SỞ GD&ĐT HẢI DƯƠNG ĐỀ THI CHỌN HỌC SINH GIỎI VÙNG DUYÊN

TRƯỜNG THPT CHUYÊN HẢI - ĐỒNG BẰNG BẮC BỘ

NGUYỄN TRÃI NĂM HỌC 2021-2022
Môn: Tiếng Anh – Lớp 11
(Đề thi đề xuất) (Thời gian: 180 phút – không kể thời gian giao đề)

SECTION A. LISTENING (50 points)

PART 1: You will hear two nutritionists, Fay Wells and George Fisher, discussing methods od
food production. For questions 1-5, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which fits best according
to what you hear.
1. Looking at reports on the subject of GM foods, Fay feels ____________.
A. pleased to read that the problem of food shortages is being addressed
B. surprised that the fears of the public are not allayed by them
C. frustrated by contradictory conclusions
D. critical of the scientists' methodology
2. What does George suggest about organic foods?
A. Consumers remain surprisingly poorly informed about them.
B. People need to check out the claims made about them.
C. They need to be made more attractive to meat-eaters.
D. They may become more widely affordable in future.
3. What is George's opinion of 'vertical farming'?
A. It could provide a realistic alternative to existing methods.
B. It's a highly impractical scheme dreamt up by architects.
C. It's unlikely to go much beyond the experimental stage.
D. It has the potential to reduce consumption of energy.
4. George and Fay agree that the use of nanotechnology in food production will ____________.
A. reduce the need for dietary supplements
B. simplify the process of food-labelling
C. complicate things for the consumer
D. introduce potential health risks
5. In Fay's view, returning to self-sufficiency is only an option for people who ____________.
A. have no need to get a return on their investment
B. are willing to accept a high level of regulation
C. reject the values of a consumer society
D. already have sufficient set-up funds

Your answers:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

PART 2: Read the statements, listen and decide whether they are true (T) or false (F).
1. Emily interprets the statistical information she quotes as reflecting the particular appeal of
travelling exhibitions.
2. Scott points out that an impressive museum building can distract attention from the exhibits.
3. When asked about tour groups, Emily suggests that people should feel prejudiced against them.
4. How most people had few expectations before arriving surprised Scott when he was doing
research into why people visited a museum.
5. Emily and Scott agree that virtual museums can’t replicate the real-life experience.
Your answers:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

PART 3. Answer the questions (no more than 3 words).

21. What did Klara originally want to do her project on?
22. Where can Klara read about housing prices every day?
23. What did Klara’s friend suggest including information on?
24. What does Klara need to use in the middle part?
25. How long does Klara have to finish the project?
Your answers:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

PART 4. For questions 1 – 10, listen to a piece of news about Australia lifts one of last
COVID-19 Public Health Mandates and complete the summary using NO MORE THAN
THREE WORDS OR NUMBER for each gap. Write your answers in the corresponding boxes
provided.
Face masks are one of the most 1._________________ of the pandemic in Australia,
where some of the world’s toughest 2. _________________ were imposed like
3._________________ and vaccination orders for key workers.
A number of the restrictions have been lifted in the states of New South Wales and
Queensland, along with the 4. _________________ on Friday and in Western Australia on
Saturday. However, they haven’t lifted the 5. _________________ in South Australia or
Victoria.
Catherine Bennett, the chair in 6. _________________ at Deakin University, wanted the
mask mandates to end. She said wherever people are, whether it is at local shops, your workplace
or the airport, they have to be conscious of their exposure.
Adrian Esterman, the chair in 7. ________________ and epidemiology at the University
of South Australia, thought that forcing people to wear masks on flights in Australia was a bad
move and territory governments are lying to everyone that life can go 8._________________.
Some statistics: Australia has had 9. _________________ coronavirus infections with
9,000 deaths. 95% of the population over 16 years of age have received two doses of a COVID-
19 vaccine. About 70% have had a 10._________________ .
Your answers:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
 SECTION B. LEXICO- GRAMMAR (30 points)
Part 1. Choose the best option A, B, C, or D to complete the following sentences and write your
answers in the corresponding numbered boxes. (20 points)
1. The opposition party won the election on a _____ of economic reform.
A. lectern B. podium C. platform D. dogma
2. I’m a ______ at this game-I only learned to play it a few weeks ago.
A. novelty B. novice C. learner D. newcomer
3. The accountant _____ the company out of millions of dollars before he was caught.
A. swindled B. spun C. dwindled D. saddled
4. The judge’s sentence is _____ and can not be changed.
A. incongruous B. invariable C. irrevocable D. irreconcilable
5. It usually takes me 40 minutes to get into town, but today ______ because there was a lot of
traffic.
A. Took twice that B. I took twice more
C. it took twice that D. it had taken twice than that
6. _____ we will lose clients due to the current financial climate, the company is still expected to
reach its target for the quarter.
A. Even though it appears likely that
B. Though it likely appears that
C. In spite of the likelihood
D. Nevertheless likely it appears that
7. Customers are tempted to break _____ with so many alluring products available online.
A. the ice B. the mold C. the cycle D. the bank
8. the smell of freshly baked bread ____ fond memories of her childhood days.
A. evicted B. evoked C. evolved D. evaded
9. One of the defendants _____ and was on the run until his arrest.
A. jumped bail B. made bail C. stood bail D. posted bail
10. The business started off small, but now has become a large media and entertainment _______.
A. Metropolis B. conglomerate C. coalition D. alliance
11. I spent the whole night in curlers ____ get my new hairdo wet in the rain the net day.
A. only to B. to only C. only as to D. for only to
12. the college is planning to launch an online learning program, but the date of implementation is
uncertain.
A. since then B. by then C. beyond that D. after a while
13. “What did the thief look like?” “He was ____ his chin.”
A. young with a scar in
B. quite youngly with a scar on
C. quite young with a scar at
D. quite young with a scar on
14. The political candidate always tries to ____ any difficult questions when talking to the press.
A. butter up B. fend off C. fawn over D. drive back
15. Violation of the school’s code of conduct could result in a weeklong ____ for students.
A. expulsion B. discharge C. eviction D. suspension
16. Sandra had _____ to snakes and spiders.
A. a conversion B. a distortion C. an aversion D. an aggression
17. A great diplomat and a firm political leader is able to speak _____ about government legislation.
A. over the hump B. out of breath
C. out of fire D. off the cuff
18. Although some banking institutions allow their customers to ____ payment, it is not advised.
A. defer B. deter C. deflect D. diverge
19. After an official investigation the defendant was _____ and set free.
A. validated B. authenticated C. exonerated D. rehabilitated
20. That country’s diplomatic _______ was the largest group at the conference.
A. contingent B. battalion C. franchise D. chapter

Your answers:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
11. 12. 13. 14. 15.
16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

Part 2. Write the correct form of the words given in the brackets.( 10 points)
1. The resultant disruptions in trade and agriculture, and the _______ of the countryside, left long-
term scars. (POPULATE)
2. Put otherwise, in a context in which there are unequal power relations, a _______
homogenisation seems likely, if not inevitable. (DELETE)
3. The intense magenta color indicates intense positive staining in this _______ aggregate. (CELL)
4. Today the press is free and _______ by censorship, and the private electronic media flourish.
(CUMBERSOME)
5. Coffee beans and tea leaves are _______ with this solvent. (CAFFEINE)
6. This is a procedure which should become standard in future work by _______ organizations.
(GOVERN)
7. When it was over, she began life _______ in France. (NEW)
8. All these former offenses were swiftly ______. ( CRIME)
9. I stand not upon the _______ words of a challenge. (DEFINE)
10. Economists and some psychologists _______ employ such tasks in their studies. (EXCLUDE)

Your answers:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

C. READING (60 points)

Part 1: In the passage below, seven paragraphs have been removed. Read the passage and
choose from the paragraphs A-H the one which fits each gap. There is ONE extra paragraph
which you do not need to use. ( 7 points)
Is There A Limit To Our Intelligence?
Increasing IQ scores suggests that future generations will make us seem like dimwits by Tom
Govern
Almost thirty years ago James R. Flynn, a researcher at the University of Otago in New Zealand,
discovered a phenomenon that social scientists still struggle to explain: IQ scores have been
increasing steadily since the beginning of the 20th century. Nearly 30 years of follow-up studies
have confirmed the statistical reality of the global uptick, now known as the Flynn effect. And
scores are still climbing.
1.
The Flynn effect means that children will, on average, score just under 10 points higher on IQ
tests than their parents did. By the end of this century our descendants will have nearly a 30-point
advantage over us if the Flynn effect continues. But can it continue or is there some natural limit
to the Flynn effect and to human intelligence?
2.
Most of the IQ gains come from just two subtests devoted to abstract reasoning. One deals with
“similarities” and poses questions such as “How are an apple and an orange alike?” A low-
scoring answer would be “They’re both edible.” A higher-scoring response would be “They’re
both fruit,” an answer that transcends simple physical qualities. The other subtest consists of a
series of geometric patterns that are related in some abstract way, and the test taker must
correctly identify the relation among the patterns.
3.
“If you don’t classify abstractions, if you’re not used to using logic, you can’t really master the
modern world,” Flynn says. “Alexander Luria, a Soviet psychologist, did some wonderful
interviews with peasants in rural Russia in the 1920s. He would say to them, ‘Where there is
always snow, bears are always white. There is always snow at the North Pole. What colour are
the bears there?’ They would say they had never seen anything but brown bears. They didn’t
think of a hypothetical question as meaningful.”
4.
A naive interpretation of the Flynn effect quickly leads to some strange conclusions.
Extrapolating the effect back in time, for example, would suggest that the average person in
Great Britain in 1900 would have had an IQ of around 70 by 1990 standards. “That would mean
that the average Brit was borderline mentally retarded and wouldn’t have been able to follow the
rules of cricket,” says David Hambrick, a cognitive psychologist at Michigan State University.
“And of course, that’s absurd.”
5.
So, what will the future bring? Will IQ scores keep going up? One thing we can be sure of is that
the world around us will continue to change, largely because of our own actions.
6.
Therefore, our minds and culture are locked in a similar feedback loop. We are creating a world
where information takes forms and moves with speeds unimaginable just a few decades ago.
Every gain in technology demands minds capable of accommodating the change, and the changed
mind reshapes the world even more. The Flynn effect is unlikely to end during this century,
presaging a future world where you and I would be considered woefully premodern and literal.
7.
Perhaps we should not be so surprised by the existence of something like the Flynn effect. Its
absence would be more startling; it would mean we were no longer responding to the world we
are creating. If we are lucky, perhaps we will keep building a world that will make us smarter and
smarter—one where our descendants will contemplate our simplicity.

A The villagers were not stupid. Their world just required different skills. “I think the most
fascinating aspect of this isn’t that we do so much better on IQ tests,” Flynn says. “It’s the new
light it sheds on what I call the history of the mind in the 20th century.”

B Of course, our minds are changing in ways other than those which can be measured by IQ
tests. “People are getting faster.” Hambrick says. “Previously, it had been thought that 200
milliseconds is about the fastest that people can respond. But if you ask people who have done
this sort of research, they’re having to discard more trials. We text, we play video games, we do a
lot more things that require really fast responses.

C Almost as soon as researchers recognized the Flynn effect, they saw that the ascending IQ
scores were the result almost entirely of improved performances on specific parts of the most
widely used intelligence tests. It would seem more natural to expect improvements in crystallized
intelligence—the kind of knowledge picked up in school. This is not happening, though. The
scores in the sections that measure skills in arithmetic and vocabulary levels have remained
largely constant over time.

D A paradox of the Flynn effect is that these tools were designed to be completely nonverbal and
culture-free measurements of what psychologists call fluid intelligence—an innate capacity to
solve unfamiliar problems. Yet the Flynn effect clearly shows that something in the environment
is having a marked influence on the supposedly culture-free components of intelligence in
populations worldwide. Detailed studies of generational differences in performance on
intelligence tests suspect that our enhanced ability to think abstractly may be linked to a new
flexibility in the way we perceive objects in the world.

E Flynn likes to use a technological analogy to describe the long-term interaction between mind
and culture. “The speeds of automobiles in 1900 were absurdly slow because the roads were so
lousy,” he says. “You would have shaken yourself to pieces.” But roads and cars co-evolved.
When roads improved, cars did, too, and improved roads prompted engineers to design even
faster cars.
F “To my amazement, in the 21st century the increase is still continuing,” says Flynn, whose
most recent book on the subject—Are We Getting Smarter?— was published in 2012. “The latest
data show the gains in America holding at the old rate of three-tenths of a point a year.”

G Consequently, we may not be more intelligent than our forebears, but there is no doubt our
minds have changed. Flynn believes the change began with the industrial revolution, which
engendered mass education, smaller families, and a society in which technical and managerial
jobs replaced agricultural ones. Education, in turn, became the driver for still more innovation
and social change, setting up an ongoing positive feedback loop between our minds and a
technology-based culture that does not seem likely to end any time soon.

H Formal education, though, cannot entirely explain what is going on. Some researchers had
assumed that most of the IQ increases seen over the 20th century might have been driven by
gains at the left end of the intelligence bell curve among those with the lowest scores, an outcome
that would likely be a consequence of better educational opportunities. However, a close
examination of 20 years of data revealed that the scores of the top 5 per cent of students were
going up in perfect lockstep with the Flynn effect.

Your answers:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Part 2. Read the following text and fill in the blank with ONE suitable word. Write your
answers in corresponding numbered boxes. (15 points)
Writing is a medium of (1) ______ that most people use daily, and perhaps even take for granted.
Yet, without a shadow of a (2) ______, it has been one of the key elements in the development of
society. Writing systems and the invention of books have meant that knowledge can be passed (3)
______ reality through the generations.
Much evidence suggests that (4) ______ was in the Middle East that systems of writing were
initially developed, and these were born out of practical necessity. As individuals grouped
together in cities, this (5) ______ rise to more frequent trading of goods, but keeping a running
order of these goods was an (6) ______ battle, especially since they were often communally
stored.
(7) ______ the face of these difficulties, a better method of controlling and accounting (8)
______ stock was developed, and this was the very first system of writing. It initially took the
form of pictures drawn in clay tablets to represent a particular commodity, with lines
corresponding to the number of items a person had. In time, these drawings gave (9) ______ to
symbols, which were more efficient for the writer, and then to more detailed forms of written
record. This is when writing evolved to more than just lists of nouns, and started to (10) ______
the shape of the fully formed sentences we see today.
Your answers:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Part 3. Read the following passage and choose the best answer to each of the following
questions. Write your answers in corresponding numbered boxes. (10 points)
While he spoke my very conscience and reason turned traitors against me, and charged me with
crime in resisting him. They spoke almost as loud as Feeling: and that clamored wildly. “Oh,
comply!” it said. “Think of his misery; think of his danger—look at his state when left alone;
remember his headlong nature; consider the recklessness following on despair—soothe him; save
him; love him; tell him you love him and will be his. Who in the world cares for you or who will
be injured by what you do?” L6
Still indomitable was the reply—“I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the
more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself. I will keep the law given by God;
sanctioned by man. I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad—
as I am now. Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for
such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigor; stringent are they;
inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their
worth? They have a worth—so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is
because I am insane—quite insane: with my veins running fire, and my heart beating faster than
I can count its throbs. Preconceived opinions, foregone determinations, are all I have at this hour
to stand by: there I plant my foot.” L16
I did. Mr. Rochester, reading my countenance, saw I had done so. His fury was wrought to the
highest: he must yield to it for a moment, whatever followed; he crossed the floor and seized my
arm and grasped my waist. He seemed to devour me with his flaming glance: physically, I felt, at
the moment, powerless as stubble exposed to the draught and glow of a furnace: mentally, I still
possessed my soul, and with it the certainty of ultimate safety. The soul, fortunately, has an
interpreter—often an unconscious, but still a truthful interpreter—in the eye. My eye rose to his;
and while I looked in his fierce face I gave an involuntary sigh; his gripe was painful, and my
over-taxed strength almost exhausted. L24
“Never,” said he, as he ground his teeth, “never was anything at once so frail and so indomitable.
A mere reed she feels in my hand!” And he shook me with the force of his hold. “I could bend
her with my finger and thumb: and what good would it do if I bent, if I uptore, if I crushed her?
Consider that eye: consider the resolute, wild, free thing looking out of it, defying me, with more
than courage—with a stern triumph. Whatever I do with its cage, I cannot get at it—the savage,
beautiful creature! If I tear, if I rend the slight prison, my outrage will only let the captive loose.
Conqueror I might be of the house; but the inmate would escape to heaven before I could call
myself possessor of its clay dwelling-place. And it is you, spirit—with will and energy, and
virtue and purity— that I want: not alone your brittle frame. Of yourself you could come with
soft flight and nestle against my heart, if you would: seized against your will, you will elude the
grasp like an essence—you will vanish ere I inhale your fragrance. Oh! Come, Jane, come!” L36
As he said this, he released me from his clutch, and only looked at me. The look was far worse to
resist than the frantic strain: only an idiot, however, would have succumbed now. I had dared and
baffled his fury; I must elude his sorrow: I retired to the door.
“You are going, Jane?”
“I am going, sir.”
“You are leaving me?”
“Yes.”
“You will not come? You will not be my comforter, my rescuer? My deep love, my wild woe,
my frantic prayer, are all nothing to you?”
What unutterable pathos was in his voice! How hard it was to reiterate firmly, “I am going.”

1.Jane’s attitude toward Mr. Rochester is best characterized as

A. sympathetic. B. uncaring. C. despising. D. reckless.
2.Based on the information in the passage, it can be inferred that Jane refuses Rochester’s
advances because
A. she does not love him as much as he loves her.
B. it would violate her personal ideals.
C. he thinks that she is weak and frail.
D. she wishes to cause him injury.
3. Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?
A. Lines 1-2 (“While . . . him”)
B. Lines 8-10 (“I will . . . now”)
C. Lines 21-23 (“The soul . . . eye”)
D. Lines 29-30 (“Whatever . . . creature”)
4. In context, the phrase “I am insane—quite insane” in line 14 refers chiefly to
A. a severe mental illness that Jane suffers from.
B. a mental state brought on by God’s law.
C. a feeling that currently urges Jane to reject Rochester.
D. a reduction of judgment due to emotion.
5.As used in line 17, “wrought” most nearly means
A. hammered. B. made. C. excited. D. wrung.
6. The fourth paragraph (lines 25-36) provides a contrast between
A. Jane’s body and her will.
B. Rochester’s love and anger toward Jane.
C. a bird and its cage.
D. Jane’s purity and impurity
7. The inmate Rochester mentions in line 31 refers to
A. a criminal locked away in jail.
B. Rochester trapped in his emotions.
C. Jane stuck in the traditions of her time.
D. the possible behavior of Jane’s spirit.
8. Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?
A. Lines 23-24 (“My eye . . . exhausted”)
B. Lines 27-28 (“I could . . . her”)
C. Lines 32-34 (“And it . . . frame”)
D. Lines 37-38 (“The look . . . now”)
9. As used in line 38, “worse” most nearly means
A. less desirable. B. more difficult.
C. of lower quality. D. unskillful.
10. Based on the information in the final paragraph, it can be reasonably inferred that Jane values
A. her emotions over her reason.
B. freedom over social convention.
C. her principles over her feelings.
D. true love above all else.
Your answers:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Part 4: Read the passage and do the tasks below.

Sleepy Students Perform Worse
A. Staying up an hour or two past bedtime makes it far harder for kids to learn, say scientists who
deprived youngsters of sleep and tested whether their teachers could tell the difference. They
could. If parents want their children to thrive academically, “Getting them to sleep on time is as
important as getting them to school on time," said psychologist Gahan Fallone, who conducted
the research at Brown Medical School.
B. The study, unveiled Thursday at an American Medical Association (AMA) science writers
meeting, was conducted on healthy children who had no evidence of sleep- or learning-related
disorders. Difficulty paying attention was among the problems the sleepy youngsters faced -
raising the question of whether sleep deprivation could prove even worse for people with
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. Fallone now is studying that question, and
suspects that sleep problems “could hit children with ADHD as a double whammy”.
C. Sleep experts have long warned that Americans of all ages do not get enough shuteye. Sleep is
important for health, bringing a range of benefits that, as Shakespeare put it, “knits up the
ravelled sleave of care”. Not getting enough is linked to a host of problems, from car crashes as
drivers doze off to crippled memory and inhibited creativity. Exactly how much sleep correlates
with school performance is hard to prove. So, Brown researchers set out to test whether teachers
could detect problems with attention and learning when children stayed up late - even if the
teachers had no idea how much sleep their students actually got.
D. They recruited seventy-four 6- to 12-year-olds from Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts
for the three-week study. For one week, the youngsters went to bed and woke up at their usual
times. They already were fairly good sleepers, getting nine to 9.5 hours of sleep a night. Another
week, they were assigned to spend no fewer than ten hours in bed a night. The other week, they
were kept up later than usual: First -and second-graders were in bed no more than eight hours and
the older children no more than 6.5 hours. In addition to parents’ reports, the youngsters wore
motiondetecting wrist monitors to ensure compliance.
E. Teachers were not told how much the children slept or which week they stayed up late, but
rated the students on a variety of performance measures each week. The teachers reported
significantly more academic problems during the week of sleep deprivation, the study, which will
be published in the journal Sleep in December, concluded. Students who got eight hours of sleep
or less a night were more forgetful, had the most trouble learning new lessons, and had the most
problems paying attention, reported Fallone, now at the Forest Institute of Professional
Psychology.
F. Sleep has long been a concern of educators. Potter-Burns Elementary School sends notes to
parents reminding them to make sure students get enough sleep prior to the school’s yearly
achievement testing. Another school considers it important enough to include in the school’s
monthly newsletters. Definitely, there is an impact on students’ performance if they come to
school tired. However, the findings may change physician practice, said Dr. Regina Benjamin, a
family physician in Bayou La Batre, who reviewed the data at the Thursday’s AMA meeting. “I
don't ask about sleep” when evaluating academically struggling students, she noted. “I’m going
to start.”
G. So how much sleep do kids need? Recommended amounts range from about ten to eleven
hours a night for young elementary students to 8.5 hours for teens. Fallone insists that his own
second-grader get ten hours a night, even when it meant dropping soccer - season that practice
did not start until 7:30 — too late for her to fit in dinner and time to wind down before she
needed to be snoozing. “It’s tough,” he acknowledged, but “parents must believe in the
importance of sleep."
Questions 1-4
The text has 7 paragraphs (A - G).
Which paragraph contains each of the following pieces of information?
1 Traffic accidents are sometimes caused by lack of sleep.
2 The number of children included in the study
3 How two schools are trying to deal with the problem
4 How the effect of having less sleep was measured
Questions 5-8
Complete the following sentences using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the text for
each gap.
5.Fallone is now studying the sleep patterns of children with _______________
6.The researchers used _______________that show movement to check that children went to bed
at the right time.
7.Students with less sleep had problems with memory, remembering new material, and
_______________
8.Fallone admitted that it was _______________ for children to get enough sleep.
Questions 9-13
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage . In boxes 9 -
13 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN If there is no information on this
9. The results of the study were first distributed to principals of American schools,
10. Some of the children in the study had previously shown signs of sleeping problems.
11.The study could influence how doctors deal with children’s health problems.
12.Fallone does not let his daughter play soccer.
13.Staying up later is acceptable if the child is doing
Your answers:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
11. 12. 13.

Part 5. You are going to read extracts from an article about snowflakes. For questions 1-10,
choose from the sections (A-E). The extracts may be chosen more than once.
In which extract ...
... is a point of contention amongst scientists over the effects of 1……………………………
something highlighted?
... does the writer give an insight into their personal outlook on 2……………………………
life?
... is the difficulty in proving something likened to searching for 3…………………………….
an everyday object?
... does the writer examine the different ways likeness can be 4……………………………
interpreted?
... does the writer hint at the inconveniences snowflakes can 5……………………………
cause in everyday life?
... is the composition of young snow crystals differentiated in 6……………………………
some detail?
... are the range of possible forms flakes can take defined as 7……………………………
almost never-ending?
... does the writer first explain that two developed snowflakes 8…………………………..
can rarely be the same?
... does the writer suggest the closer something is inspected, the 9…………………….…..
less likely an outcome is?
... does the writer suggest that simplification can have a positive 10…………………………
impact on the world?

A
It is often claimed that no two snowflakes are alike, but what exactly is the veracity of this
statement?
Well, although you wouldn’t think it to glance at them, snow crystals are rather intricate. For that
reason, the answer is by no means clear-cut. For instance, scientists remain unsure as to how
temperature and humidity affect growth. Indeed, moving somewhat tangentially for a moment,
nor are they yet certain of the wider climactic effect flakes have. For example, they know that
clouds of snow crystals reflect sunlight during the day, producing a cooling affect; although at
night they sort of blanket the planet, absorbing the heat it gives off, doing the reverse. So whether
such clouds contribute to global warming or not is up for debate on account of these competing
effects.

B
As for snow crystals themselves, they undergo various stages of formation before they become
fully developed snowflakes. In the developmental stages, they are more simple structures, then
they later branch out and become complex. To start with, they resemble fairly plain and uniform
six-sided prisms that are hard to distinguish from one another. Such underdeveloped crystals do
often fall to the ground prematurely as precipitation. In this case, the probability of close likeness
amongst different ones is quite high in relative terms. So, hypothetically, it’s quite possible to
find two more or less the same, but,
in practice, this would be like looking for a needle in a haystack – two, actually, so good luck
trying to prove it.

C
However, snowfall is typically comprised of crystals at a more advanced stage of development –
true snowflakes, if you will – and here the odds change considerably with the likelihood of very
close resemblance dramatically reduced. This is because the ways in which fully developed
crystals can arrange themselves are almost infinite. Once crystals have branched out to form large
flakes, then, the chances of finding identical twins are, therefore, extremely remote.

D
Another problem with this question is how you define ‘alike’. After all, to the naked eye, most
flakes look more or less indistinguishable, irrespective of size or shape. Indeed, even under a
microscope, more simple crystal formations are strikingly similar to one another, though the
unique characteristics of fully formed snowflakes will be revealed. However, an understanding of
the science of physics confirms the extreme rarity of identical twins even amongst superficially
similar flakes. In other words, at a molecular level, likeness is a near impossibility, so the more
closely we examine a flake and the more strictly we define the notion of likeness, the less
probable it becomes to ever identify two crystals which are truly alike.

E
It is, in a way, somewhat reassuring, though, that something as seemingly simple as a snowflake
which is in actuality incredibly complex, can still be uniformly beautiful in another purer, more
innocent sense. For, once the flakes have made landfall and begun to amass, snow is, to a degree,
just snow, and it takes on that kind of magical, fairy-tale quality that only it can evoke in so many
people, but particularly the young, who have less need to worry about the logistical implications
of it amassing in ever greater quantities, and, indeed, who usually welcome the closure of
facilities, particularly academic ones, that is normally commensurate with such accumulations.
For it is the way of the universe as a whole, is it not? Order springs from chaos, beauty is born
from the most unlikely, disordered and chance set of circumstances. Indeed, as a self-proclaimed
glass-half-full person, I like to think that we, human beings, are not all that dissimilar to
snowflakes, actually. After all, each one of us is, on some level, utterly unique, and yet, remove
all the complexities of life and the over-analysis, and, on another, we are all precisely the same;
hopeful, flawed, loving, caring, jealous and imperfect; perfectly so. The sooner we understand
that, the better for both our species and the wider world we inhabit, snow-covered or otherwise.
Your answers:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

IV. WRITING (60 points)

Part 1. Read the following extract and use your own words to summarise it. Your summary
should be between 100 and 120 words long.
Across cultures, wisdom has been considered one of the most revered human qualities.
Although the truly wise may seem few and far between, empirical research examining wisdom
suggests that it isn’t an exceptional trait possessed by a small handful of bearded philosophers
after all – in fact, the latest studies suggest that most of us have the ability to make wise
decisions, given the right context.
‘It appears that experiential, situational, and cultural factors are even more powerful in
shaping wisdom than previously imagined,’ says Associate Professor Igor Grossmann of the
University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. ‘Recent empirical findings from cognitive,
developmental, social, and personality psychology cumulatively suggest that people’s ability to
reason wisely varies dramatically across experiential and situational contexts. Understanding the
role of such contextual factors offers unique insights into understanding wisdom in daily life, as
well as how it can be enhanced and taught.’
Coming up with a definition of wisdom is challenging, but Grossmann and his colleagues
have identified four key characteristics as part of a framework of wise reasoning. One is
intellectual humility or recognition of the limits of our own knowledge, and another is
appreciation of perspectives wider than the issue at hand. Sensitivity to the possibility of change
in social relations is also key, along with compromise or integration of different attitudes and
beliefs.
Grossmann and his colleagues have also found that one of the most reliable ways to
support wisdom in our own day-to-day decisions is to look at scenarios from a third-party
perspective, as though giving advice to a friend. Research suggests that when adopting a first-
person view point, we focus on ‘the focal features of the environment’ and when we adopt a
third-person, ‘observer’ viewpoint we reason more broadly and focus more on interpersonal and
moral ideals such as justice and impartiality. Looking at problems from this more expansive
viewpoint appears to foster cognitive processes related to wise decisions.

Part 2: The graph below provides information on the average cost of three kinds of cereals
in England and Wales over an eight-month period in 2014, while the table shows the
quantities of cereals sold during the same period.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons
where relevant.
Write at least 150 words
AVERAGE PRICE PER TONNE IN ENGLAND AND WALES

AVERAGE QUANTITIES OF CEREALS SOLD (TONNES) IN ENGLAND AND WALES

January February March April May June July August

WHEAT 76,800 85,500 163,500 56,300 30,800 50,700 66,300 131,700
BARLEY 21,500 18,900 32,400 15,700 11,300 11,500 38,100 45,100
OATS 2350 1820 3580 1700 960 600 945 2310
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Part 3: Write an essay of about 350 words to express your opinion on the following issue (30
points)
“In modern society, some people argue that schools become unnecessary as children can
study at home via the Internet. Do you agree or disagree?”
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge
or experience. Write at least 350 words.
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