Đề thi thử THPT Quốc gia môn Tiếng Anh năm 2016 Sở GD-ĐT Bình Phước

It was once believed that being overweight was healthy, but nowadays few people subscribe to this viewpoint. While many people are fighting the battle to reduce weight, studies are being conducted concerning the appetitle and how it is controlled by both emotional and biochemical factors. Some of the conclusions of these studies may give insights into how to deal with weight prolems. For example, when several hundred people were asked about their eating habits in times of stress, 44 percent said they reacted to stressful situations by eating. Further investigations with both humans and animals indicated that it is not food which relieves tension but rather the act of chewing.

A test in which subjects were blindfolded showed that obese people have a keener sense of taste and crave more flavorful food than non-obese people. When deprived of the variety and intensity of tastes, obese peole are not satisfied and consequently eat more to fulfill this need. Blood samples taken from people after they were shown a picture of food revealed that overweight people reacted with an increase in blood insulin, a chemical associated with appetite. This did not happen to average-weight people.

In another experiment, results showed that certain people have a specific, biologically induced hunger for carbohydrates. Eating carbohydrates raise the level of serotonin, a neurotransmitter in the brain. Enough serotonin produces a sense of satiation, and hunger for carbohydrates subsides.

Exercise has been recommended as an important part of a weight-loss program. However, it has been found that mild exercise, such as using the stairs instead of the elevator, is better in the long run than taking on a strenuous program, such as jogging, which many people find difficult to continue over long periods of time and which also increases appetite.

(Adapted from Cambridge Preparation for the TOEFL Test by Jolene Gear)

We are using up the world’s petroleum. We use (23) _______ in our cars and to heat our building in winter. Farmers use petrochemicals to (24) _______ the soil rich. They use them to kill insects (25) _______ eat plants. These chemicals go (26) _______ rivers and lakes and kill the fish there. Thousands of pollutants also go into the air and pollute it. Winds carry this (27) _______ air to other countries and other continents.

Poor farmers use the same land over and (28) _______ The land needs a rest so it will be better next year. However, the farmers must have food this year. Poor people cut down forests (29) _______ firewood. In some areas when the trees are gone, the land (30) _______ desert. Poor people can’t save the environment for the (31) _______.

This is not a problem for one country or one area of the world. It is a problem for all- humans. The people and the nations of the world must work together to (32) _______ the world’s resources.

May 7, 1840, was the birthday of one of the most famous Russian composers of the nineteenth century Peter Illich Tchaikovsky. The son of a mining inspector, Tchaikovsky studied music as a child and later studied composition at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. His greatest period of productivity occurred between 1876 and 1890, during which time he enjoyed the patronage of Madame von Meck, a woman he never met, who gave him a living stipend of about $1,000.00 a year. Madame von Meck later terminated her friendship with Tchaikovsky, as well as his living allowance, when she, herself, was facing financial difficulties. It was during the time of Madame von Meck's patronage, however, that Tchaikovsky created the music for which he is most famous, including the music for the ballets of Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty.

 Tchaikovsky's music, well known for its rich melodic and sometimes melancholy passages, was one of the first that brought serious dramatic music to dance. Before this, little attention had been given to the music behind the dance. Tchaikovsky died on November 6, 1893, ostensibly of cholera, though there are now some scholars who argue that he committed suicide.