Melbourne people enjoy 2______ this joke to visitors: if you don’t like the weather in Melbourne, don’t worry, just wait five minutes, because it’s sure to change.... As well as raining [r]
Trang 1READING COMPREHENTION
NUMBER 1
Most (1) the addicts are men They come home (2) work, eat theirmeal quickly and then spend the evening (3) their computers Some of them makeprograms, (4) most of them just play games Some wives say the computer iskilling their marriage Their husbands play until three(5) four o'clock (6) themorning and all weekend People call these lonely wives "computer widows"
When television became popular (7) the 1950s, doctors said it caused
"television neck", "TV eyes" and other new illnesses Now it is the home computer Peoplesay it causes headaches, backaches and makes their eyes tired But worst (8) all, it isaddictive That means it is (9) drinking, smoking or taking drugs Some people can'tstop (10) it
Your answers:
NUMBER 2 The relationship (1) students and teachers is less formal in the USA(2) in many other countries American students do not stand up
when their teachers enter the room Students are encouraged to ask questions during
class, to stop in the teacher’s office for extra help, and to phone if they (3) absent Most teachers allow students to enter class late or leave (4) if necessary Despite the lack of formality, students are still expected to (5)
polite to their teachers and fellow classmates
When students want to ask questions, they usually raise a hand and wait to be
called(6) _ When a test is being given, talking to a classmate is not only rude(7) also risky Most American teachers consider that students (8)
_ are talking to each other during a test are cheating
NUMBER 3
In Britain, the issue of whether or (1) children should be made to wear school uniform has been hotly debated (2) many years Newspapers frequently include reports of children being sent home (3) they were not wearing the right style of shoes (4) the wrong colour of pullover In Brtain,
There is no national uniform policy; it’s the responsibility of each head teacher to
decide if their students should wear a uniform, and if so, to lay down exactly (5)
that uniform should consist of
In Japan, there is a strict uniform policy in all schools Boys in secondary schools
wear a dark jacket (6) buttons down the front and a high collar, and girls wear a blue and white uniform based (7) a nineteenth-century sailor suit.
There is a correct length for girls’ skirts and teachers will sometimes use a tape
measure to check (8) In Japan, as in many other countries, children find
ways of bending the uniform rules
In the USA, uniforms were introduced in some urban areas in the 1980s in an
attempt to prevent students bullying each (9) simply because of the cothes
Trang 2they were wearing Within a decade about 25 per cent of (10) primary
school pupils and 12 per cent of secondary students were wearing uniforms
NUMBER 4
Learning a language is, in some way, like (1) how to fly orplay the piano There (2) _ important differences, but there is a veryimportant similarity It is this: learning how to do such things needs lots (3) _practice It is never simply to “know” something You must be able to “do” things with what(4) _ know For example, it is not enough simply to read a book on (5) to fly an aero plane A (6) _ can give you lots of informationabout how to fly, but if only read a book and then try to (7) _ without a greatdeal of practice first, you will crash and kill (8) The same is true of (9) the piano So you think it is enough simply to read about it? Can you playthe piano without having lots of (10) _ first?
NUMBER5
Looking nervously around, Michael (1) up the wallet which he(2) in the street Michael was unemployed and he needed some(3) and now he could buy food for his family (4) first he thought it
was a book, but then he saw some money in it He thought he was (5) In (6),
Michael was very (7) He didn't have enough money to pay for somewhere tolive He spent most of his time (8) for work and sometimes he asked people formoney
When he (9) the wallet, he saw lots of money and several(10) cards and an address inside Michael took the (11) to theaddress The address was at a large house in the city and the (12) was very glad
to get it (13) He gave Michael a big (14) for (15) he did
NUMBER 6
Television is an important invention of the twentieth century It has been(1) _ popular that now we can't imagine what life would be (2) _if therewere no television
Television is a major (3) _of communication It brings pictures and soundsfrom around the world into millions of homes Through (4) _, viewers can see andlearn about people, places and things in faraway lands Television (5) _ourknowledge by introducing to us new ideas (6) _may lead us to new hobbies andrecreations
In addition (7) _the news, television provides us with a variety of programsthat can satisfy (8) _taste Most people now seem to like spending their evenings(9) _television It is more convenient for them to sit at home watching TV(10) _to go out for amusements anywhere else
Trang 3NUMBER 7
John lived (1) his mother in a very big house, and when she died, the housebecame (2) big for him, (3) he bought a smaller one in the next street.There was a very nice old clock in his first house, and when the men came to take hisfurniture (4) the new house, John thought, "I'm not going to let them (5)
my beautiful old clock in their truck Perhaps they'll break it, and then repairing it will(6) expensive." So he picked it up and began to carry it down the road in his arms
It was heavy, so he stopped two or three times to have a (7) .Then suddenly a small boy came along the road He stopped and looked (8) Johnfor a few seconds Then he said to John, "You're a foolish man, (9) you? Whydon't you (10) a watch like everybody else?"
Today, Ramthambhore is a very different place, with grass tall (9) for tigers
to hide in, and there are now at (10) ………… forty of them (11) the park,wandering freely about Other animals have also benefited For example, there are many (12) deer and monkeys than before The people (13) were moved are nowliving in better conditions They live in new villages away (14) the tiger park,with schools, temples and fresh water supplies There are now sixteen such tiger parks inIndia and the animals’ future looks (15) little safer
NUMBER 9
To many people, their friends are most important (1) in their life Really good friends (2) the good times and the bad times, help you when you’ve got problems, never judge you and never turn their (3) on you Your best friend may
be (4) you’ve known all your life, someone you’ve grown up with and been through lots of (5) and downs with.
There are all sorts of things that can bring about this special relationship It may
be the (6) of enjoying the same activities, having the outlook on life, or sharingsimilar (7) Most of us (8) met someone that we’ve immediately feltrelaxed with, (9) if we’ve known them for years However, usually it really doestake you years to (10) to know someone well enough to consider him(11) best friend
Trang 4To the majority of (12) this is someone we trust completely and whounderstands us (13) than anyone else It’s the person you can turn (14) for impartial advice and a shoulder to cry on (15) life gets you down
Later workers at the factories and girls (9) worked in the houses of richfamilies received one free day a week, and Mothering Day became Mother’s Day It is(10) last Sunday in March
NUMBER 11
Few people now question the reality of global warming and its effects on theworld climate Many scientists put the blame for the recent natural disasters on theincrease (1) the world temperatures and are convinced that, more than (2) before, the earth is at (3) _ from the force of the wind, rain and sun.(4) to them, global warming is making extreme weather events, even ashurricanes and droughts even more severe and causing sea levels all around the world
to (5) _
Environmental groups are putting pressure on governments to take action toreduce the (6) _ of carbon dioxide which is given off by factories and powerplants, thus attacking the problem as it’s source They are in favor of more money beingspent on research into solar, wind and wave energy devices, which could then replaceexisting power stations
Some scientists, (7) _, believe that even if we stopped releasing carbondioxide and other gases into the atmosphere tomorrow, we (8) _ have to waitseveral hundred years to know the results Global warming, it seems, is to stay
NUMBER 12
Illiteracy is the condition of being (1) to read and write Illiteracy is also(2) to describe the condition of being ignorant or unknowledgeable in aparticular subject or field Computer illiteracy is (3) inability to use a computerprogramming language
Most of us (4) use computers know how to send emails, or how to create anew folder But we know (5) about programming languages, the artificiallanguages used to write instructions that can be executed by a computer Even in
Trang 5technologically (6) countries, a very small percentage of computer users areable to read or write this kind of computer language Should we (7) the effort
to learn a computer language, especially when these are so complicated? The answer
is (8) Because of computer illiteracy, users are at the (9) of softwaremanufacturers Our society becomes more dependent on information (10) ,and in a few years’ (11) , reading and writing a computer language will be asessential (12) using a human language Computer users will not be able tosurvive (13) they know the code - the set of detailed instructions that tell acomputer what to do In the (14) , survival and professional success willpresuppose knowing everything about the machines we (15) with
NUMBER 13
Maybe you recycle cans, glass, and paper Do you know that nature recycles, too?.One of the things nature (1) _ is water Water goes from oceans, lakes, and riversinto the air Water falls from the air as (2) _ or snow Rain and snow eventually findtheir way back to the oceans Nature’s recycling program for water is (3) _ thewater cycle
The water cycle has four stages: storage, evaporation, precipitation, and runoff.Water on Earth gets stored (4) _ oceans, lakes, rivers, ice, and even underground.Water goes from storage into the atmosphere by a process called evaporation Whenwater evaporates, it changes from a liquid (5) _ a gas, called water vapor Watervapor goes up into (6) _ atmosphere Water returns to the Earth as precipitation inrain or snow by changing into drops of water (7) _ the air gets cold enough Cloudsare collections (8) _ water droplets Most precipitation falls into the oceans andgoes right back into storage
NUMBER 14
Everyone wants to reduce pollution But pollution problem is (1) complicated
as it is serious It is complicated (2) much pollution is caused by things that benefitpeople For example, exhaust (3) automobiles causes a large percentage of all airpollution But automobiles (4) transportation for millions of people Factoriesdischarge much of the material (5) pollutes the air and water, but factories giveemployment to a large (6) of people Too much fertilizer or pesticide can ruin soil,but fertilizers and pesticide (7) important aids to the growing of crops Thus, to end (8) greatly reduces pollution immediately, people would have to (9) usingmany things that benefit them Most people do not want to do that, of course But pollutioncan (10) gradually reduced in several ways
NUMBER 15
The city of Melbourne, Australia has always had a (1) for unusual weather.Melbourne people enjoy (2) this joke to visitors: if you don’t like the weather inMelbourne, don’t worry, just wait five minutes, because it’s sure to change
Trang 6At the beginning of 1992, Melbourne had its (3) January for over 100 years It rainedfor nine days on (4) As well as raining all day, the weather was also cold At night,people in some Melbourne suburbs were (5) on their heating as (6) it waswinter It was (7) cold many people could (8) believe that it was summer atall.
The best weather in Melbourne, however, is not usually in the summer: it is in the autumn.The autumn usually has more pleasant days (9) the summer The weather in autumn
is usually (10) of warm days and cool, comfortable (11)
The (12) of the city at this time of year is beautiful, too Melbourne has many lovelygardens and parklands with beautiful trees In the autumn, the trees change their (13)
to red, gold and brown As they are (14) in the air by the wind of a late autumn day,the leaves add life to the city So even if the summer is cold and wet, people in Melbournecan still look forward to the (15) of a warm sunny autumn
When his course finished, …( 5 ) …went to Aberdeen, where he looked after domesticanimals…( 6 )…as cats and dogs He always said that he would like to move around because
he didn’t believe in staying in any job for too long So I wasn’t very surprised when hegave (7 )…that job and went to work in the zoo He stayed there for two years, and in theevenings he studied hard to get some higher qualifications When he had succeeded…(8) passing all his exams, he applied for a job…(9)…a keeper on a game reserve in Africa
in 1994 He is now responsible for the well- being of thousands of animals In addition, he is
in charge of a special program to protect species which are in….( 10 )….of extinction
NUMBER 17
There is much more water than land (1) the surface of the earth The seaand oceans (2) nearly four-fifths of the whole world, and only one-fifth of (3) land If you traveled over the earth (4) different directions, you would have tospend much more of your time (5) on water than on roads or railways Wesometimes forget that (6) every mile of land there is four miles of water
There is much water on the surface of our earth that we (7) to use two words todescribe We use the word seas to (8) those parts of water surface which (9) only a few hundreds of miles wide, the word oceans to describe the huge areas of waterwhich are thousands of miles wide (10) very deep
NUMBER 18
Most people think of computers (1) _ very modern inventions, products ofour new technological age But actually the idea for a computer was worked (3) _over two centuries (2) _ by a man called Charles Babbage Babbage was born in
1791 and grew up to be a brilliant mathematician He drew up plans for several
Trang 7calculating machines which he called “engines” In (4) of the fact that he startedbuilding some of these, he never finished any of them Over the years, people haveargued (5) his machines would ever work Recently, however, the ScienceMuseum in London has finished building an engine based on one of Babbage’s designs.
It has (6) _ six years to complete and (7) than four thousand parts have beenspecially made Whether it works or not, the machine will be on at a special exhibition
in the Science Museum to (8) _ people of Babbage’s work
NUMBER 19
There came a time, maybe 20,000 years ago, when man, instead of (1) merely
a hunter, started to domesticate animals The dog helped in his hunting activities, geeseand ducks were kept and bred as a source of food, (2) was easier than (3) to
go out and hunt them Once humans had domesticated animals, they turned their(4) to plants Instead of being nomads, drifting from place to place following thegame animals, they began to create farms and thus enter (5) more settled way oflife Villages and towns sprang up in places where previously (6) had been only ahamlet Now animals and plants began to be kept not merely for food, but also forinterest’s sake or for their beauty
The first writers on animal life was Aristotle, in 33 BC, and Pliny, in 75 AD, but for
many hundreds of years after Pliny the subjects of natural history, in common with many (7) areas of knowledge, hardly progressed at all For the most part such zoos
as existed were in the hands of the dilettante nobility and were no more than
second-rate menageries, without (8) scientific purpose.
However, in the seventeenth century, naturalists began to realize that they needed
a system (9) classifying living things because as more plants and animals were
discovered, it was difficult to (10) track of them all
George Washington is (8) by his people the "Father of our country" TheAmericans (9) _his birthday on Presidents' Day in February His (10) _
is on the one-dollar bill
NUMBER 21
Travelling to all corners of the world is (1) _ easier and easier We live (2) _
a global village, but how well do we know and understand each other? Here is (3) _ simple test Imagine you have arranged a meeting at 4 p m What time shouldyou expect your foreign business colleagues to arrive? If they are German, they‘ll be
Trang 8exactly (4) _ time If they are American, they‘ll probably be 15 minutes early Ifthey are British, they’ll be 15 minutes (5) _, and you should allow up to an hour forthe Indians Therefore, these are some small advice in (6) _ not to behave badlyabroad In France you shouldn’t sit down in a cafard until you are shaken hands witheveryone you know In Afghanistan you‘d better spend at last 5 minutes (7) _ hello.
In Pakistan you mustn’t wink It is offensive In the Middle East you must never use theleft hand for greeting, eating, drinking or smoking Also, you should care not to admire(8) _ in your host’s home They will feel that they have to give it to you In Russiayou must your hosts drink for drink or they will think you are unfriendly In Thailandyou should clasp your hands (9) _ and lower your head and your eyes when yougreet someone In America you should eat your hamburger with both hands and asquickly as (10) _ You shouldn’t try to have a conversation until it is eaten
NUMBER 22
Wild animals play an important part in the balance of nature and (1) _ uswith many important products Birds and other animals help (2) _ insects Wildanimals provide fur, food and recreation They also (3) _ our surroundings moreinteresting Uncontrolled hunting has destroyed much wildlife People have also(4) _ animals by destroying their habitats Many animals, such as passenger pigeon,have disappeared completely Others, including the whooping crane, the blue whale,and the American alligator, are in danger of (5) _
Sometimes it is necessary to keep animals from becoming too (6) _ Forexample, rabbits and such rodents as ground squirrels and mice may(7) _ greatdamage to crops if they are too abundant Deer may eat so much (8) _ that theherd will (9) _ in winter because no food is left Predators help hold down thepopulation of their (10) _
NUMBER 23
English was first written down in the 6th century At that time, writers had to usethe twenty-three letters of the Latin (1) to write down what they heard.Because English has sounds that do not (2) _in Latin, they added letters torepresent the forty-four sounds of English This resulted (3) _some irregularspelling After the Norman invasion of England in 1056, French became the languagespoken by the king and other people in positions of power (4) influence.Many French words introduced and the spelling of many English words(5) to follow French patterns The result was a rich and irregular mix ofspellings
The (6) _press was invented in the 15th century Many early printers of Englishtexts spoke other first languages, especially Dutch They often paid little attention to howEnglish words spelled Sometimes technical decisions were (7) to givecolumns of print straight edges To do this, letters were taken off the ends of words andsometimes added to words With time, people became (8) _to seeing wordsspelled the same way Fixed spellings were therefore created by the printers’ decisions.Spoken English, however, was not fixed It continued to change, as it still does It is no (9)_
that English spelling seems irregular Words such as although, through and
Trang 9cough, for example, all have the same spelling at the end, but are (10) _differently Words such as feet, meat and seize, on the other hand, are spelled
differently but have the same sound in the middle
NUMBER 24
My father considered (0) himself to be a lucky man He wasn’t rich or famous,
but he was lucky (1) _he lost anything, he was usually (2) _ to find itagain (3) _such example was a fountain pen, a present from my mother on (4) _ wedding anniversary We had had a family day out in the mountains Mybrother, (5) was about ten years old at the time, and I enjoyed going to alake where you could hire a boat and row out across the water (6) _had oncebeen a village in the valley, but the valley had been flooded in order (7) _create a reservoir for a city many miles away When the water was clear, youcould still make out the top of the church spire and the walls of houses (8) _we were returning home that night, my father discovered that he had lost histreasured fountain pen About two weeks later, he announced that in spite _the gloomy weather, we were going back to the lake for the day We were (9)surprised, but said nothing We set (10) _ about nine in the morning, and as(11) _as we arrived at the lake, we headed (12) _the spot where wehad had our picnic on the previous occasion As we were deciding whether to hire aboat for the afternoon or (13) _, my father gave a shout There, lying on theground, was a pen There was (14) _doubt at all in my mind that (15) _was the pen he had lost two weeks beforehand
NUMBER 25
Many tourists who visit Central America find (1) surprising to learn that theMayas still live there.(2) _ it is true that their ancient civilization came to andend when their country was (3) _over by the Spanish conquistadors, the Mayanpeople carried (4) _living in the area Today there are an estimated 1.2 million Mayas(5) live in southern Mexico , and many other areas of Central America states havelarge Mayan populations as (6)
Many of their stories and art forms have remained (7) _over time, and today,women weave clothing and carpets that have signs and symbols that are the same as(8) found in ancient temples
The different patterns and symbols on these brightly colored(9) _not only lookattractive.(10) can also communicate important information such asmaterial(11) _
Even though the majority of the Mayas are now Catholics, many of the festivals that they(12) part in are a mixture of the old rituals that their ancestors (13) to practiceand more Christian elements It was perhaps the Mayas’ ability to (14) and changethat made it possible for them to survive to the (15) _day
NUMBER 26
Mozart, who was born on January, 27th, 1756 in the Austrian city of Salzburg, was(1) _ the first nor the last child prodigy, but he was certainly the greatest He was
Trang 10born into a moderately prosperous family (2) _ his unmatched musical geniusmade itself known extremely early Mozart (3) learning to play theharpsichord at three and his earliest known work was composed in 1761 when he wasonly five, the age (4) _ which he also first appeared in public From the age of six,when his father first took (5) _ on the first foreign tour, Mozart toured the courts(6) _ musical concerts of Austria, Germany, France, England, Holland, Switzerlandand Italy It has been calculated that Mozart spent almost a third of his short(7) _ – he died at the age of 35 – traveling As Mozart matured, he continued totour and (8) _ concerts Mozart (9) _ wrote a lot of operas His first opera,
Ri de Ponto, was first (10) _ in Milan when he was 14, and it was the first of hismany successes in the theater
NUMBER 27
A hundred years ago, most people traveled on foot, by train, or on horseback
Railways made (1) possible to travel rapidly over long distances (2)
were also becoming popular, after the invention of the air - filled tire, which made
cycling a lot more comfortable Buses, trams and underground railways (3) _ invented, and cities all over the (4) _ already had traffic jams There were very (5) _ private cars and city streets were still full of horses
What a difference a hundred years have made? Nowadays we have got used (6) the problem of private cars, and some cities are (7) noisy and polluted that in many places vehicles have been banned from the city center (8) will we
travel in a hundred years’ time? Perhaps by then there will be only personal
helicopters (9) may be no need to travel to work or school in the future, since everyone will have a computer at home There might even be more (10) walking
and horse - riding, for pleasure and exercise
NUMBER 28
People have always dreamed of living forever, and although we all know this will(66) happen, we still want to live as long as possible Naturally, there areadvantages and disadvantages to a long (67)
In the first place, people (68) live longer can spend more time withtheir family and friends Secondly, people who have busy working lives look forward to along, relaxing time when they can do the things they have never had time for
(69) the other hand, there are some serious disadvantages Firstly,many people become ill and consequently have to (70) time in hospital orbecome (71) on their children and friends Many of them (72) thisdependence annoying or embarrassing In addition to this, the (73) peopleget, the fewer friends they seem to have because old friends die or become ill and it'soften (74) to make new friends
To sum up, it seems that living to a very old age is worthwhile for people who stayhealthy (75) to remain independent and enjoy life
NUMBER 29
Trang 11Society has changed (0) _ many ways (1) _ the introduction of computers,
and people’s lives at home and at the office have been affected Most people are
working for fewer hours per week than they (2) _ to, and manufacturers and advertising agencies are becoming much (3) _ interested in how people spend this extra leisure time One recent report stated that, (4) _ the number of hobbies had not increased, each hobby (5) _ become much more specialized.
A second finding is that nowadays, many managers would (6) spend time with their families (7) _ stay late in the office every day Home life is seen to be just
as important (8) _ working Some companies now (9) managers take their annual holidays even if they don’t want to, because this leads to (10) _ an
improvement in their performance if they have some rest
In (11) of these changes, some people are working harder than ever
before The standard of exams is getting higher, and increased competition is
(12) it harder to get into university than it was 20 years (13) _ Schoolchildren and students are now having to work (14) _ hard that in many cases
they work longer hours than their parents
NUMBER 30
I finished university six month (1) _, I’ve got a degree in businessadministration I enjoyed the course very much (2) _ I realize I should havestudied a lot harder! A few of my friends have (3) _ got full-time jobs but most, me,are still waiting (4) _ something suitable to turn up Meanwhile, I make sure that Ikeep myself busy I look through the job advertisements (5) _ the newspapersevery day and I also ask all the people I know to tell me if they hear of any vacancies (6) _ they work What I am looking for is something challenging and I would certainly
be happy to move to another city or even work abroad for a while The (7) _ is not
so important at this stage , provided I earn enough to live on , because I don’t want tocontinue (8) _ to depend on my parents , although they are (9) _ generous to
me At the moment, I’m working in a nearby restaurant two evenings (10) _ week,washing up and generally helping out, which brings a little money The other peopleworking there are very friendly, and many of them are in the same (11) _ as me, so
we have lots of to talk (12) _
Trang 12and many of the books that have been written on the subject (5) _ people to usesimilar methods One of these is that you make up short sentences or rhymes which canhelp you remember (6) you need to know by heart For (7) , the firstletters of the words in the sentence ‘Rechard of York gained battles in vain’ are ROYBIV;these are the colors of the rainbow - red, orange, yellow, and so on Another techniqueinvolves, linking the sounds of words with images, which can be particularly effective(8) learning new words The learner needs to create an image to help toremember the word By using techniques like this, many learners (9) _ it a loteasier than they had expected to keep (10) _ learning new vocabulary.
NUMBER 32
Is there really anything wrong with letting a very small child to watch television for afew hours a day? This is a (1) that didn’t need to be asked forty or fifty yearsago, when children’s television in the UK was limited to not much (2) than anhour a day But now that daytime television has become a reality, and many homes havesatellite receivers (3) channels purely for children, parents have to decide (4) too much television harms children or not There are those (5)_ _ whobelieve that children need conversation and interaction with real people in order todevelop properly,(6) watching television too much can be bad for the child’sdevelopment On the (7)_ _ hand, the vast majority of parents feel thatwatching lively, bright cartoon and puppet shows on television is fun for the child, and alittle amusement can’t be (8)_ _ a bad thing One thing is quite clear;(9)v able to place a baby in front of the television in the knowledge that he orshe will sit there quietly for a while gives parents a welcome break (10) andthen
NUMBER 33
The Internet is made _ (51) of millions of computers linked togetheraround the world in _ (52) a way that information can be sent from anycomputer to any other 24 hours a day These _ (53) can be in homes, schools,universities, government departments, or businesses The Internet is often described as
a network of networks _ (54) all the smaller networks of organizations are linked
together into one giant network _ (55) the Internet All computers are prettymuch equal once connected to the Internet, the _ (56) difference will be thespeed of the connection _ (57) is dependent on your Internet Service Providerand your own modem
_ (58) are many things you can do and participate in once connected to theInternet They include using a range of services _ (59) communicate and shareinformation and things quickly and inexpensively with millions of people, _ (60)young and old and from diverse cultures around the world
NUMBER 34
When the day comes give yourself plenty of time to do everything: have
breakfast but don't drink too much; go to the toilet; arrive on time, but not too (1)
or you will find yourself getting more and more nervous while you wait to
start Try not to talk (2) the exam before you go in