Bài 1.

FAMILY LIFE IN THE UNITED STATES

Family life in the United States is changing. Fifty or sixty years ago, the wife was called a
“housewife”. She cleaned, cooked, and cared for the children. The husband earned the money
for the family. He was usually out working all day. He came home tired in the evening, so he
did not do much housework. And he did not see the children very much, except on weekends.
These days, however, more and more women work outside the home. They cannot stay with the
children all day. They, too, come home tired in the evening. They do not want to spend the
evening cooking dinner and cleaning up. They do not have time to clean the house and do
the laundry. So who is going to do the housework now? Who is going to take care of the
children?
Many families solve the problem of housework by sharing it. In these families, the husband and
wife agree to do different jobs around the house, or they take turns doing each job. For example,
the husband always cooks dinner and the wife always does the laundry. Or the wife cooks
dinner on some nights and the husband cooks dinner on other nights.
Then there is the question of the children. In the past, many families got help with child care
from grandparents. Now families usually do not live near their relatives. The grandparents are
often too far away to help in a regular way. More often, parents have to pay for child care help.
The help may be a babysitter or a day-care center. The problem with t his kind of help is the
high cost. It is possible only for couples with jobs that pay well.
Parents may get another kind of help form the companies they work for. Many companies now
let people with children work part-time. That way, parents can spend more time with their
children. Some husbands may even stop working for a while to stay with the children. For these
men there is a new word. they are called “househusbands”. In the USA more and more men are
becoming househusbands every year.
These changes in the home mean changes in the family. Fathers can learn to understand their
children better, and the children can get to know their fathers better. Husbands and wives may
also find changes in their marriage. They, too, may have a better understanding of each other.
Question 1: Sixty years ago, most women
1. went out to work B. had no children
2. did not do much housework D. were housewives
Question 2: Nowadays, there are .
1. more women going out to work than before
2. more and more women staying with the children all day
3. more work outside the home than before
4. more housewives than before
Question 3: The word “laundry” in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to
1. tidying up B. cooking and washing up
2. washing and ironing D. Shopping
Question 4: It can be inferred from paragraph 4 that .
1. couples with low-paid jobs can’t afford the cost of a babysitter or a day-care center
2. grandparents can help care the children in a regular way
 3. all couples with jobs can pay for help from a babysitter or a day-care center
4. in the past, grandparents did not help the couples with child care
Question 5: The word “they” in paragraph 5 refers to
1. husbands who stop working to stay with the children
2. fathers who spend more time with their children
3. parents who work part-time
4. children who spend more time with fathers than
Question 6: The changes in the American home mentioned in this passage may
1. help families B. not happen
2. cause problems for a marriage D. not change the children at all
Question 7: This article is about
1. American men as househusbands B. housewives in America
2. how more American women are working D. how family life in America is changing

Bài 2. The nuclear family, consisting of a mother, father, and their children, may be more an
American ideal than an American reality. Of course, the so-called traditional American family
was always more varied than we had been led to believe, reflecting the very different racial,
ethnic, class, and religious customs among different American groups.
The most recent government statistics reveal that only about one third of all current American
families fit the traditional mold and another third consists of married couples who either have
no children or have none still living at home. Of the final one third, about 20 percent of the total
number of American households are single people, usually women over sixty-five years of age.
A small percentage, about 3 percent of the total, consists of unmarried people who choose to
live together; and the rest, about 7 percent are single, usually divorced parents, with at least one
child. Today, these varied family types are typical, and therefore, normal. Apparently, many
Americans are achieving supportive relationships in family forms other than the traditional one.
Question 9: With what topic is the passage mainly concerned?
1. The traditional American family B. The nuclear family
2. The current American family D. The ideal family
Question 10: The writer implies that .
1. there have always been a wide variety of family arrangement in the United States
2. racial, ethnic, and religious groups have preserved the traditional family structure
3. the ideal American family is the best structure
4. fewer married couples are having children
Question 11: The word ‘current’ in line 7 could best be replaced by which of the following?
1. typical B. present C. perfect D. traditional
Question 12: In the passage, married couples whose children have grown or who have no
children represent .
1. 1/3 percent of households B. 20 percent of households
2. 7 percent of households D. 3 percent of households
Question 13: Who generally constitutes a one-person household?
 1. A single man in his twenties B. An elderly man
2. A single woman in her late sixties D. A divorced woman
Question 14: What is nuclear family?
1. a social unit composed of two parents and one or more
2. a family consisting of a family nucleus and various relatives, as
3. a family in which a parent brings up a child or children alone, without a partner
4. a hard-up family
Question 15: Unmarried people living together represent .
1. 3 percent B. 20 percent C. 7 percent D. 1/3 percent

Bài 3 .In the world today, particularly in the two most industrialized areas, North America and
Europe, recycling is big news. People are talking about it, practicing it, and discovering new
ways to be sensitive to the environment. Recycling means finding was to use products a second
time. The motto of the recycling movement is “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”. The first step is to
reduce garbage. In stores, a shopper has to buy products in blister packs, boxes and expensive
plastic wrappings. A hamburger from a fast food restaurant comes in lots of packaging. usually
paper, a box, and a bag. All that packaging is wasted resources. People should try to buy things
that are wrapped simply, and to reuse cups and utensils. Another way to reduce waste is to buy
high- quality products. When low quality appliances break, many customers throw them away
and buy new ones – a loss of more resources and more energy. For example, if a customer buys
a high- quality appliance that can be easily repaired, the manufacturer receives an important
message. In the same way, if a customer chooses a product with less packaging, that customer
sends an important message to the manufacturers. To reduce garbage, the throwaway must stop.
The second step is to reuse. It is better to buy juices and soft drinks in returnable bottles. After
customers empty the bottles, they return them to the store. The manufacturers of the drinks
collect the bottles, wash them, and then fill them again. The energy that is necessary to make
new bottles is saved. In some parts of the world, returning bottles for money is a common
practice. In those places, the garbage dumps have relatively little glass and plastic from
throwaway bottles.
The third step is being environmentally sensitive is to recycle. Spent motor oil can be cleaned
and used again. Aluminum cans are expensive to make. It takes the same amount of energy to
make one aluminum can as it does to run a color TV set for three hours. When people collect
and recycle aluminum (for new cans), they help save one of the world’s precious resources.
Question 16: What is the main topic of the passage?.
1. How to reduce garbage
2. What people often understand about the term ‘recycle’.
3. What is involved in the recycling
4. How to live sensitively to the
Question 17: People can do the following to reduce waste EXCEPT
1. buy high-quality product. B. buy simply-wrapped things.
2. reuse cups. D. buy fewer hamburgers.
Question 18: Why is it a waste when customers buy low-quality products?
1. Because people will soon throw them
2. Because they have to be repaired many
3. Because customers change their ideas all the
4. Because they produce less
Question 19: What best describes the process of reuse?
1. The bottles are collected, washed, returned and filled again.
2. The bottles are filled again after being returned, collected and
3. The bottles are washed, retuned, filled again and
4. The bottles are collected, returned filled again and
Question 20: What are the two things mentioned as examples of recycling?
1. Aluminum cans and plastic wrappings. B. Hamburger wrappings and spent motor oil.
2. Aluminum cans and spent motor oil. D. TV sets and aluminum cans.

Bài 4. An air pollutant is defined as a compound added directly or indirectly by humans to the
atmosphere in such quantities as to affect humans, animals, vegetation, or
materials adversely. Air pollution requires a very flexible definition that permits continuous
change. When the first air pollution laws were established in England in the fourteenth century,
air pollutants were limited to compounds that could be seen or smelled – a far cry from the
extensive list of harmful substances known today. As technology has developed and knowledge
of the health aspects of various chemicals has increased, the list of air pollutants has lengthened.
In the future, even water vapor might be considered an air pollutant under certain conditions.
Many of the more important air pollutants, such as sulfur oxides, carbon monoxide, and
nitrogen oxides, are found in nature. As the Earth developed, the concentration of these
pollutants was altered by various chemical reactions; they became components in
biogeochemical cycles. These serve as an air purification scheme by allowing the compounds to
move from the air to the water or soil. On a global basis, nature’s output of these compounds
dwarfs that resulting from human activities.
However, human production usually occurs in a localized area, such as a city. In such a region,
human output may be dominant and may temporarily overload the natural purification scheme
of the cycles. The result is an increased concentration of noxious chemicals in the air. The
concentrations at which the adverse effects appear will be greater than the concentrations that
the pollutants would have in the absence of human activities. The actual concentration need not
be large for a substance to be a pollutant; in fact, the numerical value tells us little until we
know how much of an increase this represents over the concentration that would occur naturally
in the area. For example, sulfur dioxide has detectable health effects at 0.08 parts per million
(ppm), which is about 400 times its natural level. Carbon monoxide, however, has a natural
level of 0.1 ppm and is not usually a pollutant until its level reaches about 15 ppm.
Question 21: What does the passage mainly discuss?
1. The economic impact of air
2. What constitutes an air
 3. How much harm air pollutants can
4. The effects of compounds added to the
Question 22: It can be inferred from the first paragraph that .
1. water vapor is an air pollutant in localized areas
2. most air pollutants today can be seen or smelled
3. the definition of air pollution will continue to change
4. a substance becomes an air pollutant only in cities
Question 23: For which of the following reasons can natural pollutants play an important role
in controlling air pollution?
1. They function as part of a purification
2. They occur in greater quantities than other
3. They are less harmful to living beings than other
4. They have existed since the Earth
Question 24: According to the passage, human-generated air pollution in localized regions
.
1. can be dwarfed by nature’s output of pollutants
2. can overwhelm the natural system that removes pollutants
3. will damage areas outside of the localized regions
4. will react harmfully with natural pollutants
Question 25: The word “localized” in the third paragraph is closest in meaning to .
1. specified B. circled C. surrounded D. encircled
Question 26: According to the passage, the numerical value of the concentration level of a
substance is only useful if .
1. the other substances in the area are known B. it is in a localized area
2. the natural level is also known D. it can be calculated quickly
Question 27: Which of the following is best supported by the passage?
1. To effectively control pollution, local government should regularly review their air
pollution laws.
2. One of the most important steps in preserving natural lands is to better enforce air
pollution laws.
3. Scientists should be consulted in order to establish uniform limits for all air
4. Human activities have been effective in reducing air

Bài 5. Long ago prehistoric man began to domesticate a number of wild plants and animals for
his own use. This not only provided a more abundant food source but also allowed more people
to live on a smaller plot of ground. We tend to forget that all of our present-day pets, livestock,
and food plants were taken from the wild and developed into the forms we know today.
As centuries passed and human cultures evolved and blossomed, humans began to organise
their knowledge of nature into the broad field of natural history. One aspect of early natural
history concerned the use of plants for drugs and medicine. The early herbalists sometimes
overworked their imaginations in this respect. For example, it was widely believed that a plant
or part of a plant that resembles an internal organ would cure ailments of that organ. Thus,
an extract made from a heartshaped leaf might be prescribed for a person suffering from heart
problems.
Nevertheless, the overall contributions of these early observers provided the rudiments of our
present knowledge of drugs and their uses.
Question 28: What does this passage mainly discuss?
1. Cures from plants B. The beginning of natural history
2. Prehistoric man D. Early plants and animals
Question 29: Domestication of plants and animals probably occurred because of .
1. the need for more readily available food
2. lack of wild animals and plant
3. early man’s power as a hunter
4. the desire of prehistoric man to be nomadic
Question 30: The word “This” in the first paragraph refers to .
1. providing food for man
2. man’s domestication of plants and animals
3. man’s ability to live on a small plot of land
4. the earliest condition of prehistoric man
Question 31: The word “blossomed” in the second paragraph is closest in meaning
to .
1. produced flowers B. changed C. learned D. flourished
Question 32: An herbalist is which of the following?
1. A dreamer B. An early historian
2. Someone who uses plants in medicine D. A farmer

Bài 6. Millions of people are using cellphones today. In many places, it is actually considered
unusual not to use one. In many countries, cellphones are very popular with young people. They
find that the phones are more than a means of communication – having a mobile phone shows
that they are cool and connected.
The explosion in mobile phone use around the world has made some health professionals
worried. Some doctors are concerned that in the future many people may suffer health problems
from the use of mobile phones. In England, there has been a serious debate about this issue.
Mobile phone companies are worried about the negative publicity of such ideas. They say that
there is no proof that mobile phones are bad for your health.
On the other hand, medical studies have shown changes in the brain cells of some people who
use mobile phones. Signs of change in the tissues of the brain and head can be detected with
modem scanning equipment. In one case, a traveling salesman had to retire at young age
because of serious memory loss. He couldn’t remember even simple tasks. He would often
forget the name of his own son. This man used to talk on his mobile phone for about six hours a
day, every day of his working week, for a couple of years. His family doctor blamed his mobile
phone use, but his employer’s doctor didn’t agree.
What is it that makes mobile phones potentially harmful? The answer is radiation. High-tech
machines can detect very small amounts of radiation from mobile phones. Mobile phone
companies agree that there is some radiation, but they say the amount is too small to worry
about. As the discussion about their safety continues, it appears that it’s best to use mobile
phones less often. Use your regular phone if you want to talk for a long time. Use your mobile
phone only when you really need it. Mobile phones can be very useful and convenient,
especially in emergencies. In the future, mobile phones may have a warning label that says they
are bad for your health. So for now, it’s wise not to use your mobile phone too often.
Question 33: The most suitable title for the passage could be .
1. “The Reasons Why Mobile Phones Are Popular”
2. “Mobile Phones. A Must of Our Time”
3. “The Way Mobile Phones Work”
4. “Technological Innovations and Their Price”
Question 34: According to the passage, cellphones are especially popular with young people
because .
1. they make them look more stylish
2. they are indispensable in every day communications
3. they keep the users alert all the time
4. they cannot be replaced by regular phones
Question 35: The changes possibly caused by the cellphones are mainly concerned with ,
1. the mobility of the mind and the body
2. the resident memory
3. the arteries of the brain
4. the smallest units of the brain
Question 36: According to the passage, what makes mobile phones potentially harmful is
.
1. their radiant light
2. their power of attraction
3. their raiding power
4. their invisible rays
Question 37: According to the writer, people should
1. never use mobile phones in all cases
2. only use mobile phones in medical emergencies
3. keep off mobile phones regularly
4. only use mobile phones in urgent cases
Question 38: The man mentioned in the passage, who used his cellphone too often .
1. suffered serious loss of mental ability
2. had a problem with memory
3. abandoned his family
 4. could no longer think lucidly
Question 39: The word “potentially” in the passage most closely means
1. obviously B. possibly C. certainly D. privately

Bài 7. Most people think that lions only come from Africa. This is understandable because in
fact most lions do come from there but this has not always been the case. If we went back ten
thousand years. we would find that there were lions roaming vast sections of the globe.
However now, unfortunately only a very small section of the lion’s former habitat remains.
Asiatic lions are sub-species of African lions. It is almost a hundred thousand years since the
Asiatic lions split off and developed as a sub-species. At one time the Asiatic lion was living as
far west as Greece and they were found from there, but in a band that spreads east through
various countries of the Middle East, all the way to India. In museums now, you can see Greek
coins that have clear images of the Asiatic lion on them. Most of them are dated at around 500
B.C. However, Europe saw its last Asiatic lions roaming free to thousand years ago. Over the
next nineteen hundred years the numbers of Asiatic lions in the other areas declined steadily,
but it was only in the nineteenth century that they disappeared from everywhere but in India.
The Gir Wildlife Sanctuary in India was established especially to protect the Asiatic lion. There
are now around three hundred Asiatic lions in India and almost all of them are in this sanctuary.
However, despite living in a sanctuary, which makes them safe from hunters, they still face a
number of problems that threaten their survival. One of these is the ever-present danger of
disease. This is what killed more than a third of Africa’s Serengeti lions in 1994, and people are
fearful that something similar could happen in the Gir Sanctuary and kill off many of the
Asiatic lions there. India’s lions are particular vulnerable because they have a limited gene
pool. The reason for this is interesting – it is because all of them are descended from a few
dozen lions that were saved by a prince who took a particular interest in them. He was very
healthy, and he managed to protect them otherwise they would probably have died out
completely.
When you see the Asiatic lion in India, what you sense is enormous vitality. They are very
impressive animals and you would never guess that they this vulnerability when you look at
them.
Question 40: According to the passage, ten thousand years ago, .
1. lions did not live in small forests
2. lions came mainly from Africa
3. lions roamed much more than nowadays
4. there were much more lion habitats than nowadays
Question 41: The phrase “split off” in the second paragraph is closest in meaning to .
1. spotted animals B. divided
2. developed into different species D. changed the original species
Question 42: The word “vulnerable” in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to .
1. weak B. careless C. cautious D. easily protected
Question 43: The Asiatic lion .
 1. was looking for food mainly in the Middle East
2. was searching for food in a wide range of countries
3. was searching for food mainly in India and Africa
4. was looking for food mainly in India
Question 44: According to the author, the Gir Wildlife Sanctuary .
1. protects the Asiatic lion from hunters and diseases
2. cannot reduce the Asiatic lion’s risk of catching diseases
3. can make the Asiatic lion become weak
4. is among many places where the Asiatic lion is well protected
Question 45: The author refers to all of the following as characteristics of the Asiatic lion
EXCEPT that .
1. strong B. vulnerable C. vital D. impressive
Question 46: The passage is written to .
1. persuade readers to protect the Asiatic lions
2. explain why the Gir Sanctuary is the best habitat for the Asiatic lions
3. describe the developmental history of the Gir Sanctuary
4. provide an overview of the existence of the Asiatic lions