Đề luyện thi vào lớp 10 - Đề 2

The Statue of Liberty has served as the guardian of New York Harbor for nearly 150 years. The statue might be one of the most photographed works of art in the world. A French sculptor, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, designed it in the late 1800s. Today the monument remains a beautiful sight on the New York skyline. The materials required for building the Statue of Liberty were almost lost at sea. In 1885, the ship carrying those materials nearly sank in stormy seas. Luckily, the ship survived. It arrived in June of that year. By 1886, the Statue of Liberty was erected on what was then called Bedloe’s Island. The statue was officially opened that year. Many years later, the island was given a new name: Liberty Island. “Lady Liberty,” as many people call the statue, was a gift from the people of France. Its full name is “Liberty Enlightening the World.” The United States and France have been friends and allies since the American Revolution. France helped the American colonial armies defeat British forces. The war officially ended in 1783. A few years later, the French rebelled against their king. The Statue of Liberty from the air France had wanted to give the statue to the United States on the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence -- July 4th, 1876. But technical problems and lack of money delayed the project. France finally officially presented the statue to the United States in Paris in 1884. A pedestal to hold the 200 tons of weight was finished later. The statue also needed a structure that could hold its weight of more than 200 tons. French engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel created the necessary technology. Later, he designed the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Eiffel and others worked in Paris to produce a strong support system for the statue. The design also had to have the ability to move a little in strong winds. In France, workers separated the statue into 350 pieces, put them on a ship and sent them across the ocean. After surviving the rough seas, the statue arrived in New York in more than 200 wooden boxes. It took workers four months to build the statue on the pedestal. On October 28th, 1886, President Grover Cleveland accepted the statue in a ceremony. He said: “We will not forget that Liberty has here made her home; nor shall her chosen altar be neglected.” She's a survivor

Recently, our readers and listeners wrote many lovely messages about their birthdays. We have been reading all of them. Most messages are happy. You wrote about gifts you received, the people who celebrated with you, or where and how you celebrated. Some messages seemed sad. Some of you do not get to celebrate your birthdays. Other messages were a mix of sad and happy. In this week's Everyday Grammar, we are looking at Farhana’s message about her birthday. She wrote: A message from Farhana My birthday was on last 23 march. This was my 27th birthday. In my birthday no one wished me except my younger sister. And actually there was no devise for this day. I spent my whole day as like it is a normal day. Sometimes i felt sad and sometimes i wasn't. Review of Farhana’s message Let us start at the beginning. Farhana writes: My birthday was on last 23 march. We suggest changing this sentence to the present tense to say when your birthday is. My birthday is March 23. In American English, the usual order for dates is month, day, year. So instead of “23 March,” Americans usually say “March 23.” You used the past tense in this sentence: This was my 27th birthday. Another way we can say how old we are, is to use the past tense of the verb “turn.” I turned 27 this year. Here, “turn” means to reach or pass into a new age. In my birthday no one wished me except my younger sister. We can change the word order of this sentence to make it clearer. No one wished me happy birthday, except my younger sister. Instead of a prepositional phrase, “In my birthday,” we can just start the sentence with “No one.” “No one” is an indefinite pronoun meaning "no person." You could also use the pronoun “nobody.” Onto the next sentence: And actually there was no devise for this day. “To devise” is a verb meaning to plan or think up something. You were close! But in this sentence we need a noun. And we find it in the definition of devise: plan. Actually, there was no plan for the day. If you wanted to use the word devise, however, you could! It would come right after “plan” in the sentence. Actually, there was no plan devised for the day. Farhana’s next sentence is:

The inventor Thomas Alva Edison had a major effect on the lives of people around the world. Thomas Edison is remembered most for the electric light, his phonograph, and his work with motion pictures. Edison was born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio. He was mostly self-taught. His mother taught him reading, writing, and mathematics. He learned from books, and he experimented. At the age of 10, he experimented with chemicals and electricity. He built a telegraph machine and, at the age of 16, he went to work as a telegraph operator. He continued his work with electricity, making improved telegraph machines, and he invented an electrical voting machine. Edison earned enough money from his early inventions to start his own company in 1871. Instead of working alone, he worked with a group of employees on many different projects at one time. They asked the United States government for patents to protect more than one hundred devices or inventions each year. He was an extremely busy man. In 1913, a popular magazine at the time called Thomas Edison the most useful man in America. He almost never slept more than four or five hours a night. He usually worked 18 hours each day because he enjoyed what he was doing. A reporter asked Edison in 1917 which of his many inventions he enjoyed the most. He answered, the phonograph was really the most interesting. The hardest invention to develop, he said, was the electric light. He said that it was the most difficult and the most important. He also invented the modern motion picture film. In 1928, he received a special medal of honor from the Congress of the United States. Thomas Edison died on January 6, 1931. People worldwide have had easier and more enjoyable lives because of his inventions.