Quy tắc: mỗi bài 20 phút, không từ điển. Kẹt quá 90 giây → đánh dấu, làm tiếp. Chấm sau khi xong cả hai bài.
📖 Bài 1 – 20 phút
A shorter week
(Bài đọc tự viết; công ty, nhân vật và số liệu là giả định.)
A When Brightline, a software company with around 200 employees, announced that it would trial a four-day working week, many observers expected productivity to fall. Staff would work four eight-hour days instead of five, with no reduction in pay. The trial was planned to last six months.
B The company’s managing director, Rachel Ng, says the decision was driven mainly by recruitment. “We were losing good candidates to larger competitors that could offer higher salaries,” she explains. “We couldn’t match their pay, but we thought we could offer something they couldn’t.” Reducing stress among existing staff was a secondary aim.
C To make the shorter week work, teams were asked to identify tasks that added little value. Many meetings were shortened from an hour to thirty minutes, and internal emails were discouraged in favour of brief daily updates. Each team was free to decide which day it would take off, as long as customers could always reach someone.
D By the end of the trial, the company reported that output, measured by completed projects, had remained broadly stable. Staff surveys showed improvements in well-being, and the number of sick days fell. However, not every team adapted equally well. The customer support team, whose work depends on being available, found the schedule difficult and eventually returned to a five-day rota with shorter daily hours instead.
E Ng is careful not to exaggerate the results. “It worked for us, but we’re a small company in an industry where much of the work can be done flexibly,” she says. “I wouldn’t claim it would work everywhere.” Brightline has since made the four-day week permanent for most teams.
✅ Câu 1–5: TRUE, FALSE hoặc NOT GIVEN?
1. Staff received lower pay during the trial.
2. The main reason for the trial was to attract new employees.
3. All teams had to take the same day off.
4. Brightline's profits increased during the trial.
5. Ng believes the four-day week would suit every company.
Câu 6–8: Complete the sentences. NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage.
- 6. Many meetings were reduced to .
- 7. Internal emails were replaced by brief daily .
- 8. The customer support team returned to a with shorter hours.
📖 Bài 2 – 20 phút
Robots on the pavement
(Bài đọc tự viết; thành phố, công ty, nhân vật và số liệu là giả định.)
A In the hypothetical city of Norberg, small six-wheeled robots now deliver groceries and takeaway meals to homes within a few kilometres of local shops. About the size of a suitcase, they travel along pavements at walking pace, using cameras and sensors to avoid obstacles. Customers unlock the robot’s lid with a code sent to their phone.
B The city council approved a two-year pilot scheme after a local company argued that the robots could reduce traffic. Each robot delivery, the company claimed, would replace a short car or motorbike journey. Early figures suggest that the robots completed around 30,000 deliveries in their first year, although it is not clear how many of these would otherwise have involved a vehicle.
C Not everyone has welcomed the change. Groups representing people with disabilities have raised concerns that the robots can block narrow pavements, making it difficult for wheelchair users and people with visual impairments to pass. The council responded by introducing rules that require robots to give way to pedestrians and to avoid certain busy streets at peak times.
D There are also technical limits. The robots struggle in heavy snow, and they cannot climb stairs, so customers living in flats without lifts must come down to the street to collect their orders. Engineer Dmitri Volkov, who has worked on similar systems, believes that these problems will be solved gradually. “Ten years from now, I expect robots like these to be common in many cities,” he says, “but they will never replace human couriers entirely.”
E For the council, the key question is whether the pilot has delivered benefits that justify the use of public space. A decision on whether to continue the scheme is expected next year.
✅ Câu 9–12: chọn A, B, C hoặc D
9. How do customers open the robot?
10. What is uncertain about the first-year delivery figure?
11. How did the council respond to concerns from disability groups?
12. What does Volkov believe?
✅ Câu 13–16: Which paragraph (A–E) contains the following information?
13. a reason given for allowing the robots
14. a description of what the robots look like
15. a difficulty for people who live in certain buildings
16. a decision that has not yet been made
📋 Phân tích – 20 phút
| Dạng | Câu | Đúng |
|---|---|---|
| T/F/NG | 1–5 | … / 5 |
| Sentence completion | 6–8 | … / 3 |
| Multiple choice | 9–12 | … / 4 |
| Matching information | 13–16 | … / 4 |
- Bạn có hết giờ ở bài nào không? Nếu có, dạng nào làm bạn chậm?
- Mỗi câu sai: tìm câu paraphrase trong bài, ghi lý do sai vào sổ.
- Chọn 1 dạng ưu tiên ôn lại trong buổi 102 (ôn chiến lược).
✅ Tự kiểm tra
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