Read the following article from a website.
Rivershore Public Television may cancel its six o’clock evening news after forty-one years on the air. Under a plan now before its board, the money saved would build a free app with local stories that viewers could watch at any hour. The board will vote in November, and more than nine hundred viewers have already written to the station about the idea.
Annika Falk, the station’s digital director, says the audience for the bulletin shrinks every year. “The average viewer at six o’clock is now sixty-eight years old,” she said at a public forum. “People under forty are not sitting down at a fixed time any more. They watch the news on the bus, at lunch or in bed.” Falk believes the app could reach viewers “who have never once tuned in to Rivershore.”
Lionel Eckhardt, who has read the evening news for twenty-two years, says that routine is exactly what keeps older viewers informed. “For many of our viewers, the six o’clock news is how they know the day is over,” Eckhardt said. “Take it away, and some of them will simply stop following local news. They will not go looking for an app.” He is not against the app, but he wants the bulletin kept on air until the app draws as many viewers as the broadcast does.
Rasha Ghali, who studies media habits at a college in Kamloops, says she found that six in ten households in the region still get local news mainly from television. “Two out of three homes in our survey own a smart TV, yet most owners have never opened an app on it,” Ghali explained. “So an app should carry the full bulletin live, not only short clips.” Clement Fagan, who runs programs at a seniors’ centre, worries about passwords. “If the app asks my members to create an account, most of them will give up at the first screen,” Fagan said. “I have watched it happen with online banking.” He has asked the station to pay for free lessons at public libraries.
Using the drop-down menu (▾), choose the best option according to the information given on the website.
Everyone quoted in the article wants 2..
According to Ghali, most owners of smart TVs 3..
Paragraph three mainly presents 4..
Fagan thinks that asking his members to create an account would lead to 5..
The following is a comment by a visitor to the website page. Complete the comment by choosing the best option to fill in each blank.
AI explanationShows the answer. Tap to open.
Correct Answer: replacing an evening newscast with a news app
Why this is correct: The station may cancel its six o’clock news and use the money for a free app. Everyone quoted reacts to that plan.
Passage Reference: Rivershore Public Television may cancel its six o’clock evening news
Tips: Look for each option in what Falk, Eckhardt, Ghali and Fagan say. Pick the option that still holds after you have read every quote.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a survey of how families use smart TVs: Ghali mentions a survey, but only as one part of the debate about the app.
- free computer lessons for seniors: Lessons are Fagan’s request. They are a small detail, not the main subject.
- the retirement of a long-serving news reader: Eckhardt has read the news for twenty-two years, but nobody says he is retiring.
Correct Answer: the station’s news to reach as many people as it can
Passage Reference: Falk believes the app could reach viewers ... that routine is exactly what keeps older viewers informed ... six in ten households in the region still get local news mainly from television ... most of them will give up at the first screen
Why this is correct: Falk wants the app to reach new viewers, and Eckhardt does not want older viewers to stop following the news. Ghali wants TV households served, and Fagan does not want his members to give up.
Tips: Test each option on Falk first, then on Eckhardt, Ghali and Fagan. It is right only if every one of them would agree with it in their own words.
Why the other options are wrong:
- the six o’clock program to stay on air for good: Falk wants to replace it, and Eckhardt wants it only until the app draws as many viewers.
- the app to offer short clips instead of whole programs: Ghali says the app should carry the full program live, not only clips. Nobody asks for clips alone.
- free lessons paid for by the station: Only Fagan asks for lessons. Falk, Eckhardt and Ghali do not mention them.
Correct Answer: have not tried the apps on their sets
Passage Reference: Two out of three homes in our survey own a smart TV, yet most owners have never opened an app on it
Why this is correct: Ghali says two out of three homes own a smart TV. Ghali adds that most owners have never opened an app on it.
Tips: Find Ghali’s quoted sentences and check each option against them. Rule out any idea that comes from Falk, Eckhardt or Fagan, or that she never says.
Why the other options are wrong:
- watch the news mainly on their phones: Ghali found that most households still get local news mainly from television, not from phones.
- would pay a fee for a news app: Nobody talks about paying for the app. The article says it would be free.
- already watch the station on an app: The station has no app yet. It is only planning to build one.
Correct Answer: a news reader’s case for keeping the broadcast
Passage Reference: Lionel Eckhardt, who has read the evening news for twenty-two years, says that routine is exactly what keeps older viewers informed. ... he wants the bulletin kept on air until the app draws as many viewers as the broadcast does
Why this is correct: Paragraph three gives the view of Eckhardt, who reads the evening news. He wants it kept on air until the app draws as many viewers.
Tips: Go back to “Paragraph three” and put its job into a few words of your own. Then compare each choice with those lines, not with the rest of the article.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a researcher’s survey of how people in the region watch: Ghali’s survey is in paragraph four, not paragraph three.
- the director’s figures on an older audience: Falk gives the age of the average viewer in paragraph two.
- a seniors’ worker’s concern about passwords: Fagan talks about passwords at the end of paragraph four.
Correct Answer: most of them quitting right away
Passage Reference: If the app asks my members to create an account, most of them will give up at the first screen
Why this is correct: Fagan talks about an app that asks his members to create an account. He says most of them will give up at the first screen.
Tips: Read Fagan’s quotes from start to end. Keep the result he predicts in his own words, and drop any that another speaker raises or that nobody says.
Why the other options are wrong:
- more young viewers finding the station: Reaching new viewers is Falk’s hope for the app. Fagan talks only about his members.
- the app carrying only short clips: Short clips are what Ghali warns against. Fagan does not talk about clips.
- more calls to the station for help: Fagan never says his members would call the station. He asks the station for something else instead.
Correct Answer: forty-one
Passage Reference: after forty-one years on the air
Why this is correct: The station may cancel its evening news after forty-one years on the air.
Tips: Check how long the program itself has been broadcast, not how long one person has worked there.
Why the other options are wrong:
- twenty-two: Twenty-two is how long Eckhardt has read the news, not how long the program has run.
- thirty-five: The article does not give thirty-five as the number of years.
- forty-eight: The program has not run as long as forty-eight years.
Correct Answer: sixty-eight
Passage Reference: The average viewer at six o’clock is now sixty-eight years old
Why this is correct: Falk says the average viewer at six o’clock is now sixty-eight years old.
Tips: The blank needs an age. Look for the digital director’s figure about the typical evening viewer.
Why the other options are wrong:
- fifty-five: Fifty-five is not the age Falk gives.
- seventy-two: Seventy-two is not the age Falk gives.
- eighty: Eighty is older than the age Falk gives.
Correct Answer: the day is over
Passage Reference: the six o’clock news is how they know the day is over
Why this is correct: Eckhardt says that for many viewers, the six o’clock news is how they know the day is over.
Tips: The commenter is repeating the news reader’s idea about what the bulletin tells viewers. Find what he says it signals each evening.
Why the other options are wrong:
- dinner is ready: Eckhardt does not connect the news with dinner.
- the weather will change: The weather is not part of Eckhardt’s point.
- what to talk about: Eckhardt does not say the news gives viewers topics to talk about.
Correct Answer: in bed
Passage Reference: They watch the news on the bus, at lunch or in bed.
Why this is correct: Falk says people under forty watch the news on the bus, at lunch or in bed.
Tips: Find the places where, in the digital director’s words, younger people now watch. One of them completes the commenter’s sentence.
Why the other options are wrong:
- at the gym: Falk does not mention the gym.
- in the car: Falk does not mention cars.
- at school: Falk does not mention school.
Correct Answer: public libraries
Passage Reference: He has asked the station to pay for free lessons at public libraries.
Why this is correct: Fagan has asked the station to pay for free lessons at public libraries.
Tips: Read what the man from the seniors’ centre asks the station to fund. Note where he wants that help to happen.
Why the other options are wrong:
- seniors’ centres: Fagan runs programs at a seniors’ centre, but he asks for the lessons somewhere else.
- community colleges: Ghali works at a college, but nobody asks for lessons there.
- local churches: Churches are not mentioned in the article.
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