READING PASSAGE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on Reading Passage
below.

The Life of Sir Isaac Newton

A Isaac Newton was born on January 4, 1643, in Lincolnshire, England. The son of a farmer,
who died three months before he was born, Newton spent most of his early years with his maternal
grandmother after his mother remarried. Following an education interrupted by a failed attempt to
turn him into a farmer, he attended the King’s School in Grantham before enrolling at the University
of Cambridge’s Trinity College in 1661, where he soon became fascinated by the works of modern
philosophers such as René Descartes. When the Great Plague shut Cambridge off from the rest
of England in 1665, Newton returned home and began formulating his theories on calculus, light
and color, his farm the setting for the supposed falling apple that inspired his work on gravity.
B Newton returned to Cambridge in 1667. He constructed the first reflecting telescope in 1668,
and the following year he received his Master of Arts degree and took over as Cambridge’s
Professor of Mathematics. In 1671 he was asked to give a demonstration of his telescope to the
Royal Society of London in 1671, the same year he was elected to the prestigious Society. The
following year, fascinated with the study of light, he published his notes on optics for his peers.
Through his experiments, Newton determined that white light was a composite of all the colors on
the spectrum, and he asserted that light was composed of particles instead of waves. His methods
were heavily criticized by established Society member Robert Hooke, who was also unwilling to
compromise again with Newton’s follow-up paper in 1675. Known for his temperamental defense
of his work, Newton engaged in heated correspondence with Hooke before suffering a nervous
breakdown and withdrawing from the public eye in 1678. In the following years, he returned to his
earlier studies on the forces governing gravity.
C In 1684, English astronomer Edmund Halley paid a visit to the reclusive Newton. Upon
learning that Newton had mathematically worked out the elliptical paths of celestial bodies, such
as the movement of the planets around the sun, Halley urged him to organize his notes. The result
was the 1687 publication of “Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica” (Mathematical
Principles of Natural Philosophy), which established the three laws of motion and the law of
universal gravity. Principia made Newton a star in intellectual circles, eventually earning him
widespread acclaim as one of the most important figures in modern science.
D As a now influential figure, Newton opposed King James II’s attempts to reinstate Catholic
teachings at English Universities and was elected to represent Cambridge in Parliament in 1689.
He moved to London permanently after being named warden of the Royal Mint in 1696, earning a
promotion to master of the Mint three years later. Determined to prove his position wasn’t merely
symbolic, Newton moved the pound sterling from the silver to the gold standard and sought to
punish forgers.
E The death of Hooke in 1703 allowed Newton to take over as president of the Royal Society,
and the following year he published his second major work, “Opticks.” Composed largely from his
earlier notes on the subject, the book detailed Newton’s experiments with refraction and the color
spectrum, and also contained his conclusions on such matters as energy and electricity. In 1705,
he was knighted by Queen Anne of England.
F Around this time, the debate over Newton’s claims to originating the field of calculus, the
mathematical study of change, exploded into a nasty dispute. Newton had developed his
mathematical concept of ‘fluxions’ (differentials) in the mid-1660s to account for celestial orbits,
though there was no public record of his work. In the meantime, German mathematician Gottfried
Leibniz formulated his own theories and published them in 1684. As president of the Royal Society,
Newton oversaw an investigation that ruled his work to be the founding basis of the field, but the
debate continued even after Leibniz’s death in 1716. Researchers later concluded that both men
likely arrived at their conclusions independent of one another.
G Newton was also obsessed with history and religious doctrines, and his writings on those
subjects were collected into multiple books that were published after his death. Having never
married, Newton spent his later years living with his niece at Cranbury Park, near Winchester,
England. He died on March 31, 1727 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. A giant even among
the brilliant minds that drove the Scientific Revolution, Newton is remembered as an extraordinary
scholar, inventor and writer. His theories about the movement of bodies in the solar system
transformed our understanding of the universe and his precise methodology helped to give birth to
what is known as the scientific method. Although his theories of space-time and gravity were
eventually superseded by those of Einstein his work remains the foundation stone of modern
physics was built.

Questions 1-6
The text has seven paragraphs labelled A–G.
Reading passage 1 has seven paragraphs, A-G.
Choose the correct headings for paragraphs B-G from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.
 List of Headings
i Continued breakthroughs in research
ii Competing claims of originality
iii The early years of Sir Isaac Newton
iv The legacy of an exceptional mind
v Routine life at a 17th century university
vi Heated academic disputes
vii A new venture
viii His crowning achievement
ix A controversial theory about planets

Answer Example
iii Paragraph A
1 Paragraph B
2 Paragraph C
3 Paragraph D
4 Paragraph E
5 Paragraph F
6 Paragraph G

Questions 7-8
Answer the questions below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer
Write your answers in boxes 7-8 on your answer sheet.

7 With which scientific organization was Newton associated for much of his career?
8 With whom did Newton live as he got older?

Questions 9-13
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet.

Sir Isaac Newton’s achievements

● Created first reflecting 9………………….., subsequently made a professor at Cambridge at
the age of 25.
● Helped develop the scientific method with his experiments in 10……………………, the study
of light; showed that it is 11………………….., not waves, that constitute light.
● Worked out the laws of the movement of bodies in space (planets etc.), published Principia
Mathematica with laws of gravity and 12……………………..
● Joint founder (with Leibniz) of 13……………………., a new branch of mathematics
 VOCABULARY
1. to fascinate /ˈfæs.ən.eɪt/ (v): thu hút, mê hoặc (C1)
2. philosopher /fɪˈlɒs.ə.fər/ (n): triết học gia
3. Great Plague /ɡreɪt pleɪɡ/ (n): Đại dịch hạch (C2)
4. to formulate /ˈfɔː.mjə.leɪt/ (v): xây dựng, hình thành (C2)

→ form ulation /ˌfɔː.mjəˈleɪ.ʃən/ (n): sự hình thành

5. calculus /ˈkæl.kjə.ləs/ (n): giải tích

6. gravity /ˈɡræv.ə.ti/ (n): lực hấp dẫn, trọng lực
7. reflecting telescope /rɪˌflek.tɪŋ ˈtel.ɪ.skəʊp/ (n): kính thiên văn khúc xạ
8. prestigious /presˈtɪdʒ.əs/ (adj): danh giá (C1)
9. optics /ˈɒp.tɪks/ (n): quang học, nghiên cứu về ông sáng
10. spectrum /ˈspek.trəm/ (n): quang phổ (C2)
11. particle /ˈpɑː.tɪ.kəl/ (n): hạt/ mảnh nhỏ, hạt nguyên tử (C2)
12. astronomer /əˈstrɒn.ə.mər/ (n): nhà thiên văn học
13. reclusive /rɪˈkluː.sɪv/ (adj): ẩn dật
14. celestial body /sɪˈles.ti.əl ˈbɒd.i/ (n): thiên thể
15. intellectual circle /ˌɪn.təlˈek.tʃu.əl ˈsɜː.kəl/ (n): nhóm/ giới tri thức
16. to acclaim /əˈkleɪm/ (v): ca ngợi, biết đến
17. to reinstate /ˌriː.ɪnˈsteɪt/ (v): khôi phục lại, hồi phục lại
18. parliament /ˈpɑː.lɪ.mənt/ (n): Quốc hội
19. pound sterling /ˌpaʊnd ˈstɜː.lɪŋ/ (n): đồng bảng Anh
20. forger /ˈfɔː.dʒər/ (n): kẻ làm giả tiền
21. refraction /rɪˈfræk.ʃən/ (n): sự khúc xạ
22. to knight /naɪt/ (v): phong tước hiệp sĩ
23. nasty dispute /ˈnɑː.sti dɪˈspjuːt/ (adj): cuộc tranh luận gay gắt, dữ dội
24. fluxion /´flʌkʃən/ (n) = differential /ˌdɪf.əˈren.ʃəl/ (n): vi phân (toán học)
25. to oversee /ˌəʊ.vəˈsiː/ (v): giám sát
26. to obsess /əbˈses/ (v): ám ảnh
27. religious doctrine /rɪˈlɪdʒ.əs ˈdɒk.trɪn/ (n): học thuyết/ giáo lý tôn giáo
28. scholar /ˈskɒl.ər/ (n) học giả (C1)
29. methodology /ˌmeθ.əˈdɒl.ə.dʒi/ (n): phương pháp luận
30. to supersede /ˌsuː.pəˈsiːd/ (v) thay thế

USEFUL EXPRESSIONS
1. to turn (sb/sth) into sb/sth: biến (ai đó/cái gì) thành ai/cái gì
2. to shut sth off: ngừng hoạt động, đóng cửa cái gì
3. to take over sth: đảm nhận/ kiểm soát cái gì
4. to give a demonstration of sth: đưa ra một buổi trình diễn, sự giới thiệu/ mô tả của cái
gì
5. to assert that S+V: khẳng định rằng …
6. to be composed of sth: được hình thành bởi cái gì
7. to compromise with sb/sth: thỏa hiệp với ai/cái gì
8. to engage in sth: bắt đầu nói chuyện về cái gì, tham gia vào cái gì
9. a nervous breakdown: sự suy nhược thần kinh
10. to withdraw from sth: rút lui/ rời khỏi cái gì
11. to pay a visit to sb/sth: đến thăm một người/địa điểm nào đó
12. to work out sth: khám phá, phát triển cái gì
13. to urge sb to do sth: thôi thúc/ thuyết phục ai đó làm gì
14. the law of motion: định luật chuyển động
15. the law of universal gravity: định luật vạn vật hấp dẫn
16. to earn a promotion to sth: thăng chức lên vị trí nào đó
17. to explode into sth: bùng nổ/thay đổi thành cái gì đó mạnh mẽ/ thú vị
18. to account for sth: giải thích lý do của cái gì
19. In the meantime,: Trong khi đó,
20. to give birth to sth: khai sinh ra cái gì
21. the foundation stone of sth: nền tảng của cái gì