Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.

          Very few people in the modern world obtain their food supply by hunting and gathering in the natural environment surrounding their homes. This method of harvesting from nature's provision is the oldest known subsistence strategy and has been practised for at least the last two million years. It was, indeed, the only way to obtain food until rudimentary farming and the domestication of wild animals were introduced about 10,000 years ago.

          Because hunter-gatherers have fared poorly in comparison with their agricultural cousins, their numbers have dwindled, and they have been forced to live in marginal environments, such as deserts and arctic wastelands. In higher latitudes, the shorter growing seasons have restricted the availability of plant life. Such conditions have caused a greater dependence on hunting, and on fishing along the coasts and waterways. The abundance of vegetation in the lower latitudes of the tropics, on the other hand, has provided a greater opportunity for gathering a variety of plants. In short, the environmental differences have restricted the diet and have limited possibilities for the development of subsistence societies.

          Contemporary hunter-gatherers may help us understand our prehistoric ancestors. We know from the observation of modern hunter-gatherers in both Africa and Alaska that a society based on hunting and gathering must be very mobile. While the entire community camps in a central location, a smaller party harvests the food within a reasonable distance from the camp. When the food in the area has become exhausted, the community moves on to exploit another site. We also notice seasonal migration patterns evolving for most hunter-gatherers, along with a strict division of labor between the sexes. These patterns of behavior may be similar to those practised by mankind during the Paleolithic Period.

The word "marginal" in the second paragraph is closest in meaning to ____________. 

A. suburban

B. disadvantaged 

C. forgotten

D. abandoned

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer for each of the questions

Humans have struggled against weeds since the beginnings of agriculture. Marring our gardens is one of the milder effects of weeds – any plants that thrive where they are unwanted. They clog waterways, destroy wildlife habitats, and impede farming. Their spread eliminates grazing areas and accounts for one-third of all crop loss. They compete for sunlight, nutrients, and water with useful plants.

The global need for weed control had been answered mainly by the chemical industry. Its herbicides are effective and sometimes necessary, but some pose serious problems, particularly if misused. Toxic compounds threaten animal and public health when they accumulate in food plants, groundwater, and drinking water. They also harm workers who apply them.

In recent years, the chemical industry has introduced several herbicides that are more ecologically sound. Yet new chemicals alone cannot solve the world‟s weed problems. Hence, scientists are exploring the innate weed-killing powers of living organisms, primarily insects and microorganisms.

The biological agents now in use are environmentally benign and are harmless to humans. They can be chosen for their ability to attack selected targets and leave crops and other plants untouched. In contrast, some of the most effective chemicals kill virtually all the plants they come in contact with, sparing only those that are naturally resistant or have been genetically modified for resistance. Furthermore, a number of biological agents can be administered only once, after which no added applications are needed. Chemicals typically must be used several times per growing season.

Question:With what topic does this passage primarily deal?

A. The dangers of toxic chemicals.

B. A proposal to ban the use of all herbicides.

C. The importance of the chemical industry.

D. Advantages of biological agents over chemical ones.

Read the following passage carefully and then choose the best option to fit each space. Identify your choice by circling letter A, B, C or D on the answer sheet.

          The 18^th-century battlefield was, compared with that of the 20^`th-century, an intimate theatre, especially intimate in the (19)___ of the Revolution, which was usually small even by the standards of the day. Soldiers had to come to close quarters to kill; this fact reduced the mystery of the battle, though perhaps not its terrors. But at least the battle field lost some of its impersonality. In fact, in (20)___  to (with) the 20^1h-century combat, in which the enemy usually remains unseen and the source of incoming fire unknown, in the 18^1h-century battles the enemy could be seen and sometimes even (21)___ . (22)____ one's enemy may have arose a singular (23) ____of feeling uncommon in modern battles. Before the (24)___ occurred tension and anxiety (25) _____ up as the troops marched from their column into a line of attack. The ( 26) ____ of their movements was well understood by themselves and their enemies, who must have watched with feeling of dread and fascination. When the order came sending them (27) ____ rages, even madness replaced the attacker's (28) ____, while terror and desperation filled those who received  the charge.

Điền vào số (28)

A. anxiety            

B. sympathy                   

C. passions           

D. nerves

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined word in each of the following questions.

Old buildings should be razed to make space for new and modern ones

A. renovated

B. demolished

C. remodeled

D. built

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 37 to 44.

Life Writings

The diary and the letter were the most extensively practiced forms of life writings in eighteenth-century America. From the numerous examples of these two types of writing from the period, a portrait of daily life of the period can be gleaned.

Many of the diaries that were kept during this period were life diaries by authors interested in maintaining day-to-day records of reflective self-examination, but some of the most compelling were situational diaries; those prompted by and limited to lengthy descriptions of personal reflections about a particular event. Three of the many situational journals of this period are those written by Sarah Kemble Knight, William Burd II, and Dr. Alexander Hamilton. Sarah Kemble Knight's diary of her five-month trip at the end of 1704 and the beginning of 1705 from Boston to New Haven to New York and back again to Boston was published more than a century later as The Journal of Madam Knight. Though this diary does include an account of the hardship that she encountered along the way, it is principally composed of humorous descriptions of and commentary on the hospitality that she was offered and the manners of those that she encountered. William Burd II kept two diaries to describe his experiences on a 1729 surveying expedition to settle a border dispute between Virginia and North Carolina. One of the diaries, History of the Dividing Line between Virginia and North Carolina, was published in 1842, while its companion, Secret Diary, was published in 1929. In these diaries, Burd used a humorous and satirical approach to describe not just the day-to-day events of the trip but also the characteristics which set his beloved Virginia culture apart from the (in his opinion) decidedly less praiseworthy culture of those non-Virginians that he encountered in his trip. Dr. Alexander Hamilton's Itinerarium (1744) describes a four-month voyage of discovery undertaken by Hamilton through the mid-Atlantic and New England colonies; in the diary that he kept of this trip. Hamilton provides considerable commentary on the social customs of various areas, comparing the customs and culture of the better homes of the American colonies with those of the great salons of Europe.

Letter-writing also held a place of importance in eighteenth-century America (indeed, the ability to produce cultured letters was considered a form of art), and many letters extant from that period provide insights into the culture, mores, and styles of written communication of that era. Many of the letter writers employed devices in common usage in European models of the time, demonstrating that letter writers felt a sense of cohesiveness with the cultured classes of Europe: John and Abigail Adams signed the names Lysander and Constantia to their early letters, while Thomas Jefferson created an elaborate dialogue between his head and his heart to discuss the nature of friendship in a 1786 letter to Maria Cosway. The variety of purposes that these letters served provides additional insight into the priorities of the society of the time. The letters were used to cement love matches and friendships, as the previously mentioned letters did; they were the primary method for relaying news among family and friends who were scattered across various geographic locations; they were often used as a means of carrying out business in this era before more rapid long-distance communication; they were often used used as a way of sharing professional, social, or political ideas among leaders in various fields who perhaps had no other way to get together and exchange ideas. 

What can be inferred from the passage about situational diaries? 

A. They were limited to reflective self-examination 

B. They were not ongoing journals of the details of daily life 

C. Very few of them still exist 

D. They were the only type of eighteenth-century diary 

According to ___ people, most animal and plant species on earth will soon die out.

A. optimists                   

B. pessimistic                

C. pessimists                 

D. optimistic

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.

          Very few people in the modern world obtain their food supply by hunting and gathering in the natural environment surrounding their homes. This method of harvesting from nature's provision is the oldest known subsistence strategy and has been practised for at least the last two million years. It was, indeed, the only way to obtain food until rudimentary farming and the domestication of wild animals were introduced about 10,000 years ago.

          Because hunter-gatherers have fared poorly in comparison with their agricultural cousins, their numbers have dwindled, and they have been forced to live in marginal environments, such as deserts and arctic wastelands. In higher latitudes, the shorter growing seasons have restricted the availability of plant life. Such conditions have caused a greater dependence on hunting, and on fishing along the coasts and waterways. The abundance of vegetation in the lower latitudes of the tropics, on the other hand, has provided a greater opportunity for gathering a variety of plants. In short, the environmental differences have restricted the diet and have limited possibilities for the development of subsistence societies.

          Contemporary hunter-gatherers may help us understand our prehistoric ancestors. We know from the observation of modern hunter-gatherers in both Africa and Alaska that a society based on hunting and gathering must be very mobile. While the entire community camps in a central location, a smaller party harvests the food within a reasonable distance from the camp. When the food in the area has become exhausted, the community moves on to exploit another site. We also notice seasonal migration patterns evolving for most hunter-gatherers, along with a strict division of labor between the sexes. These patterns of behavior may be similar to those practised by mankind during the Paleolithic Period.

According to the author, most contemporary and prehistoric hunter-gatherers share ___________. 

A. only the way of duty division

B. some restricted daily rules 

C. some methods of production

D. some patterns of behavior

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word(s) OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined word(s) in each of the following questions from 32 to 33.

The distinction between schooling and education implied by this remark is important. 

A. implicit 

B. explicit 

C. odd 

D. obscure