Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 36 to 42
People of every culture tell each other fairy tales but the same story often takes a variety of forms in different parts of the world. In the story of Little Red Riding Hood that European children are familiar with, a young girl on the way to see her grandmother meets a wolf and tells him where she is going. The wolf runs on ahead and disposes of the grandmother, then gets into bed dressed in the grandmother’s clothes to wait for Little Red Riding Hood. You may think you know the story – but which version?
The universal appeal of these tales is frequently attributed to the idea that they contain cautionary messages: in the case of Little Red Riding Hood, to listen to your mother, and avoid talking to strangers. ‘It might be what we find interesting about this story is that it’s got this survival-relevant information in it,’ says anthropologist Jamie Tehrani at Durham University in the UK. But his research suggests otherwise. ‘We have this huge gap in our knowledge about the history and prehistory of storytelling, despite the fact that we know this genre is an incredibly ancient one,’ he says. That hasn’t stopped anthropologists, folklorists and other academics devising theories to explain the importance of fairy tales in human society.
Tehrani’s analysis focused on Little Red Riding Hood in its many forms, which include another Western fairy tale known as The Wolf and the Kids. Checking for variants of these two tales and similar stories from Africa, East Asia, and other regions, he ended up with 58 stories recorded from oral traditions. First, he tested some assumptions about which aspects of the story alter least as it evolves, indicating their importance. Folklorists believe that what happens in a story is more central to the story than the characters in it.
However, Tehrani found no significant difference in the rate of evolution of incidents compared with that of characters. Neither did his analysis support the theory that the central section of a story is the most conserved part.
But the really big surprise came when he looked at the cautionary elements of the story. ‘Studies on hunter-gatherer folk tales suggest that these narratives include really important information about the environment and the possible dangers that may be faced there – stuff that’s relevant to survival. Yet in his analysis such elements were just as flexible as seemingly trivial details. What, then, is important enough to be reproduced from generation to generation?
The answer, it would appear, is fear – blood-thirsty and gruesome aspects of the story, such as the eating of the grandmother by the wolf, turned out to be the best preserved of all. Why are these details retained by generations of storytellers, when other features are not? Tehrani has an idea: ‘In an oral context, a story won’t survive because of one great teller. It also needs to be interesting when it’s told by someone who’s not necessarily a great storyteller.’ Maybe being swallowed whole by a wolf, then cut out of its stomach alive is so gripping that it helps the story remain popular, no matter how badly it’s told.
Mathias Clasen at Aarhus University in Denmark isn’t surprised by Tehrani’s findings. ‘Habits and morals change, but the things that scare us, and the fact that we seek out entertainment that’s designed to scare us – those are constant,’ he says. Clasen believes that scary stories teach us what it feels like to be afraid without having to experience real danger, and so build up resistance to negative emotions.
(Adapted from Cambridge English IELTS Academic 15)
Question 36. What best serves as the title for the passage?
A. Why are fairy tales really scary tales? B. Childhood memories are fairy tales
C. Different versions of Little Red Riding Hood D. Case study: Fairy tales and their happy endings
Question 37. The word “they” in paragraph 2 refers to ______
A. anthropologists B. folklorists C. tales D. storytellers
Question 38. According to the passage, what method did Jamie Tehrani use to test his ideas about fairy tales?
A. He compared oral and written forms of the same stories
B. He looked at many different forms of the same basic story
C. He looked at unrelated stories from many different countries
D. He contrasted the development of fairy tales with that of regions around the world
Question 39. The word “conserved” in paragraph 4 mostly means ________
A. important B. confusing C. interesting D. maintained
Question 40. The word “gruesome” in paragraph 6 is closest in meaning to _______
A. filthy B. captivating C. ghastly D. intriguing
Question 41. Which of the following is NOT true, according to the passage?
A. All the fairy tales analysed by Tehrani were originally written rather than spoken
B. In fairy tales, details of the plot show considerable global variation
C. Tehrani rejects the idea that the useful lessons for life in fairy tales are the reason for their survival.
D. Various theories about the social significance of fairy tales have been developed without factual basis
Question 42. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
A. Fairy tales are a safe way of learning to deal with fear
B. It is commonly believed that fairy tales are packed with contradictory messages
C. The changing values of our society are more widely accepted thanks to fairy tales
D. The preservation of a fairy tales are attributable to a great narrator

Question

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 36 to 42
People of every culture tell each other fairy tales but the same story often takes a variety of forms in different parts of the world. In the story of Little Red Riding Hood that European children are familiar with, a young girl on the way to see her grandmother meets a wolf and tells him where she is going. The wolf runs on ahead and disposes of the grandmother, then gets into bed dressed in the grandmother’s clothes to wait for Little Red Riding Hood. You may think you know the story – but which version?
The universal appeal of these tales is frequently attributed to the idea that they contain cautionary messages: in the case of Little Red Riding Hood, to listen to your mother, and avoid talking to strangers. ‘It might be what we find interesting about this story is that it’s got this survival-relevant information in it,’ says anthropologist Jamie Tehrani at Durham University in the UK. But his research suggests otherwise. ‘We have this huge gap in our knowledge about the history and prehistory of storytelling, despite the fact that we know this genre is an incredibly ancient one,’ he says. That hasn’t stopped anthropologists, folklorists and other academics devising theories to explain the importance of fairy tales in human society.
Tehrani’s analysis focused on Little Red Riding Hood in its many forms, which include another Western fairy tale known as The Wolf and the Kids. Checking for variants of these two tales and similar stories from Africa, East Asia, and other regions, he ended up with 58 stories recorded from oral traditions. First, he tested some assumptions about which aspects of the story alter least as it evolves, indicating their importance. Folklorists believe that what happens in a story is more central to the story than the characters in it.
However, Tehrani found no significant difference in the rate of evolution of incidents compared with that of characters. Neither did his analysis support the theory that the central section of a story is the most conserved part.
But the really big surprise came when he looked at the cautionary elements of the story. ‘Studies on hunter-gatherer folk tales suggest that these narratives include really important information about the environment and the possible dangers that may be faced there – stuff that’s relevant to survival. Yet in his analysis such elements were just as flexible as seemingly trivial details. What, then, is important enough to be reproduced from generation to generation?
The answer, it would appear, is fear – blood-thirsty and gruesome aspects of the story, such as the eating of the grandmother by the wolf, turned out to be the best preserved of all. Why are these details retained by generations of storytellers, when other features are not? Tehrani has an idea: ‘In an oral context, a story won’t survive because of one great teller. It also needs to be interesting when it’s told by someone who’s not necessarily a great storyteller.’ Maybe being swallowed whole by a wolf, then cut out of its stomach alive is so gripping that it helps the story remain popular, no matter how badly it’s told.
Mathias Clasen at Aarhus University in Denmark isn’t surprised by Tehrani’s findings. ‘Habits and morals change, but the things that scare us, and the fact that we seek out entertainment that’s designed to scare us – those are constant,’ he says. Clasen believes that scary stories teach us what it feels like to be afraid without having to experience real danger, and so build up resistance to negative emotions.
(Adapted from Cambridge English IELTS Academic 15)
Question 36. What best serves as the title for the passage?
A. Why are fairy tales really scary tales?	B. Childhood memories are fairy tales
C. Different versions of Little Red Riding Hood	D. Case study: Fairy tales and their happy endings
Question 37. The word “they” in paragraph 2 refers to ______
A. anthropologists	B. folklorists	C. tales	D. storytellers
Question 38. According to the passage, what method did Jamie Tehrani use to test his ideas about fairy tales?
A. He compared oral and written forms of the same stories
B. He looked at many different forms of the same basic story
C. He looked at unrelated stories from many different countries
D. He contrasted the development of fairy tales with that of regions around the world
Question 39. The word “conserved” in paragraph 4 mostly means ________
A. important	B. confusing	C. interesting	D. maintained
Question 40. The word “gruesome” in paragraph 6 is closest in meaning to _______
A. filthy	B. captivating	C. ghastly	D. intriguing
Question 41. Which of the following is NOT true, according to the passage?
A. All the fairy tales analysed by Tehrani were originally written rather than spoken
B. In fairy tales, details of the plot show considerable global variation
C. Tehrani rejects the idea that the useful lessons for life in fairy tales are the reason for their survival.
D. Various theories about the social significance of fairy tales have been developed without factual basis
Question 42. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
A. Fairy tales are a safe way of learning to deal with fear
B. It is commonly believed that fairy tales are packed with contradictory messages
C. The changing values of our society are more widely accepted thanks to fairy tales
D. The preservation of a fairy tales are attributable to a great narrator

Timi · Accepted Answer

36. C. Different versions of Little Red Riding Hood
37. C. tales
38. B. He looked at many different forms of the same basic story
39. D. maintained
40. C. ghastly
41. A. All the fairy tales analysed by Tehrani were originally written rather than spoken
42. A. Fairy tales are a safe way of learning to deal with fear

contraiboChien · Answer

36. A
Giải thích:
Đâu là tiêu đề hay nhất cho đoạn văn?
A. Tại sao truyện cổ tích lại là những cổ tích đáng sợ?
B. Kí ức tuổi thơ là những câu chuyện cổ tích
C. Các phiên bản khác nhau của Cô bé quàng khăn đỏ
D. Nghiên cứu: Truyện cổ tích và kết thúc có hậu của chúng
Ta có thể thấy, toàn bài đang nói tới yếu tố khiến câu chuyện cổ tích được truyền từ đời này sang đời khác, đó chính là yếu tố “gây sợ hãi”.
37. C
Giải thích:
Từ “they” trong đoạn 2 đề cập đến _______
A. nhà nhân loại học
B. nhà nghiên cứu dân gian
C. chuyện
D. người kể chuyện
Căn cứ vào nghĩa của câu:
The universal appeal of these tales is frequently attributed to the idea that they contain cautionary messages: in the case of Little Red Riding Hood, to listen to your mother, and avoid talking to strangers.
(Sức hấp dẫn phổ biến của những câu chuyện này thường là do ý tưởng rằng chúng chứa đựng những thông điệp mang tính cảnh báo: trong trường hợp của Cô bé quàng khăn đỏ, hãy nghe lời mẹ và tránh nói chuyện với người lạ.)
→ they = tales
38. B
Giải thích:
Theo đoạn văn, Jamie Tehrani đã sử dụng phương pháp nào để kiểm tra ý kiến của mình về truyện cổ tích?
A. Ông so sánh hình thức truyền miệng và hình thức viết của những câu chuyện giống nhau
B. Ông đã xem xét nhiều dạng khác nhau của cùng một câu chuyện cơ bản
C. Ông đã xem những câu chuyện không liên quan từ nhiều quốc gia khác nhau
D. Ông đã so sánh sự phát triển của truyện cổ tích với sự phát triển của các khu vực trên thế giới
Dẫn chứng:
Tehrani’s analysis focused on Little Red Riding Hood in its many forms, which include another Western fairy tale known as The Wolf and the Kids. Checking for variants of these two tales and similar stories from Africa, East Asia, and other regions, he ended up with 58 stories recorded from oral traditions.
(Phân tích của Tehrani tập trung vào Cô bé quàng khăn đỏ dưới nhiều hình thức, bao gồm một câu chuyện cổ tích phương Tây khác có tên The Wolf and the Kids. Xem các biến thể của hai câu chuyện này và những câu chuyện tương tự từ châu Phi, Đông Á và các khu vực khác, ông đã có được 58 câu chuyện được ghi lại từ phong tục truyền miệng.)
39. D
Giải thích:
Từ “conserved" trong đoạn 4 chủ yếu có nghĩa là __________
A. quan trọng
B. khó hiểu
C. thú vị
D. duy trì
→ conserved: bảo toàn, duy trì= maintained
40. C
Giải thích:
Từ “gruesome” trong đoạn 6 gần nghĩa nhất với _________
A. bẩn thỉu
B. quyến rũ
C. ghê rợn
D. hấp dẫn
→ gruesome: kinh tởm, khủng khiếp = ghastly
41. A
Giải thích:
Điều nào sau đây KHÔNG đúng, theo đoạn văn?
A. Tất cả những câu chuyện cổ tích được Tehrani phân tích ban đầu đều được viết ra chứ không phải nói
B. Trong truyện cổ tích, các tình tiết của cốt truyện thể hiện sự khác biệt đáng kể trên toàn cầu
C. Tehrani bác bỏ ý kiến cho rằng những bài học bổ ích cho cuộc sống trong truyện cổ tích là lý do tồn tại của họ.
D. Nhiều lý thuyết khác nhau về ý nghĩa xã hội của truyện cổ tích đã được phát triển mà không có cơ sở thực tế
Dẫn chứng:
Tehrani’s analysis focused on Little Red Riding Hood in its many forms, which include another Western fairy tale known as The Wolf and the Kids. Checking for variants of these two tales and similar stories from Africa, East Asia, and other regions, he ended up with 58 stories recorded from oral traditions.
(Phân tích của Tehrani tập trung vào Cô bé quàng khăn đỏ dưới nhiều hình thức, bao gồm một câu chuyện cổ tích phương Tây khác có tên The Wolf and the Kids. Kiểm tra các biến thể của hai câu chuyện này và những câu chuyện tương tự từ châu Phi, Đông Á và các khu vực khác, ông đã kết thúc với 58 câu chuyện được ghi lại từ phong tục truyền miệng.)
=> những câu chuyện được truyền miệng không phải viết
Các đáp án khác
B. People of every culture tell each other fairy tales but the same story often takes a variety of forms in different parts of the world. (Người dân ở tất cả các nền văn hóa để kể cho nhau nghe những câu chuyện cổ tích nhưng cùng câu chuyện ấy, lại có những biến thể khác nhau ở những vùng khác nhau trên thế giới).
C. ‘It might be what we find interesting about this story is that it’s got this survival-relevant information in it,’ says anthropologist Jamie Tehrani at Durham University in the UK. But his research suggests otherwise. (Có thể thứ chúng ta cảm thấy thú vị đối với câu chuyện này là nó chứng đựng yếu tố sống còn.” Nhà nhân chủng học Jamie Tehrani ở ĐH Durham chia sẻ. Tuy nhiên, nghiên cứu của ông lại cho thấy 1 điều khác) → suggest otherwise = reject
D. That hasn’t stopped anthropologists, folklorists and other academics devising theories to explain the importance of fairy tales in human society. (Điều này không ngăn được những nhà nhân chủng học, những chuyên gia nghiên cứu về văn học dân gian cùng các học giả khác nghĩ ra những thuyết khác nhau để giải thích tầm quan trọng của chuyện cổ tích trong xã hội loại người)
42. A
Giải thích:
Điều nào sau đây có thể được suy ra từ đoạn văn?
A. Truyện cổ tích là cách học an toàn để đối phó với nỗi sợ hãi
B. Người ta thường tin rằng truyện cổ tích chứa đựng những thông điệp trái ngược nhau
C. Những giá trị thay đổi của xã hội chúng ta được chấp nhận rộng rãi hơn nhờ những câu chuyện cổ tích
D. Việc lưu giữ những câu chuyện cổ tích là do một người kể chuyện tuyệt vời.
Dẫn chứng:
Clasen believes that scary stories teach us what it feels like to be afraid without having to experience real danger, and so build up resistance to negative emotions.
(Clasen tin rằng những câu chuyện đáng sợ dạy chúng ta cảm giác sợ hãi mà không cần phải trải qua nguy hiểm thực sự, và do đó, xây dựng khả năng chống lại những cảm xúc tiêu cực.)
Các đáp án khác
B. Sai vì The universal appeal of these tales is frequently attributed to the idea that they contain cautionary messages (Yếu tố khiến những câu chuyện cổ tích trở nên vô cùng thu hút chính là vì nó chứa các thông điệp cảnh báo”, chứ không phải thông điệp trái ngược nhau.
C. Không đề cập trong đoạn văn
D. Sai vì “In an oral context, a story won’t survive because of one great teller. It also needs to be interesting when it’s told by someone who’s not necessarily a great storyteller” – “Trong ngữ cảnh truyền miệng, một câu chuyện sẽ chẳng thể sống sót khi có 1 người kể chuyện tuyệt vời. Nó vẫn sẽ hay khi được kể lại 1 người, mà người đó chẳng cần phải kể hay.”

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 36 to 42 People of every culture tell each other fairy tal...