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Thời gian60 phút
Số câu40 câu
Chấm điểmTự động
Thời gian Phần Đọc (Reading) 60:00
Trang chủ Phần Đọc (Reading) Phần Viết (Writing) Phần Nói (Speaking)

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Phần Đọc (Reading)

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Phần Đọc (Reading)

Thời gian: 60 phút | Số câu hỏi: 40

Directions: In this section of the test, you will read FOUR different passages, each followed by 10 questions about it. For questions 1-40, choose the best answer A, B, C or D.

PASSAGE 1 - Questions 1-10

Ever wondered what it feels like to have a different job? Here, four people with very different careers reveal the trade secrets of their working day. Luc My day typically starts with a business person going to the airport, and nearly always ends with a drunk. I don't mind drunk people. Sometimes I think they're the better version of themselves: more relaxed, happier, honest. Only once have I feared for my life. A guy ran out at a traffic light and so I sped up before his brother could run, too. He seemed embarrassed and made me drop him at a car park. When we arrived, the first guy was waiting with a boulder, which went through the windscreen, narrowly missing my head. But the worst people are the ones who call me "Driver!" Harry I not only provide appearance for my client, I also do damage control. We've had clients involved in lawsuits, divorces or drugs. One mistakenly took a gun to an airport. On the red carpet at the Academy Awards or the Golden Globes I'm the person making my client look good. The other day at an Oprah Winfrey event, the carpet wasn't put down properly and my clients almost went flying I had to catch them. They can make some strange requests, too. At a black-tie gala at the White House, two clients hated the dinner and insisted that we circle around Washington DC to find a KFC open at 1 a.m. I had to go in wearing a gown and order so they could eat it in the car. Jennifer I could teach you to do a basic brain operation in two weeks. But what takes time and experience is doing it without wrecking the brain of the patients - learning your limitations takes years. I ended up working as a pediatric neurosurgeon because children make better recoveries from brain damage than adults. So it's more rewarding in terms of outcome and I find their resilience really inspiring. It's taken me a decade to become comfortable discussing an operation with children, but they have to be able to ask questions. You have to show them respect. Sometimes their perspective is funny, most teenage girls just want to know how much hair you'll shave off. I don't get upset by my job. These children are dying when they come in and I do whatever I can to make them better. Solange When you become a judge after years of being a barrister and trying to make points that win cases, you have to remember that a huge part of what you do is listening to advocates, to witnesses, to defendants. Behind closed doors most judges, even very experienced ones, are much more anxious about their work than most people might think. We agonise over what we do and the decisions we have to make. It would be bizarre to say that as a judge, we learn to be less judgmental. But as you see the complex and difficult lives of the people who end up in front of you, you realise that your job is not so much to judge them as to ensure that everyone receives justice.

Question 1: In the first paragraph, what best paraphrases the sentence 'My day typically starts with a business person going to the airport, and nearly always ends with a drunk'?

Question 2: What does Harry probably do for a living?

Question 3: The word 'circle' in line 20 could be best replaced by ______.

Question 4: In line 25, what does Jennifer mean when she says, 'Learning your limitations takes years'?

It takes a person a long time to _______.

Question 5: The word 'their' in line 28 refers to ______.

Question 6: The word 'perspective' in line 31 is closest in meaning to ______.

Question 7: According to the passage, whose job involves in a large part listening to others?

Question 8: According to the passage, who is likely to meet different types of people every day?

Question 9: The word 'ones' in line 39 refers to ______.

Question 10: What is the purpose of this passage?

PASSAGE 2 - Questions 11-20

Spring is the season when newly minted college graduates flock to New York City to start their careers. They begin the search for their dream apartment, brokers say, with the same single-minded determination that earned them their degrees and landed them their jobs in the first place. But that determination only goes so far when it comes to Manhattan real estate. [A] "Almost every single person I've worked with thinks there's a golden nugget of an apartment waiting right for them," said Paul Hunt, an agent at Citi Habitats who specializes in rentals. "They all want to be in the Village, and they all want the 'Sex and the City' apartment." The first shock for a first-time renter will probably be the prices. Consider that the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom in the Village is more than $3,100 and that the average for a studio is over $2,200. Or that the average rent for a one-bedroom in a doorman building anywhere in Manhattan is close to $3,500. Mr. Hunt said that when he shows prospective renters what their budget really can buy, they are sometimes so appalled that "they think I'm trying to fool them or something, and they run away and I don't hear from them again." Alternatively, the renter checks his or her expectations and grudgingly decides to raise the price limit, or look in other neighborhoods or get a roommate. "When expectations are very high, the process can be very frustrating," Mr. Hunt said. The thousands of new graduates who will be driving the engine of the city's rental market from now until September will quickly learn that renting in New York is not like renting anywhere else. The second shock is likely to be how small a Manhattan apartment can be. It is not uncommon in New York, for example, to shop for a junior one-bedroom only to find out it is really a studio that already has or can have a wall put up to create a bedroom. To start with, landlords want only tenants who earn at least 40 times the monthly rent, which means an $80,000 annual salary for a $2,000 apartment. According to census data, more than 25,000 graduates aged 22 to 28 moved to the city in 2006, and their median salary was about $35,600. Those who don't make 40 times their monthly rent need a guarantor, usually a parent, who must make at least 80 times the monthly rent. In addition to a security deposit, some landlords also want the first and last month's rent. Tack on a broker's fee and a prospective renter for that $2,000 apartment is out of pocket nearly $10,000 just to get the keys to the place.

Question 11: Which of the following would be the best title for this article?

Question 12: On average, how much do tenants have to pay for a studio in New York City?

Question 13: Which of the following words can best replace the word 'prospective' in the passage?

Question 14: Which of the following is NOT listed by Mr. Hunt as a reaction of prospective renters when he informs them of the prices?

Question 15: According to Mr. Hunt, what would make the process of finding an apartment challenging?

Question 16: Which of the following would best describe the attitude of renters who decide to raise their price limit after being informed of the price?

Question 17: In which space (marked A, B, C and D in the original text, position [A] is shown above) will the following sentence fitừ

"Aside from the realities of price and space, the requirements set by New York landlords are also bound to help turn a bright-eyed first-time renter's outlook grim."

Question 18: Why did the writer mention the income of college graduates in 2006?

Question 19: What does the word 'Those' in paragraph 6 refer to?

Question 20: Which of the following sentences would best complete the last paragraph?

PASSAGE 3 - Questions 21-30

'Ladies and gentlemen', the captain's voice crackled over the plane's public address system. "If you look out of the window on the right side of the aircraft," he said, "you will have a clear view of Greenland. In my 15 years of flying, I have not seen a scene like this." I opened the window shade, and I understood what had so startled the pilot. Instead of the habitual snowy landscape and frozen glaciers, a wide swathe of black water was visible as it flowed into the Atlantic. It was late spring, but the giant icebox that is Greenland was already melting. The fleeting image that I saw from 30,000 feet in early May is consistent with massive amounts of climate data gathered from across the planet. It is now clear that on average, the global surface temperature has increased by about one degree Celsius since 1900 and has been the cause of extreme climate events across the planet. At times, warming climate combined with soot in the air thrown by wild fire has accelerated the melting. Warm weather is leading ice sheets to break up and turning glaciers into flowing streams. In May, NASA scientists concluded that the rapidly melting glacial region of Antarctica has passed "the point of no return", threatening to increase sea levels by as much as 13 feet within the next few centuries. The fact that the melting is taking place slowly and its effect may not be felt for a few decades seems to offer comfort to those who want to continue their lifestyle relying on fossil fuels. Unwilling to believe in global warming or make the sacrifices needed to face the challenge, politicians have been finding excuses to do nothing. [B] American President Barack Obama, not hobbled by the need to fight elections, has now broken ranks with such politicians. Unable to pass legislation in the face of Republican (and sometimes Democratic) opposition, he instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to announce regulatory policies to curb emissions from power plants in the United States by 30 per cent by 2030. He hopes that regulations would influence the US states to adopt aggressive market interventions to address global warming. Of course, execution of the policy still lies in the hands of many state governors who would find ways to resist, saying that regulations would raise the cost to the economy and cause unemployment among coal workers. As President Obama told Thomas Friedman of the New York Times: "One of the hardest things in politics is getting a democracy to deal with something now where the payoff is long term or the price of inaction is decades away." The price of inaction could be raised - if the coming global summit on climate in Paris could do what other summits have failed to do: agree on a fixed target for greenhouse gas emissions and a rigorous system for monitoring. China has hinted at capping coal burning in the next 15 years, adding weight in favour of action. [D] Meanwhile, melting in Greenland and the Antarctica will continue as the sun scorches the fields and rising water threatens the coastal areas.

Question 21: In paragraph 1, what does the pilot mean by saying, 'In my 15 years of flying, I have not seen a scene like this'?

Question 22: What is the author's purpose when recounting the scene he saw from the plane?

Question 23: What is 'offer comfort' in paragraph 3 closest in meaning to?

Question 24: What is the main idea of paragraph 3?

Question 25: Who does 'such politicians' in paragraph 4 refer to?

Question 26: In which space (Position [D] is marked in paragraph 5) will the following sentence fitừ

"India, the world's third largest user of coal, may have to take measures on its own or face isolation."

Question 27: According to paragraph 4, the author's attitude toward Obama's actions can be best described as ______.

Question 28: What can the word 'scorches' in the last paragraph be best replaced by?

Question 29: Which of the following best describes the tone of the author in this passage?

Question 30: Which of the following could best describe the message that the author wants to pass to readers?

PASSAGE 4 - Questions 31-40

The earliest evidence for life on Earth comes from fossilized mats of cyanobacteria called stromatolites in Australia that are about 3.4 billion years old. Ancient as their origins are, these bacteria, which are still around today, are already biologically complex-they have cell walls protecting their protein-producing DNA, so scientists think life must have begun much earlier, perhaps as early as 3.8 billion years ago. But despite knowing approximately when life first appeared on Earth, scientists are still far from answering how it appeared. Today, there are several competing theories for how life arose on Earth. Some question whether life began on Earth at all, asserting instead that it came from a distant world or the heart of a fallen comet or asteroid. Some even say life might have arisen here more than once. Most scientists agree that life went through a period when RNA was the head-honcho molecule, guiding life through its nascent stages. According to this "RNA World" hypothesis, RNA was the crux molecule for primitive life and only took a backseat when DNA and proteins-which perform their jobs much more efficiently than RNA-developed. RNA is very similar to DNA, and today carries out numerous important functions in each of our cells, including acting as a transitional-molecule between DNA and protein synthesis, and functioning as an on-and-off switch for some genes. But the RNA World hypothesis doesn't explain how RNA itself first arose. Like DNA, RNA is a complex molecule made of repeating units of thousands of smaller molecules called nucleotides that link together in very specific, patterned ways. While there are scientists who think RNA could have arisen spontaneously on early Earth, others say the odds of such a thing happening are astronomical. "The appearance of such a molecule, given the way chemistry functions, is incredibly improbable. It would be a once-in-a-universe long shot," said Robert Shapiro, a chemist at New York University. "To adopt this, you have to believe we were incredibly lucky." But "astronomical" is a relative term. In his book, The God Delusion, biologist Richard Dawkins entertains another possibility, inspired by work in astronomy and physics. Suppose, Dawkins says, the universe contains a billion planets, a conservative estimate, he says, then the chances that life will arise on one of them is not really so remarkable. Furthermore, if, as some physicists say, our universe is just one of many, and each universe contained a billion planets, then it's nearly a certainty that life will arise on at least one of them. Shapiro doesn't think it's necessary to invoke multiple universes or life-laden comets crashing into ancient Earth. Instead, he thinks life started with molecules that were smaller and less complex than RNA, which performed simple chemical reactions that eventually led to a self-sustaining system involving the formation of more complex molecules. "If you fall back to a simpler theory, the odds aren't astronomical anymore," Shapiro concluded.

Question 31: The word 'they' in paragraph 1 (line 4) refers to ______.

Question 32: According to the passage, what is RNA?

Question 33: The phrase 'took a backseat' in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to ______.

Question 34: According to the passage, what is NOT true about RNA?

Question 35: What does Robert Shapiro mean when he says, 'To adopt this, you have to believe we were incredibly lucky'?

Question 36: Which of the following statements would Dawkins most probably supportừ

Question 37: According to the passage, which is most likely supported by Robert Shapiro?

Question 38: Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a hypothesis of life origin?

Question 39: Which of following conclusions can be drawn from this passage?

Question 40: Which of the following best describes the organization of this passage?