Read the passage and answer the questions given below it.
In the summer of 2016, people flocked to parks, beaches and old monuments in many cities. They would stop, stare at their phones and set off in a new direction. They were not lost. They were playing Pokémon GO, a game released that July by the American company Niantic.
The trick was augmented reality, a digital picture laid over the real world. The game showed small cartoon creatures on the camera view of the street around the player, so a creature might seem to sit on a bus-stop bench or a temple step. Real landmarks such as statues, fountains and post offices became PokéStops, where players picked up free items, or gyms, where they battled one another. Nothing could be caught from the sofa. Even the eggs in the game hatched only after the player had walked a set distance.
Doctors have long found it hard to get people to walk more. A phone game seemed to manage it in a week. Studies of players’ daily steps found that they did walk a good deal more in the first weeks. Then the extra walking slowly tapered off, and after some weeks most players were walking about as much as they had before.
The game brought other worries as well. Some players stepped into traffic with their eyes on the screen. Others wandered into private gardens and buildings, chasing a creature that existed only on a phone. By the time Pokémon GO was launched in India in December 2016, such stories had already travelled ahead of it.
The main purpose of the passage is to:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → explain how a phone game got people out walking, and the limits of what it achieved
The passage tells how Pokémon GO made people walk, and then shows where it fell short.
- The first two paragraphs explain how the game worked. Creatures appeared on real streets, and “Nothing could be caught from the sofa.”
- The third paragraph gives the first limit. The extra walking “slowly tapered off”. Tapered off means became less, bit by bit.
- The last paragraph gives another limit: players walked into traffic and into private places.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: argue that phone games are a better way to keep people fit than doctors’ advice — Incorrect. Overstated: The writer says the game seemed to do in a week what doctors found hard. But the extra walking faded, so the passage does not call the game better.
Option 3: warn readers about the dangers of looking at a phone while crossing busy roads — Incorrect. Too narrow: Traffic is mentioned in one line of the last paragraph. The passage is mainly about the game and walking.
Option 4: describe how augmented reality works and where else it is used today — Incorrect. Not mentioned: Augmented reality is explained in one sentence. The passage says nothing about its other uses.