15000 bài tập tách từ đề thi thử môn Tiếng Anh có đáp án (Phần 38)

Chess, often (1 )______ to as a Royal Game, is the oldest of all board games which do not contain an element of chance.

    The origins of chess are uncertain, (2) ______ there are a number of legends regarding its invention. One story says that it was King Solomon who invented chess, another that it was the Greeks god Hermes, and yet another that the Chinese mandarin Han-Sing was responsible for its creation. In fact, chess almost certainly originated in India in the sixth or seventh century AD. The game’s popularity then spread quickly through Persia (now known as Iran) and from there came to Europe. The first documented reference to chess in literature is in a Persia romance which was written about 600 AD.

    It is (3)______ the word ‘chess’ comes from ‘shah’, the Persian word for ‘King’ and that ‘checkmate’, the game’s winning (4)______, comes from the phrase ‘shah mat’, (5)______ ‘the king is dead’.

    The rule and pieces used in the game have undergone changes over the centuries. Modern chess owes much to the Spaniard Lopez de Sagura, who in 1561 wrote the first book on how to play the game. In it, he introduced the concept of ‘castling’, which has not been part of the game until then.

My first job was a sales assistant at a large department store. I wanted to work part-time, because I was still studying at university and I was only able to work a few nights a week.

          I came across the advertisement in the local newspaper. I remember the interview as though it were yesterday. The (1) ______ manager sat behind a large desk. He asked me various questions which surprised me because all I wanted was to work in sales. An hours later, I was told that I had got the job and was given a contract to go over. I was to be trained for ten days before I took my post. Also, as a member of staff, I was (2) ______ to some benefits, including discounts.

          When I eventually started, I was responsible (3) ______ the toy section. I really enjoyed it there and I loved demonstrating the different toys. I was surprised at how friendly my colleagues were, too. They made working there fun even when we had to deal with customers (4) ______ got on our nerves. (5) ______, working there was a great experience which I will never forget.

Why is it that many teenagers have the energy to play computer games until late at night but can’t find the energy to get out of bed (39) _________ for school? According to a new report, today’s generation of children are in danger of getting so (40) _________ sleep that they are putting their mental and physical health at (41) _________ . Adults can easily survive on seven to eight hours’ sleep a night, (42) _________ teenagers require nine or ten hours. According to medical experts, one in five youngsters (43) _________ anything between two and five hours’ sleep a night less than their parents did at their age.

Some people return to college as mature students and take full- or part-time training courses in a skill will help them to get a job. The development of open learning, (25)______ it possible to study when it is convenient for the students, has increased the opportunities available (26)______ many people. This type of study was formerly restricted to book-based learning and (27)______ course but now includes courses on TV, CD-ROM or the Internet, and self-access courses at language or computer centers. Americans believe that education is important at all stages of life and should not stop (28) ______ people get their first job. About 40% of adults take part in some kind of education. About half of them are trying to get qualifications and skills to help them with their jobs while the (29)______ are taking recreational subjects for personal satisfaction. Schools and community colleges arrange evening classes, and a catalog of courses is published by local boards of education.

A rainbow is an optical display of color that usually appears in the sky when a beam of sunlight refracts through millions of raindrops. Each (31) ______ color from the spectrum is then sent to your eyes. For this to happen, the angle between the ray of light, the raindrop and the human eye must be between 40 and 42 degrees.

    After studying rainbows in (32) ______, Sir Isaac Newton was able to explain how they are formed. However, he was color blind, so he had to rely on the eyes of his assistant, who could easily (33) ______ all the seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. His assistant could also clearly tell the difference between indigo and violet.

    There are two types of rainbows. Primary rainbows are the most common and have the most distinctive colors, with red appearing on the outside of the arc and violet on the inside. Secondary rainbows are unusual because the light is reflected twice within the raindrop before it (34) ______ a rainbow, so the colors are in reverse order and not as bright as primary rainbows.

    There is a popular myth that if you reach the end of a rainbow, you will find a pot of gold waiting for you. In fact, it is impossible to do this, because a rainbow has no end - as you go towards the point where the rainbow seems to touch the ground, it moves away from you as quickly as you (35) ______.

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

Mobile phones emit microwave radio emissions. Researchers are questioning whether exposure to these radio waves might (1) ______ to brain cancer. So far, the data are not conclusive. The scientific evidence does not enable us to say with certainly that mobile phones are categorically (2) ______. On the other hand, current research has not yet proved clear adverse effects associated with the prolonged use of mobile phones.

Numerous studies are now going (3) ______ in various countries. Some of the results are contradictory but others have shown an association between moblie phone use and cancer. (4) ______, these studies are preliminary and the issue needs further, long-term investigation.

Until the scientific data are more definite, it is prudent for people to try not to use mobile phones for long period of time. Don’t think that hands-free phones are any safer either. At the moment, research is in fact showing the opposite and they may be just as dangerous. It is also thought that young people (5) ______ bodies are still growing may be at particular risk.

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.

NEIGHBOURS INFLUENCE BUYING DECISIONS

However objective we believe ourselves to be, most of us do not judge a product solely on its merits, considering quality, value and style before making a decision. (6) ________, we are easily influenced by the people around us.

There is nothing wrong with this. It is probably a smarter way to make decisions than (7) ________ on only our own opinions. But it does make life hard for companies. They have long understood that groups of friends and relatives tend to buy the same products, but understanding the reasons has been tricky. It is because they are so similar with (8)________ to how much money they make and what television ads they watch that they independently arrive at the same decision? Or do they copy one another, perhaps (9) ________ envy or perhaps because they have shared information about the products?

Research in Finland recently found overwhelming evidence that neighbours have a big influence on buying decisions. When one of a person’s ten nearest neighbours bought a car, the chances (10) ________ that person would buy a car of the same brand during the next week and a half rose by 86 per cent. The researchers argued that it was not just a matter of envy. Used cars seemed to attract neighbours even more than new cars. This suggested that people were not trying to keep up with their neighbours, they were keen to learn from them. Since used cars are less reliable, a recommendation of one can strongly influence a buying decision.

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.

The texting pigeons

          Not everybody recognizes the benefits of new developments in communnicatons technology. Indeed, some people fear that text messaging may actually be having a negative (11) ________ on your people’s communication and language skills, especially when we hear that primary school children may be at rick of becoming addicted to the habit. So widespread has texting become, however, that even pigeons have started doing it. (12) ________, in this case, it’s difficult to view the results as anything but positive.

          Twenty of the birds are about to take to the skies with the task of measuring air pollution, each (13) ________ with sensor equipment and a mobile phone. The readings made by the sensors will be automatically converted into text messages and beamed to the Internet – (14) ________ they will appear on a dedicated ‘pigeon blog’.

          The birds will also each have a GPS receiver and a camera to capture aerial photos, and researchers are building a tiny ‘pigeon kit’ containing all these gadgets. Each bird will carry these in a miniature backpack, (15) ________, that is, from the camera, which will hang around its neck.

          The data the pigeons text will be displayed in the form of an interactive map, which will provide local residents with up-to-the-minute information on thir local air quality.

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.

Why read books?

          Is it worth reading books, (16) _____ nowadays there are so many other forms of entertainment? Some people say that even paperback books are expensive, and not everyone can borrow books from a library. They might add that television is more exciting and that viewers can relax as they watch their favourite (17) _____. All that may be true, but books are still very popular. They encourage the reader to use his or her imagination for a start. You can read a chapter of a book, or just a few pages, and then stop. Of course, it may be so (18) _____ that you can’t stop! There are many different kinds of books, so you can choose a crime novel or an autobiography, or a book (19) _____ gives you interesting information. If you find it hard to choose, you can read reviews, or ask friends for ideas. Personally, I can’t do without books, but I can (20) _____ up television easily enough. You can’t watch television at bus stops!

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.

Stories about how people somehow know when they are being watched have been going around for years. However, few attempts have been made to investigate the phenomenon scientifically. Now, with the completion of the largest ever study of the so- called staring effect, there is impressive evidence that this is a recognizable and genuine sixth sense. The study involved hundreds of children. For the experiments, they sat with their eyes (21)                       so they could not see, and with their backs to other children, who were told to either stare at them or look away. Time and time again the results showed that the children who could not see were able to tell when they were being stared at. In a total of more than 18, 000 trials (22) _____ worldwide, the children correctly sensed when they were being watched almost 70% of the time. The experiment was repeated with the added precaution of putting the children who were being watched outside the room, (23)              from the starters by the windows. This was done just in case there was some pretending going on with the children telling each other whether they were looking or not. This prevented the possibility of sounds being transmitted between the children. The results, (24)                     less impressive, were more or less the same. Dr. Sheldrake, the biologist (25)                       designed the study, believes that the results are convincing enough to find out through further experiments precisely how the staring effect might actually came about.