Đáp án tiếng anh thi tuyển công chức quảng ngãi 2017

Book: A Home in Tibet; Author: Tsering Wangmo Dhompa;
Tibet conjures up images of a mystic land. Snow-capped mountain peaks pierce the blue sky and fierce chilly
winds sweep the rolling grasslands. Maroon-robed Buddhist monks pray in remote monasteries and sturdy
horsemen pound the rugged earth. People in this high plateau perform punishing rituals like prostrating hundreds
of miles in tattered clothes on pilgrimage. Spirits, spells and flying apparitions are part of the Tibetan world. In
short, Tibet remains an exotica.
Such images are largely the result of books by Western travellers and explorers in the last century, which helped
in keeping the mystique alive. And when the Communist rulers took over Tibet in the 1950s and began imposing
Chinese language and culture on the people, Tibet's own history started to recede in the background.
Thus, the only books available in English to Tsering Wangmo Dhompa as a young girl growing up in India and
Nepal as a refugee were those written by Westerners, and so she came to view the country as a forbidden land,
a place where fantasy and fable collaborated against a dramatic backdrop of mountains, black magic and people
with strange customs and appearances.
It is from under the weight of such representation that Tsering attempts to write about Dhompa, her mother's
nomadic village in Nangchen, east Tibet. She struggles to find a way to speak about Tibet without the "influences
of the past or prevailing perceptions colouring" her description. The past, however, is significant, especially in
Dhompa where her family members were chieftains for over a hundred years.
Tsering is one of the few Tibetan writers who are trying to create a body of literature that seeks to find the
Tibetan voice, bereft of the Western romanticizing. She is essentially a poet and her poems have been published
in the United States. But in "A Home in Tibet" that has just been released in India by Penguin, she tries to weave
a powerful tale of personal history and loss without sentimentality. In her moving narrative laced with occasional
nostalgic detours, Tibet is also a main character, a land and its people who remain under subjugation.
From her mother, Tsering learned to understand Tibet as the real home but one accessible primarily through
images of loss and irreconcilability. Tibet was forbidden to her because she was a Tibetan. She was born in exile
in India and grew up in India and Nepal.
To her, Tibet came alive through her mother's life stories. "It was a land that carried much of my mother's
nostalgia," said Tsering recently in New Delhi. "The halcyon days of her life were spent in Tibet. It was an object
of yearning and wonder for those who belonged and those who did not -- all agreeing on the premise that there
was nothing quite like Tibet."
Tsering's mother believed, despite many years in exile, that she would go back to her home one day. But before
her dream could come true, she died in a gruesome car accident on a northern Indian highway on a foggy wintry

morning. Tsering, a lone child, lost not only her mother but her emotional link to Tibet which had slowly occupied
a huge space in her mindscape.
"A Home in Tibet" is a homage to a mother and to a land, but one that attempts to understand the effort and the
effect of a life in exile and the relationships that are forged with ideas of nation and nationhood. Tsering reveals
her own uncertainties in finding a way to see a future for Tibet. She reveals the difficulty in living simultaneously
with the fantasy of a fantastic and far-away land, and the reality of Tibet as an occupied country.


After her mother's death, Tsering moved farther to the United States for studies but Tibet began to come closer
to her heart. Finally, when she made her first trip to Dhompa with her mother's ashes, she found a land and a
people so familiar to her and yet so far removed from her own world in San Francisco, where she now lives.
"We live in a condition of expectation, our hope not quite ours, our power not ours," Tsering writes. "We take to
dreaming easily. We dream of returning to a country our young have never seen." "A Home in Tibet" would now
at least provide a view of Tibet that an aching Tibetan heart sees.


C2 How high is too high?
Part 1
Many people believe high heels make women look good. So much so, it seems, that the organisers of
the Cannes Film Festival reportedly barred women in flat shoes from walking the red carpet. But all
this glam comes at a cost: wearing heels over 10cm high can damage your ankles.
Part 2
A study by Hanseo University in South Korea suggests that continuous wearing exposes women to the risk
of strains, and makes them prone to losing their balance. A total of 40 women who wear high heels at least three
times a week took part in the study. The strength of their ankles was measured regularly: researchers found
that two of the four main muscles became dominant after a period of between one and three years. This created
an imbalance in their feet.
Dr Yong-Seok Jee from Hanseo University said that the habit of wearing heels can result in deformed feet, back
pain and unhealthy walking patterns. He recommends that women limit the use of these kinds of shoes and
exercise their ankle muscles properly.

Part 3
High heels are considered by some people to be sexy and feminine, but in fact the fashion started with men's
feet. These shoes were a form of riding footwear, and were seen on the feet of 17th Century Persian soldiers.
Elizabeth Semmelhack of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto says: "When the soldier stood up in his stirrups, the
heel helped him to secure his stance so that he could shoot his bow and arrow more effectively."
Before becoming a staple of modern women's wardrobes, high heels were used by Louis XIV of France. These
shoes were status symbols. Let's face it – nothing screams privilege like uncomfortable, luxurious and
impractical clothing. They say the wearer doesn't have to work in fields or walk very far.
What do you think: are high heels a symbol of women's elevation in society - or should they be booted out of
fashion?
C5: Money is what you use to buy things. You may earn money from completing household chores, getting good
grades, for your allowance, or for losing a tooth! Money is very important in our world and comes in many
different forms.

People have been using money for hundreds of years. Before money gave specific values for things, people
simply traded items. In the United States, we use the dollar as our currency or money, but people in different
parts of the world use different currencies, though some countries also use or accept our dollars.
People earn money from the jobs they work and use that money to save for the future or pay for their houses,
cars, good, taxes, medical needs, and household items, among other things.” Even things such as turning the
lights on, using the air conditioning or heat, and connecting to the internet cost money.
C6: Banks are places where people can keep their money. Most people use banks to save money in their
savings accounts and to pay money from their checking accounts. Today, when a person earns money from their
job, their paycheck is often electronically deposited (put) into their savings or checking account. Then, he or she
can pay their bills by writing checks from their checking accounts or pay online where their bills are electronically
connected to their bank accounts.
Banks also give loans to people. Banks use the money that their customers deposit to lend to people to buy new
houses, cars, or to start businesses among other reasons. The bank makes money from lending by charging


interest. In other words, people have to pay back more than they borrowed. This amount depends on how risky

the bank thinks the borrower is and how fast the loan is paid back among other things.
C7: Hummingbirds are amazing little birds. They are the smallest of all birds and weigh less than even a penny.
The bee hummingbird, at barely more than two inches long, is the smallest bird in the world!
Unlike most birds, hummingbirds have iridescent feathers. Iridescent feathers glitter and shine in the sun.
Hummingbirds are often dazzling combinations of greens and reds or greens and blues. Others are violet,
orange, golden, silver or other combinations only Mother Nature could dream up. All hummingbirds have long
bills to insert into flowers. Some hummingbirds have special bills to fit into specific flowers. Hummingbirds are
the only birds that can fly backwards.
Hummingbirds are also unique among bird species in that they drink nectar from flowers. You can attract
hummingbirds to your yard with special feeders that are filled with sugar water. These feeders are usually bright
red in color because hummingbirds are attracted to red.
C8: The Amazon is the world's largest tropical rainforest. It covers an area of nearly 2.8 million square miles,
which is nearly the size of the continent of Australia. The Amazon Rainforest gets its life from the majestic
Amazon River, the world's second largest river, which runs directly through the heart of the region. The rainforest
itself is simply the drainage basin for the river and its many tributaries. The vast forest itself consists of four
layers, each featuring its own ecosystems and specially adapted plants and animals.
The forest floor is the lowest region. Since only two percent of the sunlight filters through the top layers to the
understory, very few plants grow here. The forest floor, however, is rich with rotting vegetation and the bodies of
dead organisms, which are quickly broken down into nutrients integrated into the soil. Tree roots stay close to
these available nutrients and decomposers such as millipedes and earthworms use these nutrients for food.
The understory is the layer above the forest floor. Much like the forest floor, only about 2- 5 percent of the
sunlight reaches this shadowy realm. Many of the plants in the understory have large, broad leaves to collect as
much sunlight as possible. The understory is so thick that there is very little air movement. As a result, plants rely
on insects and animals to pollinate their flowers.
The layer above the understory is the canopy. This is where much of the action in the rainforest occurs. Many
canopy leaves have specially adapted leaves which form "drip tips". Drip tips allow water to flow off the leaves
which prevents mosses, fungi, and lichens from occupying the leaves. Leaves in the canopy are very dense and
filter about 80 percent of the sunlight. The canopy is where the wealth of the rainforest's fruits and flowers grow.
Bromeliads, cup-like plants, provide drinking pools for animals and breeding locations for tree frogs.
The emergent layer is above the canopy, and is the top layer of the rainforest. Trees in the emergent layer break

through the canopy and may reach heights of 200 feet. Leaves in the emergent layer are small and covered with
a special wax to hold water. Seeds are blown to other parts of the forest. Trees which rise to the emergent layer
are massive. Many are braced by huge buttress roots. Trunks can be 16 feet in circumference. Many animals
that survive in the emergent layer never touch the ground.
C9: Dolphins are marine mammals that are related to whales and porpoises. A marine mammal is one that lives
in the water. Dolphins are found all over the world’s oceans as well as in rivers and marshes. Dolphins are
carnivores (meat-eaters) and feed on fish, squid and other marine life. They often swim together in groups called
“pods.” They are thought to have powerful eyesight and hearing, but do not have a sense of smell.
Dolphins come in different sizes. Some are smaller than the average person, but others, such as the Orca, can
be 30 feet long, or more than five times as long as the average person. Dolphins are thought to be very
intelligent and communicate with each other using clicks and whistles. All dolphins are powerful swimmers. Have
you ever seen a dolphin? Groups of dolphins can often be seen bobbing in and out of waves close to the
shoreline.
C10: Did you know that spiders are not insects? They are actually called Arachnids, a group of animals related to
insects that have eight legs and that have venom. There are many different kinds of spiders. They live all over
the world and can be found in just about every habitat. Most like dark places, which may include your home,
closets, or basement! Spiders are very interesting. Some spin silk webs to catch and eat prey, while others
attack their prey. Some spiders, like tarantulas, are large enough to eat lizards and mice! Many people are afraid


of spiders because they bite. Most spiders, however, will only bite if they think they are danger and most are
harmless. Spiders are actually helpful to people because many eat insect pests like cockroaches and
mosquitoes.
C11. The French and Indian War, also known as the Seven Years War, began in the Spring on 1754. The dispute
arose over the presence of British and French settlers in the Ohio River Valley in and around present day
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but resulted in battles that were fought far from there. Both the French and English
wanted exclusive rights to the area because of its economic potential and plethora of fur-bearing wildlife. Despite
attempts in Europe to solve the territory battle diplomatically, no compromise could be made. French settlers
began building forts alongthe Ohio River to protect the land from the British. Meanwhile, Robert Dinwiddie,
lieutenant governor of Virginia, had begun issuing land-grants in the region for members of his colony. French

and British military forces were both authorized by their respective governments to take the necessary measures
to remove the other.
C12: Visit Angkor Wat
Siem Reap is a small town near the world famous temple of Angkor Wat. The town is charming and worth
exploring, with some fine examples of Khmer and French colonial architecture set among the more modern
developments. Nowadays, visitors are flocking in, using it as a base for visits to the nearby temples.
A Carved City
From the 9th to the 14th centuries, when Europe was still struggling out of the Dark Ages, the Cambodian
Empire of Angkor covered most of present-day Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand. The heart of this empire
during the 12th century was the ancient capital of Angkor Thom, near present day Siem Reap, the site of the
world’s largest temple complexes, which were rediscovered in 1861.This spectacular city was built over 30 years
under the reign of King Suryavarman II (1113-1150). The area covers about 400 square kilometres and is full of
the finest examples of Khmer art and architecture. Tourists are always amazed at the scale of the place. In
Angkor Wat you will find more than 100 stone monuments and temple buildings, each of which contains
countless statues, sculptures and reliefs that have weathered extremely little over the last 800 years. To see the
whole thing can take several days. The most important temples to visit in the area are Angkor Wat, especially at
sunrise or sunset; Angkor Thom, the remains of the capital; Ta Prohm, a palace overgrown by jungle; and Bayon.
Getting a visa
Visas are required to enter Cambodia. You can obtain one on arrival at Siem Reap International Airport for $20,
and 1 passport photo is required per person. You will also need another passport photo for the Angkor Temple
Entrance Pass. Please ensure you take comfortable walking shoes, light clothing and plenty of water to drink as
it is very hot there. The most commonly accepted currency in Cambodia is the US dollar.
C13: Battle of Lake George – Public Domain
The Battle of Lake George was fought on September 8, 1755. British forces of 1,500 soldiers and 200 Mohawk
Indians under the command of William Johnson defeated a much larger allied French and Indian force of 3,500
under German General Baron Dieskau.
The battle started when French and Indian forces ambushed a group of Massachusetts and Connecticut
regiments on a road between Lake George and Ft. Edward. Although the regiments were pushed back, they
were able to hold off French and Indian assaults on their base camp. Meanwhile, New Hampshire and New York
regiments were sent from Fort Edward to reinforce the other regiments. On the way, these regiments seized a

French baggage train along with critical supplies. An astonished General Dieskau was also captured, and the
French and Indian troops were scattered away from the main battle.
The British victory at Lake George was their first important victory over the French. Two years later, however, the
French reclaimed the area during the Battle of Fort William Henry, a fort built by William Johnson just before the
Battle of Fort Niagara. In the battle, 6,000 French troops and 1,600 Indians bombarded the fort. British forces


under George Monro were forced to surrender. Over 2,300 British were captured, several hundred of which were
massacred by the Indians. The loss of Fort William Henry was a severe blow to British military plans, as it
prevented them from mounting any offensive towards Montreal, a French stronghold. The events of the battle of
Fort William Henry were depicted in the famous novel by James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans.
C14: George Washington was born on February 22, 1732 in Westmoreland County, Virginia, although he grew
up near Fredericksburg. In his childhood and adolescence, he studied math and surveying. When he was 16, he
went to live with his brother Lawrence in Mount Vernon. George was scarred with Smallpox before the age of 20,
but inherited his brother's land (including Mt. Vernon) when he died in 1752.
Washington's military career began in 1753 during the French and Indian War, when he was sent into Ohio
country. In 1754, he battled the French and was forced to surrender Fort Necessity (near present-day Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania). He continued as an officer in Ohio country, and served under the British general Edward
Braddock when their army was ambushed by the French in 1755. Once again, Washington tasted defeat after
their surrender of Fort Duquesne to French forces. Washington helped take Fort Duquesne back in 1758.
Washington was married to Martha Custis in 1759. Washington managed the family, farm, and estate until he
took command of the Virginia troops just before the American Revolution. He was made commander of the
Continental Army on June 15, 1775.
Washington proved himself an excellent leader, and won several decisive battles during the Revolution. As an
advocate of a federal government, Washington became chairman of the Constitutional Convention and helped in
getting the Constitution ratified.
In 1789, he was inaugurated as America's first president. Washington was re-elected in 1792, but refused a third
term. On December 14, 1799, seventeen days before the new century, Washington died of acute laryngitis.
C15: The Age of Exploration started in the 1400’s. Europeans were desperate to get spices from Asia. Spices
were used to preserve foods and keep them from spoiling. Spices, however, were expensive and dangerous to

get. Traders had to travel parts of the dangerous Silk Road (a land route from Europe to Asia) to get them.
Because the Silk Road was frequently closed due to various wars, European rulers began to pay for explorations
to find a sea route to Asia so they could get spices more easily and for cheaper. Portugal was the first European
country that sent explorers to search for the sea route to Asia. Prince Henry the Navigator started a school of
navigation and financed the first voyages to the west coast of Africa. In the 1400’s, however, sailors were afraid
of sea monsters and boiling hot water at the Equator, so progress was slow. After Bartholomew Dias and his
crew made it to Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, Vasco da Gama and his crew became the first to sail around Africa
and through the Indian Ocean to India.
Spain, however, would soon take over the lead in exploration. When Portugal refused to finance Christopher
Columbus’ idea to sail west to find the shortcut to the Indies, he convinced Spain’s King Ferdinand and Queen
Isabella to finance it. On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus and his crew reached the island of Hispaniola
after three months in the Atlantic Ocean. Although Columbus believed he had reached Asia, he had actually
discovered the entire continent of North America and claimed it for Spain.
Spain quickly colonized North America. In 1513, Ponce de Leon discovered Florida while searching for the
mythical Fountain of Youth. The first permanent European settlement in the New World was later established at
St. Augustine in 1565. Meanwhile, Hernando Cortes crushed the Aztec empire in Mexico and claimed all of
Mexico for Spain. Francisco Pizarro did the same to the Incan Empire in South America. Other explorers such as
Francisco Coronado and Hernando de Soto claimed other portions of North America for Spain. Vasco Nunez de
Balboa even claimed the entire Pacific Ocean for Spain. As the Spanish empire grew, explorers forced native
populations into slavery and to convert to Christianity. Meanwhile, France began to explore North America.
Explorations by Giovanni Verrazano and Jacques Cartier resulted in French claims of much of Canada and the
north Atlantic coast. England would soon attempt to make its presence known by financing pirates such as
Francis Drake to plunder. Spanish settlements and steal gold from Spanish sea vessels. England also


established its first settlement in the New World at Roanoke Island, North Carolina. Territorial disputes and
constant pirating resulted in a series of major wars between the competing nations. In 1588, the British Army
defeated the vaunted Spanish Armada. The British victory proved a serious blow to Spanish influence in the New
World.
Although Spain still controlled much of the New World after the defeat, England and France were able to

accelerate their colonization. England soon established successful colonies throughout the eastern portions of
the United States, and France had colonies in Canada and the middle portions of the United States. By the mid
1700’s, new territorial disputes between England and France eventually resulted in England gaining control over
much of North America after the French and Indian War. English colonies flourished in North America until the
1770’s when the colonists declared their independence. The Revolutionary War ensued and resulted in
independence for the colonists. The United States of America was formed.
C16: The Dallas Cowboys have been an NFL team since 1960. They are one of two teams that play professional
football in the state of Texas. It took the Cowboys eleven years before they made the Super Bowl, the NFL
championship game. They lost that game to the Baltimore Colts by a score of 16 to 13. The Cowboys soon got
much better! In the 1970s, they played in five Super Bowls and won two of them. After they defeated the Denver
Broncos in Super Bowl 12, people started calling them America’s Team!
Although the Cowboys failed to make any Super Bowls in the 1980s, they played in three Super Bowls in the
1990s and won all three of them, including two in a row against the Buffalo Bills and one against their big rival,
the Pittsburgh Steelers. It was during this time, that Quarterback Troy Aikman, Running Back Emmitt Smith and
Wide Receiver Michael Irvin all became big stars. All three would eventually become members of the Pro
Football Hall-of-Fame.
The Cowboys won their last Super Bowl in 1995 and haven’t made it back since. That hasn’t discouraged owner
Jerry Jones from spending big bucks, though. In 2009, Cowboys Stadium opened. It can hold over 110,000
people, making it the largest domed stadium in the world. It cost over one billion dollars to build!
C17: In 1274, Italian explorers Marco and Niccolo Polo set out on a 24 year journey in which they traveled the
famous Silk Road from Italy, through brutal deserts and towering mountains to eastern China. They traveled over
4,000 miles in all. Marco and Niccolo were among the very first Europeans to explore the fabled empire of China.
In China, Marco Polo even worked for ruler Kublai Khan. Polo detailed his experiences and findings in China by
writing a book. Polo described materials and inventions never before seen in Europe. Paper money, a printing
press, porcelain, gunpowder and coal were among the products he wrote about. He also described the vast
wealth of Kublai Khan, as well as the geography of northern and southern China. European rulers were very
interested in the products Polo described. However, trading for them along the Silk Road was dangerous,
expensive and impractical. European rulers began to wonder if there was a sea route to the east to get the
products they wanted at a reasonable price.
C18: Rainbows are often seen when the sun comes out after or during a rainstorm. Rainbows are caused when

sunlight shines through drops of water in the sky at specific angles. When white sunlight enters a raindrop, it
exits the raindrop a different color. When light exits lots of different raindrops at different angles, it produces the
red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet that you see in a rainbow. Together, these colors are known as
the spectrum. These colors can sometimes be seen in waterfalls and fountains as well.
Did you know that there are double rainbows? In a double rainbow, light reflects twice inside water droplets and
forms two arcs. In most double rainbows, the colors of the top arc are opposite from those in the bottom arc. In
other words, the order of colors starts with purple on top and ends with the red on bottom. In addition, rainbows
sometimes appear as white arcs at night. These rainbows are called moonbows and are so rare that very few
people will ever see one. Moonbows are caused by moonlight (rather than sunlight) shining through drops of
water.


C19: Butterflies are some of the most interesting insects on the planet Earth. There are more than seventeen
thousand different kinds of butterflies! Butterflies come in all shapes and sizes.
Butterflies go through four main stages of life. The first stage is the egg stage followed by the larva stage. As a
larva, or caterpillar, the future butterfly eats as much as possible. As it grows, it sheds it outer skin, or
exoskeleton. This may happen four or five times. After a few weeks, the caterpillar enters the next stage of its
life, the chrysalis stage. In the chrysalis, the caterpillar will liquefy into a soup of living cells. Then, it will
reorganize into a butterfly and the metamorphosis is complete. In later parts of the chrysalis stage, you can see
the forming butterfly through the chrysalis.
When the butterfly emerges from the chrysalis, it pumps its wings to send blood through them so that it can fly.
Most butterflies only live a couple of weeks, just enough time to drink flower nectar and to mate. Some, like the
Monarch Butterfly, however, may live many months.
C20: Raisins are dried grapes that have been eaten for thousands of years. Nearly 3,500 years ago, the first
raisins were discovered as grapes that were drying in the sun on a vine. In medieval Europe, raisins were used
as sweeteners, medicine, and even as a form of money!
In America, raisins were first grown after an 1873 heat wave in California destroyed its valuable grape crop,
leaving only dried, wrinkly, but tasty grapes on the vines. Soon, farmers began developing seedless grapes in
California that were thin-skinned and sweet. These grapes would be purposely dried in the sun and became the
popular dark raisin we eat and enjoy today. Later, a golden variety of raisin was made by treating grapes with a

chemical called sulfur dioxide and using special methods to dry them.
Today, central California remains the center of the world’s raisin industry, producing nearly 95 percent of the
world’s raisins. Its green valleys, sunny climate, and hot temperatures provide the perfect conditions for grapes
that are dried into raisins.