(2024) Đề minh họa tham khảo BGD môn Tiếng Anh có đáp án (Đề 29)

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 questions from 31 to 35. 

The Chacaltaya ski area in Bolivia used to be the highest in the world. Although it was less than a kilometer long, it hosted international ski competitions. Today the snow has almost gone, and so have Chacaltaya’s days as a popular ski resort. 

The ski area sits upon a small mountain glacier, which was already getting smaller when the ski area opened in 1939. In the past ten years, however, the glacier has been melting at an increased rate. As the glacier melts, dark rocks beneath it are uncovered. The sun then heats the rocks, causing faster melting. Despite attempts to make snow with snow machines, this cycle seems unstoppable in the long run. 

As experts debate how to solve the global warming problem, ice in mountains such as Chacaltaya and near the North and South Poles is melting faster than even the most pessimistic? environmentalists may have once feared. Rising air and sea temperatures are two well-known causes, but researchers have recently discovered other unexpected processes that take place as glaciers melt. The effects are having an impact on humans even now, and they could change the face of the world in the future. 

The glaciers of the Himalayas and the Andes? could disappear in this century. As a result, the millions of people in India, Bolivia, and Peru who now depend on melting water from mountain glaciers could find themselves in a critical situation. The ice sheet of Greenland is also melting more quickly than scientists predicted. Greenland’s largest outlet glacier, the Jacobshavn Isbra glacier, is moving toward the sea twice as fast as it was in 1995. One cause could be meltwaters that runs down to the bottom of the glacier and gets between the ice and the rock below. This water makes it easier for the glacier to slide along to the ocean. 

Many ice researchers believe that Greenland’s melting, if it continues, will add at least three feet to global sea levels by the year 2100. If the ice sheet of Antarctica, now largely unaffected, begins to melt, the next few centuries could see a six-foot rise in sea levels, forcing tens of millions of people out of their homes. 

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 questions from 36 to 42.

By the year 2050, nearly 80% of the Earth’s population will live in urban centres. Applying the most conservative estimates to current demographic trends, the human population will increase by about three billion people by then. An estimated 109 hectares of new land (about 20% larger than Brazil) will be needed to grow enough food to feed them, if traditional farming methods continue as they are practised today. 

At present, throughout the world, over 80% of the land that is suitable for raising crops is in use. Historically, some 15% of that has been laid waste by poor management practices. The concept of indoor farming is not new, since hothouse production of tomatoes and other produce has been in vogue for some time. What is new is the urgent need to scale up this technology to accommodate another three billion people. Many believe an entirely new approach to indoor farming is required, employing cutting-edge technologies. One such proposal is for the ‘Vertical Farm’. The concept is of multi-storey buildings in which food crops are grown in environmentally controlled conditions. Situated in the heart of urban centres, they would drastically reduce the amount of transportation required to bring food to consumers. Vertical farms would need to be efficient, cheap to construct and safe to operate. If successfully implemented, proponents claim, vertical farms offer the promise of urban renewal, sustainable production of a safe and varied food supply (through year round production of all crops), and the eventual repair of ecosystems that have been sacrificed for horizontal farming. 

It took humans 10,000 years to learn how to grow most of the crops we now take for granted. Along the way, we despoiled most of the land we worked, often turning verdant, natural ecozones into semi-arid deserts. Within that same time frame, we evolved into an urban species, in which 60% of the human population now lives vertically in cities. This means that, for the majority, we humans have shelter from the elements, yet we subject our food-bearing plants to the rigours of the great outdoors and can do no more than hope for a good weather year. However, more often than not now, due to a rapidly changing climate, that is not what happens. Massive floods, long droughts, hurricanes and severe monsoons take their toll each year, destroying millions of tons of valuable crops. 

A major drawback of vertical farming, however, is that the plants would require artificial light. Without it, those plants nearest the windows would be exposed to more sunlight and grow more quickly, reducing the efficiency of the system. 

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks from 26 to 30.

Globalisation has affected most aspects of our lives. One area (26)_______ has changed is education. More and more people move to different countries for their studies. At the same time, more people stay at home and study by distance learning. It is now easy to learn without attending a college or university, or attending less often. ‘(27)_______ learning’ means studying partly in a traditional way in the classroom and partly online or via email. These changes also mean that there is now more interest in ‘lifelong learning’, the idea that we go on learning throughout our working lives and even into retirement. It is easy to attend ‘webinars’ or online seminars without being away from our offices. (28) _______ adults go back to college later in life because it is so easy to get a qualification without giving up work or disrupting family life. 

Different countries have benefitted from the globalisation of education in different ways. Many British, Australian and American universities run their (29)_______ programmes in countries throughout Asia, and many students, parents and employers feel this is a valuable opportunity. Students can get an internationally recognised degree at a much cheaper price than going abroad and (30)________ can improve their chances of getting a good job. At the same time, those in the countries providing world-class degrees also benefit. They have greater access to ideas and knowledge from all over the world and having international students enriches their universities.