MUET Reading Part 6 & 7

Answer questions 34 to 40 based on the text

  1. On a recent morning, as Venice awakened to November sunshine, a group of travelers appeared on the steps of Santa Lucia Station, They stood in awe of the Grand Canal just opposite, rummaging for sunglasses in their bags. There Were married couples, like Natalia Goia, 28, and Maximiliano Amestoy, 33, from Uruguay. On a tour of Europe, they had left rainy Vienna the night before. They slept in a compartment with reclining seats and were up and ready to explore Venice before most visitors had even finished their breakfasts. “We had lots of sleep.” Ms. Goia said, sitting on the steps of the modernist railway terminal. The couples were visibly pleased with the 11-hour journey that had led them through the Austrian Alps, Ley swapped a night in a pricey hotel in Venice for the cheapest fare on the train, she said,
  2. The nighttime link to Venice is among a growing number of destinations offered by OBB. OBB is Austria’s state-owned federal railway, under the Nightjet brand. In recent years, operators around Europe wrote off-night trains as unprofitable and shuttered services. However, OBB expanded its network, raising questions about just how the company had managed to do it.
  3. “Sometimes you get lucky,” said Andreas Mattha, the company’s chief executive. In 2016, when Deutsche Bahn of Germany, struggling to cut costs, decided to end night services, he said, “Austria was faced with a similar dilemma: Whether to invest in costly rolling stock and continue serving a niche market or to focus on daytime connections.” Mr. Mattha, 57, is a seasoned railwayman, having climbed the ranks of the federal railway in more than three decades. To him, comfortable and unhurried travel is the main selling point of Nightjets. During an interview, his eyes lit up at a mention of the sleeping car breakfast, with two Viennese bread rolls, jam and coffee. “It’s a common misconception that a night train must travel fast,” Mr. Matha said. “The most important is to depart and arrive at a convenient time,” he said, adding that if the train to Venice traveled faster it would arrive at four in the morning.
  4. Among those traveling to Venice on a recent evening, many said their concerns about climate change had motivated them to choose the train for a weekend away. ‘Travellers’ tickets were printed with information about the journey’s reduced carbon footprint compared with cars. Noemi Trevisan, 22, of Padua, in Italy’s industrial north, ‘was on her way home from Vienna. “It’s an issue, and you want to do your part,” Ms. Trevisan said of climate change, settling into a tight compartment with four bunk beds unfolded. “In our region, there are a lot of cars, a lot of pollution.”
  5. Nightjet trains have a variety of accommodations, ‘These include seated coaches, youth-hostel-style couchette carriages sleeping four to six passengers at a time, sleeping cars with hotel-style key cards and fluffy bedding, and private cabins with their own miniature bathrooms. On some services, travelers can take their cars in trailers, and sleep instead of driving through the night. Despite its modem branding, the travel experience on Nightjet harks back to an era when trains with evocative names like Orient Express and Wiener Walzer crisscrossed. Europe at night ‘but today, with stark competition from cheap flights and buses, experts say night trains ‘more innovation, too.
  6. Dr. Marco Bellmann, a professor of transportation and logistics at the Technische Universitat in Dresden, Germany, who has surveyed passenger trends, said he thought Nightjet needed to be more innovative. Dr. Marco Bellmann said his research showed that customers now expected more cozy individual space. Compared with the traditional bunk-bed compartments, Dr. Marco Bellmann said, sleeping pods, like those found in airports, are a better model, with more individual space and airplane-style entertainment options, and while small private operators run single routes and bespoke luxury services, all of the national companies, including OBB, rély on subsidies to maintain complex networks.
  7. Night trains, research has shown, actually cost more to operate because they are less efficient than daytime services. Dick Dunmore was the lead author of a 2017 study into night trains by Steer Group, a consulting firm, for the European Parliament He said the main obstacles for night trains were track access charges, low occupancy in sleeping carriages, once-a-day routes, and the complexity of staffing at night
  8. Austria may be at the heart of Europe, but every time its trains cross the border they run into hurdles. The Continent’s railways still run on vastly different signaling and power supplies and, in some cases, incompatible tracks. OBB can’t run the same ‘engine to Italy that it does to Germany, Mr. Mattha said. Still, OBB is investing in the future of Nightjet. The company has high ambitions for becoming a crucial Pan-European railway provider. It already runs international passenger trains in 14 countries and cargo trains in more than 18. Beginning in January 2019, Nightjet will expand to twice-a-week services to Brussels. OBB has plans to follow that with Amsterdam the year after, even if overnight train journeys make up less than 5% of long-distance travel, the Nightjet brand has helped the company raise its profile across Europe.

QUESTION

  1. The author begins the article with
    A. services on the train
    B. the attractions of Venice
    C. tourists’ personal experiences
    D. the time is taken for the train journey
  2. However, OBB expanded its network, raising questions about just how the company had managed to do it lines 15 and 16) means-the company
    A. bought more trains
    B. had more destinations
    C. opened a new branch in Venice
    D. cooperated with other train operators
  3. According to Mr. Matt. which is the most significant for customers?
    A. Shorter traveling time
    B. Convenient schedule
    C. Comfortable seats
    D. Delicious meals
  4. Paragraph 4 is mainly about
    A. ways to reduce pollution
    B. reasons for choosing trains
    C. the issues of too many cars in Venice
    D. the link between climate change and industry
  5. In paragraph 5, which of the following phrases suggests a change of discussion?
    A. On some services… (line 39)
    B. Despite its modern branding… (line 40)
    C. back to an era… (line 41)
    D. But today… (line 43)
  6. rely on (line 52) can best be replaced by
    A. work on
    B. carry on
    C. spend on
    D. depend on
  7. Who is more concerned with doing one’s part to save the Earth?
    A. Dick Dunmore
    B. Noemi Trevisan
    C. Andreas Mattha
    D. Dr Marco Bellmann