Bài Tập Trắc Nghiệm Chuyên Đề: Ý chính toàn bài đọc (Tiếng Anh Lớp 10, 11, 12)

American jazz is a mixture of sounds borrowed from such varied sources as American and African folk music, European classical music, and Christian gospel songs. One of the recognizable characteristics of jazz is its use of improvisation: certain parts of the music are written out and played the same way by various performers, and other improvised parts are created spontaneously during a performance and vary widely from performer to performer.
The earliest form of jazz was ragtime, lively songs or rags performed on the piano, and the best- known of the ragtime performers and composers was Scott Joplin. Born in 1868 to former slaves, Scott Joplin earned his living from a very early age playing the piano in bars along the Mississippi. One of his regular jobs was in the Maple Leaf Club in Sedalia, Missouri. It was there that he began writing the more than 500 compositions that he was to produce, the most famous of which was "The Maple Leaf Rag."

In the first half of the nineteenth century, the U.S. government decided that it needed to set up a system for protecting its coastline. It then began building a series of forts along the coast of the eastern part of the country to facilitate its defenses.
The largest of these forts was Fort Jefferson, which was begun in 1846. This fort was built on Garden Key, one of a cluster of small coral islands 70 miles west of Key West. At the time of its construction Fort Jefferson was believed to be of primary strategic importance to the United States because of its location at the entryway to became known as the the Gulf of Mexico. Because of its location at the entrance to a great body of water, Gibraltar of the Gulf, in reference to the island located at the mouth of the Mediterranean. The fort itself was a "massive" structure. It was hexagonal in shape, with 8- foot-thick walls, and was surrounded by a medieval-style moat for added security. Covering most of the Garden Key, "it" was approximately half a mile in circumference.
In the latter half of the nineteenth century, during the Civil War and its aftermath, the fort was used as a prison rather than a military installation. The most notorious of its prisoners was Dr. Samuel Mudd, a physician who was the most probably innocently involved in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. The actual assassin, John Wilkes Booth, broke his leg as he left from the stage of the Ford Theater during the assassination. Dr. Mudd set Booth's broken leg, unaware of Booth's involvement in the assassination. As a result of this action, Dr. Mudd was sentenced to life in prison and remanded to Fort Jefferson. He was pardoned after only four years because of his courageous efforts in combating an epidemic of "yellow fever" that ravaged the fort.
Continuous use of Fort Jefferson ended in the 1870s, although the U.S. Navy continued with sporadic use of it into the twentieth century. Today, the massive ruins still remain on the tiny island that stands guard over the entrance to the gulf, undisturbed except for the occasional sightseer who ventures out from the coast to visit.

Becoming a teacher demands not only knowledge in an academic field but also a personal commitment to lifelong learning, and enthusiasm for sharing knowledge with other people. To become one of those noble educators in the USA, one has to satisfy several basic requirements.

First and foremost, it is a prerequisite to have bachelor's degree in education. In the event that a candidate already has a bachelor's degree in another field, a teacher preparation program is needed. But that is not all. Almost every school in the USA understands that real classroom teaching experience is a vital part of a teacher's training. Before taking over a class, a person typically needs to complete a training program, including working as a supervised student teacher.

People who want to become university teachers need master's degrees. Getting a master's degree is a necessity, but if it is gained too early, there may be concerns that the candidate lacks the real-world experience to go with it. One wise solution to the issue is for future post graduates to start working as teachers before going on to gain their master's degree.

Besides knowledge and experience, certain personal qualities are also required. A teacher should be positive, prepared, focused, and most importantly, patient. Being a teacher involves being aware of the fact that learning sometimes means hard work, even for the most motivated students. Also, teaching can at times be tiring and frustrating, so teaching candidates have to practice being patient with themselves. In short, as in other careers, teaching requires a combination of qualifications, experience, and personal qualities. Teaching candidates meeting mandatory requirements are always in demand in the USA.

Basic to any understanding of Canada in the 20 years after the Second World War is the country's impressive population growth. For every three Canadians in 1945, there were over five in 1966. In September 1966 Canada's population passed the 20 million mark. Most of this surging growth came from natural increase. The depression of the 1930s and the war had held back marriages, and the catching-up process began after 1945. The baby boom continued through the decade of the 1950s, producing a population increase of nearly fifteen percent in the five years from 1951 to 1956. This rate of increase had been exceeded only once before in Canada's history, in the decade before 1911, when the prairies were being settled. Undoubtedly, the good economic conditions of the 1950s supported a growth in the population, but the expansion also derived from a trend toward earlier marriages and an increase in the average size of families. In 1957 the Canadian birth rate stood at 28 per thousand, one of the highest in the world.

After the peak year of 1957, the birth rate in Canada began to decline. It continued falling until in 1966 it stood at the lowest level in 25 years. Partly this decline reflected the low level of births during the depression and the war, but it was also caused by changes in Canadian society. Young people were staying at school longer, more women were working; young married couples were buying automobiles or houses before starting families; rising living standards were cutting down the size of families. It appeared that Canada was once more falling in step with the trend toward smaller families that had occurred all through the Western world since the time of the Industrial Revolution.

Although the growth in Canada's population had slowed down by 1966 (the increase in the first half of the 1960s was only nine percent), another large population wave was coming over the horizon. It would be composed of the children of the children who were born during the period of the high birth rate prior to 1957.

As any student can tell you, sometimes it takes a lot of work and effort to commit information to memory before a big exam. However, some other events, details, and experiences enter our memory with little or no effort. For example, you might hear a catchy song on the radio once and still remember its tune days or weeks later. So why does it seem like some things are so difficult to remember and other things so easy? What's the difference?
When you're trying to intentionally remember something (like a formula for your statistics class or a list of dates for your history class), this information is stored in your explicit memory. People use these memories every day, from remembering information for a test to recalling the date and time of a doctor's appointment. There are two types of explicit memory: episodic memory, which is your long-term memories of specific events, like what you did yesterday or your high school graduation, and semantic memory, which is memories of facts, concepts, names, and other general knowledge.
Things that people don't have to purposely try to remember are stored in implicit memory. This kind of memory is both unconscious and unintentional. Some examples of implicit memory include singing a familiar song, typing on your computer keyboard, and brushing your teeth. Riding a bike is another example. Even after going years without riding one, most people who have already learned how to ride a bike are able to hop on and ride it effortlessly without thinking consciously.
These two major types of memory play important roles in shaping your ability to recall pieces of information and interact with things in your environment. Knowing some of the major differences between them is important for understanding how memory works.
(Adapted from verywellmind.com)

The relationship between Britain and the US has always been a close one. Like all close relationships it has had difficult times. The US was first a British colony, but between 1775 and 1783 the US fought a war to become independent. The US fought the British again in the War of 1812.
In general, however, the two countries have felt closer to each other than to any other country, and their foreign policies have shown this. During World War I and World War II, Britain and the US supported each other. When the US looks for foreign support, Britain is usually the first country to come forward and it is sometimes called “the 51st state of the union”.
But the special relationship that developed after 1945 is not explained only by shared political interests. An important reason for the friendship is that the people of the two countries are very similar. They share the same language and enjoy each other's literature, films and television. Many Americans have British ancestors, or relatives still living in Britain. The US government and political system is based on Britain's, and there are many Anglo-American businesses operating on both sides of the Atlantic. In Britain some people are worried about the extent of US influence, and there is some jealousy of its current power. The special relationship was strong in the early 1980s when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister in Britain and Ronald Reagan was President of the US.
(Adapted from Background to British and American Cultures)

There are two basic types of glaciers, those that flow outward in all directions with little regard for any underlying terrain and those that are confined by terrain to a particular path.
The first category of glaciers includes those massive blankets that cover whole continents, appropriately called ice sheets. There must be over 50,000 square kilometers of land covered with ice for the glacier to qualify as an ice sheet, when portions of an ice sheet spread out over the ocean, they form ice shelves. About 20,000 years ago the Cordilleran Ice sheet covered nearly all the mountains in southern Alaska, western Canada, and the western United States. It was about 3 kilometers deep at its thickest point in northern Alberta. Now there are only two sheets left on Earth, those covering Greenland and Antarctica. Any domelike body of ice that also flows out in all directions but covers less than 50,000 square kilometers is called an ice cap. Although ice caps are rare nowadays, there are a number in northeastern Canada, on Baffin Island, and on the Queen Elizabeth Islands.
The second category of glaciers includes those of a variety of shapes and sizes generally called mountain or alpine glaciers. Mountain glaciers are typically identified by the landform that controls their flow. One form of mountain glacier that resembles an ice cap in that it flows outward in several directions is called an ice field. The difference between an ice field and an ice cap is subtle. Essentially, the flow of an ice field is somewhat controlled by surrounding terrain and thus does not have the domelike shape of a cap. There are several ice fields in the Wrangell. St. Elias, and Chugach mountains of Alaska and northern British Columbia.
Less spectacular than large ice fields are the most common types of mountain glaciers: the cirque and valley glaciers. Cirque glaciers are found in depressions in the surface of the land and have a characteristic circular shape. The ice of valley glaciers, bound by terrain, flows down valleys, curves around their corners, and falls over cliffs.

There are two basic types of glaciers, those that flow outward in all directions with little regard for any underlying terrain and those that are confined by terrain to a particular path.
The first category of glaciers includes those massive blankets that cover whole continents, appropriately called ice sheets. There must be over 50,000 square kilometers of land covered with ice for the glacier to qualify as an ice sheet, when portions of an ice sheet spread out over the ocean, they form ice shelves.
About 20,000 years ago the Cordilleran Ice sheet covered nearly all the mountains in southern Alaska, western Canada, and the western United States. It was about 3 kilometers deep at its thickest point in northern Alberta. Now there are only two sheets left on Earth, those covering Greenland and Antarctica. Any domelike body of ice that also flows out in all directions but covers less than 50,000 square kilometers is called an ice cap. Although ice caps are rare nowadays, there are a number in northeastern Canada, on Baffin Island, and on the Queen Elizabeth Islands.
The second category of glaciers includes those of a variety of shapes and sizes generally called mountain or alpine glaciers. Mountain glaciers are typically identified by the landform that controls their flow. One form of mountain glacier that resembles an ice cap in that it flows outward in several directions is called an ice field. The difference between an ice field and an ice cap is subtle. Essentially, the flow of an ice field is somewhat controlled by surrounding terrain and thus does not have the domelike shape of a cap. There are several ice fields in the Wrangell. St. Elias, and Chugach mountains of Alaska and northern British Columbia.
Less spectacular than large ice fields are the most common types of mountain glaciers: the cirque and valley glaciers. Cirque glaciers are found in depressions in the surface of the land and have a characteristic circular shape. The ice of valley glaciers, bound by terrain, flows down valleys, curves around their corners, and falls over cliffs.

Harvard University, today recognized as part of the top echelon of the world's universities, came from very inauspicious and humble beginning.
This oldest of American universities was founded in 1636, just sixteen years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. Included in the Puritan emigrants to the Massachusetts colony during this period were more than 100 graduates of England's prestigious Oxford and Cambridge universities, and these universities graduates in the New Word were determined that their sons would have the same educational opportunities that they themselves had had. Because of this support in the colony for an institution of higher learning, the General Court of Massachusetts appropriated 400 pounds for a college in October of 1636 and early the following year decided on a parcel of land for the school; this land was in an area called Newetowne which was later renamed Cambridge after its English cousin and is the site of the present-day university.
When a young minister named John Harvard, who came from the neighboring town of Charlestowne, died from tuberculosis in 1638, he willed half of his estate of 1,700 pounds to the fledgling college. In spite of the fact that only half of the bequest was actually paid, the General Court named the college after the minister in appreciation for what he had done. The amount of the bequest may not have been large, particularly by today's standard, but it was more than the General Court had found it necessary to appropriate in order to open the college.
Henry Dunster was appointed the first president of Harvard in 1640, and it should be noted that in addition to serving as president, he was also the entire faculty, with an entering freshmen class of four students. Although the staff did expand somewhat, for the first century of its existence the entire teaching staff consisted of the president and three or four tutors.
(Source: https://www.examenglish.com/TOEFL/TOEFL_reading1.htm&ved)

The Japanese love inventing and they are very good at it. But there is one inventor who has invented more things than anyone else in Japan - Dr. Nakamats. He has designed over 4,000 new inventions over the last fifty years. He is most well-known for his unusual inventions. He designed many strange things such as glasses which look like eyes so you can’t notice them, shoes which have steel springs so that you can jump in them, and a pillow which stops you from falling asleep when you are driving. How does he come up with these ideas? He finds listening to Beethoven helpful. But the thing that makes him most creative is holding his breath underwater. He dives into his swimming pool every day and stays underwater as long as he can. He believes that less oxygen in the brain is good for new ideas. He also dives with a pencil and a notebook which he invented. He needs to write down his ideas immediately in the water because they disappear quickly. Dr. Nakamats believes that eating the right food is important for creativity, and he has invented some snacks that he says are good for your brain. He has also invented an armchair which helps to enhance your brainpower. He sits in the chair every day to give him more good ideas. Dr. Nakamats is now in his eighties, but he plans to live until he is 144 years old, so he still has plenty of time to develop even more new ideas.

Action movies are exciting and a lot of fun to watch, but they also involve scenes of great risk and danger. In the language of filmmaking, dangerous actions are called stunts. Who performs these stunts? This work is too dangerous for regular actors. Movie companies usually hire special stunt people to stand in for the actors in scenes that are unsafe. Movie producers don't like to let actors do their own stunt work. If the actors injure themselves, it can delay the production schedule. Using stunt people also saves time. Most stunt people have years of experience, which enables them to perform their stunts with a minimum of risk. It would take too long to train the actors to perform dangerous scenes safely. Some people who love the thrill of dangerous sports such as skydiving or rock climbing think it would be easy to work as a stunt person. But it isn’t enough to be a risk-taker. Stunt performers also have to know what to do if anything goes wrong. In addition to risk-taking and meticulous attention to detail and planning, stunt work requires being in top physical condition. Although there are a few training programmes for stunt performers, most provide only an overview of the profession. Normally, the people who attend these programmes already have experience in dangerous sports, rescue work, or the military. So the best way to prepare for a career in stunt work is to train in an area that involves strong physical conditioning and has an element of physical danger. Modern filmmaking techniques have changed the way some dangerous scenes are filmed. For example, computer-generated images make it possible to show stunts that would be too dangerous or expensive for real stunt people to perform. Computer-generated images are often used today to create big fight scenes, car crashes, and explosions. However, they are not always the best choice. Many audiences want to see real people perform actual stunts. Also, the rising popularity of made-for-TV movies around the world ensures that there is still plenty for stunt people in the film industry.

Device-centred communication has become almost universal over the past twenty years. More than three quarters of people in the world now own a mobile device, and more than half communicate via social networking. It is now hard to imagine a world without mobile devices consisting of such things as mobile phones, laptops and tablets. They allow us to stay in touch with a large network of friends, no matter where they are. But many experts say that communicating with a device is nothing like talking with someone in person. “Body language, eye contact and tone of voice can tell us so much,” psychologist Mary Peters says. “And none of those exist on a device. Even video chat removes many subtle clues.” We don’t know to what extent these technologies will permanently change the way people interact. People will always want to meet up with others in small and large groups. Indeed, it is fair to say that social media makes it easier than ever before for people to organise social events. However, there is still a danger that device-centred communication may have a negative long-term impact on the way people interact with each other on a day-to-day basis. We must not, therefore, lose sight of the need to focus on the actual people around us, and remember that they deserve our real – not virtual – attention. The idea of a culture where people always have a screen between them sounds a bit funny, because deep understanding comes when we see the reactions on other people’s faces.

Action movies are exciting and a lot of fun to watch, but they also involve scenes of great risk and danger. In the language of filmmaking, dangerous actions are called stunts. Who performs these stunts? This work is too dangerous for regular actors. Movie companies usually hire special stunt people to stand in for the actors in scenes that are unsafe. Movie producers don't like to let actors do their own stunt work. If the actors injure themselves, it can delay the production schedule. Using stunt people also saves time. Most stunt people have years of experience, which enables them to perform their stunts with a minimum of risk. It would take too long to train the actors to perform dangerous scenes safely. Some people who love the thrill of dangerous sports such as skydiving or rock climbing think it would be easy to work as a stunt person. But it isn’t enough to be a risk-taker. Stunt performers also have to know what to do if anything goes wrong. In addition to risk-taking and meticulous attention to detail and planning, stunt work requires being in top physical condition. Although there are a few training programmes for stunt performers, most provide only an overview of the profession. Normally, the people who attend these programmes already have experience in dangerous sports, rescue work, or the military. So the best way to prepare for a career in stunt work is to train in an area that involves strong physical conditioning and has an element of physical danger. Modern filmmaking techniques have changed the way some dangerous scenes are filmed. For example, computer-generated images make it possible to show stunts that would be too dangerous or expensive for real stunt people to perform. Computer-generated images are often used today to create big fight scenes, car crashes, and explosions. However, they are not always the best choice. Many audiences want to see real people perform actual stunts. Also, the rising popularity of made-for-TV movies around the world ensures that there is still plenty for stunt people in the film industry.

Device-centred communication has become almost universal over the past twenty years. More than three quarters of people in the world now own a mobile device, and more than half communicate via social networking. It is now hard to imagine a world without mobile devices consisting of such things as mobile phones, laptops and tablets. They allow us to stay in touch with a large network of friends, no matter where they are. But many experts say that communicating with a device is nothing like talking with someone in person. “Body language, eye contact and tone of voice can tell us so much,” psychologist Mary Peters says. “And none of those exist on a device. Even video chat removes many subtle clues.” We don’t know to what extent these technologies will permanently change the way people interact. People will always want to meet up with others in small and large groups. Indeed, it is fair to say that social media makes it easier than ever before for people to organise social events. However, there is still a danger that device-centred communication may have a negative long-term impact on the way people interact with each other on a day-to-day basis. We must not, therefore, lose sight of the need to focus on the actual people around us, and remember that they deserve our real – not virtual – attention. The idea of a culture where people always have a screen between them sounds a bit funny, because deep understanding comes when we see the reactions on other people’s faces.