READING: SHORT ANSWER QUESTION

1. Skills needed:
- Khả năng SKIMMING (đọc lướt) để xác định ý chính
- Xác định key words
- Khả năng SCANNING (đọc kĩ) để xác định được vị trí câu trả lời
- Synonyms và paraphrasing
2. Tips:
- Đọc câu hỏi trước -> Đọc đoạn văn
- Trình tự câu hỏi và câu trả lời luôn đồng nhất
- Xác định được loại từ (noun, verb…)
- Hình dung cách paraphrase của vocab trong câu hỏi
- Để ý word limit
- Sử dụng CHÍNH XÁC từ ngữ được sử dụng trong bài
3. Practice:
The Endangered African Rhino
The rhinoceros is Africa’s armoured giant – like a tank on legs – and has been on our
planet for millions of years. But right now they need our help. Poaching of rhinos for
their horns and habitat loss are huge threats to both white and black rhinos. White rhinos
(the name doesn’t come from their colour but originally a reference to their ‘wide’
mouths) have had mixed fortunes. Sadly there are no ‘northern’ white rhinos left in the
wild, and only a handful in captivity. But the ‘southern’ white rhino is a conservation
success story – it’s been helped back from under 100 in 1895 to over 20,000 in the wild
today. For the black rhino (slightly smaller, with a more pointed top lip) the worst period
was between 1970 and 1992, when around 96% of them were lost to wide-scale
poaching. Only 5,000 are left in the wild today. Poaching of rhinos for rhino horn is still
a huge threat, and the poachers have got increasingly better equipped. To ensure that
these incredibly precious creatures survive, more action needs to be taken against this
Illegal wildlife trade.
Questions 1 – 4
Answer the questions below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the text for
each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.
1 What is the African rhinoceros compared to?
2 Which type of rhino fell in number to below a hundred?
3 What percentage of black rhinos had been illegally killed by 1992?
4 How have the criminals improved their success?
1) What is the African rhinoceros compared to?
From the title of the article, I know that the whole text is about African rhinos so I haven’t
underlined these words as key words. Instead, I’ve decided that ‘compared to’ is what I
probably need to be looking for. The synonym for ‘compared to’ that immediately comes to
mind is ‘like’ so I scan for this as well. Indeed, I spot ‘like’ in the very first sentence.

The rhinoceros is Africa’s armoured giant – like a tank on legs – and has been on our planet
for millions of years.
Does the information given, answer the question? Yes, it does. It says that a rhinoceros is
like a ‘tank on legs’.
Do a quick scan of the rest of the paragraph to make sure that this really in the right answer
before filling it in and moving on to the next question.
Answer 1: tank on legs

2) Which type of rhino fell in number to below a hundred?

The keyword for this question is ‘a hundred’. I suspect that it may be written in figures as
‘100’. This is a common trick that test setters like to use to try and catch you out. On
scanning, I find that I’m right.
I also notice that ’below’ in the question and ‘under’ in the answer are synonyms so that’s
another clue that I’m looking in the right place.
But the ‘southern’ white rhino is a conservation success story – it’s been helped back from
under 100 in 1895 to over 20,000 in the wild today.
I now know where the answer is. I re-read the question then read this sentence in the text in
detail to find the actual answer.
Answer 2: southern white rhino
3) What percentage of black rhinos had been illegally killed by 1992?
Question 3 contains a date, ‘1992’, always useful as a keyword as they are easy to spot when
skimming and scanning.
I also think that the word ‘black’ is important as the text so far has been about white rhinos. I
underline ‘illegally killed’ as well as this is the main idea of the question.
‘Black’ and ‘1992’ are easy to find and lead me to the sentence with the answer in.
For the black rhino (slightly smaller, with a more pointed top lip) the worst period was
between 1970 and 1992, when around 96% of them were lost to wide-scale poaching.
However, I don’t see ‘illegally killed’ so I need to think about possible synonyms. In fact,
the term ‘poaching' has been used instead.
The other synonym I need to know is ‘%’ which is the symbol for ‘percentage’. Once I’ve
worked these out, the answer is clear.
Answer 3: 96%
4) How have the criminals improved their success?
Having selected the keywords from the final question, I find that none of them are in the text
so I must think about how the text might paraphrase the meaning in the question.
I know that the answer will be in the final paragraph so read this in detail.
Poaching of rhinos for rhino horn is still a huge threat, and the poachers have got
increasingly better equipped.
The first sentence, which gives me the main idea of the paragraph, is about poaching and
poachers so I can guess from the context that poachers are ‘criminals’ even if the word is
unfamiliar to me.
The only word I can see that could be a synonym of ‘improved’ is ‘increasingly’. The words
following it are ‘better equipped’ so I can make a good guess that this is the answer even if I
don’t fully understand the meaning of the whole sentence.
Answer 4: better equipped
 LUYỆN TẬP SHORT ANSWER QUESTION
Bài 1.
It’s Only a Cockroach
I turn on the light in my kitchen that night, and then I see it. I draw back, and my first instinct is to scream. I
control myself with difficulty but find myself shuddering, unable to deal with the creature before me. It’s
only a cockroach, but its large size, long antennae, shiny appearance, and spiny legs, all present a
particularly disgusting appearance. And this is not just to me, but to everyone it seems, even to the point of
phobic responses.

This is certainly the overriding reason I want these creatures totally eradicated from my apartment, but with
their offensive odour, passive transportation of microbes, and trails of droppings, they also pose a distinct
threat to domestic hygiene. Clearly, cohabitation is not possible. So, I do all I can to keep these pests away.
Food is stored in sealed containers, garbage cans have tight lids, my kitchen is kept spotlessly clean, and my
apartment is swept and mopped nightly. I have also sealed up possible entry points, but still, these loathsome
things find their way inside. I need a way to kill them.

The most precise cockroach killer is, typically, another insect. A specific species of wasp targets these
creatures. With a quick accurate swoop, it bites the cockroach at the main nerve centre of its body, which
results in temporary paralysis. This is very necessary, as we all know just how fast cockroaches can run. The
wasp has only a few minutes to prepare its next sting, in the exact area of the brain which controls the
cockroaches’ instinct to escape. After the paralysis departs, the cockroach is subdued and docile and
doomed. The wasp bites off the antennae to further discourage flight, then drags its victim away.

Faced with such predation, cockroaches usually conceal themselves during the day, and with their ability to
flatten their bodies, they can disappear into just about any tiny nook, crevice, and cranny. There, they wait
patiently for darkness before emerging to search for food, and will usually run away when exposed to light.
Given this, I am told that the slim and agile house centipede is probably the most effective cockroach
predator, able to track down and root out the most carefully hidden prey. Unfortunately, I would say that
centipedes are even more disgusting to have in one’s house if that’s possible. I just can’t win this game.
Question 1 – 4. Answer the questions. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for
each answer.
1. What aspect of cockroaches makes the author want them removed from the home?
2. What human aspect do they endanger?
3. Which insect is the best cockroach killer?
4. What can cockroaches do to easily hide?
Bài 2.
Zulu Beadwork
The South African province of KwaZulu-Natal, more commonly referred to as the Zulu Kingdom, is named
after the Zulu people who have inhabited the area since the late 1400s. KwaZulu translates to mean “Place
of Heaven.” “Natal” was the name the Portuguese explorers gave this region when they arrived in 1497. At
that time, only a few Zulu clans occupied the area. By the late 1700s, the AmaZulu clan, meaning “People of
Heaven,” constituted a significant nation. Today the Zulu clan represents the largest ethnic group in South
Africa, with at least 11 million people in the kingdom. The Zulu people are known around the world for
their elaborate glass beadwork, which they wear not only in their traditional costumes but as part of their
everyday apparel. It is possible to learn much about the culture of the Zulu clan through their beadwork.

The glass bead trade in the province of KwaZulu-Natal is believed to be a fairly recent industry. In 1824, an
Englishman named Henry Francis Fynn brought glass beads to the region to sell to the African people.
Though the British are not considered the first to introduce glass beads, they were a main source through
which the Zulu people could access the merchandise they needed. Glass beads had already been
manufactured by the Egyptians centuries earlier around the same time when glass was discovered. Some
research points to the idea that Egyptians tried to fool South Africans with glass by passing it off as jewels
similar in value to gold or ivory. Phoenician mariners brought cargoes of these beads to Africa along with
other wares. Before the Europeans arrived, many Arab traders brought glass beads down to the southern
countries via camelback. During colonization’, the Europeans facilitated and monopolized the glass bead
market, and the Zulu nation became even more closely tied to this art form.

The Zulu people were not fooled into believing that glass beads were precious stones but, rather, used the
beads to establish certain codes and rituals in their society. In the African tradition, kings were known to
wear beaded regalia so heavy that they required the help of attendants to get out of their thrones. Zulu
beadwork is involved in every realm of society, from religion and politics to family and marriage. Among
the Zulu women, the craft of beadwork is used as an educational tool as well as a source of recreation and
fashion. Personal adornment items include jewellery, skirts, neckbands, and aprons. Besides clothing and
accessories, there are many other beaded objects in the Zulu culture, such as bead-covered gourds, which are
carried around by women who are having fertility problems. Most importantly, however, Zulu beadwork is a
source of communication. In the Zulu tradition, beads are a part of the language with certain words and
symbols that can be easily read. A finished product is considered by many artists and collectors to be
extremely poetic.

The code behind Zulu beadwork is relatively basic and extremely resistant to change. A simple triangle is
the geometric shape used in almost all beaded items. A triangle with the apex pointing downward signifies
an unmarried man, while one with the tip pointing upward is worn by an unmarried woman. Married women
wear items with two triangles that form a diamond shape, and married men signify their marital status with
two triangles that form an hourglass shape. Colors are also significant, though slightly more complicated
since each color can have a negative and a positive meaning. Educated by their older sisters, young Zulu
girls quickly learn how to send the appropriate messages to a courting male. Similarly, males learn how to
interpret the messages and how to wear certain beads that express their interest in marriage.

The codes of the beads are so strong that cultural analysts fear that the beadwork tradition could prevent the
Zulu people from progressing technologically and economically. Socioeconomic data shows that the more a
culture resists change the more risk there is in a value system falling apart. Though traditional beadwork still
holds a serious place in Zulu culture, the decorative art form is often modified for tourists, with popular
items such as the beaded fertility doll.
Question 1 - 3. Answer the questions below. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.
1. Which country does the Zulu clan reside in?
2. When did the Portuguese arrive in KwaZulu-Natal?
3 How many members of the Zulu Kingdom are there?
Bài 3.
It’s Eco-Logical
Planning an eco-friendly holiday can be a minefield for the well- meaning traveller, says Steve Watkins. But
help is now at hand.
A. If there were awards for tourism phrases that have been hijacked, diluted and misused then ‘ecotourism’
would earn top prize. The term first surfaced in the early 1980s reflecting a surge in environmental
awareness and a realisation by tour operators that many travellers wanted to believe their presence abroad
would not have a negative impact. It rapidly became the hottest marketing tag a holiday could carry. It is
easier to understand why the ecotourism market has become so overcrowded when we look at its wider role
in the world economy. According to World Tourism Organisation figures, ecotourism is worth US$20
billion a year and makes up one-fifth of all international tourism. Add to this an annual growth rate of
around five per cent and the pressure for many operators, both in developed and developing countries, to
jump on the accelerating bandwagon is compelling. Without any widely recognised accreditation system, the
consumer has been left to investigate the credentials of an operator themselves. This is a time-consuming
process and many travellers usually take an operator’s claims at face value, only adding to the proliferation
of fake ecotours.
B. However, there are several simple questions that will provide qualifying evidence of a company’s
commitment to minimise its impact on the environment and maximise the benefits to the tourism area’s local
community. For example, does the company use recycled or sustainable, locally harvested materials to build
its tourist properties? Do they pay fair wages to all employees? Do they offer training to employees? It is
common for city entrepreneurs to own tour companies in country areas, which can mean the money you pay
ends up in the city rather than in the community being visited. By taking a little extra time to investigate the
ecotourism options, it is not only possible to guide your custom to worthy operators but you will often find
that the experience they offer is far more rewarding.
Questions 1-3. Using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS, answer the following questions.
1. Which body provides information on global tourist numbers?
2. Who often gains financially from tourism in rural environments?
3. What do city entrepreneurs own in country areas?
Bài 4.
Alarming Rate Of Loss Of Tropical Rainforests
A. Adults and children are frequently confronted with statements about the alarming rate of loss of tropical
rainforests. For example, one graphic illustration to which children might readily relate is the estimate that
rainforests are being destroyed at a rate equivalent to one thousand football fields every forty minutes –
about the duration of a normal classroom period. In the face of the frequent and often vivid media coverage,
it is likely that children will have formed ideas about rainforests – what and where they are, why they are
important, what endangers them – independent of any formal tuition. It is also possible that some of these
ideas will be mistaken. Many studies have shown that children harbour misconceptions about ‘pure’,
curriculum science. These misconceptions do not remain isolated but become incorporated into a
multifaceted, but organised, conceptual framework, making it and the component ideas, some of which are
erroneous, more robust but also accessible to modification. These ideas may be developed by children
absorbing ideas through the popular media. Sometimes this information may be erroneous. It seems schools
may not be providing an opportunity for children to re-express their ideas and so have them tested and
refined by teachers and their peers.
B. Despite the extensive coverage in the popular media of the destruction of rainforests, little formal
information is available about children’s ideas in this area. The aim of the present study is to start to provide
such information, to help teachers design their educational strategies to build upon correct ideas and to
displace misconceptions and to plan programmes in environmental studies in their schools. The study
surveys children’s scientific knowledge and attitudes to rainforests. Secondary school children were asked to
complete a questionnaire containing five open-form questions. The most frequent responses to the first
question were descriptions which are self-evident from the term ‘rainforest’. Some children described them
as damp, wet or hot. The second question concerned the geographical location of rainforests. The
commonest responses were continents or countries: Africa (given by 43% of children), South America
(30%), Brazil (25%). Some children also gave more general locations, such as being near the Equator.
Questions 1-3. Using NO MORE THAN FIVE WORDS, answer the following questions.
1. What are the statements that adults and children often come across nowadays?
2. What is the rate equivalent at which rainforests are being destroyed?
3. What did children describe rainforests as?
Bài 5.
The Falkirk Wheel
A unique engineering achievement

A. The Falkirk Wheel in Scotland is the world’s first and only rotating boat lift. Opened in 2002, it is central
to the ambitious £84.5m Millennium Link project to restore navigability across Scotland by reconnecting the
historic waterways of the Forth & Clyde and Union Canals.

B. The major challenge of the project lay in the fact that the Forth & Clyde Canal is situated 35 metres
below the level of the Union Canal. Historically, the two canals had been joined near the town of Falkirk by
a sequence of 11 locks – enclosed sections of canal in which the water level could be raised or lowered –
that stepped down across a distance of 1.5 km. This had been dismantled in 1933, thereby breaking the link.
When the project was launched in 1994, the British Waterways authority were keen to create a dramatic
twenty-first- century landmark which would not only be a fitting commemoration of the Millennium, but
also a lasting symbol of the economic regeneration of the region.
Questions 1-3. Using NO MORE THAN FOUR WORDS, answer the following questions.
1. What is the world’s first rotating boat lift?
2. What keeps the Forth & Clyde Canal and Union Canal joined?
3. Who wanted to create a dramatic landmark?
Bài 6.
The Economic Importance Of Coral Reefs
A. A lot of people around the world are dependent, or partly dependent, on coral reefs for their livelihoods.
They often live adjacent to the reef, and their livelihood revolves around the direct extraction, processing
and sale of reef resources such as shell fish and seaweeds. In addition, their homes are sheltered by the reef
from wave action.
B. Reef flats and shallow reef lagoons are accessible on foot, without the need for a boat, and so allow
women, children and the elderly to engage directly in manual harvesting, or ‘reef-gleaning’. This is a
significant factor distinguishing reef-based fisheries from near-shore sea fisheries. Near-shore fisheries are
typically the domain of adult males, in particular where they involve the use of boats, with women and
children restricted mainly to shore-based activities. However, in a coral-reef fishery the physical
accessibility of the reef opens up opportunities for direct participation by women, and consequently
increases their independence and the importance of their role in the community. It also provides a place for
children to play, and to acquire important skills and knowledge for later in life. For example, in the South
West Island of Tobi, in the Pacific Ocean, young boys use simple hand lines with a loop and bait at the end
to develop the art of fishing on the reef. Similarly, in the Surin Islands of Thailand, young Moken boys
spend much of their time playing, swimming and diving in shallow reef lagoons, and in doing so build
crucial skills for their future daily subsistence.
Questions 1-4. Using NO MORE THAN FOUR WORDS, answer the following questions.
1. From the passage, what exactly are people depending upon for their livelihoods?
2. How does the reef protect homes?
3. What does near shore fisheries involve?
4. How do Moken youngsters spend their time?
Bài 7.
Walking with Dinosaurs
Peter L. Falkingham and his colleagues at Manchester University are developing techniques which look set
to revolutionize our understanding of how dinosaurs and other extinct animals behaved.
A. The media image of palaeontologists who study prehistoric life is often of field workers camped in the
desert in the hot sun, carefully picking away at the rock surrounding a large dinosaur bone. But Peter
Falkingham has done little of that for a while now. Instead, he devotes himself to his computer. Not because
he has become inundated with paperwork, but because he is a new kind of paleontologist: a computational
paleontologist. What few people may consider is that uncovering a skeleton, or discovering a new species, is
where the research begins, not where it ends. What we really want to understand is how the extinct animals
and plants behaved in their natural habitats. Dr Bill Sellers and Phil Manning from the University of
Manchester use a ‘genetic algorithm’ – a kind of computer code that can change itself and ‘evolve’ – to
explore how extinct animals like dinosaurs, and our own early ancestors, walked and stalked.
B. The fossilized bones of a complete dinosaur skeleton can tell scientists a lot about the animal, but they do
not make up the complete picture and the computer can try to fill the gap. The computer model is given a
digitized skeleton and the locations of known muscles. The model then randomly activates the muscles.
This, perhaps unsurprisingly, results almost without fail in the animal falling on its face. So the computer
alters the activation pattern and tries again … usually to similar effect. The modelled dinosaurs quickly
‘evolve’. If there is any improvement, the computer discards the old pattern and adopts the new one as the
base for alteration. Eventually, the muscle activation pattern evolves a stable way of moving, the best
possible solution is reached, and the dinosaur can walk, run, chase or graze. Assuming natural selection
evolves the best possible solution too, the modelled animal should be moving in a manner similar to its now-
extinct counterpart. And indeed, using the same method for living animals (humans, emu and ostriches)
similar top speeds were achieved on the computer as in reality. By comparing their cyberspace results with
real measurements of living species, the Manchester team of paleontologists can be confident in the results
computed showing how extinct prehistoric animals such as dinosaurs moved.

Questions 1-4. Using NO MORE THAN FIVE WORDS, answer the following questions.
1. What would you call somebody who studies prehistoric life?
2. How does a paleontologist begin the research?
3. What does a genetic algorithm explore?
4. What is the computer model provided with?
Our Vanishing Night
” Most city skies have become virtually empty of stars “
A. If humans were truly at home under the light of the moon and stars, it would make no difference to us
whether we were out and about at night or during the day, the midnight world as visible to us as it is to the
vast number of nocturnal species on this planet. Instead, we are diurnal creatures, meaning our eyes are
adapted to living in the sun’s light. This is a basic evolutionary fact, even though most of us don’t think of
ourselves as diurnal beings any more th`an as primates or mammals or Earthlings. Yet it’s the only way to
explain what we’ve done to the night: we’ve engineered it to meet our needs by filling it with light.
B. This kind of engineering is no different from damming a river. Its benefits come with consequences –
called light pollution – whose effects scientists are only now beginning to study. Light pollution is largely
the result of bad lighting design, which allows artificial light to shine outward and upward into the sky,
where it is not wanted, instead of focusing it downward, where it is. Wherever human light spills into the
natural world, some aspect of life – migration, reproduction, feeding – is affected. For most of human
history, the phrase “light pollution” would have made no sense. Imagine walking toward London on a
moonlit night around 1800, when it was one of Earth’s most populous cities. Nearly a million people lived
there, making do, as they always had, with candles and lanterns. There would be no gaslights in the streets
or squares for another seven years.
Questions 1-4. Using NO MORE THAN FIVE WORDS, answer the following questions.
1. What are humans referred to as?
2. What have humans done to the night?
3. What resulted in light pollution?
4. What are the factors impacted by human lights?