The recent heavy rain has helped to reduce the water _________.

Sometimes in a bad situation, there may still be some good things. Try not to “throw out the _________ with the bathwater”.

Hoa hoped _________to join the club. She could make friends with many people here.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks from 23 to 27.

                   Welcome to the Netherlands, a tiny country that only extends, at its broadest, 312 km north to south, and 264 km east to west - (23) _________ the land area increases slightly each year as a result of continuous land reclamation and drainage. With a lot of heart and much to offer, ‘Holland,’ as it is (24) _________ known to most of us abroad - a name stemming from its once most prominent provinces - has more going on per kilometer than most countries, and more English-speaking natives. You’ll be impressed by its (25) _________ cities and charmed by its countryside and villages, full of contrasts. From the exciting variety on offer, you could choose a romantic canal boat tour in Amsterdam, a Royal Tour by coach in The Hague, or a hydrofoil tour around the biggest harbour in the world - Rotterdam. In season you could visit the dazzling bulb fields, enjoy a full day on a boat, or take a bike tour through the pancake-flat countryside spiced with windmills. The possibilities are countless and the nationwide tourist office is on hand to give you information and help you (26) _________reservations. You’ll have (27) _________language problems here, as the Dutch are true linguists and English is spoken here almost universally.

Điền vào ô 25.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks from 23 to 27.

                   Welcome to the Netherlands, a tiny country that only extends, at its broadest, 312 km north to south, and 264 km east to west - (23) _________ the land area increases slightly each year as a result of continuous land reclamation and drainage. With a lot of heart and much to offer, ‘Holland,’ as it is (24) _________ known to most of us abroad - a name stemming from its once most prominent provinces - has more going on per kilometer than most countries, and more English-speaking natives. You’ll be impressed by its (25) _________ cities and charmed by its countryside and villages, full of contrasts. From the exciting variety on offer, you could choose a romantic canal boat tour in Amsterdam, a Royal Tour by coach in The Hague, or a hydrofoil tour around the biggest harbour in the world - Rotterdam. In season you could visit the dazzling bulb fields, enjoy a full day on a boat, or take a bike tour through the pancake-flat countryside spiced with windmills. The possibilities are countless and the nationwide tourist office is on hand to give you information and help you (26) _________reservations. You’ll have (27) _________language problems here, as the Dutch are true linguists and English is spoken here almost universally.

Điền vào ô 24.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks from 23 to 27.

                   Welcome to the Netherlands, a tiny country that only extends, at its broadest, 312 km north to south, and 264 km east to west - (23) _________ the land area increases slightly each year as a result of continuous land reclamation and drainage. With a lot of heart and much to offer, ‘Holland,’ as it is (24) _________ known to most of us abroad - a name stemming from its once most prominent provinces - has more going on per kilometer than most countries, and more English-speaking natives. You’ll be impressed by its (25) _________ cities and charmed by its countryside and villages, full of contrasts. From the exciting variety on offer, you could choose a romantic canal boat tour in Amsterdam, a Royal Tour by coach in The Hague, or a hydrofoil tour around the biggest harbour in the world - Rotterdam. In season you could visit the dazzling bulb fields, enjoy a full day on a boat, or take a bike tour through the pancake-flat countryside spiced with windmills. The possibilities are countless and the nationwide tourist office is on hand to give you information and help you (26) _________reservations. You’ll have (27) _________language problems here, as the Dutch are true linguists and English is spoken here almost universally.

Điền vào ô 27.

My grandmother _________ her whole life to looking after her children.

David is a rich man because he _________ a lot of money last year.

Making mistakes is all _________ of growing up.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that best combines each pair of sentences in the following questions.

Mr. Hung is a professor. His car was stolen yesterday.

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 from 35 to 42.

        In the North American colonies, red ware, a simple pottery fired at low temperatures, and stone ware, a strong, impervious grey pottery fired at high temperatures, were produced from two different native clays. These kinds of pottery were produced to supplement imported European pottery. When the American Revolution (1775-1783) interrupted the flow of the superior European ware, there was incentive for American potters to replace the imports with comparable domestic goods. Stoneware, which had been simple utilitarian kitchenware, grew increasingly ornate throughout the nineteenth century, and in addition to the earlier scratched and drawn designs, three­dimensional molded relief decoration became popular. Representational motifs largely replaced the earlier abstract decorations. Birds and flowers were particularly evident, but other subjects---lions, flags, and clipper ships---are found. Some figurines, mainly of dogs and lions, were made in this medium. Sometimes a name, usually that of the potter, was die-stamped onto a piece.

        As more and more large kilns were built to create the high-fired stoneware, experiments revealed that the same clay used to produce low-fired red ware could produce a stronger, paler pottery if fired at a hotter temperature. The result was yellow ware, used largely for serviceable items; but a further development was Rockingham ware---one of the most important American ceramics of the nineteenth century. (The name of the ware was probably derived from its resemblance to English brown-glazed earthenware made in South Yorkshire.) It was created by adding a brown glaze to the fired clay, usually giving the finished product a mottled appearance. Various methods of spattering or sponging the glaze onto the ware account for the extremely wide variations in color and add to the interest of collecting Rockingham. An advanced form of Rockingham was flint enamel, created by dusting metallic powders onto the Rockingham glaze to produce brilliant varicolored streaks.

  Articles for nearly every household activity and ornament could be bought in Rockingham ware: dishes and bowls, of course; also bedpans, foot warmers, cuspidors, lamp bases, doorknobs, molds, picture frames, even curtain tiebacks. All these items are highly collectible today and are eagerly sought. A few Rockingham specialties command particular affection among collectors and correspondingly high prices.

How did yellow ware achieve its distinctive color?

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 from 28 to 34.

        Cities develop as a result of functions that they can perform. Some functions result directly from the ingenuity of the citizenry, but most functions result from the needs of the local area and of the surrounding hinterland (the region that supplies goods to the city and to which the city furnishes services and other goods). Geographers often make a distinction between the situation and the site of a city. Situation refers to the general position in relation to the surrounding region, whereas site involves physical characteristics of the specific location. Situation is normally much more important to the continuing prosperity of a city. If a city is well situated in regard to its hinterland, its development is much more likely to continue. Chicago, for example, possesses an almost unparalleled situation: it is located at the southern end of a huge lake that forces east-west transportation lines to be compressed into its vicinity, and at a meeting of significant land and water transport routes. It also overlooks what is one of the world’s finest large farming regions. These factors ensured that Chicago would become a great city regardless of the disadvantageous characteristics of the available site, such as being prone to flooding during thunderstorm activity.

        Similarly, it can be argued that much of New York City’s importance stems from its early and continuing advantage of situation. Philadelphia and Boston both originated at about the same time as New York and shared New York’s location at the western end of one of the world’s most important oceanic trade routes, but only New York possesses an easy-access functional connection (the Hudson-Mohawk lowland) to the vast Midwestern hinterland. This account does not alone explain New York’s primacy, but it does include several important factors. Among the many aspects of situation that help to explain why some cities grow and others do not, original location on a navigable waterway seems particularly applicable. Of course, such characteristic as slope drainage, power resources, river crossings, coastal shapes, and other physical characteristics help to dertermine city location, but such factors are normally more significant in early stages of city development than later.

The word “ingenuity” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to _________.

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

(A) Alike other forms of energy, natural gas (B) may be used to (C) heat homes, cook food, and even (D) run automobiles.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks from 23 to 27.

                   Welcome to the Netherlands, a tiny country that only extends, at its broadest, 312 km north to south, and 264 km east to west - (23) _________ the land area increases slightly each year as a result of continuous land reclamation and drainage. With a lot of heart and much to offer, ‘Holland,’ as it is (24) _________ known to most of us abroad - a name stemming from its once most prominent provinces - has more going on per kilometer than most countries, and more English-speaking natives. You’ll be impressed by its (25) _________ cities and charmed by its countryside and villages, full of contrasts. From the exciting variety on offer, you could choose a romantic canal boat tour in Amsterdam, a Royal Tour by coach in The Hague, or a hydrofoil tour around the biggest harbour in the world - Rotterdam. In season you could visit the dazzling bulb fields, enjoy a full day on a boat, or take a bike tour through the pancake-flat countryside spiced with windmills. The possibilities are countless and the nationwide tourist office is on hand to give you information and help you (26) _________reservations. You’ll have (27) _________language problems here, as the Dutch are true linguists and English is spoken here almost universally.

Điền vào ô 26.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word(s) OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined word(s) in each of the following questions.

To his dismay, his name was not on the list.

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 from 35 to 42.

        In the North American colonies, red ware, a simple pottery fired at low temperatures, and stone ware, a strong, impervious grey pottery fired at high temperatures, were produced from two different native clays. These kinds of pottery were produced to supplement imported European pottery. When the American Revolution (1775-1783) interrupted the flow of the superior European ware, there was incentive for American potters to replace the imports with comparable domestic goods. Stoneware, which had been simple utilitarian kitchenware, grew increasingly ornate throughout the nineteenth century, and in addition to the earlier scratched and drawn designs, three­dimensional molded relief decoration became popular. Representational motifs largely replaced the earlier abstract decorations. Birds and flowers were particularly evident, but other subjects---lions, flags, and clipper ships---are found. Some figurines, mainly of dogs and lions, were made in this medium. Sometimes a name, usually that of the potter, was die-stamped onto a piece.

        As more and more large kilns were built to create the high-fired stoneware, experiments revealed that the same clay used to produce low-fired red ware could produce a stronger, paler pottery if fired at a hotter temperature. The result was yellow ware, used largely for serviceable items; but a further development was Rockingham ware---one of the most important American ceramics of the nineteenth century. (The name of the ware was probably derived from its resemblance to English brown-glazed earthenware made in South Yorkshire.) It was created by adding a brown glaze to the fired clay, usually giving the finished product a mottled appearance. Various methods of spattering or sponging the glaze onto the ware account for the extremely wide variations in color and add to the interest of collecting Rockingham. An advanced form of Rockingham was flint enamel, created by dusting metallic powders onto the Rockingham glaze to produce brilliant varicolored streaks.

  Articles for nearly every household activity and ornament could be bought in Rockingham ware: dishes and bowls, of course; also bedpans, foot warmers, cuspidors, lamp bases, doorknobs, molds, picture frames, even curtain tiebacks. All these items are highly collectible today and are eagerly sought. A few Rockingham specialties command particular affection among collectors and correspondingly high prices.

The passage suggests that the earliest stoneware _________.