PTE Retell Lecture Question of the Day | Based on previous PTE Exams

Today’s Question of the Day is from the PTE ReTell Lecture question type. You will listen to an audio and then re-tell it in your own words. You will have 40 seconds to give your response.

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Question Video

Transcript

In an 1898 advertising poster, a man made of rubber rings hoists a giant champagne coupe full of broken glass and nails, garnished with a horseshoe. Michelin tyres, the ad implied, were tough enough to digest everything the road had to offer.

Advertising metaphor was a bit heavy-handed in 1898, but the idea of eating up the road as delivered by that rotund rubber spokesman, formally known as Bibendum would become the guiding principle of that fledgling French rubber company. And while durable tyres made them money, another marketing gimmick would change the world of dining.

In 1900, brothers Édouard and André Michelin released the first Guide Michelin. To the 3000 or so motorists in France who bought their tyres, they handed a slim book containing maps, basic maintenance instructions, and lists of mechanics, petrol stations, hotels, and — as information no more vital than the nearest gas pump — suggestions for restaurants along the routes. They were keen to make motoring a recreational hobby for the few well-to-do who actually owned cars, and realized that giving them places to go and advice on getting there would result in more wear and the occasional hobnail puncture on their flagship products.

France was the perfect place to do this. Barely a century earlier, the first modern restaurants (which featured individual tables and a menu of choices, rather than communal tables serving whatever a tavern owner had handy had popped up in Paris.

Sample Response

The lecture is about the origin of Guide Michelin. After the introduction of Michelin tyres, the company created the Guide Michelin, which was handed over to people who bought the Michelin tyres. The idea was to position motoring as a hobby and encourage people to go out by giving them these guides. France was the ideal place to launch these guides as the modern restaurants had already come up in Paris.

Retell Lecture questions can be tricky for those who have not studied or worked in an English speaking environment. Even people who have attended Universities in a country like Australia can panic when answering these questions. That is why in our online PTE course we teach a simple but effective step by step method to answer these questions. Once you follow a process and practice it enough these questions become much easier to handle.