TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC TÂN TẠO KÌ THI CHỌN HỌC SINH GIỎI LỚP 12 NĂM 2016

Môn: TIẾNG ANH

ĐỀ THI CHÍNH THỨC Thời gian làm bài: 180 phút
(Ngày thi 22/10/2016)

I. LISTENING

PART 1 – You are allowed to listen ONCE

What is said about each of these works by H. G. Wells? Choose your answers from the box and
write the letters A – H next to questions 1 - 6

A Well was ill when he wrote this.

B This was heavily criticised by another author.
C This predicted limiting the number of people on Earth.
D This was a commercially unsuccessful novel.
E This was a talk, not a book.
F This predicted a type of identity card.
G This was Wells’ only optimistic work.
H This actually has a much longer name.

1. The Discovery of the Future ____________________

2. The Time Machine ____________________
3. Anticipations ____________________
4. First men in the Moon ____________________
5. A modern Utopia ____________________
6. The Shape of Things to Come ____________________

Answer the questions below. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS OR NUMBERS for each
answer.
7. In which decade did Wells call for the setting up of a world encyclopedia?
_____________________________
8. What was Wells’ series of essays entitled?
_____________________________
9. What did Wells want people to use to create the encyclopedia?
_____________________________
10. According to some people, what has made Wells’ prediction a reality?
_____________________________
PART 2 – You are allowed to listen ONCE
Which THREE factors help make museums more effective? Choose THREE letters A – F
A organising bigger exhibitions
B providing greater choice
C attracting new visitors
D investigating in buildings
E increasing the size of the staff
F cooperating with other organizations

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According to the speaker, what is mainly true about each of these areas? Write the correct letter
A, B, C next to questions 4 – 10.
A It is done by museum managers and staff alone.
B It is done by the local council.
C It means working with local businesses.

4. designing new exhibitions 8. involving local people

5. paying for new exhibitions 9. arranging talks and workshops
6. advertising exhibitions 10. maintaining museum building
7. researching people’s needs
Your answers for PART 2
THREE factors
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

PART 3
You will hear a radio discussion about children who invent imaginary friends. Listen to the
recording TWICE and choose the best answer which fits best according to what you hear.

1. In the incident that Liz describes,

A. her daughter asked her to stop the car.
B. she had to interrupt the journey twice.
C. she got angry with her daughter.
D. her daughter wanted to get out of the car.
2. What does the presenter say about the latest research into imaginary friends?
A. It contradicts other research on the project.
B. It shows that the number of children who have them is increasing.
C. It indicates that negative attitudes towards them are wrong.
D. It focuses on the effect they have on parents.
3. How did Liz feel when her daughter had an imaginary friend?
A. always confident that it was only a temporary situation.
B. occasionally worried about the friend’s importance to her daughter.
C. slightly confused as to how she should respond sometimes.
D. highly impressed by her daughter’s inventiveness.
4. Karen says that the teenagers who had invented a superhero is an example of
A. a very untypical teenager.
B. a problem that imaginary friends can cause.
C. something she had not expected to discover.
D. how children change as they get older.

5. According to Karen, how should parents reacts to imaginary friends?

A. They should pretend that they like the imaginary friend.
B. They shouldn’t get involved in the child’s relationship with the friend.
C. They should take action if the situation becomes annoying.
D. They shouldn’t discuss the imaginary friend with their child.
Your answers
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

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 II. LEXICAL AND GRAMMARTICAL STRUCTURES
PART 1 – Choose the best option that best fits each blank.

1. At the party conference, the Prime Minister __________ backing for his new policies.
A. won B. got C. had D. held
2. Mary wanted to give Nigel a present that was a little bit out of the __________
A. ordinary B. normal C. average D. everyday
3. Most people would __________ at the chance of working for that company.
A. dive B. grab C. seize D. jump
4. If you want to know which companies to invest in, George can give you some __________
A. clues B. hints C. words D. tips
5. He was awarded a medal in __________ of his services to the Queen.
A. view B. recognition C. regard D. light
6. The racing-driver climbed out of the wreckage completely__________
A. unwounded B. intact C. unscathed D. well-preserved
7. At the end of the day the shopkeeper walked to the bank, carrying the day’s __________ in a special
bag.
A. income B. takings C. earnings D. profits
8. The rocks in this area have been __________ into strange shapes by the wind and rain.
A. broken B. eroded C. moulded D. deteriorated
9. When both parents went to prison, social workers took the children __________ care.
A. with B. for C. into D. to
10. William is an authority __________ medieval tapestries.
A. on B. with C. about D. in

Your answers:

1. 6.

2. 7.

3. 8.

4. 9.

5. 10.

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 PART 2 – Read the text below. Use the word given in capital at the end of some of the lines to
form a word that fits the space in the same line. An example has been done for you.

If you are thinking of leaving your job, you may think that handing in
0. RESIGN
your letter of (0) __RESIGNATION__ is the end of the matter. But an
increasing number of companies now conduct ‘exit interviews’ with staff in
an attempt to improve staff retention and communication.
For the employee, an exit interview may feel like an ideal opportunity
to rant and rave about every little (1) __________ that has troubled them since 1. ANNOY
they got the job. But, (2)__________ in mind that you will probably still need 2. BEAR
a (3)__________ from these people, it is best to avoid getting angry or 3. REFER
(4)__________ , and just answer the questions as calmly and with as much 4. EMOTION
(5)__________as possible. 5. HONEST
For employers, the exit interview is a rare opportunity to gather some
valuable information about the way staff perceive the internal (6)_________ 6. WORK
of the company. (7)__________employees may not wish to cause 7. EXIST
(8)__________to the boss or damage their chances of promotion, so are 8. OFFEND
unlikely to (9)__________ their real feelings about the company. However, 9. CLOSE
someone who has already resigned is more likely to be (10) __________ when 10. TRUE
giving their opinions.

Your answers:

1. 6.

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 2. 7.

3. 8.

4. 9.

5. 10.

PART 3 – In most lines of the following text there is one unnecessary word. It is either grammatically
incorrect or it does not suit the sense of the text.
Read the text, put a line through each unnecessary word and then write the word in the space provided at
the end of the line. Some lines are correct. Indicate these lines with a tick () against the line number.
The first two lines have been done as examples.

THE RACE FOR SURVIVAL

Imagine the Earth without any life. The higher ground would be mostly bare 1. ________
of rock and ice. There would be storms as we experience them now. Winds would 2. ___of_____
blow, no rain would fall, and rivers would flow along courses like their present ones. 3. __________
The world would have a nightmarish similarity to the present Earth. There would be 4. __________
Africa and Asia, the Europe and the Americas but all would lie inert and bare. 5. __________

Let us suppose that all the life which actually exists on the Earth were suddenly to 6. __________
die. If such a thing was happened the oxygen in the atmosphere would break the 7. __________
dead material down and cause it to disappear away in a month or so. 8. __________

Oxygen even attacks things that are alive. Thus life, as we know, is in a race 9. __________
between regenerating itself and in being burned up, a race that is balanced on a 10. __________
razor’s edge and depends crucially on rainfall. Where there is plenty of rain the life 11. __________
wins. But where there is only a little of rain the burning process turns the landscape 12. __________
into desert.

Your answers:

1. ________ 7.

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 2. ___of_____ 8.

3. 9.

4. 10.

5. 11.

6. 12.

PART 4
For questions 1 – 10, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap. Use only
ONE word in each gap. There is an example at the beginning (0).

Write your answers IN CAPITAL LETTERS into the gaps.

The universal fantasy about being a rock star, at least the tame part, goes something (0) _LIKE__ this:
you make wildly popular new music, see your likeness splashed across magazine covers, and worry
occasionally about becoming old. But according to a new list of the fifty top-earning pop stars, old rock stars
are enjoying the (1) __________success. Half the top ten earners are older than fifty, and two are over sixty.
Only one act has members under thirty.
The annual list reverses the common perception (2)__________ pop music. Not only is it not the province of
youth, it’s also (3)__________the province of CD sales, hit songs and music videos. While young stars
(4)__________their turn on the charts, which rank popular artists, songs and albums, the real pop pantheon,
(5)__________ seems, is an older group, no (6)__________ producing new hits, but re-enacting songs that are
older than many of today’s pop idols.
‘This always (7)__________as a shock to fans,’ said Joe Levy of Rolling Stone magazine. ‘The biggest-selling
artists aren’t the ones who make the most money. The artists learn the hard way that money comes from concert
tickets and T-shirts, not selling records. That’s the lesson - you build a brand over time, and you can sell the
brand even if you can’t sell the albums.’ This means that, while it’s good to be in demand, it is (8)
__________to be yesterday’s in-demand performer. (9) __________pop music glorifies the young and the new,
it actually sells these qualities (10)__________a discount.

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 III. READING
PART 1 - Now read paragraphs A-G. Six of these paragraphs fit into the gaps in the article. There is one
extra paragraph which doesn’t fit anywhere. Insert the paragraphs into gaps 1-6.

AN OVERSHADOWED CHILDHOOD

I
can still recall the pain I constantly complained when any walking was to be done.
and intensity of the My mother would regularly march me round to out doctor,
flare-ups in most of my looking for reassurance. That always ended up with a smack
joints during the early because of Mum’s frustration at being told there was
stages of my arthritis nothing wrong with me other than I was a spoilt, miserable
from the age of two onwards. I would call for my bewildered child.
parents during the night to “unlock my legs”. They used a (2) ________
rota system to look after me, and their patience was endless. I was in hospital for a month. My brother and sister were not
(1) allowed
Your answers: to visit
me,
1. 6. which
made
me
2. 7.
fretful
and
3. 8.

4. 9.

5. 10.

________ unsettled. I was diagnosed with what was then known as

Still’s disease.

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 (3) Your answers: wanted
Much of my
1. 4.
my play knee-
was 2. 5. length
solitary 3. 6. (5)
and I
hospital-inspired. I would give my mother strict orders to eventually attended secondary school full-time from 11 to
collect any spare wax over when it was peeled from my 16. It was quite a tough inner-city girls’ school. Many of the
(4) ________ children had very serious social problems but I never
I hated to be seen in the chair, and if I saw anyone I (6) ________
recognized I used to turn my hat back to front to hide my I was not unhappy at school, as I was always surrounded by
face. I forgot about my little stick legs, which gave me away. I caring friends, but I could never lose the feeling of being
different.

A I went to junior school part-time from the age of eight
to eleven. I went to school in the morning and then
the hospital in the afternoon.
I cannot remember objecting to the endless blood tests, BX-rays,
hot salt baths, wax baths, sunlight treatment and intensive
physiotherapy but I recall absolutely dreading the scales coming
out each week, not because I minded being weighed, but
because we were all weighed in the same room, naked. I felt so
humiliated even at four-and-a half.
C meant to make me lift my leg and hop. Tears were streaming
There wasn’t much I could do about the diagnosis so I
decided I would have to teach myself to walk again. It
was a long and painful process.
I never returned to my infant school. I had a teacher
who came to my house for two hours a week and set me
basic maths and English work. My mum was my main
teacher. She would push me, in a renovated wheelchair,
to the local hospital, each afternoon, for physiotherapy.
My three-year-old brother would pedal alongside on his
bicycle.
D
Some of the really ‘hard cases’ were protective of me. They
would fight over whose turn it was to carry my bag or bring
me a chair to sit on. I was always asked to keep the score for
netball and rounders while sitting at the edge of the pitch
looking on. E
F Once during PE at infant school we were told to skip to
the music. As I couldn’t move my hips enough to skip
properly, I skipped in my own fashion. The teacher corrected
me and then proceeded to take my hand and make me skip,
slapping my bottom in time to the music. Each slap was
down my face. Eventually I could not take any more and I
was sent home from school and my mother, no longer willing
to accept the opinion of our doctor, demanded that I see a
specialist immediately. I was admitted to hospital the same
day.
G I can remember when my aunt used to swing me by the arms –
making me fly like an aeroplane just as she had done for my
brother and sister. Not wanting to be left out, I wanted to do the
same – but I screamed rather than laughed like the other two.

PART 2 – Read the following passage and do the tasks that follow

Paralanguage
Human beings are social creatures, and communication is a basic, if not the most important, feature
of social life. People often think of communication strictly in terms of speaking or writing. However, human
communication also relies on non-verbal behaviors, each of which can convey important meanings.

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Linguists refer to these highly culture-bound, non-verbal communication techniques as paralanguage.
Researchers suggest that up to 90 percent of what people communicate is conveyed through paralanguage.
Specifically, because paralanguage is so prevalent in daily communication and varies from one culture
context to another, understanding these hidden aspects of communication is integral to successful language
learning and cross-cultural communication.
Body language is perhaps the most obvious form of paralanguage. It refers to the gestures,
expressions, and postures that are used instead of, or in addition to, verbal language or other forms of
paralanguage. Body language includes voluntary actions such as smiling to express warmth, dropping the
jaw to show surprise, or waving a hand to say goodbye. However, not all body language is voluntary.
Involuntary body language, such as a nervous shifting of one’s eyes or the subconscious drumming of one’s
fingers, might convey an emotion of which someone is not even aware.
Both voluntary and involuntary body language may support or cast doubt on verbal communication.
This is one reason why many people prefer to pursue important matters in person. Gestures or facial
expressions may reinforce a verbal message, making it appear true and sincere. Conversely, a speaker’s
gestures, stance, or facial cues may belie his or her words. For instance, an individual’s involuntary facial
expression may reveal sadness even though she says she is happy. In a face-to-face encounter, as opposed to
a telephone conversation, a nuanced interpretation is possible.
Body language varies greatly from one culture to another and is one area of frequent
miscommunication.  A. The same gesture displayed in one culture context may carry a completely
different meaning elsewhere.  B. In many Western cultures, it is important to make eye contact when
speaking. C. Two American executives, for example, will almost certainly make direct eye contact when
negotiating a deal, mainly to establish trust and to communicate confidence. D. Were an American, even
one fluent in Japanese, to do the same while negotiating in Japan, she might be considered angry or
aggressive by her Japanese counterparts.
Different cultural frameworks also define and organize space in unique ways. Perhaps even more
than gestures, cultural patterns are internalized in individuals at a subconscious level. This internalization
can lead to serious failures of communication. The proxemics of an encounter – how close to each other the
participants stand – depend on a culturally determined sense of personal space, a sort of “comfort bubble”
around one’s body. People in the United States tend to assume a social distance of roughly four to seven feet
when engaged in conversation. Closer feels awkwardly intimate; farther feels coldly distant. In many parts
of Europe and southwestern Asia, the expected social distance is roughly half of what Americans are used
to. Americans traveling in these areas may feel an urgent need to back away from a conversation partner
who seems to be getting too close.
Paralanguage also includes auditory elements such as tone of voice, speaking tempo, and patterns of
stress. The way something is said can change its meaning, regardless of the words used. In English, for
example, vocal tone may be used to express sarcasm. The comment “nice shirt, Bill,” can mean two
completely different things depending on the paralanguage. The speaker may actually mean that Bill’s shirt
is attractive. He may also mean the extract opposite. In this case, the clue to the meaning lies in the tone of
the speaker’s voice.
Some cultural anthropologists even consider what one wears a form of paralanguage. People may
use clothing, jewelry, ceremonial hats, and other forms of body ornamentation to communicate status,
personal interests, cultural identity, and other characteristics. Take the case of a police officer who wears her
uniform in public to mark her role in society. That is what any uniform, whether a waiter’s or a priest’s or a

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Boy Scout’s, is meant to do. Furthermore, the vocabulary of her uniform-badges, patches, and so on-will
indicate her rank and signal whether she is a traffic cop, on the SWAT team, or in some other line of
service. In short, human communication is complex, with a large portion of the information being conveyed
without words. In both everyday and cross-cultural communication, it is these facets of paralanguage that, if
overlooked, can lead to considerable misunderstanding.

7. The word voluntary in the passage is closet in meaning to

A. incredible B. individual
C. intentional D. ineffective

8. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence
in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential
information.
A. Gestures or facial expressions can make it easier to believe what someone says
B. Gestures or facial expressions can hide the lies that people tell
C. Gestures or facial expressions can force people to tell the truth
D. Gestures or facial expressions can turn conversation partners into true friends.

9. According to paragraph 3, in telephone conversations, as opposed to face-to-face encounters,

A. people are more likely to lie
B. sadness is harder to communicate
C. messages contain fewer clues to meaning
D. deeper meanings can be communicated

10. Look at the four squares [] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the
passage.
An American might give the “thumbs-up” sign to indicate that everything is all right, but
an Australian who sees it will feel very badly insulted.

Where would the sentence best fit? Choose the square [] where the sentence should be added to the
passage.
A. 1st square B. 2nd square
C. 3rd square D. 4th square
11. The word belie in the passage is closet in meaning to
A. complement B. contradict
C. echo D. interpret
12. From the information in paragraph 5, what can be inferred about one’s sense of personal space?
A. It is inflexible B. It is learned
C. It offered others D. It changes if one travels
13. In paragraph 5, the author mentions “four to seven feet” as an example of
A. a serious communication failure
B. an excessively large social distance
C. the size of a “comfort bubble”
D. the safest social distance

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 14. According to paragraph 6, what form of paralanguage might an English speaker use to express
the opposite of what his or her words say?
A. space B. tone
C. clothing D. lies
15. The word ornamentation in the passage is closet in meaning to
A. decoration B. communication
C. protection D. occupation
16. Every uniform communicates
A. paralanguage B. membership in the police
C. a social role D. a profession
17. All of the following are mentioned in the passage as forms of paralanguage EXCEPT
A. tone of voice B. clothing
C. eye movements D. walking

Question 18 - 20
Complete the table below about the types of paralanguage discussed in the passage. Match the
appropriate statements to the paralanguage category with which they are associated. TWO of the
answer choices will NOT be used.

Answer Choices

(A) Volunteering to help the homeless 18. Body Language

(B) Jewelry
(C) Making eye contact when negotiating
(D) Sarcastic tone
(E) Watching foreign films
(F) Giving a “thumbs-up” sign
(G) Wearing a police uniform
 _______________________________
 _______________________________
19. Auditory Signals
 _______________________________
 _______________________________
20. Body Ornamentation
 _______________________________
 _______________________________

IV. WRITING – STUDENTS HAVE TO DO THESE TASKS ON THE WRITING PAPER

PART 1 – Read the following extract and use your own words to summarize it. Your
summary should be from 80 to 100 words long. You MUST NOT copy the original.

Almost everyone with or without a computer is aware of the latest technological revolution
destined to change forever the way in which humans communicate, namely, the Information
Superhighway, best exemplified by the ubiquitous Internet. Already, millions of people around the
world are linked by computer simply by having a modem and an address on the ‘Net’, in much the
same way that owning a telephone links us to almost anyone who pays a phone bill. In fact, since
the computer connections are made via the phone line, the Internet can be envisaged as a network

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 of visual telephone links. It remains to be seen in which direction the Information Superhighway is
headed, but many believe it is the educational hope of the future.

The World Wide Web, an enormous collection of Internet addresses or sites, all of which can be
accessed for information, has been mainly responsible for the increase in interest in the Internet in
the 1990s. Before the World Wide Web, the ‘Net’ was comparable to an integrated collection of
computerised typewriters, but the introduction of the ‘Web’ in 1990 allowed not only text links to
be made but also graphs, images and even video. A Web site consists of a ‘home page’, the first
screen of a particular site on the computer to which you are connected, from where access can be
had to other subject related ‘pages’ at the site and to thousands of other computers all over the
world. This is achieved by a process called ‘hypertext’. By clicking with a mouse device on
various parts of the screen, a person connected to the ‘Net’ can go travelling, or ‘surfing’ through a
web of pages to locate whatever information is required.
Anyone can set up a site; promoting your club, your institution, your company’s products, or
simply yourself, is what the Web and the Internet is all about. And what is more, information on
the Internet is not owned or controlled by any one organisation. It is, perhaps, true to say that no-
one and therefore everyone owns the ‘Net’. Because of the relative freedom of access to
information, the Internet has often been criticised by the media as a potentially hazardous tool in
the hands of young computer users. This perception has proved to be largely false however, and
the vast majority of users both young and old get connected with the Internet for the dual purposes
for which it was intended - discovery and delight.

PART 2 - The diagram below shows the water cycle, which is the continuous movement of water on,
above and below the surface of the Earth.
Write a brief description of this process in 150 words

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PART 3

Today there’s growing concern over an increase in crime in modern society, much of which is
caused by teenagers. People blame it on violent images on television, in computer and video
games. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion?
In about 400 words, write an essay to express your opinion on the issue and suggest some effective
measures to protect yourselves.

THE END

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