A week after the first missiles hit, the change may seem oddly ordinary. A taxi driver buys less fue...

Question

A week after the first missiles hit, the change may seem oddly ordinary. A taxi driver buys less fuel, a baker cuts the size of each loaf, and a mother pauses in front of a shelf she used to cross without thinking. No siren sounds in the supermarket, yet the damage has arrived all the same. This is how war driven inflation often enters daily life. It does not burst through the door. It seeps under it, quietly turning routine choices into hard arithmetic.

Rarely do rising prices stay trapped in oil markets alone. As Reuters reported, the war in the Middle East pushed up the prices of oil, gas, and fertilizer, while transport bottlenecks made trade slower and costlier. Once fuel becomes dearer, moving goods does too. Once fertilizer prices climb, food rarely remains cheap for long. The result is a chain reaction in which the shock travels far beyond the battlefield, gathering weight as it moves from ports to trucks, from factories to dinner tables.

Yet the burden is not shared fairly. Reuters noted that low income, import dependent countries face the harshest pressure, especially when debt is already high and governments have little room to shield families. For the poor, inflation is not an abstract trend but a shrinking plate and a tightening chest. Still, crisis can sharpen public attention. People begin to see how deeply peace, trade, and bread are tied together, and how fragile comfort really is when global supply lines start to fray.

That is why this story should be told with care. Good reporting raises awareness by tracing cause and consequence with a clear eye. Worse coverage merely feeds panic, turning suffering into spectacle and fear into cheap drama. War driven inflation is, in part, an economic story. More than that, however, it is a moral one, revealing whose pain is cushioned, whose is exposed, and whose is too easily priced in.

[Adapted from https://www.reuters.com/]

Question 23. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in paragraph 1 as a sign of changing daily life after the start of the conflict?

A. A reduction in the quantity of baked goods. B. A more cautious approach to grocery shopping.

C. The immediate sounding of alarms in public spaces. D. A decrease in the consumption of vehicle fuel.

Question 24. The word "dearer" in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to __________.

A. more precious B. more expensive C. more valuable D. less affordable

Question 25. According to paragraph 2, the rise in food prices is primarily a consequence of __________.

A. the direct destruction of agricultural land on the battlefield

B. the increased costs of production inputs and distribution

C. a sudden decrease in global demand for basic necessities

D. the transition of factories from food to weapon production

Question 26. The word "it" in paragraph 2 refers to __________.

A. the result B. the shock C. the war D. the battlefield

Question 27. The word "fray" in paragraph 3 is OPPOSITE in meaning to __________.

A. strengthen B. tighten C. repair D. connect

Question 28. Which of the following is TRUE according to paragraph 3?

A. Countries with strong finances are fully protected from the social effects of inflation.

B. Import-dependent nations tend to face greater pressure when governments have limited financial flexibility.

C. Reuters suggests that inflation mainly harms public awareness rather than daily living conditions.

D. Poor families are affected less severely because they are already used to economic hardship.

Question 29. In which paragraph does the author mention the unequal impact of inflation on poorer and import-dependent countries?

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

Question 30. In which paragraph does the author discuss the ethical responsibility of the media in reporting economic crises?

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

Accepted Answer