ĐỀ THI HỌC SINH GIỎI

Trường PTTH Nguyễn Huệ - Năm học 2007 – 2008

Thời gian: 150 phút

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Part one: Phonology

Odd out the word whose bold-type part is not pronounced the same as that of the others.

1.     

a. question

b. congestion

C. suggestion

D. permission

2.     

a. silhouette

b. behind

C. forehead

D. dishonest

3.     

a. house

b. breeze

C. recent

D. paparazzo

4.     

a. sleigh

b. great

C. signature

D. outbreak

5.     

a. ragged

b. learned

C. breathed

D. wicked

6.     

a. geisha

b. geld

C. Gestapo

D. gel

7.     

a.post- graduate

b. bass

C. laziness

D. vacancy

8.     

a. actor

b. acerbic

C. aching

D. chemical

9.     

a. weight

b. height

C. straight

D. late

10. 

a. raspberry

b. rasp

C. plebiscite

D. transition

Part two: vocabulary

Choose the word or phrase which best completes each sentence.

1. We weren't close friends but she ............................. me well when I left the college.

A. hoped

B. aspired

C. wished

D. bade

2. This evidence should prove .............................  that he was telling the truth.

A. once and for all

B. now and then

C. over and above

D. from time to time

3. A new computer has been produced, which will .............................  all previous models.

A. overdo

B. supersede

C. excel

D. overwhelm

4. I don't want to be too .............................  on Alice, but I think I should tell her that her work isn't good enough.

A. strict

B. firm

C. stern

D. hard

5. Once the story .............................  the headlines, everyone was talking about it.

A. crashed

B. struck

C. smashed

D. hit

6. When he sings, he has the .............................  ability to make even had songs sound good.

A. sparse

B. rare

C. infrequent

D. scarce

7. The management are making .............................  to increase the company's efficiency.

A. measures

B. steps

C. moves

D. deeds

8. I know this is a big disappointment but don't take it to ............................. 

A. soul

B. mind

C. spirit

D. heart

9. I was told yesterday that the car had been fixed but it's broken down .............................  again!

A. even

B. still

C. yet

D. right

10. Simon .............................  in me on the understanding that I wouldn't tell anyone else.

A. confided

B. intimated

C. confessed

D. disclosed

Part three: grammar and structures

A. Supply the correct tense or form of the verb in parentheses.

A1. The child 1 .............................  (lie) ill, her forehead 2 .............................  (burn) hot with fever. Then the family's doctor 3 .............................  (come) and 4 .............................  (examine) her. Concern was in his eyes when he 5 .............................  (write) out a prescription.

"Get this 6 .............................  (make) up at once, "he said. He also explained that it was a kind of nervous breakdown because the child 7 .............................  (work) so hard and 8 .............................  (put) under too much pressure. "He 9 .............................  (not, have) enough rest and he 10 .............................  (not, do) too much homework," concluded the doctor.

A2.

·         By eight o'clock this evening, the spaceship 10 .............................  (travel) for five hours round the earth.

·         Although he 11 .............................  (go) to the doctor for three months, he did not feel any better.

·         By the time we 12 .............................  (stop), we 13 .............................  (drive) six hundred miles.

·         It's very cold. Mr.Taylor, who 14 .............................  (be) ill recently, is walking along the road without a coat. He 15 .............................  (wear) a coat, in fact.

·         I'd like 16 .............................  (hang) around there at the time. It 17 .............................  (be) a chance of a life time to see the idol of the young.

·         I know she really 18 .............................  (forget) 19 .............................  (lend) me the money; anyway, I 20 .............................  (return) it to her tomorrow.

B. Complete the following sentences using the verbs given in the box. You have to use the correct tenses of the verbs and the appropriate particles.

Give

Draw

Bring

Get

Come

Put

Shout

Note

Add

Drift

1. The lady .............................  the bus, walked toward the shop and entered it.

2. The victim didn't have the least idea how he .............................  the plane crash.

3. I'll tell you what, she will soon .............................  the secret ............................. 

4. The serious face of teacher .............................  the lazy student .............................  cheating in the exam room.

5. The goalkeeper asked something and the captain .............................  a reply.

6. I think a sip of wine can .............................  him.

7. His comment only .............................  her resentment toward him.

8. At the moment they .............................  a plan for their next picnic.

9. After the argument, they were .............................  from each other.

10. The students were trying to .............................  the explanation given by the famous lecturer.

C. Fill in each of the blanks with an appropriate preposition.

1. She nodded her head .............................  assent.

2. These new TV sets are .............................  great demand.

3. I've been away so long I feel .............................  touch with things.

4. The favourite will win, he is .............................  very good form.

5. He bought the property .............................  a view to building a factory on it.

6. It's unbelievable. The under - dog is .............................  the lead.

7. They are .............................  league .............................  our enemies.

8. I disagreed with his ideas .............................  principle.

9. In those days people concealed their beliefs .............................  pain of death.

10. I am not .............................  the least interested.

D. Use the words in the box to fill in each of the blanks to make a meaningful passage. You have to change the forms of these words, too.

Theatre

audible

rehearse

applaud

critique

suited

write

perform

one

enthusiast

prepared

The person who directs the (1) .............................  of a play is the director. Sometimes the (2) ............................. , who wrote the play, works with him. One of the first things to be done is to choose the cast, the actors and actresses. For this purpose, (3) .............................  are held at which actors perform short pieces and the most (4) .............................  are chosen for the parts in the play. Before the play is performed in front of an audience of hundreds of theatre - goers, of course there are a lot of (5) .............................  At last the (6) .............................  night comes! When the curtain goes down at the end, will there be (7) .............................  (8) .............................  or silence? Will the newspaper reviews be good or bad? What will the (9) .............................  think? Everyone hopes for a hit that will run for months or years, but the play might be a flop and only last a few days. It's hard work in the theatre. There are evening (10) .............................  six nights a week and afternoon shows called matinees, once or twice as well.

PART FOUR: READING COMPREHENSION

A. Read the following text about the comic actor Rowan Atkinson and think of one word which best fits each space.

Friends

(1) .............................  many people, their friends are the most important things 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 (7) .............................  on life, or sharing similar experiences. Most of us (8) .............................  met someone that we're immediately felt relaxed with, (9) .............................  if we've known them for years. However, usually it really does take you years to (10) .............................  to know someone well enough to consider (11) .............................  best friend.

To the majority of (12) .............................  this is someone we trust completely and who understands us (13) .............................  than anyone else. It's the person you can turn (14) .............................  for impartial advice and a (15) .............................  to cry on when life gets you down.

B. Rewrite the sentences in such a way that they mean almost the same as the one printed before them.

B1. Structures.

1. You have to stay calm in whatever situation it is.

® Under no ....................................................................................................................................................

2. Although her leg hurt, Van finished the marathon race.

® In ................................................................................................................................................................

3. It was such a pity that I couldn't go to the party.

® I'd like ........................................................................................................................................................

4. She says I caused the accident.

® She blames .................................................................................................................................................

5. I can never compensate for what I have done, can I?

® How can I make .........................................................................................................................................

6. The thief must have come in through the window.

® The thief almost .........................................................................................................................................

7. The spectators were so angry the organizers had to cancel the match.

® Such ...........................................................................................................................................................

8. I'd prefer him not to have said all those embarrassing things about me.

® I'd sooner ...................................................................................................................................................

9. Most people can understand him when he speaks English.

® He can make ..............................................................................................................................................

10. It took us five hours to get to Tay Ninh.

® We spent

.........................................................................................................................................................................

B2. Key - word Transformation.

1. She was really crazy about him. HEAD

® ....................................................................................................................................................................

2. They listened eagerly and attentively to the president's speech. EARS

® ....................................................................................................................................................................

3. I was just about to remember her name, but I couldn't get it. TONGUE

® ....................................................................................................................................................................

4. The coward kneeled down asking for money. KNEES

® ....................................................................................................................................................................

5. How did you persuade Thomas to lend you the money? TALK

® ....................................................................................................................................................................

6. The prisoner escaped from his cell in the middle of the night. LOOSE

® ....................................................................................................................................................................

7. The prisoner escaped from his cell in the middle of the night. LOOSE

® ....................................................................................................................................................................

8. They couldn't decide where to go on holiday. REACH

® ....................................................................................................................................................................

9. I can't wait to go to England. FORWARD

® ....................................................................................................................................................................

10. She suffers from allergies very easily. PRONE

® ....................................................................................................................................................................

C. Read the article. Choose the most suitable heading from the list A - I for each part (1 - 7) of the article. There is one extra heading that you do not need. There is an example at the beginning (0).

0

I

Larry Walters was a lorry driver, but he had always wanted to fly. After leaving school, he wanted to become an Air Force pilot, but unfortunately, he was turned down because of his poor eyesight. So he had to do with watching others fly the fighter jets that criss - crossed the skies over his backyard. As he sat there in his garden chair, he dreamed about the magic of flying.

1

Then one day, Larry came across an advertisement in the local paper and realized there was a way of making his dreams come true. He went to a specialist store and bought forty - five weather balloons and several tanks of helium. These were not brightly - coloured party balloons, but large spheres measuring more than one metre when fully inflated. His plan was to float lazily into the sky, and spend the afternoon sunning himself 10m above his girlfriend's garden before eventually coming back down to earth.

2

When he returned home, he attached the balloons to his garden chair, tied the chair to his car, and filled the balloons with helium. Then he packed a few sandwiches and drinks and took his air gun so that he could burst a few balloons when it was time to return to earth.

3

When his preparations were complete, Larry sat in his chair and cut the cord. But he made a mistake in his calculations and things did not turn out quite as he had planned. He did not float up as gently as he had expected: within seconds, he passed the 10m altitude that he had hoped to reach, rising quickly to 30m and then 300m. he climbed and went on climbing until he finally levelled at 3,000m.

4

At that height, he did not want to risk shooting any of the balloons because he was afraid it might unbalance his aircraft and send him, crashing to the ground. So he stayed up there among the clouds, sailing around for fourteen hours desperately trying to come up with a solution to the problem of how to get back to earth.

5

Eventually, many hours later, he drifted into the main approach corridor for Los Angeles International Airport. Fortunately, a Pan Am flight passed him and air traffic control was alerted. The pilot explained that he had just seen an armed man floating in a garden chair at 3,000m just outside the plane.

Understandably, the air traffic controller found this difficult to believe, but a few minutes later a Delta Airlines pilot called with the same message. Radar confirmed the existence of an unidentified flying object above the airport and the authorities sent for a Navy helicopter to investigate.

6

As night began to fall, offshore breezes began to blow Larry out to sea, and when the helicopter arrives, the wind from the propeller kept pushing his home - made aircraft further away. Eventually, they hovered several hundred metres above him and managed to drop down a line, with which they were able to pull him gradually back to safety.

7

As soon as Larry hit the ground, he was taken away by the police charged with invading Los Angeles' International Airport airspace. But as he was being led away in handcuffs, a television reported called out, "Why did you do it?" Larry stopped, looked at the man and explained. "I've been dreaming of flying for years. I just got tired of waiting".

A. No way down

F. A bright idea

B. An incredible report

G. Heading for the clouds

C. A difficult rescue

H. Getting ready for take - off

D. Free as a bird

I. A lifelong ambition

E. Under arrest

Part five: mistake correction

There are twenty mistakes in the following passage. Find and correct them. Give your answer in the box provided.

More and more women are now joining the pay labour force worldly. They represent the workforce in all the sectors which are expanding as the result of globalization - the informal sector, included subcontracting; export processing or free trade zones; homeworking; and the "flexible", part - time, temporary, lowly - paid labour force.

Women's high participation in informal employment is partially due to the fact that many jobs in the formal economy are not opening to them: they are actively excluded of certain kinds of words lack access to education and training or have domestic commitments. The increase of women's participation in the informal sector has been most marked in the countries like Sub - Saharan Africa which sharply economic decline and structural adjustment policies have reduced the official job market drastically.

Job gains for some women have meant losses for another. Womanly employment in export production is increased in Bangladesh, Vietnam and Al Salvador, for instance, while women in South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong are facing with redundancies as the industries which have relied on their labour for three decades (textile, clothing, shoe and electronic) relocate elsewhere. (In South Korea, industry which tend to employ mensteel, petrochemicals, electricity, automobiles, shipbuild, machinery - have received government subsidies to stay put).

Answer key

PART ONE:

1. D

2. B

3. B

4. C

5. D

6. D

7. A

8. B

9. B

10. A

PART two:

1. C

2. A

3. C

4. D

5. D

6. B

7. C

8. D

9. C

10. A

PART THREE:

A1.

1.      lying

6.      made

2.      was burning // burnt

7.      had been working

3.      came

8.      had been put

4.      examined

9.      can't have had

5.      was writing

10.  must have done

A2.

10.  will have been travelling

11.  had been going

12.  stop

13.  will have driven

14.  has been

15.  should be wearing

16.  to have been hanging

17.  would have been

18.  forgets

19.  lending

20.  will return

B.

1.      got off

6.      bring – round

2.      came through

7.      adds // added to

3.      give - away

8.      drawing up

4.      put - off

9.      drifting apart

5.      shouted back

10.  note down

C.

1.      in

6.      in

2.      in

7.      in – with

3.      out of

8.      in

4.      in

9.      on // under

5.      with

10.  in

D.

1.      preparation

6.      first

2.      playwright

7.      enthusiastic

3.      auditions

8.      applause

4.      suitable

9.      critic (s)

5.      rehearsals

10.  performances

PART four:

A.

1.      To

9.      as

2.      share

10.  get

3.      backs

11.  your

4.      someone

12.  us

5.      ups

13.  better

6.      result

14.  to

7.      outlook

15.  shoulder

8.      have

B.

B1.

1.      Under no circumstances should you lose your temper.

2.      In spite of her hurt leg // leg injury, Van finished the marathon race.

3.      I'd like to have gone to the party.

4.      She blames me for having caused the accident.

5.      How can I make up for what I have done?

6.      The thief almost certainly came in through the window.

7.      Such was the spectator's anger that the organizers had to cancel the match.

8.      I'd sooner he hadn't said all those embarrassing things about me.

9.      He can make himself understood by most people when he speaks English.

10.  We spent five hours getting to Tay Ninh.

B2.

1.      She was head over heels in love with him.

2.      They were all ears to the presidents speech.

3.      Her name was just on the tip of my tongue.

4.      The coward was // got down on his knees asking for money.

5.      How did you talk Thomas into lending you the money.

6.      The prisoner broke loose from his cell in the middle of the night.

7.      We shouldn't lose our breath talking to that stubborn guy. // We should save our breath not talking to that stubborn guy.

8.      They couldn't reach a decision on // of where to go on holiday.

9.      I look forward to going to England.

10.  She is prone to allergies.

B.

1. F

2. H

3. G

4. A

5.B

6.C

7.E

Part five:

1.      pay                   ®        paid

2.      worldly            ®        worldwide

3.      the                   ®        a

4.      included          ®        including

5.      lowly - paid     ®        low - paid

6.      partially           ®        partly

7.      opening            ®        open

8.      of                     ®        from

9.      works               ®        work

10.  the                   ®        such

11.  like                   ®        as

12.  which               ®        where

13.  another                        ®        others

14.  Womanly         ®        Woman

15.  is                      ®        has

16.  Vietnamese      ®        Vietnam

17.  facing              ®        faced

18.  electronic         ®        electronics

19.  industry           ®        industries

20.  shipbuild          ®        shipbuilding