Đề thi vào lớp 10 môn Anh Chuyên - Sở GD&ĐT Vĩnh Phúc năm 2025

Listen to the conversation and complete the notes below. Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.

Opportunities for voluntary work in Southoe village

Library

• Help with 1.1 books (times to be arranged).
• Help needed to keep 1.2 of books up to date.
• Library is in the 1.3 Room in the village hall.

Lunch club

• Help by providing 1.4
• Help with hobbies such as 1.5

Help for individuals needed next week

• Take Mrs. Carroll to 1.6
• Work in the 1.7 at Mr. Selsbury's house.

Listen to the conversation and complete the table below. Write ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

1. 2.1

2. 2.2

3. 2.3

Listen to the talk about planning a presentation on nanotechnology. Choose the correct answer.

You are going to hear a part of the lecture about a Fossil Park. Fill in the gap with NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each.

Study of fossil park

Types of fossils:

• transitional fossils: rare, show evidence of evolutionary change
• 8.1 fossils: more common, actual fossilised remains
• 8.2 fossils: indirect evidence of animal, such as footprints or tunnels

Fossilisation processes:

Organism trapped in volcanic ash

Petrifaction

• An animal is 8.3 in the mud after death.
• Mud dries and hardens.
• 8.4 replace the bones leaving a stone shape.

Purchasing fossils:

• Site: shop outside the park or from the park's 8.5
• Prices: generally 8.6

The new school complex cost _____ the city council had budgeted for.

Beneath the streets of a modern city _____ of walls, columns, cables, pines, and tunnels required to satisfy the needs of its inhabitants.

Widely considered a literary masterpiece, _____.

That book is by a famous anthropologist. It's about the people in Samoa _____ for two years.

We took CDs with us to our gatherings. Actually, we _____ that, for there was no CD player to play them on.

_____ as taste is really a composite sense made up of both taste and smell.

I'm in a bit of a _____ as to what to wear to the wedding.

The other teams were so good that we obviously didn't _____ any chance of winning the match.

Thieves got away with a _____ of jewelry worth thousands of pounds.

Peter: That speech was quite compelling.

Helen: _____. It struck all the right chords with the audience.

Lan: Do you think that the teacher would let us leave early to watch the football match?

Minh: _____.

Complete the sentence by changing the form of the word in capitals.

The of the education system in Finland is famous all over Europe. (EFFICIENT)

Complete the sentence by changing the form of the word in capitals.

Bullying among school children can cause of school, which can impact their academic development. (HATE)

Complete the sentence by changing the form of the word in capitals.

Her contribution to the overall success of the project was important. (MEASURE)

Complete the sentence by changing the form of the word in capitals.

He won the discus event at the Olympic Games but was later when a medical check proved that he had been taking drugs. (QUALIFY)

Complete the sentence by changing the form of the word in capitals.

The teacher was careful not to show to any one student because this may cause discontentment among students. (FAVOR)

Complete the sentence by changing the form of the word in capitals.

The account of his trips is rather repetitive and uninspired, only by his humorous dealing with locals who could not speak English. (LIVE)

Complete the sentence by changing the form of the word in capitals.

Improved safety measures in cars can be as they encourage people to drive faster. (PRODUCE)

Complete the sentence by changing the form of the word in capitals.

The manager was to the employees' concerns about long working hours, insisting that deadlines came first. (SYMPATHY)

Complete the sentence by changing the form of the word in capitals.

Her documentary highlighted the deep-rooted that still affect women in rural areas. (EQUAL)

Complete the sentence by changing the form of the word in capitals.

The professor was praised for her approach, encouraging students to challenge conventional theories. (INNOVATE)

Choose the underlined part that needs correction.

A considerable amount of time and effort have gone into this exhibition.

Choose the underlined part that needs correction.

These mental exercises are designed to break linear thinking habits and encourage the creativity needing for innovation.

Choose the underlined part that needs correction.

Everyone would go into the hall for a meeting and afterwards we'd go to our respectful classes.

Choose the underlined part that needs correction.

Her suite of rooms was cool and restless and there was a small balcony beyond the bedroom window.

Choose the underlined part that needs correction.

When a child becomes a teenager, he encounters many experiences which are new for him to handle independently and on his own. Children of this age are often highly suggested.

Choose the underlined part that needs correction.

Because there are less members present tonight than there were last night, we will wait until the next meeting to vote.

Choose the underlined part that needs correction.

Trademarks enable a company to distinguish its products from this of another company.

Choose the underlined part that needs correction.

Had Lam read unit 7 before his class, he wouldn't have felt unruffled when being asked questions by his English teacher now.

Choose the underlined part that needs correction.

The privacy issue has been raised most insistently with respect to the creation and maintenance of data files that resemble information about persons from a multitude of sources.

Choose the underlined part that needs correction.

By rejecting sociable norms and focusing on self-care and healing, new moms can better manage their mental health and overall well-being.

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

It is not easy to have a rational discussion with people about the nature of their language. They feel that the language belongs to them, and they are therefore entitled to hold 49.1blowhungcuthigh and dried opinions about it. And when opinions differ, emotions can run high. Arguments can as easily stem from minor points of usage 49.2likesuchsoas from major educational policies. In English, the origin of many popular misconceptions 49.3sitsstandsliesstays in the work of the linguists of the eighteenth century who first attempted to codify English grammar. Unfortunately, they worked on the 49.4lawstipulationpremisebasis that English grammar is derived from Latin grammar and that the rules of the latter necessarily 49.5determineverifydiscoverascertain the former. It was this fundamental misunderstanding that resulted in the absurd but time-honoured ‘never-end-a-sentence-with-a-preposition’ type of rules that many people still 49.6clingingclungclingto cling to. These days, many people complain that the internet is the source of much unforgivable distortion of English, and 49.7whichthatwhenwhether the ease and speed of email communication engenders a lazy approach to writing. This is probably a short-sighted view. Perhaps we should be more broad-minded and view such changes as potential enrichment 49.8but forother thanrather thanas for corruption of the language. Perhaps those who argue it is only the latter are guilty of a stick-in-the-mud mentality which is often not 49.9accustomedsupposedconfinedrelated to their own language. The American linguist Leonard Bloomfield tells the story of a doctor who was quite firm in his view that the Amerindian language Chippewa had only a few hundred words. When Bloomfield attempted to dispute the point, the doctor had no thoughts of backing 49.10upawaydownin. He simply turned away and refused to listen.

Fill in each blank with ONE best word.

The global bottled water industry is estimated to be 50.1 between 75 and 100 billion dollars annually. In a recent survey, people who drank bottled water were twice as likely as 50.2 who didn't to cite health reasons for their choice. 50.3 to genius marketing over the last three decades, it's a common misconception that bottled water is healthier, safer and purer than tap water.

However, nothing could be further from the truth. Studies have shown that plastic bottles release small amounts of harmful chemicals over time, especially when 50.4 to sunlight. Among these chemicals is antimony, a toxin similar to lead, which causes nausea, dizziness and depression in small doses. In large doses, it can 50.5 be fatal.

But many people who purchase bottled water claim they 50.6 so purely for reasons of taste. But it's all in their mind. Taste test has revealed that people just can't 50.7 the difference between bottled and tap water. What's 50.8, bottled water is often not that much better than tap water. Up to 40% of all bottled water comes from urban water supplies 50.9 the 'springs', 'glaciers' or 'pristine wildernesses' depicted on their labels. So, while there indeed are times and places for drinking bottled water - in developing countries, for example, where water supplies are risky - you're much better 50.10 drinking tap water.

Read the following passage and choose the correct answer to each of the questions.

Anthropology distinguishes itself from the other social sciences by its greater emphasis on fieldwork as the source of new knowledge. The aim of such studies is to develop as intimate an understanding as possible of the phenomena investigated. Although the length of field studies varies from a few weeks to years, it is generally agreed that anthropologists should stay in the field long enough for their presence to be considered "natural" by the permanent residents.

Realistically, however, anthropologists may never reach this status. Their foreign mannerisms make them appear clownish, and so they are treated with curiosity and amusement. If they speak the local language at all, they do so with a strange accent and flawed grammar. They ask tactless questions and inadvertently break rules regarding how things are usually done. Arguably this could be an interesting starting point for research, though it is rarely exploited. Otherwise, anthropologists take on the role of the "superior expert", in which case they are treated with deference and respect, only coming into contact with the most high-ranking members of the society. Anthropologists with this role may never witness the gamut of practices which take place in all levels of the society.

No matter which role one takes on, anthropologists generally find fieldwork extremely demanding. Anthropological texts may read like an exciting journey of exploration, but rarely is this so. Long periods of time spent in the field are generally characterised by boredom, illness and frustration. Anthropologists in the field encounter unfamiliar climates, strange food and low standards of hygiene. It is often particularly trying for researchers with middle-class, European backgrounds to adapt to societies where being alone is considered pitiful. It takes a dedicated individual to conduct research which is not in some way influenced by these personal discomforts.

Nonetheless, fieldwork requires the researcher to spend as much time as possible in local life. A range of research methodologies can be utilised to extract information. These can be classified as emic or etic. A native's point of view of his own lifestyle is emic, while the analytical perspective of the outsider is etic. While emic descriptions are considered more desirable nowadays, they are difficult to attain, even if the researcher does his utmost to reproduce the facts from the natives' point of view. More often than not, aspects of the researcher's own culture, perspective and literary style seep into the narrative. Moreover, research generally involves translations from one language to another and from speech into writing. In doing this, the meaning of utterances is changed. The only truly emic descriptions can be those given by the natives themselves in their own vernacular.

The least invasive type of research methodology is observation. Here, the researcher studies the group and records findings without intruding too much on their privacy. This is not to say, however, that the presence of the researcher will have minimal impact on the findings. An example was Richard Borshay Lee, who, in studying local groups in the Kalahari refused to provide the people with food so as not to taint his research, leading to an inevitable hostility towards the researcher which would not otherwise have been present.

A variant on the observation technique, participant observation requires that the anthropologist not only observes the culture, but participates in it too. It allows for deeper immersion into the culture studied, hence a deeper understanding of it. By developing a deeper rapport with the people under observation, it is hoped they will open up and divulge more about their culture and way of life than can simply be observed. Participant observation is still artificial to some extent, however, since people may adjust their behaviour around the researcher, knowing that they are the subject of research.

The participatory approach was conceived in an attempt to produce as emic a perspective as possible. The process involves not just the gathering of information from local people, but involves them in the interpretation of the findings. That is, rather than the researcher getting actively involved in the processes within the local community, the process is turned on its head. The local community is actively involved in the research process.

What does the word "gamut" in paragraph 2 mean?

What does the word "this" in paragraph 4 refer to?

Read the passage and do the tasks that follow.

HOW SHOULD READING BE TAUGHT?

By Keith Rayner & Barbara R. Foorman

A. Learning to speak is automatic for almost all children, but learning to read requires elaborate instruction and conscious effort. Well aware of the difficulties, educators have given a great deal of thought to how they can best help children learn to read. No single method has triumphed. Indeed, heated arguments about the most appropriate form of reading instruction continue to polarize the teaching community.

B. Three general approaches have been tried. In one, called whole-word instruction, children learn by rote how to recognize at a glance a vocabulary of 50 to 100 words. Then they gradually acquire other words, often through seeing them used over and over again in the context of a story. Speakers of most languages learn the relationship between letters and the sounds associated with them (phonemes). That is, children are taught how to use their knowledge of the alphabet to sound out words. This procedure constitutes a second approach to teaching reading – phonics. Many schools have adopted a different approach: the whole-language method. The strategy here relies on the child’s experience with the language. For example, students are offered engaging books and are encouraged to guess the words that they do not know by considering the context of the sentence or by looking for clues in the storyline and illustrations, rather than trying to sound them out. Many teachers adopted the whole-language approach because of its intuitive appeal. Making reading fun promises to keep children motivated, and learning to read depends more on what the student does than on what the teacher does. The presumed benefits of whole-language instruction – and the contrast to the perceived dullness of phonics – led to its growing acceptance across American during the 1990s and a movement away from phonics.

C. However, many linguists and psychologists objected strongly to the abandonment of phonics in American schools. Why was this so? In short, because research had clearly demonstrated that understanding how letters related to the component sounds in words is critically important in reading. This conclusion rests, in part, on knowledge of how experienced readers make sense of words on a page. Advocates of whole-language instruction have argued forcefully that people often derive meanings directly from print without ever determining the sound of the word. Some psychologists today accept this view, but most believe that reading is typically a process of rapidly sounding out words mentally. Compelling evidence for this comes from experiments which show that subjects often confuse homophones (words that sound the same, such as rose and ‘rows’). This supports the idea that readers convert strings of letters to sounds.

D. In order to evaluate different approaches to teaching reading, a number of experiments have been carried out, firstly with college students, then with school pupils. Investigators trained English-speaking college students to read using unfamiliar symbols such as Arabic letters (the phonics approach), while another group learned entire words associated with certain strings of Arabic letters (whole-word). Then both groups were required to read a new set of words constructed from the original characters. In general, readers who were taught the rules of phonics could read many more new words than those trained with a whole-word procedure. Classroom studies comparing phonics with either whole-word or whole-language instruction are also quite illuminating. One particularly persuasive study compared two programs used in 20 first-grade classrooms. Half the students were offered traditional reading instruction, which included the use of phonics drills and applications. The other half were taught using an individualized method that drew from their experiences with languages; these children produce their own booklets of stories and developed sets of words to be recognized (common components of the whole-language approach). This study found that the first group scored higher at year’s end on tests of reading and comprehension.

E. If researchers are so convinced about the need for phonics instruction, why does the debate continue? Because the controversy is enmeshed in the philosophical differences between traditional and progressive (or new) approaches, differences that have divided educators for years. The progressive challenge the results of laboratory tests and classroom studies on the basis of a broad philosophical skepticism about the values of such research. They champion student-centered learned and teacher empowerment. Sadly, they fail to realize that these very admirable educational values are equally consistent with the teaching of phonics.

F. If schools of education insisted that would-be reading teachers learned something about the vast research in linguistics and psychology that bears on reading, their graduates would be more eager to use phonics and would be prepared to do so effectively. They could allow their pupils to apply the principles of phonics while reading literature. Using whole-language activities to supplement phonics instruction certainly helps to make reading fun and meaningful for children, so no one would want to see such tools discarded. Indeed, recent work has indicated that the combination of literature-based instruction and phonics is more powerful than either method used alone. Teachers need to strike a balance. But in doing so, we urge them to remember that reading must be grounded in a firm understanding of the connections between letters and sounds. Educators who deny this reality are neglecting decades of research. They are also neglecting the needs of their students.

The passage has six sections, A - F. Choose the correct heading for sections B - F from the list of headings below.

Example: Section A: ix 

Section B: 61.1

Section C: 61.2

Section D: 61.3

Section E: 61.4

Section F: 61.5

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage? Write:

The whole-language approach relates letters to sounds.

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage? Write:

Many educators believe the whole-language approach to be the most interesting way to teach children to read.

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage? Write:

Research supports the theory that we read without linking words to sounds.

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage? Write:

Research has shown that the whole-word approach is less effective than the whole-language approach.

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage? Write:

Research has shown that phonics is more successful than both the whole-word and whole-language approaches.

Complete the second sentence, using the word given so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence. Do NOT change the word given in brackets in any way.

There is nothing strange about this. (OUT)

=> There is nothing about this.

Complete the second sentence, using the word given so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence. Do NOT change the word given in brackets in any way.

I said nothing because I was afraid of offending her. (FEAR)

=> I remained silent offence.

Complete the second sentence, using the word given so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence. Do NOT change the word given in brackets in any way.

If we take everything into account, the street party was a great success in the end. (CONSIDERED)

=> All out to be a great success in the end.

Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.

Noise is something that is not possible for me to tolerate. (PUT)

=> I find ..........

Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has the same meaning to the first.

Carol has trouble communicating her ideas to others. (ACROSS)

=> It is ..........

Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.

Success in the academic field depends on your ability to amass qualifications.

=> The more qualifications ..........

Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.

When he arrived at the airport, his family welcomed him warmly.

=> On .......... his family.  

Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.

Martin may not be very well but he still manages to enjoy life.

=> Martin's ..........

Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.

I'm very much looking forward to seeing my great grandson for the first time.

=> What ..........

Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning to the first.

Her success went beyond her expectation.

=> Never had ..........

In certain nations, parents have high academic expectations for their children, resulting in limited leisure time. What could be the potential benefits and drawbacks of this for the children and the society they are part of?

Write an essay of at least 250 words. Use reasons and examples to support your opinion.