Advertisers tend to think big and perhaps this is why they’re always getting criticism. Their critics(批评家)seem to resent(对...不满) them because they have a gift for self-promotion and because they have so much money to throw around. ‘It’s unjust,’ they say, ‘that this entirely unproductive industry (if we can call it that) should absorb millions of pounds each year. It only goes to show how much profit the big companies are making. Why don’t they stop advertising and reduce the price of their goods? After all, it’s the consumer who pays…’
The poor old consumer! He’d have to pay a great deal more if advertising didn’t create mass markets for products. It is precisely because of the heavy advertising that consumer goods are so cheap. But we get the wrong idea if we think the only purpose of advertising is to sell goods. Another equally important function is to inform. A great deal of the knowledge we have about household goods comes largely from the advertisements we read. Advertisements introduce us to new products or remind us of the existence of ones we already know about. Supposing you wanted to buy a washing machine, it is more than likely you would obtain details regarding performance, price, etc., from an advertisement.
Lots of people pretend that they never read advertisements, but this claim may be seriously doubted. It is hardly possible not to read advertisements these days. And what fun they often are, too! Just think what a railway station or a newspaper would be like without advertisements. Would you enjoy gazing at a blank wall or reading railway byelaws(内部规则) while waiting for a train? Would you like to read only closely printed columns of news in your daily paper? A cheerful, witty advertisement makes such a difference to a dull wall or a newspaper full of the daily ration(定量) of disasters.
We must not forget, either, that advertising makes a positive contribution to our pockets. Newspapers, commercial radio and television companies could not survive without this source of revenue(收益). The fact that we pay so little for our daily paper or can enjoy so many broadcast programs is due entirely to the money spent by advertisers. Just think what a newspaper would cost if we had to pay its full price!
Another thing we mustn’t forget is the ‘small ads.’ which are in virtually every newspaper and magazine. What a tremendously useful service they perform for the community! Just about anything can be accomplished through these columns. For instance, you can find a job, buy or sell a house, announce a birth, marriage or death in what used to be called the ‘hatch(giving birth), match and dispatch’ column but by far the most fascinating section is the personal or ‘agony’ column(读者来信专栏). No other item in a newspaper provides such entertaining reading or offers such a deep insight into human nature. It’s the best advertisement for advertising there is!What is main idea of this passage?
A.Advertisements. |
B.Advertisements bring fun to readers. |
C.Advertisers perform a useful service to communities. |
D.The costs of advertisements. |
The attitude of the author toward advertisers is
A.appreciative. | B.trustworthy. | C.critical | D.dissatisfactory. |
Why do the critics criticize advertisers?
A.Because advertisers often brag(自夸). |
B.Because critics think advertisement is a “waste of money”. |
C.Because customers are encouraged to buy more than necessary. |
D.Because customers pay more. |
Which of the following is Not True?
A.Advertisement makes contribution to our pockets and we may know everything. |
B.We can buy what we want. |
C.Good quality products don’t need to be advertised. |
D.Advertisement makes our life colorful. |
Summer Holiday Fun 2010 !
The summer holidays are upon us again. Here is our guide to summer holiday fun in Peterborough!
Peterborough Museum
The Age of the Dinosaurs’ is the museum’s main attraction this summer.Get up close to prehistoric creatures via some great hands—on exhibits! Watch out for monsters lurking around every ember! The museum is open from 10:00am to 5:00pm Monday to Saturday,and from 12:00pm to 4:00 pm on Sundays in August.
Call 01733 864663 for details
Saxon Youth Club
School holiday fun:Young people aged 13—19 will be able to produce their own music, compete in spots activities,or try their hand at cooking at Saxon Youth Club,Saxon Community Centre, Norman Road.Peterborough every Monday and Wednesday from 3:00pm.PLUS an aero ball tournament will take place on Thursday 12th August between 3:30pm and 6:30pm.
Call 01 353 720274 for details
Houghton Mill
Alice through the Looking Class—a new production of the family favorite on Monday 30th.August.Bring rugs or chairs to sit on and a picnic if you wish to eat during the play.Gates open 5:30pm,performance 6:30pm—8:30pm.Tea room will be open until end of the interval.Adult £10.Child£7.Family £20.
Booking advisable on 0845 4505157.
Farmland Museum and Denny Abbey
Farmland Gaines:From Wellie Wanging to Pretend Ploughing matches,come and join the Farmland Team.Collect your sporting stickers and create a colorful rosette that is fit for a winner!No need to book,just turn up between 12:00pm and 4:00pm on Thursday 19th August Suitable for children aged four and above,each child should be accompanied by an adult and all activities are included in the normal admission price Tickets Cost£7 per child.
For further information,call 01223 810080.
60. If you are interested in cooking, you can go to .
A.Peterborough Museum B.Houghton Mill
C.Saxon Youth Club D.Farmland Museum
61. You want to watch the new play with your parents,so it will cost you .
A.£7 B.£17 C.£27 D.£20
62. Which of the following activities needs parents’company?
A.Playing farmland games B.Watching a new play.
C.Competing in spots activities. D.Visiting the dinosaur exhibition.
63. If Tom comes to Peterborough for amusement on August 19,he will have ______ activities to choose from for himself.
A.one activity B.two activities
C.three activities D.four activities
You're in a department store and you see a couple of attractive young women looking at a sweater. You listen to their conversation:
“I can't believe it ——a Lorenzo Bertolla! They are almost impossible to find. Isn't it beautiful? And it's a lot cheaper than the one Sara bought in Rome. ”
They leave and you go over to see this incredible sweater. It's nice and the price is right. You've never heard of Lorenzo Bertolla, but those girls looked really stylish. They must know. So, you buy it. You never realize that those young women are employees of an advertising agency. They are actually paid to go from store to store, talking loudly about Lorenzo Bertolla clothes.
Every day we notice what people are wearing, driving and eating. If the person looks cool, the product seems cool, too. This is the secret of undercover marketing. Companies from Ford to Nike are starting to use it.
Undercover marketing is important because it reaches people that don't pay attention to traditional advertising. This is particularly true of the MTV generation----consumers between the age of 18 and 34. It is a golden group. They have a lot of money to spend, but they don't trust ads.
So advertising agencies hire young actors to “perform” in bars and other places where young adults go. Some people might call this practice deceptive(骗人的), but marketing executive Jonathan Ressler calls it creative. “Look at traditional advertising. Its effectiveness is decreasing. ”
However, one might ask what exactly is “real” about of young women pretending to be enthusiastic about a sweater? Advertising executives would say it's no less real than an ad. The difference is that you know an ad is trying to persuade you to buy something. You don' t know when a conversation you overhear is just a performance.
56. The two attractive young women were talking so that they could ________.
A. get the sweater at a lower price B. be heard by people around
C. be admired by other shoppersD. decide on buying the sweater
57. Lorenzo Bertolla is __________.
A. a very popular male singerB. an advertising agency
C. a clothing company in RomeD. the brand name of a sweater
58. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
A. The two girls are in fact employed by the Lorenzo Bertolla Company.
B. The MTV generation tend to be more easily influenced by ads.
C. Traditional advertising is becoming less effective because it's too direct.
D. Undercover marketing will surely be banned soon by the government.
59. Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
A. Two Attractive ShoppersB. Lorenzo Bertolla Sweaters
C. Ways of AdvertisingD. Undercover Marketing
Rachael Jack, University of Glasgow researcher, said that rather than scanning evenly
(均匀的) across a face as Westerners do, Easterners fix their attention on the eyes.
"We show that Easterners and Westerners look at different face features to read facial expressions," Jack said. "Westerners look at the eyes and the mouth in equal measure, whereas Easterners favor the eyes and neglect (忽略) the mouth."
According to Jack and her colleagues, the discovery shows that human communication of emotion is more complex than previously believed. As a result, facial expressions that had been considered universally recognizable cannot be used to reliably convey emotion in cross-cultural situations.
The researchers studied cultural differences in the recognition of facial expressions by recording the eye movements of 13 Western Caucasian and 13 East Asian people while they observed pictures of. expressive faces and put them into categories: happy, sad, surprised, fearful, disgusted, angry, or neutral. They compared how accurately participants read those facial expressions using their particular eye movement strategies.
It turned out that Easterners focused much greater attention on the eyes and made significantly more errors than Westerners did. "The cultural difference in eye movements that they show is probably a reflection of cultural difference in facial expressions," Jack said. "Our data suggest that whereas Westerners use the whole face to convey emotion, Easterners use the eyes more and mouth less."
In short, the data show that facial expressions are not universal signals of human emotion. From here on, examining how cultural factors have diversified these basic social skills will help our understanding of human emotion. Otherwise, when it comes to communicating emotions across cultures, Easterners and Westerners will find themselves lost in translation.The discovery shows that Westerners __
A.pay equal attention to the eyes and the mouth |
B.consider facial expressions universally reliable |
C.observe the eyes and the mouth in different ways |
D.have more difficulty in recognizing facial expressions |
What were the people asked to do in the study?
A.To make a face at each other. | B.To get their faces impressive. |
C.To classify some face pictures. | D.To observe the researchers' faces. |
What does the underlined word "they" in Paragraph 6 refer to?
A.The participants in the study. | B.The researchers of the study. |
C.The errors made during the study. | D.The data collected from the study. |
In comparison with Westerners, Easterners are likely to __
A.do translation more successfully | B.study the mouth more frequently |
C.examine the eyes more attentively | D.read facial expressions more correctly |
What can be the best title for the passage?
A.The Eye as the Window to the Soul |
B.Cultural Differences in Reading Emotions |
C.Effective Methods to Develop Social Skills |
D.How to Increase Cross-cultural Understanding |
After a month of feeling upset, Thomas decided he'd better find a way to fight back. He left Canton, Michigan for New York, got a job waiting tables, nicknamed himself the Diabetic Rockstar, and created diabeticrockstar.com, a free online community for diabetics and their loved ones—a place where over 1,100 people share personal stories, information, and resources.
Jason Swencki’s son, Kody, was diagnosed with diabetes at six. Father and son visit the online children's forums(论坛) together most evenings. "Kody gets so excited, writing to kids from all over," says Swencki, one of the site's volunteers. "They know what he's going through, so he doesn't feel alone."
Kody is anything but alone, Diabetes is now the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, with 24 million diagnosed cases. And more people are being diagnosed at younger ages.
These days, Thomas's main focus is his charity(慈善机构), Fight It, which provides medicines and supplies to people—225 to date—who can't afford a diabetic's huge expenses. Fight-it.org has raised about $23,000—in products and in cash. In May, Thomas will hold the first annual Diabetic Rockstar Festival in the Caribbean.
Even with a staff of 22 volunteers, Thomas often devotes up to 50 hours a week to his cause, while still doing his full-time job waiting tables. "Of the diabetes charities out there, most are putting money into finding a cure," says Bentley Gubar, one of Rockstar's original members. "But Christopher is the only person I know saying people need help now."Which of the following is true of Christopher Thomas?
A.He needs to go to the doctor every day. |
B.He studies the leading cause of diabetes |
C.has a positive attitude to this disease. |
D.He encourages diabetics by writing articles. |
Diabeitcrockstar.com was created for _________.
A.diabetics to communicate | B.volunteers to find jobs |
C.children to amuse themselves | D.rock stars to share resources. |
According to the text, Kody ______.
A.feel lonely because of his illness | B.benefits from diabeticrockstar.com |
C.helps create the online kid’s forums | D.writes children’s stories online |
What can we learn about Fight It?
A.It helps the diabetics in financial difficulties. |
B.It organizes parties for volunteer once a year. |
C.It offers less expensive medicine to diabetics. |
D.It owns a well-known medical website. |
The last paragraph suggests that Thomas ______.
A.works full-time in a diabetes charity | B.employs 22 people for his website |
C.helps diabetics in his own way | D.tries to find a cure for diabetes |
I had always traveled to Malaysia by plane or car, so this was the first time I was on a train. I did not particularly relish the long train journey and had brought along a dozen magazines to read and reread. I looked about the train. There was not one familiar face. I sighed and sat down to read my Economics.
It was not long before the train was across the Causeway and in Malaysia. Johore Baru was just another city like Singapore, so I was tired of looking at the crowds of people as they hurried past. As we went beyond the city, I watched the straight rows of rubber trees and miles and miles of green. Then the first village came into sight, Immediately I came alive; I decided to wave back.
From then on my journey became interesting. I threw my magazines into the waste basket and decided to join in Malaysian life. Then everything came alive. The mountains seemed to speak to me. Even the trees were smiling. I stared at everything as if I was looking at it for the first time.
The day passed fast and I even forgot to have my lunch until I felt hungry. I looked at my watch and was surprised that it was 3:00 pm. Soon the train pulled up at Butterworth. I looked at the people all around me. They all looked beautiful. When my uncle arrived with a smile, I threw my arms around him to give him a warm hug (拥抱). I had never done this before. He seemed surprised and then his weather-beaten face warmed up with a huge smile. We walked arm in arm to his car.
I looked forward to the return journey.The author expected the train trip to be
A.adventurous | B.pleasant | C.exciting | D.dull |
What did the author remember most fondly of her train trip?
A.The friendly country people. |
B.The mountains along the way. |
C.The crowds of people in the streets. |
D.The simple lunch served on the train. |
Which of the following words can best take the place of the word "relish" in the second
paragraph?
A.choose | B.enjoy | C.prepare for | D.carry on |
Where was the writer going?
A.Johore Baru, | B.The Causeway. | C.Butterworth, | D.Singapore. |
What can we learn from the story?
A, Comfort in traveling by train. B. Pleasure of living in the country.
C. Reading gives people delight. D. Smiles brighten people up.