Đề thi vào lớp 10 môn Tiếng Anh hệ THPT Chuyên Ngoại Ngữ - ĐH Quốc Gia Hà Nội năm 2015

(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.

(5) 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 (10) 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
(15) 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.

(20) 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 (25) have made London one of the world's most beautiful cities never came to pass.