Reading Practice: Exam Tip: True or False

Reading Practice
Exam Tip: True or False

Reading Exam 6 – Part 1
• Look at the instructions and check what you have to do.
• Read through the sentences and underline key words and phrases.
• Scan the text quickly to get a general understanding of what it is
about. Try to understand what the topic of each paragraph is.
• Look again at sentences 1–8. Try to work out if the relevant part of
the text is saying the same thing as the sentence in 1–8, but in
other words (look for synonyms), or if it is saying something
different.
• Check your answers again at the end.
EXAM TASK
Reading Exam 6 Part 1
Read the article about shopping. For questions 1–8, decide if the statements are true (T) or
false (F). Sentence 0 is the example.
0 A ‘showroomer’ is someone who always orders things online.

1 Jessops was happy that its customers bought cameras from the online retailer Amazon.
2 About one quarter of people are guilty of ‘showrooming’.
3 High street shops can’t be as cheap as online retailers.
4 Good customer service can make shoppers too embarrassed to showroom.
5 When shops sell several items together, the price is always lower than if they were
sold separately.
6 Retail experts agree that charging customers to enter a shop is a bad idea.
7 Shops can never justify charging more than online retailers.
8 We might be sorry if high street shops go out of business.
English File fourth edition EOI Exam Power Pack: Intermedio B2 Photocopiable © Oxford University Press 2020
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TIPS
1 Look at the instructions and read the article quickly. Then answer these questions.
a Do you shop online? Why / Why not?
b What kind of things do people in your country usually buy on the internet?
c List two or three advantages of buying things in a shop.
d How do you think people will shop in the future? Give a reason for your answer.
2 Read the first paragraph carefully, and then answer the following questions.
a According to the writer, why do shoppers go to shops before they buy something online?
b What is your opinion of this behaviour?
3 Read the second paragraph and complete the following sentences.

a Shops selling things like computers, sports clothes or electrical goods for the home …
b Some shoppers actually look online to compare prices before …
c If the ‘showrooming’ trend continues among shoppers, … .
4 Read the third paragraph and then choose the best option to complete these sentences.
a Products bought in shops can be more / less expensive than products bought online.
b According to the article, one reason for the difference in prices is that shops have to pay for
maintenance / rent.
c However, customers can get much better discounts / service in shops.
d This could be a way of / a reason for encouraging shoppers to buy a product in their shop.
5 Look at the words and phrases in the box below and match them with words and phrases
from paragraphs 4-6 of the article.
look around in another place result unique

separate feel sorry about option danger
returned produce correct give a reason for
Now complete READING EXAM 6 – PART 1
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Are you a ‘showroomer’?
You’ve decided to buy a new camera, so you head to your local camera shop (if you have
one anymore) and spend an hour looking at the different models and getting advice from the
salesperson. When you’ve decided which make and model you want, you make a mental
note of the price, then say ‘Many thanks, I’ll just think about it for a bit’ and stroll out of the
shop. Then you check prices online, and if the camera is cheaper, which it will be, you order
it from an online retailer. Is this you? If so, shame on you, for you are the high street’s
number one enemy – a ‘showroomer’.
‘Showrooming’ is a huge problem for today’s shops – especially for those selling
technology, books, perfumes, sporting goods, and household electrical appliances. The UK
camera retailer Jessops recently went out of business, and one of its branches put a notice in
the window saying, ‘The staff at Jessops would like to thank you for shopping with
Amazon’. Recent research has suggested that up to 25% of shoppers regularly look at items
in shops and then buy them online. Some are completely shameless and will openly check
online prices on their smartphone while they’re still in the shop. It seems as if the problem
will continue to get worse until, possibly, there are no more high street shops to go to.
So what can shops do to encourage their customers to pay the higher prices that they are
forced to charge because of rent, bills, and staffing costs? It’s not an easy problem to solve,
but one way forward seems to be to compete with online retailers – not on price, but on
quality of service. The logic is that if a shop gives a customer really top-quality personal
service, then the customer will either be happy to pay a higher price, or will simply be too
embarrassed to make an excuse and then go and buy online.
Another possibility is for shops to create their own brands which can’t be found elsewhere,
or to put together packages of items which make it difficult for customers to make accurate
price comparisons. So a shop selling toiletries might bundle together a perfume with a body
lotion or a selection of make-up for a single price, which may or may not be less than the
total price of the individual items.
Some shops have even started trying to charge customers to come in and browse, with the
charge being refunded if the customer buys something. But there seems to be general
agreement in the world of retailing that this is more likely to stop people entering shops
altogether, so the outcome almost certainly won’t be positive.
Whatever happens, it’s clear that any high street shop or chain that wants to survive must do
something to counter the threat posed by the lower prices of online retail. It isn’t enough just
to appeal to customers’ better natures. If a bookshop is selling the latest celebrity cookbook
at £19.99, and it’s widely available online for £9.99, then the shop needs to do some serious
thinking about how it can justify its prices. With some original ideas, it’s certainly possible
for stores to offer experiences that make higher prices more acceptable. But if they don’t
serve up some fresh thinking, large parts of our high streets may simply be outcompeted and
disappear – and then we may regret our online shopping habits.
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Reading Practice

Exam Tip: True or False

Reading Exam 6 Part 1

0 A ‘showroomer’ is someone who always orders things online.

3 Read the second paragraph and complete the following sentences.

look around in another place result unique

Now complete READING EXAM 6 – PART 1

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