Read the passage, then choose the one best answer.
The London Marathon celebrates its 23rd birthday. That is 23 years of stresses and strains, blisters and sore bits, and incredible tales. Somehow, yours truly has managed to run four of them. And I have medals to prove it. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I watched the inaugural London Marathon on March 29th 1981. It seemed extraordinary that normal people would want to run 26 miles and 385 yards. And, it must be said, they looked strange and not quite steady at the end of it all. There are, indeed, terrible tales of people losing consciousness by the time they reach that glorious finishing line. But I was captivated. I knew I had to do it.
Three years later I was living in London, not far from Greenwich, where the event begins, and it seemed the perfect opportunity to give it a go. I was only a short train ride from the starting line, but more than 26 miles from the finish. "Who cares?" I thought. By the end I did. The moment I crossed that finishing line, and had that medal placed around my neck, was one of the finest in my life. The sense of achievement was immense. It was a mad thing to do, and ultimately pointless. But knowing that I'd run a Marathon - that most historic of all distant races - felt incredible.
London provides one of the easiest of all the officially sanctioned marathons because most of it is flat. Yes, there are the cobblestones while running through the Tower of London, and there are the quiet patches where crowds are thin and you are crying out for some encouragement - those things matter to the alleged "fun" runners like myself, the serious runners don't think of such things.
Since 1981, almost half a million people have completed the London Marathon, raising more than $125 million for charity. For the majority of the runners, this is what it is all about. It is for charity, for fun, for self-development. It is a wonderful day. I have run it with poor training, with proper training. And I have always loved it. It’s crazy, and it's one of the greatest things I've ever done. If you want to feel as though you've achieved something, run a marathon.
Câu 41
Participation in the London Marathon for the author resulted in…
A. incredible tales.
B.blisters and sore bits.
C. stresses and strains.
D. memorable medals.
Câu 42
When the author watched the end of the first marathon he saw people who were ....
A. losing consciousness.
B.feeling weak and exhausted.
C. having a glorious time.
D. extraordinarily steady.
Câu 43
The reason for the author's participation in the marathon was the fact that he _________.
A. was fascinated by it.
B.lived not far from its finishing line.
C. wanted to receive a medal.
D. wanted to do something incredible.
Câu 44
According to the author, the London Marathon is one of the easiest because _________.
A. many "fun" runners participate in it.
B.there are quiet patches without crowds.
C. it goes through the Tower of London.
D. its course does not slope up or down.
Câu 45
According to the author, one should run the London Marathon to…
A. raise money for charity
B.feel self-fulfillment
C. get some training
D. have fun in a crazy way
A.
B.
C.
D.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that best combines each pair of sentences in the following questions.Alice and Charles did not decide to move to a bigger house until after the birth of their second child.
A.It was not until Alice and Charles had their second child did they decide to move to a bigger house.
B.Not until Alice and Charles had their second child, they decided to move to a bigger house.
C.Only when Alice and Charles had their second child did they decide to move to a bigger house.
D.Only when Alice and Charles had their second child, they decided to move to a bigger house.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that best combines each pair of sentences in the following questions.
She phoned him early in the morning. She wanted to talk to him before he left for work.
A.She phoned him early in the morning so as to want to talk to him before he left for work.
B.She phoned him early in the morning lest she should talk to him before he left for work.
C.She phoned him early in the morning with a view to talking to him before he left for work.
D.She phoned him early in the morning so that she wanted to talk to him before he left for work.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that is closest in meaning to each of the following questions.You should not send money to us by post under any circumstances.
A.Under any circumstances should you not send money to us by post.
B.Under any circumstances should not you send money to us by post.
C.Under no circumstances should you not send money to us by post.
D.Under no circumstances should you send money to us by post.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that is closest in meaning to each of the following questions.“I am in a bit of hurry, but I’ll ring you tomorrow”, he said.
A.He said that he was very hurried, but that he would ring me tomorrow.
B.He said he was a bit pressed for time, but that he would ring me the next day.
C.He said that he was in a bit of hurry and rang me the following day.
D.He said that he would ring me the next day as then he could.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following questions from 35 to 42.
It’s often said that we team things at the wrong time. University students frequently do the minimum of work because they’re crazy about a good social life instead. Children often scream before their piano practice because it’s so boring. They have to be given gold stars and medals to be persuaded to swim, or have to be bribed to take exams. But the story is different when you’re older.
Over the years, I’ve done my share of adult learning. At 30, I went to a college and did courses in History and English. It was an amazing experience. For starters, I was paying, so there was no reason to be late - I was the one frowning and drumming my fingers if the tutor was late, not the other way round. Indeed, if I could persuade him to linger for an extra five minutes, it was a bonus, not a nuisance. I wasn’t frightened to ask questions, and homework was a pleasure not a pain. When I passed an exam, I had a big meal, not for my parents or my teachers. The satisfaction I got was entirely personal.
Some people fear going back to school because they worry that their brains have got rusty. But the joy is that, although some parts have rusted up, your brain has learnt all kinds of other things since you were young. It has learnt to think independently and flexibly and is much better at relating one thing to another. What you lose in the rust department, you gain in the maturity department.
In some ways, age is a positive plus. For instance, when you’re older, you get less frustrated. Experience has told you that, if you’re calm and simply do something carefully again and again, eventually you’ll get the hang of it. The confidence you have in other areas - from being able to drive a car, perhaps - means that if you can’t, say, build a chair instantly, you don’t, like a child, want to destroy your first pathetic attempts. Maturity tells you that you will, with application, eventually get there.
I hated piano lessons at school, but I was good at music. And coming back to it, with a teacher who could explain why certain exercises were useful and with musical concepts that, at the age of ten. I could never grasp, was magical. Initially, I did feel a bit strange, thumping out a piece that I’d played for my school exams, with just as little comprehension of what the composer intended as I’d had all those years before. But soon, complex emotions that I never knew poured out from my fingers, and suddenly I could understand why practice makes perfect.
It is implied in the last paragraph that when you learn later in life, you _____.
A.should expect to take longer to learn than when you were younger
B.are not able to concentrate as well as when you were younger
C.can sometimes understand more than when you were younger
D.find that you can recall a lot of things you learnt when younger

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the underlined part that needs correction in each of the following questions.
The Green Garden Restaurant uses fresh produce (A) on their (B) dishes, much (C) of which the owners (D) grow in their own garden.
A.produce
B.their
C.much
D.the owners

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the underlined part that needs correction in each of the following questions.Nearly (A) chemical agents are harmful (B) to living tissues (C) if enough of them is taken (D).
A.Nearly
B.are harmful
C.living tissues
D.is taken

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the underlined part that needs correction in each of the following questions.
Albert Einstein was such brilliant (A) a scientist that many of his colleagues (B) had to study (C) for several years (D) in order to form opinions about his theories.
A.such brilliant
B.many of his colleagues
C.study
D.several years

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the sentence that is closest in meaning to each of the following questions.I would prefer you to deliver the sofa on Saturday.
A.I would like you delivering the sofa on Saturday.
B.I would rather you delivered the sofa on Saturday.
C.I wanted to know if you can deliver the sofa on Saturday.
D.I expected you delivering the sofa on Saturday.