Chinese consumers' crazy appetite for luxury goods and services appears unstoppable, with just 2 percent of the Chinese population responsible for one-third of the world's luxury items.
As China's economic miracle develops, the market opportunities for all sorts of luxury goods and services are increasing. Luxury consumption in China now extends way beyond well - known car. Clothing and jewelry brands. For example, the luxury jet market in China is the fastest - growing in the world, even outstripping that of the United States, with a market share of 25 percent. This trend appears to continue, with 20 to 30 percent growth expected in China, compared with only 2 to 3 percent in the US. But more important, China's luxury jet market growth represents a major development in the private consumption of luxury items.
China's high - quality red wine market also provides evidence of the growth in private consumption of luxury goods. In 2013, China became the largest market for red wine in the world, even overtaking the French, with 1. 86 billion bottles consumed in China last year. Over the past five years, China's red wine consumption has grown 136 percent.
According to my ongoing consumer research in this area while working at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, public consumption of such expensive global luxury brands such as Prada and Armani is easily explained by the desire to "gain face" and publicly display social climbing through material possesses. On the other hand, it is "self-reward" that lies behind consumer motivation in this area. Chinese consumer, who have experienced rapid financial and economic gains appear particularly prone to the need to reward themselves for their success. But this has little to do with "gaining face" and impressing others and much more to do with the need for personal contentment.
Finally, the growth in private luxury consumption in China is set to continue in part due to the maturity of the Chinese consumer and advancement of Chinese consumer culture generally.What do you think the author would most probably be?
| A．A news reporter, | B．An accountant. |
| C．A professor. | D．A conductor. |
The underlined word "outstripping" in Paragraph 2 probably means ______.
| A．falling far behind of | B．going hand in hand |
| C．going far ahead of | D．keeping pace with |
What can we learn from paragraph 2 and 3 ?
| A．China's luxury jet market growth is only 2 to 3%. |
| B．French was once the largest market for red wine in the world before 2013. |
| C．The luxury jet market in the US shares 25% of the jet consumption in the world. |
| D．China's red wine consumption has increased to 1. 86 billion bottles since 2013. |
What can be the best title for the passage?
| A．Future Private Luxury Consumption in China |
| B．Chinese Appetite for Luxury Goods and Services |
| C．The Potential Luxury Jet Market in China |
| D．The Maturity of the Chinese Consumers |
ASK any group of teenagers in the UK what they most like to eat, and foods like pizzas, curries, pasta, burgers and chips are bound to get a mention – and many young people would probably also list hanging out at the local fast-food restaurant as one of their favorite pastimes.
But what teenagers like to eat is not necessarily what they should be eating. According to the National Diet and Nutrition Survey, far too many young people in the UK between the ages of four and 18 consume too much fat, sugar and salt in their diet and take in too many calories. Meanwhile their intake of starchy carbohydrates (淀粉类碳水化合物), fibre, iron, vitamins and calcium is too low.
For a growing body, eating foods containing plenty of calcium, such as milk, yoghurt and cheese, is particularly important as calcium is essential for the development of healthy, strong bones. Similarly, foods that are rich in iron are good for young, rapidly developing bodies, so red meat, bread, green vegetables, dried fruit and fortified (强化的) breakfast cereals (谷类食物) are also recommended.
It is during our teenage years that lifestyle habits can become entrenched (根深蒂固的), so it is important that young people are educated about what foods are good for them. In 2005, in an attempt to change eating habits and open teenagers’ minds to new flavors and new tastes, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver launched a ‘Feed Me Better’ campaign. As part of a television series, ‘Jamie’s School Dinners’, he worked with teachers and cooks in a number of schools across the UK to provide more healthy, nutritious school meal options. Although the campaign was rather resisted at the beginning, it was generally regarded as a huge success and helped to influence governmental policy on nutritional standards for school meals.
No one expects to end the teenage love affair with fast and junk food but, hopefully, if projects like ‘Feed Me Better’ and the Government's own ‘Change4Life’ campaign continue to give out the right messages, more young people will understand the importance of balancing occasional treats with healthier food options. What can we conclude from the first two paragraphs?
| A．British teenagers eat too much junk food. |
| B．British teenagers need to take in more calcium. |
| C．What British teenagers like to eat is probably what their bodies need |
| D．British teenagers should reduce their intake of starchy carbohydrates. |
Young people need calcium and iron ______.
| A．to improve their brainpower |
| B．to build healthy strong bodies |
| C．to provide energy for their body |
| D．to help change their eating habits |
According to the article, Jamie Oliver launched a campaign at schools to ______.
| A．show off his excellent cooking skills |
| B．teach students how to cook nutritious meals |
| C．make the public keep an eye on school food |
| D．improve the children’s diet at school |
Which is a point that the article supports?
| A．Teenagers should never eat any junk food at all. |
| B．It’s easy for children to give up unhealthy eating. |
| C．It’s okay for a healthy eater to have a little junk food. |
| D．Once developed, our eating habit will never change. |
Kiss crisis, hug horrors and the UK's handshake headaches
Greeting someone, saying goodbye – these situations fill me with unease. You have a second to make a dangerous decision. One peck (轻吻)? Two pecks? Three? No kisses at all? Why, I think, as I crash into the other person’s face, why can’t it be as simple as a handshake?
A survey by the soap company Radox in May showed one in five Brits now feels a handshake is “too formal”, according to the Daily Mail. Some 42 percent said they never shook hands when greeting friends. For one third of people the alternative was a hug, for 16 percent a kiss on the cheek.
British people are known to be reserved (保守的) – unfriendly, some would say. Handshakes used to work for us because we didn’t have to get too close. But the super-British handshake is no longer fashionable. We want to be more like our easygoing Mediterranean neighbors who greet each other with kisses and hugs.
The trouble is, we still find it a bit awkward. What does a married man do when greeting a married female friend, for example? How should someone younger greet someone older?
Guys don’t tend to kiss one another; my male friends in Britain go for the “manly hug”, taking each other stiffly (不自然地) in one arm and giving a few thumps on the back with words like “Take it easy, yeah?”.
The biggest questions, if you do decide to kiss, are how many times and which cheek first. Unlike the French, who comfortably deliver three, our cheek-pecks usually end in embarrassed giggling (咯咯笑): “Oh, gosh, sorry, I didn’t mean to kiss you on the lips, I never know where to aim for first!”
But then it’s never been easy for us poor, uncomfortable Brits. Even the handshake had its problems: don’t shake too hard, but don’t hold the other person’s hand too limply (无力地) either, and definitely don’t go in with sweaty hands.
Maybe it’s better to leave it at a smile and a nod.What is the article mainly about?
| A．Origin of the traditional British way of greeting someone. |
| B．New trends and problems that Brits have with the way they greet people. |
| C．Why the author feels uneasy when greeting someone or saying goodbye. |
| D．Differences in greetings between Britain and other Western countries. |
What did the survey by the soap company Radox show?
| A．It is now considered unfriendly to greet friends with a handshake in Britain. |
| B．A kiss on the cheek is becoming the most popular form of greeting in Britain. |
| C．Most Brits no longer offer to shake hands with those they meet. |
| D．More and more Brits prefer to be greeted with a hug or kiss. |
The underlined word “awkward” in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to ______.
| A．not helpful | B．too informal | C．quite embarrassed | D．very interesting |
Which does the author think might be the safest form of greeting for a British person?
| A．A hug. | B．A smile and a nod. | C．A handshake. | D．A kiss on the cheek. |
Who wrote the article?
| A．A British writer. | B．An American writer. | C．A French writer. | D．A Chinese writer. |
When two Bangs meet
SHELDON Cooper is a scientific genius on the popular American TV show, The Big Bang Theory (《生活大爆炸》). He finally met his match last year: Stephen Hawking.
This is not the first time that the scientist has appeared on TV. He has also been on Star Trek (in 1987) and The Simpsons (in 1989). Each time, he played himself.
Hawking, 71, is perhaps the world’s most famous scientist after Albert Einstein. He has spent his whole life studying the beginning and the end of the universe, including the Big Bang (宇宙大爆炸) theory.
The Big Bang theory explains the early development of the universe. According to the theory, about 13.7 billion years ago everything was all squeezed together in a tiny, tight little ball, and then the ball exploded. The results of that explosion are what we call the universe.
Hawking has always tried to make science more popular with people. His book: A Brief History of Time was published in 1988. In the book he shares his understanding of the universe in simple language. The book tries to explain many subjects about the universe to common readers, including the Big Bang, black holes and light cones (光锥).
Hawking’s achievements are even greater if you think about his disability. When he was 21, Hawking caught a bad illness that slowly stopped him from moving or talking. Now he sits on a wheelchair with a computer by his side. To communicate, he moves two fingers to control the computer’s mouse. He chooses his words from the screen, which are then spoken by a voice synthesizer (合成器).
Hawking also believes that there might be aliens in space. However, he believes they are probably very dangerous, so we should not look for them. “I imagine they might exist in very big ships ... having used up all the resources from their home planet,” Hawking said in a British documentary named Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking.What does the “two Bangs” in the title refer to?
| A．The director of “The Big Bang Theory” and the founder of it. |
| B．The director and the actor of “The Big Bang Theory”. |
| C．The founder of the “Big Bang” theory and its spreader. |
| D．The scientific genius on TV show and the one alive in real life. |
Acting in The Big Bang Theory is Hawking’s _____ time on TV.
| A．first | B．second | C．third | D．fourth |
According to Paragraph 5, Hawking wrote the book A Brief History of Time especially for _____.
| A．scientists who study the universe |
| B．people who know a lot about the universe |
| C．people who know little about the universe |
| D．people who only know simple language |
The Big Bang theory mainly explains _____.
| A．how the universe started | B．what the universe is like |
| C．how old the universe is | D．how the universe exploded |
According to the passage, which of the following about Hawking is TRUE?
| A．He was born with a disability. |
| B．He uses a computer to communicate. |
| C．He believes aliens are our friends. |
| D．He encourages people to look for aliens. |
WHEN there are some strangers in front of us, which of them will we trust?
According to a new study in the online PloS One (《公共科学图书馆·综合》), people make their decisions to trust others largely based on their faces. Your appearance can do a lot for you, especially if you are in the financial industry. The more trustworthy you look, the more likely people will buy what you’re selling.
Researchers from Britain’s University of Warwick Business School, University College London, and Dartmouth College, US, did a number of experiments.
The research team used computer software to make 40 faces, from the least to the most trustworthy-looking.
The study said that the difference between a trustworthy face and one that isn’t as trustworthy comes from features that look slightly angry or slightly happy, even when the face is at rest. However, a slightly happy face is more likely to be trusted.
Researchers gave participants some money and asked them which face they trusted to invest the money for them. Then researchers gave some good and bad information about the people with these faces, and asked the participants again whom they trusted.
The results showed that even if they got different information, the participants didn’t change their choices. They were still more likely to invest their money with the more trustworthy-looking faces.
Chris Olivola, one of the study’s authors, said in the University of Warwick’s press release: “It seems we are still willing to go with our own instincts (本能) about whether we think someone looks like we can trust them. The temptation (诱惑) to judge strangers by their faces is hard to resist.”Which of the following can be a proper title for this passage?
| A．What kind of face do you trust? |
| B．Who did the experiments? |
| C．Why do you trust him or her? |
| D．Why did they do the experiments? |
According to the study, which of the following faces is most likely to be trusted?
| A．A sad face. | B．A smiling face. | C．A crying face. | D．An angry face. |
Which of the following about the experiment is TRUE?
| A．The trustworthy faces were given good information. |
| B．Researchers took photos of the 40 people’s faces in college. |
| C．Most participants gave their money to the trustworthy-looking faces. |
| D．Participants liked to choose the faces with good information. |
What did the researchers learn from their experiment?
| A．People can’t refuse temptations. |
| B．People always do things with their instincts. |
| C．People often judge strangers by their faces. |
| D．People don’t trust strangers with sad faces. |
[1]Although known as an extraordinarily successful businessman, Warren Buffet comes off as a pretty ordinary person.
[2]Looking back on his childhood, one can see how serious he was about making money. Buffet used to go door-to-door and sell soda pop. Later, he also worked at his grandfather’s grocery store. At the ripe age of 11, Buffet bought his first stock(股票). When his family moved to Washington D.C., Buffet became a paperboy for The Washington Post. While still in school, he was making $175 a month, a full-time wage for many young men.
[3]From the beginning, Buffet made his fortune from investing. He started with all the money that he had made from selling pop, delivering papers and so on. Between 1950 and l956, he grew his $9, 800 to $14, 000．From there, he organized investment partnerships with his family and friends, and then gradually drew in more people through very attractive terms.
[4]Buffet applied to Harvard Business School but , making it to be one of the worst admission decisions in Harvard history. The outcome ended up affecting Buffet’s life deeply, for he ended up attending Columbia Business School, where he studied under Benjamin Graham, the father of securities analysis who provided the foundation for Buffet’s grand success.
[5]Buffet is a person of habit—same house, same office, same city. He doesn’t collect houses or cars or works of art, and he hates companies that waste money on such goods. Instead, he has established the Buffet Foundation, with a detailed plan on how to invest his money more wisely to society. What kind of person is Buffet according to Paragraph 1? (no more than 10 words)
_____________________________________________________________________What does the writer intend to tell us in Paragraph 2? (no more than 10 words)
_____________________________________________________________________According to Paragraph 3, how did Buffet start his investment? (no more than 10 words)
_____________________________________________________________________Fill in the blank in Paragraph 4 with proper words. (no more than 3 words)
_____________________________________________________________________Explain the underlined sentence in Paragraph 5.(no more than 10 words)
_____________________________________________________________________