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Sở GD & ĐT Vĩnh Long Đề đề nghị Học sinh giỏi ĐBSCL 2010-2011
Trường THPT chuyên Môn: tiếng Anh
Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm

I. LISTENING
Part A. You will hear a couple talking to a reporter about their work looking after wild animals in
Namibia. As you listen, choose the best answer A, B or C.

1. Lise and Wayne had always been interested in
A. studying photography.
B. raising cattle.
C. observing animals in their own habitats.
2. They raise money for their centre by
A. taking in visitors as paying guests.
B. asking international organizations for help.
C. farming the surrounding countryside.
3. What eventually happens to the animals they look after?
A. They are sent to safari parks.
B. They are released into the wild.
C. They become part of the family.
4. The family try to train the animals to
A. avoid electric fences.
B. be more independent.
C. stay away from cattle.
5. What kinds of animals do they have at the centre?
A. babies without mothers
B. all different types of creatures
C. mainly cheetahs
6. What sort of success have they had trying to put the creatures back into the wild?

A. when he is relaxed.
B. when he is in the bath.
C. when he gets up early.
5. He says that he produces most of his work
A. when he is under pressure.
B. by working regularly.
C. when he has plenty of time to think.
6. How long does it take Zimmer to write the soundtrack for a film?
A. several years
B. three to four weeks
C. it varies
7. What does Zimmer say he is going to do?
A. take a two-month holiday
B. refuse most new projects
C. work for a further five years

II. GRAMMAR & VOCABULARY:
A. Choose the best answer:
1. I came to Spain in 1982. Next year I (be)………… here 20 years.
A. will have been B. will be C. was D. am
2. My doctor prescribed me some medicine for my cough.
I ………… some medicine for my cough.
A. have prescribed B. prescribed C. had prescribed D. was prescribed
3. Where on earth is Tony? I'm tired of waiting for him. Soon we (wait)………… here for an hour.
A. will have been waiting B. will wait C. wait D. waited
4. He's usually pleasant, but when he's tired he (be) ………… pretty short-tempered. That's the way he is.
A. was B. is C. had been D. will be
5. Sorry I didn't call you and tell you I wasn't coming. I would have called you if I (have) ………… your
number with me.
A. will have B. had C. have D. had had

A. will finish B. would finish C. finish D. will have finished
18. If you (not/be) ………… so stubborn you would find it a lot easier to keep your friends.
A. were B. weren't C. would not be D. had not been
19. John would have waited for you if I (tell) ………… him the truth.
A. had told B. told C. have told D. would tell
20. Mary agrees that if she (not/be) ………… so busy she would enjoy the party tomorrow. As it is, she has
much homework to finish.
A. was B. had not been C. had been D. wasn't

B. Circle A, B, C or D to identify the word or phrase that is incorrect in each line to complete the
passage.

1. There are much more water than land on the surface of the earth. The seas and
A B C D
2. oceans cover nearly four-fifth of the whole world, and only one-fifth of its land.
A B C D
3. That distribution affects all nations that living in different parts of the planet earth
A B C D
4. If you are traveling over the earth in different directions, you would have to spend
A B C D
5. much more of your time moving on water rather than on roads or railways.
A B C D
6. forget sometimes that in every mile of land there are four miles of water.
A B C D
7. There is too much of water on the surface or our earth that we have to use two
A B C D
8. words to describe them. We use the word seas to describe those parts of water
A B C D
9. surface which is only a few hundreds of miles wide, and the word OCEANS to
A B C D

I (1)……… to you three weeks ago, asking about conditions of entry into your college. You
(2)……… , enclosing an enrolment form, which I (3)……… and returned without delay. Since then,
however, I have heard nothing and I begin to wonder if my application (4)……… astray.
Could you please check that you have received it? And if you haven’t, please send me another enrolment
form. If, on the other hand, you received my application but (5)……… whether to accept me as a student or
not, I would be very grateful if you (6)……… me when I may expect to hear your decision. Finally, if my
application already (7)……… refused, I would like to be informed as soon as possible because if I do not get
into your college I (8)……… to apply to another and the sooner I (9)……… this, the better chance I
(10)……… of being accepted.
Yours faithfully,
P. Smith
1. A. write B. had written C. have written D. wrote
2. A. replied B. did reply C. reply D. will reply
3. A. am filling up B. was filling up C. have filled up D. filled up
4. A. went B. has gone C. goes D. will go
5. A. don’t decide B. will not decide C. have not decided D. will be deciding
6. A. told B. had told C. have told D. are telling
7. A. is already B. would already be C. has already been D. will already been
8. A. had B. will have C. would have D. am having
9. A. did B. have done C. had done D. do
10. A. had B. will have C. will have had D. had had

E. Read the passage then choose the best answer to fill in the blanks:
Last week I went to visit my friend Fred. Fred is a great guy but at times he can really go (1)………… about
things. We were speaking about some of our friends and he came (2)………… this incredible story about Jane.
It seems she had butted (3)………… while he was harping (4)………… his favorite complaint: Service in
restaurants. Apparently, he had been running (5)………… for quite a while putting (6)………… almost every
restaurant he had been to by rattling (7)………… a list of his visits to different restaurants in town. I guess Jane
felt that he was talking at her and was fed up with it. She went off about what a rude person he was which shut
him (8)………… pretty quickly! I thought about blurting (9)………… that maybe she was right, but decided to

the opportunities for ingesting aspartame are virtually unlimited.

1. A. an B. a C. the d. no articles
2. A. the B. no articles C. a d. an
3. A. a B. the C. an d. no articles
4. A. no articles B. an C. the d. a
5. A. the B. a C. an d. no articles
6. A. a B. the C. no articles d. an
7. A. a B. no articles C. the d. an
8. A. an B. the C. a d. no articles
9. A. a B. an C. the d. no articles
10. A. no articles B. an C. a d. the

III. READING
A. Read the following passage then choose the best answer to complete each blank:

Can you imagine what Edison’s life was like in the years after he had invented the electric lamp?
Many things had to be invented and built before electric lamps could really (1)………. by all; machines to
(2)………. the electricity each home or office used; things (3)………. it certain that the electricity in the wires
did not (4)………. fires; things to send electricity (5)………. the right places.
Everything that was (6)………. had to be thought of and (7)………. by Edison and the men who worked
(8)………. him. There was no place where they could buy the things they (9)……… Edison made 360
inventions (10)………. in order to send electric power to (11)………. it was wanted.
Edison directed all the work himself; (12)………. new machines, putting wires underground, fixing lights, and
so on. He (13)……….to be everywhere at the same time. He wanted his men to do as much as he (14)………
But he (15)………. asked them to do things he (16)………. would not do or could not do.
He had never thought much about regular hours for sleep; nor he often (17)………. completely about sleeping.
He (18)………. for a few minutes at a time, in the middle of the night, in an underground room at his power
station, (19)………. a metal box for his bed. (20)………. these days, he almost never saw his wife and their
children.

business.
At Easter, British people spend over $230 million on chocolate. A massive eight per cent of all
chocolate is bought at this time.
(1)____. Although the large scale industrial production of chocolate began in the last century, the
cacao plant was first cultivated by the Aztec, Toltec and Mayan civilizations of Central America over three
thousand years ago.
The cacao tree is an evergreen, tropical plant which is found in Africa, South and Central America, the
West Indies and South East Asia. The fruit of this tree is melon-sized and contains 20-40 seeds. (2)____. In
English – speaking countries, they are called cocoa beans. This is a misspelling from the 17
th
century when they
were also called cacoa and cocao beans.
The Aztecs used cocoa beans as money. (3)____. This is from the world in the Aztec language,
Nahuatl, meaning “bitter water”. (4)____. The Spanish found the drink more palatable mixed with cinnamon
and sugar, but the recipe did not spread to the rest of Europe for another century. In the late 17
th
century,
chocolate houses were set up in Europe’s capital cities, where people gathered to drink chocolate.
(5)____. But in 1826, CJ van Houten of the Netherlands invented chocolate powder. (6)____.
The age of the chocolate bar as we know it began in 1847 when a Bristol company, Fry and Sons,
combined cocoa butter with pure chocolate liquor and sugar to produce a solid block that you could eat.
(7)____.
At the turn of the century, the British chocolate market was dominated by French companies. In 1879
the English company Cadbury even named their Birmingham factory Bournville (ville is the French word for
town) in the hope that a little glamour would rub off. But then came Cadbury’s famous Dairy Milk bar which
began life as a Dairymaid in 1905. (8)____.
It seems that, for the time being at least, chocolate intake in Britain has established at about four bars
each week. (9)____. The latest market trick is the so-called “extended line”. This is when the humble chocolate
bar becomes an ice cream, a soft drink or a dessert, to tempt chocoholics who have grown tired of conventional
snacks.


He was travelling2 from London to the North of England by train. It was a misty November evening and
the train was half empty. In fact for the first part of the journey Mr Turner had the carriage to himself and sat
dozing over a newspaper. However at the first stop a passenger jumped in, slamming the door behind him. He
seemed out of breath as if he had been running. He was a striking looking young man with dark, bushy hair and
bright intelligent eyes. He was dressed rather oddly in a long waisted coat with silver buttons, tight trousers and
an embroidered waistcoat. Mr Turner did not pay much attention to this because people wear all sorts of
extravagant clothes these days and he had long grown accustomed to them.

Presently, the two men got into conversation, as people do on long journeys. Mr Turner was interested to
cover that the young man was very knowledgeable about Art - in particular portraits. His name, he said, was
Joseph Hart, and he was on his way to visit an exhibition. It seemed that he worked in a famous London Art
Gallery - a picture restorer, perhaps, thought Mr Turner, for he seemed to know a great deal about varnishes and
paints, and even more about the subjects of certain portraits. When Mr Turner asked his opinion of the portrait
of a famous judge by an artist he admired, his companion laughed and said, “He’s only a reproduction - a good
one I agree but you can't talk to a reproduction.” He spoke as though the person in the portrait were still living.

After a while the carriage got hot and steamy and Mr Turner dropped off. He woke up just as the train was
drawing up at a junction with a grinding of brakes. His companion had disappeared.

A few days later, having returned to London, Mr Turner found himself near the Art Gallery. Moved by
some impulse, he went in and enquired for Joseph Hart. The attendant directed him to a room devoted to early
nineteenth century portraits of well-known men. There was no-one in the room and Mr Turner looked about
him. Without knowing quite how he had got there, he found himself standing in front of a full-length portrait of
a dark young man in tight trousers and an embroidered waistcoat. The eyes smiled at him with a hint of
amusement. The name-plate at the foot of the picture read: Joseph Hart, Gentleman, 1800-1835.

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1. What kind of person was Mr Turner?

A. When the train started.
B. After the train had stopped.
C. Just before the train stopped.
D. When the train was leaving the station.
8. Why did Mr Turner go into the Art Gallery?
A. He was walking past there.
B. He had never been there before.
C. He had planned to do so.
D. He suddenly decided to.
9. In the past of the gallery that Mr Turner was directed to
A. there were a lot of pictures by unknown people.
B. there were a lot of nineteenth century people.
C. no-one else was looking at the pictures.
D. he only saw one portrait.
10. When Mr Turner looked at the portrait of Joseph Hart
A. he smiled at it.
B. he thought it smiled at him.
C. he didn’t recognize it.
D. he was amused.

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IV. WRITING
A. Use the words provided in the parentheses to rewrite the following sentences without changing their
meanings.
1. I don’t mind whether we go or not. (mind)
 ……………………………………………………………………………….
2. You’re lying. (truth)
 ……………………………………………………………………………….
3. My honest opinion is that you’re wasting your time. (frank)

12:00
13:00
14:00
15:00
16:00
17:00
18:00
19:00
20:00
21:00
22:00
Number of people
Time
London Underground station passengersC. Write a composition around 250 words about the following topic:
“In your country, is there more need for land to be left in its natural condition or is there more need for land to
be developed for housing and industry? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.”
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KEY

I. LISTENING: (0.2 point/answer)
Part A: 1.C; 2.A; 3.B; 4.C; 5.C; 6.A; 7.C; 8.B
Part B: 1.B; 2.C; 3.B; 4.A; 5.A; 6.C; 7.B

II. GRAMMAR & VOCABULARY: (0.1 point/answer)
A. 1.A; 2.D; 3.A; 4.B; 5.D; 6.C; 7.D; 8.D; 9.C; 10.B
11. B; 12.A; 13.D; 14.D; 15.C; 16.C; 17.D; 18.B; 19.A; 20.D

The busiest time of the day is in the morning. There is a sharp increase between 06:00 and 08:00, with 400
people using the station at 8 o'clock. After this the numbers drop quickly to less than 200 at 10 o'clock.
Between 11 am and 3 pm the number rises, with a plateau of just under 300 people using the station.
In the afternoon, numbers decline, with less than 100 using the station at 4 pm. There is then a rapid rise to a
peak of 380 at 6pm. After 7 pm, numbers fall significantly, with only a slight increase again at 8pm, tailing off
after 9 pm.
Overall, the graph shows that the station is most crowded in the early morning and early evening periods.

C. (3 points)
Sample:
Even though our population is increasing and land is needed for housing and development. I would hope that
our country could save the land in its natural state for future generations to enjoy. This land would be good for
promoting tourism, for preserving the environment, and for remembering our history.
Although tourism has many negative side effects, it is an industry that can create enormous revenues.
Tourism of course needs something to see. They would not come to our country to see rows of apartment
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buildings or new industrial parks. What is interesting for tourists is the pristine countryside that our country is
known for.
Preserving the land as it is, would be good for the environment. More factories and other industries would
further pollute our rivers and air. We need frees and wide open spaces to make us feel like humans, not
machines.
Untouched land reminds us of our history. When we walk through the countryside, we can imagine our
ancestors on the same path. If we cover the earth with asphalt and concrete, we will loose touch with our past.
We will forget our roots.
Preserving the land is good not only for the economy and environment, it is good for us as citizens of our soil.
We must preserve what little we have left. Can we afford not to?