Bài đọc hiểu tiếng anh

1. Hãy đọc đoạn văn sau và chọn câu trả lời tốt nhất trong số A, B, C và D.
Alison closed the door of her small flat and put down her briefcase. It had been
another exhausting day at the travel agency where she worked, and she was
looking forward to being alone. There was an interesting programme she wanted to
watch on television later in the evening. She had just started preparing her dinner
when there was a knock at her door.
“Oh, no! Who on earth could that be?” she muttered. She went to the door and
looked through the “spy hole”. A man of about sixty was standing there It took her
a few seconds to realize who he was. He lived in the flat below. They had passed
on the stairs once or twice and had exchanged the usual greetings. He had a long,
thin-face with two large front teeth that made he look like a rabbit.
“Sorry to bother you, but... uh ... there’s something I’d like to…er ...talk to you
about,” he mumbled when she opened the door. Alison hesitated but then asked
him to come in. Then she noticed the dog. Alison detested dogs, particularly big
ones. This one was a very old and .very fat bulldog.
The man went into her small living room and sat down on the sofa. The dog
followed him and climbed up on the sofa next to him. Its mouth was open and it
was breathing heavily. Alison saw several drops of the dog’s saliva fall on the light
green material that covered the sofa.
“Do you mind if I smoke?” the man asked. Without waiting for an answer, he lit
a cigarette.
“You must be wondering why I’ve come. Well, I hope you won’t be offended,
but ...” He stopped suddenly and coughed. His face went very red. Another cough
exploded from somewhere very deep inside him. He pulled a dirty, grey
handkerchief out of his pocket and spat into it. Some ashes from his cigarette fell
on the floor. He looked around the room. Alison glanced at her watch. The man
seemed to have forgotten what he wanted to say.


“Nice place you’ve got here,” he said at last.
1. How do you think Alison felt when she heard the knock at her door?

A. afraid

B. irritated

C. pleased

D. curious

2. Who was the man at the door?
A. Someone she worked with.

B. A friend who needed advice.

C. A complete stranger

D. A neighbour she hardly knew.

3. What do you think Alison said to herself when she saw the dog?
A. “I wish he hadn’t brought that dog in here.”
B. “Oh, what a nice dog.”
C. “I wonder what’s wrong with the poor thing.”
D. “I like some dogs but not this one.”
4. Why did the man want to talk to Alison?
A. He had forgotten to tell her something.
B. He wanted to tell her how nice her flat was.
C. The text doesn’t tell us.
D. He wanted to apologize for offending her.
5. What do you think was Alison’s general impression of the man after he came
in?
A. She had no feelings about him at all.

B. She thought he was very interesting.
C. She liked him but not his dog.
D. He had some very annoying habits.
2. Hãy đọc đoạn văn sau và chọn câu trả lời tốt nhất trong số A, B, C và D.
THANK GOD SOMEONE’S MAKING WAVES
The natural world is under violent assault from man.
The seas and rivers are being poisoned by radioactive wastes, by chemical
discharges and by the dumping of dangerous toxins and raw sewage. The air we


breathe is polluted by smoke and fumes from factories and motor vehicles; even
the rain is poisoned.
It’s little wonder forests and lakes are being destroyed and everywhere wildlife
is disappearing. Yet the destruction continues.
Governments and industries throughout the world are intensifying their efforts
to extract the earth’s mineral riches and to plunder its living resources.
The great rain-forests and the frozen continents alike are seriously threatened.
And this despite the warnings of the scientific community and the deep concern of
millions of ordinary people.
Despite the fact, too, that we can create environmentally-clean industries,
harness the power of the sun, wind and waves for our energy needs and manage the
finite resources of the earth in a way that will safeguard our future and protect all
the rich variety of life-forms which share this planet with us.
But there is still hope. The forces of destruction are being challenged across the
globe - and at the spearhead of this challenge is Greenpeace. Wherever the
environment is in danger, Greenpeace has made a stand. Its scientific presentations
and peaceful direct actions at sea and on land have shocked governments and
industries into an awareness that Greenpeace will not allow the natural world to be
destroyed.
Those actions, too, have won the admiration and support of millions.

Now you can strengthen the thin green line; you can make your voice heard in
defence of living world by joining Greenpeace today.
Thank God someone’s making waves.
1. Which one of these statements is not made?
A. Drinking water is polluted.
B. Radioactive waste poisons the sea.
C. Sewage isn’t processed.


D. Cars and factories poison the air.
2. The writer _______forests and lakes are being destroyed.
A. is surprised that

B. is unsure why

C. wonders why

D. understands why

3. Rain forests are being destroyed because governments and industries _______
A. are unaware of what they’re doing wrong.
B. are rich and powerful
C. choose to ignore criticism.
D. basically care about the environment.
4. The earth’s resources _______
A. should only be for people.
C. will last forever.

B. can be made to last longer.
D. belongs to just humans and animals.

5. Governments and industries _______
A. don’t know what Greenpeace thinks.
B. are forced to understand the problems by Greenpeace.
C. can easily ignore Greenpeace.
D. misunderstand what Greenpeace thinks.
3. Hãy đọc đoạn văn sau và chọn câu trả lời tốt nhất trong số A, B, C và D.
While Edward was looking through his father’s private papers and unfinished
drawings, he suddenly realized how badly he was behaving. He jumped up, put the
papers back on the deck and made for the staircase.
When he reached the next floor he saw at once that everything was different:
the space had been divided up and what Edward could see had the air of the
entrance hall of a flat. The floor was carpeted and an open door revealed a
bathroom. There was a small table between two closed doors. The carpet was
clean, the table dusted. Edward opened a door into a kitchen, and another into a
sitting room. The next door which he tried refused to open. Edward pushed it and


rattled it a little, then saw that there was a key in the keyhole. The door was
evidently locked on the outside. He turned the key and opened the door. The room
was a bedroom. The bed was opposite the door, and lying upon the bed, raised up
by his pillows, was a bearded man, looking straight at Edward with dark round
eyes.
Edward thought later on that in a second of complete shock, he had understood
everything. He certainly came, very soon after, to understand much. He moved into
the room, closing the door behind him. The man on the bed kept staring at him
intently and moving his lips. His face expressed an intense emotion which Edward
thought of afterwards, perhaps at the time, as a kind of apologetic anxiety which
was also expressive of deep grief. Edward, shaking with emotion, approached the
bed and stopped. The red lips moved, but no sound came. The large eyes begged

Edward to hear, to respond. At last a sound came out which, heard together with
that expression, seemed like a question. Edward grasped the sound. It was an
attempt at his own name. He said, “Edward. Yes, I am Edward. I am your son.”
The helpless lips moved, as if to smile, and a shaking hand was outstretched.
Edward took the weak white hand in his. Then he knelt down beside the bed and
buried his face in the blanket. He felt the other hand touch his hair. He burst into
tears.
1. What did Edward see at the top of the staircase?
A. an unfurnished entrance area.
B. a bathroom with a carpeted floor
C. a sitting room leading into a kitchen
D. an entrance hall with several doors off it.
2. How did Edward get into the bedroom?
A. He forced the door open
B. He went through the kitchen


C. Someone unlocked the door from the other side
D. He unlocked the door himself.
3. How did Edward react when he saw the old man on the bed?
A. He was filled with surprise
C. He wanted to leave the room

B. He rushed towards him
D. He felt frightened and angry

4. What was the man’s reaction when Edward came in?
A. He was not pleased to see him B. He began to whisper to himself
C. He seemed afraid of him

D. He tried hard to speak to him

5. What did Edward do?
A. He shook his father’s hand
C. He sat down on the bed

B. He began to cry
D. He stroked his father’s hair.

4. Hãy đọc đoạn văn sau và chọn câu trả lời tốt nhất trong số A, B, C và D.
The idea of transmitting information through light waves is far from new. But
only recently have scientists learned how to manipulate waves of light to carry
tremendous amounts of information at incredible speeds.
An optical fiber system consists of three basic parts: transmitting equipment
that transforms electric signals into light pulses, the optical fiber itself, and
receiving gear that acts as a light detector. The fiber is an incredibly thin strand of
pure glass usually made of silicon or other materials such as germanium. The glass
strand has two parts: a light-transmitting core and a special glass coating that keeps
the light from straying. The fiber, of which there are several types suited for
different kinds of tasks, is merely the medium through which the light flows. An
average cable, about the thickness of a finger, might consist of about 75 fibers.
The light impulses are generated either by laser or light-emitting diode (LED)
equipment. If the signals have to travel far, they may be boosted at certain points,
just as electronic signals are. Lasers are better for long distances because their
signals travel far without the need for boosting, but LEDs are more reliable and


less expensive.
Much research is focussed on creating better and less expensive light sources.
In that context, probably the prices of lasers and LEDs are going to decline at a fast

rate. With prices falling as the technological gains increase, many experts agree
that it’s only the matter of time before much of the nation’s copper cable is
replaced by fiber optics.
1. What is an important advantage of the optical fiber?
A. It transmits a great deal of information very quickly
B. It can travel through light waves.
C. Signals travelling through it don’t need to be boosted
D. It is cheaper than lasers or LEDs
2. What is the core’s function?
A. to boost signals

B. to transform signals

C. to create signals

D. to transmit signals

3. What is the function of the coating?
A. to keep the silicon pure

B. to detect light

C. to keep the impulses from escaping

D. to hold bundles of fibers together

4. Lasers are better than LEDs when _______
A. reliability is important

B. signals must travel a long way

C. costs must be kept low

D. copper cable is not available

5. The author of the passage predicts that in the future

_______

A. impulses will be able to travel at a faster rate
B. copper cable will replace fiber optics
C. the system will become affordable and widely used
D. the use of lasers and LEDs will decline.
5. Hãy đọc đoạn văn sau và chọn câu trả lời tốt nhất trong số A, B, C và D.
About 30,000 years ago Neanderthal man (Homo neanderthalensis)


disappeared, displaced by the Cro-Magnon people (Homo sapiens sapiens), a taller,
slimmer, altogether more agile and handsome - at least to our eyes - race of people
who are thought to have arisen in Africa 100,000 years ago, spread to the Near
East, and then were drawn to Europe by the retreating sheets of ice of the last great
ice age. Although this was an immensely long time ago, these Cro-Magnon people
were identical to us: they had the same physique, the same brain, the same looks.
And, unlike all previous hominids who roamed the earth, they could choke on
food. That might seem a trifling point, but the slight evolutionary change that
pushed the Cro-Magnon’s larynx deeper into the throat, and thus made choking a
possibility, also brought with it the possibility of sophisticated, well-articulated
speech.
Other mammals have no point of contact between their airways and their
esophagi. They can breathe and swallow at the same time, and there is no

possibility of food getting into the wrong passage. But in Homo sapiens, food and
drink must pass over the larynx and thus there is a constant risk that some will be
inadvertently inhaled. In modem humans, the lowered larynx isn’t in position at
birth. It descends sometime between the ages of three and five months. This
descended larynx explains why you can speak and your dog cannot.
Neanderthals were physiologically precluded from uttering certain basic
sounds. Their speech, if it existed at all, would have been nasal sounding and fairly
imprecise, and that would no doubt have greatly impeded their development.
1. According to the passage, the Neanderthals _______
A. displaced the Cro-Magnons
B. spread to the Near East and then to Europe
C. could make certain basic sounds
D. were less like modern humans than Cro-Magnons were
2. According to the author, the possibility of choking _______


A. also made speech possible
B. was a trifling point
C. occurred only in Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon people
D. was common to all hominids
3. The author implies that clear speech _______
A. caused hominids to spread out from Africa
B. is directly related to brain capacity
C. contributed to hominid development
D. is common to all hominids
4. One reason why a dog cannot speak is that _______.
A. its larynx is too high
B. its larynx is too low
C. it can’t breathe and swallow at the same time
D. its airway and esophagus are in contact with each other

5. Homo sapiens were the first hominids _______.
A. with a larynx
B. who could breathe and swallow at the same time
C. with no contact between their airways and esophagi
D. with the physical capacity to speak clearly.
6. Hãy đọc đoạn văn sau và chọn câu trả lời tốt nhất trong số A, B, C và D.
Are we being served? More than two thirds of those questioned in a recent
survey think service in Britain’s shops is not good enough and would pay more for
better treatment. This disappearance of personal service is not new. Our present
dissatisfaction began at least 40 years ago. When goods were scarce there was time
to take pleasure in the complicated art of selling, from greeting the customer to
wrapping goods. The end of the war, and the scarcity of goods which accompanied
the wartime period, changed all that. People wanted choice and quantity, to help


themselves to what was on offer. Self-service was born.
Throughout the Sixties and Seventies, productivity was the important word. In
shops, goods were piled up to ensure bigger sales. Supermarkets grew larger. The
customer, by contrast, shrank beneath the enormous piles of goods, pushed by the
sound of the background music towards the check-out.
At the end of the Seventies, however, owners of the larger stores thought again.
The customer was becoming more aware of what was on offer. Spending power
had moved to younger people with higher expectations from their hours of
shopping. Design consultants were called in and through the high street swept
newly-designed stores and goods. The customer benefited, no doubt about it, but
look at any row of high street shops from the north to the sound of Britain. They all
look the same. They offer similar ranges of goods on similarity colour-coordinated
shop liftings.
The amusing thing is that market forces may be driving shops back to the first
principles of selling. In an attempt to be different from the competition, many of

them are examining the quality of personal service. According to retail research
analysts, customer care programmes are an important competitive weapon.
Already, a number of big British companies have started new schemes. Edward
Whitefield, who advises companies on selling, says that about 50 of Britain’s top
500 companies are now trying to improve their customer service. Many more, he
believes, will follow.
1. A recent survey showed that about one third of those questioned _______
A. were satisfied with the shop service in Britain.
B. would pay higher prices for better service.
C. thought the service in Britain could be much better.
D. thought that personal service had disappeared.
2. It appears that, after the end of the war, customers _______.


A. wanted better service from shopkeepers
B. disliked the idea of everyone helping themselves in shops
C. discovered that some goods were becoming scarcer
D. lost interest in personal service
3. During the Sixties and Seventies, store owners were mainly concerned with
_______.
A. a better choice for the customer

B. the amount of goods sold

C. the type of assistants employed D. the type of music played in their shops
4. By the end of the Seventies, however, store owners had decided to make
shopping _______.
A. easier for young people

B. available at all hours

C. a more pleasant experience

D. the same in all stores

5. Many large companies reaslise that better customer service _______
A. will increase competition

B. benefits smaller stores

C. attracts more business

D. improves the quality of goods.

7. Hãy đọc đoạn văn sau và chọn câu trả lời tốt nhất trong số A, B, C và D.
A little more than a hundred years ago, a number of European scholars began to
record stories being told in peasant cottages and compile them into the first great
collections of European folk tales. Written evidence exists to prove that the folk
tales they recorded existed long before then, though. Collections of sermons from
the 12th to the 15th century show that medieval preachers knew of some of the
same stories as those recorded by the 19th century folklorists.
The collections of folk tales made in the late 19 th and early 20th centuries
provide a rare opportunity to make contact with the illiterate masses who have
disappeared into the past without leaving a trace. To reject folk tales as historical
evidence because they cannot be dated and situated with precision like other
historical documents is to turn one’s back on one of the few points of entry into the


previous centuries. But to attempt to penetrate that world is to face a daunting set
of obstacles, the greatest of which is the impossibility of listening in on the story

tellers. No matter how accurate they may be, the versions of the tales recorded in
writing cannot convey the effects that the storytellers must have used to bring the
stories to life: the dramatic pauses, the sly glances, the use of gestures to set
scenes, and the use of sounds to punctuate actions. All of those devices shaped the
meaning of the tales, and all of them elude the historian. He cannot be sure that the
limp and lifeless text he holds between the covers of a book provides an accurate
account of the performance that took place in earlier times.
1. The author believes that written versions of folk tales _______.
A. changed dramatically from the 19th to the 20th century.
B. are valid historical documents
C. show how illiterate the masses were before the 19th century
D. should be rejected as historical evidence
2. What problems of folk tale collections does the author discuss?
A. There is no way to tell which version of a story is the original system
B. They contain historical inaccuracies
C. They are used as historical evidence
D. They don’t preserve the original performance style of the storytellers
3. The author’s main purpose in the passage is to _______
A. criticize historians who use folk tales as historical documents
B. argue that folk tales are authentic historical documents
C. convince readers that modern versions of folk tales are probably not the
same as the originals
D. explain why historians must study the illiterate masses of the past
4. According to the passage, peasant folklore was recorded by _______
A. 19th century folklorists


B. 19th century preachers
C. historians in the 12th to 15th centuries
D. 19th century peasants

5. The author talks about “limp and lifeless” texts because _______
A. the original texts have, been damaged
B. the texts do not reveal how the storytellers presented their folk tales
C. some of the texts are no longer relevant to historians
D.

the texts provide an accurate account of life in earlier times.