VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HOCHIMINH CITY Student’s Full Name: ________________________________

UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

Student ID: _______________________________________
FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE SKILLS Class Code: _______________________________________

Second-Degree Program
Instructor: ________________________________________

FINAL EXAMINATION
Course: Reading – Writing B2 (Reading)
Time Allotted: 70 minutes Exam Date: September 20, 2021

Approved by Proctors
Examiner(s) Score
(CBCT)

1. 1. In figures:

2. 2. In words:
Đặng Thị Vân Di

Notes: Materials and dictionaries of all kinds are NOT allowed.

Students write their answers on a separate blank sheet of paper.
TEST PAPER
PART 1 VOCABULARY (2 points)
Choose the lettered word or phrase that best completes each of the following sentences. (1 point)
1. Some people find that certain foods _________ their headaches.
A. make B. construct C. trigger D. pose
2. The cold weather in the European countries _________ a special challenge to shopper comfort.
A. posed B. regulated C. imposed D. made
3. The height of the water in the river _________ depending on the amount of rainfall each season.
A. transforms B. fluctuates C. restrains D. integrates
4. She intends to _________ the next ten years to her charitable work.
A. approach B. appreciate C. concentrate D. devote
5. Role-playing is a useful way of _________ real-life situations.
A. exposing B. encountering C. simulating D. distorting
6. The accident victim seemed to be fine, but the doctor wanted to run some tests to make sure there were
no _________ injuries.
A. internal B. obvious C. insightful D. visible
7. Taking action to defend yourself is a completely _________ reaction if you’re being attacked.
A. traditional B. rational C. dramatic D. visual
8. Newspaper readers are usually given a simplified and often _________ version of events.
A. displayed B. regulated C. constructed D. distorted
9. Each basket is designed to perform a specific_________, from carrying corn to holding babies.
A. function B. integrity C. expert D. drama
10. Restaurants are _________ at least once a year by Health Department officials.
A. transited B. relied C. inspected D. revised
Choose the lettered word or phrase that is closest in meaning to the underlined part in each of the
following sentences. (1 point)
11. We could just see the train approaching in the distance.
A. coming B. running C. driving D. reaching
12. She's doing the equivalent job in the new company but for more money.
A. acceptable B. similar C. different D. great
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 13. Just follow the signs to Bradford - it's very straightforward.
A. valid B. understandable C. easy D. unique
14. When you're working such long hours, it's inevitable that your marriage will start to suffer.
A. impossible B. arbitrary C. obvious D. unavoidable
th
15. The book gives a good insight into the lives of the poor in early 19 -century Europe.
A. understanding B. fantasy C. majority D. popularity
16. Now acknowledged as a leader, he commences a lifelong career of brutal military campaigns.
A. works B. begins C. facilitates D. does
17. The project is only in the initial phase, but it looks quite promising.
A. final B. middle C. beginning D. ending
18. X-rays revealed that my ribs had been cracked but not broken.
A. admitted B. concealed C. informed D. showed
19. The first draft of his novel needed a substantial amount of rewriting.
A. version B. regulation C. input D. revision
20. Legal advisers carefully revise the warnings on a regular basis to make sure they are up to date and
cover every possible problem.
A. pursue B. modify C. violate D. credit

PART 2 READING COMPREHENSION (8 points)

Read each passage and answer the questions below it.
PASSAGE 1 (2.4 points)
DAFFODILS EVERYWHERE
Two hundred years ago the English poet William Wordsworth wrote ‘I wander’d lonely as a cloud’, a poem
that expresses a basic spirit of early English Romanticism. It was Thursday, 15th April 1802. William and
Dorothy Wordsworth, the poet’s devoted, journal-writing sister, were walking home to Dove Cottage in the
Lake District. The wind was fierce, but the Wordsworth siblings were used to striding long distances in foul
weather. They were in the woods close to the water side when they first clapped eyes on a field of daffodils
‘fluttering and dancing in the breeze’.
What makes this poem an example of Romantic thinking? It isn’t just that Wordsworth chooses to write about
a natural scene: it is the way he describes the scene as if it had human emotions. For him, nature is not merely
a neutral mixture of scenery, colors, plants, rocks, soil, water and air. It is a living force that feels joys and
sadness, shares human pain and even tries to educate us human beings by showing us the beauty of life.
Wordsworth’s home, Dove Cottage, is now one of the most popular destinations in the Lake District. You can
go on a tour of the garden which William planted with wild flowers and which survived in his backyard even
after they disappeared from the area. ‘He always said that if he hadn’t been a poet, he would have been a
terrific landscape gardener,’ says Alan King of the Wordsworth trust, the organization that looks after the
cottage and gardens.
The Lake District in the north-west of England becomes particularly crowded during the summer months with
tourists and ramblers eager to enjoy the region’s majestic valleys, hills and sparkling lakes. Wordsworth
himself was far from keen on tourists, which was quite apparent. He wanted outsiders to admire the local
sights he enjoyed so much, but was afraid the district might be ‘damaged’ by too many visitors. He opposed
the coming of the trains, and campaigned in the 1840s against a plan to link the towns in the area – Kendal,
Windermere and Keswick – by rail.
The place near Ullswater, where Wordsworth saw the daffodils, is at the southernmost end of the lake. The
lake is wide and calm at this turning point. There’s a bay where the trees have had their soil eroded by lake
water so that their roots are shockingly exposed. You walk along from tree to tree, hardly daring to breathe,
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because you are walking in the footprints of William and Dorothy from two centuries ago. The first clumps
of daffodils appear, but they aren’t tall yellow trumpets proudly swaying in the breeze. They’re tiny wild
daffodils, most of them still green and unopened, in clumps of six or seven. They’re grouped around individual
trees rather than collecting together.
But as you look north, from beside a huge ancient oak, you realize this is what delighted the Wordsworth:
clump after clump of the things, spread out to left and right but coming together in your vision so that they
form a beautiful, pale-yellow carpet. What you’re seeing at last is nature transformed by human sight and
imagination. For a second, you share that revelation of Dorothy and William Wordsworth’s, the glimpse of
pantheism, the central mystery of English Romanticism.
1. According to the article, Wordsworth’s poem
A. started the Romantic movement.
B. was based on actual experience.
C. was written while he was visiting his sister.
D. was written after he had been lonely.
2. What was Wordsworth’s attitude to nature?
A. He believed nature had a character of its own.
B. He felt nature was human.
C. He thought nature was human.
D. He thought nature could talk to people.
3. We are told that Dove Cottage
A. has gardens designed by a landscape gardener.
B. has very old plants in the garden.
C. gets a lot of visitors.
D. has a large backyard.
4. What does which in the passage refer to
A. the number of tourists who come to the Lake District
B. Wordsworth’s desire for outsiders to admire the local sights
C. the fact that Wordsworth was keen on tourists from far away
D. Wordsworth’s dislike of tourists
5. What does the writer suggest by the phrase hardly daring to breathe?
A. You have to walk carefully here.
B. You can’t breathe because the atmosphere is suffocating.
C. You feel excited to be in this place.
D. You must concentrate to stay on the footpath.
6. In what way is the scene different from what Wordsworth described?
A. All the daffodils are green and small. C. The daffodils are fewer and smaller.
B. There are no daffodils by the lake. D. There are no daffodils around trees.
7. The writer implies that the poem describes
A. exactly what Wordsworth saw in detail.
B. the effect the daffodils had on Wordsworth.
C. what Wordsworth saw around an ancient oak.
D. clumps of daffodils on the left and on the right.
8. What does the writer think of Wordsworth as a poet?
A. He believes Wordsworth was an important figure in English culture.
B. He is critical of Wordsworth.
C. He believes Wordsworth was a sentimental person.
D. He disagrees with Wordsworth’s opinion about nature.
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PASSAGE 2 (1.6 points)
THE WORLD’S EXPANDING WAISTLINE
When the world was a simpler place, the rich were fat, the poor were thin, and people worried about how to
feed the hungry. Now, in much of the world, the rich are thin, the poor are fat, and people are worrying about
obesity.
Thanks to rising agricultural productivity, famine is rarer all over the globe. According to the UN, the number
of people short of food fell from 920m in 1980 to 799m in 2000, even though the world's population increased
by 1.5 billion over the period. But the consequence of this prosperity brings a new problem and with it a host
of interesting policy dilemmas.
Obesity is the world's biggest public-health issue today – the main cause of heart disease, which kills more
people these days than AIDS, malaria, war; the principal risk factor in diabetes; heavily implicated in cancer
and other diseases. Since the World Health Organization labeled obesity an 'epidemic' in 2000, there have
been many reports on its fearful consequences.
Will public-health warnings, combined with media pressure, persuade people to get thinner, just as they finally
put them off tobacco? There is now agreement among doctors that governments should do something to help.
Diet by command?
There's nothing new about the idea that governments should intervene in the food business. One of the earliest
examples was in 1202, when King John of England first banned the adulteration of bread. Governments and
people seem to agree that ensuring the safety and stability of the food supply is part of the state's job. But
obesity is a more complicated issue than food safety. It is not about ensuring that people don't get poisoned;
it is about changing their behavior. Should governments be trying to do anything about it at all?
There is a bad reason for doing something, and a couple of good ones. The bad reason is that governments
should help citizens look after themselves. People, the argument goes, are misled by their bodies, which are
constantly trying to store a few more calories in case of hunger in the near future. Governments should help
guide them towards better eating habits. But that argument is weaker in the case of food than it is for tobacco
– nicotine is addictive, chocolate is not – people have a choice of being sensible or silly. People should choose,
not governments.
Get them young?
A better argument for intervention is that dietary habits are established early in childhood. Once people get
fat, it is hard for them to get thin; once they are used to breakfasting on chips and Coke, it's hard to change.
The state, which has some responsibility for shaping young people, should try to ensure that its small citizens
aren't overdosing on sugar at primary school. Britain's government is talking about tough restrictions on
advertising junk food to children. It seems unlikely that it will have much effect. Sweden already bans
advertising to children, and its young people are as fat as those in comparable countries. Other moves, such
as banning junk food from schools, might work better.
The cost of obesity
A second plausible argument for intervention is that thin people subsidize fat people through health care. If
everybody is forced to pay for the seriously fat, then everybody has an interest in seeing them slim down. This
should not be a problem in insurance-financed health care systems, such as America's. Insurance companies
should be able to charge fat people more because they cost more. That leaves the question of what should
happen in a state-financed health system. Why not tax fattening food – sweets, snacks and takeaways? That
might discourage consumption of unhealthy food and also get back some of the costs of obesity.
It might; but it would also be too great an intrusion on liberty for the gain in equity and efficiency it might (or
might not) represent. Society has a legitimate interest in fat because fat and thin people both pay for it. But it

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also has a legitimate interest in not having the government interfere in people's private business. If people
want to eat their way to grossness and an early grave, let them.
Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (T).
9. Increasing world population has led to famine. _______
10. Obesity is one of the biggest killers in the world. _______
11. Doctors believe that governments cannot do anything to help with the problem. _______
12. Governments should try to prevent children from picking up bad eating habits. _______
13. Overweight people cost health systems more, and therefore should pay health insurance. _______
14. Banning advertisements of junk food aimed at children would change their eating habits. _______
15. Charging tax on some types of food would prevent people from eating those. _______
16. Everyone has a right to eat what they like and as much as they like. _______

PASSAGE 3 (4 points)
You are going to read an article in which four athletes talk about what they eat. For questions 17-26, choose
from the athletes (A-D). The athletes may be chosen more than once.
Which athlete ...
17. enjoys cooking but finds the planning difficult? _______
18. Has to carry food with him when training? _______
19. does not find it easy to eat before an event? _______
20. uses cooking as a way to relax? _______
21. sometimes allows himself certain food as a reward? _______
22. has seen a change in the diet of sports people? _______
23. once made the wrong decision about the food he ate? _______
24. says that people are unaware of what he actually eats? _______
25. says knowing what and when to eat is critical? _______
26. has had to change his diet with a change of sport? _______
SPORTS DIETS
Four athletes talk about what they eat.
A MARK
When I’m cycling on my own I stuff my pockets with bananas and protein bars. On the longest rides I'll
eat something every half an hour. For heavier training it's physically impossible to get enough energy from
food alone, so you do rely on energy drinks. One development in sports nutrition since I’ve been competing
is the focus on the importance of protein. Cycling is much more weight-orientated than the swimming I
used to do, which means I need to eat differently now. Protein feeds the muscles but keeps them as lean
as possible. I’ve been an athlete for 20 years so healthy eating is normal for me, but that’s not to say I
don’t get a tasty take-away meal from time to time. I’ve just learned to spot the meals that will provide
what I need. It’s simple things like steering clear of the creamy sauces and making sure I get lots of veg.

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B STEFAN
Everyone says: ‘As a runner you must be on a really strict diet. Do you only eat salad? Are you allowed
chocolate?’ But that’s really not the case. I’ve got salad and vegetables in my shopping trolley but there’s
always some chocolate in there, too. I do most of the cooking at home. On the morning of a competition,
I get so nervous I feel really sick. I have to force myself to have something so I’ll have enough energy to
perform well. Sometimes I get those days where I don't want to be so disciplined. You think: ‘I’ve trained
really hard, I deserve to have a pizza.’ It’s OK to have a little relapse every now and then but I can’t do it
every day or I’d be rolling round the track!

C GUY
For a gymnast, a kilo can make all the difference. But if you don’t eat enough you’ll be a bit shaky and
weak. It's all about eating the right amount, at the right time – two hours before you do anything. Breakfast
is fruit and if I’m a bit peckish, wholewheat toast and butter! I get to training for 12 pm, then break after
three hours for lunch – more fruit, a cheese and tomato sandwich. I’m back in the gym from 5 pm to 8 pm,
then I go to my Mum’s for steak and vegetables or chicken and salad. I don't tend to mix carbs with meat
late at night. I’m not the best cook, but I think it’s fun to do. I know how to make chicken from my mum’s
recipe, it just takes me a bit longer to get organized.

D TOMAS
It's definitely possible to eat delicious food and be a professional swimmer. I’ve always loved food so I’m
not going to be obsessive because you can get what you need and still enjoy every bite. I’m not really one
for endless protein shakes and energy drinks. Before a training session I’d rather have a banana. That’s
not to say I’m perfect. At the world championships I got my feeding strategy wrong – and I paid for it. For
my sport it’s what you eat two days before the competition that makes the difference. You have to ‘carb
load’ – eat piles of rice or pasta – and I didn’t. I was leading for a long way but I ended up 11th. My biggest
indulgence is pastry. And I love baking. I train for 33 hours a week so in my time off I need to rest, and
spending time in the kitchen is perfect. Swimming is my biggest passion but baking comes a close second.

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