Kỳ thi chọn học sinh giỏi lớp 12 - Vòng 1 môn thi: Tiếng Anh

y to the poorest countries in 2002? (Choose 1 answer)(A) To start new farms(B) To build schools(C) To recycle water(D) To help fight the illness AIDS
READING & WRITING: (80 marks)
Read the passage and answer the questions that follow. (15 marks)
Steve grew up in a children’s home in Scotland. Every week, the staff took a proportion of the children’s pocket money to pay for holidays. Little Steve developed a daring strategy to hang on to what little money he had. He laughs about it now. “I used to swallow all my coins. That got them really furious, so they’d put me in a room on my own as a punishment. After a few minutes in there, I’d hit myself on the chest and cough the money back up.”
Since then, Steve has turned into Steve Starr, a professional regurgitator who does up to four shows a day, and can demand fees of $500-$2,000 a show.
Everything Steve swallows comes back dry, except for the goldfish. They swim about in his stomach in the water that he swallows for them first. After ten minutes they resume their normal lives in a goldfish bowl. “They never die”, says Steve.
Medical experts might have a few worries about Steve. The sight and sound of him swallowing and bringing back a snooker ball sometimes causes even normally calm people to panic. He also smokes a cigarette, retains the smoke in his stomach, then swallows some butane gas and mixes the two. Next he swallows some washing-up liquid, blows a huge bubble, brings up the smoke and gas inside the bubble, cuts the bubble off, gets someone to set light to it, and bang!
Physically, Steve doesn’t believe he is any different from the rest of the human race, who use their stomachs simply to digest food. “It’s all done by muscle control”, he says. “I imagine a little pair of hands in there doing everything, controlled by my brain. I’m sure I could teach anyone to do what I do”. 
Why was Steve punished in the children’s home?
What does the sentence “Steve grew up in a children’s home” tell you about Steve’s early childhood?
What does the sentence “They’d put me in a room on my own as a punishment” tell you about the children’s home?
Why does the bubble go bang when someone sets light to it?
What, according to Steve, is the secret of his skill?
II. Read the following passage and then choose the best answer (A, B, C or D) to complete each of the numbered blanks. (15 marks)
THE LANGUAGE OF TEARS
The ability to weep is a uniquely human form of emotional response. Some scientists have suggested that human tears are evidence of an aquatic past – but this does not seem very likely. We cry from the moment we enter this (1) _________ for a number of reasons. Helpless babies cry to (2) _________ their parents that they are ill, hungry or uncomfortable. As they (3) _________ they will also cry just to attract parental attention and will often stop when they get it. 
The idea that (4) _________ a good cry can do you (5) _________ is a very old one and now it has scientific (6) _________ since recent research into tears has shown that they (7) _________ a natural painkiller called enkaphalin. By (8) _________ sorrow and pain this chemical helps you to feel better. Weeping can increase the quantities of enkaphalin you (9) _________.
Unfortunately, in our society we impose restrictions upon this naturally (10) _________ activity. Because some people still regard it as a (11) _________ of weakness in men, boys in particular are admonished when they cry. This kind of repression can only increase stress, both emotionally and physically.
Tears of emotion also help the body (12) _________ itself of toxic chemical (13) _________, for there is more protein in them than in tears resulting from cold winds or other irritants. Crying comforts, calms and can be very enjoyable – (14) _________ the popularity of the highly emotional films which are commonly (15) _________ “weepies”. It seems that people enjoy crying together almost as much as laughing together.
A. world	B. place	C. earth	D. space
A. communicate	B. persuade	C. inform	D. demonstrate
A. evolve	B. change	C. develop	D. alter
A. doing	B. making	C. getting	D. having
A. better 	B. fine	C. good	D. well
A. validity	B. truth	C. reality	D. reason
A. contain	B. retain	C. hold	D. keep
A. struggling 	B. fighting	C. opposing	D. striking
A. construct	B. achieve	C. provide	D. produce
A. curing	B. treating	C. healing	D. improving
A. hint	B. symbol	C. feature	D. sign
A. release	B. rid	C. loosen	D. expel
A. rubbish	B. waste	C. leftovers	D. remains
A. consider	B. remark	C. distinguish 	D. regard
A. named	B. entitled	C. subtitled	D. called
III. Read the following text and then choose the best phrase or sentence, given below, to fill each of the gaps. Write one letter (A-P) in each of the numbered gaps. Each phrase is only used once. Some of the suggested answers do not fit at all. (15 marks)
Archaeologists in Iraq have discovered the world’s oldest “statue” – a stone, standing four feet high, covered with plaster (1) __________ of a human being. 
This “stone man” dating from 11,000 years ago, (2) __________ who were emerging from the pre-agricultural Stone Age into the Neolithic world of early farming. 
The statue, probably of religious significance, was located inside a prehistoric house – one of the earliest sophisticated buildings (3) __________. Investigations have shown that the house had (4) __________ with clay-coated, lime-plastered walls and floor. 
So far excavation have unearthed three buildings containing seven standing stones, (5) __________ retain traces of lime plaster which once covered them. 
However, (6) __________ shows evidence of having been shaped into the likeness of a human being. It is 30 centuries older (7) __________ previously known oldest statue. (8) __________that each building appears to have had at least one standing stone inside it, and that one house actually had three.
The plaster-covered human shaped obelisk (9) __________ shoulders and the stumps of arms and part of a neck. The “head”, however, (10) __________. 
ever discovered by archaeologists
molded into the shape 
to have been built 
strangely carved 
was fashioned by people 
excavations have revealed
only one of these 
neither of them 
beautifully finished
than the remaining
has what appear to be
seems to have broken off 
four of which
has been missing
it has been decided 
than the world’s
IV. Read the text below and think of the word which best fits each space. Use only one word in each space. (20 marks)
The worry about salt is that it may (1)__________ high blood pressure. Chemically, salt (2) __________of sodium and chloride ions, both of (3)__________are common in the human (4)__________and are important for many physiological and biochemical (5) __________. We not only need salt, we eat salt, but too (6) __________ may still be bad for us. Although the idea of a (7)__________between salt and high blood pressure (8) __________back to 2000 BC, there is still no scientific (9)__________as to whether this so or not. One reason for this (10) __________to agree is that individual salt intake (11) __________enormously from day to day, and so reliable measures of intake are hard to come (12) __________. 
Those who believe that salt does (13)__________to high blood pressure (14)__________to the high incidence of high blood pressure in countries that eat a very (15) __________diet. In Japan, for instance, where salted fish is an important part of the diet, high blood pressure and (16)__________ complications are common, (17) __________ among some Amazonian and African tribes, which have a low intake of salt, they are almost (18) __________.
But (19)__________there is this neat relation between salt intake and the incidence of high blood pressure between countries, it doesn’t seem to apply (20) __________those countries themselves. Studies, for instance, of couples who have a similar salt intake don’t show any consistency in how often they develop high blood pressure.
V. There are ten mistakes in the following passage. Find and correct them. Follow the example. 
(15 marks)
	Example: Line 1: 0. which à when
FAMILY HISTORY
In an age which technology is developed faster than ever before, many people are being attracted by the idea of looking back into the past. One way they can make this is by investigating their own family history. They can try to find out more about what their families came from and what they did. This is now a fast-growing hobby, especially in countries with a fairly short history, alike Australia and the United States. 
It is one thing to spend some time going through a book on family history and to take the decision to investigate your own family’s past. It is quite another to carry out the research work successfully. It is easy to set about it in a disorganizing way and cause yourself many problems that could have avoided with a little forward planning. 
If your own family stories say you that you are connected with a famous character, whether hero or criminal, not to let this idea take over your research. Just treat it as an interesting possibility. A simple system for collecting and storing your information will be adequate to start with; a more complex one may only get in your way. The most important thing, though, is to get starting. Who knows what you might find?
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SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO 	KỲ THI CHỌN HỌC SINH GIỎI LỚP 12 - VÒNG 1
Bảng A
	 LONG AN	Ngày thi: 06/10/2011
Đề chính thức
	Môn thi: Tiếng Anh 
HƯỚNG DẪN CHẤM THI
Tổng số điểm các phần của bài thi là 100. Sau khi chấm từng phần của bài làm, giám khảo cộng và ghi tổng điểm trên hệ 100 vào khung điểm ghi bằng chữ, sau đó chia điểm này cho 20 để có điểm bài thi trên hệ 20. Ghi điểm bài thi trên hệ 20 không làm tròn số vào khung điểm ghi bằng chữ.
LISTENING: (20 marks)
(C) (4 marks)
(A) (4 marks)(C) (4 marks)
(C) (4 marks)
(D) (4 marks)
READING & WRITING: (80 marks)
Total: 15