SECTION B.

GRAMMAR & VOCABULARY (30 points)

Part 1: Choose the answer A, B, C, or D that best completes each of the following sentences. Write your
answers in the corresponding numbered boxes. (20 points)
1. Blake may seem bossy, but it's Lisa that really ________ in that relationship.
A. fills their boots B. puts a sock C. gets their knickers D. wears the trousers
wear the trousers: người nắm quyền quyết định
2. It is no surprise that this story has ________ in our office after Daisy was told about it.
A given a buzz= to call sb B ridden high/ be ridding high= be successful
C done the rounds : tin đồn lan truyền khắp nơi D rung the bell= nghe quen quen
3. The immigrants from this country will not be given the right of ________ in Britain when the new
legislation comes into force.
A abode: quyền cư trú B abbess C baptism D lodging
4. After winning the lottery, they moved into a more ___________ house in a high-class residential area and
had a more comfortable life.
A. well-attended : nhiều người tham dự B. well-built : người/ khỏe mạnh
C. well-appointed: Trang bị đầy đủ, có tất cả thiết bị cần thiết D. well-disposed= có thiện cảm
5. The President has gotten used to being _________ by his political opponents whenever a new policy is
proposed.
A blasted off: cất cánh B ripped off: bị lừa
C zonked out: buồn ngủ D sniped at: bắn tỉa
6. I can’t see why the teacher compliments Harry so much, his performance is basically nothing to _______
home about!
A write: not very interesting or exciting B call C go D tell
7. We are required to _________ empirical data and evidence from reliable sources to support our argument.
A. adduce: Viện, viện dẫn (lý lẽ, thí dụ, bằng chứng... ) B. attest : chứng nhận
C. elicit : suy luận D. accost: Gạ gẫm; níu, kéo
8. Since John is the bee’s _______in terms of English, it is no wonder so many friends ask him for support in
this subject.
A. wings B. knees : to be excellent or of an extremely high standard
C. antenna D. spiracle
9. Fingerprints are the most ______ types of evidence used in criminal cases because it’s one of the
most reliable forms of identification.
A. culpable B. incriminating: buộc tội C. liable D.offending
10. There is no need to ___________ over the cracks, I know you are having problems, just tell me and I will
help you.
A. carpet B. paper = to hide problems C. lay D. curtain
11. I was scared ____________ when I looked down from the top of the cliff.
A. tight B. stiff : vô cùng sợ hãi C. hard D. solid
12. Since he is not polite, he often makes ______ remarks.
A. immaterial B. impertinent : xấc xược C. impervious: ko thấm D. implausible
13. In a culture where knockoffs are normal, from sportswear to DVDs, it will not be easy to
_________ deep-rooted academic habits.
A. exude B. exclude C. expunge : xóa bỏ D. extricate
14. I tried to ______myself from the situation but it was impossible.
A. exude B. exclude C. expunge D. extricate oneself from sth: tách bản thân ra khỏi cái gì
15. Last week’s violence was _______ condemned by foreign governments.
A. grimly B. roundly=severely C. roughly D. bitingly
16. There are _________ words in English having more than one meaning. Pay close attention to this fact.
A. a large many B. quite many C. quite a lot+ N D. a great many+ Ns
17. In fact, the criminals _________ in because the front door was wide open, and so they just walked in.
A. needn’t have broken B. shouldn’t have break
 C. didn’t need to break D. couldn’t have broken
18. Although usually unflappable even in front of a crowd,_________ during the recital.
A. her anxiety overwhelmed Carla completely B. Carla being overwhelmed by anxiety
C. Carla’s anxiety overwhelmed her D. Carla was overwhelmed by anxiety.
19. On the island _________ the only representative of the Indian's handicraft.
A. does it remain B. did it remain C. remains it D. remains
20. Of the Len beauty spots my brother visited _________ left a lasting impression on him.
A. none of which B. not one of them C. and none of them D. which none

Part 2: Give the correct form of each bracketed words. Write your answers in the corresponding
numbered boxes. (10 points)
1. Looking at the number of typos in this article, I am sure you have skipped the………………………stage
again. (READ)
2. A(n) ………WEREWOLF người sói………………is the one who turns into wolf during full moon.
(WOLF)
3. Andy was ……EXCOMMUNICATED: trục xuất………………..from the volunteer group due to his
poor attitude. (COMMUNICATE)
4. People in coastal area live mainy on the …………AQUACULTURE: nuôi trồng thủy sản……………..,
which allows them to earn a great deal of money from the sea products (CULTURE)
5. The dog seems rather ………UNSIGHTLY: unattractive, ugly……………….. ; it must not have been fed
for days. (SEE)
6. He was ……… BENIGHTED: bị bống tối bao phủ…………… by the darkness and got lost in the forest.
(NIGHT)
7. The aridity in that area …………BETOKENS: chỉ điểm……………… a poor crop. (TOKEN)
8. In the field of ………………………… , standards of practice have been developed for practitioners
in the field. (DIET)
9. The new regulations will be ………………………… for small businesses. (BURDEN)
10. When Emma was widowed in 1879, she decided to leave her home in Koblenz, Germany, to start
…………ANEW : từ đầu……………… in Glasgow, and settled in the city by 1881. (NEW)

SECTION C. READING (60 points)

Part 1: Read the text below and think of the word which best fits each space. Use only ONE word in each
space. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes. (15 points)
Jean Piaget, the pioneering Swiss philosopher and psychologist, became famous for his theories on child
development. A child prodigy, he became interested in the scientific study of nature at an early age. He
(1)____developed___ a special fascination for biology, having some of his work published before graduating
from high school. When, aged 10, his observations (2)__led____ to questions that could be answered only by
access to the university library, Piaget wrote and published some notes on the sighting of an albino sparrow in
the hope that this would persuade the librarian to stop (3)___treating___ him like a child. It worked. Piaget was
launched on a path that led to his doctorate in zoology and a lifelong conviction that the way to understand
anything is to know how it evolves.
Piaget went on to spend much of his professional life listening to and watching children, and poring over
reports of researchers who were doing the same. He found, to (4)___put___ it succinctly (ngắn gọn), that
children don’t think like adults. After thousands of interactions with young people often barely old enough to
talk, Piaget began to suspect that (5)____behind____ their cute and seemingly illogical utterances were thought
processes that had their own kind of order and their own special logic. Albert Einstein, the renowned physicist,
deemed (cho rằng) (6)___this___ a discovery ‘so simple that only a genius could have thought of it’.
Piaget’s insight opened a new window (7)___into___ the inner workings of the mind. Several new fields of
science, among them developmental psychology and cognitive theory, came into being as a result of his
research. Although (8)___not___ an educational reformer (người đưa ra chủ trương cải cách), he championed a
way of thinking about children that provided the foundation for today’s education reform movements. One
might say that Piaget was the first to take children’s thinking seriously. Others who shared this respect for
children may have fought harder for immediate change in schools, but Piaget’s influence on education
(9)____remains___ deeper and more pervasive (tỏa khắp).
Piaget has been revered by generations of teachers inspired by the belief that children are not empty vessels
to be filled with knowledge, as traditional academic thinking had it, (10)___but__ active builders of knowledge
- little scientists who are constantly creating and testing their own theories of the world. And while he may not
be as famous as Sigmund Freud, Piaget’s contribution to psychology may be longer lasting. As computers and
the Internet give children greater autonomy to explore ever larger digital worlds, the ideas he pioneered become
ever more relevant.
Part 2. Read the following passage and choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which fits best according to the
text. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes. (10 points)
The Vanishing Tourist
Already tourists are discouraged from entering certain areas, and new names are being added to the list
of territories where we should fear to tread. The charitable organisation Tourism Concern identifies seven
countries as having areas that have been adversely affected by tourism. Tourists only wreak havoc (1).
Tourists only destroy the natural environment (1). Tourists only emasculate local cultures (1). Tourists bring
nothing with them but their money (1). They must be stopped at any price.
Yet less than 40 years ago, tourism was encouraged as an unquestionable good (2). With the arrival of
the package holiday and charter flights, tourism could at last be enjoyed by the masses (2). By the 1980s,
tourism was the largest and fastest-growing industry in the world (2) and, by the end of the decade, 20
million Britons a year went abroad on holiday (2).
It won’t be easy to wipe out this massive, ever growing tribe. Today there are more than 700m ‘tourist
arrivals’ each year. The World Tourism Organisation forecasts that, by 2020, there will be 1.56 billion
tourists travelling at any one time. The challenge to forcibly curtail more than a billion tourists from going
where they want to go is so immense as to be impossible. You cannot make so many economically
empowered people stop doing something they want to do unless you argue that it is of such extreme damage
to the welfare of the world that only the truly malicious, utterly selfish and totally irresponsible would ever
consider doing it (5). This is clearly absurd; whatever benefits or otherwise may accrue from tourism, it is
not, despite what a tiny minority say, evil. It can cause harm. It can be morally neutral. And it can,
occasionally, be a force for great good.
So the tourist is being attacked by more subtle methods: by being re-branded in the hope we won’t
recognise it as the unattractive entity it once was. The word ‘tourist’ is being removed from anything that was
once called a holiday in the pamphlet that was once called a holiday brochure. Of course, adventurers,
fieldwork assistants, volunteers and travellers don’t go on holidays. Un-tourists (as I will call them) go on
things called ‘cultural experiences’, ‘expeditions’, ‘projects’, ‘mini-ventures’ and, most tellingly, ‘missions’
(10A). A Coral Cay Conservation Expedition flyer says: ‘The mission of any Coral Cay Conservation
Volunteer is to help sustain livelihoods and alleviate poverty.’
The word mission is apposite (thích đáng). While this re-branding is supposed to present a progressive,
modernistic approach to travel, in fact it is firmly rooted in the Victorian experience. Like Victorian
travellers, the modern day un-tourist insists that the main motive behind their adventure is to help others.
Whereas the mass tourist and the area they visit are condemned (chỉ trích) as anti-ethical and at loggerheads
(mang tính tranh chấp), the ethos of the un-tourist and the needs of the area they wander into are presumed
to be in tune (hòa hợp) with each other. Environmental charity Earthwatch, which organises holidays for
‘volunteers’, assures that they will provide ‘life-changing’ opportunities for you and the environment ... (8)
See the world and give it a future.’
Un-tourists are very concerned about holding the moral high ground. Afraid of being tainted by
association, they avoid identifiably tourist structures, such as hotels (10D). They prefer to stay in a tent, a
cabin, local-style houses such as yurts, thatched huts or, a typical example, ‘a traditional Malay wooden stilt
house’.These, they believe, are somehow more in keeping with something they call local culture. Local
culture is very important to the un-tourist, whereas the mass tourist is believed to both shun and obliterate it.
 Un-tourism relies upon exclusivity; it is all about preventing other people travelling in order that you
might legitimise your own travels. Pretending you are not doing something that you actually are – going on
holiday – is at the heart of the un-tourist endeavor (6), (9). Every aspect of the experience has to be disguised.
Gone are the glossy brochures. Instead, the expeditions, projects and adventures are advertised in publications
more likely to resemble magazines with a concern in ecological or cultural issues. The price is usually well
hidden (10C), as if there is a reluctance to admit that this is, in essence, a commercial transaction. There is
something unedifying about having to pay to do good.

1. What does the passage suggest about tourists in the future?

A. They will try to minimize risks of being recognized as tourists.
B. They will assume various responsibilities and fulfill them.
C. They will travel stealthily and follow fixed modes of behaviour.
D. They will eschew (avoid) tourism as a way of entertaining themselves.
2. In the second paragraph, what is said about tourism is closest to a method of
A. self-correcting B. fault-finding

C. castigating (chỉ trích) D. acclaiming (tuyên dương)

3. The second paragraph is most probably to disprove
A. tourists’ disregard for local cultures. B. tourism’s benefits to indigenous people.

C. the value of tourism. D. the toll tourists leave on visited areas.

4. The word “emasculate” in the second paragraph is closest in meaning to
A. fortify (protect, secure) B. vitiate (wreck, abolish) C.
homogenize D. reverberate (vang dội)

5. A reason cited by the author for the hardships in stopping tourism is that
A. tourists are not awakened to the lack of morality in their pursuits.
B. financial freedom gives people the right to do things at their pleasure.
C. advocates of stopping tourism are less affluent than mass tourists.
D. arguments against it are unanswerable.

6. What does the writer suggest about tourism?

A. Up to the moment of writing, tourism had always been promoted.
B. It involves nefarious people travelling to quench their insatiable thirst for knowledge.
C. Its benefits have intrigued adventurers and laypersons alike.
D. Tourists may have recourse (nhờ đến) to so-called purposes to disguise their true motives.

7. Which phrase in the sixth paragraph best reflects the nature of the relationship between un-tourists and
local areas?

A. at loggerheads
B. presumed to be in tune
C. rooted in the Victorian experience
D. supposed to present a progressive, modernistic approach
8. The writer demonstrates a point that un-tourists:

A. are aesthetically attracted by environmentally-friendly types of accommodation while travelling.

B. attach adequate importance to the development and preservation of local cultures.
C. have an inclination to believe that what they do when travelling has beneficial effects.
D. represent a positive trend which correlates with the new approach to halting tourism.
9. It can be implied that efforts made by un-tourists are fundamentally aimed at
A. masking their primary purposes for travelling.
B. demotivizing other people with regard to travelling.
C. masquerading as well-meaning travellers.
D. promoting local cultures in places they visit.

10. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a method used by un-tourists to achieve their goals?

A. associating travel with purposes different from pure pleasure.

B. publicizing their missions in magazines.
C. concealing the prices involved in their travels.
D. shunning places recognizable as accommodation for tourists.

Part 3. Read the passage and do the tasks that follow. Write your answers in the corresponding
numbered boxes. (13points)

Giving The Brain A Workout

Mental agility does not have to decline with age, as long as you keep exercising your mind,

says Anna van Praagh.

A. Use your brain and it will grow – it really will. This is the message from neuropsychologist Ian
Robertson, professor of psychology at Trinity College, Dublin and founding director of the university’s
Institute of Neuroscience. His book, Puzzler Brain Trainer 90-Day Workout, contains puzzles which he
devised to stretch, sharpen and stimulate the brain. The puzzles, from 'memory jogs' to Sudoku to
crosswords to number games are all-encompassing, and have been specially formulated to improve each
and every part of the brain, from visual-spatial ability to perception, attention, memory, numerical
ability, problem-solving and language (1)(2).

B. Professor Robertson has been studying the brain for 57 years, in a career dedicated to changing and
improving the way it works. During this time there has been a remarkable paradigm shift in the way
scientists view the brain, he says. 'When I first started teaching and researching, a very pessimistic view
prevailed that, from the age of three or four, we were continually losing brain cells and that the stocks
couldn't be replenished. That has turned out to be factually wrong. Now that we know that the brain is
"plastic" – it changes, adapts and is physically sharpened according to the experiences it has.'

C. Robertson likens our minds to trees in a park with branches spreading out, connecting and intertwining,
with connections increasing in direct correlation to usage. He says that the “eureka” moment in his
career – and the reason he devised his ‘brain trainer’ puzzles – was the realisation that the connections
multiply with use (11) and so it is possible to boost and improve our mental functions at any age. 'Now
we know that it’s not just children whose brains are "plastic",' he says. 'No matter how old we are, our
brains are physically changed by what we do and what we think.'
 D. Robertson illustrates his point by referring to Dr Eleanor McGuire’s seminal 2000 study of the brains of
London taxi drivers (3). That showed that their grey matter enlarges and adapts to help them build up a
detailed mental map (4) of the city. Brain scans revealed that the drivers had a much larger hippocampus
(5) (the part of the brain associated with navigation in birds and animals) compared with other people.
Crucially, it grew larger the longer they spent doing their job. Similarly, there is strong statistical
evidence that, by stretching the mind with games and puzzles (6), brainpower is increased. Conversely,
if we do not stimulate our minds and keep the connections robust and intact, these connections will
weaken and physically diminish. (13) A more recent survey suggested that a 20-minute problem-solving
session on the Nintendo DS game called 'Dr Kawashima's Brain Training' at the beginning of each day
dramatically improved pupils’ test results, class attendance and behaviour (7). Astonishingly, pupils who
used the Nintendo trainer saw their test scores (8) rise by 50 per cent more than those who did not.

E. Robertson's puzzles have been designed to have the same effect on the brain, the only difference being
that, for his, you need only a pencil to get started. The idea is to shake the brain out of lazy habits and
train it to start functioning at its optimum level. It is Robertson’s belief that people who tackle the
puzzles will see a dramatic improvement in their daily lives as the brain increases its ability across a
broad spectrum (9) They should see an improvement in everything, from remembering people’s names
at parties to increased attention span, mental agility, creativity and energy.

F. 'Many of us are terrified of numbers,' he says, 'or under-confident with words (12). With practice, and by
gently increasing the difficulty of the exercises, these puzzles will help people improve capacity across a
whole range of mental domains.' The wonderful thing is that the puzzles take just five minutes, but are
the mental equivalent of doing a jog or going to the gym. 'In the same way that physical exercise is good
for you, so is keeping your brain stimulated,' Robertson says. 'Quite simply, those who keep themselves
mentally challenged function significantly better mentally than those who do not.'

G. The puzzles are aimed at all ages. Robertson says that some old people are so stimulated that they hardly
need to exercise their brains further, while some young people hardly use theirs at all and are therefore
in dire need of a workout (10). He does concede, however, that whereas most young people are
constantly forced to learn, there is a tendency in later life to retreat into a comfort zone where it is easier
to avoid doing things that are mentally challenging. He compares this with becoming physically
inactive, and warns of comparable repercussions. ‘As the population ages, people are going to have to
stay mentally active longer,’ he counsels. ‘We must learn to exercise our brains just as much as our
bodies. People need to be aware that they have the most complex entity known to man between their
ears,’ he continues, ‘and the key to allow it to grow and be healthy is simply to keep it stimulated.’

Questions 1 and 2. Choose TWO letters, A-E. Write the correct letters in the boxes below.

Which TWO of the following are claims that Robertson makes about the puzzles in his book?
 A. They will improve every mental skill.

B. They are better than other kinds of mental exercise.

C. They will have a major effect on people’s mental abilities.

D. They are more useful than physical exercise.

E. They are certain to be more useful for older people than for the young.

Questions 3 – 8. Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN FOUR WORDS from the
passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 3-8 below.

Evidence supporting Robertson’s theory

Research was carried out using (3) taxi drivers in London as subjects. It showed that their brains change,
enabling them to create a (4) detailed mental map of London. Tests showed that their (5) Hippocampus
increased in size as they continued in their job. There is also evidence of a (6) games and puzzles kind. People
playing a certain game involving (7) class attendance and behaviour for a period of time every day achieved
significantly better (8) test scores.

Questions 9 – 13. The reading passage has seven paragraphs A-G. Which paragraph contains the
following information? Write the correct letter, A-G in boxes 9-13 below.

 9. An example of a situation in which people will benefit from doing the puzzles in the book E
10. A reason why some people don’t exercise their minds G
11. A discovery that had an enormous effect on Robertson C
12. Examples of things that people commonly feel they are not very good at F
13.  A reference to a change in beliefs about what happens to the brain over time D

Part 4. You are going to read an extract from an article. Seven paragraphs have been removed from the
extract. Choose from the paragraphs A - H the one which fits each gap (1-7). There is one extra
paragraph which you do not need to use. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes. (7
points)
Can a disguise fool surveillance technology?
Just how good is surveillance technology today? Francesco Holt reports.

When John McAfee took flight from Belize after his neighbour died from a fatal gunshot wound, he
disguised himself to avoid detection. Border guards failed to recognise who he was and for a while he evaded
capture. But could surveillance technology have picked him out of the people crossing the border into
Guatemala?
(1)_____E_______
As a fugitive (kẻ chạy trốn), McAfee coloured his hair and beard grey, put shoe polish on his face to darken
his skin, made his cheeks bigger by padding them out with bubble gum and stuffed his right nostril to make it
appear, as he put it, 'awkward, lopsided and with a disgusting appearance.’ It might seem rather theatrical, but it
worked and enabled him to escape.
(2)______D________
However, McAfee would probably still have not been caught using today's technology, as facial recognition
technology is still not good enough to do the job. Some people have faces that are too 'normal' or common and
would not need to disguise themselves at all. Jean- Luc Dugelay, a video surveillance expert in the French
research institution, Eurecom, says, 'Certain people have faces that just seem to be hard'for computers to
recognise. It's difficult to know why and the faces that are hard to recognise vary from one recognition system
to another. But if you have something that is close to the average face, then it will be harder for a computer
system to recognise you.'
(3)______H________
Face detection often entails distinguishing significant 'intensity signatures of light and dark spots on a
representation that is typical of a human face. When people look to recognise each other, they go by an oval for
a face, two eyes, and a nose between the eyes and the mouth. Computers, though, do not work the same way, as
they are not looking for physical features. Instead they look for a configuration of dark, light and dark in a
horizontal line that matches to a line between the eyes.
(4)______B________
This feature vector is basically a guideline for a face that can be compared with other similar feature vectors.
The problem is that some human faces have comparable feature vectors and so 'average' faces are hard to
separate and tell apart. The Eigenfaces system has to use the complete face to recognise someone. This flaw in
the system means it is possible to conceal your true features from a recognition system by just pulling a face,
frowning or smiling. This would not deceive a person, but it would technology.
(5)_______A_______
It will not be possible to identify a fully covered face, but it is feasible to differentiate one face from another
with between a third and half of the face covered. There has even been some success with just using a mouth for
recognition, something that a human would be unable to do.
(6)______F_______
Surprisingly, research into the effects of rhinoplasty - or nose surgery - on facial recognition systems
revealed that it has no significant effect on detection rates. That is on 2D systems. Experimental 3D facial
recognition systems can be conned by rhinoplasty, as it changes the shape of the nose in three dimensions rather
than two.
(7)_______G_______
In spite of all the advances in technology, however, the vulnerability of current systems is the simple act of
looking down at your feet, rather than at the camera. Humans can identify someone they know from almost any
angle, but facial recognition systems cannot unless the face can be clearly seen. Most surveillance cameras are
usually mounted at least at eye level, if not higher, so looking down will beat more or less any recognition
system.

A. Not only would changing your facial expression hoodwink machines, but also draping a scarf over the
mouth and nose, or even wearing dark glasses would work just as well. It will not work for much longer
though, as new techniques are being developed that can take information from the nose or mouth alone
if the eyes are covered, or from the eyes if the mouth and nose are concealed.

B. Then, once a face has been distinguished, there are varying ways in which to recognise it. One way is to
generate what is called a 'feature vector'- a mathematical representation of the face. This is built up from
pieces of hundreds of 'standard faces' in numerous proportions. These are known as 'Eigenfaces' and
created by scrutinising thousands of real faces, using a procedure named 'principal component analysis'.

C. It would also seem to make no difference if a fugitive wore a wig or glasses, as neither of these can fool
a computer. Being discrete and trying to blend in with the crowds will also be futile, as facial
recognition systems can scan hundreds of faces a minute.
 D. All it seems to require in films is to wear a pair of glasses, cut and/or dye your hair and attach a fake
moustache. Maybe a hat, too. This low-tech disguise never seems to fail in the movies. John McAfee
adopted some of these techniques and met with success. When he was eventually apprehended it was not
because his disguise had failed to convince but because he had allowed a reporter to print a photograph
of him and the authorities realised where he was.

E. So how would John McAfee's disguise succeed today? Despite darkening his skin, which would soften
the intensity signature of his face, the light hitting contours of the face would still register an intensity
signature that would enable face detection. Likewise, the alteration to the shape of his cheeks and nose
would meet little success.

F. To appreciate the reasons for this, it is worth looking at how the majority of face recognition technology
works. First, it has to realise that it is actually being presented with a face - a process called face
detection - and then work on recognition and matching it with a face that is already in the system.

G. Equally, dying the beard and hair would be counterproductive these days, as computer systems look at a
face from above the eyebrows down to the chin, so hairstyles and colour are irrelevant. Even if your
beard was a metre long, it would make no difference.

H. However, it might not be so simple in the future. The FBI has unveiled its Biometric Identification Tools
Program, with aspirations for the future to develop mobile facial recognition software, which would
enable them to access records at any time, from anywhere around the globe. In the real world this means
using the technology that is currently available from CCTV cameras in streets, sports stadiums,
motorways, shopping centres, car parks and so on, anywhere on the planet, because it will be held on
one database.

Part 5. You are going to read an article on travel adventures. For questions 1-10, select the travel writer
(A-E) using the separate answer sheet. Each travel writer may be selected more than once.
(15 points)
Which travel writer:
1. says their luck initially changed for the worse? C

2. had some rather stereotypical opinions? D

3. got to experience a different kind of life? A

4. learned not to jump to conclusions? B

5. has had a lot of travel problems in the past? A

6. caused a fuss about something? B

7. felt like they were the odd one out? E

8. was reliant on another person? A

9. was in awe of their surroundings? A

10. thought they were ready for anything? D

Far-flung Adventures
Isla Perkins speaks to five travel writers to discover their most memorable travel experience
A. Ethan Simmons

I’ve been on a fair few trips, not all of them easy (5), but when I think back to one trip that really stands
out for me, it has to be my overnight adventure in the depths of the jungle (3), It was probably a
memorable experience for numerous reasons, hot least because it tested my courage! Fortunately, and
crucially, a guide was at our disposal to deal with any eventualities that might occur (8) or, at least, keep
us alive! I felt completely at his mercy and, undoubtedly, we’d have been toast if it hadn’t been for him.
Of those memorable 36 hours, the highlights included being bitten by fire ants and chased by a monkey,
and to top it off, we slept amongst it all, albeit with one eye open (9) ! My overwhelming recollection,
though, is what a feast for my senses the jungle was - at night it is like an orchestra of the natural world.

B. Ruth Gonzalez

My most memorable experience occurred when I was a fearless teen on a long-distance bus, travelling
solo with a little cash in my bag and my bank card in my sock for safekeeping. However, during the
journey I had the paralysing realisation that my sock felt suspiciously light, and a panicked fumble
through my belongings confirmed what I’d dreaded-my card was nowhere to be seen. The fear spread
through me, and before I knew it I’d burst into tears, making quite a scene that all the passengers
witnessed (6) ! It was at this point I became aware of a suspicious-looking womau, stealing hidden
glances at me and whispering to someone on her mobile in a language I didn’t understand. The horror
continued when I alighted, and she grabbed my mist and started dragging me towards a strange man!
However, contrary to my rather dark suspicions, the man told me his mother was worried about me but
spoke no English, and they proceeded to go out of their way to make sure I was safe and calm, even
taking me to the Embassy! Perhaps I should be more trusting in the future. (4)

C. Matt Cooper

I’ve been at the mercy of a whole host of airline hassles when travelling, but none was more memorable
than the flight complications I had over my 21 st birthday. I was returning from Australia to the UK, but
blizzards had caused havoc in the UK leading to a standstill for most flights bound that way. I truly felt
I’d won the lottery when they announced that we could take off, but little did I know we’d be stuck on
the tarmac at our refuelling point in Bangkok (1), the city that indirectly played host to my birthday. I
passed the time with four strangers on the plane, all of whom were travelling solo like me, and it was
one of the most rewarding moments of my life as we came together from four different comers of the
world to communicate in the little shared English that we had, and to form friendships that are still
lasting to this day. And the most priceless part of all? I married one of them!

D. Taisa Vasilyev

I used to treat people who took two weeks to go and lay on a beach with contempt, (2) considering them
to be unadventurous and uncultured, but my recent trek across the Grand Canyon, world-famous for its
jaw- dropping landscape, has made me think twice. I’d decided to go it alone, and while on a deserted
path, teetering on a rock trying to get some shots of an eagle circling in the sky, I slipped and ended up
with my foot jammed between two rocks. After some wriggling around I realised that it was stuck fast.
Of course, as a seasoned adventurer I was prepared for such eventualities (10) and so grabbed my
mobile to call for help, only to see I had no reception. That will teach me for going off the beaten track!
I had no choice but to spend the night out there on the rocks, waiting for help and imagining the worst,
until a couple came past early next morning. In the future, I think I’ll stick to an all- inclusive hotel!

E. Teresa Small
I was inter-railing around Europe, and it was great, if nothing out of the ordinary, at least until I got to
Greece. From the moment I alighted from the train in Athens I noticed a different air around me. I
wondered if it was paranoia, but I got the sense that people were giving me furtive glances, and I noticed
hushed whispers that I suspected were made in my direction. I couldn’t put my finger on it exactly, but I
had a hunch that something wasn’t right, and that I was at the centre of it (7) , I spent a good half day
feeling like that until I got on a boat to Naxos and someone asked me for an autograph. They say
everyone has a double and it turns out mine is a famous Greek soap opera star! Once I realised this, I
revelled in the attention, causing a stir wherever I went and even signing the odd autograph, even though
I wasn’t the real deal! After all, who doesn’t want to feel special once in a while?