals and which many people believe are related to humans, a bottle-nosed dolphin’s brain is four times
larger. One part of an animal’s brain, the cerebral cortex, is 40% larger in dolphins than in humans. This is
an area of the brain that many scientists believe that much complex thinking occurs.
The complex behavior of dolphins shows that they are very intelligent. For example, they usually swim in
small groups of six to twelve individuals. Researchers believe that the dolphins can recognize one another
in their groups. Some scientists in Scotland have shown that two or three dolphins often make strong
bonds with one another, similar to human’s making close friendships. In addition, dolphins work together
as a unit to help one another survive and live well. When a shark approaches, the dolphins move together
at the exact same time to avoid the threat. Some scientists even believe that they make clicking sounds to
warn one another. They seem to work well together and are always aware of their surroundings, which
people often are not. Dolphins are also exceptional because of their creativity. An American scientist
named Karen Pryor performed an experiment on captive dolphins to learn how creative they are. The
dolphins had been taught tricks, but Pryor wanted to see if she could make them act creatively. For
instance, if they performed their tricks in an original way, they were rewarded with extra fish. When the
dolphins performed the same tricks they had done before, they were not rewarded. The dolphins learned
after awhile that they would be rewarded for doing original tricks, so they started doing more and more
original and creative ones. Pryor measured the amount of time it took the dolphins to learn what was
wanted of them. Afterwards, she tried an experiment where people were taught simple tricks and they
were rewarded for doing the tricks originally. Interestingly, it took the humans about the same amount of
time as it took the dolphins to learn what was wanted of them.

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Part 2.
The tables below give information about sales of Fairtrade-labelled tea and pineapples in 2010
and 2015 in five European countries.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons
where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
Sales of Fairtrade-labelled tea and pineapples (2010 & 2015)

*Fairtrade: a category of products for which farmers from developing countries have been paid
an officially agreed fair price.

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Part 3.  Write an essay about the following topic:
Gaming has become a popular e-sport and has been included in some regional and international
sports events. Some people advocate this, claiming that there is almost no risk of injury with e-sports;
others are worried that the increasing popularity of competitive gaming tournaments may exacerbate
video game addiction among young people.
Write an essay of about 350 words to present your opinion on this issue. Give reasons and specific
examples to support your position.

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V.Speaking
Some people believe that unpaid community service should be a compulsory part of high school
programs (for example working for a charity, working for a neighborhood or teaching English for
young children). What is your opinion?
You have 5 minutes to sketch out what you are going to say.
You should prepare notes instead of full sentences and try to SPEAK as naturally as possible.
Your talking time should not exceed 5 minutes. Good luck!

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