SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐỀ THI CHỌN ĐỘI TUYỂN HỌC SINH GIỎI QUỐC GIA

ĐẮK NÔNG NĂM HỌC 2019 – 2020

MÔN: TIẾNG ANH
Thời gian: 180 phút, (không kể thời gian phát đề)
ĐỀ CHÍNH THỨC
(Đề thi gồm có 14 trang, thí sinh làm bài trực tiếp vào đề)

I. LISTENING (5.0 points)

Part 1: Complete the following form using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER.

SHORT STAY ACCOMMODATION

Family name: Mackinlay Number of tenants: (4) ……………………
First name: (1) ……………………
Length of stay: 2 weeks
Country of origin: (2) ……………………
Purpose of visit: (5) ……………………
Date of Arrival: (3) ……………………
Part 2: You will hear a guide speaking to tourists who are visiting some Romans remains. Listen and
give short answers to the questions. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER
taken from the recording.
6. When did the Romans first come to the Corbridge area?
………………………………………………………………………
7. Why did the Romans built a series of forts and strongholds?
………………………………………………………………………
8. What did people begin to search for in 1201?
………………………………………………………………………
9. How often have archaeological digs taken place since 1934?
………………………………………………………………………
10. What are the two things that visitors should pay attention to?
………………………………………………………………………
Part 3: Holt is talking about the influence of the family on a child's personality. For questions 14-18,
choose the correct answer A, B, C or D.
14. In Kate's opinion, what accounts for personality differences between siblings?
A. Every person is born with a nature which is unique.
B. Each child is exposed to a unique set of experiences.
C. Children are influenced by people from outside the family.
D. Parents adopt varying approaches to child-rearing over time.

15. Kate says that, compared to younger siblings, the oldest child in a family will often ______
A. be under greater pressure to do well in life. B. receive more parental love and affection.
C. develop a more cautious personality. D. become more ambitious in later life.

16. What docs Kate describe as the typical traits of younger siblings?
A. They tend to be less successful in academic subjects.
B. They tend to be closer to their father than their mother.
C. Their main priority is to establish a distinctive identity.
D. Their interests often closely reflect those of their parents.

17. According to Kate, the extent to which a child is affected by the birth of a younger sibling depends
on________
A. the personality of that sibling. B. how close the children are in age.
C. the number of children in the family. D. how the parents deal with any problems.

18. In Kate's view, a child will go on to develop successful adult relationships if it ______
A. inherits certain social skills. B. is taught to control its emotions.
C. is cared for by a variety of people. D. has a good model of behaviour to follow.
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 ĐỀ THI CHỌN ĐỘI TUYỂN HỌC SINH GIỎI QUỐC GIA
NĂM HỌC 2019 – 2020
18. While some physical effects like _____________________________________ may be obvious, some
specialists say it’s just the tip of the iceberg.

19. Once the virus impacts pregnancy in the seventh or eighth month, there can be other consequences
such as visual and auditory impairments, or even _____________________________________.

20. ___________________________________ is the zika virus, transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitos.

21. With the health system already under strain, Brazil had the _______________________________ for
big sets of global events like this year’s Olympic Games.

22. While some countries have issued some __________________________________, the real question is
whether Brazil itself can cope with the scale of the zika outbreak.

23. Right on the edge of the Olympic park, open sewage and lots of stagnant waters seems to be _______
________________________

24. All the authorities have so far said they might do is _______________________________the areas in
the run-up to the Games.”

25. With ____________________________________ of public sanitation and a critical year ahead, this is
developing into a major public health crisis.

II. LEXICO-GRAMMAR (2.0 points)

Part 1: For questions 26-40, choose the correct answer A, B, C or D to each of the following
questions.
26. Mike decided that election to the local council would provide a …………… to a career in national
politics.
A. milestone B. springboard (provide a springboard to st: tạo bước đà, bước dậm nhảy cho mọi hđ
về sau) C. highway D. turning point

27. As a poet, I think she …………… comparison with the greatest this century.
A. stands ( to bear/stand comparision with: có thể sánh với) B. makes C.
leads D. matches

28. The party was already …………… by the time we arrived. Everyone was singing and dancing.
A. under the cloud B. over the moon C. up in the air D. in full swing sôi động

29. My uncle pulled a few …………… and got me a job in the company where he works. .
A. chords B. threads C. ropes
D. strings (pull a few strings: dùng sự ảnh hưởng của mình đối với những người quan trọng để có được
một cái gì đó hoặc giúp đỡ người khác (dùng quyền lực để làm gì đó)

30. People suffered many hardships during the years of …………… after the war.
A. severity B. austerity thắt lưng buộc bụng C. sobriety D.
integrity

31. After congratulating his team, the coach left, allowing the players to …………… their hair down for a
while.
A. put B. get C. let D. take
32. The question of peace settlement is likely to figure …………… in the talks.
A. prominently B. prolifically C. proportionately D. properly
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33. I thought I had made it ……… that I didn’t want to discuss this matter any more.
A. frank B. distinct C. plain D. straight

34. I went to see the boss about a pay rise and he ……………. With a weak excuse about a business dinner
and left me standing there.
A. brushed me asideB. brushed me up C. brush me off (dismiss someone or something in an abrupt
way) D. brushed me down

35. She was very fortunate to ……………. an excellent private tutor to help her with her study.
A. think through (to carefully consider the possible results of doing something
B. seek out (to look for someone or something, especially for a long time until you find him, her, or it)
C. pick up
D. light upon (to find or think of something unexpectedly)

36. 100,000 people are expected to ___________________ on the town for the festival.
A. converse B. conjoin C. convene (come or D. converge (If lines,
(engage in bring together for a roads, or paths
conversation) meeting or activity; converge, they move
assemble) towards the same
point where they join
or meet)

37. It is an ___________________ fact that rape makes a good news story.

A. unmanageable B. inedible C. indigestible D. unpalatable (An
unpalatable fact or
idea is unpleasant or
shocking and
therefore difficult to
accept)

38. The ___________________ president faces problems which began many years before he took office.
A. accomplished B. incumbent C. artificial D. administrative
(officially having the
named position)

39. The ___________________ of this year's graduates have gone abroad for jobs.
A. caviar B. top C. cream D. forth

Part 2: For questions 9-13, write the correct form of each bracketed word in the space provided.
For questions 40-45, 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.

Your answer
The (0. DOMESTIC) cat, more commonly referred to 0. domesticated
as the house cat, is the smallest member of the
extensive feline family. Like their wild cousins, house 40. CHARACTERISTICALLY
cats (40. CHARACTER) _______have streamlined
bodies, classically shaped skulls, elongated tails and
specially evolved teeth and claws.
All of these physical attributes contribute to the 41. CARNIVOROUS
potency of the cat as a (41. CARNIVORE) _______
predator. House cats, like their larger relatives found 42. AGILITY
in the wild, are renowned for their acute sense of
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balance, amazing (42. AGILE) _______and lithe,
graceful movements. 43. HIBITUALLY
In contrast to man’s best friend the dog, cats are not
considered to be social animals in the sense that they 44. CREATURES
have never (43. HABIT) _______ travelled in packs
or adopted leaders. Dogs, on the other hand, which
have always been social (44. CREATE)________,
seem to have been better suited for the fireside hearth
as they readily transferred their allegiance from the 45. SELF-RELIANT
leader of the canine pack to their human master.
This interesting fact may offer an answer as to why
cats appear to be so much more independent and (45.
RELY) _______ than dogs. Dog owners often cite
the cat’s innate aloofness as adequate reason for their
own personal pet preference

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 III. READING (5.0 points)
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.

From Royalist to Republican

Erskine Childers was not what you would call your (46) ___AVARAGE____ Irish freedom fighter. A
Briton by birth, and a proud (47) ___ONE____ at that – for most of the early years of his life, Childers was
a decorated soldier of the British Admiralty (48) ___WHO____ had demonstrated unwavering
commitment and loyalty to both king and country. And yet, somewhere along the way, disillusionment
(49) __SET_____ in.

While it is difficult to pinpoint the precise moment when doubt started to creep into Childers' mind (50)
___AS____ to whether his loyalty was misguided, what was essentially a complete philosophy shift - a
total realignment of ideals - did occur. Childers went from (51) __BEING_____ a royalist to a staunch
nationalist, obsessed with the cause of Irish freedom.

He befriended the (52) LIKES_______ of Eamon DeVelera and Michael Collins, key figures in the Irish
Republican camp, and even went so far as to ship illegal armaments to the leaders of the ill-fated Easter
Rising of 1916, which was easily put (53) _DOWN______ by the British army.

Later, he would fight on the side of the Irish rebels in the War of Independence, (54) _UNTIL______ an
uneasy truce was agreed between Britain and Ireland. Eventually, a treaty was signed partitioning the
country. For Childers, by now totally devoted to the cause of Irish freedom and the notion of a united
Ireland, partition was (55) __TOO_____ bitter a pill to swallow.

Your answers:
46. 47. 48. 49. 50.
51. 52. 53. 54. 55.

Part 2: Read the following passage and do the tasks that follow.
Caffeine
Almost 200 years ago, a young German chemist named Friedrich Ferdinand Runge isolated a
molecule from coffee beans; he named the substance kaffein. Today, scientists are still studying the
properties of this bitter, white powder. More than sixty plants are known to produce caffeine, whose
pungent taste helps protect them from insect predators.
Caffeine is probably the most widely used drug in the world. Humans have been consuming
caffeine for hundreds of years, primarily in the form of coffee, tea, and cocoa. Today, it is also added to
soft drinks and energy drinks and is a component of some over-the-counter medications. Many of the
world’s people, including children, ingest it in some form daily.
The body absorbs caffeine in less than an hour, and it remains in the system for only a few hours,
passing from the gastrointestinal tract into the bloodstream within about ten minutes and circulating to
other organs, including the brain. Caffeine molecules are small and soluble in fat, properties that allow
them to pass through a protective shield known as the blood-brain barrier and directly target the central
nervous system.
Caffeine acts on the body in many ways, some of them probably still unknown. However, caffeine
accomplishes its principal action as a stimulant by inhibiting adenosine, a chemical that binds to receptors
on nerve cells and slows down their activity. Caffeine binds to the same receptors, robbing adenosine of
the ability to do its job and leaving caffeine free to stimulate nerve cells, which in turn release epinephrine
(also known as adrenaline), a hormone that increases heart rate and blood pressure, supplies an energy
boost, and in general makes people feel good.
For all its popularity, caffeine retains a somewhat negative image. It is, after all, a mildly habit-
forming stimulant that has been linked to nervousness and anxiety and that causes insomnia. It affects most
of the body’s major organs. Recent research casts doubt on the magnitude of many of these seemingly
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undesirable effects and even suggests that a daily dose of caffeine may reduce the risk of some chronic
diseases, while providing short-term benefits as well.
Daily caffeine consumption has been associated with lowered incidence of type II diabetes,
Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease. How caffeine works to thwart diabetes, a condition
characterized by high levels of glucose in the blood, remains unknown, but glucose tolerance or more
efficient glucose metabolism may be involved. Parkinson’s disease, a central nervous system disorder that
causes tremor and joint stiffness, is linked to insufficient amounts of a substance called dopamine in the
brain. Caffeine may interact with brain cells that produce dopamine and help maintain a steady supply. The
role of caffeine in Alzheimer’s disease, which damages the brain and causes memory loss and confusion,
may be related to a problem in the blood-brain barrier, possibly a contributor in Alzheimer’s, if not the
major cause. Caffeine has been found to protect the barrier against disruption resulting from high levels of
cholesterol.
Habitual coffee and tea drinkers had long been observed to have a lower incidence of non-
melanoma skin cancers, although no one knew why. A recent study found that caffeine affects skin cells
damaged by ultraviolet radiation, a main cause of skin cancer. Caffeine interferes with a protein that
cancerous cells need to survive, leaving the damaged cells to die before they become cancerous. Drinking
caffeinated coffee has also been associated with a decreased incidence of endometrial cancer— that is,
cancer of the cells lining the uterus. The strongest effect appears to be in overweight women, who are at
greatest risk for the disease. Researchers believe blood sugar, fat cells, and estrogen may play a role.
Although the mechanism remains unknown, people who drink more than two cups of coffee or tea a day
reportedly have about half the risk of developing chronic liver disease as those who drink less than one cup
of coffee daily; caffeinated coffee has also been associated with lowered risk of cirrhosis and liver cancer.
While many of caffeine’s undesirable effects, such as elevated heart rate and blood pressure, are
brief, some short-term benefits, including pain relief, increased alertness, and increased physical
endurance, have also been attributed to caffeine. As a component of numerous over-the-counter diet pills
and pain relievers, caffeine increases their effectiveness and helps the body absorb them more quickly. By
constricting blood vessels in the brain, it can alleviate headaches— even migraines—and can help counter
the drowsiness caused by antihistamines.
Caffeine does not alter the need for sleep, but it does offer a temporary solution to fatigue for
people who need to stay alert. Research has shown that sleep-deprived individuals who consumed caffeine
had improved memory and reasoning abilities, at least in the short term. Studies of runners and cyclists
have shown that caffeine can improve their stamina—hence its addition to energy-boosting sports drinks.
People who consume a lot of caffeine regularly may develop temporary withdrawal symptoms,
headache being the most common, if they quit or cut back on it abruptly. Fortunately, these symptoms last
only a day or two in most cases. Individuals who are more sensitive to the stimulatory side effects of caf-
feine may want to avoid it, but most doctors agree that the equivalent of three cups of coffee a day does not
harm healthy people. There is no medical basis to give up daily caffeine and many reasons to include a
moderate amount in one’s diet.
Questions 56-64. Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage? Put a
tick (V) in the corresponding column provided.
TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN
x
56. Before 200 years ago, people did not drink coffee regularly.
x
57. Children generally do not consume caffeine.
x
58. The nervous system is affected by caffeine.
x
59. Caffeine causes the heart to beat faster.
x
60. Caffeine can be addictive.
x
61. Alzheimer’s disease may be caused in part by caffeine
consumption.

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 x
62. Drinking coffee can help protect against some skin cancers.
x
63. Caffeine may increase the incidence of endometrial cancer.
x
64. Caffeine can help some medications work faster.

Questions 65 -68. Write the correct letter A, B, or C in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.
65. Caffeine is used to treat …..
A. high blood pressure B. liver cancer C. headaches
66. Some athletes use caffeine to …….
A. increase their endurance. B. improve their speed. C. maintain their alertness.

67. Symptoms of caffeine withdrawal

A. can become an ongoing problem. B. may last as long as a week. C. are usually short-lived.

68. Drinking three cups of coffee a day

A. may be recommended by a doctor. B. will probably not cause problems. C. is harmful to the health.
Your answers
65. 66. 67. 68.

Part 3: For questions 69-75, you are going to read an extract from a book about India. Seven
paragraphs have been removed from the extract. Choose from paragraphs A-H the one which fits
each gap. There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use.

One evening, by the light of an electric bulb we sat out with the villagers in the main street of a 'model
village' of the command area. The street was unpaved, and the villagers, welcoming us, had quickly spread
cotton rugs on the ground that had been softened by the morning's rain, half hardened by the afternoon's
heat, and then trampled and manured by the village cattle returning at dusk. The women had withdrawn,
we were left with the men and, until the rain came roaring in again, we talked.

69. C
The problems of the irrigation project the commissioner was directing were not only those of salinity or the
ravines or land leveling. The problem as he saw it, was the remaking of men. And this was not simply
making men want something; it meant in the first place, bringing them back from the self-wounding and
the special waste that come with an established destitution.

70. A
But if in this model village - near Kotah Town, which was fast industrializing - there had been some
movement, Bundi, the next day, seemed to take us backward. Bundi and Kotah; to me, until this trip, they
had only been beautiful names, the names of related but distinct schools of Rajasthan painting. The artistic
glory of Bundi had come first in the late seventeenth century.

71. G
Old wars; bravely fought but usually little more had been at stake other than the honor and local glory of
one particular prince. The fortifications were now useless, the palace was empty. One dark, dusty room
had old photographs and remnants of Victorian bric-a-brac. The small formal garden in the courtyard was
in decay; and the mechanical, decorative nineteenth century Bundi murals around the courtyard had faded
to blues and yellows and greens. In the inner rooms, hidden from the sun, brighter colors survived, and
some panels were exquisite. But it all awaited ruin.

72. D

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Their mock aggressiveness and mock exasperation held little of real despair or rebellion. It was a ritual
show of deference to authority, a demonstration of their complete dependence on authority. The
commissioner smiled and listened and heard them all; and their passion faded.

73. H
They were far removed from the commissioner's anxieties, from his vision of what could be done with
their land. They were, really, at peace with the world they knew. Like the woman in whose yard we sat.
She was friendly, she had dragged out string beds for us from her little brick hut; but her manner was
slightly supercilious. There was a reason. She was happy, she considered herself blessed. She had had
three sons, and she glowed with that achievement.

74. E
Men had retreated to their last, impregnable defences: their knowledge of who they were, their
unshakeable place in the scheme of things; and this knowledge was like their knowledge of the seasons.
Rituals marked the passage of each day, rituals marked every stage of a man's life. Life itself had been
turned to ritual; and everything beyond this complete and sanctified world was vain and phantasmal.

75. B
But to those who embraced its philosophy of distress, India also offered an enduring security, its
equilibrium. Only India with its great past, its civilization, its philosophy, and its almost holy poverty,
offered this truth; India was the truth. And India, for all its surface terrors, could be proclaimed, without
disingenuousness or cruelty, as perfect. Not only by pauper but by prince.

The missing paragraphs:

A. We were, as the commissioner said, among men who until recently, cut only the very tops of sugar cane
and left the rest of the plant, the substance of the crop, to rot. So the present concern, here in the model
village, about fertilisers and yields was an immeasurable advance.

B. Kingdoms, empires, projects like the commissioner's; they had come and gone. The monuments of
ambition and restlessness littered the land, so many of them abandoned or destroyed, so many unfinished,
the work of dynasties suddenly supplanted. India taught the vanity of all action; and the visitor could be
appalled by the waste, and by all that now appeared to threaten the commissioner's enterprise.

C. So handsome, these men of Rajasthan, so self-possessed; it took time to understand that their concerns
were limited. The fields, water, crops, cattle: that was where concern began and ended. They were a model
village, and so they considered themselves. There was little more that they needed, and I began to see my
own ideas of village improvement as fantasies. Nothing beyond food - and survival - had, as yet, become
an object of ambition.

D. All vitality had been sucked up into that palace on the hill; and now vitality had gone out of Bundi. It
showed in the rundown town on the hillside below the palace; it showed in the fields; it showed in the
people, more beaten down than at Kotah Town just sixty miles away, less amenable to the commissioner's
ideas, and more full of complaints. They complained even when they had no cause; and it seemed that they
complained because they felt it was expected of them.

E. All the chivalry of Rajasthan had been reduced here to nothing. The palace was empty; the petty wars of
princes had been absorbed into legend and could no longer be dated. All that remained was what the visitor
could see: small poor fields, ragged men, huts, monsoon mud. But in that very abjectness lay security.
Where the world had shrunk, and ideas of human possibility had become extinct, the world could be seen
as complete.

F. The Prince's state, or what had been his state, was wretched; just the palace and the peasants. The
developments in which he had invested hadn't yet begun to show. In the morning, in the rain, I saw young
child labourers using their hands alone to shovel gravel onto a water logged path. Groundnuts were the
only source of protein here; but the peasants preferred to sell their crop, and the children were stunted.
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G. And after the flat waterlogged fields, pallid paddy thinning out at times to marshland, after the
desolation of the road from Kotah, the flooded ditches, the occasional cycle-rickshaw, the damp groups of
bright-turbaned peasants waiting for the bus, Bundi Castle on its hill was startling, its great walls like the
work of giants, the extravagant creation of men who had once had much to defend.

H. Later we sat with the 'village level' workers in the shade of a small tree in a woman's yard. These
officials were the last in the chain of command; on them much of the success of the scheme depended.
There had been evidence during the morning's tour that they hadn't all been doing their jobs. But they were
not abashed; instead, sitting in a line on a string bed, dressed like officials in trousers and shirts, they spoke
of their need for promotion and status.

Part 4: For questions 76-85, read the following passage and choose the best answer A, B, C or D for
each question. Write your answers in the space provided.
Getting a life - the state of biography today
During a decade in which the British publishing industry was finally obliged to make watchful friends with
business, biography has line-managed the cultural transition beautifully. The best biographies still brim
with scholarship but they also sell in their thousands. Readers - ordinary ones with birthday presents to get,
book vouchers to spend and rainy holidays to fill - love buying books about the life and times of their
favorite people. Every year before Christmas, a lorry load of brick-thick biographies appears on the
suggestion table in bookshops.
That biography has done so well is thanks to fiction's vacation of middle-ground, that place where
authorial and readerly desire just about match. Novels in the last ten years, unable to claim the attention of
the common reader, have dispersed across several registers, with the high ground still occupied by those
literary novels which continue to play with post-modern concerns about the narrator's impotence, the
narrator's fibs and the hero's failure to actually exist.
Biography, by contrast, has until recently shown no such unsettling humility. At its heart lies the biological
plot, the birth-to-death arc with triumphs and children, perhaps a middle-aged slump or late-flowering
dotted along the way. Pages of footnotes peg this central story, this actual life, into a solid, teeming
context. Here was a man or woman who wrote letters, had friends, ate breakfast and smelt a certain way.
The process of being written about rematerialises the subject on the page. Writing a life becomes a way of
reaffirming that life itself endures.
Until now, that is. Recently biography has started to display all the quivering self-scrutiny which changed
the face of fiction twenty years ago. Exhaustion now characterises the genre. All the great lives have been
done. But there are ways of proceeding. Ian Hamilton was the pioneer who failed to find J.D. Salinger.
Five years later, Janet Malcolm's study of Sylvia Plath, The Silent Woman, brilliantly exposed the way in
which academics and biographers stalk and hunt one another around the globe in a bid to possess and
devour their subject.
The latest in this tradition of books about writing - or not writing - biography is Geoff Dyer's Out of Sheer
Range, in which he plots his failure to get started on a study of D.H. Lawrence. Dyer describes every
delaying trick familiar to biographers: lugging heavy editions of letters on holiday and then not bothering
to unpack; having a motorcycle accident (an extreme prevarication, but preferable to staring at a blank
screen); and finally forcing himself to reread the subject's novels without any pleasure. 'Footstepping' is the
new word to describe this approach; ‘life-writing' has become the favoured term on university courses. In
the wrong hands, it can become 'so-whatish'. Writers less accomplished then Dyer, Hamilton or Malcolm
could be accused of annexing some of their subjects' clout to get mediocre work into print.
The second approach is to write a partial biography, to take a moment or a strand in the subject’s life and
follow it through without any claims for completeness. This year Ian Hamilton entered the biographical
arena again with a slim, sharp examination of why Mathew Arnold stopped writing good poetry once he
took up his job as a school inspector. Earlier, Lyndall Gordon's A Private Life of Henry Jams tracked the
great man through his odd relationship with two of his female muses. Far from claiming to displace Leon
Edel's 'definitive' biography of James, Gordon's book hovered over it, reconfiguring the material into a new
and crisper pattern.
The final tack is to move away from a single, life altogether, and look at the places where it encounters
other events. Dava Sobel's best-selling Longitude puts a cultural puzzle at the heart of her story and read
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human lives against it. Sebastien Junger’s The Perfect Storm, meanwhile, makes the weather its subject,
placing the seamen who encounter it into second place. No longer able to demonstrate a human life
shaping its destiny, biographers have been obliged to subordinate their subjects to an increasingly detailed
context.
Biography will survive its jitters, but it will emerge looking and sounding different. Instead of the huge
doorstops of the early 1990s, which claimed to be 'definitive' while actually being undiscriminating, we
will see a series of pared-down, sharpened up 'studies’. Instead of speaking in a booming, pedagogic voice,
the new biography will ask the reader to decide. Consuming this new biography may not be such a cozy
experience, but it will bring us closer than ever to the real feeling of being alive.
76. What is the 'cultural transition' referred to?
A. the scholarship exemplified in the best biographies B. the change in taste among ordinary readers
C. the rising importance of sales figures in publishing D. the range of books available for purchase

77. In the second paragraph, what explanation is given for the current interest in biography?
A. the range of subject matter in novels B. the failure of fiction to appeal to the average reader
C. the choice of unsuitable main characters in novels D. the lack of skill of certain novelists

78. The word “impotence” in paragraph 2 could best be replaced by _______.

A. feebleness B. infantilism C. coarseness D. inventiveness

79. What contrast does the writer draw between literary novels and biography?
A. Biography has dealt with more straightforward issues.
B. Literary novels have presented a different type of truth.
C. Biography has described a longer period in a person's life.
D. Literary novels have been written in a more universal style,

80. In describing the work of Dyer, the writer _______.

A. underestimates his difficulties. B. makes fun of his efforts,
C. acknowledges his expertise. D. is inspired by his achievements.

81. The word “annexing” in paragraph 5 could best be replaced by _______.

A. flirting B. seizing C. mastering D. covering

82. What is the writer’s opinion of ‘partial biography’?

A. It can provide new insights. B. It tends to remain inconclusive
C. It works when the subject is sufficiently interesting. D. It can detract from fuller studies.

83. What trend is exemplified by Longitude and The Perfect Storm?

A. the fact that readers like complex puzzles B. the lack of interest generated by single lives
C. the continuing sympathy towards human struggle D. the need to take account of the wider environment

84. What does the word “definitive” in the passage mostly mean?
A. tentative B. perfect C. prolific D. testified

85. Considering the future of biography, the writer anticipates ________.

A. a decline in the standard of biographical investigation. B. a greater challenge to the reading public.
C. an improvement in the tone adopted by biographers. D. the growth of a new readership for biography.

Part 5: You are going to read the transcript of a series of interviews with ordinary people conducted
for the Have your say feature of a daily newspaper. For Questions 86-95, choose from the people (A-
D). The people may be chosen more than once. Write your answer in the space provided.
Which person gives each of these opinions about the economic crisis? Your answers
A culture of trying to look for people to blame for our problems is what caused the 86. D
crisis in the first place.
People feel helpless to change the situation and this is reflected in their lack of 87. C
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interest in the political system.
It was glaringly obvious that the bottom would fall out of the housing market, not 88. D
just to experts but to everyone.
Some form of civil disturbance or protest by ordinary members of the public is 89. A
likely if the economic crisis continues.
It is very unfair that the people in finance who caused our economic problems 90. A
continue to be well-rewarded for their work while ordinary hard-working people
suffer.
Political parties should not receive funds from private sources but should instead be 91.B
entirely state-funded.
The highest earners should be required to pay more tax in order to generate more 92. B
revenue for the government.
The fact that some politicians tried to defraud the state by claiming more expenses 93. C
than they were due is evidence that corruption is widespread in our society.
There is very little difference in terms of policies between all of the main political 94. C
parties today.
We should stop trying to vilify bankers and take a more positive and proactive 95. D
approach to speed up the economic recovery.

Have your say ... on the Economic Crisis

A. Robert
I find it infuriating to reflect on the fact that bankers, at least the ones at the top, continue to be paid
huge sums of money every year and receive massive bonuses despite the fact that they are largely
responsible for the poor state of health of the economy, and let's not forget, the toughest and longest
recession since the l930s. I mean, where is the justice in that? While ordinary decent folk are losing their
jobs and struggling to put food on the table as a result of problems that are no fault of their own, the very
problem-makers themselves continue to earn big bucks. I wouldn't be surprised if there was an increase in
civil unrest in the coming months and years, especially if the economic crisis continues to hit ordinary
people hard. After all, if no one is going to look after their interests, they will have to start looking after
their own - don't be surprised to see protest marches in the near future, and where there are large groups of
unhappy people gathered together, there’s always a danger that the situation will descend into chaos. I
would never condone violence, but I think that the more desperate people get, the more I can empathize
with why they might resort to it. If you are a man who has been unemployed for over a year, and who has
to look on helplessly as his family disintegrates right before his very eyes, it must be awful - these people
need help.
B. Barbara
The solution to our problems is very simple and I blame the political system for it not having
happened already. Politicians, you see, are totally reliant on rich business people to bankroll their efforts to
get elected. Now, ask yourself this, why on earth would a businessperson donate money to a politician out
of the goodness of their heart? I mean, are we really so naive as to believe that that can actually happen.
Well, just in case, let me put you straight - it can't and it doesn't. The only reason businesspeople give
money to politicians is in return for favours when they get into power. And that's the problem. We have a
situation where the government doesn't have enough money to cover spending. The logical thing to do then
would be to increase taxes to generate more, and obviously this obligation to pay extra tax should fall on
those who earn the most - ah, but this is where we get into problem territory. You can't really expect
politicians to vote to increase the tax rate of those who support them financially. To do so would be risk
angering their backers and losing their support, putting the very careers of the politicians themselves in
jeopardy. Politicians clearly have a vested interest in maintaining low tax rates for the wealthy. The only
way we are ever going to create a situation where this is not so is if we ban all private donations to political
parties and fund them instead with money from the state's coffers. In the long run, it will work out less
expensive - just think of all the money that would be saved as a result of there being less corruption - we
might finally have politicians who focused on doing what's best for country rather than on trying to
prolong their political careers by doing favours for their 'buddies'.

C. Ned
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 It is not just the economy that is in crisis; it is the whole of society. The extent to which we have
lost hope is, I think, reflected in voter apathy. Every time there is an election now, the number of people
who turn out to vote is less and less. Surely this is a sign that people feel totally disenfranchised - pow-
erless to make a difference. But, more importantly, it is an indictment of our politicians and the extent to
which they have failed us. The people no longer see a point in voting as it won't make any real difference
either way. Besides, nowadays, all the main parties have centrist policies; the whole political system might
just as well join together into one big party and then we wouldn't even have to hold elections anymore.
People often complain about the bankers and how they acted corruptly, and that this was the main cause of
the economic crisis we are in today. Okay, fine; the bankers were definitely at fault, but they hardly have a
monopoly on corruption. I mean, think about the expenses scandal from a couple of years ago - politicians
were trying to claim huge sums of money they weren't entitled to; let's not kid ourselves; the whole system
from the top down is corrupt, not just the bankers. They are just being made a scapegoat.
D. Mary
I think, today, that we live in a very cynical world. Everyone is very quick to point the finger of
blame for our economic woes on anyone but themselves - the easy targets usually; the politicians, the
bankers and so on. It is so easy to criticise other people and wash your hands of responsibility for what is
happening. But that is what got us into this mess in the first place - people not taking responsibility for
their actions. The way I see it, it is about time that we all started to take a little bit of responsibility and
instead of blaming the rest of the world for our problems, perhaps we should start by looking at ourselves.
Okay, so the bankers did wrong; they were careless with money, but so were we. Who put a gun to your
head and made you buy a house that was so overpriced it was obvious there was going to be a dramatic
downward correction? Is it the bank's fault or your own that you are in negative equity now? Now, just
because you made a mistake with your money doesn't mean you are some kind of monster - and the same
goes for the bankers... Let's stop trying to find scapegoats and instead try to work together to pull ourselves
out of this crisis. We do not need the cynicism of naysayers, we need people to think positively and try to
make good things happen to get this recovery underway. I for one am done with the blame game.

WRITING (6.0 points)

Part 1: Read the following extract and use your own words to summarize the it. (Your summary should
be between 120 and 130 words long).
The sea turtles, especially the leatherbacks, are undoubtedly one of nature's most amazing creatures. They
roam the warm seas of the world throughout their life and come ashore only to lay eggs. Malaysia with its
long sandy shorelines has been destined as one of their breeding grounds. Unfortunately, the number of
leatherback turtles landing on the beaches has been declining over the years. According to the WWF
estimates, about 2000 leatherbacks arrived on Malaysian beaches in 1970. In 1989, only between 30 and
60 leatherbacks were found. The drastic drop within such a short span is certainly a great cause for
concern. Where have they gone to? Are they avoiding the beaches of Malaysia? Whatever it is, if no
concerted effort is taken to check the decline now they may become an extinct species soon, that is, if no
concerted effort is taken to check the decline now. The belief that the declining landings of turtles in
Malaysia is the result of increasing landings in other parts of the world is a fallacy. This is because the
scenario is the same in other countries known to have been visited by the turtles. What has caused the
species to dwindle at such a rapid rate? There are many reasons but an obvious one is none other than
man's greed. As we know, turtles are killed for their meat. In the days before refrigeration, turtles had been
a source of fresh food for the sailing ships. Today, turtle soup is a favorite dish among the Asians. Their
shells have become coveted items for decorations and jewelry. Their eggs which are meant to be hatched
into young turtles, are instead harvested and eaten. When deep sea fishing nets inadvertently trap the
turtles, fishermen often kill the turtles instead of cutting their nets to release them. Pollution in the sea has
also reduced the number of turtles. Many are choked to death by the plastic bags that they mistake for jelly
fish. It appears that the turtles are no longer safe in the sea where they spend most of their lives.
Neither are they safe when the females come ashore to lay eggs. In fact this is the time when they are
particularly vulnerable as their movements are slow on land. The nesting places for these turtles have also
been greatly reduced. As more and more beaches are taken over for tourism with the construction of hotels,
chalets and condominiums, the breeding grounds are reduced in the process. The intrusion of tourists into
these places make it difficult for the turtles to lay their eggs. Unfortunately these ideal places are few to

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come by now. Too much development has taken place even along the coastline in most countries. Perhaps
all is not lost yet. Sincere efforts are being taken to check the decline. In Malaysia, it is heartening to note
that concrete steps have been taken to protect the turtles that come ashore to lay eggs. The indiscriminate
collection of turtle eggs on the beaches is no more allowed. Turtle sanctuaries have been set up in Rantau
Abang in Terengganu. The eggs collected by designated officials are sent to hatcheries in the sanctuaries.
In this way, the loss of eggs and the rate of mortality among the baby turtles are reduced. In other words,
more baby turtles are now able to return to sea and grow into adulthood.
In an effort to discourage the public from eating turtle eggs, a Turtle Enactment Act has been introduced to
prohibit the sale of leatherback eggs. The WWF has also launched the 'Save the Turtle Campaign' to create
an awareness among the public to help save the endangered species. In this way, the consumption of turtle
eggs and turtle meat will be discouraged. Let us hope that it is not too late to save these fascinating
creatures from becoming extinct.
The number of leatherback turtles coming to the beaches in Malaysia has been decreased dramatically in
the past few years due to the fact that turtles was killed for their meat, shells and eggs. Ocean pollution has
also contributed to the decline of leatherbacks. However, as turtles move very slowly on land, they are
likely to be attacked. Along with tourism development on the coast, their nesting places have also been
limited. Fortunately, actions are being taken to solve to problem. Collecting turtle eggs on the beaches and
sale are forbidden. Moreover, turtle sanctuaries have been established thereby reducing the mortality rate
of baby turtles. Finally, a campaign has been launched by WWF to raise people awareness to save
endangered species.

Part 2: The chart and table below give information about healthcare resources and life expectancy in
different countries.
Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons
where relevant. (Your writing should be about 150 words)

Government Health Spending

Japan Netherlands US
Health spending per person $ 2,581 $ 3,481 $ 6,719
Average life expectancy 83 80 78

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The bar chart illustrates the number of hospital beds available for patients in 8 different countries while the
table compares government spending and life expectancy in three of those countries, Japan, the
Netherlands and the USA.

Overall we can see that although Japan spends the least on health care, it has the highest life expectancy
and the most beds available for its people.

According to the graph, most of the countries mentioned only have around 4 beds available per thousand
people except from Germany and Japan, whose numbers are significantly higher, with the ratio of about 8
and 14 beds per thousand respectively.

From the table, Americans have the shortest lifespan (around 78 age) despite the highest spending on their
health ($6,719 per person). In contrast, Japan spends the least on health care, only $2,581 per person but
Japan’s people can expect to live to be 83 years of age, that 3 years longer than people in the Netherlands,
whose government spend $900 more on them.

Part 3: More and more qualified people are moving from poor to rich countries to fill vacancies in
specialist areas like engineering, computing and medicine. Some people believe that by encouraging the
movement of such people, rich countries are stealing from poor countries. Others feel that this is only
part of the natural movement of workers around the world.
Write an essay of about 350 words to express your opinion and support your answer with relevant
examples from your own knowledge or experience.
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