WHAT IS THE LECTURE MAINLY ABOUT

1. What is the lecture mainly about?

A.

The birds in the South

B.

The food the birds prefer

C.

The reasons why birds migrate

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International University – VNU-HCMC, Official handbook for the English Test, page 12

D.

The places where birds can get food

Script:

Professor: Shall we continue with our next topic? I’d like to discuss bird migration now.

We all know that birds migrate South in winter and North in spring. “Does

anyone know why they do that?”

Student 1: They're looking for warmer weather, right?

Professor: Well … That's part of the reason. But there's another one, too. Anyone else?

Student 2: Uh, they're looking for food?

Professor:

Precisely.

Many scientists have researched bird migration and have come up

with their own theories on why birds migrate. Not all of them, uh, agree with

each other.

However,

there's one thing they all agree on:

Bird migration is

basically about finding food sources.

Of course, there are other reasons.

For

instance, birds need to reach warmer climates to avoid freezing.

Also, they need

safe places, uh, to breed. There are other theories, too. But, when you get down

to it, birds migrate because of food. It's the driving force behind them flying,

in some cases, thousands of miles.

So,

what happened to the food in the places the birds were before they

migrated? Well, think about it. As winter comes, most vegetation dies. The

ground freezes, and, in many places, there's snow on the ground. This makes

foraging hard or even impossible. Simply put, finding food becomes incredibly

difficult. However, when birds head south, they go to places that are warm even

in winter. Therefore,

there are more,

uhm, sources of food for them. This

provides them with nourishment and decreases their chances of starving. As for

the few birds that, for whatever reason, fail to migrate, many actually succumb

to starvation.

Student 2: Are there really no food sources in northern climes during winter?

Professor: Well, sure,

there are some.

But remember that the amount of food available

decreases. As a result, many animals compete for dwindling amounts of food.

What happens is that some birds can find food while most others cannot.

International University – VNU-HCMC, Official handbook for the English Test, page 13

Therefore, most birds avoid this issue by migrating to places with an abundance

of food.

The answer is (C) After introducing the topic of the lesson “I’d like to discuss bird migration

now”, the professor asks a question to brainstorm” Does anyone know why they do that?”,

then he discusses the reasons why birds migrate “ because of food…. avoid freezing….need

safer place to breed”

International University – VNU-HCMC, Official handbook for the English Test, page 14

VI. THE SAMPLE ENGLISH TEST

I.

READING SECTION

VOCABULARY AND GRAMMAR (Questions 01 – 20)

Directions: Each of the following sentences contains a blank. From the four choices given,

select the one that can be inserted in the blank to either form a grammatically correct

sentence or to be the most appropriate to the meaning of the context. Then, fill in the

corresponding circle on the answer sheet.