Sunday, December 26th, 2021

Skill Practice Unit 2

A. Everyday English
1 Complete the dialogue with the missing words. Use one word in each gap.
Lucy Excuse me. Can you 1_HELP__ me? I’m looking for the nearest taxi rank.

John OK, well, it’s very near here. Go 2_STRAIGHT_ on, along the High Street towards the
shopping centre.

Lucy Sorry, I’m not sure I understood. Could you repeat that, please?
John Sure. Go straight on towards the shopping centre. Then 3__TURN__ left on to North
Road.
Lucy Oh, I 4_SEE . So I go down North Road.

John That’s right. When you 5_REACH_ the end of North Road, you’ll see the library. The taxi
rank is next to it.

Lucy Thank you!

Mark: ___ / 5

1
Listening
2  Listen to the radio interview. Circle the correct answers.
1 What did Steve see when he walked out of his hotel?
a a square
b wide modern roads
c old streets
2 What does Steve say about the river in Prague?
a It’s wide and has lots of historic bridges over it.
b The Charles Bridge is the only bridge across the river.
c The bridges are all very romantic.
3 What can you see from the Charles Bridge?
a the Old Town Square
b Prague Castle
c A gallery
4 What was the weather like when Steve was in Prague?
a sunny
b wet
c very cold
5 What was Steve’s favourite place in Prague?
a the old Jewish quarter
b Wenceslas Square
c Prague Castle

Mark: ___ / 10

2
Reading
The coldest town in the world
Oymyakon is a small town with only about five hundred residents in the north-eastern corner of
Russia. It is famous for being the coldest town in the world with regular winter temperatures of
around -40ºC. In fact, the temperature sometimes drops below -50ºC, and it once went down to an
incredible -68ºC. Now that’s cold!
In 2012, while I was living and working in Moscow, the capital of Russia, I decided to take the long
flight north to this fascinating place. I wanted to find out how people managed to live in a town that
was so cold. I met Sergei Platonov, who works as a tour guide there. Lots of tourists go to Oymyakon
because they want to experience a really cold place!
Sergei began by telling me a bit about the history of the place. Before the 1920s, nobody lived in
Oymyakon. The local people didn’t settle anywhere, but travelled from place to place with their
reindeer. So Oymyakon was just a place where people sometimes stopped for a few days or weeks.
However, the government at that time wanted these people to settle in one place, so they chose
Oymyakon and built a town. Today, most people there live in blocks of flats. The town only has one
shop and one school. There isn’t much to do!
Living in Oymyakon isn’t easy. It’s so cold that everything freezes. In the winter, if you drive
somewhere, you can’t switch off the engine because it might not turn on again! You can’t use your
mobile phone outside or wear glasses – they freeze to your head! As well as being cold in winter, it’s
really dark. In fact there are only three hours of sunlight in December, so most people stay at home
and try to keep warm.
There is, however, one group of people who spend a lot of time outside, and they are the sellers in the
fish and meat markets. In all weathers, they stand at their stalls, dressed in layers and layers of fur
clothes. Wearing animal fur, especially reindeer fur, is necessary. It’s warmer than any man-made
clothing, and, although it’s expensive, the people of Oymyakon have no choice – they have to wear
as many fur clothes as they can! They also eat a lot of meat and fish because fruit and vegetables
don’t grow in the cold conditions. Reindeer meat soup is a popular dish in the town. I tried it – it’s
really tasty!
Life is hard and so are the people. In January, while I was there, they asked me to join in one of their
winter traditions – people took off their clothes and jumped in the river. When they came out, they
were cold, blue and smiling! They believe that it’s good for your health! However, I decided not to
join them!

3
3 Read the text. Circle the correct answers (a–d).
1 On the coldest day ever in Oymyakon, the temperature was
a about -50ºC.
b almost -70ºC.
c exactly -60ºC.
d between -30ºC and -40 ºC.
2 The author visited Oymyakon
a on her way to her home in Moscow.
b to get a job there.
c to find out about the people there.
d during a tour of Russia.
3 In the 1920s,
a tourists visited Oymyakon for the first time.
b people started to live in Oymyakon all year round.
c the first people arrived in Oymyakon.
d local people left Oymyakon with their reindeer.
4 In Oymyakon, in winter, everyone
a stays at home where it’s warm.
b wears fur clothes whenever they go outside.
c works on the food stalls.
d uses a car to travel to different places.
5 According to the writer, in the winter, people in Oymyakon
a only eat meat dishes.
b eat a lot of fruit and vegetables as well as meat.
c eat fish and meat.
d only have reindeer to eat.

Mark: ___ / 10

4
Writing
4 Think about a beautiful holiday destination you visited in the past. Write a travel blog entry
about the place and your visit. Include the following points in your blog. Use the plan to help
you.
Paragraph 1: Describe the place and how you got there.

Paragraph 2: Describe the place and its history.

Paragraph 3: Say what you did there.

Paragraph 4: Say why you liked it.

Mark: ___ / 15
TOTAL MARKS: ___ / 40

5
Challenge!
5 Complete the text with the correct words (a–d).
A trip to Chiang Mai
Last year, while my friends and I 1___ in Thailand, we spent a week in the northern city of Chiang
Mai. I learned a lot 2____ the city’s history. It has a wall and temples that are hundreds of years old.
However, it also has new buildings including a large police 3____ and a hospital. It also has a lot of
interesting art 4____. I’m keen 5____ art, so I really enjoyed visiting these places.
The third day of our stay in 6____ city was a Sunday. In the evening, there was a wonderful Night
Market in the main street, so we 7____ to do some shopping. There were hundreds of small outdoor
shops and it was fun to see and touch unusual objects and clothes, and to 8____ a lot of hot, spicy
food.
1 a travel b travelled c are travelling d were travelling
2 a off b about c around d over
3 a station b centre c rank d place
4 a places b galleries c stadiums d showings
5 a at b in c on d to
6 a a b - c the d an
7 a decide b are deciding c decided d were deciding
8 a feel b taste c sight d tasty

GRAMMAR: NOUNS, ARTICLES AND DETERMINERS

A. NOUNS
COUNTABL UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS
E NOUNS
- 2 - can’t use a/an/ numbers with UCNs
form -
s:
sing
ular
and
plur
al
+
a/an/the/one
+ singular
+
some/any/(a
) few/ a lot
of/ lots of +

6
 plural

B. Articles (unit 12 B1)

C. Determiners
- Some, any + Plural CNs/UCNs
- Some + câu (+)/ lời mời/ đề nghị lịch sự
- Any + câu (-)/câu (?)
- no = not any: trong câu (+) mang tính chất phủ định
Ex: There is no water in the fridge. (not)
= There is not any water in the fridge.
-much/ many + N (CNs/UCNs)

HW: Làm nốt bài đọc trong phiếu này + WB. Ex 2,3,4 P16,17