Đề số 8 luyện thi chuyên Anh vào 10

1/8/2024 6:00:00 AM

Listen to the audio and do the tasks.

Why did the lecturer choose to focus on the Pleasanton Town Market?

It was the first ever Town Market.
It has been covered extensively in local history classes.
It is often mentioned in some literature of the library.

The Town Market originally made a large profit selling ______.

handcrafts
vegetables
animals

The money that the marketers made contributes to local _____.

reconstruction
development
defense

Market sales plummeted due to a lack of viable _____.

agriculture
transport
city planning

Mayor John C. Wiley decided the Clock tower would be used as a ______ in the early stages of the uprising.

clock
grounds for battle
jail

What is the main opinion of each of the following people?

Choose FIVE answers from the box and write the correct letter, A-G, next to questions 1-5.

	Opinions
A	lighting restrictions
B	alternative lighting
C	reduce the number of insects
D	decline in the number of species
E	climate changes
F	impacts on the growth of animals
G	impacts on water quality

Ken Simpson 6.1

Dave Kepler 6.2

Sharon Grey 6.3

Maria Jackson 6.4

Barbara Swallow 6.5

Choose the word which has the underlined part pronounced differently from the others.

cantaloupe
catastrophe
apostrophe
recipe

Choose the word which has the underlined part pronounced differently from the others.

collage
shortage
mortgage
breakage

Choose the word that differs from the rest in the position of the main stress.

understand
pesticide
minimize
evidence

Choose the word that differs from the rest in the position of the main stress.

embarrassment
predictable
disorganized
everlasting

I don't want to burden my daughter with my problems. She already has a lot _____.

up her sleeve
up her mind
in effect
on her plate

It's _____ whether Sam will be well enough to play in the championship on Sunday.

hanging by a thread
from left field
touch-and-go
out of bounds

Jessie can be really hard _____ she feels like she has given a poor performance.

on herself as
on herself when
at herself if
with oneself when

Capital punishment was done _____ in Britain nearly half a century ago.

out for
away with
off by
over from

Your store needs a bold sign that will catch the _____ of anyone walking down the street. That may help to sell more products.

eye
peek
glimpse
flash

We could always do the cooking for the party ourselves, but _____ it might be easier if we got a catering service to organize everything.

on second thoughts
in addition
on purpose
on our own

He cannot _____ ignorance as his excuse; he should have known what was happening in his own department.

insist
defend
refer
plead

Employees who have a ______ are encouraged to discuss it with the management.

hindrance
grievance
disadvantage
disturbance

When l finish writing this composition, I'm going to _____ and go to bed.

make time
hit the hay
hit the big time
call it a day

There's no point in telephoning him. He's certain _____ by now.

to leave
to have left
left
having left

The government has rightly been _____ its health policy.

taking to task
taken to task for
taking to the task of
taken for the task of

K-pop superstar Rose has joined U.S. first lady Jill Biden at a mental health event to talk about how even famous people _____ emotional struggles.

ward off
grapple with
patch up
blurt out

Many of the _____ paintings were robbed from the museum last night.

valueless
worthless
unvaluable
invaluable

_____ has resulted in what is known as deforestation.

That excessive logging of forests in the past century
It is excessive logging of forests in the past century that
That is excessive logging of forests in the past century
It is that excessive logging of forests in the past century

At the end of the training course, each participant was presented with a _____ of completion.

certificate
diploma
degree
qualification

Read the passage and choose the best answer for each question.

New Test Shows If You Are a Shopaholic

A new shopaholic test could tell if you should leave your credit card at home when heading out to the mall.

The test makes it clear that there's shopping and then there's over-the-top purchasing that can wreak havoc on a person's life. People who become preoccupied with buying stuff and repeatedly spend money on items, regardless of need, are commonly referred to as shopaholics. Scientists call it compulsive buying.

The new test was administered along with a survey that revealed that nearly 9 percent of a sample of 550 university staff members, mostly women, would be considered compulsive buyers. Past studies had put the incidence of compulsive buying somewhere between 2 percent and 8 percent 15 years ago, and more recently, at nearly 6 percent, the researchers say. Other research has found that men are just as addicted to shopping as women.

"We are living in a consumption-oriented society and have been spending ourselves into serious difficulty," researcher Kent Monroe, a marketing professor at the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign, told LiveScience. "Compulsive buying is an addiction that can be harmful to the individual, families, relationships. It is not just something that only afflicts low-income people."

Monroe and his colleagues found that compulsive buying was linked to materialism, reduced self-esteem, depression, anxiety and stress. Compulsive shoppers had positive feelings associated with buying, and they also tended to hide purchases, return items, have more family arguments about purchases and have more maxed-out credit cards.

Previous tests for identifying problem buyers are lacking because they depend in large part on the consequences of shopping, such as financial difficulties and family strain over money matters, the researchers note. But for compulsive shoppers with higher income, money matters could be non-existent.

A dwindling bank account is just one of the upshots of shopping 'til you drop. Others include family conflicts, stress, depression and loss of self-esteem. The shopaholic test is just part of the answer.

"There needs to be more research not only identifying people who have a tendency to buy compulsively, but also on developing education and self-help programs for people who are buying things they do not need or use," Monroe said. "It can lead to a waste of resources and to deterioration in families and relationships."

What is the main idea of the article?

Our consumer society produces compulsive buyers, and the results can be devastating.
Many people overspend when they want to compensate for depression and stress.
More and more higher income people are becoming shopaholics.
Compulsive shopping is being recognized and studied by more and more researchers.

Which of the following best explains the meaning of the word "compulsive"?

caused by a secret wish
resulting from an irresistible urge
relating to a psychological pain
driven by an emotional loss

Which of the following statements does NOT describe a compulsive buyer?

My closet has unopened shopping bags in it.
Much of my life centres around buying things.
I buy things I did not plan to buy.
I buy things I need but they are more expensive than necessary.

Which of the following is reportedly the deep cause of compulsive buying behavior?

need to seek pleasure or reduce feelings of stress
irresistibly strong temptation when going shopping
inability to control shopping and spending habits
financial difficulties and family strain over money matters

What is the key point of paragraph 4?

Compulsive spending is a growing trend among richer people.
There is an income difference between appropriate buyers and compulsive buyers.
Compulsive buying reflects our consumer culture with many negative consequences.
People ought to shop less if they want to prevent its harmful effects.

Which of the following best describes the meaning of the phrase "shopping 'til you drop"?

an exhaustive shopping list
a shrinking bank account
a pleasant shopping experience
an excessive buying phenomenon

Which of the following describes a serious flaw of a test designed to identify problem buyers by focusing only on financial difficulties and family strain over money matters?

It overlooks compulsive shoppers with low income.
It makes no contribution to our understanding of shopaholicism.
It fails to identify compulsive shoppers with high income.
It blames high-income shopaholics for their problem.

Future research can help compulsive buyers by providing information on _____

the way family relationships can be repaired and rebuilt.
how to recognize and break the addiction.
the amount of money they overspend on luxurious stuff.
when a positive activity becomes a negative one.

Read the following passage and complete the tasks.

DEPRESSION

A. It is often more difficult for outsiders and non-sufferers to understand mental rather than physical illness in others. While it may be easy for us to sympathise with individuals living with the burden of a physical illness or disability, there is often a stigma attached to being mentally ill, or a belief that such conditions only exist in individuals who lack the strength of character to cope with the real world. The pressures of modern life seem to have resulted in an increase in cases of emotional disharmony and government initiatives in many countries have, of late, focussed on increasing the general public’s awareness and sympathy towards sufferers of mental illness and related conditions.

B. Clinical depression, or ‘major depressive disorder’, a state of extreme sadness or despair, is said to affect up to almost 20% of the population at some point in their lives prior to the age of 40. Studies have shown that this disorder is the leading cause of disability in North America; in the UK almost 3 million people are said to be diagnosed with some form of depression at any one time, and experts believe that as many as a further 9 million other cases may go undiagnosed. World Health Organisation projections indicate that clinical depression may become the second most significant cause of disability’ on a global scale by 2020. However, such figures are not unanimously supported, as some experts believe that the diagnostic criteria used to identify՛ the condition are not precise enough, leading to other types of depression being wrongly classified as ‘clinical’.

C. Many of us may experience periods of low morale or mood and feelings of dejection, as a natural human response to negative events in our lives such as bereavement, redundancy or breakdown of a relationship. Some of us may even experience periods of depression and low levels of motivation which have no tangible reason or trigger. Clinical depression is classified as an on-going state of negativity, with no tangible cause, where sufferers enter a spiral of persistent negative thinking, often experiencing irritability, perpetual tiredness and listlessness. Sufferers of clinical depression are said to be at higher risk of resorting to drug abuse or even suicide attempts than the rest of the population.

D. Clinical depression is generally diagnosed when an individual is observed to exhibit an excessively depressed mood and/or ‘anhedonia’ – an inability to experience pleasure from positive experiences such as enjoying a meal or pleasurable social interaction – for a period of two weeks or more, in conjunction with five or more additional recognised symptoms. These additional symptoms may include overwhelming feelings of sadness; inability to sleep, or conversely, excessive sleeping; feelings of guilt, nervousness, abandonment or fear; inability to concentrate; interference with memory capabilities; fixation with death or extreme change in eating habits and associated weight gain or loss.

E. Clinical depression was originally solely attributed to chemical imbalance in the brain, and while anti-depressant drugs which work to optimise levels of ‘feel good’ chemicals – serotonin and norepinephrine – are still commonly prescribed today, experts now believe that onset of depression may be caused by a number, and often combination of, physiological and socio-psychological factors. Treatment approaches vary quite dramatically from place to place and are often tailored to an individual’s particular situation; however, some variation of a combination of medication and psychotherapy is most commonly used. The more controversial electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) may also be used where initial approaches fail. In extreme cases, where an individual exhibits behaviour which Indicates that they may cause physical harm to themselves, psychiatric hospitalisation may be necessary as a form of intensive therapy.

F. Some recent studies, such as those published by the Archives of General Psychiatry, hold that around a quarter of diagnosed clinical depression cases should actually be considered as significant but none-the-less ordinary sadness and maladjustment to coping with trials in life, indicating that in such cases, psychotherapy rather than treatment through medication is required. Recovery as a result of psychotherapy tends, in most cases, to be a slower process than improvements related to medication; however, improvements as a result of psychological treatment, once achieved, have been observed in some individuals to be more long term and sustainable than those attained through prescription drugs. Various counselling approaches exist, though all focus on enhancing the subject’s ability to function on a personal and interpersonal level. Sessions involve encouragement of an individual to view themselves and their relationships in a more positive manner, with the intention of helping patients to replace negative thoughts with a more positive outlook.

G. It is apparent that susceptibility to depression can run in families. However, it remains unclear as to whether this is truly an inherited genetic trait or whether biological and environmental factors common to family members may be at the root of the problem. In some cases, sufferers of depression may need to unlearn certain behaviours and attitudes they have established in life and develop new coping strategies designed to help them deal with problems they may encounter, undoing patterns of destructive behaviour they may have observed in their role models and acquired for themselves.

The passage has seven sections A-G.

Which section contains the following information?

Details of treatment alternatives for worst case scenario depression. 34.1

Information regarding cases where drug treatment is inappropriate. 34.2

Details of how those diagnosed with depression may be more vulnerable than other members of society. 34.3

Information about society’s attitudes to depression and similar illnesses. 34.4

Information regarding why estimates of incidence of future growth in cases may be overly exaggerated. 34.5

Which THREE of the following statements are true of depression?

Governments have generally failed to take action to educate the general public about the condition.
The highest reported number of cases are in the USA.
In Britain, it is likely that there are more individuals who live with the condition without the help of a doctor than those being officially treated.
Clinical depression may be triggered by divorce.
Lethargy may be one of the symptoms of depression.
Prescribed pharmaceuticals have radically changed over recent years.
Approaches to treating depression are not universal.

Give the correct form of the words in brackets to complete the passage.

On the outskirts of Vietnam's capital, well removed from the tourist trail, is Dong Ngac, a 1,000-year-old 'village of scholars' that has barely changed for centuries.

Despite being tiny - the village is less than one square meter in size and home to 1,000 or so people, Dong Ngac has birthed an unusually large number of academic high (ACHIEVE) 36.1 including dozens of doctors of literature. These include Pham Gia Khiem, Vietnam's deputy prime minister from 1997 to 2011, and Hoang Tang Bi, a (REVERENCE) 36.2 writer and social activist in the early 1900s.

To this day, families here compete fiercely against each other to rear the most (STAND) 36.3 pupils. So valued is Dong Ngac for producing influential scholars that it has been presented with dozens of royal awards, dating as far back as Vietnam's Le Dynasty period (1428-1788).

The village's (LITERATURE) 36.4 tradition is even celebrated via its architecture. (SYMBOLIZE) 36.5 of books are carved into the old gates that sit at each end of its four hamlets. (SCATTER) 36.6 throughout these hamlets are almost 100 homes, the oldest of which date back to the early 1600s. The complexity of their stonemasonry and woodwork (CAPTIVATING) 36.7 as one walks through its nest of narrow lanes, being greeted by smiles and waves from residents, who share treats like (PIPE) 36.8 hot lotus tea and Banh Gio rice dumplings, two of local specialties.

Read the following passage and choose the best answer for each blank.

Why is it that parents are so often egocentric when it comes to matters concerning their children? Although their 37.1 are undoubtedly altruistic, they assume that the choices they make for their offspring are the right ones. Take the theme of colour, for example. Who decides what colour of trousers to buy for young Jimmy? Who chooses the colours for his bedroom or bedclothes? 37.2 parents condition their child's perception of colour from a very early age. Choosing a pair of pink trousers for their six-year-old son runs counter to most parents' idea of how to dress a boy, and they would be 37.3 to decorate their daughter's bedroom in brown. In a similar way, a small child seen drawing a red tree may be quietly told that trees should be green. Yet the underlying criticism 37.4 in that can be detrimental to the child's 37.5 of the world around them.

Psychologists believe that allowing children to choose their own colours increases their self-confidence and their ability to express themselves. They use colour as a(n) 37.6 of helping children to identify their feelings and discuss them. For instance, studies have shown that after listening to a sad story, children tend to draw in dark brown, black or grey, whereas one with a happy ending will 37.7 a response in yellow or orange. So, a mother should be delighted to see her four-year-old drawing an orange tree or a yellow house, and perhaps be concerned if the child only uses grey. 37.8 children free rein to choose colours for themselves may help parents to understand them better.

Fill each of the following blanks with ONE suitable word.

NOTHING'S NEW IN MEDICINE

Throughout the ages, disease has stalked our species. Prehistoric humans must quickly have learnt 38.1 could be eaten without danger, and how to avoid plants that could 38.2 about illness. They found leaves, berries and the bark of different trees that could actually heal wounds and cure the sick, and 38.3 soon became a special skill to understand natural medicine.

Ever 38.4 the dawn of history, medicine men and wise women have always been expert in treating diseases and have dispensed medicine with ritual and magic. By trial and error they discovered treatments for almost 38.5 affliction prevalent at the time. The precious recipes for preparations which could relieve pain, stop fits, sedate or stimulate were (38.6 down from generation to generation, although there was 38.7 exact understanding of the way in which the medicines worked. Nevertheless, 38.8 the power of these primitive medicines, generations were still ravaged by disease.

Over the last 150 years, scientists and doctors, 38.9 work has focused on these early medicines, have learnt that their power derived from certain chemicals which were found in herbal remedies or could be synthesised in the laboratory. In just 38.10 a way, advances in modern medicine continue, aided by the discoveries made centuries ago by our ancestors.