Read the passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the best answer to each of the following questions from 31 to 40.
Fast fashion's appeal rests on speed and novelty, but the costs are dispersed across oceans and atmospheres. [I] Polyester-heavy garments leach microfibers during washing; dye effluents overwhelm rivers near manufacturing hubs; and overproduction ensures that surplus inventory becomes landfill fodder or is incinerated. Brands tout capsule "conscious" lines, yet throughput targets remain unaltered, meaning marginal efficiency gains are swamped by absolute volume, perpetuating systemic environmental degradation and deepening long-term ecological inequities worldwide. Such dynamics reveal a production model structurally predicated on acceleration and disposability, wherein ecological costs are externalized, regulatory asymmetries persist across borders, and vulnerable populations remain disproportionately exposed to the cumulative burdens of extraction, pollution, and climate volatility.
Supply chains, optimized for immediacy, rely on subcontracting lattices that outstrip public oversight. [II] When price points race downward, environmental externalities and labor protections are the first to be shaved off. Claims of circularity, absent durable design and infrastructure for large-scale recirculation, are marketing gloss rather than material transformation. Meanwhile, the logistics of reverse supply – collection, sorting, fiber-to-fiber recycling – struggle to keep pace with the torrent of low-grade blends that resist reprocessing, thereby perpetuating systemic waste, obscuring accountability, and delaying substantive structural reform across the industry. This persistent lag between extraction and recovery underscores how efficiency rhetoric masks structural imbalances, allowing production to expand unchecked while remediation systems remain chronically underfunded, technologically constrained, and institutionally fragmented across jurisdictions.
Consumer behavior complicates any remedy. [III] Social-media cycles fetishize perpetual newness, converting wardrobes into content pipelines; discount platforms train shoppers to treat clothes as near-disposable. Policy can counteract these incentives – extended producer responsibility, eco-modulated fees, and right-to-repair rules – but enforcement gaps and jurisdictional patchworks dilute impact. Retailers experiment with rental and resale, only to discover that additional channels often cannibalize quality while leaving aggregate volume largely intact, suggesting that without recalibrating demand itself, incremental reforms risk being absorbed by the very growth dynamics they seek to restrain and ultimately failing to curb the sector’s escalating material footprint.
What endures, then, beyond seasonal campaigns, is a structural arithmetic. [IV] Without binding caps on production and credible emissions accounting, sustainability talk risks net-greenwashing: relative improvements advertised as planetary salvation. The sector’s outsized water draw, chemical intensity, and fossil-fuel dependency cannot be reconciled with breakneck turnover unless growth becomes materially decoupled from throughput – a prospect that, so far, appears aspirational rather than achieved, and one that demands coordinated regulatory resolve, transparent metrics, and a fundamental reorientation of value away from volume-driven expansion toward genuine long-term ecological stability.
(Adapted from Earth.org, "Fast Fashion and Its Environmental Impact in 2025")
Question 31. The word “unaltered” in paragraph 1 is OPPOSITE in meaning to ____________.
A. unchanged
B. modified
C. preserved
D. maintained
Question 32. The word “torrent” in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to ____________.
A. a relatively small amount
B. a rapid and overwhelming flow
C. a generally stable condition
D. a short and brief interruption
Question 33. The word “these” in paragraph 3 refers to ____________.
A. enforcement gaps and jurisdictional patchworks
B. rental and resale experiments in global markets
C. social media trends and discount-driven consumer habits
D. sustainability campaigns and environmental initiatives
Question 34. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?
A. Microfiber pollution from washing polyester
B. River contamination from dye effluents
C. Noise pollution from textile factories
D. Incineration of surplus inventory
Question 35. Where in the passage would the following sentence best fit?
This inflation of claims risks widening the gap between corporate messaging and biophysical limits, inviting regulatory and consumer backlash.
A. [I]
B. [II]
C. [III]
D. [IV]
Question 36. Which of the following best summarises paragraph 2?
A. Fast fashion supply chains are transparent and straightforward to regulate globally.
B. Complex supply chains and weak recycling infrastructure undermine sustainability claims.
C. Recycling systems effectively manage all forms of textile waste in the globe.
D. Marketing strategies have completely transformed the fashion industry globally.
Question 37. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A. Lower prices often lead to weaker environmental and labor standards.
B. Rental and resale always reduce overall clothing production worldwide.
C. Sustainability campaigns have ended overproduction on a large scale.
D. Recycling infrastructure keeps pace with textile waste in many fashion companies.
Question 38. Which of the following best paraphrases the underlined sentence in paragraph 4?
A. Sustainability discussions are unnecessary within the fashion industry today in the current context.
B. Strict production limits and transparent emissions reporting prevent misleading environmental claims.
C. Production caps alone are enough to guarantee long-term sustainability without requiring additional measures.
D. Emissions accounting has minimal impact on meaningful environmental protection in the long run.
Question 39. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
A. Minor efficiency improvements are insufficient to address the environmental damage of fast fashion.
B. Consumers are fully informed about supply chain conditions and aware of environmental problems.
C. Government policies are strictly enforced worldwide and effectively protect public interests.
D. Growth in fashion production has already been separated from environmental impact.
Question 40. Which of the following best summarises the entire passage?
A. Fast fashion can become sustainable through improved marketing strategies alone without major structural reforms.
B. Structural overproduction, weak regulation, and consumer habits make sustainability largely superficial.
C. Recycling innovations will eliminate textile waste in the foreseeable future across the global fashion industry.
D. Consumer behavior alone ultimately determines overall environmental outcomes in both rich and poor countries.