Online shoppers would rather receive an offer for a product or service than make their own offer, according to a study led by a Michigan State University scholar that has implications for the fast-growing e-commerce industry. The findings may come as a surprise given that shopping online is an anonymous（匿名的）process that seemingly can give consumers more confidence to drive a hard bargain, said Don Conlon, Professor of Management in MSU's Broad College of Business.
But the study found that participants who made their own offers were less successful in sealing the deal and, when they were successful, worried they overpaid. Many shoppers found the process of researching an offer to be a hassle. "Americans are very busy, and it's less time-consuming to be the one receiving the offer rather than the one proposing the offer,” Conlon said. “People tend to be happier when they're in the receiver role.”
Online spending in the United States is expected to jump 45 percent in the next four years, from＄226 billion this year to＄327 billion in 2017, according to Forrester Research Inc. Nevertheless, researches into this prosperous market remain largely focused on the strategies of companies, rather than those of shoppers. Conlon's study is, obviously, a rare exception. Conlon got the idea for the study after considering the difference between two popular sites for hotels and airline flights, priceline.com, which takes bids, and hotwire.com, which provides offers. Using these two models, Conlon and his fellow researchers conducted a series of experiments with more than 850 people who were charged with booking a fictional hotel room and acquiring a fictional antique car. Not only did participants prefer to receive bids, Conlon said, but they also secured more deals in that receiver role. Further, when they had to make the bids, they were left more mentally taxed and regretful.
From an industry perspective, putting customers in the receiver role may help fill more hotel rooms and airplane seats. “If you're a business with a lot of products, ” Conlon said, “you may want to be the one making the offers.” However, when selling single items, such as an antique car, accepting bids may be a better option since that typically drives up the price, he said.What can we learn from Para. 1?
| A．The result of the study gives customers more confidence. |
| B．Scholars aren't surprised at the findings of the study. |
| C．E-commerce industry drives more hard bargains. |
| D．Online shoppers don't bargain as much as expected. |
It can be concluded from Conlon's experiments that _____.
| A．online shopping is time-consuming |
| B．given prices help promote online sales |
| C．online businesses provide a lot of products |
| D．receiving offers makes online shoppers regretful |
The underlined word “taxed" in Para. 4 probably means _____.
| A．burdened | B．numbed |
| C．relieved | D．challenged |
The passage is mainly about _____.
| A．the big advantages of online shopping |
| B．the rapid development of online shopping |
| C．online shoppers' preference for taking offers |
| D．online companies' strategies to improve service |
C
What is blood? It is the red liquid which comes out of your finger when you cut it. There are bout thirteen pints(品脱) of blood in a man' s body. He can give a pint of blood at a time to
blood bank for the use of other men who may need it. A healthy body makes up one pint of bloo
quickly.
What does our blood do for us? It takes food to all parts of our bodies and takes waste awa
from them. All the parts of our bodies are made up of cells, and these cells, which are very small
all need food all the time.
The blood is like a stream. The cells take what they need out of the blood stream, as plants an fishes take their food out of water. The blood stream carries food and oxygen which it has taken up our lungs to all the cells in the body.
What makes the blood go on moving round the body in a stream? The heart sends it round.
man' s heart is about the Size of his fist. The heart is a pump. It has rooms in it with doors betwee
them. It pumps blood in and out through these doors by changing the size of the rooms so that th
doors open and shut.
The heart keeps stream of blood going all round the body and back again to itself. Everywhel the blood stream does two things: supplies the cells with food and oxygen and takes away the waste It is as if the blood kept the little fires in the cells burning and took away the ashes.
49. Blood is the_____
A. red liquid which comes from your finger B. red liquid which we can see
C. red liquid which flows in a man's body D. red cell
50. The blood in a man' s body__________.
A. makes food all the time
B. takes food to all cells in the body and takes waste away
C. supplies the cells with food and oxygen from them
D. takes waste away from the cells
51. __ makes the blood go on moving round the body in a stream.
A. The heart B. The lung C. The cell D. The pump
52. This article tells us about__________.
A. a stream of blood B. the use of the heart
C. a wonderful pump D. something about blood
B
Whether rich or poor, we all have problems: that unfaithful mate, that annoying colleague, that persistent(持久的) disease, and the investment that is turning into a huge loss.
How can we remain calm, positive and even elegant in the face of all these difficulties of
life?
The following suggestions may help.
It comes with the pay. I have a friend who used to complain about her dead-end job and
unreasonable boss. Sounds familiar? One day I told her, "Look at it this way. You are getting
paid for the annoyance as well as the work. It comes with the pay. "
This has become my favorite saying for work-related frustrations. "Take every day as a bo-
nus. " When we learn to treasure every moment of what we have, we begin to see life in a whole
new attitude.
It's all in the mind. Sure, the psychologists tell us it is important that we work at resol-
ving problems. But they also say if you try to resolve a problem that would not go away, it would
only compound(使更复杂) the frustration.
If you tell yourself there isn' t a problem, there won' t be one. It is all in the mind.
Stop thinking about your own problem-help others instead. A lady who is struggling a
life-threatening disease showed she coped with her illness by making herself useful, by offering
help to others in a similar situation.
She has spoken to at least five other women with breast cancer. She says that the sharing
has helped her to find fresh meaning in her own life.
Never give up on your dream. Why do we give in or give up when we meet difficulities?
ls it because we have no confidenee in our cause and no commitment (承担义务)for what we
pursue?
One strong-hearted lady was the late head of the tragic Kennedy family, Rose Kennedy.
She said this on nationwide television one week after losing yet another son to assassin's( 暗杀者) bullet--Boddy Kennedy:"And we go on our way with no regrets not looking backwards to
the past, but we shall carry on with courage. "
Not the end of the world. Do you know something else? I' ve learned that care as you
might, love as,you might, some people don't care back.
And it is not the end of the world. After all, it's not the event that makes a person, is it?
It's what we do about what happens to us.
It was said that Albert Einstein' s last request on his death bed was to be given his equa-
tions(方程式) and his unfinished statement. Einstein first picked up his equations and lament-
ed(悲叹) to his son, "if only I had more mathematics!" What a great persistent spirit!
45. All of the followings are wrong EXCEPT_____.
A. some people have many problems while some have none
B. Albert Einstein pursued his dream till the last minute of his life
C. Rose Kennedy must be a timid (缺乏自信的) woman
D. we shouldn' t love those who don' t care about us
46. The passage is intended to inform the readers_____ .
A. how to face problems B. how to resolve problems
C. how to hold on to your dreamsD. how to help others
47. By saying "Take every day as a bonus", the author is trying to tell us __.
A. we should get a bonus every day B. we should treasure every day in our life
C. we should make advances every day D. we should enjoy ourselves every day
48. The last paragraph of the passage is out of place; it should be put under the subtitle of_____.
A. It comes with the pay B. It' s all in the mind
C. Never give up on your dream D. Not the end of the world
第二部分：阅读理解(共25小题，第一节每小题2分，第二节每小题1分；满分45分)
第一节：阅读下面的短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C、D)中，选出最佳选项。 A
Endless sea, sand and sunshine on a tiny island--everyone' s idea of heaven. Who wouldn' t want to live in such a place.?
One person who certainly does is Ben Southall, from the UK. The 34-year-old was one of more than 34,000 people who applied for the post of "caretaker" on Hamilton Island, Australia, which the local government called "the best job in the world". The position starts in July and runs for six months. The salary is 150,000 Australian dollars(780,639 yuan).
Why Southall? Well, first let's take a look at the criteria(标准) for the job: "We're looking for applicants who like to have adventures, have a great love of the outdoors and have good commu-nication skills. "
On his application video, Southall expressed a love of adventure and included photographs of himself riding an ostrich(鸵鸟 ), running a marathon, diving, and kissing a giraffe. "From the time he was announced in the Top 50, and then the Top 16, Southall did a great job by showing true ex-citement about Queensland," Tourism Minister Peter Lawlor said in a statement.
"His ideas for how he will make the role his own.., as well as his ability to rise to a challenge impressed the judges and helped him to win his place in the top job," Lawlor said.
Southall was born in Coventry, UK and used his parents' home as a base for his adventures. He had an old Land Rover that he used for a charity-fund-raising trek(跋涉) across Africa which in-volved joining in five marathons( a 42.16 km race) and climbing five mountains.
"It was sometimes hard work to make him get his head down and do his work because he always wanted to be outside," his mother said about his early years.
"He wanted to go surfing in South Africa, so he got a job house-sitting to pay for it. We regu-larly ask him when he is going to get a proper job, but he is confident and has a strong set of friends and is a great social animal. Now he has got the perfect job for his skills," said his father.
So, you see? No matter what type of person you are, there's always the possibility of getting a dream job. How' s that? Just read the job descriptions carefully and think about how your skills and qualities fit with the ones needed for the job. That' s what Southall did to get his job.
41. The post of "caretaker" on Hamilton Island is said-to be the best job in the world mainly because of_____
A. a beautiful landscapeB. a short working time
C. great pay for a fun job D. very good weather
42. According to Lawlor, what wasn' t the reason that helped Southall win the job?
A. His outstanding application video
B. His passion for the job and ability to face up to challenges
C. His great love of adventures
D. His true excitement about the Austrilian lifestyle
43. Which of the following statements about Southall is true?
A. He did a poor job in school when he was young.
B. He worked as a house-sitter to raise charity funds.
C. He has won five marathons.
D. He is good at communicating with others.
44. We can leam from Southall that_____
A. the world offers opportunities for everyone
B. setbacks will only make you stronger
C. all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
D. where there is a will, there is a way
D
There are three separate sources of danger in supplying energy by nuclear power (原子能)
First, the radioactive material must travel from its place of production to the power station. Although the power stations themselves are strongly built, the containers used for the transport of the materials are not. Normally, only two methods of transport are in use, namely road or rail. Unfortunately, both of these may have an effect on the general public, since they are sure to pass near, or even through, heavily populated areas.
Second, there is the problem of waste. All nuclear power stations produce wastes that in most cases will remain radioactive for thousands of years. It is impossible to make these wastes non-radioactive, and so they must be stored in one of the inconvenient ways that scientists have invented. For example, they may be buried under the ground, or dropped into deserted mines, or sunk in the sea. However, these methods do not solve the problem, since an earthquake could easily break the containers.
Third, there may occur the danger of a leak(泄漏) or an explosion at the power station. As with the other two dangers, this is not very likely, so it does not provide a serious objection to the nuclear program. However, it can happen.
Separately, these three types of dangers are not a great cause for worry. Taken together, though, the probability of disaster(灾难) is extremely high.
71. Which of the following is FALSE?
A. It is possible that a leak or an explosion occurs at a power station.
B. It is unusual for radioactive materials to be transported across land.
C. The containers are likely to be broken by an earthquake.
D. Nuclear wastes remain dangerous in most cases for many years.
72. The author thinks that the ways to store nuclear wastes are ＿＿＿ .
A. easy B. impossible C. reasonable D. ineffective
73. What do we learn from the last paragraph?
A. The power station is a safe place.
B. The dangers of nuclear energy can be prevented.
C. The general public are strongly against the nuclear program.
D. By itself, none of the three dangers is very likely to cause much worry.
74. What is this passage about?
A.Uses of nuclear power. B.Dangers from nuclear power.
C.Public anger at nuclear power. D.Accidents caused by nuclear power.
75. As for the possible dangers of nuclear power, ______.
A. none of them can be completely avoided
B. effective measures have been taken to avoid them
C. man will never be able to do anything about them
D. one is usually the cause of another
C
Tech-Camp
6 Devon Road, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong a technology day camp for students 12-17.
About Tech-Camp
Tech-Camp is a day camp with a focus on computers and electronic technology. We offer 2-week summer programmes for students of 12-17 years of age. We have a computer lab with the latest and fastest equipment, an electronics lab and a video production studio. Our staff is special, too. Our programme leaders are experts in computer and electronics, of course, but they are also people who care about children and enjoy working with them.
The Benefits of Tech-Camp
In all of our programmes, we show students how to work in teams and how to solve problems by themselves. We encourage them to think creatively(有创造性地).
What students will do at Tech-Camp
Each day Tech-camp is filled with useful, interesting and challenging activities. For example, in the Computer Programme, students lean the basic computer programming, and how to use the Internet. In the Tech-Camp Programme, they make radio-controlled model cars and produce their own short videos.
| Programme |
Session 1 |
Session 2 |
Session 3 |
| Computer programme |
15June-26June |
15June-26June |
15June-26June |
| High-tech Programme |
29June-10July |
27July-7August |
15June-26July |
Fee: HK $2,000 per student
(10% discount for groups of 10 or more students)
For more information about Tech-Camp, please contact Director of Summer Programmes, Ms Julia Brown, by phone, fax or e-mail.
Telephone: 26548898 Fax: 26948850
E-mail: juliab@techcamp.comhk
66. What would you like to ask about if you phone Ms Julia Brown after reading this passage?
A. The time for application (申请)
B. The fee each student should pay
C. The e-mail address of Tech-Camp
D. What the students will do in the camp
67. According to the passage, how much will they pay if a group of 20 students enter for Tech-Camp?
A. HK $ 3, 600 B. HK $3,500 C. HK $36,000 D. HK $40,000
68. The passage is written to ______.
A. introduce to us some information about Tech-Camp
B. attract(吸引)students to take part in Tech-Camp
C. tell students something about computers
D. teach students how to use computers and electronics
69. If a student has time from June 4 to July 20 and he wants to take both the computer programme and the High-tech programme, which session should he take?
A. session 1 B. session 2 C. session 3 D. none
70. Which of following is not true about the Tech-Camp?
A. They have a very good computer lab.
B. People who work for the Camp enjoy working with children.
C. Students can do team work in the camp.
D. With the help of the experts the students don’t need to solve problems by themselves.