Read the following passage and mark the letter A,  B,  C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.

For a time, the Hubble telescope was the brunt of jokes and subject to the wrath of those who believed the U.S. government had spent too much money on space projects that served no valid purpose. The Hubble was sent into orbit with a satellite by the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1990 amid huge hype and expectation. Yet after it was in position, it simply did not work, because the primary mirror was misshapen. It was not until 1993 that the crew of the Shuttle Endeavor arrived like roadside mechanics, opened the hatch that was installed for the purpose, and replaced the defective mirror with a good one.

Suddenly, all that had originally been expected came true. The Hubble telescope was indeed the “window on the universe,” as it had originally been dubbed. When you look deep into space, you are actually looking back through time, because even though light travels at 186,000 miles a second, it requires time to get from one place to another. In fact, it is said that in some cases, the Hubble telescope is looking back eleven billion years to see galaxies already forming. The distant galaxies are speeding away from Earth, some traveling at the speed of light.

Hubble has viewed exploding stars such as the Eta Carinae, which clearly displayed clouds of gas and dust billowing outward from its poles at 1.5 million miles an hour. Prior to Hubble, it was visible from traditional telescopes on earth, but its details were not ascertainable. But now, the evidence of the explosion is obvious. The star still burns five million times brighter than the sun and illuminates clouds from the inside.

Hubble has also provided a close look at black holes, which are described as cosmic drains. Gas and dust swirl around the drain and are slowly sucked in by the incredible gravity. It has also looked into an area that looked empty to the naked eye and, within a region the size of a grain of sand, located layer upon layer of galaxies, with each galaxy consisting of billions of stars.

          The Hubble telescope was named after Edwin Hubble, a 1920s astronomer who developed a formula that expresses the proportional relationship of distances between clusters of galaxies and the speeds at which they travel. Astronomers use stars known as Cepheid variables to measure distances in space. These stars dim and brighten from time to time, and they are photographed over time and charted. All the discoveries made by Hubble have allowed astronomers to learn more about the formation of early galaxies.

The word billowing in the third paragraph is closest in meaning to __________ .

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to show the underline part that needs correction in each of the following questions.

The tour of the palace included a visit to the old kitchen where they were baking bread and the huge underground wine cellar which was containing thousands of bottles and felt like a prisoner.

Email and instant messaging services have _________ global communication.

I got a huge surprise last week. My cousin from Australia arrived on my doorstep, completely________ . He was the last person in the world I expect to see.

The higher you climb, __________ you have to fall.

- “Are you thinking of flying business class?” - “__________”

Mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word of phrase that is CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined part in each of the following questions.

He said that his father had cut down on the number of print newspapers and magazines.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C , or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.

        These days it is easy for most of us to get a hold of the latest books or magazines. We can go to bookstores, order them through the Internet, or borrow them from the local libraries. Now imagine having to walk miles and miles through a hot sandy desert just to borrow a book. This is the reality for people living in the villages of the Carissa region of Kenya in East Africa.

        In 1996, librarian Wycliffe Oluoch used to spend each day waiting for people to come to borrow some of the 24,000 books in his library in Carissa. The library had no shortage of books, but people weren’t coming to read them. It was too much effort to walk through the desert just to borrow books. Oluoch racked his brain for ways to entice people into the library. After a lot of thought, he hit upon a great idea. If people wouldn’t come to the library, then he would have to take the library to them. Oluoch strapped boxes of books onto the backs of camels, and created the Mobile Camel Library.

        Starting with three camels in 1996, but more recently expanding the service to six camels, the Mobile Camel Library serves over one million people. Twice a month, the camel library can be seen carrying books all around the Carissa region. These hard-working animals need little water and can carry up to 500 pounds of books across the sands. A librarian, a library assistant, a herdsman, and a lookout all travel with the camels. The lookout helps protect the books from thieves.

        The children of Carissa love the camel library and appreciate Oluoch’s effort. Eleven-year-old Mohamud Mohamed reads his library books carefully and always returns them on time. He knows the Carissa library punishes people for losing books, just like any other library. However, the punishment is very stiff compared to that of other libraries. If a village loses a book, the camel library stops visiting.

(From Reading Challenge 2)

What is the main idea of this reading?

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to show the underline part that needs correction in each of the following questions.

The Oscars The Oscars award ceremony is one of the famous ceremonies in the world, and is watched lively on TV in over 200 countries.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C,  D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.

        After a busy day of work and play, the body needs to rest. Sleep is necessary for good health. During this time, the body recovers from the (26) ______ of the previous day. The rest that you get while sleeping enables your body to prepare itself for the next day.

        There are four levels of sleep, each being a little (27) ______ than the one before. As you sleep, your muscles relax little by little. Your heart beats more slowly, and your brain slows down. After you (28) _____ the fourth level, your body shifts back and forth from one level of sleep to the other.

        Although your mind slows down, you will dream from time to time. Scientists who study sleep state that when dreaming (29) ______ , your eyeballs begin to move more quickly. This stage of sleep is called REM, which stands for Rapid Eye Movement.

        If you have trouble falling asleep, some people recommend breathing very slowly and deeply. Other people believe that drinking warm milk will make you (30) ______. There is also an old suggestion that counting sheep will put you to sleep!

Điền vào ô 26.

Every household should be more careful in the way that they ________ of waste.

Those who do not exercise at all are more _________ to falling ill.

The president _________ tribute to all the people who had supported him.

My colleagues have promised to _________ when I tell the manager about my ideas.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that is closest in meaning to each of the following questions.

If we had missed the flight, we wouldn’t be on the beach now.

Mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word or phrase that is OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined part in each of the following questions.

On Saturday wearing uniforms is optional so I often choose T-shirt and shorts.