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Part 4:
We have seen photographs of the whole earth taken from great distances in outer space. This is the first time, the (131) very first time, in man's long history that such pictures have been possible. (132) For many years most people have believed that the earth was ball-shaped. A few thought it was round and (133) flat, like a coin. Now we know, beyond doubt, that those few were (134) wrong/mistaken. The photographs show a ball-shaped (135) earth/planet, bright and beautiful. In colour photographs of the earth, the sky is as (136) black as coal. The (137) sea looks much bluer than it usually does to us. All our grey (138) clouds are a perfect white in colour; because, of course, the (139) sun is for ever shining on them. We are (140) lucky to live on the beautiful earth
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
1. One of the characteristics of the postal service before the 1840s was that
A. postmen were employed by various organisations.
B. letters were restricted to a certain length.
C. distance affected the price of postage.
D. the price of delivery kept going up.
2. Letter writers in the 1830s
A. were not responsible for the cost of delivery.
B. tried to fit more than one letter into an envelope.
C. could only send letters to people living in cities.
D. knew all letters were automatically read by postal staff.
3. What does the text say about Hill in the 1830s?
A. He was the first person to express concern about the postal system.
B. He considered it would be more efficient for mail to be delivered by rail.
C. He felt that postal service reform was necessary for commercial development.
D. His plan received support from all the important figures of the day.
The Penny Black
It might not have looked very impressive, but the Penny Black, now 170 years old, was the first stamp to be created and it launched the modem postal system in Britain.
Before 1840 and the arrival of the Penny Black, you had to be rich and patient to use the Royal Mail. Delivery was charged according to the miles travelled and the number of sheets of paper used; a 2-page letter sent from Edinburgh to London, for example, would have cost 2 shillings, or more than £7 in today’s money. And when the top-hatted letter carrier came to deliver it, it was the recipient who had to pay for the postage. Letter writers employed various ruses to reduce the cost, doing everything possible to cram more words onto a page. Nobody bothered with heavy envelopes; instead, letters would be folded and sealed with wax. You then had to find a post office - there were no pillar boxes - and hope your addressee didn't live in one of the several rural areas which were not served by the system. If you were lucky, your letter would arrive (it could take days) without being read or censored.
The state of mail had been causing concern throughout the 1830s, but it was Rowland Hill, an inventor, teacher and social reformer from Kidderminster, who proposed a workable plan for change. Worried that a dysfunctional, costly service would stifle communication just as Britain was in the swing of its second industrial revolution, he believed reform would ease the distribution of ideas and stimulate trade and business, delivering the same promise as the new railways.
Hill’s proposal for the penny post, which meant any letter weighing less than half an ounce (14 grams) could be sent anywhere in Britain for about 30p in today’s money, was so radical that the Postmaster General, Lord Lichfield, said, 'Of all the wild and visionary schemes which I ever heard of, it is the most extravagant.’ Lord Lichfield spoke for an establishment not convinced of the need for poor people to post anything. But merchants and reformers backed Hill. Soon the government told him to make his scheme work. And that meant inventing a new type of currency.
Hill quickly settled on 'a bit of paper covered at the back with a glutinous wash which the user might, by applying a little moisture, attach to the back of a letter’. Stamps would be printed in sheets of 240 that could be cut using scissors or a knife. Perforations would not arrive until 1854. The idea stuck, and in August 1839 the Treasury launched a design competition open to ‘all artists, men of science and the public in general’. The new stamp would need to be resistant to forgery, and so it was a submission by one Mr Cheverton that Hill used as the basis for one of the most striking designs in history. Cheverton, who worked as a sculptor and an engineer, determined that a portrait of Queen Victoria, engraved for a commemorative coin when she was a 15-year-old princess, was detailed enough to make copying difficult, and recognisable enough to make fakes easy to spot. The words ‘Postage’ and ‘One Penny’ were added alongside flourishes and ornamental stars. Nobody thought to add the word ‘Britain’, as it was assumed that the stamps would solely be put to domestic use.
With the introduction of the new postal system, the Penny Black was an instant hit, and printers struggled to meet demand. By the end of 1840, more than 160 million letters had been sent - more than double the previous year. It created more work for the post office, whose reform continued with the introduction of red letter boxes, new branches and more frequent deliveries, even to the remotest address, but its lasting impact on society was more remarkable.
Hill and his supporters rightly predicted that cheaper post would improve the ‘diffusion of knowledge’. Suddenly, someone in Scotland could be reached by someone in London within a day or two. And as literacy improved, sections of society that had been disenfranchised found a voice.
Tristram Hunt, an historian, values the ‘flourishing of correspondence’ that followed the arrival of stamps. ‘While I was writing my biography of Friedrich Engels I could read the letters he and Marx sent between Manchester and London,’ he says. ‘They wrote to each other three times a day, pinging ideas back and forth so that you can almost follow a real-time correspondence.’
The penny post also changed the nature of the letter. Weight-saving tricks such as cross-writing began to die out, while the arrival of envelopes built confidence among correspondents that mail would not be stolen or read. And so people wrote more private things - politically or commercially sensitive information or love letters. ‘In the early days of the penny post, there was still concern about theft,’ Hunt says. ‘Engels would still send Marx money by ripping up five-pound notes and sending the pieces in different letters.’ But the probity of the postal system became a great thing and it came to be expected that your mail would not be tampered with.
For all its brilliance, the Penny Black was technically a failure. At first, post offices used red ink to cancel stamps so that they could not be used again. But the ink could be removed. When in 1842, it was determined that black ink would be more robust, the colour of the Penny Black became a sort of browny red, but Hill’s brainchild had made its mark.
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
1. One of the characteristics of the postal service before the 1840s was that
A. postmen were employed by various organisations.
B. letters were restricted to a certain length.
C. distance affected the price of postage.
D. the price of delivery kept going up.
2. Letter writers in the 1830s
A. were not responsible for the cost of delivery.
B. tried to fit more than one letter into an envelope.
C. could only send letters to people living in cities.
D. knew all letters were automatically read by postal staff.
3. What does the text say about Hill in the 1830s?
A. He was the first person to express concern about the postal system.
B. He considered it would be more efficient for mail to be delivered by rail.
C. He felt that postal service reform was necessary for commercial development.
D. His plan received support from all the important figures of the day.
1 Temporary art is a new kind of art.
(Nghệ thuật tạm thời là một loại hình nghệ thuật mới.)
Thông tin: “There has always been a type of art which doesn't last.”
(Luôn có một loại hình nghệ thuật không trường tồn.)
=> Chọn False
2 Artists use sand or chalk in their artwork so that it will exist for a long time.
(Các nghệ sĩ sử dụng cát hoặc phấn trong tác phẩm nghệ thuật của họ để tác phẩm tồn tại lâu dài.)
Thông tin: “it's not that these don't have artistic value, but they are designed to disappear.”
(Không phải những thứ này không có giá trị nghệ thuật, nhưng chúng được thiết kế để biến mất.)
=> Chọn False
3 Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada is an important artist in the field of temporary art.
(Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada là một nghệ sĩ quan trọng trong lĩnh vực nghệ thuật tạm thời.)
Thông tin: “Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada is a modern 'temporary' artist, and one who gets a lot of attention for his work.”
(Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada là một nghệ sĩ 'tạm thời' hiện đại, và là người được chú ý nhiều nhờ tác phẩm của mình.")
=> Chọn True
4 His work is very quick to create.
(Tác phẩm của anh ấy được tạo ra rất nhanh.)
Thông tin: “his pieces take a long time to plan and create.”
(các tác phẩm của anh ấy mất nhiều thời gian để lên kế hoạch và sáng tạo.)
=> Chọn False
5 He uses maps to plan his artwork.
(Anh ấy sử dụng bản đồ để lên kế hoạch cho tác phẩm nghệ thuật của mình.)
Thông tin: “"In fact, GPS mapping is used to set out the design.”
(Trên thực tế, bản đồ GPS được sử dụng để thiết kế.)
=> Chọn True
6 A lot of people help him to create his art.
(Rất nhiều người giúp anh ấy tạo ra tác phẩm nghệ thuật.)
Thông tin: “He uses groups of volunteers to help him, and his pieces take a long time to plan and create.”
(Anh ấy sử dụng các nhóm tình nguyện viên để giúp đỡ anh ấy, và các tác phẩm của anh ấy mất nhiều thời gian để lên kế hoạch và sáng tạo.)
=> Chọn True
7 Jorge's artwork called Of the Many, One was part of a new garden design for the National Mall.
(Tác phẩm nghệ thuật của Jorge có tên Of the Many, One là một phần của thiết kế sân vườn mới cho National Mall.)
Thông tin: “It covered an area of 25,000 square metres, and it was created because the mall was getting new gardens, and the land wasn't going to be used for a while.”
(Nó có diện tích 25.000 mét vuông, và nó được tạo ra bởi vì trung tâm thương mại đang có những khu vườn mới và khu đất sẽ không được sử dụng trong một thời gian.)
=> Chọn True
8 The artwork does not exist anymore.
(Tác phẩm nghệ thuật không còn tồn tại nữa.)
Thông tin: “The portrait has disappeared, but it will not easily be forgotten.”
(Bức chân dung đã biến mất, nhưng nó sẽ không dễ bị lãng quên.)
=> Chọn True
Choose the word or phrase among a,b,c or d that best fits the blank space in the following passage
During their five-decade history , the Asian Games have been advancing in all aspects . The number of (1)............. has been increasing . The quality of athletes , officials and sport facilities has also been (2)........................... through time . New sport and (3)............. sports have been introduced and (4)......... to the Games . The 1st Asian Games (5)................. in New Delhi , India in 1951
1/ A. referees B. organizers C. participants D. holders
2/ A. developing B. raising C. falling D. pushing
3/ A. young B. strong C. advanced D. traditional
4/ A. multiplied B. added C. used D. bought
5/ A. held B. holding C. were held D. were holding
Choose the word or phrase among a,b,c or d that best fits the blank space in the following passage
About twenty percent of the world's present energy comes from the sun in one form or another . Special devices have already been made available to put on the roofs of houses and flats to cath the sun's rays and thus heat water . Thousands (1).................. these devices are now being used to provide (2)................. in homes throughout the United States while more (3)............ a million solar water-heating units have already been built in homes in Japan . Other purposes for which (4)................ energy is , at present , being used include the separation of salt from seawater , irrigation and sewage disposal
For most people in developing countries , the need is not for air - conditioners or central heating but for cheap (5)................. of cooking food , drying crops , and lighting houses
1/ A. in B. with C. on D. of
2/ A. light B. energy C. life D. existence
3/ A. than B. of C. through D. over
4/ A. sun B. sky C. space D. solar
5/ A. manners B. ways C. models D. types
Read the following article about ice-skating. Choose the most suitable heading from the list A-I for each part (1-8) of the article.
A. Prepare yourself
B. The benefits of the sport
C. When things go wrong
D. Different skating techniques
E. A change in approach
F. The right attitude
G. Moving off
H. Holding your body correctly
I. How it all started
1...I...
Ice skating has a history of thousands of years. Archaelogists have discovered skates made from animal bone. It seems that bone skates were used until the introduction of iron into Scandinavia about the year 200 AD. Among the Scandinavian upper classes, skating was seen as an essential skill.
2....E...
In the early 20th century, skating was stylish and reserved, but at the 1924 Winter Olympics, 11-year-old Sonja Henie introduced a more athletic attitude which inspired a new wave of popularity. Nowadays art and athletics are combined and modern skating is both graceful and physically demanding.
3....H..
For the beginner, balance and control are still important and speed can only increase with proficiency. The position of your body plays a great part in the balance. Legs slightly bowed and the knees bent keep the body weight centred; in effect the body leans slightly forward in this position. For skating, probably more than any other sport or recreation, relaxation is vital.
4....G..
For the starting position, the heels shoould almost be touching and the feet should be turned outwards. While pushing forward with the back foot, you make a very small movement with the other foot. Fairly easy, isn't it? If you can keep this up for a while, you can then slowly increase the length of your movements as you gain experience.
5..C....
Knowing how to fall must be learned among the skater's first skills. Even the best of the professionals fall. In order to fall without injury, you should be as relaxed as possible. In this way the shock of hitting the ice is lessened. To get up, use your hands to get into a kneeling position, then stand.
6....D..
Once you have learned to move on the ice with confidence, there are various styles to be practised - figure skaing, free style, distance, speed, skating in pairs and so on - but the basis of them all, and by far the best approach, is first to learn figure skating and then elementary freestyle. With proper guidance available at most of the ice rinks troughout the country, the basic figures can soon be learned and the turns, jumps and spins of elementary free style will soon follow.
7...A...
If you look at any good or professional skater, you will see how relaxed they are and how easily they move. To achieve this an expertise programme should be regularly practised. It can be dangerous to skate with a stiff body and warm-up exercises should at least include those for the legs, back and shoulders, with special emphasis on the ankles and knees. After a long or intense session, the same exercises should be used afterwards to avoid stiffness.
8..B....
Skating improves balance, co-ordination, relaxation and movement. It improves heart and lung activity and generally strengthens the body. Combined with swimming or jogging, it provides a great programme for all-round health and fitness.