EDUCATION UPDATE
Phone-Free Schools Pilot

Background: This autumn, selected lower and upper secondary schools in many cities will begin a phone-free pilot during the school day. The proposal, (1) __________ with principals, parents, and counsellors for months, is intended to improve focus rather than punish students.

What schools have observed: Early classroom trials in several campuses already (2) __________ on behaviour reviews that show fewer interruptions and a (3) __________ atmosphere in group discussion.

How the policy will operate

• Each campus will issue clear (4) __________ rules before the pilot starts.
• In verified family emergencies, school offices may make temporary supervised phone access available (5) __________ students.
• During lessons, students will be expected (6) __________ from checking messages until the school day ends.

The pilot will be reviewed at the end of the first term.

Question 1:
A.  discussing        B. which discussed        C. having discussed        D. discussed

Question 2:
A.  call        B. dwell        C. draw
D.  turn

Question 3:
A.  calm        B. calmly        C. calmness        D. calmer

Question 4:
A.  consistent phone school-day storage        B. consistent storage school-day phone

C. school-day phone consistent storage        D. consistent school-day phone storage

Question 5:
A.  with        B. into        C. to
D.  toward

Question 6:
A.  refrain        B. refraining        C. to refrain        D. to refraining

PUBLIC HEALTH UPDATE
Respiratory Illness in Hot, Polluted Weather

Current Pattern

• Community clinics have recently recorded a marked (7) _______ of respiratory complaints, especially among children, older adults, and street vendors.

Key Advice

• (8) _______ minimizing prolonged exposure to heat and polluted air, residents should limit outdoor activity at midday and keep indoor areas ventilated.
• What begins as a mild cough may quickly become a household’s (9) _______ most urgent concern when breathing grows difficult.

Shared Responsibility

• In crowded places, cover coughs, wash hands thoroughly, and avoid close contact when unwell. Such measures can (10) _______ wider transmission and reduce the risk of severe (11) __________.
• Early care may also prevent avoidable hospital (12) _______ during busy periods.

Question 7: A. number        B. quantity        C. load        D. volume

Question 8: A. Prior to          B. To that end        C. With a view to        D. Over and above

Question 9: A. a        B. an        C. Ø
D.  the

Question 10: A. bring about        B. hold back        C. hold up        D. look after

Question 11: A. outcomes        B. symptoms        C. complications        D. conditions

Question 12: A. referrals        B. discharges        C. relapses        D. admissions

Question 13:

a. Iris: That sounds less like discovery and more like the app building a padded room around my opinions.

b. Iris: I thought I was learning about the world, but my feed keeps serving the same takes in different fonts.

c. Noah: So when was the last time it showed you something that made you genuinely uncomfortable?

A. c – b – a        B. a – c – b        C. b – c – a
D.  b – a – c

Question 14:

a. Eva: Maybe both, because local styles do fade, yet people also remix them into something that did not exist before.

b. Ryan: For example, my cousin in Da Nang dresses like Tokyo street fashion, quotes Marvel films, and still cooks our grandmother’s recipes.

c. Eva: Then perhaps identity is becoming layered rather than erased, even if that mix can feel messy.

d. Ryan: Do you think global pop culture is flattening local identity, or is it creating a new kind of belonging?

e. Ryan: Fair point. That is why I hesitate to call it cultural loss too quickly. It may be translation, not surrender.

A. b – c – d – a – e        B. d – a – b – c – e
C.  d – a – e – c – b        D. b – c – e – a – d

Question 15:

Dear Aunt Hana,

I hope your health has been better this month. Things at my end have been strangely thought-provoking lately.

a. What disturbed me most was the label “for recycling,” because everyone in the neighborhood knew those machines were being stripped in open yards and burned for scraps.

b. Last week, a shipment of used computers arrived near our town, and some people welcomed it as a sign of international cooperation.

c. By evening, the smoke had settled over the canal, and children were still picking through wires for bits of metal they could sell.

d. At first, I wanted to believe that useful parts would be repaired and passed on to schools or small shops.

e. After seeing that, I could no longer treat the trade as help alone; it felt like richer countries were exporting both waste and moral comfort.

A. d – b – a – c – e        B. b – a – d – c – e        C. b – d – a – c – e        D. d – b – c – a – e

Best wishes,

Mai

Question 16:

a. The money from permits, land fees, and guided tours can pay for rangers, fences, and compensation when animals damage crops.

b. The moral discomfort is real, since protecting a species by allowing some of it to be killed sounds like a contradiction no slogan can soften.

c. In a dry region where wildlife competes with livestock for land and water, a total hunting ban may sound noble from far away yet fail on the ground.

d. Even so, the system becomes indefensible when corruption distorts it, quotas ignore science, or rare animals become luxury trophies for vanity.

e. For some local communities, controlled hunting changes wild animals from costly threats into valuable assets, which gives people a reason to keep habitat standing instead of clearing it.

A. b – c – e – a – d        B. c – b – e – a – d        C. c – e – b – d – a        D. b – c – a – e – d

Question 17:

a. A coder in Nairobi or Ho Chi Minh City may solve problems just as elegantly as a graduate in London, yet the market often rewards birthplace, passport access, and company postcode more than raw skill.

b. Supporters of globalization call this progress because remote platforms let talent cross borders, but the terms of that exchange are rarely equal.

c. That gap reveals a system that loves worldwide competition when buying labor, while becoming strangely national when sharing security, bargaining power, and long-term rewards.

d. As a result, two young professionals can work in the same language, on the same software, for the same clients, and still end up with incomes that are worlds apart.

e. So the real question is not whether globalization connects people; it clearly does, but whether it distributes dignity as efficiently as it distributes opportunity.

A. b – a – c – e – d        B. a – b – d – e – c        C. b – d – a – c – e        D. b – a – d – c – e

For centuries, darkness shaped the rhythms of both human and animal life. Today, however, artificial lighting has spread so widely that true darkness is becoming rare. The result is not just a brighter world, but ecological disruption. Migrating birds, nocturnal insects, and marine species that rely on natural light cues (18) __________, often with effects that extend far beyond a single habitat.

Humans, too, are not exempt from these effects. Although artificial light is commonly associated with safety, comfort and economic activity, the body does not simply ignore prolonged exposure to it. (19) __________. Researchers have linked excessive nighttime illumination to poorer sleep quality, hormonal disruption and reduced overall well-being, especially in densely populated urban areas.

Individuals illuminate homes, advertisers flood streets with visual stimuli, and local authorities often prioritize visibility over restraint, (20) __________ that constant brightness is associated with safety and progress. Critics may be tempted to blame urban expansion alone, (21) __________. The difficulty, then, lies not only in regulating excessive lighting, but also in questioning the assumptions that make constant brightness seem both normal and desirable. (22) __________.

[Adapted from a range of environmental commentaries]

Question 18:

A. are increasingly being drawn away from essential patterns of movement and behaviour

B. have increasingly drawn away essential patterns of movement and behaviour from themselves

C. increasingly draw themselves away from essential behaviour to seek artificial brightness

D. and which are increasing their movement and behaviour away from essential patterns

Question 19:

A. A growing body of evidence suggests that the human nervous system continues to register light as a biological signal

B. The human nervous system, suggesting a growing body of evidence, continues to register biological light as a signal

C. That the human nervous system continues registering light is a body of evidence growing as a biological signal

D. A biological signal is what the human nervous system continues registering because evidence has grown

Question 20:

A. strengthening the belief which many urban residents rarely question it

B. all of which strengthen the belief many urban residents rarely question

C. the belief many urban residents rarely question is strengthened by all

D. strengthening the belief many urban residents rarely question for their safety

Question 21:

A. whereas the truth is that everyday habits also play a substantial part in sustaining the problem

B. while everyday habits are substantial truths in the part they play to sustain the problem

C. but the truth of everyday habits substantially plays a part in sustaining the problem

D. since everyday habits are the truth that plays a substantial part of the problem

Question 22:

A. Until that cultural preference is challenged, technical solutions alone are unlikely to solve the issue

B. Since the issue is unlikely to be solved, technical solutions alone challenge that cultural preference

C. Technical solutions alone are unlikely, until the issue solves that cultural preference by challenge

D. Unless the issue is solved technically, that cultural preference alone is unlikely to be challenged

She opens her phone for a minute and stays for twenty. A classmate has won a scholarship, a cousin is glowing in holiday photos, and someone her age is already speaking about “building a personal brand.” Nothing terrible has happened, yet her own evening suddenly feels smaller, dimmer, as if ordinary life were a room with the curtains half drawn. That is how the social comparison trap often works. It does not always wound with open cruelty. More often, it whispers that everyone else is moving faster, shining brighter, and arriving sooner.

Yet comparison itself is not the villain. Psychology Today explains that people often judge their own worth by measuring themselves against others, and this habit can sometimes be useful. It may help someone set goals, test progress, or imagine a larger future. Seen in that light, comparison is a mirror, not a knife. It can sharpen ambition when handled calmly. Trouble begins when the mirror stops reflecting reality and starts bending it.

Online, that bending happens with quiet efficiency. Social networks, as Psychology Today notes, can stir shame and envy, especially when people are surrounded by polished fragments of other lives. A promotion appears without the years of anxiety behind it. A perfect face arrives without the lighting, filters, or doubt. What should have been a passing glance becomes a private trial, with the self forever in the dock. Little by little, a person may stop asking, “What do I value?” and start asking only, “Why am I behind?”

Still, not every comparison must end in despair. Sometimes another person’s success can be read not as a verdict, but as information. The real trap lies in comparing your inner weather to someone else’s edited skyline. Once that imbalance is noticed, the spell weakens. Then the question changes. Not “Who is ahead of me?” but “What kind of life is worth building, even when no one is watching?” That question is quieter, but it tends to tell the truth.

[Adapted from Psychology Today]

Question 23. The word “dimmer” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to __________.

A. less peaceful        B. less impressive        C. less exciting        D. less private

Question 24. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the first paragraph as a trigger for the girl's feeling?

A. A relative’s cheerful appearance in photos.        B. A peer’s achievement in academic funding.

C. A stranger’s advice on career development.        D. A contemporary’s talk about personal image.

Question 25. The word “It” in paragraph 2 refers to __________.

A. habit        B. future        C. the mirror        D. comparison

Question 26. The word “despair” in paragraph 4 is OPPOSITE in meaning to __________.

A. confidence        B. comfort        C. optimism        D. calmness

Question 27. Which of the following can be inferred about the "bending of reality" on social networks in paragraph 3?

A. It is a loud and obvious process that most users can easily avoid.

B. It involves hiding the struggles behind a person's visible success.

C. It primarily focuses on changing the physical appearance of users.

D. It encourages people to ask deeper questions about their own values.

Question 28. Which of the following best paraphrases the sentence in paragraph 4?

A. People often fail because they focus on the weather instead of their career goals.

B. You will feel trapped if you try to change your internal feelings to match a beautiful view.

C. The danger comes from judging your private struggles against others' idealized public images.

D. Comparing different lifestyles is a mistake because everyone has their own version of truth.

Question 29. In which paragraph does the writer mainly describe how online content can turn comparison into self-judgment?

A. Paragraph 1        B. Paragraph 2        C. Paragraph 3        D. Paragraph 4

Question 30. In which paragraph does the author discuss the potential benefits of comparing oneself with others?

A. Paragraph 1        B. Paragraph 2        C. Paragraph 3        D. Paragraph 4

Prices, at least, have the courtesy to announce themselves. A higher number on a tag can be argued with, compared, resented, or refused. The quieter problem begins when the number holds steady while the thing purchased begins to lose value in less visible ways: service thins out, ingredients are quietly downgraded, convenience is shifted onto the buyer, and the product that once felt reliable starts to seem faintly hollow. This is what gives skimpflation its peculiar force. It does not merely reduce value. It disperses the reduction across texture, labor, and experience, so that customers often register the loss before they can fully prove it.

Skimpflation operates by reducing the quality of a product or service rather than openly raising the listed price, often through cheaper inputs, leaner staffing, or a thinner layer of care. In some cases, customers are asked to do work that employees once handled, whether at self-checkout machines, app-based hotel services, or other streamlined systems presented as convenience. At one level, these changes may appear efficient and may even feel faster. At another, they reveal a subtler transfer. The labor has not vanished. Part of it has simply been reassigned downward, from firm to consumer, while the price signal remains comparatively tidy.

That transfer is what makes the phenomenon more socially corrosive than it first appears. Ordinary inflation is blunt. [I] Skimpflation is ambient. [II] It asks buyers to become detectives of their own diminishing returns, to notice a weaker recipe, a rougher material, a reduced service layer, or a task now quietly folded into the act of buying. [III] Not every such change is cynical. Businesses facing higher labor and input costs do make real trade-offs, and some consumers may genuinely prefer speed or self-service in certain contexts. The issue is not that every reduction is malicious. [IV]

Seen this way, skimpflation is more than a side note to inflation statistics. It is a quiet lesson in how value can be thinned without openly admitting that it has been thinned at all. Once loss is broken into small degradations rather than one visible increase, resistance becomes harder to organize. The customer pays not only in money, but in vigilance. And when vigilance becomes part of the purchase, trust itself has entered the price.

[Adapted from the St. Louis Fed article Beyond Inflation Numbers]

Question 31: Where in the passage does the following sentence best fit?

It is that the burden of detection becomes private while the savings remain corporate.

A . [I]
B. [II]
C. [III]
D. [IV]

Question 32. In paragraph 1, the word “It” refers to __________.

A. listed price        B. skimpflation        C. product purchased        D. visible loss

Question 33. The word “cynical” in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to __________.

A. selfish        B. suspected        C. self-serving        D. negative

Question 34. Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 2?

A. Customers usually object to self-service mainly because it takes more time.

B. Firms lower prices first and then shift minor tasks to buyers to recover losses.

C. Some apparent convenience may actually mask a transfer of effort from company to customer.

D. Businesses mainly use digital systems because consumers strongly prefer less staff contact.

Question 35. Which of the following best captures the main message of paragraph 3?

A. Skimpflation is a necessary strategy for all businesses to survive rising labor costs without losing loyal customers.

B. Consumers are becoming more skilled at detecting subtle quality changes than they were during periods of ordinary inflation.

C. The deeper harm of skimpflation lies in forcing individuals to privately detect losses while firms retain the benefit.

D. Most reductions in service quality are mainly driven by deliberate corporate dishonesty rather than economic pressure.

Question 36. Which of the following is NOT stated in the passage about skimpflation?

A. It can involve lower-quality ingredients or materials while the listed price appears unchanged.

B. It may require customers to notice losses spread across several parts of the buying experience.

C. It is most common in luxury markets where buyers expect high levels of personal attention.

D. It can make some systems seem efficient even though part of the labor has been shifted elsewhere.

Question 37. According to the passage, why is skimpflation more difficult for consumers to push back against than an ordinary price rise?

A. Its impact is broken into less obvious declines across what people receive and what they must now do themselves.

B. Its effects are often offset by convenience gains that leave most buyers unsure whether they have truly lost anything important.

C. It tends to emerge in situations where firms face real cost pressures, making public criticism seem less justified.

D. It replaces a single financial burden with several smaller ones that consumers generally regard as fairer and easier to manage.

Question 38. Which of the following best paraphrases the sentence in paragraph 4?

A. People tend to react more easily to a clear price rise than to a series of smaller declines spread across different parts of what they gradually receive.

B. Loss becomes easier to tolerate when it appears in minor changes, since customers often treat those changes as manageable, temporary, and relatively unimportant.

C. Public resistance usually fades when quality slips gradually, because buyers become less certain that any real and lasting harm has actually taken place.

D. When damage is divided into subtle reductions rather than presented as one clear increase, people find it more difficult to recognize a shared problem and resist it together.

Question 39. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage regarding “vigilance” in the final paragraph?

A. Vigilance is a useful new consumer skill that mainly helps buyers enjoy lower prices.

B. The more vigilant customers become, the more likely firms are to restore lost value.

C. The need for constant monitoring by buyers suggests a weakening of trust in the market relationship.

D. Vigilance is a natural and positive result of the shift toward a digital self-service economy.

Question 40. Which of the following best summarises the passage?

A. Digital convenience may speed up shopping while making it less personal, which suggests that businesses should bring back more direct and traditional forms of service.

B. Skimpflation quietly reduces value through weaker quality, thinner service, and more customer effort, making loss harder to detect and turning vigilance and trust into part of the price.

C. Inflation figures miss an important reality because many modern consumers are becoming less willing to accept automation, self-service systems, and reduced human contact.

D. Many firms now avoid visible price rises by using cheaper inputs, a strategy that protects profits in the short term but does not seriously damage consumers overall.