DATE 27/3/2023

FOR GIFTED STUDENTS ENGLISH 8

PART B: PHONETICS.
I. Choose the word whose underlined part is pronounced differently from that of the others
1. A. surprise B. promise C. devise D. realise
2. A. health B. heal C. stealth D. dealt
3. A. hopeful B. postal C. local D. opposite
4. A. cherish B. chorus C. chaos D. scholar
5. A. southern B. account C. south D. amount

II. Find the word with the stress pattern different from that of the other three words in each question.
6. A. industry B. poisonous C. atmosphere D. awareness
7. A. generous B. extensive C. accomplish D. eternal
8. A. medicine B. decide C. distance D. patient
9. A arrangement B. relationship C. scientist D. improve
10. A. discount B. compile C. locator D. website
PART C: VOCABULARY AND GRAMMAR
I. Choose the right word or phrase to complete the sentences.
1. What Marilyn did at the party was certainly ______ bad taste.
A. of B. about C. in D. Under
2. Your room is messy. Please ______ as much junk as possible and clean it up.
A. get rid of B. make clean of C. drop a line D. stop over
3. Sorry, but that book is ______ . We’ll get some copies from the publisher next Monday.
A. out of print B. out of order C. off shelf D. out of stock
4. We ______ gas, so we have to wait until a car passes by.
A. gave out on B. ran out of C. walked out on D. disposed of
5. Politicians should never lose ______ of the needs of the people they represent.
A. view B. sight C. regard D. prospect
6. The move to a different environment had brought about a significant _ in Mary’s state of mind.
A. impact B. effect C. influence D. chance
7. She ______ regretted having been so unkind.
A. bitterly B. severely C. fully D. awfully
8. The color of the handle does not ______ so long as it is the right size.
A. worry B. affect C. matter D. concern
9. In some countries environmental organizations have been ______ to inform people and gain their support.
A. put up B. made up C. carried out D. set up
10. This clock ______ on two small batteries.
A. goes B. works C. runs D. moves.
11. ______ Jenny, everyone admires him for fine sense of humor.
A. Except for B. Apart C. Except D. Unless
12. After police found drugs there, the disco was ______
A. closed down B. banned C. ignored D. abolished
13. The injured man was taken to hospital and ______ for international injures.
A. cured B. healed C. operated D. treated.
14. According to the __ of the contract, tenants must give six months notice if they intend to leave.
A. laws B. rules C. terms D. details
15. Picasso was a ______ cubist painter.
A. artistic B. celebrated C. colorful D. knowledgeable.

By Ms Snow 1
II. There are 8 mistakes in the following passage. Find and correct them.
PREPARING A DINNER PARTY
Giving a dinner party is a wonderful way of entertain people. You can also make new friends and
give other the chance to get to know each other better.
It needs plan, though. First, make a guest list, with different kinds of people and a mixture of
women and men. Don’t invite couples because of they aren’t so much fun.
When you know that can come, find out what they like to eat and drink. Note down any who are
vegetarians, or who can’t eat or drink certain things for religious reasons.
Then plan their menu. Included a first course, a choice of main courses and a dessert, plus lots
of people’s favorite drinks.
The next thing to do is the shopping. Make sure you buy more than enough of everything, but
that someone can help you carry it!
On the day, start cooking early. Give people appetizers like Greek mezze or Spanish tapas,
such they don’t get hungry if they have to wait. Serve the delicious meal, sit down with your
guests and have a good time – you’ve earned them!
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III. Complete the following sentences by giving the correct form of the words in the blanks.
1. How are you getting on with your (CORRESPOND) ________________________ course in Russia?
2. What time do you (USE) ____________________ start work?
3. There was ice on the pavement, which made it very difficult to walk as it was so (SLIP)
____________________.
4. I could never be a teacher. I am far too (PATIENT) ____________________.
5. I don’t know what the matter with Tommy is lately. His (BEHAVE) ____________________ seem to be
getting worse and worse.
6. It is becoming (INCREASE) ____________________ difficult to find a job nowadays.
7. Why money can’t exactly buy you (HAPPY) __________________at least it helps you suffer in comfort.
PART D: READING
I. Choose the best answer from A, B, C or D to fill in the gaps in the following passage.
MUSIC - A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE
Music is universal - it is produced by all cultures. Some scientists believe that music came before
speech and (1) ______ as a development of mating calls. In fact, there is one theory that the (2)
______ languages were chanted or sung, rather than spoken. Indeed, in some cultures, music is a form of
(3) ______ history. The Aboriginal Australians, for example, use music as a means to (4) ______ on stories
of the land and spirits to the next generation.
New evidence suggests that music does not just (5) ______ the feel - good factor but it is also good for
the brain. A study of intellectually (6) ______ children showed that they could recall more information after it
was given to them in a song than after it was read to them as a story.
Researchers also report that people (7) ______ better on a standard intelligence test after
listening to Mozart. The so-called “Mozart effect” has also been (8) ______ by findings that rats
brought up on Mozart run faster through a complex network of paths or passages, (9) ______ as a
maze. Overall, it seems that in most instances people who suffer from any form of mental (10) ______
benefit from listening to music.
1. A. was B. swelled C. arose D. reacted
2. A. earliest B. newest C. easiest D. simplest
3. A. enjoying B. making C. recording D. stating
4. A. move B. pass C. hand D. happen

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5. A. convince B. satisfy C. please D. prefer
6. A. disabled B. inactive C. incapable D. disordered
7. A. examine B. prepare C. achieve D. score
8. A. supported B. given C. marked D. remembered
9. A. called B. heard C. regarded D. known
10. A. badness B. hurt C. illness D. pain
II. Read the following passage and choose the correct answer by circling the corresponding letter A,
B, C or D.
In Death Valley, California, one of the hottest, most arid places in North America, there is much salt,
and salt can damage rocks impressively. Inhabitants of areas elsewhere, where streets and highways are
salted to control ice, are familiar with the resulting rust and deterioration on cars. That attests to the
chemically corrosive nature of salt, but it is not the way salt destroys rocks. Salt breaks rocks apart principally
by a process called crystal prying and wedging. This happens not by soaking the rocks in salt water, but by
moistening their bottoms with salt water. Such conditions exist in many areas along the eastern edge of
central Death Valley. There, salty water rises from the groundwater table by capillary action through tiny
spaces in sediment until it reaches the surface.
Most stones have capillary passages that suck salt water from the wet ground. Death Valley provides
an ultra-dry atmosphere and high daily temperatures, which promote evaporation and the formation of salt
crystals along the cracks or other openings within stones. These crystals grow as long as salt water is
available. Like tree roots breaking up a sidewalk, the growing crystals exert pressure on the rock and
eventually pry the rock apart along planes of weakness, such as banding in metamorphic rocks, bedding in
sedimentary rocks, or preexisting or incipient fractions, and along boundaries between individual mineral
crystals or grains. Besides crystal growth, the expansion of halite crystals (the same as everyday table salt)
by heating and of sulfates and similar salts by hydration can contribute additional stresses. A rock durable
enough to have withstood natural conditions for a very long time in other areas could probably be shattered
into small pieces by salt weathering within a few generations.
The dominant salt in Death Valley is halite, or sodium chloride, but other salts, mostly carbonates and
sulfates, also cause prying and wedging, as does ordinary ice. Weathering by a variety of salts, though often
subtle, is a worldwide phenomenon. Not restricted to arid regions, intense salt weathering occurs mostly in
salt-rich places like the seashore, near the large saline lakes in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica, and in desert
sections of Australia, New Zealand, and central Asia.
1. What is the passage mainly about?
A. The destructive effects of salt on rocks.
B. The impressive salt rocks in Death Valley.
C. The amount of salt produced in Death Valley.
D. The damaging effects of salt on roads and highways.
2. The word "it" in bold refers to _______.
A. salty water B. groundwater table C. capillary action D. sediment
3. In paragraph 2, why does the author compare tree roots with growing salt crystals?
A. They both force hard surfaces to crack.
B. They both grow as long as water is available.
C. They both react quickly to a rise in temperature.
D. They both cause salty water to rise from the groundwater table.
4. The word "durable" in bold is closest in meaning to_________.
A. large B. strong C. flexible D. pressured
5. The word "shattered" in bold is closest in meaning to_________.
A. arranged B. dissolved C. broken apart D. gathered together
6. The word "dominant" in bold is closest in meaning to__________.
A. most recent B. most common C. least available D. least damaging

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7. According to the passage, which of the following is true about the effects of salts on rocks?
A. Only two types of salts cause prying and wedging.
B. Salts usually cause damage only in combination with ice.
C. A variety of salts in all kinds of environments can cause weathering.
D. Salt damage at the seashore is more severe than salt damage in Death Valley.
8. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about rocks that are found in areas where ice is
common?
A. They are protected from weathering.
B. They do not allow capillary action of water.
C. They show similar kinds of damage as rocks in Death Valley.
D. They contain more carbonates than sulfates.
III. Read the following passage and choose the most suitable heading from the list A-I
for each part (1-7) of the passage. There is one extra heading which you do not need to use. One
example has been done for you.

A. Indoor climbing is preferred

B. Early imperfections
C. Putting up with nature
D. Useful attachments
E. Something in common
F. The demand for indoor practice
G. The inventor of the wall
H. A lighter construction method
I. Watching the expert

GOING UP THE WALL

0 I
The crowd holds its breath. High above them on the climbing wall, hanging upside down by the tips of two
fingers, is the French climber Francois Lombard. He is competing in the World Cup Climbing Championships
at Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena.
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The National Indoor Arena is more famous for staging the TV show Gladiators, but the television programme
and the World Cup Climbing Championships share at least one feature - The Wall. And the fact that either
event is possible is the result of a new and rapidly developing technology.
2
Until the mid- 1960s, climbers practiced their skills on cliffs in areas where there was a plentiful supply of
good climbing angles. During the winter they would either tolerate the cold weather, go walking instead or
climb on snow and ice in Scotland.
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However, as the sport developed it was increasingly important for top climbers to keep fit. With the cliffs
unusable for much of the year, they used brick-edges or stone buildings to ‘work out’ on. This allowed them
to keep their fingers strong and beat off the boredom of not being able to climb. It wasn’t long before many
sports centre started building walls specifically for the task, using bricks with special edges to cling on to.
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Many of these early walls followed the example set by Don Robison, a teacher of physical education who,
during the mid- 1960s, constructed a climbing wall in corridor of his department at Leeds University. Robison
developed the idea of setting natural rock in a block of concrete, which could then be included in a wall.
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Scores of climbing walls of this kind were built in sports halls up and down the country throughout the 1970s
but they had obvious design problems. Walls could only be built in a vertical plane, whereas cliffs outside
have features like overhangs and angled slabs of rock. There was the added drawback that once the walls
were up they couldn’t be altered and climbers would eventually tire of their repetitive nature, despite thinking
of every combination of holds possible.
6
In 1985, a Frenchman, Francois Savigny, developed a material which he moulded into shapes like those that
climbers would find on the cliffs. These could be fixed onto any existing wall and then taken off when
climbers got bored with a particular combination.
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French manufactures also began to experiment with panels on steel framework. Concrete had proved too
heavy to create overhanging walls without major building work, but steel frames could be erected anywhere
as free - standing structures. A system of interchangeable fixtures gave climbers an endless supply of new
holds.
PART E: WRITING
I. Rewrite each of the following sentences in such a way that it has a similar meaning to the original
one. You must not change the word given.

1. There is no point in waiting any longer. He’s not going to come. (WORTH)
→ It ___________________________________________________________.
2. They said he wasn’t tall enough to play basketball in the national team. (TOO)
→ According ____________________________________________________.
3. The number of students applying for our scholarship has increased dramatically. (INCREASE)
→ There has ____________________________________________________.
4. “You broke my bicycle, Minh!” said Hoa. (ACCUSED)
→ Hoa _______________________________________________________.
5. He was so angry that he was lost for words. (ANGER)
→ Such was ____________________________________________________.
II. Write a paragraph within 150 words on the following topic.

“Social network sites like Facebook are not good for teenagers, especially students at lower
secondary schools.”
Do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
Use specific reasons and details to support your answer
THE END

By Ms Snow 5