Shopping is not as simple as you may think! There are all sorts of tricks at play each time we reach out for that particular brand (商标) of product on the shelf.
Colouring, for example, varies according to what the producers are trying to sell. Health foods are packaged (包装) in greens, yellows or browns because we think of these as healthy colours. Ice cream packets are often blue and expensive goods, like chocolates, are gold or silver.
When some kind of pain killer was brought out recently, researchers found that the colours turned the customers off because they made the product look weak and ineffective. Eventually, it came on the market in a dark blue and white package—blue because we think of it as safe, and white as calm.
The size of a product can attract a shopper. But quite often a bottle doesn’t contain as much as it appears to.
It is believed that the better-known companies spend, on average, 70 per cent of the total cost of the product itself on packaging!
The most successful producers know that it’s not enough to have a good product. The founder of Pears soap, who for 25 years has used pretty little girls to promote(推销) their goods, came to the conclusion: “Any fool can make soap, but it takes a genius (天才) to sell it.”Which of the following may trick a shopper into buying a product according to the text?
| A．The cost of its package. | B．The price of the product. |
| C．The colour of its package. | D．The brand name of the product. |
The underlined part “the colours turned the customers off”(in Para. 3 ) means that the colours _____.
| A．attracted the customers strongly |
| B．had weak effects on the customers |
| C．tricked the customers into shopping |
| D．caused the customers to lose interest |
Which of the following is the key to the success in product sales?
| A．The way to promote goods. |
| B．The discovery of a genius. |
| C．The team to produce a good product. |
| D．The brand name used by successful producers. |
Which of the following would be the best title for this text?
| A．Choice of Good Products | B．Disadvantages of Products |
| C．Effect of Packaging on Shopping | D．Brand Names and Shopping Tricks |
Swim Birthday Parties
Ages 3 and up.
Pool parties are during recreation swim in the 25-yard pool. Each party consists of an hour of celebration in a private room. Parties are for 1—5 children. All non-swimmers or children requiring floatation must be at arm’s length from the pool and accompanied by an adult or guardian.
Please contact Sarah Hagan 762—8384x210.
Fee: Members $ 175/Non-members $225
Youth Fitness Birthday Parties
Leave the party activities to us! Your party package includes:1/2 hour set-up,1 hour program time including equipment,props,etc.1 hour party time for cake,presents,etc.,1/2 hour clean-up time and 1 or 2 hours specialists. Parents supply decorations, food and paper goods. To schedule a Youth Fitness Birthday Party, call Mary Ann Genuario (x282).
Fee: $295 for up to 10 children,$10 each additional child—16 children maximum. Non-member price available upon request.
The Art Spot Birthday Parties
The Art Spot offers a variety of creative fine art parties for Ages 4—Adult! We supply the invitations, a balloon bouquet(花束), paper goods, project materials and a party host; all you need to bring is the cake!
Parties are one and a half hours, the first hour the group create their art project, and last 1/2 hour is for cake and presents! Parties are usually held on Friday nights and weekends but weekday parties are available.
Cost: $21 per child.
Rain or shine there’s no better place than the Art Spot for your child’s next party!
Nursery School Birthday Parties
If planning a party is not your thing, let us do the work for you! We offer a variety of pre-planned parties to choose from. You may also do a combination of 2 parties for boy/ girl parties. All parties are on Saturday afternoons between the hours of 12:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. and are one and a half hours in length. Parties include a craft or activity and paper goods. You may arrive 15 minutes prior to your scheduled time to set-up. To schedule a party please contact Kim Murphy(x214).
Fee(Up to 15 children):$200 Members/ $250 Non-member,$15 each additional child.The phrase “be at arm’s length” probably means“______________”.
| A．be as careful as possible | B．be as long as an arm |
| C．be as near as possible | D．be as faraway as possible |
If 12 children take part in Youth Fitness Birthday Parties, they will pay ____________.
| A．$ 455 | B．$315 |
| C．$ 200 | D．$250 |
If your child joins in the Art Spot Birthday Parties, he will.
| A．swim in the 25-yard pool |
| B．spend half an hour to clean up |
| C．create his own art project |
| D．do activities with other kids |
What information can you get from the passage?
| A．You can schedule the party when it is convenient for you. |
| B．The number of people for these parties is limited. |
| C．You need to bring nothing to join in the birthday parties. |
| D．All of these birthday parties center on a special theme. |
One of the qualities that most people admire in others is the willingness to admit one’s mistakes. It is extremely hard sometimes to say a simple thing like “I was wrong about that, ”and it is even harder to say, “I was wrong, and you were right about that. ”
I had an experience recently with someone admitting to me that he had made a mistake fifteen years ago. He told me he had been the manager of a certain grocery store in the neighborhood where I grew up, and he asked me if I remembered the egg cartons （箱子）. Then he related an incident and I began to remember clearly the incident he was describing.
I was about eight years old at the time, and I had gone into the store with my mother to do the weekly grocery shopping. On that particular day, I must have found my way to the dairy food department where the incident took place.
There must have been a special sale on eggs that day because there was an impressive display of eggs in dozen and half-dozen cartons. The cartons were stacked three or four feet high. I must have stopped in front of a display to admire the stacks. Just then a woman came by pushing her grocery cart and knocked off the stacks of cartons. For some reason, I decided it was up to me to put the display back together, so I went to work.
The Manager heard the noise and came rushing over to see what had happened. When he appeared, I was on my knees inspecting （examining）some of the cartons to see if any of the eggs were broken, but to him it looked as though I was the criminal. He severely scolded me and wanted me to pay for any broken eggs. I protested my innocence and tried to explain, but it did no good. Even though I quickly forgot all about the incident, obviously the manager did not.The author was ______ when he wrote this article.
| A．about 8 | B．about 18 |
| C．about 23 | D．about 15 |
Who was to blame for knocking off the stacks of cartons?
| A．The author. | B．The manager. |
| C．The woman. | D．The author’s mother. |
When the manager scolded him the author _______.
| A．was frightened and cried | B．tried to explain |
| C．did not say anything | D．felt the manager was right |
It can be inferred that the author _______.
| A．regrets arguing with the manager for what he didn’t do |
| B．would like to tell people never to be fooled by an egg sale |
| C．has forgiven the manager for what he did to him fifteen years ago |
| D．expects the woman to say sorry to him for the mistake she made |
Grand Opening
Bentwood Truck Museum
Saturday, November 8, at 10:00 A. M.
After eighteen months of hard work by more than 100 volunteers, the Bentwood Truck Museum is ready to open. The old factory on the corner of Palmer Street and Norman Drive had been scheduled to be destroyed. When Roger Haygood heard about the plans to tear down the building, he bought it so that he could store his collection of old trucks there. Then he had the idea of turning the building into a truck museum.
During the past year and a half, the old building has been transformed into a treasure chest of memories. Instead of a dark and dull house, the building has become a cheery, bright home for all kinds of trucks from the past.
The museum now houses 68 trucks, and we hope to have even more soon. There is a 1959 school bus, a 1942 bakery truck, and a 1937 fire engine. Our oldest vehicle is a 1919 milk truck. Our newest vehicle is a 1966 tow truck.
You can take a ride on a fire truck, a mail truck, or an ice-cream truck. Rides are $ 2.00, but you can get a ticket for a free ride at any grocery store in Bentwood.
Help us celebrate our grand opening by bringing your family and friends! There is something to interest everyone who attends. The Bentwood Truck Museum is a special piece of our history.
•To get to Bentwood Truck Museum, take Route 29 (Kingston Highway) to Palmer Street.
•Go south on Palmer Street for one block and take a left onto Norman Drive.
•You will see the museum building and the amusement park on your left.
•Parking is available across the street, on your right.In which of the following can visitors take a ride?
| A．A milk truck. | B．An ice-cream truck. |
| C．A bakery truck. | D．A school bus. |
What is special about this museum?
| A．It is built on the ruins of an old building. |
| B．It offers visitors free rides to the museum. |
| C．It exhibits trucks dating back to 100 years ago. |
| D．It’s transformed from an old factory by volunteers. |
What’s the purpose of writing this passage?
| A．To introduce the old history of Bentwood Truck Museum. |
| B．To persuade readers to attend the opening of the museum. |
| C．To explain why Bentwood Truck Museum was set up. |
| D．To call on the visitors to take a ride in old trucks. |
Many years ago, I went through a tough time. One afternoon, I picked my girls up. It was late when we returned home. I went to unlock the door and found my key wouldn’t go in. I kept trying while my daughter went to get a flashlight. When she returned with it we found somehow the lock had been “stuffed” with sunflower seed shells. Thinking that one of the neighborhood children had been up to no good, I really didn’t give it much consideration.
I found all windows were locked up tight. So I returned to the back door. Oh my God, I will never forget the shock of that moment. The house was empty! Other than a few things remaining on the back porch, everything was gone! Then I heard a car pull into the driveway and found two policemen walking up. They inquired why I had broken into the house. They then asked me for proof that I lived at that address, so I asked them to wait a minute while I went to get my rent receipt and identification from inside the house. I explained the matter to them and showed them the door lock.
At this point they were not buying any of my story. I could tell from their actions and tone of voice that they thought I was breaking into an empty house for somewhere to sleep.
I asked a neighbor for the phone number of house owner and the officer made a call. The owner was quite shocked to hear my story. She said that my roommate had been going through an eviction(驱逐) process with the court when I moved in with her and had lost the case. She had been ordered to move by 10 am on that date. The court order had been issued the same day I had paid her 1/2 of the rent and a deposit of $300,000.
The owner was very kind and understanding but there was nothing she could do. The house had been rented already and the people were to move in the following weekend.
The officers let me go and I went to gather my girls into the car. They were both exhausted and old. Also very frightened, because they thought their mamma was going to jail. I had to pull over because the tears took control. I couldn’t believe it! Everything we owned was gone, I had used up all our money moving in and paying my “friend” our share of costs. I knew very few people in town, as we had just moved there recently.
I went to sit back in the car with the girls, I talked to the girls, explaining our situation to them so that they wouldn’t be afraid. During this time there was a “street person” with a bag, looking in the garbage for cans, bottles, and anything that might bring him some cash. But I didn’t pay much attention to him. I decided to get the girls something to eat for breakfast. We grabbed some bread, and chips and returned for a “picnic”. When we got there, I noticed that the man was not alone. He was with a small group of others like him and they were passing a hat amongst themselves.
I was busy setting up our little “picnic” when I heard a voice saying, “MaAm, please excuse… but…well…I overheard the situation you are in, and well… I and the fellows took up a collection for you and your little girls. It’s not very much, but maybe it’ll help a little.” I looked up at this man---dirty, needing a shave ----and saw the face of an angel. I started crying. The man tried to hand me $30. I folded his hand back over the money and just hugged him as tight as I could. I told him, “Thank you for your more than generous offer, but we are going to be just fine.” He didn’t believe me at first, but I convinced him that it was okay.
Later that afternoon I went to the market and bought the making for a barbecue and off to that little park. It didn’t take us very long to find those gentlemen and invite them to join us for lunch. I had a wonderful afternoon that day, sitting there with those old guys, singing songs. They had some of the most entertaining stories and they shared the dreams they once had. They shared themselves… from the heart.The writer couldn’t open the door because ________
| A．she didn’t have the right key |
| B．there was something else in the lock |
| C．someone had changed the lock |
| D．the owner of the house refused her living there |
How did the writer come into the house?
| A．She came in with the help of the policemen. |
| B．She came in by breaking the glass. |
| C．She came in with the help of a flashlight. |
| D．She came in from the back door. |
When the writer came into her house, she must feel _____
| A．excited | B．confused |
| C．shocked | D．frustrated |
The writer was not allowed to stay at the house because ____
| A．she was cheated by her roommate and the house had been rented to others |
| B．the house owner was angry about her breaking the glass of the house. |
| C．she hadn’t paid her share of rent. |
| D．she was ordered to move out by the court |
The underlined sentence “At this point they were not buying any of my story.” May mean ________.
| A．the policemen didn’t have enough money. |
| B．the policemen didn’t believe the writer’s words. |
| C．the policemen helped the writer to break the window. |
| D．the policemen wanted to get the rent receipt. |
Which of the following is WRONG according to the passage
| A．The street person was poor and didn’t dress well. |
| B．The writer accepted the money the street person gave her. |
| C．The street person didn’t know the writer before. |
| D．The writer got along well with the street person and his fellows. |
People are being lured(引诱) onto Facebook with the promise of a fun, free service, and don’t realize that they’re paying for it by giving up loads of personal information. Facebook then attempts to make money by selling their datato advertisers that want to send targeted messages.
Most Facebook users don’t realize this is happening. Even if they know what the company is up to, they still have no idea what they’re paying for Facebook, because people don’t really know what their personal details are worth.
The biggest problem, however, is that the company keeps changing the rules. Early on, you could keep everything private. That was the great thing about Facebook—you could create your own little private network. Last year, the company changed its privacy rules so that many things—your city, your photo, your friends’ names—were set, by default（默认）, to be shared with everyone on the Internet.
According to Facebook’s vice president Elliot Schrage, the company is simply making changes to improve its service, and if people don’t share information, they have a “less satisfying experience.”
Some critics think this is more about Facebook looking to make more money. Its original business model, which involved selling ads and putting them at the side of the page, totally failed. Who wants to look at ads when they’re online connecting with their friends?
The privacy issue has already landed Facebook in hot water in Washington. In April, Senator Charles Schumer called on Facebook to change its privacy policy. He also urged the Commission to set guidelines for social-networking sites. “I think the senators rightly communicated that we had not been clear about what the new products were and how people could choose to use them or not to use them,” Schrage admits.
I suspect that whatever Facebook has done so far to invade（侵犯）our privacy, it’s only the beginning，which is why I’m considering deactivating（撤销）my account. Facebook is a handy site, but I’m upset by the idea that my information is in the hands of people I don’t trust. That is too high a price to pay.What do we learn about Facebook from the first paragraph?
| A．It is a website that sends messages to targeted users. |
| B．It makes money by putting on advertisements. |
| C．It earns money by selling its user’s personal data |
| D．It provides a lot of information to its users |
What does the author say about most Facebook users?
| A．They don’t know their personal data enriches Facebook |
| B．They are unwilling to give up their personal information |
| C．They don’t identify themselves when using website |
| D．They care very little about their personal information |
Why does Facebook make changes to its rules according to Elliot Schrage?
| A．To help its users make more friends |
| B．To obey the Federal guidelines |
| C．To make money by attracting more users |
| D．To offer better service to its users |
What does Senator Charles Schumer argue for?
| A．Setting guidelines for advertising on websites |
| B．Setting rules for social-networking sites |
| C．Stopping sharing user’s personal information |
| D．Removing ads from all social-networking sites |
Why does the author plan to stop using his Facebook account?
| A．He is dissatisfied with its service. |
| B．He finds many of its users untrustworthy. |
| C．He doesn’t want his personal data abused. |
| D．He is upset by its frequent rule changes. |