UBND Tỉnh Tiền Giang CỘNG HÒA XÃ HỘI CHỦ NGHĨA VIỆT NAM
SỞ GIÁO DỤC & ĐÀO TẠO Độc lập - Tự do - Hạnh phúc
Đề chính thức KỲ THI CHỨNG CHỈ A QUỐC GIA
NGOẠI NGỮ ANH – Khóa ngày 9-3-2008
Thời gian làm bài : 90 phút ( không kể thời gian giao đề )
( Đề gồm 04 trang )
PAPER I: READING COMPREHENSION
SECTION A : Multiple Choice:Choose the correct option ( A, B, C or D ) which best
fits in each case :
1. It took……3 years…….the mine.
A. they – to discover B. them – to discover
C. them – discovered D. they - discover
2 She hasn’t been able to sleep for several nights. The doctor gives her a……..for each
night.
A. credit card B. sleeping bag
C. new record D. sleeping pill
3. They love living in the countryside because there was a lot of……….there.
A quietness B. noise.
C. excitement D. pollution
4. Mary has to go shopping by bus because she hasn’t got a…………She may not drive a
car.
A. birth certificate B. road accident
C. driving licence D. type-writer
5. In the United States people speak many languages, but the official language is……….
A. French B. American
C. Spanish D. English
6. We are free next Friday. Do you plan to go………..?
A. anywhere B. somewhere
C. nowhere D. everywhere
7. It was……chilly……..children had to stay home last week.
A. very – that B. so – that

17. She woke up at midnight because she had a…………
A. night watcher B. nightmare
C. night class D. night club
18. Most guests at the party were……..with their jokes.
A. interesting B. terrified
C. amused D. horrifying
19. Travelling by train is usually……….by aeroplane.
A. slower than B. as slow as
C. faster than D. more rapid than
20. That girl is very rich because she is the only………of a millionaire.
A. hair-dresser B. heir
C. headmaster D. heiress
SECTION B : Read the following passage then choose ONE option ( A, B, C or D )
which you think fits best in each case :
No one knows who invented pencils or when it happened. A Swiss described a pencil in a
book in 1565. He said it was a piece of wood with lead ( Pb ) inside it.( Lead is a very heavy
metal ).
Pencils weren’t popular, and people continued to write with pens. They used bird feather as
pens.
Then in 1795, someone started making pencils from graphite and they became very
popular.Graphite is a kind of coal.( Coal is black, and we burn it for heat and energy). Today,
people make pencils in the same way.They grind the graphite, make it into the shape of a stick,
and bake it. Then they put it inside a piece of wood. One pencil can write 50,000 English words
or make a line 55 kilometers long.
People wrote with feather pens and then used pens with metal points. They had to dip the
point into ink after every few letters. Next someone invented a fountain pen that could hold ink
inside it. A fountain pen can write several pages before you have to fill it again.
Two Hungarian brothers, Ladislao and Georg Biro, invented the ballpoint pen that we all use
today. They left Hungary and started making ballpoint pens in England in 1943 during World
War II. English pilots liked them. They couldn’t write with fountain pens in airplanes because

There was a bank... ( 26 )…in central London yesterday. Just before closing…( 27 )…
yesterday, a man…( 28 )…the Butcher Street Branch of the National Westminster Bank. He
was…( 29 )…a shotgun, and wearing a stocking…( 30 )…over his head. There were only a few
customers in the…( 31 )…at the time. He made them lie on the…( 32 )…, and forced the
…( 33 )…to put the money in a sack. As he…( 34 )…leaving, the security guard tried to ring
the…( 35 )….The robber…( 36 )…him and the guard is now in St Patrick’s Hospital….( 37 )...
are trying to…( 38 )…his life. Last night the police…( 39 )…a man in South London. He is now
helping the…( 40 )…with their enquiries.

SECTION B : Guided Sentence Building
Use the following sets of words and phrases to write complete sentences :
41. Janet / studied / Vietnamese / while / she / teach / English /in Hanoi.//
42. The novel / written / Earnest Hemingway / last century.//
43. When / young / I / not used to / stay / indoors / Sunday //
44. If / you / be / London / now,/ what / you / see ? //
45. Their children / studied / English course / before / they / go / school / last month //
46. The pupils / had to / stay home / cold period ? //
47. Your parents/ traveled/ Bangkok/ airplane, they ? //
48. There / be / too many / road accidents / big cities / recently //
49. His aunt / the one / you / met at my house / yesterday //
50. It / take / villagers / a month / repair / their houses / after the flood / last year //
3
SECTION C: Read the passage below then tick ( X ) whether the following statements
are TRUE or FALSE :

68 rue des Alpts,
Paris
September 16
th
Dear John,