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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
科目 英语   题型 阅读理解   难度 中等
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B
HOW TO BOOK
Booking opens for Beckett Shorts on 8 September.
BY TELEPHONE
For credit card(信用卡)bookings.Calls are answered.
BOX OFFICE
01789 295623 9 a.m.— 8 p.m.(Mon—Sat)
0541 541051(24 hours, 7 days, no booking charge)
BY FAX
For credit card booking.Please allow least 48 hours for reply, if required.
BOX OFFICE
01789 261974 or 01862 387765
BY POST
Please enclose(附上)a cheque or credit card details together with an SAE or add 50p to the total amount(总额)to cover postage.Please send to the Box Office.RST.Startford-upon-Avoe, CV37 6BB.
Booking opens for all other plays on 19 September
IN PERSON
BOX OFFICE
RST hall, 9:30 a.m.—8 p.m.(Mon—Sat)(6p.m.when theatres are closed)
OVERSEAS BOOKING
The easiest method of payment is by credit card.You can also pay by Euro-cheque(up to £500)with your card number written on the back.
PSYING FOR YOUR TICKETS
CHEQUES
We accept Visa, Master Card, American Express and Diners Club, Please give the card number, name and address of cardholder.
Cheques and postal orders should be payable to: Royal Shakespeare Theatre.
45.In which of the following ways of booking does one probably have to pay extra money?
A.In person B.By telephone C.By fax D.By post
46.One has to wait for 2 days or longer for a reply if he/she pays________.
A.in person B.by telephone C.by fax D.by post
47.What is useful number to call at 11 a.m.Sunday?
A.01789 295623 B.0541 541051 C.01789 261974 D.01862 387765

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)
阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A
If I were writing a history of my family, some of the darkest moments recorded would be those surrounding Christmas trees.One would certainly think otherwise; selecting and putting up our trees have always been filled with risk.For example, one afternoon dangerously close to Christmas Eve my mother bought what she thought to be a bargain, a glorious tree that was so full and tall that we could hardly get it onto the house.Once we did, my father immediately realized that we would have to hire a carpenter to build a stand for it.Another December, perhaps the very next one, we bought a tree earlier than we ever had before.We were happy with its shape and delighted that its size was manageable.We easily placed it in a stand, decorated(装饰)it from top to bottom, and then self-satisfiedly sat back by the fire in its soft light.Two or three days passed and the truth could not be hidden; we had bought a tree cut so long ago that its needles were coming off.There was nothing to do undecorated it, take it down, and begin treeshopping again.Our most recent Christmas tree offered still another difficult task.When we brought it home, once again it seemed larger than it had in the great outdoors.To complicate matters, we had bought a new stand, one whose nuts and bolts worked more mysteriously than those of our old stand.I persuaded two young neighbors to stop playing basketball and to help us get the tree into the house and set it correctly in the stand.Unfortunately, no one noticed the mud on our helpers’ shoes, so only after removing several reddish brown spots from the carpet were we able to discuss the question of where the lights and ornaments(装饰)were stored.Perhaps those who cut their own trees have tales more painful than these.I don’t care to hear them, as my family’s experiences are enough to cause me to make the following suggestion:“Let’s forget the tree next Christmas.Let’s simply hang some flowers on the front door and over the mirror in the hall.”
41.The darkest moments in the writer’s family were with the fact that________.
A.the family bought big Christmas trees
B.they had problems decorating their Christmas trees
C.they had problems picking suitable Christmas trees
D.they had problems finding carpenters for putting up Christmas trees.
42.We can learn from the passage that the writer would like to________.
A.forget about Christmas
B.get the neighbors to put up their trees
C.buy a better tree
D.make some other decorations to celebrate Christmas rather than the tree
43.When the writer said“mother bought what she thought to be a bargain”, he means________.
A.she bought the tree at a cheap price
B.she didn’t really want to buy it
C.she had to bargain hard with the salesman
D.she couldn’t afford a more expensive one
44.Which of the following can be the best for the passage?
A.How to Select a Christmas Tree B.No More Christmas Tree for US
C.Dark Moments of Life D.Christmas without Trees

Trip 1 Black Bear Count
There have been fires in this area in the last few years and the Office of the National Park is not sure how many black bears are still living. Some bears have been seen since the fires, and the Office has asked for young people to help count them. The entire trip will last three hours. Bookings necessary.
Cost: Free When: May 8
Trip 2 Garland Valley
Bring your drink and lunch for this walk in a beautiful area of the Blue Mountains. Garland Valley is close to the town of Garland but is part of the National Park. Many wild animals live in this area, including many rare birds. This is a great walk for bird-lovers. The trip lasts four hours. Bookings necessary.
Cost: $ 15 When: May 8, May 15
Trip 3 Flashlight Adventure
Put on your warm clothes, bring a flashlight and a pair of glasses, and come for a night walk along the Dungog Valley. A guide will lead the tour. Many of the animals you will see on this trip can only be seen at night. The guide will tell you about the lives of the animals you see. Numbers are strictly limited on night trips, so be sure to book early. This walk lasts two and a half hours.
Cost: $ 12 When: May 8, May 15, May22
Equipment to be needed:
•Please bring enough water and food for all walks.
•Wear good walking shoes—no high heels.
•Wear a hat for day walks.
•Dress warmly for night walks.
•Children must be with an adult.
•Make sure your flashlight works well and bring extra batteries for night walks.
•Follow all instructions from guides during the walks. The mountains are a dangerous place.
Bookings:
Bookings for the above trips can be traded by telephone (893 — 4847) or on the Internet at www. Bluemountaintour. com
72. Where are these trips?
A. In a large city. B. In a park in the mountains.
C. In a special kind of zoo. D. In three different countries.
73. On which trip might you see animals that sleep during the day?
A. Black Bear Count B. Garland Valley
C. Flashlight Adventure D. None of the trips.
74. Which of the following is NOT necessary for the three trips?
A. Good walking shoes B. A pair of glasses
C. Food and water D. A sleeping-bag
75. What is the best title for the passage?
A. Adventure Travel in America
B. Hunting around the Great Mountains
C. Interesting Trips in the East of the USA
D. Discovery Trips in the Blue Mountains

Everybody is happy as his pay rises. Yet pleasure at your own can disappear if you learn that a fellow worker has been given a bigger one. Indeed, if he is known as being lazy, you might even be quite cross. Such behavior is regarded as “all too human”, with the underlying belief that other animals would not be able to have this finely developed sense of sadness. But a study by Sarah Brosnan of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, which has just been published in Nature, suggests that it is all too monkey, as well.
The researchers studied the behaviors of some kind of female brown monkeys. They look smart. They are good-natured, co-operative creatures, and they share their food happily. Above all, like female human beings, they tend to pay much closer attention to the value of “goods and services” than males.
Such characteristics make them perfect subjects for Doctor Brosnan’s study. The researchers spent two years teaching their monkeys to exchange tokens (奖券) for food. Normally, the monkeys were happy enough to exchange pieces of rock for pieces of cucumber. However, when two monkeys were placed in separate and connected rooms, so that each other could observe what the other is getting in return for its rock, they became quite different.
In the world of monkeys,grapes are excellent goods (and much preferable to cucumbers). So when one monkey was handed a grape in exchange for her token, the second was not willing to hand hers over for a mere piece of cucumber. And if one received a grape without having to provide her token in exchange at all, the other either shook her own token at the researcher, or refused to accept the cucumber. Indeed, the mere presence of a grape in the other room (without an actual monkey to eat it) was enough to bring about dissatisfaction in a female monkey.
The researches suggest that these monkeys, like humans, are guided by social senses. In the wild, they are co-operative and group-living. Such co-operation is likely to be firm only when each animal feels it is not being cheated. Feelings of anger when unfairly treated, it seems, are not the nature of human beings alone. Refusing a smaller reward completely makes these feelings clear to other animals of the group. However, whether such a sense of fairness developed independently in monkeys and humans, or whether it comes from the common roots that they had 35 million years ago, is, as yet, an unanswered question.
68. According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?
A. Only monkeys and humans can have the sense of fairness in the world.
B. Women will show more dissatisfaction than men when unfairly treated.
C. In the wild, monkeys are never unhappy to share their food with each other.
D. Monkeys can exchange cucumbers for grapes, for grapes are more attractive.
69. The underlined statement “it is all too monkey” means that ________.
A. monkeys are also angry with lazy fellows
B. feeling bitter at unfairness is also monkey’s nature
C. monkeys, like humans, tend to be envious of each other
D. no animals other than monkeys can develop such feelings
70. Which of the following conclusions is TRUE according to the passage?
A. Human beings' feelings of anger are developed from the monkeys.
B. In the research, male monkeys are less likely to exchange food with others.
C. Co-operation between monkeys stays firm before the realization of being cheated.
D. Only monkeys and humans have the sense of fairness that dates from 35 million years ago.
71. What can we infer about the monkeys in Sarah’s study?
A. The monkeys can be trained to develop social senses.
B. They usually show their feelings openly as humans do.
C. The monkeys may show their satisfaction with equal treatment.
D. Co-operation among the monkeys remains effective in the wild.

Patricia Blues, 29, has a new aim in life: to keep drivers' hands on their steering wheels and off their cell phones. On November 2, 2007, Blues lived through a horrible experience. A motorist dialing a cell phone drove through a stop sign at 45 miles per hour and run into the side of Blues' car. Blues' 2-year-old daughter was killed immediately in the crash.
Blues has since dedicated her time to pushing for laws that would prevent this type of tragedy from happening again.
Cell phones are not the only distractions (分神) that cause accidents. Eating, changing CD, reading maps, talking to passengers, and just reaching for an object on the floor can be dangerous. Therefore, the emphasis should be on educating drivers to avoid all distractions. However, talking on cell phones might be easier to regulate than eating or changing music. At least 34 states have already passed laws to restrict cell phone use in moving cars. No state has banned it yet, but several U. S. cities have. Worldwide, 13 nations, including Australia, England, Germany, Japan and China have banned drivers' use of cell phones in moving cars.
To date, no scientific evidence has been published showing that talking on the phone affects driving safety. But according to a test by some high school students, "driving while on the phone does affect safety and probably shouldn't be done".
64. What happened to Patricia Blues last November? ________.
A. She was seriously injured in a car crash
B. She lost her daughter in a road accident
C. She broke the traffic rules at a bus stop
D. Her vehicle was destroyed by a motorbike
65. The tragedy was caused by ________.
A. Blues' lack of driving experience
B. the motorist’s failure of seeing the stop sign
C. Blues' poor car conditions
D. the motorist's absence of mind while driving
66. Patricia Blues' new goal of life is to persuade the government ________.
A. to prohibit the carrying of cell phones in cars
B. to educate drivers to avoid all distractions
C. to ban talking on the phone while driving
D. to study, harmful results of using cell phones
67. Which of the following is TRUE according to the text? ________.
A. Using cell phone while driving is easier to be controlled by law than other distractions
B. It is more important to make laws than educate drivers to be aware of driving safety
C. Driving while on the phone is firmly against only by some students from high school
D. It is extremely urgent for the cities with a large population to restrict using cell phones

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