Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the option that...

Read the following introduction and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the option that best fits each of the numbered blanks from 7 to 12.

QUIET INFLUENCE, LASTING CHANGE

Not all inspiration is obvious

We often think inspiration comes from famous speeches or impressive achievements. In fact, some of the most valuable lessons grow out of quiet observation. A parent’s devotion to work, a classmate’s determination, or a friend’s steady effort can leave a deep (7) __________ on us, even when they never mean to inspire anyone.

Learning without being taught

Many people begin to change after noticing how (8) __________ stay patient, focused, and determined in difficult times. Without realizing it, they may (9) __________ these habits in daily life. Such influence is often more inspiring than public praise because it is based on genuine effort, self-discipline, and the respect it earns. The (10) __________ of admiration we feel usually grows from repeated actions rather than dramatic words. In this way, silent examples can contribute to personal growth, a stronger sense of purpose, and greater personal (11) __________. (12) __________ others do their duty and keep trying, we may slowly become more responsible ourselves.

Question 7: A. shelter        B. surgery        C. impression        D. diary

Question 8: A. another        B. the other        C. other        D. others

Question 9: A. give up        B. pick up        C. turn down        D. carry out

Question 10: A. number        B. bunch        C. amount        D. plenty

Question 11: A. admiration        B. popularity        C. determination        D. account

Question 12: A. Watching        B. Watched        C. To watch        D. Watch

Mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the best arrangement of utterances or sentences to make a cohesive and coherent exchange or text in each of the following questions from 13 to 17.

Question 13:

a. Nam: Right, and she later became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner.

b. Nam: I find Malala Yousafzai inspiring because she kept speaking up for girls’ education.

c. Linh: I do too. She even wrote a diary when schools in her area were under threat.

A. a – c – b        B. b – c – a        C. c – b – a        D. b – a – c

Question 14:

a. Mai: Because she turned personal difficulties into practical advice, which makes students feel understood.

b. Khoa: That explains it. Our counselor even shared her video in the class group chat.

c. Mai: I watched a clip about Temple Grandin last night. Her ideas on autism and animal welfare were impressive.

d. Mai: Yes, and it helped me see that different ways of thinking can still lead to success.

e. Khoa: I know her name, but why do so many teachers mention her in life-skills lessons?

A. c – a – e – b – d        B. e – c – b – a – d        C. c – e – a – b – d        D. e – a – c – d – b

Question 15:

Dear Ms Alvarez,

How have you been? I hope your work is going well.

a. I recently failed an important interview, and since then I have found it hard to trust my own ability again.

b. I admire you not only for your success now, but also for the honest way you once spoke about failure in a podcast.

c. If you have time, could you share how you rebuilt your confidence and stayed determined when things were not going well?

d. Even small advice from your personal account would mean a lot because I am trying not to give up on my goals.

e. That is why I finally decided to write this letter instead of keeping everything in my diary.

Best,

Huy

A. a – b – e – c – d        B. b – e – a – c – d        C. b – a – e – c – d        D. b – a – c – e – d

Question 16:

a. What I admire most in truly influential people is their refusal to become objects of pity, as they choose instead to contribute ideas and speak for access, dignity, and change.

b. Many of them begin in conditions that seem deeply limiting, yet they find ways to learn, communicate, and grow through patience and support.

c. In that sense, influence may have less to do with visibility than with the quiet ability to reshape how other people think about struggle, worth, and contribution.

d. The people who influence me most are not always those with fame or public attention, but those who keep turning learning into action in the face of difficulty.

e. What starts as a private breakthrough in their own lives often grows into something larger, such as teaching, advocacy, or practical support for others.

A. d – e – b – a – c        B. d – b – e – a – c        C. b – d – a – e – c        D. d – a – c – b – e

Question 17:

a. Because of that method, his success seemed less like magic and more like the result of preparation, respect for people, and devotion to a larger national purpose.

b. During difficult years of resistance, he did not rely only on courage; he studied conditions carefully, listened to different reports, and made determined choices instead of dramatic ones.

c. Many people remember General Vo Nguyen Giap as a military genius and national hero, yet what inspires me most is the discipline behind that reputation.

d. His example reminds me that influential people are not admired only for victory; they are admired when their intelligence helps a nation resist fear and move forward with dignity.

e. Before becoming famous, he worked as a teacher, and that background may explain why his leadership combined clear vision with the ability to educate and persuade others.

A. c – b – e – a – d        B. e – c – b – a – d        C. c – e – b – a – d        D. c – e – a – b – d

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the option that best fits each of the numbered blanks from 18 to 22.

Genius is one of the most admired ideas in the world today. When people read about famous scientists, writers, or inventors, they often assume that such individuals were simply born extraordinary. Yet many personal accounts suggest a more inspiring truth. Great achievement is often the result of discipline, repeated effort, and the determination to keep going after failure. Remarkable figures (18) __________. Their stories continue to impress young people because they show that success is not always the product of natural brilliance alone.

In many fields, genius is better understood through effort than through mystery. Great achievers are people (19) __________. They spend years studying, making mistakes, revising their ideas, and strengthening their skills. Many students feel discouraged when progress is slow, but the lives of respected figures suggest that steady growth is often part of meaningful success. (20) __________. That is why perseverance deserves as much admiration as talent.

The belief that effort can shape genius has changed the way many people think about success. Built through patience and long-term devotion, real achievement is often less sudden and more demanding than it first appears. (21) __________. By learning to value persistence, young people can become more confident and more committed to their own ambitious goals. When understood in this way, (22) __________.

Question 18:

A. having been remembered not only for their talent but also for the effort behind their success

B. are often remembered not only for their talent but also for the effort behind their success

C. that are often remembered not only for their talent but also for the effort behind their success

D. of which are often remembered not only for their talent but also for the effort behind their success

Question 19:

A. devote themselves to improvement only after success has already appeared naturally

B. of whom success is often explained by the effort they devote to learning over time

C. whose success is often built through years of learning, failure, and determined self-improvement

D. having built their success through years of learning, failure, and determined self-improvement

Question 20:

A. Therefore, truly impressive success usually depends on habits that are formed long before achievement becomes visible

B. In addition, many schools now provide students with wider access to technology and academic support

C. However, some successful people prefer to keep their struggles private rather than turn them into public stories

D. For this reason, natural intelligence often attracts more admiration because it appears rarer than effort

Question 21:

A. Some people still admire successful figures mainly for their natural gifts rather than for the effort behind their achievements

B. As a result, many students now believe that talent matters more than patience, responsibility, and devotion

C. This perspective makes achievement seem more accessible to ordinary people who are willing to work consistently

D. In contrast, many respected figures are admired because their childhoods were more difficult than those of others

Question 22:

A. many successful people are admired for their achievements and the contributions they make to society

B. genius becomes something more people can strive for through learning, effort, and steady devotion

C. successful people often impress others because talent gives achievement a more mysterious image

D. effort and discipline help people improve themselves while talent remains the most valuable gift of all

Read the passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the best answer to each of the following questions from 23 to 30.

The Part of Success People Rarely Stay Long Enough to See

Most people meet success at its brightest point. They see the famous name, the admired work, the impressive result. What they often miss is the untidy middle, the part filled with loss, delay, and private doubt. Walt Disney is remembered for beloved characters, a transformed film industry, and the creation of Disneyland. Yet long before he became a popular figure, his studio Laugh O Gram collapsed, and one of his early successes was taken from him in a business dispute. The public usually arrives after the applause has begun. It rarely watches the harder scene in which a person has to rebuild a life or a career from fragments.

That is why the phrase “successful person” can be misleading. It suggests a smooth upward line, as if achievement were the reward for never falling. Disney’s story points in another direction. Having lost both money and creative control at crucial moments, he did not merely survive those defeats. He used them. Out of one setback came Mickey Mouse. Out of repeated pressure came further innovation in sound, colour, feature length animation, and entertainment itself. Not failure avoided, but failure answered, shaped the man the world came to admire.

There is, however, a danger in stories like this. Society likes comebacks because they are easy to celebrate from a safe distance. Once pain leads to success, people begin to treat the pain as noble, even necessary. That view is too simple. Bankruptcy humiliates. Conflict exhausts. Public criticism wounds. What deserves respect is not suffering by itself, but the determination to move through it without allowing it to harden into surrender. Rarely do we praise that stage enough, though it may be the most human one.

Seen this way, success becomes less glamorous and more moral. It is not proof that someone never broke. It is proof that, broken more than once, they refused to remain there. Such people do more than achieve. They alter the meaning of achievement itself, making it less about shining early and more about rising, again and again, with vision intact.

[Adapted from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Walt-Disney]

Question 23: Which of the following is NOT mentioned as part of the way Disney’s early career developed?

A. One of his early achievements was lost because of a business conflict.

B. His first studio failed before he became widely admired.

C. The public often noticed him only after visible success had arrived.

D. He received strong public support during the hardest stage of rebuilding.

Question 24: The word “collapsed” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to __________.

A. failed        B. expanded        C. paused        D. weakened

Question 25: The word “praise” in paragraph 3 is OPPOSITE in meaning to __________.

A. admire        B. appreciate        C. criticise        D. respect

Question 26: In paragraph 2, the word “them” refers to __________.

A. crucial moments        B. those defeats        C. creative ideas        D. further innovations

Question 27: Which of the following best paraphrases the underlined sentence in paragraph 2: “Not failure avoided, but failure answered, shaped the man the world came to admire.”?

A. Disney became admired because he managed to respond to failure instead of escaping it.

B. Disney earned public respect mainly because he avoided major failures early in his career.

C. The world admired Disney because failure itself automatically made him stronger.

D. The man people admired was shaped more by public praise than by personal setbacks.

Question 28: Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about the way society views comeback stories?

A. People may praise the final recovery while overlooking the painful process behind it.

B. Society usually respects private struggle more than public achievement.

C. Comeback stories are admired mainly because they prove suffering is always valuable.

D. Most people are careful not to simplify the connection between pain and success.

Question 29: In which paragraph does the writer mention the idea that the label of a “successful person” may create a misleading impression of how achievement happens?

A. Paragraph 1        B. Paragraph 2        C. Paragraph 3        D. Paragraph 4

Question 30: In which paragraph does the writer focus on what success means morally, rather than simply treating it as a glamorous result?

A. Paragraph 1        B. Paragraph 2        C. Paragraph 3        D. Paragraph 4

Read the passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the best answer to each of the following questions from 31 to 40.

The Woman Who Changed What Success Could Sound Like

In many living rooms, success arrives in a polished form. It speaks clearly, dresses well, and seems entirely at ease with attention. Oprah Winfrey entered that space carrying something far less tidy. Her public image was powerful, but it did not rest on distance or cold perfection. It was built on a voice willing to sound human. Born into poverty and shaped by a troubled childhood, she later became the first African American woman to host a successful national daytime talk show. What made that rise remarkable was not fame alone. It was the way she made visibility feel less like display and more like access.

That shift changed the mechanics of success. Before Oprah, public achievement often depended on appearing unreachable, polished beyond ordinary life. [I] Her talk show moved in another direction. She was admired not only for professional success but for turning emotional candour into media power. The programme’s uplifting, therapeutic tone, along with her book club, magazine, and later network, helped create a model in which influence could grow through recognition rather than distance. In that model, a personal account of pain did not automatically weaken authority. In some cases, it deepened it.

That has had real social value. [II] By speaking openly about child abuse and by supporting charitable work through Oprah’s Angel Network and her school for disadvantaged girls in South Africa, she helped raise awareness while contributing to causes many viewers might otherwise have kept at a distance. Her success made certain forms of suffering more publicly discussable, more accessible to sympathy, perhaps even to action. [III] Once pain becomes part of a successful public identity, media can begin to package vulnerability as something consumable. Awareness may widen; so can appetite.

This is why Oprah matters beyond celebrity culture. She altered what society could respect in a successful person. Not only wealth, not only control, but emotional intelligence, confession, and connection. That is a genuine expansion. [IV] It is also an uneasy one. For when pain enters the spotlight, the moral question changes. Are we learning to care more deeply, or merely becoming better at watching other people bleed in a form polished enough to inspire us?

[Adapted from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Oprah-Winfrey]

Question 31: Where in the passage does the following sentence best fit?

But a tension runs through such visibility.

A. [I]
B. [II]
C. [III]
D. [IV]

Question 32: In paragraph 1, the phrase “at ease with attention” is closest in meaning to __________.

A. eager to seek public notice        B. comfortable being watched and noticed

C. proud of receiving constant praise        D. ready to control other people’s opinions

Question 33: In paragraph 2, the word “it” refers to __________.

A. public achievement        B. emotional candour        C. a personal account of pain        D. ordinary life

Question 34: Which of the following is NOT stated in the passage about Oprah’s rise and influence?

A. She came from poverty and a troubled childhood.

B. She became the first African American woman to host a successful national daytime talk show.

C. She avoided discussing painful personal issues in order to protect her authority.

D. She helped make visibility feel more open and approachable.

Question 35: Which of the following best summarises paragraph 2?

A. Oprah’s media empire succeeded primarily because it maintained the traditional standards of unreachable achievement established by her predecessors.

B. The shift in media dynamics allowed professional authority to be maintained even when a public figure decided to keep their personal struggles private.

C. Oprah pioneered a new professional model where sharing personal vulnerabilities served to strengthen rather than diminish a leader's influence.

D. Emotional candour is only effective in building media power when it is combined with the commercial success of book clubs and television networks.

Question 36: The word “uplifting” in paragraph 2 is OPPOSITE in meaning to __________.

A. hopeful        B. comforting        C. encouraging        D. depressing

Question 37: Which of the following is suggested by paragraph 3?

A. Oprah’s charitable work became effective mainly because it avoided emotional topics.

B. Greater public awareness always leads directly to deeper compassion and practical help.

C. Making suffering more visible may encourage concern, but it can also turn pain into something people consume.

D. Viewers usually kept such causes close to them long before Oprah began speaking about them.

Question 38: Which of the following best paraphrases the following two sentences?

A. Oprah became exceptional mainly because fame allowed her to present herself more elegantly than earlier media figures.

B. Oprah’s rise mattered because public visibility gave her easier entry into elite social circles and media institutions.

C. Oprah’s importance lay not simply in becoming famous, but in making public presence feel more human and reachable.

D. Oprah stood out because she turned media exposure into a more polished form of performance for viewers.

Question 39: Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

A. Media platforms have always been naturally suited for fostering genuine empathy without any commercial motives.

B. The public's engagement with a celebrity’s personal trauma can lead to a voyeuristic interest rather than true compassion.

C. Oprah’s school for girls was established primarily to prove that her professional authority remained unshaken by her past.

D. Before the era of Oprah, it was impossible for any person born into poverty to achieve national fame in the United States.

Question 40: Which of the following best summarises the passage?

A. Oprah used her influence to support charitable causes and expand educational opportunities for disadvantaged girls in South Africa.

B. Modern media often prefers polished success to the more uncomfortable realities behind human suffering.

C. Oprah redefined success through emotional openness while also raising difficult ethical questions about turning pain into public material.

D. Oprah’s rise in media was shaped largely by the public influence she built through television and related ventures.