Đề thi Olympic 30/4 năm 2014

I.Vocabulary and Structure

1. David has a(n) ____ to fainting at the sight of
blood.
A. inclination C. predisposition
B. predilection D. penchant
-predisposition: thói quen

2. Some of the cattle were placed in quarantine for

fear of the disease being ____
A. contractual C. congenital
B. contagious D. contentious
-contagious: dễ lây lan

3. I don’t know what our guests will want to do

this weekend. We’ll have to play it by ____
A. ear C. mouth
B. eye D. hand
-play it by ear: tùy cơ ứng biến

4. Playing squash is a good way to let off ____

A. smoke C. moisture
B. temper D. steam
-let off steam: giảm căng thẳng

5. Her ability, ______ with a determination to

succeed, should make her very successful
A. connected C. joined
B. coupled D. related
-couple with sth: đi kèm với cái gì đó

6. George is a close friend but where I part ____

with him is over the issue of women’s rights
A. views C. company
B. friendship D. opinions
-part company with sb: bất đồng quan điểm với ai
đó

7. Gary apologized and admitted that he had

spoken out of _____
A. mind C. turn
B. line D. order
-speak out of turn: chen ngang hội thoại

8. I know budgets are tight, but where safety is

concerned I don’t think we should cut _____
A. ways C. rounds
B. corners D. lines
-cut corner: đi đường tắt vì muốn cắt giảm chi phí

9. If we tidy the house afterwards, Mum and Dad

will be _____ the wiser about the party.
A. not C. no
B. nothing D. none
-none the wiser/ not be any the wiser: ko hiểu vấn
đề

10. I’m definitely going on that field trip. A week

on Lake Michigan is not to be ______ at!
A. sneezed C. shrugged
B. laughed D. frowned
-not to be sneezed at sth: vô cùng tốt để tham gia

11. No one helped him; he did it ____

A. himself C. by all himself
B. all by himself D. by himself all
-do sth all by oneself: tự làm việc gì đó

12. The country’s wealth come chiefly from its

many _____
A. herd of cattle C. herds of cattles
B. herd of cattles D. herds of cattle

13. I recognise his face, but his name ____ me.

A. misses C. fails
B. deludes D. escapes
-sth escapes sb: quên điều gì đó

14. Mary gives one account of the conversation,

and Fred another; it’s difficult to ____ the two
versions
A. identify C. adjust
B. reconcile D. coincide
-reconcile: hòa giải

15. Ellen decided that election to the local council

would provide a ____ to a carrer in national
politics
A. highway C. milestone
B. turning-point D. springboard
-springboard: khởi đầu tốt

16. I was awakened early in the morning by the

____ of sheep in the fields outside my window.
A. baying C. neighing
B. bleating D. braying
-bleat (v), bleating (n): âm thanh của dê và cừu

17. The consultant called in the firm brought a

____ of experience to bear on the problem
A. hoard C. bank
B. realm D. wealth
-a wealth of experience: sự giàu có về kinh nghiệm

18. When the capital got too crowded, they had to

build new towns to make _____
A. overfill C. overrun
B. overspill D. overstock
-overspill: di chuyển ra thành phố khác
19. Don’t ____ good money after bad by having
that old car repaired again.
A. throw C. hurtle
B. fly D. hurl
-throw good money after bad: lãng phí tiền

20. We are prepared to overlook the error on this

occasion _____ your previous
A. with a view to C. in the light of
B. thanks to D. with regard to
-in the light of: dựa vào căn cứ

II. Reading Comprehension

Passage 1: Read the passage and choose the best
option A, B, C, or D to complete the following
questions or statements
Đoạn 1: It’s often said that we learn things at the
wrong time. University students frequently do the
minimum of work because they’re crazy about a
good social life instead. Children often scream
before their piano practice because it’s so boring.
They have to be given gold stars and medals to be
persuaded to swim, or have to be bribed to take
exams. But the story is different when you’re
older.

Đoạn 2: Over the years, I’ve done my share of

adult learning. At 30, I went to a college and did
courses in History and English. It was an amazing
experience. For starters, I was paying, so there
was no reason to be late – I was the one frowning
and drumming my fingers if the tutor was late, not
the other way round. Indeed, if I could persuade
him to linger for an extra five minutes, it was a
bonus, not a nuisance. I wasn’t frightened to ask
questions, and homework was a pleasure not a
pain. When I passed an exam, I had passed it for
me and me alone, not for my parents or my
teachers. The satisfaction I got was entirely
personal.

Đoạn 3: Some people fear going back to school

because they worry that their brains have got rusty.
But the joy is that, although some parts have rusted
up, your brain has learnt all kinds of other things
since you were young. It has learnt to think
independently and flexibly and is much better at
relating one thing to another. What you lose in the
rust department, you gain in the maturity
department.

Đoạn 4: In some ways, age is a positive plus. For

instance, when you’re older, you get less
frustrated. Experience has told you that, if you’re
calm and simply do something carefull again and
again, eventually you’ll get the hang of it. The
confidence you have in other areas – from being
able to drive a car, perhaps – means that if you
can’t, say, build a chair instantly, you don’t, like a
child, want to destroy your first pathetic attempts.
Maturity tells you that you will, with application,
eventually get there.

Đoạn 5: I hated piano lessons at school, but I was

good at music. And coming back to it, with a
teacher who could explain why certain exercises
were useful and with musical concepts that, at the
age of ten, I could never grasp, was magical.
Initially, I did feel a bit strange, thumping out a
piece that I’d played for my school exams, with
just as little comprehension of what the composer
intended as I’d had all those years before. But
soon, complex emotions that I never knew poured
out from my fingers, and suddenly I could
understand why practice makes perfect

1. It is implied in paragraph 1 that ______

A. Parents should encourage young learners
to study more
B. Young learners are usually lazy in their
class
C. Young learners often lack a good
motivation for learning
 D. Teachers should give young learners less
homework
+Giải thích:
-Đọc đoạn 1 dòng 2,3,4: “University
students frequently do the minimum of
work because they’re crazy about a good
social life instead”
-Dịch: “Sinh viên đại học thường xuyên
làm rất ít việc vì thay vào đó họ thường sẽ
đắm chìm vào cuộc sống xã hội”

2. The writer’s main point in paragraph 2 is to

show that as people grow up, ____
A. They have a more positive attitude
towards learning
B. They cannot learn as well as younger
learners
C. They tend to learn less as they are
discouraged
D. They get more impatient with their
teachers

3. The phrase “For starters” in paragraph 2

could best be replaced by “_____”
A. First and foremost
B. At the starting point
C. At the beginning
D. For beginners
4. While doing some adult learning courses at a
college, the writer was surprised ____
A. To get on better with the tutor
B. To feel learning more enjoyable
C. To have more time to learn
D. To be able to learn more quickly
-Đọc đoạn 2 dòng 11,12,13,14: “When I
passed an exam, I had passed it for me and
me alone, not for my parents or my teachers.
The satisfaction I got was entirely personal”
-Dịch: “Khi tôi đậu bài kiểm tra, tôi đã làm
điều đó cho tôi chứ ko phải là vì gia đình hay
thầy cô, mà chỉ mình tôi. Sự hài lòng tôi có
hoàn toàn là cá nhân

5. In paragraph 3, the word “rusty” means ___

A. Impatient because of having nothing to do
B. Not as good as it used to be through lack
of practice
C. Staying alive and becoming more active
D. Covered with rust and not as good as it
used to be

6. The phrase “get there” in paragraph 4 is

closest in meaning to “___”
A. Arrive at an intended place with difficulty
B. Have the things you have long desired
 C. Achieve your aim with hard work have
the things you have long desired
D. Receive a school or college degree

7. All of the following are true about adult

learning EXCEPT ___
A. Adult learners have fewer advantages
than young learners
B. Adult think more independently and
flexibly than young people
C. Experience in doing other things can help
one’s learning
D. Young people usually feel less patient
than adults
- Câu B,C đúng vì đọc đoạn 3 dòng 5,6,7: “It
has learnt to think independently and
flexibly and is much better at relating one
thing to another”
Dịch: “Nó đã học được cách nghĩ độc lập
và linh hoạt và tốt hơn trong việc liên kết
cái này với cái khác

- Câu D đúng vì đọc đoạn 4 dòng 3,4,5:

“Experience has told you that, if you’re
calm and simply do something carefull
again and again, eventually you’ll get the
hang of it”
 Dịch: “Kinh nghiệm đã chỉ rằng nếu bạn
bình tĩnh và cẩn thận làm điều gì đó lặp đi
lặp lại thì bạn sẽ đạt đc điều đó
 Loại hết đáp án đúng, chọn câu A

8. It can be inferred from paragraph 4 that

maturity is a positvie plus in the learning
process because adult learners
A. Pay more attention to detail than younger
learners
B. Are able to organize themselves better
than younger learners
C. Are less worried about learning than
younger learners
D. Have become more patient than
younger learners

9. It is implied in the last paragraph that when

you learn later in life, you ______
A. Should expect to take longer to learn than
when you were younger
B. Can sometimes understand more than
when you were younger
C. Are not able to concentrate as well as
when you were younger
D. Find that you can recall a lot of things you
learnt when younger
-Đọc đoạn 5 dòng 10,11,12,13: “But soon,
complex emotions that I never knew poured out
from my fingers, and suddenly I could understand
why practice makes perfect”
Dịch: “Nhưng rất sớm, cái cảm xúc phức tạp trong
tôi dâng trào từ những ngón tay ấy, và bỗng dưng
tôi hiểu ra tại sao luyện tập tạo nên hoàn hảo

10. What is the writer’s main purpose in the

passage?
A. To encourage adult learning
B. To describe adult learning methods
C. To show how fast adult learning is
D. To explain reasons for learning

Passage 2: Read the following passage and

decide which answer (A,B,C or D) best fits each
gap
As time passes, the power of newspapers
seems to be on the (1)___. This is odd because in
the relatively (2)____ past people were predicting
that the influence of the written word would
diminish in direct proportion to the rate of increase
of the spoken word and moving image through TV
and video. The Internet, cable and satellite
television, Teletext and multi-media computers in
(3) ____ other home should surely have done for
newspapers by now, particularly alongside a
perceptible resurgence in the audiences for news-
carrying radio stations. How have these organs
survived, let alone (4)_____, particularly on a
Sunday? Why do people who have seen a football
or tennis match live or on the small screen rush the
next day to read a (5)_____ version of it in four or
five columns which surely cannot mean more to
the reader than that self-same viewer of the
previous afternoon or evening? Why would anyone
who has seen a film and formed a (6)______
impression of it the following day read a review of
the (7) _______ film in a newspaper? To see if
he/she is right? Isn’t that what friends are for?
Don’t we have colleagues for just that purpose – to
see if our ideas on any (8)______ song, film or
programme tally with others? What is this product
that (9)_____ of not much more than outrageous
headlines, wayward comment, subjective editorials
and hyperbolic sports pages still doing in our lives?
It seems for the time being to be leading a charmed
life. When it finally goes, though, many may come
to mourn its (10)______
1. A. increase B. rise
C. expansion D. build
-to be on the increase: đang dần dà tăng

2. A. latest B. distant
C. immediate D. recent
-recent: gần đây

3. A. all B. any
C. every D. one
-in every other home: cứ 2 nhà thì sẽ có 1 nhà

4. A. flourished B. blommed
C. flowered D. rooted
-let alone sth: dùng để nhấn mạnh vật A bất khả thi
hơn những thứ khác

5. A. curtailed B. cut
C. reduced D. potted
-read a potted version: đọc 1 bản ngắn và đơn giản
hơn, chỉ chứa 1 vài chi tiết

6. A. vivid B. coloured
C. bright D. direct
-form a vivid impression of sth: hình thành ấn
tượng chính xác về 1 cái gì đó

7. A. latter B. aforesaid
C. previous D. above-mentioned
-aforesaid = aforementioned: được nhắc trước đó

8. A. given B. taken
C. subjected D. written
9. A. comprises B. contains
C. consists D. informs
-consists of: bao gồm

10. A. perishing B. dying

C. falling D. passing
-mourn sth/sb passing: tiếc nuối về cái gì đó đã kết
thúc hoặc ai đó ra đi

Passage 3: Read the text and choose from the

list (A-M) the best phrase given below to fill
each of the spaces numbered 1-10. Some of the
given phrases do not fit at all. Write one letter
(A-M) in the correct box for answers
NEW BUSINESS COURSES AT OXFORD
AND CAMBRIDGE
Just a hundred years after the University of
Pennsylvania established the world’s first business
school, Oxford and Cambridge, (1)__F___, are
dipping their toes into the waters of management
education. Recently, Cambridge University
launched its first MBA degree course, and Oxford
University, (2)__H___, plans to open the doors of
its own School of Management Studies soon. The
two Universities could not be entering the MBA
arena at a worse time (3)___M___. Recession has
halted recruitment in management consultancy and
investment banking, (4)__K____. Those
companies (5)__B____ are cutting salaries and
questioning (6)__I___. Many companies directors
complain that new MBA graduates are not so
competent (7)___C____, and say that they often
need a considerable amount in-company training.
At the heart of the problem is the MBA
curriculum, (8)__L___. Critics claim that a typical
MBA course encourages a preference for
theoretical knowledge rather than the insight
(9)__A___. Many leading business schools are
rethinking their courses (10)__E____

A. that comes from practical experience

B. that are still hiring MBA graduates
C. as they expected them to be
D. and that critcism has some force
E. but none has the luxury of Oxbridge’s fresh start
F. which are Britain’s two most famous and
prestigious universities
G. because this re-training is increasingly
important
H. which is Cambridge’s arch-rival in everything
from astrophysics to rowing
I. what they are getting for their money
J. but conditions have changed radically since then
K. which are areas in which MBAs have been
highly regarded and well-rewarded
L. which has changed little since the 1960s
M. because applications for such courses have
fallen during the past two decades

B. WRITTEN TEST
I. VERB TENSES/ FORMS
Put the verbs in brackets in the right tenses or
forms
1. The little girls accompanied by her cats and dogs
_______ (wander) in the backyard at midnight the
other night.
-was wandering: đang lang thang

2. It was an opportunity ______ (not/miss)

-not to be missed: ko nên bỏ lỡ

3. He______ (go) to the last meeting but he didn’t

-should’ve gone: đáng lẽ nên đi

4. If there aren’t any tickets left when we reach the

front of the queue, we _______ (wait) all the time
for nothing
-will have been waiting: sẽ chờ đợi

5. I don’t remember _______ (tell) of the decision

to change the company policy on vacations.
-being told: đc nói về
6. The bank account ______ (not overdraw) at the
end of last month if you ______ (not write) a
cheque to pay for the new washing machine.
-would not have been overdrawn: bị rút quá nhiều
tiền
-had not written: không viết
=> Câu điều kiện loại 3
7. I ______ (sit) there for about ten minutes,
pretending to read, when someone sat down at my
table
-have been sitting: đang ngồi
8. Don’t phone too late because I ______ (go) to
bed
-will have gone to bed: sẽ đi ngủ
9. ________ (contribute) to the success of the
project, he was confident that the firm would keep
him on.
-Having contributed: đã đóng góp

II. PREPOSITIONS AND PHRASAL VERBS

Fill in the blanks with suitable prepositions or
adverbial particles.
1. _______ all odds, Brian managed to realized his
dream of becoming a professional tennis player.
-Against all odds: bất chấp sự phản đối
2. Jenny was completely inexperienced when she
started working here, but now she’s really come
____ her own
-Come into sb own: trở nên xuất sắc, thành công

3. I’m so snowed _____ with work at the moment

– it’s awful
-Tobe snowed under with sth: bị bận làm gì đó

4. If you got time ______ your hands, you could

file these papers for me.
-Get time on sb hands: đang rảnh rỗi

5. His abstinence _____ alcohol lasted only two

months
-Abstinence from sth: sự kiêng cữ cho cái gì đó

6. After four weeks of working in a school, he

realized he wasn’t cut _____ teaching. He didn’t
have enough patience.
-Cut out for: không hợp

7. Stop wasting time! Get to my office ______ the

double
-On the double: ngay lập tức

8. The children worked _____ a will to finish the

project on time.
-With a will: với ý chí

9. The boss was really hot ______ the collar when

you told him you lost the contract.
-Tobe hot under the collar: nóng giận về việc gì đó
10. You can do anything you want ______ reason.
-Within reason: lí do chấp thuận, hợp lí

III. WORD FORM.

Complete each of the following sentences using
a proper prefix and the correct form of the
word in brackets. There is an example for you.
1. The swimming pool is advertising itself as a
‘____ swimming paradise’ ! (TROPICAL)
-Sub-tropical: cận nhiệt đới

2. Leave out the old newspaperss so that they’ll be

______ by the local council (CYCLE)
-Recycled: tái chế

3. Never ______ the cunning of black bear – he is

very clever (ESTIMATE)
-Underestimate: đánh giá thấp

4. This meat is _____ - look, it’s charred on the

outside (COOK)
-Overcooked: bị chín quá
5. I think this printer has _____ its usefulness and
should be sold (LIVE)
-Outlived: hết thời

6. Lisa prefers to buy her vegetables ______ rather

than from the market (PACK)
-Pre-packed: hàng đóng gói sẵn

7. This detergent is ______ so you should use

much less than normal. (CONCENTRATE)
-Super-concentrated: đặc

8. My car is fitted with ____ brakes. (LOCK)

-Anti-lock brakes: chống bó phanh

9. As I didn’t have a suitable _____ I decided to

back down and apologise. (ARGUMENT)
-Counter-argument: phản biện lại

10. There’s a shortage of ______ flats in my

neighbourhood. (CONTAIN)
-Self-contained: độc lập, tự túc

IV. OPEN CLOZE TEST

Read the passage and fill in the blank with a
suitable word.
Put simply, an allergy is a disorder in which the
body over-reacts to harmless substances which in
(1)_normal_ circumstances should not produce any
reaction at all. An allergy can occur in (2)_almost_
any part of your body, and can be caused by just
about anything. Mainly though, allergies become
evident on parts of the body (3)_direcly__ exposed
to the outside world. Certain allergies occur only at
certain times of the year, while others are there all
the time. Those that occur all the year (4)_round_
are probably caused by something you come into
(5)_contact_ with (–come into contact with sth:
tiếp xúc với) every day of your life, some
seemingly harmless (6)_object/thing_ such as your
deodorant or the pillow you lire on each night.
Allergies can occur at any time during your life,
but usually do so before your fortieth birthday.
Sometimes the symptoms are so (7)_slight__ you
do not even know you have an allergy, and it may
take years for an allergy to become noticeable. It
all (8)_depends_ on the amount of the substance to
which you are exposed and for how long.
Sometimes an allergy can disappear as suddenly as
it arrived, without any (9)_treatment____.
Sometimes it comes and goes for no apparent
(10)_reason__, and with no regularity
V. SENTENCE TRANSFORMATION
Complete the second sentence so that it has
similar meaning to the first sentence using the
word given. Do not change the word given. You
must use between THREE and EIGHT words,
including the word given
1. People are using microwave ovens more and
more frequently. (TREND)
=> There ___________________ of microwave
ovens
-There is a trend towards more frequent use of
microwave ovens
-a trend towards sth: xu hướng của 1 cái gì đó

2. The rumours of his being fired are not true.

(CONTRARY)
=> Despite __________, he has not been fired.
-Despite the rumours to the contrary, he has not
been fired
-Despite the rumours to the contrary: Trái ngược
với những lời đồn thổi

3. Nobody knows what to expect when they get

there. (DARK)
=> Everybody is _______ find when they get there
-Everybody is in the dark about what they will find
when they get there
-tobe in the dark: đều mù mờ về những chuyện sắp
tới

4. What did you think about the exam? I couldn’t

understand the last question at all. (HEAD)
=> What did you think about the exam? I couldn’t
_______ the last question
-I couldn’t get my head round the last question.
-can’t get sb head round: ko thể nghĩ ra

5. I know you’ll find it hard to believe, but I don’t

know how to chat on the Internet. (SEEM)
=> Unlikely __________ how to chat on the
Internet.
-Unlikely as it may seem to you, I don’t know how
to chat on the Internet

6. I and my wife never agreed on anything to do

with the children’s education. (EYE)
=> My wife and I ____________ to the children’s
education.
-My wife and I never saw eye to eye when it came
to the children’s education
-see eye to eye: đồng ý quan điểm

7. We must always bear in mind that many

scientific breakthroughs are due to luck. (SIGHT)
=> We must ____________ a large part in many
scientific breakthroughs.
-We must not lose sight of the fact that luck plays a
large part in many scientific breakthroughs
-lose the sight of sth: mất quan điểm của điều gì đó
8. When it comes to friendship, I prefer having a
few close friends to many acquaintances.
(RATHER)
=> As far ____________ a few close friends than
many acquaintances
-As far as friendship is concerned, I’d rather have a
few close friends than many acquaintances

9. I really admire the changes you have made to

your diet. (FULL)
=> I ____________ the changes you have made to
your diet.
-I am full of admiration for the changes you have
made to your diet
-tobe full of admiration for: đầy sự ngưỡng mộ cho
điều gì đó