ĐỀ ÔN LUYỆN HSG TỈNH

TEST 28
B. LEXICO - GRAMMAR (30 pts)
Part 1. Choose the most suitable option (A, B, C, or D) to complete each sentence below.
1. I don’t believe for a moment that if you play that record backwards, you’ll hear a ________
message in the background.
A. subsiding B. sublingual C. subliminal D. telepathic
2. The animals were ________ in the waterhole, and rolling in the mud.
A. twitching B. stalking C. tweaking D. wallowing
3. The festival audience were ________ each other in order to get as near to the stage as possible.
A. staggering B. jostling C. strolling D. fidgeting
4. After the earthquake, the entrance hall was turned into a _________ casualty ward.
A. mainstay B. piecework C. makeshift D. wayside
5. Liverpool has several opportunities to score but __________ their chances.
A. squandered B. abused C. scattered D. spent
6. The news of the attack left us completely _________.
A. stirred B. stunned C. moved D. upset
7. -“They say that your wife tends to pry into other people private’s matters.”
- “ I don’t care. It’s no skin my _______”
A. palm B. skull C. cheek D. nose
8. Take the doctor’s advice into consideration. He’s in ________ earnest about the epidemic.
A. mortally B. fatally C. gravely D. deadly
9. Every room in the hotel was characterized by shabby furniture and ________ lighting.
A. morose B. nagative C. glum D. sullen
10. It’s important to keep your _____ about you when you are walking through the African bush.
A. wits B. heads C. brains D. minds

Part 3. Complete each of the following sentences with a suitable preposition or particle.
1. The football player got back ______ his detractors by scoring a hat trick in his next game.
2. An audience member cut ___in___ during the interview and accused the minister of lying.
3. The position was offered to Michael as he was the best candidate ______ a mile.
4. The manager was _____ fire for his unpopular decisions.
5. I was so sick on the ferry that I threw _____.
Part 4. Fill in each blank with the most suitable form of the word in brackets.
The last orangutans
The orangutan is our closest living (11) _____relatives______ among the animal RELATIVE
species. There is just a two percent difference in our DNA and this perhaps (12) -
_____accounted______ for the number of tourists flocking to the rainforests of COUNT
south-east Asia in the hope of seeing the creatures in close (13) -
___________proximity__________. Just glimpsing one is an (14) - PROXIMATE
_____unforgettable______ experience. With logging and oil-palm production FORGET
destroying their precious habitat at an ever (15) _____quickly______ pace, the QUICK
animal is on the brink of extinction. Mass tourism itself must take part of the
blame for the creature's demise, but for anyone determined to see one, a (16) -
______rehabilitation_____ center offers the chance to do so in a regulated REHABILITATE
environment. The recent discovery of a new population off orangutans in a
largely (17) _____inaccessible______ area of Borneo is a bit of positive news in ACCESS
an otherwise bleak situation. A team of conservationists has (18) -
_____enlightened______ the need to protect the group, both by (19) - LIGHT
_____courageous______ unwanted tourists, and by ensuring the remote region COURAGE
remains (20) _____untouched_____ by the sort of development that has done so TOUCH
much damage elsewhere.

C. READING (60 pts)

Part 1. For questions 1-10, read the following passage and decide which answer (A, B, C, or
D) best fits each gap.
Until about 250 years ago, households did not take dirt as (1)______ as they do now - it
was a fact of life, and that was that. Cleaning often consisted of an annual (2)______ called
'spring cleaning' when the furniture was moved aside, and all the linen products in the house
were cleaned. Carpets and rugs were taken outside, hung on ropes and had the dust (3)______
out of them - an exhausting and messy process.
The industrial revolution brought about a major change - as new products became available to
make homes cleaner, a corresponding interest in 'domestic hygiene' appeared in households. This
in turn led to the (4)______ of further products, one of which was the vacuum cleaner.
(5)______ has it that when one of the first vacuum cleaners was demonstrated, a kindly
scientist took the proud inventor (6)______, and offered a bit of advice that was to become
(7)______to the future evolution of the product - 'make it suck, not blow'.
The first vacuum cleaners appeared in the 1860s in the United States. They were operated
by hand pumps and were almost as (8)______as spring cleaning. It was only when electric
motors had become sufficiently advanced to become portable that vacuum cleaners became
common household items. Most of today's major (9)______- including Electrolux and Hoover -
were born in the 1920s.
The household dirt that vacuum cleaners suck up is mostly dead skin cells - humans
(10)______millions of cells every day. A much smaller proportion comes from dust and soil
carried into the house from outside.
1. A. importantly B.  crucially C. considerately D. seriously
2. A. ritual B. result C. resolution D. scrub
3. A. cleaned B. taken C. beaten D. sucked
4. A. fabrication B. appearing C. recreation D. development
5. A. Story B. Epic C. Legend D. Tale
6. A. away B. aside C. aback D. along
7. A. standard B. crucial C. regular D. esteemed
8. A. laborious B. hard C. nefarious D. straining
9. A. brands B. marks C. makes D. trademarks
10. A. lose B. outgrow C. omit D. shed
Part 2. For questions 1-10, fill each of the following numbered blanks with ONE suitable
word.
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SELLING
The psychology of retailing has come to rely on highly sophisticated techniques. Over
and (1) ___above_____ the design of the shops and the packaging of the merchandise, clever
positioning of goods also ensures that the natural flow of people takes them to (2) _____each____
and every section in a shop. Customers are led gently, but at the same time with deadly accuracy,
towards the merchandise in such a way (3) ____as_____ to maximise sales.
 Manufacturers compete for the right to have their products displayed at the most effective
level. In supermarkets, there is a crucial section in the tiers of vertical shelving somewhere
between waist height and eye (4)____level_____, where we are most likely to take note of a
brand. In the old days, when we went into a shop, we (5) ____made_____our way up to the
counter, behind (6) _____which_____ would be the shopkeeper and virtually all of the
merchandise, and were served with what we wanted. Those days are (7) ____well____ and truly
over.
Today, we are used to serving (8) _____ourselves____ in supermarkets; products are laid
before us as enticingly as (9) _____possible_____, and impulse purchases are encouraged as a
major part of the exercise. As a result of this, we, as shoppers, have to keep our wits (10)
____about______ us to resist the retailers’ ploys.
Part 3. Read the passage and choose the best answer to each of the questions.
RUNNING WATER ON MARS
Photographic evidence suggests that liquid water once existed in great quantity on the surface of
Mars. Two types of flow features are seen: runoff channels and outflow channels. Runoff
channels are found in the southern highlands. These flow features are extensive systems -
sometimes hundreds of kilometers in total length - of interconnecting, twisting channels that
seem to merge into larger, wider channels. They bear a strong resemblance to river systems on
Earth, and geologists think that they are dried-up beds of long-gone rivers that once carried
rainfall on Mars from the mountains down into the valleys. Runoff channels on Mars speak of a
time 4 billion years ago (the age of the Martian highlands), when the atmosphere was thicker, the
surface warmer, and liquid water widespread.
Outflow channels are probably relics of catastrophic flooding on Mars long ago. They appear
only in equatorial regions and generally do not form extensive interconnected networks. Instead,
they are probably the paths taken by huge volumes of water draining from the southern highlands
into the northern plains. The onrushing water arising from these flash floods likely also formed
the odd teardrop-shaped “islands” (resembling the miniature versions seen in the wet sand of our
beaches at low tide) that have been found on the plains close to the ends of the outflow channels.
Judging from the width and depth of the channels, the flow rates must have been truly enormous
- perhaps as much as a hundred times greater than the 105 tons per second carried by the great
Amazon river. Flooding shaped the outflow channels approximately 3 billion years ago, about
the same time as the northern volcanic plains formed.
Some scientists speculate that Mars may have enjoyed an extended early period during which
rivers, lakes, and perhaps even oceans adorned its surface. A 2003 Mars Global Surveyor image
shows what mission specialists think may be a delta - a fan-shaped network of channels and
sediments where a river once flowed into a larger body of water, in this case a lake filling a
crater in the southern highlands. Other researchers go even further, suggesting that the data
provide evidence for large open expanses of water on the early Martian surface. A computer-
generated view of the Martian north polar region shows the extent of what may have been an
ancient ocean covering much of the northern lowlands. The Hellas Basin, which measures some
3,000 kilometers across and has a floor that lies nearly 9 kilometers below the basin’s rim, is
another candidate for an ancient Martian sea.
These ideas remain controversial. Proponents point to features such as the terraced “beaches”
shown in one image, which could conceivably have been left behind as a lake or ocean
evaporated and the shoreline receded. But detractors maintain that the terraces could also
have been created by geological activity, perhaps related to the geologic forces that
depressed the Northern Hemisphere far below the level of the south, in which case they
have nothing whatever to do with Martian water. Furthermore, Mars Global Surveyor data
released in 2003 seem to indicate that the Martian surface contains too few carbonate rock layers
- layers containing compounds of carbon and oxygen - that should have been formed in
abundance in an ancient ocean. Their absence supports the picture of a cold, dry Mars that never
experienced the extended mild period required to form lakes and oceans. However, more recent
data imply that at least some parts of the planet did in fact experience long periods in the past
during which liquid water existed on the surface.
Aside from some small-scale gullies (channels) found since 2000, which are inconclusive,
astronomers have no direct evidence for liquid water anywhere on the surface of Mars today, and
the amount of water vapor in the Martian atmosphere is tiny. Yet even setting aside the unproven
hints of ancient oceans, the extent of the outflow channels suggests that a huge total volume of
water existed on Mars in the past. Where did all the water go? The answer may be that virtually
all the water on Mars is now locked in the permafrost layer under the surface, with more
contained in the planet’s polar caps.
1. The word “merge” in the passage is closest in meaning to ___________.
(A) expand (B) separate (C) straighten out (D) combine
2. What does the discussion in paragraph 1 of runoff channels in the southern highlands suggest
about Mars?
(A) The atmosphere of Mars was once thinner than it is today.
(B) Large amounts of rain once fell on parts of Mars.
(C) The river systems of Mars were once more extensive than Earth’s.
(D) The rivers of Mars began to dry up about 4 billion years ago.
3. The word “relics” in the passage is closest in meaning to _________.
(A) remains (B) sites (C) requirements (D) sources
4. In paragraph 2, why does the author include the information that 105 tons of water flow
through the Amazon River per second?
(A) To emphasize the great size of the volume of water that seems to have flowed
through Mars’outflow channels.
(B) To indicate data used by scientists to estimate how long ago Mars’ outflow channels
were formed.
(C) To argue that flash floods on Mars may have been powerful enough to cause tear-
shaped “islands” to form.
(D) To argue that the force of flood waters on Mars was powerful enough to shape the
northern volcanic plains.
5. According to paragraph 2, all of the following are true of the outflow channels on Mars
EXCEPT:
(A) They formed at around the same time that volcanic activity was occurring on the
northern plains.
(B) They are found only on certain parts of the Martian surface.
(C) They sometimes empty onto what appear to have once been the wet sands of
tidal beaches.
(D) They are thought to have carried water northward from the equatorial regions.
6. All of the following questions about geological features on Mars are answered in paragraph 3
EXCEPT:
(A) What are some regions of Mars that may have once been covered with an ocean?
 (B) Where do mission scientists believe that the river forming the delta emptied?
(C) Approximately how many craters on Mars do mission scientists believe may
once have been lakes filled with water?
(D) During what period of Mars’ history do some scientists think it may have had large
bodies of water?
7. According to paragraph 3, images of Mars’ surface have been interpreted as support for the
idea that
(A) a large part of the northern lowlands may once have been under water.
(B) the polar regions of Mars were once more extensive than they are now.
(C) deltas were once a common feature of the Martian landscape.
(D) the shape of the Hellas Basin has changed considerably over time.
8. What can be inferred from paragraph 3 about liquid water on Mars?
(A) If ancient oceans ever existed on Mars’ surface, it is likely that the water in them has
evaporated by now.
(B) If there is any liquid water at all on Mars’ surface today, its quantity is much
smaller than the amount that likely existed there in the past.
(C) Small-scale gullies on Mars provide convincing evidence that liquid water existed on
Mars in the recent past.
(D) The small amount of water vapor in the Martian atmosphere suggests that there has
never been liquid water on Mars.
9. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the sentence in bold
type in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out
essential information.
(A) But detractors argue that geological activity may be responsible for the water
associated with the terraces.
(B) But detractors argue that the terraces may be related to geological forces in the
Northern Hemisphere of Mars, rather than to Martian water in the south.
(C) But detractors argue that geological forces depressed the Northern Hemisphere so far
below the level of the south that the terraces could not have been formed by water.
(D) But detractors argue that the terraces may have been formed by geological activity
rather than by the presence of water.
10. According to paragraph 4, what do the 2003 Global Surveyor data suggest about Mars?
(A) Ancient oceans on Mars contained only small amounts of carbon.
(B) The climate of Mars may not have been suitable for the formation of large
bodies of water.
(C) Liquid water may have existed on some parts of Mars’ surface for long periods of
time.
(D) The ancient oceans that formed on Mars dried up during periods of cold, dry weather.
Part 4. Read the following passage and do the tasks that follows.
Blue-footed Boobies 2
A   Boobies are a small group of seabirds native to tropical and subtropical oceans throughout
the world. Their diet consists mainly of fish. They are specialized fish eaters feeding on small
school fish like sardines, anchovies, mackerel, and flying fish. When their prey is in sight, they
fold their long wings back around their streamlined bodies and plunge into the water from as
high as 80 feet, so streamlined they barely make a splash. They travel in parties of about 12 to
areas of water with large schools of small fish. When the lead bird sees a fish shoal in the water,
it will signal the rest of the group and they will all dive together. Surprisingly, individuals do not
eat with the hunting group, preferring to eat on their own, usually in the early morning or late
afternoon.
B   There are three varieties on the Galapagos: the blue-footed, red-footed, and masked boobies.
They are all members of the same family, and are not only different in appearance but also in
behaviors. The blue-footed and red-footed boobies mate throughout the year, while the masked
boobies have an annual mating cycle that differs from island to island. All catch fish in a similar
manner, but in different areas: the blue-footed booby does its fishing close to shore, while the
masked booby goes slightly farther out, and the red-footed booby fishes at the farthest distances
from shore.
C   Although it is unknown where the name “Booby” emanates from, some conjecture it may
come from the Spanish word for clown, “bobo”, meaning “stupid”. Its name was probably
inspired by the bird’s clumsiness on land and apparently unwarranted bravery. The blue footed
booby is extremely vulnerable to human visitors because it does not appear to fear them.
Therefore these birds received such name for their clumsiness on land in which they were easily,
captured, killed, and eaten by humans.
D    The blue-footed booby’s characteristic feet play a significant part in their famous courtship
ceremony, the ‘booby dance’. The male walks around the female, raising his bright blue feet
straight up in the air, while bringing his ‘shoulders’ towards the ground and crossing the bottom
tips of his wings high above the ground. Plus he’ll raise his bill up towards the sky to try to win
his mate over. The female may also partake in these activities – lifting her feet, sky pointing, and
of course squawking at her mate. After mating, another ritual occurs – the nest-building which
ironically is never used because they nest on the bare ground. When the female is ready to lay
her eggs, they scrape the existing nest away so she can nest on exposed ground. Sun-baked
islands form the booby’s breeding grounds. When ready the female Blue Footed Booby lays one
to three eggs.
E    After mating, two or three eggs are laid in a shallow depression on flat or gently sloping
ground. Both male and female take turns incubating the eggs. Unlike most birds, booby doesn’t
develop brood patches (areas of bare skin on the breast) to warm the eggs during incubation.
Instead, it uses its broad webbed feet, which have large numbers of prominent blood vessels, to
transmit heat essential for incubation. The eggs are thick-shelled so they can withstand the full
weight of an incubating bird.
F   After hatching, the male plays a major role in bringing fish home. He can bring back a
constant supply of small fish for the chicks, which must be fed continuously. The reason is that
the male has a longer tail than the female in relation to his body size, which makes him able to
execute shallower dives and to feed closer to shore. Then the female takes a greater part as time
proceeds. Sooner or later, the need to feed the young becomes greater than the need to protect
them and both adults must fish to provide enough.
G   When times are good, the parents may successfully fledge all three chicks, but, in harder
times, they may still lay as many eggs yet only obtain enough food to raise one. The problem is
usually solved by the somewhat callous-sounding system of “opportunistic sibling murder.” The
first-born chick is larger and stronger than its nest mate(s) as a result of hatching a few days
earlier and also because the parents feed the larger chick. If food is scarce, the first born will get
more food than its nest mate(s) and will outcompete them, causing them to starve. The above
system optimizes the reproductive capacity of the blue-foot in an unpredictable environment.
The system ensures that, if possible, at least one chick will survive a period of shortage rather
than all three dying of starvation under a more ‘humane’ system.
Choose the correct heading for questions 1-6 from the list of headings below. Write the
correct number, i-ix, next to Questions 1-6.
List of Headings
i Unusual way of hatching the chicks
ii Feeding habit of the red-footed booby
iii Folding wings for purpose
iv Rearing the young
v Classification of boobies
vi Diving for seafood
vii Surviving mechanism during the food shortage period
viii Mating and breeding
ix Origin of the booby’s name
Example Answer
Paragraph: C ix
1   Paragraph A vi
2   Paragraph B v
3   Paragraph D viii
4   Paragraph E i
5   Paragraph F iv
6   Paragraph G vii
Questions 7-10 
Complete the summary below, using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the reading
passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 7 –10  on your answer sheet.
The courtship of the Blue-footed Booby consists of the male flaunting his blue feet and dancing
to impress the female. During the dance, the male will spread his wings and stamp his feet on the
ground with his bills 7  __skypointing____. After mating, the booby’s unusual demeanor
continues with ritual 8 ____nest-building___ that really serves no purpose. When the female
Booby lays eggs, the parental boobies incubate the eggs beneath their 9 ___webbed feet____
which contain 10  ____blood vessels____ to transmit the heat, because of the lack of brood
patches.