The following text is for questions 23 to 26.

    When I was seven years old, I was given a small wallet to keep my pocket money in. I felt so happy and put it in my hip pocket.

    One day, during the break time at school, I discovered that my wallet was missing. I checked it but I could not find it. There was some money in the wallet and without it I could not buy anything to eat. I was close to tears. It was not because of losing my precious wallet but because I might get scolded by my parents. Anyhow I went hungry that day.

    In the class I could not concentrate well to study at all. I kept thinking about how I lost my wallet and what my parents would react. How was I going to explain the loss? I did not know whether someone had taken it from my pocket or it had merely fallen out. I hoped that someone would find and return it to me.

    When I told my mother about my loss, she was angry. She told me that it would not have happend if I had been careful. When my father came home, I got another anger. Then he told me that there would not be any more wallets for me until I got older.

    Luckily, I still got pocket money from my parents. I am glad to say that I never lost anything again. I had learned to be more careful. It is not pleasant to lose something and then get scolded for losing it.

(Adapted from: www.englishdaily626.com)

“It was not because of losingget scoldedmy bypreciousmy parents” (second paragraph).

The closest meaning of the underlined wor