[043] - Đề thi thử tốt nghiệp THPT 2024 - Môn Tiếng Anh - SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO BẮC GIANG

THE GREAT STORM
The Great Storm of 1987 is without a doubt the worst storm to have affected the United Kingdom in living memory. It wasn't only the damage and destruction caused by the storm itself, which still stays in people's minds today, but also how the people responsible for forecasting the weather got things so terribly ___(34)___.
The night before the storm, the British MET Office informed the public that despite rumours of a hurricane on its way towards the country, the following day would just be very windy. It should come then as no surprise that people were furious when many woke up the next morning to excessive damage to property, trees that had been blown down, and no electricity. ___(35)___ people were severely injured and some even lost their lives in one of the worst storms ___(36)___ Britain had ever known.
The whole incident highlighted how significant the media is to us and how inaccurate information can affect our lives. The MET Office has since updated its computer systems so that they can detect ___(37)___ storms and bad weather in advance and give people sufficient warning. ___(38)___ extreme storms are not very common in the United Kingdom, such events demonstrate the need to have efficient warning system in place to keep people safe.

The stylistic innovation in painting known as Impressionism began in the 1870’s. The Impressionists wanted to depict what they saw in nature, but they were inspired to portray fragmentary moments by the increasingly fast pace of modern life. They concentrated on the play of light over objects, people, and nature, breaking up seemingly solid surfaces, stressing vivid contrast between colors in sunlight and shade, and depiction reflected light in all of its possibilities. Unlike earlier artists, they did not want to observe the world from indoors. They abandoned the studio, painting in the open air and recording spontaneous Impressions of their subjects instead of making outside sketches and then moving indoors to complete the work from memory.
Some of the Impressionists’ painting methods were affected by technological advances. For example, the shift from the studio to the open air was made possible in part by the advent of cheap rail which permitted easy and quick access to the countryside or seashore, as well as by newly developed chemical dyes and oils that led to collapsible paint tubes, which enabled artists to finish their paintings on the spot.
Impressionism acquired its name not from supporters but from angry art lovers who felt threatened by the new painting. The term “Impressionism” was born in 1874, when a group of artists who had been working together organized an exhibition of their paintings in order to draw public attention to their work. Reaction from the public and press was immediate, and derisive. Among the 165 paintings exhibited was one called Impression: Sunrise, by Claude Monet (1840-1926), viewed through hostile eyes, Monet’s painting of a rising sun over a misty, watery scene seemed messy, slapdash, and an affront to good taste. Borrowing Monet’s title, art critics extended the term “Impressionism” to the entire exhibit. In response, Monet and his 29 fellow artists in the exhibit adopted the same name as a badge of their unity, despite individual differences.
From then until 1886 Impressionism had all the zeal of a “church”, as the painter Renoir put it. Monet was faithful to the Impressionist creed until his death, although many of the others moved on to new styles.

A young woman without eyebrows is seated in front of a beautiful landscape. Does this sound familiar to you? This is one of the most famous works by Leonardo da Vinci. The Mona Lisa is a beautiful painting. However, it was the mystery behind the painting that intrigued people. Who was the woman and why did da Vinci paint her?
Different theories have been proposed about her identity. Many art and history buffs thought that it was a portrait of da Vinci himself, but as a woman. Others thought it was not any particular person, but the ideal of a woman. They say this is why she was painted with no eyebrows. This gave her face a more unearthly look. Still, others thought that it was a portrait of an actual woman of the time, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo.
In 2005, historian Armin Schlechter of Heidelberg discovered the answer. While looking through an old manuscript, he found a small note. In this, the woman in the Mona Lisa was positively identified as Lisa del Giocondo. The artist had been paid to do her portrait after the birth of her second child. “Mona”, in fact, means “madam” in Italian. As for her unearthly look? Historians say women of this time liked to remove their eyebrows. Apparently, they thought eyebrows were not attractive.