Britain's first ever pedestrian fast lane introduced

Markings have been painted onto the pavement to allow those who are hurrying to bypass crowds. Speedy shoppers will no longer get stuck behind people who dawdle or stop to check their phones - thanks to the UK's first ever pedestrian fast lane.

Argos has painted new markings on the pavement outside its Liverpool store after research revealed almost half the nation found the slow pace of high streets to be their biggest shopping bugbear. The new lane, being trialled this week in the Liverpool One shopping complex, hopes to help pick up the pace for those who are hurrying by bypassing the crowds.

New statistics show 31 per cent of people find pavement hoggers frustrating, while more than a quarter (27 per cent) get annoyed by slow pedestrians.

Dr Alastair Moore, an independent retail expert, said: but I do have my own shopping bugbears, from middle of the street chattering to battling through the crowds. As the research demonstrates, a faster high street could vastly improve the overall shopping experience for British shoppers across the UK. The pedestrianised fast track lane is a great way of making this possible and with nearly 30 million Brits saying they'd like one on their own high street, the pilot is set to be a success. We hope it alleviates some of the biggest shopping high street frustrations”

In total, 28.8 million Britons said they would like a pavement fast lane installed in their local high street to ensure less time is spent dodging the masses.

Shoppers are testing out the experimental pavement fast lane for one week from Monday until this Sunday.

Andy Brown, central operations director at Argos, said: "Shoppers have also told us that speed is critical when simply getting around the high street or town centre, so we want to test consumer reaction to a dedicated pavement fast lane.

Question 1 (2 points) Indicate whether the following statements are true or false and write down which part of the text justifies your answer.

a. More than a quarter of the nation find it is really slow to get around the high street.

b. Dr. Moore enjoys analyzing life in the high streets.

c. The new fast lane has been permanently installed in Liverpool.

d. Citizens seem to want these fast lanes only to make their shopping faster.

Question 2 (2 points) Answer the following questions in your own words.

a. Where is the new fast lane introduced and how long will it be tested?

b. According to the text, what makes high street shopping so slow?

Question 3 (1.5 points) Find words or phrases in the text that correspond in meaning to the words and definitions given.

a. avoid (par.1)                   b. make known  (par.3)                             c. talk (par.4)

d. reduce, mitigate (par.4)                                                               e. guarantee (par.5)

Question 4 (1.5 points) Complete the following sentences without changing the meaning.

a.     Markings have been painted onto the pavement to allow those who are hurrying to bypass crowds.

Markings have been painted onto the pavement to let ………

b.    Dr. Moore said :”  We hope it alleviates some of the biggest shopping high street frustrations”

Dr. Moore said that ………..

c.     High Street shoppers get frustrated because they can’t walk walk as fast as they wish.

If shoppers  ………

Question 5 (3 points) Write a short essay (120-150 words) on the following topic:

What’s the worst shopping experience you’ve had?