Đề thi tuyển sinh hệ THPT Chuyên ngoại ngữ năm 2015 môn Tiếng Anh

(1) On the night of September 2, 1666, a fire broke out in a baker’s shop near Fish Street Hill in London. Before the flames were finally extinguished, nearty the entreaty had been reduced to ashes. Over thirteen thousand homes, fifty churches and numerous public buildings and hospitals were lost in the blaze. For all practical purposes, London was destroyed.

(4) The Great Fire was not seen as a total tragedy, however. The deplorable conditions of the city had been attacked by physicians and humanitarians for years before the fire; thus, with the opportunity dearly presented to create a shining new dty, artists and craftsmen from all over England hurried to submit their designs for the rebuilding of London.

Among those who submitted plans was Sir Christopher Wren, one of England’s leading architects and the (8) Surveyor of London. The task of rebuilding the city was given to him. Wren realized that the Great Fire would not have been so damaging if the city had been better laid out: broader streets were needed to replace the crooked, narrow alleys overhung with dilapidated wooden houses and shops. He also felt that redesigning the main thoroughfares of London would result in increased and more effective transportation within the city.

Shortly after Wren began working on his first drafts for the rebuilding. King Charles I issued a proclamation (11) prohibiting the construction of any house or shop within the city limits until after the plans were completed. When the plans were unveiled to the citizens of London, however, they were overwhelmingly rejected. The most vocal leaders of the opposition were the landlords, who feared that such a drastic widening of the streets would reduce the amount of land available for development.

(15) Winter was approaching; consequently, it was necessary for the rebuilding to proceed at once. Permission was, therefore, granted for the townspeople and landlords to commence reconstruction of their houses and shops at the sites where they had been before the fire. Had the need for immediate action not been so pressing, some kind of compromise could likely have been reached. This was not to be, however, and the ideas that could have (18) made London one of the world’s most beautiful cities never came to pass.

Son Doong Cave is in the heart of Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park in Quang Binh province of Central Vietnam. Only recently (51)……… in 2009-2010 by the British Cave Research Association, the cave has only been open to the (52)……… since 2013.

Fewer people have seen the inside of Son Doong Cave than have stood on the summit of Mount Everest. Join us on this otherworldly expedition and become one of the lucky few (53)……… have had the life changing experience of exploring the world’s largest cave.

Imagine trekking straight into the (54)……… of the world’s largest cave on an expedition unlike any other. A cave is (55)……… massive that a Boeing 747 could fly through its largest cavern. Foreign landscapes found (56) ……… else, enormous stalagmites rising from the ground and statuesque stalactites hanging from the celling like an alien species. Jungles emerge (57)……… the cave itself, which is so surreal that it’s worth seeing once. Misty clouds envelop the whole scene, a result of the cave’s own localised weather system. Passages adorned (58)……… ancient fossils offer evidence of the millions of years that have passed on this Earth.

As you approach the Jungle just outside the entrance, the (59) ………. of cool wind that cascades out brings to life everything inside of you. Hazy, cold and exhilarating, it is apparent that there’s (60)………. magical waiting just beyond the opening to the cave.