UBND TỈNH BẮC NINH ĐỀ THI CHỌN ĐỘI TUYỂN

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO DỰ THI HỌC SINH GIỎI QUỐC GIA
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ NĂM HỌC 2023- 2024
ĐỀ CHÍNH THỨC
Môn thi: Tiếng Anh
Thời gian: 180 phút (không kể thời gian giao đề)
Ngày thi: 04 tháng 10 năm 2023
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I. LISTENING (50 points)
HƯỚNG DẪN PHẦN THI NGHE HIỂU
- Bài nghe gồm 4 phần; mỗi phần được nghe 2 lần, mỗi lần cách nhau 10 giây; mở đầu và kết thúc mỗi phần nghe
có tín hiệu.
- Mở đầu và kết thúc bài nghe có nhạc hiệu. Thí sinh có 02 phút để hoàn chỉnh bài trước nhạc hiệu kết thúc bài
nghe.
- Mọi hướng dẫn cho thí sinh đã có trong bài nghe.

Part 1. For questions 1-5, listen to a part of a radio program about a group of people on an expedition to
the South Pole and decide whether the statements are True (T), False (F) or Not Given (NG). Write your
answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.
1. The team members do not talk to each other while they walk because they need to save energy to pull heavily
laden sledges along the way.
2. According to Caroline, Pom Oliver has made a full recovery after her accident during their expedition.
3. Caroline’s confidence was severely dented when there were tremors underneath them.
4. Caroline says that the whole team members have to sleep without the sleeping bags in the cold weather.
5. It is easy for Caroline to accept the other team’s success because they have been friends for quite a long time.

Part 2. For questions 6-10, listen to an interview about the Monkeypox disease and answer the questions.
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS and/or NUMBERS taken from the recording for each answer in
the corresponding numbered boxes provided.
6. Besides taking fluids, what is mentioned as a common supportive treatment for Monkeypox?
_______________________________________________________________________________________
7. Apart from young children, what is the other group of people more susceptible to Monkeypox?
_______________________________________________________________________________________
8. What type of individual reports cannot be confirmed by the doctor in the interview?
_______________________________________________________________________________________
9. If people develop a rash, where should they contact, besides their GP, to seek health care?
_______________________________________________________________________________________
10. What are vesicles also known as?
_______________________________________________________________________________________

Part 3. Part 3. For questions 11-15, listen to part of a conversation between Gordon and Martha about
current issues in education. Choose A, B, C or D. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes
provided.
11. What does Gordon think about the Guthries’ educational method?
A. He is upset about the amount of contact the children could get with their friends.
B. He contends that homeschooling has become the norm.
C. He does not embrace the Guthries’ wish to protect their children.
D. He thinks educating children at home is a very positive move.
12. What does Martha suggest about children’s development?
A. Schools tend to teach children more theoretical knowledge than practical.
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 B. Parents should not overly protect their children.
C. It is important for children to learn to deal with difficulties.
D. Survival of the fittest does not hold true for children’s development.
13. In countering Martha’s opinion, Gordon says that ______.
A. Juvenile delinquency has become a more critical issue nowadays.
B. Several problems in the community are linked to negative learning experiences at school.
C. The law of the jungle is not a valid way to address youth crime.
D. Curriculum overload makes traditional schools a less preferable option.
14. What do both Gordon and Martha agree on?
A. It would be much easier to organize different activities for just a few children.
B. Large state schools should emulate the model home schools are operating in.
C. Traditional schools should take advantage of the local community to enhance their students’ learning
experiences.
D. Dividing schools into smaller units is a feasible approach.
15. At the end of the discussion, Gordon claims that ______.
A. Most new theories in education just lead to an increased burden for teachers.
B. Change should be a crucial part of education.
C. Restructuring is the key to effective school management.
D. More comprehensible educational theories will be put forward.

Part 4. For questions 16-25, listen to a record about Chat GPT and complete the following summary. Write NO
MORE THAN THREE WORDS taken from the recording for each blank. Write your answers in the
corresponding numbered boxes provided.
Having the ability to quickly 16. _________________________ for any topic, the new artificial intelligence tool
called Chat GPT is 17. _____________________________.
The notion that this new technology that’s been 18. ____________________________ us is something we have
to deal with is strongly contested.
The UWA has officially deemed the 19. ___________________________ Chat GPT as a violation of its student
conduct policies and 20. ____________________________.
Although it is 21. ______________________________, students should be cautious about the accuracy of Chat
GPT and the 22. ______________________________ that it makes.
The banning of Chat GPT has yet to be decided for 23. _____________________________, at least not until the
start of 24. _____________________________. However, one private school in Perth has already chosen to 25.
_____________________________ the use of Chat GPT.

II. LEXICO-GRAMMAR (30 points)

Part 1. For questions 26-45, choose the correct answer A, B, C, or D to each of the following questions.
Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.
26. One may hope that this forceful advocacy can remain in most instances persuasive and considered rather
than ______.
A. strident B. stringent C. austere D. dismal
27. She’s still young, so I’m hoping that their romance will eventually ______.
A. mellow out B. shell out C. fizzle out D. punch out
28. Parents have to ______ their job commitments in order to spend enough time with the kids.
A. juggle with B. gallop through C. connive in D. rake off
29. Great plans are ______ to ban smoking in public places, resulting in smokers soon becoming complete
outcasts in society.
A. amok B. alight C. ajar D. afoot
30. He's very ______ about the kitchen – everything has to be perfectly clean and in its place.
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 A. demanding B. particular C. disgruntled D. unquenchable
31. The most fundamental question in the book is how to be men and women of integrity and honesty in a time
of such vast ______ and criminality.
A. prevarication B. disaffection C. mendacity D. infidelity
32. New restaurant owners often try to attract customers by using ______ to homes in the surrounding area.
A. mailboxes B. mailshots C. mailposts D. mail-flies
33. The money laundering scandal lead to the minister’s ______ fall from political power.
A. prodigious B. precipitous C. dismal D. persistent
34. Morayshire is the heart of the whisky industry and you can take the famous Whisky Trail to seven
distinctive malt whisky ______.
A. burgundy B. benefaction C. chartreuse D. distilleries
35. Although Sean was a successful actor, his career hit the ______ when he appeared in a poorly-rated film.
A. hay B. bottle C. buffers D. dirt
36. When the boss is extremely busy, he gives a (n) ______ to anyone who bothers him.
A. cold shoulder B. short shrift C. sticking point D. parting shot
37. Given the choice of shirt colour, it was assumed that Erik would ______ the lucky red favoured by England
these days.
A. vouch for B. root for C. plump for D. fish for
38. My teammates have got the boss ______ to get the project completed by the deadline on Sunday.
A. in the doldrums B. off the cuff C. on the rack D. under the gun
39. He could ______ and fight stubbornly for what he believed to be right.
A. dig in his heels B. get his feet wet C. get his hands dirty D. make his ears burn
40. While the novel undoubtedly harbors darker elements, its most successful mode is ______ humour.
A. vacuous B. stolid C. lifeless D. deadpan
41. John keeps himself so closed off that I've never understood the ______ of his thoughts.
A. rock bottom B. bare bones C. think tank D. uncharted waters
42. Although it takes quite a bit of time at the beginning, once you have acquired the basic knowledge, a quick
learner like you will surely ______.
A. forge ahead B. plunge ahead C. plough ahead D. press ahead
43. I have every right to ______ at unfair, and possibly illogical, situations — most because of the decisions
of higher-ups.
A. rack and ruin B. hem and haw C. rant and rave D. wax and wane
44. The students were still able to cheat without being caught by the camera, ______ high-tech supervision.
A. so much for B. very much of C. thus be it D. so it be
45. She was a ______ Catholic and, so far as I am aware, morally unassailable.
A. firm B. devout C. staunch D. strict

Part 2. For questions 46-55, write the correct form of each bracketed word in each sentence in the numbered
space provided in the column on the right.
46. One of the few things almost all these mentally ill people have in common is drug addiction, often a form
of ______ (MEDICINE).
47. Many environmentally conscious farmers have adopted ______ (PEST) practices to promote healthier and
more sustainable agriculture.
48. The association of local ______ (RESTAURANT) came together to support each other during the
challenging times.
49.University scientists have carried out this ______ (CELL) technique successfully on hearts of pigs and
rats.
50. They said the former director was practical to the point of lacking any strategic framework and his whole
operation was ______. (CONCEPT)
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51. What we are seeing is the ______ of immigrants, that immigrants are seen not as people but as saleable
products by the Conservative government. (COMMODITY)
52. No compromise could be reached before Congress recessed, so lawmakers were forced to pass a ______
measure to continue funding at current levels. (STOP)
53. Reporters normally write about ______ events from the data perspective or they will feature artists whose
numbers are on the rise. (BUZZ)
54. By undertaking environmental studies concurrently with preliminary investigations, the agency could
______ the long standard construction process and save time. (CIRCUIT)
55. Although Tom’s innocence was crystal clear, the jury was ______ slow to reach a verdict. (ACCOUNT)

III. READING (60 points)

Part 1. For questions 56-65, fill each of the following numbered blanks with ONE suitable word and write
your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.
Both women and men, it seems, have always had a fascination for changing their appearance with the aid
of paints, powders, dyes and other artificial (56) _______. The use of cosmetics, far from being a (57) _______
of civilisation, originates from a(n) (58) _______ human desire for self-decoration. As far back as 100,000
years ago, man is believed to have painted his body, and at a later period the people of the Stone Age probably
decorated themselves in a similar (59) _______. However, the original motivation for prehistoric man's use of
paint was different from (60) _______which inspired civilised cultures to adopt cosmetics as a way of
enhancing or creating beauty. Prehistoric man must have been conscious that he was a weak animal
(61) _______ against a hostile environment. He had to develop his own tools for hunting because Nature had
not provided him with sharp teeth or claws or the (62) _______ physical strength of the wild beasts which
(63) _______ the ancient world. He decorated his skin with the (64) _______ of the most powerful animals
because he believed that by representing their physical characteristics on his own body he acquired some of
their power. But his fear of wild beasts remained as a constantly disturbing and inexplicable phenomenon, and
inspired in primitive man the belief that mysterious forces which he was able neither to understand nor control
were at (65) _______ around him.

Part 2. Read the following passage and do the tasks that follow.
WHAT’S IN BLOOD?
A. Blood is the most specialised fluid within living animals, playing an absolutely critical role. It symbolises
life (‘new blood’), health (‘get your blood running’), personality (‘good or bad blood’), and family (‘your
bloodline). This red fluid itself is something which most people would rather not see, yet it contains such a
complex soup of proteins, sugars, icons, hormones, gases, and basic cellular components that it is certainly
worth considering in some detail.
B. By volume, half of blood is the liquid part, called plasma. The rest comprises specialised components, the
main one being red blood cells (technically known as erythrocytes). These transport oxygen molecules
thoughout the body, and also give blood its colour (from the hemoglobin protein within, which turns red
when combined with oxygen). Red blood cells, as with all cells in the human body, have a limited operating
life. They are produced within the marrow of bones, principally the larger ones, and live for about four
months before they fall inactive, to be then reabsorbed by the spleen and liver, with waste products absorbed
in the urine.
C. This contrasts with the other main cells of human blood: the white blood cells, technically known as
leukocytes. Similarly produced in the bone marrow, they are active only for three or four days, yet they are
essential in defending the body against infections. White blood cells come in many different types, each
designed to deal with a different sort of invader bacteria, virus, fungus, or parasite. When one of these enters
the body, the white blood cells quickly determine its nature, then, after mustering sufficient numbers of a
specific type (the period in which you are sick), they launch themselves into the fight, enveloping each
individual invasive cell, and breaking it down (leading to recovery).
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D. That leaves the last manin component of blood: platelets. Their technical name is thrombocytes, and they
are much smaller than red and white blood cells. Also curculating freely, they are responsible for clotting
the blood, and this is necessary to heal both external and internal injuries. Again, they are produced in the
bone marrow, and have the interesting ability to change shape. There are several diseases related to the
breakdown on the regulation of their numbers. If too low, excessive bleeding can occur, yet if too high,
internal clotting may result, causing potentially catastrophic blockages in parts of the body and medical
ailments we know strokes, heart attacks, and embolisms.
E. Blood’s complexity presents particular difficulties in the advent of emergency transfusions. These are
avoided whenever possible in order to lower the risk of reactions due to blood incompatibility. Unexpected
antigens can trigger antibodies to attack blood components, with potentially lethal results. Thus, if
transfusions are to take place, a thorough knowledge and classificationof blood is essential, yet with 30
recognised blood-group systems, containing hundreds of antigens, this presents quite a challenge. The ABO
system is the most important. On top of this is the Rhesus factor, which us not as simple as positive or
negative (as most people think), but comprises scores of antigens. These can, however, be clustered together
into groups which cause similar responses, creating some order.
F. Of course, the simplest system to avoid adverse transfusion reactions is for patients to receive their own
blood – for example, in a series of blood donations in anticipation of an operation scheduled some months
in advance. The second best system is to undertake cross-matching, which involves simply mixing sampes
of the patients’ blood with the donors’, then checking microscopically for clumping – a key sign of
incompatibility. Both of these systems are obviously impractical in an emergency situation, which is why
meticulous testing, documentation, and labeling of blood are necessary.
G. In a true emergency, a blood bank is needed, with an array of various types of blood on hand. Hence, blood
donations must be a regular occurrence among a significant segment of the population. In the developed
world, unpaid volunteers provide most of the blood for the community, whereas in less developed nations,
families or friends are mostly involved. In the era of HIV and other insidious blood-borne diseases, potential
donors are carefully screened and tested, and a period of about two months is recommended before
successive whole bllod donations.
H. Given the vital role which blood plays, it is strange to think that for almost 2000 years bloodletting was a
widespread medical practice. It was based on the belief that blood carried “humours”, whose imbalances
resulted in medical illnesses. Bleeding a patient was supposed to remove an undesiable excess of one of
these. Furthermore, the fact that blood curculated around the body was unknown. It was instead assumed
to be quickly created, and equally quickly exhausted of its value, after which it could stagnant unhealthily
in the bodily extremities. Although the logic was there, it goes without saying that very few patients
responded positively to such treatment.
Questions 66-72:
The reading passage has eight paragraphs, A-H. Choose the correct heading for Paragraphs B-H from the
list of headings.

List of Headings
i. Not as big, but needing just enough
ii. Some attitudes to blood
iii. Good, but not so quick
iv. Two ideas see a wrong conclusion
v. Complicated identification
vi. An interesting treatment
vii. A shorter life, but just as important
viii. The Principal part that adds some colour
ix. Bone marrow and blood
x. Maintaining supplies
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Example:
Answer
Paragraph
ii

66. Paragraph B: ______

67. Paragraph C: ______
68. Paragraph D: ______
69. Paragraph E: ______
70. Paragraph F: ______
71. Paragraph G: ______
72. Paragraph H: ______

Questions 73-75
Complete the table. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Blood component Associated fact
Red cells upon dying, dealt with by (73) _________________________________
Whitle cells require (74) _________________________________ before attacking invaders
Platelets their numbers need careful (75) _________________________________

Questions 76-78
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage? Write:
TRUE if the statements agrees with the information
FALSE if the statements contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there us no information on this
76. Blood cross-matching can be done without special equipment.
77. In poorer countries, family members often donate blood.
78. Bleeding people was a painful process.

Part 3. You are going to read an extract from an article. Seven paragraphs have been removed. Select from
the paragraphs (A–H) the one that fits each gap (79–85). There is one extra paragraph that you do not need
to use. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.
Crying Wolf
When Bill Feeney stood out under the full moon on a frigid early April night in Northern Wisconsin in 1944
and gave a deep, full-throated howl, he was not expecting what he received: an equally deep, full-throated
response from a wolf he and his colleagues from the Wisconsin Conservation Department had been tracking.
Rather than calling out the names of fellow researchers whom he believed to be nearby, Feeney had howled
as a bit of a joke.
79.
Mimicking calls has spread far beyond wolves, however, and beyond voice to new devices and digital
recordings, as researchers now use vocalizations to get a peek into many corners of the animal kingdom.
Feeney reportedly howled just that one time. This was likely because he was leading the wolf study in secret
and felt nightly howling sessions would not be a good way to keep the research clandestine.
80.
In fact, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan now each have wolf hunting seasons and cull quotas. Officially,
Feeney was conducting a major deer study, but the secret wolf study was an offshoot. He focused on counting
and better understanding wolves' social and hunting habits - knowledge he knew might be unattainable in the
future, given that the state was paying a bounty of 20 dollars for a dead adult wolf and 10 dollars for a pup.
81.

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Feeney and the biologists who worked for him disagreed with the bounty and hoped the species would persist,
and Feeney even told the famed ecologist Aldo Leopold that he would publish the wolf study findings, which
showed that wolves did not significantly affect deer population.
82.
Indeed, they did. That planted the seed, and he and his colleagues began howling as a means of locating wolves
during late summer, when lack of snow and thick foliage prevents conventional surveys, which are done
mostly by tracking paw prints and conducting visual surveys during the winter. After testing out their voices,
they realized their own howls were as convincing to the wolves as the recordings of real wolves.
83.
Then, he waits and listens. If there is no response, he will repeat the four-howl sequence, at the same cadence
but louder. If this fails to elicit a response the howler might try a third time or move to a different location
before howling again. Biologists have long been using vocalizations not just to locate animals but also to better
understand animal communication and social structure.
84.
'With digital files we can manipulate them. You can take a single note and change its frequency and do
playbacks right away and see how the animal we are studying responds. With tape, you have to splice and it
takes hours on end.' Webster says vocalizations let researchers start to unlock animal language, which is
especially important with birds because they use sound to identify species and find mates and rivals.
85.
'Birds in cities sing differently than those in the country, because we humans make a hell of a lot of noise, so
they shift the way they sing to make it louder.' Animal vocalization has a considerably longer history in hunting
than it does in wildlife research. In both applications, vocalizing is the art of fooling wild animals by imitating
their ilk, but the motivations are vastly different. For wildlife biologists and other researchers, vocalization is
a tool for conserving or arguably, saving wildlife. Hunters use vocalizations, as well as decoys and olfactory
attractants - smells, to lure animals to within their gun or bow range.

The Paragraphs
A. This meant Pimlott and his crew could ditch the truck from which they broadcast the recordings, and
set out on foot into the forest, armed only with their voices and notebooks. Over time, a protocol was
developed that wildlife biologists still use today. The vocalist issues an initial howl - not too loud in case
the pack is nearby - and then repeats the howl three times, turning 90 degrees each time, to ensure it is
amplified to each of the cardinal directions.
B. Since he is deceased, we can't ask him whether he considered this to be a new research tool that built
on tracking wolf prints, examining scat, and searching for dens. Feeney's call and response came years
before wildlife biologists began to use vocalizations as a tool to study wolf packs. Imitation is a
surprisingly good way to locate dens and estimate pack sizes and composition.
C. In fact, many types of animals use language in important and fascinating ways - whales are a focus
area because their calls travel across thousands of miles under water. 'We can't talk to birds in bird-ese,
but we're getting closer to understanding birdsongs,' says Webster. We're basically writing the translation
dictionary.' Studying recordings lets researchers discern things like the emotional state of individual
birds, and it has revealed clues as to how animals adapt to changing environments.
D. While wolves are fairly easy to imitate with the human voice, many other species are more difficult
to mimic closely enough. Instead, researchers rely on recordings. 'It's far easier to do the kinds of studies
we do than it was a few years ago because now we're using digital files,' says Mike Webster, a professor
in Cornell's Department of Neurobiology and Behavior and the director of the Macaulay Library, which
holds the world's largest archive of wildlife sounds and videos.
E. The first auditory attractants used in North America were developed thousands of years ago by Native
American hunters, who imitated the animals they sought both by using their own voices and by
constructing calls using wood or bone. Hunters also camouflaged themselves, sometimes in the hides of
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 the animals they sought. In the late 1800s, non-indigenous hunters began using their voices, and
eventually fashioned mechanical duck and turkey calls made from wood, using designs similar to those
of Indian hunters.
F. Deer hunters were already steamed over the recent introduction of hunting regulations, and considered
wolves a major competitor. 'The public was so anti-predator and specifically anti-wolf that it would have
been committing employment and possibly life suicide to admit to doing any investigation on
wolves,' says Richard Thiel, a wolf biologist who led Wisconsin's wolf recovery plan in the 1980s.
G. But the war disrupted academic publication schedules, and the public's abhorrence of wolves grew
more intense at each public meeting about deer-management policies. Feeney become quite reticent,
eventually sequestering all the research notebooks. The study remained secret and the researchers mum.
In the late 1950s, biologist Douglas Pimlott began broadcasting recordings of wolf howls in Ontario's
Algonquin Provincial Park, wondering if they might respond.
H. Though the woods of Iron County were sparsely populated, they were frequented by trappers trying
their damnedest to kill every wolf they could. In the 1940s, Wisconsin was only one of four states where
wolves were still extant - the last known gray wolf in that state was killed in 1958. The species has now
returned and has been removed from the state's endangered species list.

Part 4. For questions 86-95, read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C or D) according
to the text. Write your answers (A, B, C or D) in the corresponding numbered boxes.
Mass Culture
In recent decades, the development and spread of new information technologies such as satellite television
have engendered many debates about the consequences of their use. One of the first writers to see the
possibilities of these changes was the American writer Marshall McLuhan, who argued in the 1960’s that
communications technology would have two effects: first, it would create a global village where everyone and
everything were accessible to the television camera and secondly, that it would become the case that ‘the
medium is the message’, that is, how the message is transmitted would outgrow in importance what the
message is.
Other theorists have gone further in arguing that the explosion of, and increasing dependence on,
information technology have brought about profound changes in the way society is organised. Some, for
example, believe that we can now describe a ‘post-modern society’, characterised partly by an information-
based international division of labour that allows increasing freedom of movement. At the cultural level,
distinctions between ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture have disappeared as new technology transmits across class
boundaries, while stylistically, form has become more important than substance, and the ubiquity of television
means that everything is seen in television codes. McLuhan’s global television-led culture is now with us.
The accuracy of such a description, however, has been questioned. At one level, many people are reluctant
to accept any argument that technology can lead to social and economic changes, arguing instead that the
relationship is exactly the other way round. In other words, they are critical of any tendency to technological
determinism. Furthermore, evidence can be cited that queries the notion that information technology has
spread evenly throughout the word or even throughout Britain. This has been described as the uneven
development of the information economy. Many areas of Great Britain, for example, are not yet equipped with
the on-line communications systems necessary to receive technologies such as cable and interactive television,
and the take-up of these technologies varies according to socio-economic factors. We are still a long way from
the full-scale and comprehensive implementation of the information super-highway.
What does seem to be the case, however, is that the stereotypical image of the nuclear family sitting together
in the front room cheerfully choosing their evening's viewing from a limited range of television stations is
disappearing. This is partly due to the increased number of sets per household as well as the rapid growth in
the number of channels, a development mirrored by the niche marketing of magazines to a multiplicity of
interest groups. The amount of time spent watching television per head has stabilised in recent years to around

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27 hours a week. Women watch on average four more hours of television per week than men and all statistics
show a relationship between social class and viewing.
This is not to say that diversity and choice have necessarily been achieved. It remains the case that satellite
television caters for mass-appeal interests such as music, sport, news, children's programmes and American
films and light entertainment, ignoring many disadvantaged social groups. New media technologies have not
empowered people in the sense that there are increased numbers of community-based television networks. In
Britain, it is no less valid today to describe a mass culture based on a centrally directed mass media.
Doubts have also been raised about the ability of satellite stations to succeed in creating a global television
culture. Rupert Murdoch is widely known to own substantial parts of the global media industry. A few years
ago, he added a controlling share of StarTV to his collection, meaning that he gained access to 2.5 billion
people in 50 countries or forty percent of the world’s television sets, in a region stretching from Jordan to
Japan. Capturing the market in India, however, and American mega-series such as Baywatch and L.A Law, has
not been as straightforward as first imagined. Cultural differences are complicated in a nation of 18 official
languages and further compounded when you consider the staggering figure of 1,700 dialects. Hindi films
transmitted by the state broadcasting network still rank a coveted first in the ratings table. Murdoch’s response
to this realisation was to immediately buy into a local TV station as well. Indian culture, for the present at
least, remains resistant to western broadcasting and highlights that the creation of a global mass culture will
not be solely induced by technology.
86. Marshall McLuhan envisaged a world where ______.
A. everyone would make use of a TV camera for their own sake
B. content of less significance would be displayed on TV
C. TV would assist the understanding between people regardless of their backgrounds
D. the impact of information would be lessened by TV
87. As described by theorists, in a 'post-modern' society ______.
A. artistic creativity is highly appreciated and promoted by critics
B. a range of choices available for people is confined to a fixed number of options
C. the supremacy of television over other forms of media is challenged
D. 'high' and 'low' cultures start to intermingle with the other
88. Accounts of a TV-led society have been put into question by ______.
A. proof underscoring the inverse relationship between technology and cultural changes
B. evidence indicating the equilibrium in the distribution of technology across regions
C. people expressing resistance to shifts in their mindsets
D. the influence of an information-based economy on the ubiquity of television
89. Which of the following reflects the present-day prevalent situation regarding households?
A. A household gathers and views TV in a convivial atmosphere.
B. Family members no longer enjoy spending time watching TV with others.
C. An extended family congregates and watches TV with no signs of happiness.
D. Nuclear families gradually disintegrate as a result of technology.
90. What is cited as a possible explanation for the changes witnessed at familial level?
A. The media's ability to target specific audiences.
B. The stability of time devoted to watching TV.
C. Less transparent boundaries among social strata.
D. The rise in the number of sets within every household.
91. According to the passage, satellite television has ______.
A. enabled the incorporation of less serious content into news of more solemn concern
B. instigated the flourishing of networks within the community
C. boosted the decentralization of the mass media
D. been of little benefit to minority groups in the society

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92. The example of Rupert Murdoch aids the author’s argumentation because it illustrates the point that
______.
A. Higher share of a market does not necessarily mean that a person has successfully brought the culture
of his country of origin to the region.
B. Uphill challenges need to be overcome should a person yearn to corner the market in western
broadcasting.
C. The cultural homogenization across the world is hindered by people’s attitudes.
D. The potential for winning attention greatly relies on the ability of a businessman to respond to the
demands of the destined market.
93. From the passage, it can be deduced that ______.
A. Television has been of immeasurable importance to the homogenization of the world’s culture.
B. Advanced technologies notwithstanding, a global mass culture has yet to emerge.
C. Headway towards an egalitarian society has been countervailing, as it has widened the gulfs between
classes within the society.
D. Television has been a factor in the formation of new cultures, but it should not be considered as the most
significant.
94. In general, the writer’s view of ‘technology’ is that it ______.
A. wields an enviable power to drive social change
B. has the ability to emancipate the enslaved peoples
C. has intuitively changed our habits
D. is not of paramount import in cultural change
95. In the passage as a whole, the author’s tone seems most likely to be ______.
A. indifferent B. critical C. objective D. sarcastic

Part 5. You are going to read an extract from a textbook. For questions 96 –105, select the expert A to D.
The sections may be chosen more than once. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes
provided.
The Search for a New Wonder Material
As the world’s supply of rubber becomes less reliable, a solution must be found
A. When people are asked to identify the materials that are indispensable to modern life, the one that springs to
mind most often is plastic. Make this question about a naturally occurring material and the responses are more
varied, ranging from wood to iron to coal. Yet the raw material that we rely on most for such products as
medical equipment, clothing and vehicles tyres is of course rubber. It has an impressive range of properties,
such as being waterproof, durable and flexible, and these properties are unique and cannot be made using
synthetic materials. This is especially true when it comes to making tires for vehicles and airplanes.
Unfortunately, the state of global rubber production is currently under threat due to disease, climate change
and economics. Although the extraction of many other raw materials such as stone or timber is done via large
corporations on an industrial scale, this is not the case with rubber. In fact, quite the opposite is true as
approximately 85% of global rubber production is carried out by farmers with small plots of land in the forests
of southeast Asia. It just so happens that there are millions of people working the land in this way and therefore
they are able to fulfil the supply of rubber required to help our lives run smoothly.
B. However, the price of rubber is not determined by the usual economic principle of supply and demand.
Surprisingly, it is controlled by a financial market in Shanghai in much the same way as other commodities
such as gold and oil, with traders making the price move up or down through buying and selling stocks and
shares. This means that small farmers are at the mercy of these price fluctuations, and many of them cannot
continue when prices are kept low for long periods of time. From their perspective, they are better off growing
oil palms because palm oil is less labour intensive to produce than rubber. Even if prices were to rise enough
to make rubber plantations consistently profitable, it is not as simple as that. There are those who argue that
more rubber trees should be planted so that rising demand can be met, but the counterargument is that rubber
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 trees have contributed just as significantly to the loss of biodiversity in Asia as oil palm plantations have.
Governments in some countries have cleared vast areas of forest to grow rubber trees for profit alone, and
there is a strong view that this kind of behaviour should not be encouraged. In fact, the majority of people
believe that governments should lead the way in solving such problems of biodiversity.
C. In order to try to address the precarious conditions of both the environment and small farmers, many large
rubber buyers, including the world’s largest tire companies, have signed up to an organisation campaigning
for sustainable rubber. It prohibits buying rubber from deforested land and aims to send a clear message to
governments that clarifies what corporations are not prepared to accept. Other people in the industry are trying
to promote the idea of a minimum price for rubber, similar to the Fair-Trade concept for coffee and cocoa,
which aims to help small farmers stay in business. Besides these issues, the rubber tree also faces the constant
threat of disease. Native to the Brazilian rainforest, the plant was wiped out there by a disease during the
1930s and now only grows in southeast Asia. Some scientists believe that with the amount of goods and
people constantly traversing the world, it is only a matter of time before this disease arrives in Asia too. If this
happens, the world’s supply of rubber could vanish almost overnight and there is little that can be done to
prevent such a disaster. This is worrying enough to have caused the European Union to add rubber to its list
of critical raw materials.
D. All this has led scientists and commercial manufacturers to investigate alternative options, and there are a
couple of plants that could potentially be used as substitutes. The most financially viable of these is guayule,
a bush-like plant native to the USA and Mexico. One of the drivers behind the commercialisation of this plant
is the fact that it grows in the USA, a country that currently relies heavily on the Asian rubber supply and
which is actively looking for ways to reduce this reliance given the issues mentioned above. The US
government previously experimented with guayule during the Second World War when rubber was scarce,
but later abandoned the project when global trade got going again and Asian rubber became more readily
available. Now, however, there are a few companies investing heavily in trying to make guayule an
alternative, and there are signs that it could actually be successful. Researchers are working on breeding strains
of the plant that could be grown on a much larger scale so as to avoid the current world reliance on a plant
whose future is far from secure.

In which sections are the following mentioned? Your answers:

96. Switching to a plant that is easier to cultivate. 96.
97. Producers are calling for a more responsible attitude to production. 97.
98. People are often unaware of the importance of rubber in manufacturing. 98.
99. The livelihoods of rubber producers are insecure. 99.
100. The importance of reducing dependence on rubber from overseas. 100.
101. The mass planting of rubber trees is seen as a controversial practice. 101.
102. A well-founded fear is that the world’s rubber trees could easily be destroyed. 102.
103. The rubber production process is different to that of other natural materials. 103.
104. The use of biological methods to increase the cultivation of a range of options. 104.
105. Plants that could be cost-effective rubber replacements. 105.

IV. WRITING (60 points)

Part 1. Read the following extract and use your own words to summarize it. Your summary should be
between 100 and 120 words.
Great emotional and intellectual resources are demanded in quarrels; stamina helps, as does a capacity for
obsession. But no one is born a good quarreller; the craft must be learned.
There are two generally recognised apprenticeships. First, and universally preferred, is a long childhood
spent in the company of fractious siblings. After several years of rainy afternoons, brothers and sisters develop
a sure feel for the tactics of attrition and the niceties of strategy so necessary in first-rate quarrelling.

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 The only child, or the child of peaceful or repressed households, is likely to grow up failing to understand
that quarrels, unlike arguments, are not about anything, least of all the pursuit of truth. The apparent subject of a
quarrel is a mere pretext; the real business is the quarrel itself.
Essentially, adversaries in a quarrel are out to establish or rescue their dignity. Hence the elementary
principle: anything may be said. The unschooled, probably no less quarrelsome by inclination than anyone else,
may spend an hour with knocking heart, sifting the consequences of calling this old acquaintance a lying fraud.
Too late! With a cheerful wave the old acquaintance has left the room.
Those who miss their first apprenticeship may care to enroll in the second, the bad marriage. This can be
perilous for the neophyte; the mutual intimacy of spouses makes them at once more vulnerable and more
dangerous in attack. Once sex is involved, the stakes are higher all round. And there is an unspoken rule that
those who love, or have loved, one another are granted a license for unlimited beastliness such as is denied to
mere sworn enemies. For all that, some of our most tenacious black belt quarrelers have come to it late in life
and mastered every throw, from the Crushing Silence to the Gloating Apology, in less than ten years of marriage.
A quarrel may last years. Among brooding types with time on their hands, like writers, half a lifetime is not
uncommon. In its most refined form, a quarrel may consist of the participants not talking to each other. They
will need to scheme laboriously to appear in public together to register their silence.
Brief, violent quarrels are also known as rows. In all cases the essential ingredient remians the same; the
original cause must be forgotten as soon as possible. From here on, dignity, pride, self-esteem, honor are the
crucial issues, which is why quarreling, like jealousy, is an all-consuming business, virtually a profession. For
the quarreler’s very self-hood is on the line. To lose an argument is a brief disappointment, much like losing a
game of tennis; but to be crushed in a quarrel … rather bite off your tongue and spread it at your opponent’s feet.

Part 2. The bar chart shows the number of heat-related illnesses suffered by high school students per 100,000
sports events in central US states. The line graph shows the average temperatures for one year in a central
US state (in Fahrenheit). Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make
comparisons where relevant. You should write about 150 words.

Average Temperature Range

Number of heat-related illnesses 100
90
80 80
70
Fahrenheit

60 60
50
40
40
30 20
20
10 0
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Low High

Part 3. Write an essay of 350 words on the following topic.

Some people say that developed countries should be the major force to curb global issues such as pollution,
global warming or pandemic.
Discuss the statement and give your opinion.

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