Anh Chuyên
Anh Chuyên
Anh Chuyên
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* Giám thị KHÔNG giải thích gì thêm.
INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES
Write your name, candidate number and exam room number on your answer sheet.
Read the instructions for each part of the paper carefully.
Answer all the questions.
Read the instructions on the answer sheet. You MUST complete the answer sheet within
the time limit.
At the end of the test, hand in both this question paper and your answer sheet.
Page 1 of 11
I. READING (30 pts) – Questions 1-30
PASSAGE 1
You are going to read four extracts which are connected with animals. For questions 1-8 choose the
answer (A, B, C, or D) which fits best according to the text. Write your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.
KILLER WHALES
The very name, killer whale, the vague recollection of stories by polar explorers of how these creatures
had lunged up onto ice flows in pursuit of human prey, the way whaling fleets detested these marauders who
blatantly free booted among the coveted blue and fin whale herds, memories of old seafarers who have seen
the sea turn red as packs of the distinctively marked assassins slaughtered whole dolphin schools just for
the hell of it: all this patchwork of myth and reminiscence and folk memory made a reputation for his kind of
which Cuddles, as he basked in his pool with love in his heart and his belly full of prime herring, was quite
unaware. He liked people and seemed to try to reach out mentally towards them. People got delicious goose
pimples as they looked down at him. They thrilled and admired and shrank back. There was a chasm of
incomprehension between the whale in the water and the primates with smaller brains that gibbered on the
pool side.
Martin and I did not include ourselves among these landlubbers. With much delight, and more than a
touch of exhibitionism, we continued to swim daily with the whale. The crowds thought us ever so daring. In
fact, I had never felt safer. Not noted for intrepid acts of derring-do, a fair to middling swimmer only, and with
a concern to preserve my skin from nature, I nevertheless felt at home with the whale from the very beginning.
1. What does the writer tell us about killer 2. Which of these bold, underlined words does
whales? the writer use humorously?
A. Their reputation is undeserved A. lunged
B. They are merciless killers B. slaughtered
C. They have attacked whaling fleets C. basked
D. They have been over hunted D. gibbered
DOLPHIN TALK
The richest vocabularies of underwater sounds are those used by the members of the whale family. It
has long been known that dolphins are very vocal animals. Now research in the clear, shallow waters off
the Bahamas with a free-swimming school of dolphins a hundred or so strong is extending our knowledge
of dolphin communication still further. Not only does each dolphin have a vocabulary of about thirty different
vocalisations but it can modify the significance of each by the posture it assumes while making it. A particular
sound uttered while swimming will have a different meaning if the animal is also nodding its head at the
same time. The signature whistle is not merely a statement of identity. It can also be used by other animals
to attract its owner's attention, as though calling its name. And a young dolphin develops its own whistle
which, while it is unique to itself, nonetheless bears a resemblance to that of its mother, just as a human
child's looks may resemble one of its parents.
In addition to sounds which even human swimmers with their impeded ears can hear underwater, the
dolphins also use their ultrasonic system which we cannot hear at all. individuals can almost certainly sense
an ultrasonic beam if it strikes them, and seem to exchange glances ultrasonically just as we do visually.
They also communicate by touch – nudging, stroking and smacking one another.
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PLAY – FUN OR PRIMITIVE INSTINCT?
Eat or be eaten? A child thrills to the power and fear of this question. You only have to watch the kids out in
the garden. Under the guise of game playing, the hunter's arts are honed. 'What's the time, Mr. Wolf?' they chant
in delighted trepidation, excitedly terrified at the prospect of becoming lunch. When Mr. Wolf pounces, they squeal
and scramble like piglets. This may be a game but it is also a manifestation of primitive, in built proclivities.
Like the cute little kitten which rehearses the kill when it leaps so sweetly upon a twitched end of twine,
children playing hide-and-seek or grandma’s footsteps are practicing the predatory skills of lurking and stalking
and creeping and catching, the prey's tricks of concealment and camouflage and flight.
The Natural History Museum looks set to hit the bullseye with its new exhibition, “Predators”, which opens to
the public today. Intended to prey upon the imaginations of children between the ages of about seven and twelve,
its principal aim is to teach them about the extraordinary variety of wiles and techniques which wild creatures use
in their never-ending battle to eat rather than end up being eaten. The drama of the “survival of the fittest” unfurls
at the stab of a button or the flip of a display panel. Children should pounce on the opportunity to visit the Museum
this summer.
5. What does the writer say about the games children 6. Which of these bold, underlined words is
play? used humorously?
A. They bring out the worst instincts in children. A. chant
B. They teach children about animal behaviour. B. scramble
C. They allow children to try out primitive C. hit
survival techniques. D. pounce
D. They turn children into little monsters.
ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE
Two baboons trained to use a personal computer have astounded scientists by showing that they are capable
of abstract thought, casting new light on the evolution of human and animal intelligence.
Research found that the baboons could understand and recognise small similarities between different
images, an ability that is considered to be a benchmark of complex reasoning and intelligence.
The researchers trained two adult baboons to use a personal computer and joystick to look at and select
grids on the screen, each of which contained a different variety of small pictures. To do this they had to be able to
recognise an analogous connection, which many theorists view as the foundation of human reasoning and
intelligence.
To begin with, the baboons were familiarised with a screen containing a four-by-four grid. Each space
contained a different image, such as a house, a sun, an arrow, a light bulb and a train. Next, the animals were
presented with two screens. The first was similar in design to the original, but contained different images, such as
a clock, a hand and a triangle. The other still had sixteen squares, but each space contained the same item.
When the baboons moved the joystick to select one screen or the other, they were rewarded with food for
choosing the one with the same pattern as the original. This tested whether they could learn the similarity between
the patterns - a concept known to psychologists as the 'relation between relations'.
From an article by M. Henderson and J. Bale in “The Times”
Page 3 of 11
PASSAGE 2
For questions 9-15, You are going to read an extract from an article. Seven paragraphs have been
removed from the extract. Choose from the paragraphs A-H the one which fits each gap (9-15). There is
one extra paragraph which you do not need to use.
Write your answer on the ANSWER SHEET.
Stephen Hawking's final theorem turns time and causality inside out
In his final years, Stephen Hawking tackled the question of why the universe appears fine-tuned for life. His
collaborator Thomas Hertog explains the radical solution they came up with
It was common knowledge among students at the add to the Higgs’s own mass, so you would expect it to
University of Cambridge that whoever obtained the be a far weightier beast. The unbearable lightness of
best marks in the final part of the mathematical tripos the Higgs is crucial for life, however, for a light Higgs
exams would be summoned to see Stephen Hawking. keeps electrons, protons, neutrons and so on light as
I had just got my results and had come top. Sure well. That, in turn, ensures that the building blocks of
enough, I was invited for a discussion with him. life, such as DNA, proteins and cells, don’t collapse
9 under the force of gravity.
I didn’t quite know what to expect on the other side 13
of that door. I knew, of course, that Stephen was The laws of physics and cosmology have many
famous for his work on black holes and that he had more such life-engendering properties. It almost feels
even got into trouble for some of his ideas about what as if the universe is a fix – a big one. Traditionally, most
happens when they explode. But it turned out that he scientists regarded the mathematical relationships that
was musing on a different question: why is the universe underpin the laws of physics as transcendental
just right for life to arise? Platonic truths. In which case, the answer to the riddle
10 of cosmic design – to the extent that it is an answer –
is that it is a matter of mathematical necessity. The
In that first meeting, in June 1998, I found Stephen
universe is the way it is because nature had no choice.
sitting behind his desk with his head leaning against a
headrest on his wheelchair. The office window was 14
open and I later learned that he liked to keep it that way This led to a sweeping change of perspective on the
at all times, even in freezing weather. On one of the idea of our universe being fine-tuned for life. Even
blackboards were equations that appeared to date though most universes would be sterile, in some, the
from the early 1980s. I wondered if they might be his laws of nature are bound to be just right for life. String
last handwritten scrawls. theorist Leonard Susskind once likened the local
11 character of physical laws in the multiverse to the
weather on the US east coast: “Tremendously variable,
He was a master of packing a lot into a few choice
almost always awful, but lovely on rare occasions.” In
words. When he spoke of the universe being designed,
his view, our delightful cosmic weather is a fluke and
he was referring to the observation that, of all the
the impression of design is an illusion.
universes that could exist, ours is spectacularly well
configured to bring forth life. What to make of this has 15
bedevilled thinkers one way or another for centuries. Stephen’s reticence to embrace the multiverse grew
Yet it is only fairly recently that we have discovered stronger in the early 2000s, when it became clear that
how deep these waters run. it didn’t actually explain anything. In multiverse
Our Fine-Tuned Universe cosmology, there are “metalaws” governing all the
universes. But these metalaws don’t specify in which
12
of the habitable universes we are supposed to be. This
Take the Higgs boson, which weighs as much as is a problem, for without a rule that relates the
133 protons. This may sound heavy (for a particle), but metalaws of the multiverse to the local laws within our
it is 100 million billion times lighter than many universe, multiverse musings get caught in a spiral of
physicists would consider a natural mass. The Higgs paradoxes that leaves us without verifiable predictions.
boson couples to other particles of matter and, in this Multiverse cosmology is like a debit card without a PIN
way, imbues them with mass, but these couplings also or an IKEA flatpack closet without a manual: useless.
Page 4 of 11
A. Or consider the expansion of the universe. In 1998,
cosmologists discovered that the expansion of D. Pondering this question would turn into a long quest
space has been accelerating for about 5 billion for us both. For the next two decades, until his death,
years. The cause of this acceleration is often Stephen and I worked shoulder to shoulder on
attributed to something known as vacuum energy, novel ideas that suggest a radically new
which is predicted by quantum theory. But the understanding of why the universe is the way it is.
density of vacuum energy seems to be In our conception, the laws of physics themselves
10^120 times lower than physicists expect based have, in a sense, evolved to be the way they are.
on theory. If the vacuum energy density of the
universe were just a tad larger, however, its E. Can we do better? Yes, Stephen and I found out,
repulsive effect would be stronger and acceleration but only by relinquishing the idea, inherent in
would have kicked in much earlier. This would have multiverse cosmology, that our theories can take a
meant that matter was so sparsely distributed that it God’s-eye view, as if somehow standing outside the
couldn’t clump together to form stars and galaxies, cosmos. It is an obvious and seemingly tautological
once again precluding the formation of life. point: our cosmological theory must account for the
fact that we exist within the universe. “We are not
B. Around the turn of the 21st century, an entirely angels who view the universe from the outside,”
different explanation emerged. This one had its Stephen began to preach. So we set out to rethink
roots in a series of surprising discoveries that cosmology from an inside-out, observer’s
suggested that at least some properties of the perspective. This, we soon discovered, required
physical laws might not be carved in stone, but adopting a quantum outlook from within the
could instead be the accidental outcome of the universe.
particular manner in which the early universe
cooled after the big bang. From the species of F. “The universe appears designed,” he said through
particles to the strength of forces to the amount of his speech synthesiser. He continued: “Why is the
vacuum energy, it became apparent that the universe the way it is?” None of my physics
universe’s biofriendly laws were forged in a series teachers had asked questions like this before. “Isn’t
of random transitions during its earliest moments of that a philosophical matter?” I tried. “Philosophy is
expansion. Reasoning along these lines, dead,” Stephen replied, his eyes twinkling.
cosmologists started wondering whether, perhaps,
there was more than one universe. Maybe we live G. All this was very much on Stephen’s mind when I
in a multiverse, an enormous, inflating space with a first walked into his office in 1998. I could sense he
variegated patchwork of universes, each with its wasn’t keen on the idea of a multiverse. Before long,
own big bang, leading to its own local physical laws. I was collaborating with him to try to find a better
answer, first as his PhD student and later as his
C. I made my way to his office deep in the labyrinth of colleague.
the department of applied mathematics and
theoretical physics, which was housed in a creaking H. The universe’s biofriendliness, it turns out,
Victorian building on the banks of the river Cam. concerns the laws of physics themselves. There are
Stephen’s office was just off the main common numerous features in these laws that render the
room, and even though it was noisy there, he liked universe just right for living things. Twiddle ever so
to keep his door ajar. I knocked, paused and slowly slightly with any of these and habitability would
pushed it open. often hang in the balance.
PASSAGE 3
For questions 16-20, read the text and fill the numberred […] with the correct sentence (A-G). There are
two extra sentences which you do not need to use. Write your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.
One of our greatest challenges is to understand the peculiar content of own minds. [16]. A
casual acquaintance may, in a few minutes of conversation, deduce more about our psyches
than we have been able to determine across many decades. We are frequently the very last
people to know what is at work within “us.”
[17]. We cannot open a hatch and locate “ourselves.” We are not a fixed destination, but an
eternally mobile, boundless, unfocused, vaporous spectre whose full nature can only be
retrospectively deduced from painfully recollected glimpses and opaque hints. There is no
time or vantage point from which to securely decode our archives of experience. There is too
much data entering us at every moment for us to easily sift and arrange our sensations with
the care and logic they deserve.
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Symptoms of our self-ignorance abound. We are irritable or sad, guilty or furious, without any
reliable sense of the origins of our discord. We destroy a relationship that might have been
workable under a compulsion we cannot account for. [18]. We pass too many of our days
under mysterious clouds of despair or beset by waves of persecution.
We pay a very high price for our self-ignorance. Feelings and desires that haven’t been
examined linger and distribute their energy randomly across our lives. Ambition that doesn’t
know itself re-emerges as panic; envy transforms itself into bitterness; anger turns into rage;
sadness into depression. Disavowed material buckles and strains the system. We develop
pernicious tics: a facial twitch, impotence, a compulsion, an unbudgeable sadness. [19].
It is logical that Socrates should have boiled down the entire wisdom of philosophy to one
simple command: “Know yourself.” Yet he also added, “I am wise not because I know, but
because I know I don’t know.” The eventual result of a quest for self-knowledge might be
presumed to be a confident understanding of the corridors of the mind. [20]. The more closely
we introspect, the more we start to appreciate the range of tricks our minds play on us—and
therefore the more we appreciate the extent to which we will continually misjudge situations
and the feelings they provoke. A successful search for self-knowledge may furnish us not
with a set of newly mined rock-solid certainties, but with an admission of how little we do—
and ever can—properly know ourselves.
A. Much of what destroys our lives can be attributed to emotions that our conscious selves haven’t found
a way to understand or to address in time.
B. This critical attitude toward our own thought processes can be called emotional skepticism.
C. Our whole assessment of the world can be transformed according to how much water we have
drunk or the amount of sleep we have had.
D. We may look like the ultimate owners of our skulls, but we remain practical strangers to too much of
what unfolds within them.
PASSAGE 4
For questions 21-30, read the questions and decide which answer (A,B,C, or D) fits best according to the
text. Write your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.
Going to college is a (21)_______ decision, and it's important to consider all of your options before
making a final choice. Going to college can provide (22)__________ opportunities and a chance to
pursue your passions, but it can also be challenging and require significant dedication.
Prior to matriculating, it is crucial to (23)_______ your alternatives and pinpoint institutions that align
with your aspirations. The weighty academic load and the pressing necessity to efficiently manage
one's time represent some of the (24) ________ challenges of attending college. However, with
(25)_________ and a firm focus on one's objectives, one can thrive academically and in their future
endeavors.
College can also foster a (26)_______ environment for meeting new people and fostering enduring
connections. One stratagem for making the most of the college experience is to immerse oneself in
(27)________ activities and associations on campus. An additional salient element of the college
experience is looking for mentorship and guidance by (28)__________ one's professors and other
distinguished individuals in one's field of study.
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It is crucial to maintain an open mind and be (29)_________ to novel concepts and perspectives
while in college.
Finally, it is vital to realize that college is an epoch for (30)_________, and one should avail oneself
of opportunities and experiences to the utmost extent possible.
CLOZE TEST 01
For questions 61-70, complete each blank below with ONE most sutable word that starts with the given
letter. Write your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.
The first one has been done as an example: (0) prevalent.
BRIBERY
Bribery seems to be more (0)_prevalent_these days. Perhaps part of the problem is that it can be
easily (61)_c______ with offering rewards or inducements. Rewards are undoubtedly positive; for
example, a (62)_b_______ scheme at work is par for the course almost everywhere. (63)_H_______,
it is not always true for other inducements. The offer of incentives by construction companies to those
who make decisions when (64)_b_______ for a contract to build something is virtually unacceptable.
The submission of an inducement to a policeman so that he would (65)_o_______ your minor traffic
offence should not be considered positively either, though it might help add to his rather meagre
(66)_w______.
Though often connoted negatively, the word bride can sometimes be looked on (67)_f_____. For
example, in Poland, parents seem to face the (68)_d______ of offering their offspring some bribe to
encourage them to (69)_s______ for better results at school. They may reap some benefits in the
(70)_s______ term, but is it really a good thing? Perhaps it may require some more deep thought.
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CLOZE TEST 02
For questions 71-80, complete each blank below with ONE most sutable word. Write your answers on the
ANSWER SHEET.
The first one has been done as an example.
One of the fastest growing areas (0)__of___ business training nowadays is intercultural
training. I recently attended a seminar of this type and, although parts of it were (71)_______
interesting, in general I found it was not practical (72)_______ to be really useful in a day-to-day
sense. I have always believed that experience is the (73)_______ teacher. In fact, I think that
perhaps (74)_______ most enjoyable way to study cultural diversity is to observe what, when
and how other nations eat.
On my last visit to the United States I spent a weekend with a family I know. Like many
other American families they always keep their fridge (75)_______ stocked so that any member
of the family can help themselves to food if and when they feel hungry. Only once during my visit
did the (76)_______ family sit down together to eat a cooked meal, and my hostess explained
that this was a special event in my honour as normally they were all (77)_______ busy at
weekends with social or sporting events (78)_______ eat together. In my view, experiences like
these tell us (79)_______ about the role of family life and attitudes to time in America
(80)_______ any seminar could do.
Yours sincerely,
Page 9 of 11
KEY WORD TRANSFORMATION
For questions 91-100, complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence,
using the word given. Do not change the word given. You must write NO MORE THAN SIX WORDS,
including the word given. Here is an example (0).
Example:
0 Do you mind if I watch you while you paint? (OBJECTION)
Do you __________________________ you while you paint?
Write only the missing words on the answer sheet. Write NO MORE THAN SIX WORDS for each space.
91. He said he was late because his flight was cancelled, and we had to believe him as
we did not know whether it was true or not. (BENEFIT)
He said he was late because his flight was cancelled, and we gave him _________
________________ .
92. They spent hours on the phone, discussing and learning what had been happening
in their life. (UP)
They spent hours on the phone, _______________________ each other.
93. Mary is always complaining that she never has enough time to finish her work, but
so are we. (BOAT)
Mary is always complaining that she never has enough time to finish her work, but
we are all _________________________.
95. I wish I could raise everybody’s salaries, but I am not the one who can make
decisions here. (TIED)
I wish I could raise everybody’s salaries, but _________________________.
96. Thomson could not continue his studies, for he was ill. (ABANDONING)
Thomson ____________________________ resulted from his illness.
97. We had only just finished work when the boss came. (SOONER)
No __________________________ the boss came.
98. Honestly, I have to say that the project was not as good as I’d expected. (SHORT)
The project ____________________________, to be honest.
99. The idea of adopting Model United Nations to our school was Alice’s suggestion.
(FORWARD)
It was ____________________________ idea of adopting Model United Nations
to our school.
100. Bill Gates felt that he had stayed too long as the CEO of Microsoft. (HIGH)
Bill Gates felt it _______________________ the CEO position of Microsoft.
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ERROR IDENTIFICATION
For questions 101-105, identify the five mistakes in the following passage and correct them. Indicate the
line at which mistakes are found, and how to correct them.
Write your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.
Example(*):
Line Error Correction
1 manner manners
(*) this example can not be written on your answer sheet
Write NO MORE THAN SIX WORDS for each error/ correction on the answer sheet.
ENGLISH ETIQUETTE
Line
1 Whilst the English penchant for manner and socially appropriate behaviour is renown
2 across the world, the word etiquette to which we so often refer actually originating from
3 the French estiquette –“to attach or stick”. Indeed the modern understanding of the word
4 can be linked to the Court of the French King Louis XIV who used small placards called
5 etiquettes, as a reminder to courtiers of accepted ‘house rules’ such as not walking
6 through certain areas of the palace gardens.
7 Every culture across the ages has been defined by the concept of etiquette and accepted
8 social interaction. Moreover, it is the British – and the English in particular – who have
9 historically been known to place a great deal of importance to good manners. Whether it
10 be in relation to speech, timeliness, body language or dining, politeness is key.
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