PHẦN 3: ĐỀ ÔN LUYỆN THI PRACTICE TEST 7

PART C. READING (34 POINTS)

Read the following passage and choose the best answer to each question.

HANG SON DOONG

I’ve always been someone who seeks out adventures, so imagine my excitement when I found out that my trip to Vietnam would (20)………..with the opening up of the

world’s largest cave to visitors for the first time. Only discovered in 1990 by a local man, (21)………..by accident, the cave wasn’t located again until 2009. (22)……….to say, I was awe-struck at the mere thought of touring a cave this large - it is 2.5 miles long and so  high that it could (23)…………a 40-storey skyscraper!

 My adventure began in style with a night camping in Hang En cave, which has thousands of swallows nesting overhead. The next morning, we trekked through (24)………. pristine jungle to the entrance of Son Doong and climbed down an almost vertical 80m drop into the darkness before swimming along a fast-following river. The cave is so huge that there are wispy clouds near the ceiling. As we approached a massive skylight that lit up the cave, a huge stalagmite that looked just like the paw of a dog came into (25)…………...

This tour certainly isn’t for the (26)………….of heart, but really there is nothing to be afraid of. Our guides were extremely knowledgeable, professional and safety (27)………… I've never had such an amazing adventure!

Read the following passage and choose the best answer to each question.

New Age Music

New Age music is a genre of music that is meditative in function and style. Its purpose is psychological, as it creates a peaceful environment, providing a background for the listener to reflect, contemplate, rest and do light exercises. It cannot be compared to easy listening music, however, which is popular music that has a lyrical or romantic tune and uses soft and soothing orchestration. New Age is essentially instrumental music with light rhythms and repetitive, simple and harmonic melodies; there are no strident sounds or a heavy beat. Having little or no vocal arrangements at the start, it has evolved to include Sanskrit, Tibetan or Native American chants and lyrics in modern days.

New Age music developed from the musical experimentation of various composers in the 1960s and 1970s. The virtuosity of techniques inspired them to explore the contemplative nature of music. The musicians fused the electronic and the acoustic forms, two conflicting trends, to develop New Age music. Steven Halpern, considered the world's leading composer of "relaxing music”, paved the way for acceptance of the new sound. Unable to find a producer to record his music, he published and marketed his compositions as music for wellness and health. The style was further consolidated and influenced by musicians such as Holger Czukay, Popol Vuh and the Tangerine Dream, Brian Eno, Robert Fripp, John Hassell, George Winston and others. When the music was introduced to the public on radio, it was called "space music" since it had some electronic quality in it, but was later popularized as "New Age music" by disc jockeys. Perhaps this was to connect it to the New Age, a broad spiritual-philosophical movement of the 20^th century, but the music and the movement were actually unrelated. It was more a marketing label to differentiate the music from mainstream instrumental music and to arouse the public's curiosity for the new genre.

Although New Age music was a greatly appreciated style of music in its beginnings, it became difficult to classify and lost its acceptance by musicians and the public. The confusion regarding New Age music began soon after the public first became aware of the style. The term New Age music became more widely known to the public by a record label Windham Hill Records, which was established by guitarist Will Ackerman who wanted a more acoustic New Age sound. The label came to be associated with New Age music even when artists who recorded with the label were not New Age musicians. In fact, their musical roots had more to do with other musical forms - classical, jazz, folk, bluegrass. Nevertheless, no one objected to the designation because New Age records were extremely profitable at the time. Soon, both producers and consumers were unsure about what constituted New Age music. In the 1980s, ethnic music, specifically Celtic music, which is a broad musical classification, was introduced into the New Age style. In the 1990s, New Age music splintered into different directions, making the genre virtually unidentifiable. Artists produced music similar to the traditions of New Age music but did not call themselves New Age musicians; their motives were far removed from the idealism of the genre. This made the marketing of New Age music a dilemma for record company executives who could no longer determine what New Age music was and what it was not.

The term New Age music has become meaningless in today's culture. A keyboardist, whose music may be classified as New Age by tradition, opined that the term had too much baggage and did not want to be associated with it. Record executives call New Age music Contemporary Impressionism or New Acoustic music, which, not surprisingly, is considered by listeners today as being something completely different from New Age music.

(TOEFL iBT ACTIVATOR Reading - Expert)

Read the following essay and choose the best answer to each question.

Happiness is state of being that everyone wants to achieve. A positive outlook can help you be happy and change the outcome of your life. (56)………...

A positive outlook helps you find happiness in professional, social, and personal relationships. Having a positive attitude will help you find a good job and keep it. Colleagues enjoy working with someone who always looks at the bright side and avoids conflict. Friends will appreciate your energy and want to spend more time with you. A happy person makes everybody else happy. It is contagious. Happiness and a positive outlook on life can also have a beneficial effect on personal relationships. (57)………..., any partnership will be a solid, strong, and happy relationship.

Having a positive outlook also makes a person healthy. In fact, medical science has proven that stress, which causes many of today's common illnesses such as high blood pressure, heart disease and cancer, can be avoided when people feel good about themselves. (58)………..., a chemical substance called serotonin will be released into your blood stream, giving you an immediate feeling of well-being and tranquility. It has also been found that the elderly recover faster from illness when they are cheerful. Being positive and happy is synonymous with health and longevity.

Finally, people with positive outlooks are stronger and capable of confronting difficult situations. They develop clear minds, which help them cope with life's changes better than those individuals who are not at peace with themselves. Happy people's optimism creates the strength needed to find rational solutions to the many unexpected problems that life presents. This optimism also promotes self-esteem. For example, happier students are more likely to approach professors for help when they are having some trouble in their course work. (59)………...unhappy or less happy students may internalize their frustrations and be less likely to seek out help.

          (60)……….... Happiness will bring us strong relationships, good health, and the

ability to face any obstacle. If we promise ourselves to laugh more and think positively, we will change our lives for the better.