Exercise 2: Câu chuyện sau được chia thành các câu nhỏ, hãy đọc và điền mạo từ thích hợp “a/an/ the hoặc x (không cần mạo từ)” vào chỗ trống:
1. There was ________knock on ________door. I opened it and found ________small dark man in ________blue overcoat and _______woolen cap.
2. He said he was ________employee of ________gas company and had come to read ________meter.
3. But I had ________suspicion that he wasn't speaking ________truth because ________meter readers usually wear ________peaked caps.
4. However, I took him to ________ meter, which is in ________dark corner under ________ stairs.
5. I asked if he had ________ torch; he said he disliked torches and always read ________ meters by ________light of ________match.
6. I remarked that if there was ________leak in ________ gas pipe there might be ________ explosion while he was reading ________meter.
7. He said, “As ________matter of ________fact, there was ________explosion in ________last house I visited; and Mr. Smith, ________owner of ________house, was burnt in ________face.”
8. “Mr. Smith was holding ________lighted match at ________time of ________explosion.”
9. To prevent ________possible repetition of this accident, I lent him ________torch.
10. He switched on ________torch, read ________meter and wrote ________ reading down on ________back of ________envelope.
11. I said in ________surprise that ________meter readers usually put ________readings down in ________book.
12. He said that he had had ________book but that it had been burnt in ________fire in________ Mr. Smith's house.
13. By this time I had come to ________conclusion that he wasn't ________genuine meter reader; and ________moment he left ________house I rang ________police.
China said today that there was heavy loss of life in the earthquake which struck Tangshan city yesterday. Survivors said that Tangshan, an industrial city of one million people 160 km east of Beijing, was completely (51) destroyed. Observers living in Beijing said it appeared that only a small part of the one million inhabbitants (52) escaped death or injury. Many of the men of Tangshan were (53) working in the mines deep under the earthquake(54) occured Unfortunately, few of these miners(55) have survived. A lot of people were also working in the city's(56) offices . Regrettably, most were(57) killed under falling concrete when the building(58) collapsed . The Chinese authorities have not yet given any information about the actual(59) number of casualties, but it is thought that tens of thousands of people have been killed. Hardly a house has been left (60) stadingn .