Đề thi chính thức chuyên Anh vào 10 Sở Hà Nội năm 2026

It fries our heads when we use it. It drives us mad when others use it. And yet, no matter how much criticism is heaped on the mobile phone, nearly half of us cannot live without it.

Most people would no more talk to their neighbours on the train or bus than stick pins in their eyes. But once the mobile is pressed to their ears, they are off. In some, it engenders (OBLIVIOUS) 18.1 to the outside world as they pour forth banalities and intimacies to all around. "I'll be home at the usual time," drones the man who has never been home at an unusual time in his life. "Hello poochywoochywoo," utters another, as we bite our lips and hide behind our papers.

Most disconcerting are the health-conscious, (HAND) 18.2 crowd who appear to be talking to themselves like (LUNACY) 18.3 while the phone sits in their pockets, sparing their brain and microwaving another part of their anatomy.

There are few refuges left. Only remote countryside, tunnels and aero-planes offer any respite, but even these do not look secure for long. The London Underground is about to be wired for sound to ensure (INTERRUPTION) 18.4 twittering beneath the capital.

These, of course, are the problems with everyone else using mobile phones. As with children, we scowl at other people's but beam (FONDNESS) 18.5 at our own. Once we have grown to depend on our little brain-frazzlers, we wonder how we ever lived without them.

You could be forgiven for associating the Royal Opera House (ROH) more with the over-50s than with the under-15s. But if you did, then you might be surprised to learn that the ROH's education department reaches out every year to engage the young generation with opera. It is, however, safe to assume that opera can be an unfamiliar 26.1meanschannelwaymedium to most schoolchildren, and the first reaction 26.2encountereddevelopedprovidedprojected by the ROH in the classroom is often bemusement. "Children respond positively as long as you introduce them to opera in the right way," explains Paul Reeve, the ROH's director of education. "The older students can initially have an extreme negative reaction, but that 26.3refusaldisillusionmentresistanceindifference is a great challenge. We give those sceptical kids the opportunity to experience what it's like to be, say, a composer or a choreographer, and that shows them the skill that is 26.4requestedinvolvedincludedcontained in the art forms." One popular programme the ROH 26.5runs upcomes upsets upturns up annually is "Write an Opera" and this year children from 28 UK schools will perform their work on stage in July.

Scientists researching the genetic origin of the human race now think that, contrary to previous assumptions, the oldest traceable ancestor of modern human beings is likely to be a woman living in Tanzania or Ethiopia over 150,000 years ago. This is a 27.1 of new DNA evidence showing that East Africans appear to possess the oldest known DNA lineages, particularly among the Sandawe and Datog tribes of Tanzania. What leads researchers to identify these populations as ancient is the unusually high proportion of genetic diversity within the mitochondrial DNA of individual members of these groups. Mitochondrial DNA is inherited 27.2 the female line and accumulates variation with time. In this way, ancient populations accrue far more diversity than those engendered more recently.

According to the latest research, no other populations in Africa show this extent of variation and it appears to corroborate the theory that the cradle of human development lay in East Africa, something also 27.3 out not only by the archaeological evidence, but also apparently by 27.4 evidence.

It has long been believed that "click" languages are among the most ancient, with that of the Khoisan peoples of southern Africa being the oldest. Although DNA evidence certainly points to the Khoisan as one of the earliest population groups, it now appears that the Sandawe, also "click" speakers, precede them. This overturns previous assumptions based on archaeological evidence that it was the south which 27.5 rise to the first populations and implies a more north-eastern point of origin, which researchers hope to pinpoint in the near future.

Charlie Skultka frantically scanned the frozen shoreline, the dark fringes where the raging Pacific collides with the forest-covered Mount Edgcombe volcano. Waves pounded the razor-sharp lava reefs, offering no safe haven for him to scramble ashore. He was drifting in the icy waters for about six miles and was beginning to run out of island. "I was in the soup, bouncing around," he recalls.

28.1

"I was coming up to the last beach where I could make it ashore when I spotted my board in the same current," he says. This stroke of luck tipped the scales. Skultka swam for his life, grabbed his board and paddled ashore, exhausted. He then had to walk for three hours back through the isolated Alaskan wilderness to his camp; three hours through dense, freezing forest, thick with grizzlies and cougar where one false step can be your last.

28.2

There's a sharp reality to surviving in this cold environment that hits you like a slap across the face. Blizzards with fierce biting winds that chill you to the very bone are a regular occurrence. Sitting in a warm room, heating on, melting into the soft sofa, looking through the double glazing at the comfy white blanket outside is little preparation for the shocking, stinging realism of the climate and the ice-laden sea.

28.3

"The ice drifts in," he continues. "Then we get the slush ice, that's really interesting. To watch a wave move through that is incredible. We used to get up on the ice and, when a wave came, you could run off and dive in and catch the wave. Kind of like a little island out in the middle of the surf break. I used to have to sit in the bath for an hour afterwards to warm up - I was almost hypothermic."

28.4

"I wiped out once, in water temperature that was about freezing," says Lesley Choyce, a New Jersey-born cold-water surfer. "I got caught in one of these dead zones where the current was pulling me back out and this big wave was pounding me down, going under, coming back up."

28.5

Out of the water, the environment can be just as harsh. "Ice-covered boulders - where water freezes over the shore," says the Canadian surfer Lance Moore. "You're walking 20 minutes against the wind, and you slip, you slide, you drop your board; you almost want to cry. And of course you're tired, your body temp has dropped. And you don't realise it because you've got some adrenaline running through your body. I see people out in the water and I tell them, "You're shivering with cold, man, you should go in." That's the one thing I've really been trying to tell myself to do when it's minus four or five degrees. That's when you get sick. But we always stay out for that one more wave."

28.6

Being covered from head to toe in hi-tech insulating wetsuits does not separate these searchers from the effects of these glorious sights, just as it does not entirely guard them against the creeping fingers of the icy conditions. For high-altitude climbers, it is as much about the climb as the summit reached. So it is with cold-water surfers, as much about the pure embrace of these wild landscapes as the waves they ride.

The World Health Organisation has produced a report predicting that 9.8 billion of us will be living on this planet by 2050. Of that number, 72% will be living in urban areas, a higher proportion than ever before. Presented with this information, governments have a duty to consider how best to meet the needs of city residents, and not just for the short-term. Certain problems associated with urban living have been highlighted by research company Richmond-Carver in its latest global survey. At the top of the list of survey respondents' concerns is the fact that competition amongst tenants for rental properties has driven the median price up - so much so people need to hold down two or more jobs to meet all their expenses.

Another issue the survey highlighted is the difficulty commuters face. Overcrowding means that seats are often not available on long journeys, but more significant is that schedules are unreliable. Many studies have shown the effect that has on a country's productivity. Interestingly, certain problems seem more common in some cities than others: respondents from increasingly crowded European cities, including Manchester and Barcelona, commented on how their quality of life was affected by loud machinery, other people's music and car alarms. Something the survey failed to ask about was the value people placed on having access to nature in urban neighbourhoods. However, some countries are already moving forward. Singapore is a prime example; its rooftop gardens make the city a far more desirable place to live. It is the Singaporean government that is behind this push for sustainable living.

Perhaps some clearer government direction would benefit other cities. Take New York City, a place where I frequently meet up with other researchers in my field. Luckily for me, I am driven from the airport to the research centre, so do not need to navigate the freeways and constant congestion. Admittedly my experience of the urban lifestyle here is limited to the hotels I stay in, and the blocks within a three-kilometre walk. But whenever I leave my room in search of an outlet providing fruit or anything with nutritional value, none can be found. It seems ridiculous that this should be the case. New York has made great advances in redeveloping its museums and arts centres, but authorities must recognise that people's basic needs must be met first.

Sometimes these basic needs are misunderstood. In some urban areas, new residential developments are provided with security features such as massive metal fences and multiple gates in the belief that these will make residents safer. There is little evidence such steps make a difference in this way, but we do know they make residents feel reluctant to go outside and walk around their neighbourhood. Instead they are more likely to remain inactive indoors. Grassy areas inside fenced developments are hardly used by householders or tenants either. All this adds up to a feeling of being cut off from others.

So where are planners and developers going wrong? Inviting a group of locals to attend a consultation event is the conventional method for discovering what a community might want. The issue here is that it often attracts the same few voices with the same few wishes. But the internet now makes it possible for others to contribute. A community website can be a place where local people propose ideas for making their neighbourhood a better place to live. Developers that pay attention to these ideas can get a clearer picture of the things residents actually want and reduce the risk of throwing away money on things they don't.

An example of a project that truly meets the needs of residents is Container City a development in London's Docklands area. Constructed from metal containers once used to transport cargo on ships, it is a five-storey architectural masterpiece. The containers have been turned into sunny work studios, and despite their limited size, some come with a bed, shower and kitchen unit. Smart planning and skillful construction mean they take up very little room. Furniture and fittings are made from recycled products. Other countries have their own versions of Container City - Amsterdam and Copenhagen have created container dormitories to house students but the Docklands site shows how work and living areas can effectively be combined. The units are ideal for young entrepreneurs hoping to establish a business while keeping costs down.

Successful development is taking place in many urban areas around the world, and city planners have a duty to see for themselves the transforming effect this can have on residents' lives. There is no better way to do this than to visit these places in person. These might be neighbourhoods constructed for the first time, or developers might have transformed what was already there. In either case, the idea of cars determining urban planning, and indeed the whole concept of private car ownership, is now outdated and must be abandoned. Instead, the layout of an area under development must make it easier for people to meet up in pedestrianised zones and community spaces. At the heart of the development should be a cultural area, providing venues for art, music and street theatre. Such activities bring communities together, and do far more for positive relations than a new mall or shopping precinct. For this reason, these kinds of performance spaces should be prioritised. Finally, planners and developers must be obliged to create, within the same neighbourhood, different types of homes for wealthy professionals, for families, for the elderly and for young people just starting out. This kind of mix is essential to ensure people can buy a home in an area convenient for work, and for a community to stay alive.