Buổi 142: Luyện tính giờ – Reading 3 bài, 40 câu, 60 phút

The return of the sleeper train

(Bài đọc tự viết; công ty, tuyến và nhân vật là giả định.)

A For much of the late twentieth century, overnight trains seemed to belong to the past. As air travel became cheaper and high-speed rail lines cut daytime journey times, many sleeper services were withdrawn. Operators argued that the trains were expensive to run, since each carriage carried relatively few passengers compared with a daytime train, and that demand was falling.

B In recent years, however, interest has revived. Some travellers want to reduce the environmental impact of their journeys and see overnight rail as an alternative to short-haul flights. Others value the convenience of travelling while they sleep, arriving in a city centre in the morning rather than spending time getting to and from airports.

C The hypothetical operator Nordline relaunched a sleeper service between two capital cities five years ago. Its managing director, Elsa Berg, says the company deliberately targeted two very different groups: business travellers, who would pay for private compartments with their own washbasins, and younger travellers on tighter budgets, who could book a bed in a shared six-berth compartment. In its first year, the private compartments sold out on most weekday nights, while the shared compartments were busiest at weekends.

D Running such a service is not straightforward. Sleeper trains need specially designed carriages, which are costly to build and maintain, and because each carriage makes only one journey per day, it earns less than a daytime carriage that can complete several trips. Track access charges, which operators pay to use the rail network, can also be high at night, when maintenance work often takes place. Nordline has had to agree its timetable carefully with the network owner to avoid frequent delays.

E Despite these difficulties, Berg believes the service can be profitable in the long term. She points out that ticket prices have been higher than the company originally expected passengers to accept, and that a growing number of companies are encouraging staff to travel by rail rather than air for journeys of under a thousand kilometres. Critics, however, note that the service still receives a public subsidy, and argue that it is too early to know whether demand will remain strong once the novelty has worn off.

Why we put things off

(Bài đọc tự viết; nhà nghiên cứu và tình huống là giả định.)

A Almost everyone procrastinates at times – delaying a task even though they know that waiting is likely to make things worse. For a long time, procrastination was seen mainly as a problem of time management: people simply failed to plan properly. More recently, many psychologists have come to view it differently, as a problem of managing emotions rather than time.

B According to this view, people tend to delay tasks that make them feel uncomfortable – tasks that are boring, difficult, or associated with a risk of failure. Putting the task off provides immediate relief from that discomfort. The relief is short-lived, of course, and is often followed by guilt and stress as the deadline approaches. But because the relief comes first, the behaviour is reinforced, making it more likely to happen again.

C This explains why simply telling people to plan better often has limited effect. A student who has written a detailed timetable may still avoid starting an essay if the task makes them anxious. The psychologist Dr Sofia Marin argues that strategies should instead target the feelings involved. One approach is to make the first step so small that it no longer feels threatening – for example, writing just one sentence or opening the relevant file.

D Another approach involves self-compassion. It might seem logical that being hard on oneself after procrastinating would prevent it from happening again. Marin suggests the opposite may be true: people who criticise themselves harshly may feel worse about the task, which increases the temptation to avoid it next time. Those who acknowledge the lapse without excessive self-blame appear more likely to return to the task.

E Environment also matters. Distractions such as notifications make avoidance easier, since there is always something more pleasant to turn to. Removing these temptations – switching off a phone, working in a library – reduces the effort required to resist them. Some people also find it helpful to commit publicly to a deadline, which adds a social reason to follow through.

F None of this means that procrastination is always harmful. Some people report that they work well under pressure, and occasional delays may simply reflect sensible priorities. Problems arise when procrastination becomes a habit that affects health, work or relationships. In such cases, Marin suggests, understanding the emotional pattern behind it is the first step towards change.

Cooling the city

(Bài đọc tự viết; thành phố, kỹ sư và dự án là giả định; mô tả khoa học ở mức phổ thông.)

A On a hot summer afternoon, the centre of a large city can be noticeably warmer than the surrounding countryside. This phenomenon, known as the urban heat island effect, has been recognised for well over a century, but it has attracted growing attention as summers in many regions become hotter. For city authorities, the question is no longer whether the effect exists, but what can realistically be done about it.

B Several factors contribute to the effect. Dark surfaces such as asphalt roads and roofs absorb large amounts of solar energy during the day and release it slowly at night, which means that cities may cool down less after sunset. Buildings packed closely together can trap heat and reduce air flow. Vehicles, air-conditioning units and industrial activity add further heat. And, crucially, cities typically have less vegetation than rural areas, so they lose the cooling effect that plants provide when water evaporates from their leaves.

C The consequences go beyond discomfort. Higher temperatures can increase demand for air-conditioning, which raises energy use and, if the electricity comes from fossil fuels, emissions – creating a cycle in which efforts to keep cool may contribute to further warming. Heat can also pose serious risks to health, particularly for older people, young children and those with existing medical conditions. Some researchers argue that these risks are not shared equally, since poorer neighbourhoods often have fewer trees and more densely built housing.

D One of the simplest responses is to plant more trees. Trees provide shade, and evaporation from their leaves cools the surrounding air. In the hypothetical city of Calvera, a programme to plant trees along major streets was followed by a measurable fall in summer street temperatures in the areas concerned, although the city’s engineers caution that other changes made at the same time may have contributed. Trees take years to grow, however, and they need space, water and maintenance – all of which can be scarce in dense city centres.

E A second approach focuses on surfaces. Roofs and pavements painted in light, reflective colours absorb less solar energy, keeping both buildings and the surrounding air cooler. Green roofs, covered with plants, offer similar benefits along with others, such as absorbing rainwater. Calvera’s lead engineer, Tomas Rey, argues that reflective roofs are often the most cost-effective option for existing buildings, whereas green roofs are better suited to new developments, where they can be included in the design from the start.

F Urban design matters too. Wider streets, open spaces and buildings arranged to allow air to circulate can reduce the build-up of heat. These changes are difficult to make in established cities, but they can be built into new districts. Rey believes that the most important step is to consider heat at the planning stage rather than treating it as a problem to be solved later.

G No single measure is likely to be sufficient on its own. The most promising approaches combine trees, cooler surfaces and better design, and target them at the neighbourhoods most at risk. As Rey puts it, cooling a city is less a matter of a single technology than of many small decisions made consistently over time.