III. READING (16 câu – 3 điểm)

Task 1. Choose the best answer to fill in the blank.
A lot of people like to play their records as loudly as possible. The (21) ____ is that the rest of the family and the neighbors often complain (22) ____ don't like the music. One (23) ____ to this problem is to wear headphones, but headphones are usually uncomfortable.

An arm-chair which has a record-player built into it has just been(24) ____ by a British engineer, Stephen Court.

The armchair looks like an ordinary armchair with a high back. However, each of the two sides of the chair has three loudspeakers inside to reproduce middle and high sounds. Low sounds are reproduced by a pair of loudspeakers in a hollow (25) ____ under the seat. Anyone who sits in the chair hears sounds coming from all around his/her head.

Because we cannot tell the exact (26) ____ from which low sounds come, it doesn't (27) ____ that they come from underneath or behind. It is the higher sounds coming from the sides of the chair that create a stereo effect.

These sounds travel only a few inches to reach the listener's ears. (28) ____, it takes only a little power to make the music sound very loud. Only a small amount of sound leaks out from behind the chair into the room to (29) ____ others. Most of the sound is (30) ____ by the listeners.