READING PASSAGE 39

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26 which are based on Reading Passage 39 below.

The Motor Car

A There are now over 700 million motor vehicles in the world - and the number is rising by more than 40
million each year. The average distance driven by car users is growing too - from 8 km a day per person in
western Europe in 1965 to 25 km a day in 1995. This dependence on motor vehicles has given rise to major
problems, including environmental pollution, depletion of oil resources, traffic congestion and safety.

B While emissions from new cars are far less harmful than they used to be, city streets and motorways are
becoming more crowded than ever, often with older trucks, buses and taxis, which emit excessive levels of
smoke and fumes. This concentration of vehicles makes air quality in urban areas unpleasant and sometimes
dangerous to breathe. Even Moscow has joined the list of capitals afflicted by congestion and traffic fumes.
In Mexico City, vehicle pollution is a major health hazard.

C Until a hundred years ago, most journeys were in the 20 km range, the distance conveniently accessible by
horse. Heavy freight could only be carried by water or rail. The invention of the motor vehicle brought
personal mobility to the masses and made rapid freight delivery possible over a much wider area. Today
about 90 percent of inland freight in the United Kingdom is carried by road. Clearly, the world cannot revert
to the horse-drawn wagon. Can it avoid being locked into congested and polluting ways of transporting
people and goods?

D In Europe, most cities are still designed for the old modes of transport. Adaptation to the motor car has
involved adding ring roads, one-way systems and parking lots. In the United States, more land is assigned to
car use than to housing. Urban sprawl means that life without a car is next to impossible. Mass use of motor
vehicles has also killed or injured millions of people. Other social effects have been blamed on the car such
as alienation and aggressive human behaviour.

E A 1993 study by the European Federation for Transport and Environment found that car transport is seven
times as costly as rail travel in terms of the external social costs it entails such as congestion, accidents,
pollution, loss of cropland and natural habitats, depletion of oil resources, and so on. Yet cars easily surpass
trains or buses as a flexible and convenient mode of personal transport. It is unrealistic to expect people to
give up private cars in favour of mass transit.

F Technical solutions can reduce the pollution problem and increase the fuel efficiency of engines. But fuel
consumption and exhaust emissions depend on which cars are preferred by customers and how they are
driven. Many people buy larger cars than they need for daily purposes or waste fuel by driving aggressively.
Besides, global car use is increasing at a faster rate than the improvement in emissions and fuel efficiency
which technology is now making possible.

G One solution that has been put forward is the long-term solution of designing cities and neighbourhoods
so that car journeys are not necessary - all essential services being located within walking distance or easily
accessible by public transport. Not only would this save energy and cut carbon dioxide emissions, it would
also enhance the quality of community life, putting the emphasis on people instead of cars. Good local
government is already bringing this about in some places. But few democratic communities are blessed with
the vision - and the capital - to make such profound changes in modern lifestyles.

H A more likely scenario seems to be a combination of mass transit systems for travel into and around cities,
with small 'low emission' cars for urban use and larger hybrid or lean burn cars for use elsewhere.
Electronically tolled highways might be used to ensure that drivers pay charges geared to actual road use.
Better integration of transport systems is also highly desirable - and made more feasible by modern
computers. But these are solutions for countries which can afford them. In most developing countries, old
cars and old technologies continue to predominate.

Questions 14-19
Reading Passage 39 has eight paragraphs (A-H). Which paragraphs concentrate on the following
information? Write the appropriate letters (A-H) in boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet.
NB You need only write ONE letter for each answer.

14 a comparison of past and present transportation methods

15 how driving habits contribute to road problems
16 the relative merits of cars and public transport
17 the writer's own prediction of future solutions
18 the increasing use of motor vehicles
19 the impact of the car on city development

Questions 20-26
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2? In boxes 20-26 on your
answer sheet write
YES if the statement agrees with the information
NO if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this in the passage

20 Vehicle pollution is worse in European cities than anywhere else.

21 Transport by horse would be a useful alternative to motor vehicles.
22 Nowadays freight is not carried by water in the United Kingdom.
23 Most European cities were not designed for motor vehicles.
24 Technology alone cannot solve the problem of vehicle pollution.
25 People's choice of car and attitude to driving is a factor in the pollution problem.
26 Redesigning cities would be a short-term solution.

Answer:
14. C 18. A 22. NOTGIVEN 25. YES
15. F 19. D 23. YES 26. NO
16. E 20. NOTGIVEN 24. YES
17. H 21. NO
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on the Reading Passage below.

How consumers decide

Professor John Maule from the University of Leeds describes new research into the way that consumers
choose a product.

Understanding consumers
Consumers are creatures of habit: they buy the same products time and time again, and such is their
familiarity with big brands, and the colours and logos that represent them, that they can register a brand they
like with barely any conscious thought process. The packaging of consumer products is therefore a crucial
vehicle for delivering the brand and the product into our shopping baskets.

Having said this, understanding how consumers make decisions, and the crucial role of packaging in this
process, has been a neglected area of research so far. This is surprising given that organisations invest huge
amounts of money in developing packaging that they believe is effective especially at the retail level. Our
Centre for Decision Research at Leeds Universitys Business School, in collaboration with Faraday
Packaging, is now undertaking work in this area. It has already led to some important findings that challenge
the ways in which organisations think about consumer choice.

The research has focused on two fundamental types of thinking. On the one hand, theres heuristic
processing, which involves very shallow thought and is based on very simple rules: 1) buy what you
recognize, 2) choose what you did last time, or 3) choose what a trusted source suggests. This requires
comparatively little effort, and involves looking at and thinking about only a small amount of the
product information and packaging. One can do this with little or no conscious thought.

On the other hand, systematic processing involves much deeper levels of thought. When people choose
goods in this way, they engage in quite detailed analytical thinking taking account of the product
information, including its price, its perceived quality and so on. This form of thinking, which is both
analytical and conscious, involves much more mental effort.

The role of packaging is likely to be very different for each of these types of decision making. Under
heuristic processing, for example, consumers may simply need to be able to distinguish the pack from those
of competitors since they are choosing on the basis of what they usually do. Under these circumstances, the
simple perceptual features of the pack may be critical so that we can quickly discriminate what we choose
from the other products on offer. Under systematic processing, however, product-related information may be
more important, so the pack has to provide this in an easily identifiable form.

Comparing competition
Consumers will want to be able to compare the product with its competitors, so that they can determine
which option is better for them. A crucial role of packaging in this situation is to communicate the
characteristics of the product, highlighting its advantages over possible competitors.

So, when are people likely to use a particular type of thinking? First, we know that people are cognitive
misers; in other words they are economical with their thinking because it requires some effort from them.
Essentially, people only engage in effort-demanding systematic processing when the situation justifies it, for
example when they are not tired or distracted and when the purchase is important to them.

Second, people have an upper limit to the amount of information they can absorb. If we present too much,
therefore, they will become confused. This, in turn, is likely to lead them to disengage and choose something
else.

Third, people often lack the knowledge or experience needed, so will not be able to deal with things they do
not already understand, such as the ingredients of food products, for example.
And fourth, people vary in the extent to which they enjoy thinking. Our research has differentiated between
people with a high need for thinking who routinely engage in analytical thinking and those low in the
need for cognition, who prefer to use very simple forms of thinking.

Effectiveness varies
This work has an important impact on packaging in that what makes packaging effective is likely to vary
according to the type of processing strategy that consumers use when choosing between products. You need
to understand how consumers are selecting your products if you are to develop packaging that is relevant.
Furthermore, testing the effectiveness of your packaging can be ineffective if the methods you are
employing concern one form of thinking (e.g. a focus group involving analytical thinking) but your
consumers are purchasing in the other mode (i.e. the heuristic, shallow form of thinking).

For the packaging industry, it is important that retailers identify their key goals. Sustaining a consumers
commitment to a product may involve packaging that is distinctive at the heuristic level (if the consumers
can recognize the product they will buy it) but without encouraging consumers to engage in systematic
processing (prompting deeper level thinking that would include making comparisons with other products).

Conversely, getting consumers to change brands may involve developing packaging that includes
information that does stimulate systematic processing and thus encourages consumers to challenge their
usual choice of product. Our work is investigating these issues, and the implications they have for
developing effective packaging.

Congratulations you have completed Academic Reading Test.

You scored 0 points out of 13 points total.

Your answers are shown below:

Questions 1-6
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?
Write answers in your answer sheet. Write:

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

1. Little research has been done on the link between packaging and consumers choosing a product.

2. A person who buys what another person recommends is using heuristic thinking.

3. Heuristic processing requires more energy than systematic processing.

4. The concept of heuristic processing was thought up by Dr Maules team.

5. A consumer who considers how much a product costs is using systematic processing.

6. For heuristic processing, packaging must be similar to other products.

Questions 7-8
Choose the correct answer A, B, C or D and write the answers in your answer sheet.

7. When trying to determine how effective packaging is, testing can be made ineffective if

B. your consumers use only heuristic thinking.

D. your tests do not match the consumers thinking type.
 A. you rely upon a very narrow focus group.
C. the chosen consumers use only shallow thinking.

8. If a retailer wants consumers to change brands their packaging needs to be

A. informative.
C. familiar.
D. colourful.
B. distinctive.

Questions 9-13
Complete the summary below.
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet

Comparing competition
For consumers who want to compare products it is important that your packaging stresses the 9 __________
of your product.

We know that people only use systematic processing if the 10 __________ makes it necessary or desirable.

We also know that too much 11 __________ could make consumers choose another product.

Furthermore, consumers may not fully understand details such as the 12 __________ of a product.

While some people like using systematic processing, others like to think in a 13 __________ way.