Phần I hệ thống kiến thức trọng tâm I. PháT Âm trọng âM

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 35 to 42. 
The sport of sumo is Japan's traditional style of wrestling, and it is one of the oldest organized sports on 
earth. Sumo matches were taking place in the seventh century A.D. The basic elements of modern sumo began 
to fall into place in the 1680s, and it remains little changed since then. Sumo wrestlers are huge men by any 
standard. Their average weight is 160 kilos, and there is no weight restriction. The Hawaii Salevaa Atisanoe, 
whose sumo name is Konishiki, weighed over 280 kilos when he was a successful wrestler. To achieve such 
impressive dimensions, sumo wrestlers eat large quantities of chankonabe, a Japanese stew whose ingredients 
include vegetables, chicken, fish, tofu or beef. In the ring, they wear, without shame, little more than a 
traditional silk belt called mawashi. Their hair is styled in a fashion popular with 17
th
- century samurai. 
Sumo matches are rich in tradition. The wrestling ring, called the dobyo, is exactly 4.55 meters across. Above it 
hangs a beautiful shrine roof that illustrates sumo's close association with Japan’s Shinto religion. Wrestlers 
throw salt onto the ring before each match, a religious tradition believed to make the ground pure. Overseeing 
the fight in the gyoji, an official dressed in wonderful traditional clothes who closely watches and sometimes 
encourages the wrestlers. 
As Japan becomes more internationalized, so too does the world of sumo. Wrestlers from Mongolia, Korea, 
Russia, the United States, Argentina, and other countries have taken their turn in the ring. It’s not surprising that 
so many people are entering the sport, since professional sumo wrestlers enjoy many benefits. Top wrestlers are 
national heroes and can earn more than one million dollars annually; some have been married movie stars. 
Foreign wrestler once found it difficult to advance in sumo. Konishiki once complained to the press, “If I were 
Japanese, I’d be a grand champion now.” But since then, four wrestlers of foreign origin have become grand 
champions or yokozuna, the top level of sumo wrestler. Few other sports have been so successful at keeping 
traditional roots while still appealing to a 2l
st 
- century audience. For this reason, the ancient and the modern will 
continue to meet in the sumo ring. 
(Adapted from Explorer Reading 2) 

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