Thi thử luyện thi đại học môn Anh, đề kiểm tra đầu vào (đề rút gọn)

His new work has enjoyed a very good review from critics and readers.

Such problems as haste and inexperience are a universal feature of youth.

We have lived there for years and grown fond of the surroundings. That is why we do not want to leave.

Commuting is the practice of travelling a long distance to a town or city to work each day, and then travelling home again in the evening. The word commuting comes from commutation ticket, a US rail ticket for repeated journeys, called a season ticket in Britain. Regular travellers are called commuters.

The US has many commuters. A few, mostly on the East Coast, commute by train or subway, but most depend on the car. Some leave home very early to avoid the traffic jams, and sleep in their cars until their office opens. Many people accept a long trip to work so that they can live in quiet bedroom communities away from the city, but another reason is ‘white flight’. In the 1960s most cities began to desegregate their schools, so that there were no longer separate schools for white and black children. Many white families did not want to send their children to desegregated schools, so they moved to the suburbs, which have their own schools, and where, for various reasons, few black people live.

Millions of people in Britain commute by car or train. Some spend two or three hours a day travelling, so that they and their families can live in suburbia or in the countryside. Cities are surrounded by commuter belts. Part of the commuter belt around London is called the stockbroker belt because it contains houses where rich business people live. Some places are becoming dormitory towns, because people sleep there but take little part in local activities.

Most commuters travel to and from work at the same time, causing the morning and evening rush hours, when buses and trains are crowded and there are traffic jams on the roads. Commuters on trains rarely talk to each other and spend their journey reading, sleeping or using their mobile phones, though this is not popular with other passengers. Increasing numbers of people now work at home some days of the week, linked to their offices by computer, a practice called telecommuting.

Cities in both Britain and the US are trying to reduce the number of cars coming into town each day. Some companies encourage car pooling (called car sharing in Britain), an arrangement for people who live and work near each other to travel together. Some US cities have a public service that helps such people to contact each other, and traffic lanes are reserved for car-pool vehicles. But cars and petrol/gas are cheap in the US, and many people prefer to drive alone because it gives them more freedom. In Britain many cities have park-and-ride schemes, car parks on the edge of the city from which buses take drivers into the centre.

Question 12: Which of the following definitions of commuting would the author of this passage most probably agree with?

The well-being of America’s rural people and places depends upon many things – the availability of good-paying jobs; (19)______ to critical services such as education, health care, and communication; strong communities; and a healthy natural environment. And, (20)______ urban America is equally dependent upon these things, the challenges to well-being look very different in rural areas than in urban areas. Small-scale, low-density settlement (21)______ make it more costly for communities and businesses to provide critical services. Declining jobs and income in the natural resource-based industries that many rural areas depend on (22)______ workers in those industries to find new ways to make a living. Low-skill, low-wage rural manufacturing industries must find new ways to challenge the increasing number of (23)______ competitors. Distance and remoteness impede many rural areas from being connected to the urban centers of economic activity. Finally, changes in the availability and use of natural resources located in rural areas (24)______ the people who earn a living from those resources and those who (25)______ recreational and other benefits from them.

Question 19: