Reading Comprehension

Technology

Medium

The end of the age of the internal combustion engine is in sight. There are small signs everywhere: the shift to hybrid vehicles is already under way among manufacturers. Volvo has announced it will make no purely petrol-engined cars after 2019 and Tesla has just started selling its first electric car aimed squarely at the middle classes: the Tesla $3$ sells for $35,000 in the US, and 400,000 people have put down a small, refundable deposit towards one. Several thousand have already taken delivery, and the company hopes to sell half a million more next year. This is a remarkable figure for a machine with a fairly short range and a very limited number of specialised charging stations.

Some of it reflects the remarkable abilities of Elon Musk, the company's founder, as a salesman, engineer, and a man able to get the most out his factory workers and the governments he deals with Mr. Musk is selling a dream that the world wants to believe in.

This last may be the most important factor in the story. The private car is...a device of immense practical help and economic significance, but at the same time a theatre for myths of unattainable self-fulfilment. The one thing you will never see in a car advertisement is traffic, even though that is the element in which drivers spend their lives. Every single driver in a traffic jam is trying to escape from it, yet it is the inevitable consequence of mass car ownership.

The sleek and swift electric car is at one level merely the most contemporary fantasy of autonomy and power. But it might also disrupt our exterior landscapes nearly as much as the fossil fuel-engined car did in the last century. Electrical cars would of course pollute far less than fossil fuel-driven ones; instead of oil reserves, the rarest materials for batteries would make undeserving despots and their dynasties fantastically rich. Petrol stations would disappear. The air in cities would once more be breathable and their streets as quiet as those of Venice. This isn't an unmixed good. Cars that were as silent as bicycles would still be as dangerous as they are now to anyone they hit without audible warning.

The dream goes further than that. The electric cars of the future will be so thoroughly equipped with sensors and reaction mechanisms that they will never hit anyone. Just as brakes don't let you skid today, the steering wheel of tomorrow will swerve you away from danger before you have even noticed it.

This is where the fantasy of autonomy comes full circle. The logical outcome of cars which need no driver is that they will become cars which need no owner either. Instead, they will work as taxis do, summoned at will but only for the journeys we actually need. This the future towards which Uber is working. The ultimate development of the private car will be to reinvent public transport. Traffic jams will be abolished only when the private car becomes a public utility. What then will happen to our fantasies of independence? We'll all have to take to electrically powered bicycles.

In paragraph 6, the author mentions electrically powered bicycles to argue that

if Elon Musk were a true visionary, he would invest funds in developing electric bicycles.

our fantasies of autonomy might unexpectedly require us to consider electric bicycles.

in terms of environmental friendliness and safety, electric bicycles rather than electric cars are the future.

electric buses are the best form of public transport.

✅ Correct Option: 2

To solve this question,we need to find where the author mentions electric bicycles and understand why they bring them up.

From passage: "What then will happen to our fantasies of independence? We'll all have to take to electrically powered bicycles."

The author's logic flows like this: Future cars will be autonomous -> They'll work like taxis (public utilities) -> This solves traffic jams -> But we lose our sense of personal independence -> So if we still want that feeling of autonomy, we'll need electric bicycles.

The key insight: Electric bicycles are mentioned as a replacement for our need for independence, not for environmental or investment reasons.

🔴 Option 1 -> irrelevant -> The author isn't giving business advice to Elon Musk. They're making a point about human psychology and independence.

🟢 Option 2 -> correct -> Captures exactly why bicycles are mentioned: as an unexpected solution to maintain our fantasies of autonomy when cars become public utilities.

🔴 Option 3 -> scope-error -> The author mentions bicycles in the context of independence, not environmental benefits or safety comparisons.

🔴 Option 4 -> irrelevant -> Electric buses aren't even mentioned. This option comes out of nowhere.

Student confusion alert: You might think Option 3 sounds reasonable since the passage talks about pollution and the environment. But remember - the bicycle mention comes specifically after asking "What will happen to our fantasies of independence?" It's about personal autonomy, not environmental benefits.

Question 13

Which of the following statements best reflects the author's argument?

Question 14

The author points out all of the following about electric cars EXCEPT

Question 15

According to the author, the main reason for Tesla's remarkable sales is that

Question 16

The author comes to the conclusion that

Question 17

In paragraphs 5 and 6, the author provides the example of Uber to argue that

In paragraph 6, the author mentions electrically powered bicycles to argue that

Solution

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