Making group purchases of famous local products and cosmetics (化妆品) with co-workers has become a common habit for the nine-to-fivers. But if your impression of group buys is still a piece of paper being passed around the office, everyone writes their details down, or endless phone calls or faxes to the supplier, then I’m sorry to say you’re behind the times. The popular way to make such purchases today is to get on line, form a special “group” and shop together. Not only can you save money by getting the best discounts, but it’s also a great way to meet new people.
“You could cut off my clicking finger and I’d still keep shopping this way!” so goes a common comment left by customers of China’s famous e-commerce website “Taobao”. Some even refer to group purchasing as a “path of no return”, saying that “Once you’ve tried it, you’ll get hooked!”
The origins of this new trend can be found in China’s well-known online consumers’ BBS, 55BBS, and the shopping boards. Since most BBS users are “white-collared workers and students who live in concentrated areas, buying clothes, food, and so on as a group saves on delivery costs as well as – if they meet the seller’s criteria (标准) – earn gifts, discounts, and frequent shopper points.
Users of this online group shopping boards purchase a lot of different items, from Japanese and Korean style clothes and Ugg boots, through fake eyelashes (假睫毛), stockings, food seasonings (调味品), and kitchen knives, to cosmetic masks and online college courses. All kinds of things have people coming together in groups to buy them, and the pickups are often organized on college campuses or office buildings.
Internet observer Liu Chenxi points the purchasing behavior that these online groups’ power creates a “team” effect. Unlike e-commerce sites driven by individuals’ purchases, sites that create this team effect have users that come together to achieve a common goal. The Internet has made this joining of forces to form group buying power possible, and it continues to snowball all around us.
68. The passage mainly deals with _________.
A. group purchases with co-workers
B. online group purchases
C. how to do shopping online
D. buying famous local products and cosmetics
69. What does the word “hooked” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?
A. excited B. lost C. addicted D. bored
70. According to the text, this kind of purchase has some benefits EXCEPT________.
A. earning gifts B. making new friends
C. saving money D. saving time
71. What can we infer from the text?。
A. Online group shopping will become more and more popular.
B. The goods are usually delivered to each doorstep.
C. Doing shopping online is not reliable.
D. People prefer to do group purchases with their co-workers.
More than two decades ago, a 10-year-old schoolgirl threw a bottle into the sea off the coast of Hull as she went on a ship on a family holiday, hoping to get a response from a stranger in a faraway land. Inside the bottle was a scrawled letter from Zoe Lemon, a youngster with a love of "ballet, playing the flute and the piano", who had just boarded a ship heading for a holiday in Germany.
She told her expected recipients of her pet hamster and fish, both called Sparkle, and her parents who were both teachers.
Miss Lemon, of Salford, Greater Manchester, soon forgot about her act of fantastic, eventually marrying and having a child herself.
But this Christmas she was extremely surprised to receive a reply after 23 years.
It turned out to be a reply to her letter from Piet and Jacqueline Lateur from near Rotterdam. Mr Lateur was walking his dog in the Oosterschelde dykes(坝), near where he and his wife live in Serooskerke, when he found the bottle with Zoe’s letter inside.
Mrs Averianov, 33, who works in a jewellery shop, said: “It’s been a bit crazy really. My parents came to visit on Christmas day and they had this letter from Europe addressed to my maiden name, Lemon.
Since receiving the letter, Mrs Averianov has been in contact with Mr Lateur via email and asked to see photographs of where the bottle was found.
He told her: “I am keeping your little letter on my piano. I know you are no longer a little girl but you asked me to write you so I have.”
Mrs Averianov’s father, John Lemon, 68, had encouraged his daughter to throw the message into the sea on a family holiday and now she is considering doing the same for her five-year-old son Maksim.
She said: “I’ll probably wait until he’s a bit older and can understand and write a letter, but maybe we’ll do it by attaching it to a balloon.”
From http://www.dailymail.co.uk, (Jan,2014)When did Zoe Lemon write the letter?
| A．In 1990. | B．In 1991. | C．In 2013. | D．In 2014 |
What does the underlined phrase in paragraph 6 mean?
| A．her given name | B．her nick name |
| C．family name used before marriage | D．family name used after marriage |
What can we know about the letter written 23 years ago?
| A．Its reply was received by Zoe herself. |
| B．It is still carefully kept by Mr Lateur. |
| C．Zoe was sure it would be replied one day. |
| D．Zoe’s father discouraged her from writing it. |
Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?
| A．An Unexpected Letter | B．A Reply Waited for Long |
| C．A Reply from a Stranger | D．A Letter from a Faraway Land |
Instead of staying at home to care for the kids, many mothers work to help support their families. But what does a mother do when her child is sick?
Sophia Fowkes worked as a computer programmer before, but she was fired for taking too much time off to care for her very sick child. Although she lost her job, she took an opportunity to turn her hobby into a business: creating “baby cakes”, a combination of diapers (尿布) and baby products artfully arranged to look like a cake. Inside, it contains blankets, towels, bottles and toys — things that can be used for babies. They are perfect gifts.
However, the idea of making “baby cakes” came from one of her experiences. When her child was born, she received a gift called diaper cake. It was made of diapers, but it was small and unusable. So she decided to create her own style of it to give her friends as a gift. Her friends liked these gifts very much and advised her to make and sell “baby cakes”.
She thought that it would be turned into a full-time business. In 1998, she started Baby-Cakes.com. After several years, her business grew and expanded in a way that even she had never expected. She sold her products online at first. Three years after her own website was created, demand for her products was so great that in August, 2001 she opened a real store. She is ready to combine the online store with the traditional store. Sophia was out of work because .
| A．she wanted to start her own business |
| B．she lost interest in computer programming |
| C．she failed to design computer programs |
| D．she couldn’t balance her work and family |
What made Sophia decide to create “baby cakes” for sale?
| A．Her unemployment. | B．Her family’s support. |
| C．Her friends’ suggestion. | D．Her market research. |
Which of the following is the right order for Sophia’s events?
a. She set up her first real store.
b. She turned her hobby into a business.
c. She used both traditional and online selling.
d. She set up her own website for her products.
| A．b, c, d, a. | B．b, d, a, c. | C．a, c, b, d. | D．a, d, c, b. |
Across the United States, universities and colleges have been looking to become more sustainable (可持续发展的) and more than 600 schools have already planned to become eco-friendly. The EcoDorm, home to 36 students at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, was designed to be sustainable from top to bottom, or in this case, from its rainwater-collection system to its garden. The dormitory is bringing new meaning to the concept of living “green” at college.
At Warren Wilson College, a biological science school with fewer than 1,000 students, the sustainability drive came from the student body. The EcoDorm concept was presented ten years ago by two students; a planning committee firstly suggested using building materials like corncob. Although the architects disagreed with the idea, they came up with other creative solutions: Wood siding was taken from the trees grown in the school yard that were suffering from a disease, and rainwater was collected in an old railway car and pumped back into the house to clean the toilets.
All in all, the dorm uses nearly two-thirds less electricity than a similar-sized traditional building would. But even the most sustainable homes need continued efforts from its livers. And in the case of EcoDorm, students live by their words. Most also take advantage of the dorm’s bio-garden, planting and harvesting fruits and vegetables. “I didn’t have to worry about paper towels being wasted or feel bad about drying my clothes outside,” Jeremy Lekich, the dorm’s gardener, said. “Basically, it has made my life easier.” We can learn from the text that the EcoDorm in the US .
| A．offers students the chances to have a natural living at college |
| B．was firstly built by two college students |
| C．was designed for saving building materials |
| D．is only applicable in few schools |
The second paragraph is mainly about .
| A．where the EcoDorm was built |
| B．when the EcoDorm got its name |
| C．what the EcoDorm is made of |
| D．how the concept of EcoDorm started |
What is the advantage of the EcoDorm?
| A．It helps students to enjoy life at college. |
| B．It saves a lot of money and energy for the college. |
| C．It makes students study harder. |
| D．It brings new energy to the college. |
What can be inferred from the text?
| A．A long-term development calls for students’ efforts. |
| B．Students’ ideas should be encouraged at college. |
| C．Green living is a new trend at American colleges. |
| D．Students can learn to protect the environment through practice. |
Guide dogs are going to be available for the children who are unable to see normally in the UK for the first time, as the age limit is to be removed. The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association is to begin training dogs to help blind people under the age of 16.
The association says too many youngsters with impaired eyesight are lacking in independence. They have only a limited social life because of their disability. Giving some of them guide dogs at a younger age is intended to help them to widen their range of activities and to improve their sense of self-confidence and independence. Guide dogs for these teenagers will begin to be provided from next year. There has been an experimental project to test the use of guide dogs with younger people.
Charlotte, aged 14, was among the youngest guide dog owners. She had been gradually losing her eyesight since the age of eight, and lost her eyesight completely this year. She has been assisted by a two-year-old guide dog. Charlotte used to have a long stick to help her move around, but having a guide dog allows her much more freedom and makes her feel safer.
However, the association says there is a worryingly patchy supply of services for the young blind people across the UK, and it calls for national standards to be introduced. As with adult blind people, only a small number of them are likely to be considered suitable for a guide dog. Most will continue to rely on extra help and training from education and social services. We can learn from the text that owning guide dogs .
| A．may meet with difficulties sometimes |
| B．is beneficial to blind children’s development |
| C．became possible in the UK recently |
| D．is quite universal in the UK |
According to the text, Charlotte’s example proves that .
| A．it is necessary to carry out the experimental project |
| B．guide dogs can get along well with disabled people |
| C．the association’s opinion is not quite right |
| D．youngsters need companions and friends |
What does the underlined word “patchy” in the last paragraph probably mean?
| A．Endless. | B．Perfect. | C．Inadequate. | D．Diverse. |
What is the main idea of the text?
| A．Blind people need guide dogs’ assistance in their daily life. |
| B．Age limit for the blind to have guide dogs is to be removed. |
| C．More guide dogs will be trained in the UK. |
| D．The project of using guide dogs is to begin. |
The other day when I was passing a clothing store, I fell in love with a skirt. I knew it would suit me best at first sight. But when I looked at the price tag (标签), I knew I had to give it up.
The love for beautiful clothes has been planted in my heart the day when I was born to be a woman. Several years ago I read an article in a magazine. The article stated that when a woman is at her best time, she is usually poor or tasteless, so she can’t get the right clothes; when she can afford to buy the clothes she likes, she often finds that they do not suit her anymore.
On the way home, I was quite disturbed by such thoughts. It was just a pity, like many other pities. I thought to myself this way. But when I was about to enter the building where I was living, I saw the big mirror placed in the entrance. I saw a girl in it who was in cheap but cleanly washed sweater and jeans. She was rather young, healthy and energetic. For quite a while I was touched by what I had seen in the mirror.
Then I almost forgot the tale: A person without shoes cried until he saw a man without feet. Being young without good clothes is like the person without shoes. I should have felt grateful that I haven’t lost my feet.How did the author feel when she decided not to buy the skirt?
| A．Embarrassed. | B．Wise. | C．Regretful. | D．Relieved. |
The underlined word “She” in Paragraph 3 refers to .
| A．the author’s friend | B．a stranger |
| C．the author’s roommate | D．the author |
Why was the author touched by what she saw in the mirror?
| A．She came to realize what she really possessed. |
| B．She was reminded of her devotion to beauty. |
| C．She didn’t feel at ease when looking into a mirror. |
| D．She never thought over the other side of a person. |
We can learn from the text that the author considered her love for beautiful clothes as .
| A．funny | B．natural | C．silly | D．simple |
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