Page 151 - Tài Liệu Ôn Thi THPT Quốc Gia Môn Tiếng Anh

telephone has helped to bring people closer in a diííĩcult world and has made
life, for many, much easier and much more enjoyable.

26. QUEEN VICTORIA

Victoria ílrst learned of her future role as a princess during a history
lesson when she was 10 years old. (1) ______ four decades later, Victoria’s
governess recalled that the future queen reacted to the discovery (2)
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declaring, “I will be good”. This combination of earnestness and egotism ! _ _ _
m£irked Victoria (3 )______ a child of the age that bears her name. (4 )_______
was an era of industrialisation and colonial expansion (5) had not
happened before. By the end of her reign, about a third of the known world
was (6) ______ her rule. (7) ______ , the queen herself was resistant to
technological change (8) ______ while mechanical and technological
innovation was reshaping the face of European civilization. (9) ______
signiíĩcantly, Victoria was a queen determined to retain political power; yet
she presided (1 0 )______ the transformation of the sovereign’s political role
into a ceremonial (11) ______ and thus helped to preserve the English
monarchy. When Victoria became queen, the political role of the crown was
by (12)______ means clear or defined; nor (13)_______the permanence of the
throne (14) ____ . When she died, the change in the monarch’s roles was
one of socÌ2d (15) ____ than of political focus.
27. ENTERTAINING PEOPLE
When the human capacity for amazement, thrill, 2ind suspense approaches
(1) ______ limits, a circus unleashes its clowns (2) ______ freshen the
atmosphere and recondition the spectator’s mind for the next act. (3 )______
tradition, there are several varieties of clowns, (4) ______ the elegantly-
costumed white-faced clown who appears rather severe and domineering, to
the happy-go-lucky grotesque variety, (5) ______ exaggerated make-up and
costumes are more outrỄigeous and less predictable, to the dejected, down-£ind-
out “tramp” character, popularised (6) ______ all by the American, Emmett
Kelly. In 19th century circuses it was usual for clowns to entertain audiences
with songs and long monologues, in (7 )______they sometimes oíTered words
of wisdom (8 )______politics and current events or quoted Shakespeare. More
recently, especially in Russian circuses, a (9) ______ number of clowns have
attempted to strike (10) ______ in new directions, abandoning traditional
costumes and make-up and developing (11) ______ natural characters. The
great Russian clown, Oleg Popov, (12) ______ appear in the ring wearing a
minimum (1 3 )______make-up and only a slightly unconventional wardrobe.
He impersonated an incompetent buíĩoon (14) ______ was torever trying to
mimic the acts of the legitimate performers írequently, he almost succeeded
(15)______only after suíĩlcient bungling to make his performance a comedy.

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