A. pronunciation (10 points).

I. Choose the word (A, B, C or D) that has the underlined part pronounced differently from the others in
each group. (5 points)
1. A. author B. other C. there D. they
2. A. forest B. control C. product D. ecology
3. A. industry B. translate C. construction D. satisfy
4. A. baggage B. courage C. damage D. invasion
5. A. advantage B. addition C. advertise D. adventure
II. Choose the word (A, B, C or D) whose main stress pattern is not the same as that of the others. (5
points)
1. A. deposit B. festival C. institute D. resident
2. A. surprising B. astonishing C. amazing D. interesting
3. A. interview B. industry C. essential D. difficult
4. A. extreme B. generous C. lonely D. clothing
5. A. friendly B. extra C. along D. orphanage
B. VOCABULARY AND GRAMMAR (40 points).
I. Choose the best answers to completes each sentence. (10 points)
1. One problem for teacher is that each student has his/ her own ________ needs.
A. separate B. divided C. individual D. distinctive
2. I was ________ in the book I was reading and didn’t hear the phone.
A. submerged B. distracted C. gripped D. engrossed
3. If we hurry, we might get there ________ to catch the early train.
A. right B. in time C. on time D. before time
4. To get a passport, you must send in your birth ________ and two photos.
A. certificate B. license C. paper D. card
5. She tries to set ________ an hour a week for practice.
A. about B. down C. aside D. in
6. ________ stay the night if it’s too difficult to get home.
A. At all costs B. By all means C. In all D. On the whole
7. Robert and his wife ________ to my house for tea yesterday evening.
A. came round B. came about C. came down D. came away
8. Each of the guests ________ a bunch of flowers.
A. are given B. is given C. were given D. give
9. To everyone’s surprise, Mr. Brown ________ at the Trade Union meeting.
A. turned in B. turned over C. turned up D. turned round
10. Everyone burst out laughing. There was a lot of ________.
A. laughs B. laughter C. laughing’s D. laugh
II. Give the correct form of the verbs in brackets. (10 points)
1. I (meet) ________ John before I (be) ________ a fortnight in Paris.
2. The children were frightened because the lights suddenly (go) ________ out and they (sit) ________
in the dark.
3. What tune (play) ________ when we (come) ________ in?
4. She was badly hurt when her car hit another car. If she (wear) ________ her seat belt, she (not
hurt) ________ so badly.
5. Coming into the room he (see) ________ Mary where he (leave) ________ her.
III. Give the correct form of the verbs to complete the passage. (10 points)
1. We go to the restaurant for ________ whenever we ‘re tired of eating meat. (vegetable)
2. Don’t worry. I ‘ll be waiting for you at the ________ to the pagoda . (enter)
3. The old theater of our city is being enlarged and ________. (modern)
4. Advertisements account for three fourths of the ________ of the newspaper. (come)
5. What is the ________ of the adjective “solid”. ( oppose)
6. ________ should complain if they are not satisfied with the service they receive.
(Consume)
7. If your work is ________ you won’t get a raise. (satisfy)
8. ________ are alarmed by the rate at which tropical rainforest are being destroyed.
(Conserve)
9. The athletes take part in the Olympic Games in the true spirit of ________. (sport)
10. You can never be sure what he is going to do. He is so ________. (predict)
IV. Arrange these sentences to make a complete passage (10 points).
a. As they built bigger and bigger ships, they were able to sail further and further away.
b. They don’t really mean that the world is getting smaller, of course.
c. They found that as they sailed further away from their home countries, the world became
bigger.
d. Then men began to use ships to explore the world.
e. Today there are no undiscovered countries left to put on the map, but there are many new
worlds to discover out in space.
f. But 2,300 years ago the Egyptians and the Greek thought that the world was very small and
flat that around it was the ocean.
g. We often hear people saying that the world is getting smaller.
h. So they had to make new maps to show the countries that they found.
i. And they discovered new countries that they didn’t know about.
j. What they mean is that with modern means of transport, we can now reach every part of
the world very quickly.
C. READING (30 points).
I. Read the passage below and choose the best answer for each question. (5 points)
People have been playing with marbles for thousands of years. The first marbles were probably
either river stones that happened to be naturally round enough to roll or, more likely, rounded
globs of clay that were baked hardness. Such very old clay marbles have been found in both Greek
and Roman ruins, and quartz spheres have been dated at around 6000 B.C. Harder and more
durable marbles tend to inspire different kinds of games than soft clay marbles, which crack very
easily. So with the advent of hand rounded and polished marbles made of agate or some other
rugged, igneous rock, the ‘golden age’ of marbles and marble play flowered. Stone marbles began to
appear in the early 1800s in what is now the southern part of Germany. Shortly after, handmade
glass marbles appeared in the same part of Europe. For the next 120 years, marbles and marble
playing-there were literally hundred of games - flourished in both Europe and America. Marble
players developed their own vocabulary for different sizes and materials of marbles, as well as for
the many kinds of games to be played and the way marbles were used in the games. For example, if
you were going to play a game of Ring-Taw, one of the most popular and enduring marbles games,
you would lag for the first shot, and then knuckle down from the baulk, trying your best to get a mib
or two with your opponent’s immie.
1. The author makes the point in the passage that playing with marbles __________.
A. has been going on since ancient times C. is losing popularity
B. is a relatively recent phenomenon D. is a very expensive pastime
2. According to the passage, which of the following was the least used substance for making
marbles?
A. agate B. glass C. rock D. clay
3. It can be inferred from the passage that the use of marbles became very popular in Europe and
America __________.
A. in the 18th century C. in 6000 B.C
B. in the 1970s D. after glass marbles were developed
4. We can infer from the passage that marble playing __________.
A. is a game only for children C. is played according to one set of rules
B. has many variations in games D. uses only one kind of marble
5. We can conclude from lines 11-12 of the passage that the terminology of marble playing is
__________.
A. specialized C. easy to understand
B. used only by children D. derived from an ancient language
II. Read the text and decide which answer (A, B, C or D) best fits each space. (15 points)
Look on the bright side
Do you ever wish you were more optimistic, some one who always (1) _______ to be successful?
Having some one around who always (2) _______ the worst isn’t really a lot of (3) _______ we all know
someone who sees a single cloud on a sunny day and says,b “It looks (4) _______ rain.” But if you
catch yourself thinking such things, it’s important to do something (5) _______ it. You can change
your view of life, (6) _______ to psychologists, it only takes a little effort, and you’ll find life more
rewarding as a (7) _______ . Optimism, they say, is partly about self-respect and confidence, but it’s
also a more positive way of looking at life and all it has to (8) _______ . Optimists are more (9) _______
to start new projects and generally more prepared to take risks.
Upbringing is obviously very important in forming your (10) _______ to the world. Some
people are brought up to (11) _______ too much on others and grow up forever blaming other
people when anything (12) _______ wrong. Most optimists, on the (13) _______ hand, have been
brought up not to (14) _______ failure as the end of the world-they just (15) _______ with their
lives.
1. A. counted B. expected C. felt D. waited
2. A. worries B. cares C. fears D. doubts
3. A. musement B. play C. enjoyment D. fun
4. A. so B. to C. for D. like
5. A. with B. against C. about D. over
6. A. judging B. according C. concerning D. following
7. A. result B. reason C. purpose D. product
8. A. supply B. suggest C. offer D. propose
9. A. possible B. likely C. hopeful D. welcome
10. A. opinion B. attitude C. view D. position
11. A. trust B. believe C. depend D. hope
12. A. goes B. falls C. comes D. turns
13. A. opposite B. next C. other D. far
14. A. regard B. respect C. suppose D. think
15. A. get up B. get on C. get out D. get over
eaten.
D. WRITING (20 points).
I. Rewrite the sentences in such a way that they mean almost the same as those printed
before them. (10 points)
1. My brother studies now harder than he used to.
My brother .............................................................................................................................
2. Please don’t ask me that question.
I’d rather ................................................................................................................................
3. I last saw Bob when I was in Ho Chi Minh City.
 I haven’t .................................................................................................................................
4. John only understood very little what the teacher said.
John could hardly ..................................................................................................................
5. Tom will be twenty next week.
It’s Tom’s ..............................................................................................................................
6. She is fond of her nephew although he behaves terribly.
She is fond of her nephew in .................................................................................................
7. He prefers reading books to watching TV.
He would ...............................................................................................................................
8. He didn’t hurry, so he missed the bus.
If ............................................................................................................................................
9. The train takes longer than the plane.
The plane ...............................................................................................................................
10. I don’t suppose you have change for 2 pounds, do you?
Do you happen .......................................................................................................................