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

TỈNH SÓC TRĂNG Năm học: 2016-2017

ĐỀ CHÍNH THỨC
SỐ PHÁCH
(do Chủ tịch hội
Môn: TIẾNG ANH - Lớp 12 đồng chấm thi ghi)
(Thời gian làm bài 180 phút, không kể phát đề)
Ngày thi: 05/11/2016

Đề thi này có 9 trang

Họ tên – chữ ký Họ tên – chữ ký Điểm Điểm

Giám khảo 1 Giám khảo 2 (bằng số) (bằng chữ)

- Thí sinh làm bài trên đề thi.

- Thí sinh làm phần nghe hiểu trước.
- Hướng dẫn phần thi nghe: Đề nghe gồm có 2 phần, mỗi phần được nghe 2 lần, mỗi lần
cách nhau khoảng 5 giây, mở đầu và kết thúc phần nghe có tín hiệu. Trước khi nghe, thí
sinh có 30 giây để đọc câu hỏi của mỗi phần.

A. LISTENING (5.1 pts – 0.3 pt. / each)

Part 1. You will hear an interview about an interesting news story. For questions 1 – 7, choose
the best answer A, B, or C. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.

1. What does Andy say about the story?

A. It is amusing. B. It is difficult to believe. C. It is unusual.
2. What was Chris’ life like when he had hiccups?
A. The hiccups prevented him from sleeping. B. The hiccups affected his social life.
C. The hiccups stopped for a short time each day.
3. What action did doctors initially take to deal with the problem?
A. They performed unsuccessful surgery on Chris.
B. They advised Chris to use alternative therapies.
C. They gave Chris medicine for depression.
4. Chris went to Japan_______.
A. to appear on a TV show B. to study traditional Japanese remedies
C. to have a medical examination
5. It was discovered that_______.
A. Chris also had problems with his eyesight B. Chris needed surgery that carried a lot of risk
C. Chris had a cancerous growth in the brain
6. What was the result of the operation?
A. Chris cannot walk easily. B. Chris cannot do a lot of sport.
C. Chris can only use one arm well.
7. If Chris hadn’t had the operation he_______.
A. would have worse hiccups than before B. would have a much shorter life expectancy
C. would not be able to see now

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Your answers:

1. 3. 5. 7.
2. 4. 6.

Part 2. Questions 8 – 17
Listen to a talk on insomnia – the inability to sleep properly. Complete the following notes on
the talk about insomnia. Use NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each space.

Causes
People may have trouble falling asleep due to worries about exams or a (8) ____________________.
It can be due to (9) ____________________ factors: noise, light, no privacy.
It can be due to occupational factors: working irregular hours, overworking, too much (10)
____________________ , high stress.
Solutions
In situations where the patient is suffering from illness and physical discomfort, a doctor may give
them (11) ____________________ or (12) ____________________.
(13) ____________________ before going to bed.
Watch your diet. Don’t eat a large meal in the evening. Avoid alcohol, cola, and coffee.
Drink herbal tea (e.g. camomile) or (14) ____________________ .
Don’t take naps during (15) ____________________ .
Take a (16) ____________________ before bed or after exercise.
Cut down on (17) ____________________ in the evening.
B. LEXICO-GRAMMAR: (4.4 pts.)

Part 1. For questions 18 - 27, choose the correct answer A, B, C or D to each of the following
questions and write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided. (2.0 pts.– 0.2
pt. / each)

18. I _______, a pen pal of mine, while I was in London last month.
A. ran into Andy B. ran after Andy C. ran Andy into D. ran Andy after
19. Plans to build a nuclear power plant in the area have been_______following strong public
opposition.
A. announced B. shelved C. unveiled D. revealed
20. The President remained _______by mounting criticism of his leadership and pressed ahead
regardless with his controversial programme of policies.
A. impervious B. upset C. unmoved D. overcome
21. I can’t understand why my cousin applied for the job; there wasn’t even a_____ possibility that
he’d get it.
A. heavy B. distinct C. strong D. remote
22. Scientists are now beginning to conduct experiments on________trigger different sorts of health
risks.
A. how noise pollution B. noise pollution can
C. that noise pollution D. how noise pollution can
23. ________ does not circle around the earth was proven by Galileo.
A. The rest of the universe B. Since the rest of the universe
C. That the rest of the universe D. As the rest of the universe

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24. ________ few species that live on the ground, most monkeys lives in trees.
A. There are B. Except for a C. A D. All but
25. A desert is described as a region________ an average of less than ten inches of rain falls in a year.
A. in which B. there is C. which has D. in which is
26. There have been so many interruptions today that we’ve ________with our work.
A. fallen through B. fallen behind C. left behind D. got low
27. To Health Department ordered extra vaccine to control any possible ________ of the disease.
A. outbreak B. breakout C. breakdown D. breakup

Your answers:

18. 20. 22. 24. 26.

19. 21. 23. 25. 27.

Part 2. For questions 28 - 35, write the correct form of each bracketed word in the
corresponding numbered boxes provided. (2.4 pts.– 0.3 pt. / each)

Writing the shopping list is almost as tedious a (0) ________(RESPONSIBLE) as trekking round the
supermarket, and it would be a huge benefit if the store could do this for you. That day cannot be far
off, thanks to the massive (28) ________(ACCUMULATE) of data on millions of customers who
already use so-called loyalty cards. Loyalty has nothing to do with it – at least, not yet – as is all too
(29) ________(APPEAR) from the many people who hold every supermarket card there is.

Why then are supermarkets so keen to issue these cards? The answer is that in a technologically-
sophisticated world, they provide highly (30) ________(INFORM) data about customers and their
shopping habits. One US chain noticed that Friday nights saw a seemingly (31)
________(EXPLAIN) peak in purchases of both baby’s nappies and alcohol. In their subsequent (32)
________(ANALYSE) of the sales data, they concluded that men were being sent out for emergency
baby supplies and were seizing the opportunity to stock up on beer at the same time. Their immediate
(33) ________ (RESPOND) was to place the nappies closer to the beer!

This is all part of the move away from mass marketing in favour of its newly-heralded (34)
________(PART), ‘micro marketing’. Supermarkets are in essence reinventing the culture of the
traditional corner shop, by calling on this new-found, (35) ________(PERSON) knowledge of their
customers.

Your answers: 0. Responsibility

28. 30. 32. 34.

29. 31. 33. 35.

C. READING (6.0 pts.– 0.2 pt. / each)

Part 1. For questions 36 – 45, fill each of the following numbered blanks with ONE suitable
word and write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.

It is undeniable that our education system in Singapore has (36) __________ a lot for students. Our
literacy (37) __________ has risen tremendously over the past twenty years. More youths are leaving
school for the work force at (38) __________educational levels. The majority of Singaporeans have
had the benefit of primary education, (39) __________ most of our grandparents do not have.

However, there are still (40) __________ in our educational system which need improvement. There
is a need for quality education. We spend so much time (41) __________ as many facts as physically

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possible and then regurgitating (42) __________ during our examinations. There is (43) __________
space for experimentation nor for the cultivation of genuine interest. What is required is a real
understanding and appreciation of a subject, (44) __________ merely scoring high marks.

Until we learn to (45) __________ our inhibitions about the freedom of creativity, we will never
achieve independence of thought.

Your answers:

36. 38. 40. 42. 44.

37. 39. 41. 43. 45.

Part 2. Read the passage carefully and answer questions 46 – 58

The Mozart Effect

A. Music has been used for centuries to heal the body. In the Ebers Papyrus (one of the earliest
medical documents, circa 1550 BC), it was recorded that physicians chanted to heal the sick
(Castleman, 1994). In various cultures, we have observed singing as part of healing rituals. In the
world of Western medicine, however, using music in medicine lost popularity until the introduction
of the radio. Researchers then started to notice that listening to music could have significant physical
effects. Therapists noticed music could help calm anxiety, and researchers saw that listening to music
could cause a drop in blood pressure. In addition to these two areas, music has been used with cancer
chemotherapy to reduce nausea, during surgery to reduce stress hormone production, during
childbirth, and in stroke recovery (Castleman, 1994 and Westley, 1998). It has been shown to
decrease pain as well as enhance the effectiveness of the immune system. In Japan, compilations of
music are used as medication of sorts. For example, if you want to cure a headache or migraine, the
album suggested is Mendelssohn's "Spring Song", Dvorak's "Humoresque", or part of George
Gershwin's "An American in Paris" (Campbell, 1998). Music is also being used to assist in learning,
in a phenomenon called the Mozart Effect.

B. Frances H. Rauscher, PhD, first demonstrated the correlation between music and learning in an
experiment in 1993. His experiment indicated that a 10-minute dose of Mozart could temporarily
boost intelligence. Groups of students were given intelligence tests after listening to silence,
relaxation tapes, or Mozart's "Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major" for a short time. He found that after
silence, the average IQ score was 110, and after the relaxation tapes, the score rose a point. After
listening to Mozart's music, however, the score jumped to 119 (Westley, 1998). Even students who
did not like the music still had an increased score in the IQ test. Rauscher hypothesised that "listening
to complex, non-repetitive music, like Mozart's, may stimulate neural pathways that are important in
thinking" (Castleman, 1994).

C. The same experiment was repeated on rats by Rauscher and Hong Hua Li from Stanford. Rats also
demonstrated enhancement in their intelligence performance. These new studies indicate that rats that
were exposed to Mozart's showed "increased gene expression of BDNF (a neural growth factor),
CREB (a learning and memory compound), and Synapsin I (a synaptic growth protein)" in the brain's
hippocampus, compared with rats in the control group, which heard only white noise (e.g. the
whooshing sound of a radio tuned between stations).

D. How exactly does the Mozart Effect work? Researchers are still trying to determine the actual
mechanisms for the formation of these enhanced learning pathways. Neuroscientists suspect that
music can actually help build and strengthen connections between neurons in the cerebral cortex in a
process similar to what occurs in brain development despite its type. When a baby is born, certain
connections have already been made - like connections for heartbeat and breathing. As new

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information is learned and motor skills develop, new neural connections are formed. Neurons that are
not used will eventually die while those used repeatedly will form strong connections. Although a
large number of these neural connections require experience, they must also occur within a certain
time frame. For example, a child born with cataracts cannot develop connections within the visual
cortex. If the cataracts are removed by surgery right away, the child's vision develops normally.
However, after the age of 2, if the cataracts are removed, the child will remain blind because those
pathways cannot establish themselves.

E. Music seems to work in the same way. In October of 1997, researchers at the University of
Konstanz in Germany found that music actually rewires neural circuits (Begley, 1996). Although
some of these circuits are formed for physical skills needed to play an instrument, just listening to
music strengthens connections used in higher-order thinking. Listening to music can then be thought
of as "exercise" for the brain, improving concentration and enhancing intuition.

F. If you're a little sceptical about the claims made by supporters of the Mozart Effect, you're not
alone. Many people accredit the advanced learning of some children who take music lessons to other
personality traits, such as motivation and persistence, which are required in all types of learning.
There have also been claims of that influencing the results of some experiments.

G. Furthermore, many people are critical of the role the media had in turning an isolated study into a
trend for parents and music educators. After the Mozart Effect was published to the public, the sales
of Mozart CDs stayed on the top of the hit list for three weeks. In an article by Michael Linton, he
wrote that the research that began this phenomenon (the study by researchers at the University of
California, Irvine) showed only a temporary boost in IQ, which was not significant enough to even
last throughout the course of the experiment. Using music to influence intelligence was used in
Confucian civilization and Plato alluded to Pythagorean music when he described its ideal state in
The Republic. In both of these examples, music did not cause any overwhelming changes, and the
theory eventually died out. Linton also asks, "If Mozart's music were able to improve health, why
was Mozart himself so frequently sick? If listening to Mozart's music increases intelligence and
encourages spirituality, why aren't the world's smartest and most spiritual people Mozart specialists?"
Linton raises an interesting point, if the Mozart Effect causes such significant changes, why isn't
there more documented evidence?

H. The "trendiness" of the Mozart Effect may have died out somewhat, but there are still strong
supporters (and opponents) of the claims made in 1993. Since that initial experiment, there has not
been a surge of supporting evidence. However, many parents, after playing classical music while
pregnant or when their children are young, will swear by the Mozart Effect. A classmate of mine once
told me that listening to classical music while studying will help with memorization. If we approach
this controversy from a scientific aspect, although there has been some evidence that music does
increase brain activity, actual improvements in learning and memory have not been adequately
demonstrated.

Questions 46-50: Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter A-H in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.

46. A description of how music affects the brain development of infants

47. Public's first reaction to the discovery of the Mozart Effect
48. The description of Rauscher's original experiment
49. The description of using music for healing in other countries
50. Other qualities needed in all learning

Your answers:
46. 47. 48. 49. 50.

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Questions 51 - 53 : Complete the summary below.

Choose NO MORE THAN ONE WORD from the passage for each answer. Write your answers
in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.

During the experiment conducted by Frances Rauscher, subjects were exposed to the music for a (51)
___________ period of time before they were tested. And Rauscher believes the enhancement in their
performance is related to the (52) ___________ nature of Mozart's music. Later, a similar experiment
was also repeated on (53) ___________.

Your answers:

51. 52. 53.

Questions 54 – 58: Do the following statements agree with the information given in the
passage? Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.

TRUE : If the statement agrees with the information

FALSE : If the statement contradicts with the information
NOT GIVEN : If there is no information on this

54. All kinds of music can enhance one’s brain performance to somewhat extent.
55. There is no neural connection made when a baby is born.
56. There are very few who question the Mozart Effect.
57. Michael Linton conducted extensive research on Mozart’s life.
58. There is not enough evidence in support of the Mozart Effect today.

Your answers:

54. 55. 56. 57. 58.

Part 3. Read the following passage and answer questions 59 – 65

Nine paragraphs have been removed from the passage. For questions 59 - 65, choose from
paragraphs A – H the one which fits each gap. There is ONE extra paragraph which you do not
need to use. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.

Without doubt, the worst part of my job is the unearthly hour that I have to get up at every day. This
puts me in a foul mood for at least two hours as I am not, nor have I ever been, a morning person! In
fact I cannot imagine what it must be like to be a ‘morning person’. 59________Unfortunately for me,
this only happen at the weekends these days.

‘Why?’ people ask me, ‘Why do you have a job that means you have to get up at 3.45 in the
morning?’ The simple answer is that the job of presenting weekly the weekday breakfast news
programme on a radio station is what I have always wanted to do. 60________ But there are no two
ways about it – I am still not a morning person!

Having hauled myself out of bed, I get a taxi to the radio station (I wouldn’t trust myself driving at
that hour), and we arrive it is still dark with only a few brave birds daring to break the silence with
their song. Singing is the last thing I feel like doing. 61________

In much better spirits now. I sit on the news conference, which is where the editors make the big
decisions on which news stories we are going to run with and in which order. They discuss events that

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have happened overnight and developments in any stories we ran yesterday. 62________You can feel
the excitement in the air on morning like these, particularly if it’s an event with important national or
international implications

The discussions are fierce. Which stories do we report and in how much depth? Then the big question
– which stories get priority? We may have five big stories but which do we lead with? Is it the
celebrity who has been caught for dangerous driving or is it yet another political scandal? Is it the
murder of a homeless person or the fact that Australia has just won an important cricket match?

People in the meeting pull in different directions. 63________. Others think that local crimes need to
be top of the list. The team thrashes out the possibilities and eventually I am nearly ready to go on air.

This is when the adrenalin really kicks in. It is a buzz presenting a show live but there is not much
room for mistakes and things do not always go smoothly. My job is to appear to be in control and I
have to be alert and able to think on my feet. 64________ Then there are the times when I get linked
with the wrong reporter. Last week for example, I was talking about break-in at a country house hotel
and got linked to a reporter on another story who was at the zoo. So, my question about ‘Was
anything valuable stolen’ prompted the rather puzzled response ‘Er…no…all the elephants are
definitely still here!’

Of course, there are also those callers on the phone-in sections who see it as an opportunity to go way
off topic and complain about everything from taxation to the quality of the burgers in the restaurant
down the road! There’s a lot of mental gymnastics that goes on and afterwards I always feel
completely exhausted. 65________

Before leaving the studio there’s another meeting to discuss items for tomorrow’s show. We might
have a special guest – like a politician or an actor we talk about the questions I should or shouldn’t
ask. Eventually the heart stops pounding and I can relax. I’m out of the door, determined to enjoy the
rest of the day before I need to go to bed at the early time of 8.30!

A. There may even be a breaking news story happening at the time.

B. Of course, I realize there’s a contradiction here, and I shouldn’t be moaning about getting up
early, particularly when my job is the envy of hundreds of other would-be presenters in Australia.
C. What I love to do most in the whole world is to snuggle up in bed until lunchtime.
D. When you’re talking on the radio, you have to imagine that you’re talking to one person face to
face.
E. Sometimes sound links with reporters in the field can go wrong and I’m left talking to complete
silence.
F. Some want to win the popular vote – celebrity stories attract listeners, the more sensational the
better.
G. However, that’s all part of the job and the unpredictability is one of the reasons I love it so much.
H. A couple of strong coffees later, however, I feel better able to face the day and my grumpiness
begins to lift.

Your answers:

59. 61. 63. 65.

60. 62. 64.

D. WRITING (4.5 pts.)

Part 1. Finish the second sentence in such a way that it is as similar in meaning as possible to the
first one, using the word given. Do not change the word given. You must use between THREE
and EIGHT words, including the word given. (1.5 pts.– 0.3 pt. / each)

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66. The President was impeached because of his financial misconduct.
GROUNDS
→ The President was impeached _____________________________________________misconduct.
67. She and her husband disagree strongly about how their daughter should be educated.
EYE
→ She and her husband _____________________________________________daughter’s education.
68. No one listened to what the politician was saying last night.
EARS
→ What the politician was saying ______________________________________________last night.
69. Most people are not told about the effects of these drugs.
IGNORANCE
→ Most people are _____________________________________________the effects of these drugs.
70. Jane was the only person who didn’t enjoy the party.
WITH
→ Everyone enjoyed the party_____________________________________________________Jane.
Part 2. Write about the following topic: (3.0 pts.)

Some people believe that teachers should be responsible for teaching students the difference between
right and wrong. Others say that teachers should only teach academic subjects.

Discuss both viewpoints and give your own opinion.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or
experience. Write about 160 - 180 words.

Your answer:

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----THE END----

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