A new retail phenomenon from Japan which allows customers to walk away with free products is to launch in Britain.
From tomorrow, visitors to Sample Trend’s central London store can try anything on its shelves, and all of the products can be taken home without charge. For a nominal annual membership fee of £60, users are free to enter the shop once a month and help themselves to no less than £250 worth of goods every year. The only ‘catch’ is that shoppers are asked to complete a simple questionnaire about each product they try.
Known as ‘try-vertising’, the concept allows manufacturers to test products and receive consumer feedback before launching onto the open market. It is already very popular in Japan and now looks set to transform the fortunes of the embattled（严阵以待的） UK retail industry. According to new figures, stores are facing a Christmas crisis with the weakest High Street trading for six months.
Michael Ghosh, the brainchild（创意者）behind Sample Trend, said: “The concept behind Sample Trend is unique in the UK. It allows shoppers the opportunity to walk away with a number of real, full-size products of their choosing without handing over a penny.”
The concept of in-store try-vertising is simple but effective. Businesses across all sectors, from cosmetic manufacturers to beverage（饮料） makers, place new products on the shelves at Sample Trend and wait for consumers to try them out.
Customers complete a short 10-point questionnaire about the product, and the feedback they provide is used to make any last-minute improvement before the product is brought officially to market. The Sample Trend store stocks everything from cosmetics, food and drink, and household goods.
Ghosh, the former advertising and sales director for Disney Europe, said such feedback may also build brand loyalty from the outset---a particularly appealing prospect for new businesses.
What can we know about the Sample Trend?
| A．It has turned out to be a success in London. |
| B．The goods in the shop are free for everyone |
| C．The customers can only go to it once a month. |
| D．It sells everything people need. |
The word “catch” (in para2) can be replaced by _________
| A．advantage | B．disadvantage | C．problem | D．requirement |
The customers need to fill a questionnaire to________
| A．give suggestions for the products |
| B．recommend the products |
| C．give feedback about the products |
| D．express their thanks |
Rocky Lyons was five years old when his mother, Kelly, was driving along the country road with him. He was asleep on the front seat of their truck, with his feet resting on her lap. As his mom drove carefully down the winding country road, she turned onto a narrow bridge. The truck hit a rock and slid off the road. She tried to bring it back up onto the road by pressing hard on the gas pedal and turning the steering wheel to the left. But Rocky’s foot got caught between her leg and the steering wheel and she lost control of the truck.
The truck fell into a 20-foot ravine（峡谷）. When it hit bottom, Rocky woke up. “What happened, Mama?” he asked. “Our wheels are pointing toward the sky. ”Kelly was seriously wounded and blinded by blood. “I’ll get you out, Mama,” announced Rocky, who had surprisingly escaped injury. He climbed out from under Kelly, slid through the open window and tried to yank（用力拉）his mother out. But she didn’t move.
“Just let me sleep,” begged Kelly, who was out of consciousness. Rocky insisted, “Mom, you can’t go to sleep.”
Rocky managed to push Kelly out of the truck and told her he’d climb up to the road and stop a car to get help. Fearing that no one would be able to see her little boy in the dark, Kelly refused to let him go alone. Instead they slowly moved up to the road. The pain was so great that Kelly wanted to give up, but Rocky wouldn’t let her.
Rocky kept repeating the inspirational phrase, “I know you can, I know you can.” When they finally reached the road, Rocky broke into tears seeing his mother’s torn face clearly for the first time. Waving his arms and shouting, “Please stop!” the boy stopped a truck. His mother was sent to hospital.
It took 8 hours to rebuild Kelly’s face. She looks quite different today---“I used to have a straight long nose, thin lips and high cheekbones; now I’ve got a flat cheeks and much bigger lips”--- but she has few scars and has recovered from her injuries.
Rocky’s heroics were big news. Everyone was surprised at this little boy’s power. “It’s not like I wanted it to happen,” The boy explained. “ I just did what anyone would have done. ” “If it weren’t for Rocky, I’d have died,” said his mother.【改编】According to the content of the text,both Rocky and Kelly _________ .
| A．knew little of what happened to them |
| B．had no time to search their way |
| C．suffered a truck accident |
| D．were lost on a country road |
【改编】When he came to her senses, Rocky ___________ .
| A．was stuck against the door of the truck |
| B．found his mother had fallen asleep |
| C．was scared by his mother’s blood |
| D．found the car had disappeared |
What is the best title for the text?
| A．A Boy and His Mother |
| B．How to Behave Well？ |
| C．I Think I Can |
| D．Nothing is Lost |
【原创】On Sunday, Samsung used the 2015 installment of Mobile World Congress to announce the latest models of its Galaxy line of smartphones: the S6 and S6 Edge, aiming to retake its throne.
Both devices take the Galaxy line in a completely new direction. The most apparent change is the noticeable lack of plastic formerly synonymous with Samsung smartphones. With the S6 lineup, Samsung chose to go with a combination of metal and a glass housing.
The S6 Edge features a curved display on both edges of the screen. A fingerprint sensor sits below the home button. The user only needs to place a finger on the button and wait for the scan to complete. The change makes the experience nearly identical to that of Apple’s Touch ID.
Sure to disappoint Samsung loyalists, the South Korean company rejected two features long used to mock(嘲弄)Apple’s AAPL 0.49% iPhone: expandable storage and a replaceable battery. Looking beyond the changes in appearance are a faster processor, higher-quality camera, curved display, and wireless charging capabilities.
The new feature called Samsung Pay is very appealing and will bring users more convenience.
And it has a leg up on Apple Pay, which is limited to working only at retail locations and outlets with the necessary equipment to process NFC payments. With Samsung Pay, users won’t be caught in the middle of a spat between competing payment platforms. So go right ahead.
Another thing: Each year when Samsung would announce the latest Galaxy device, it would announce some software-based features that served little purpose. With this year’s release, Samsung cut the fat. Any unnecessary menus were left out.
For years, Samsung’s flagship phones have been long on features, but short on follow-through. The new Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge appear to lay the groundwork for a lineup of devices that are quite the opposite. What is the main idea of this passage?
| A．The competition between Samsung and Apple. |
| B．The introduction of the latest models of Samsung. |
| C．The development of Samsung company. |
| D．The similarity between Apple and Samsung. |
Which is NOT the new feature of the S6 and S6 Edge?
| A．An emergency battery | B．A faster processor. |
| C．Samsung Pay. | D．Higher-quality camera. |
According to the passage, we can know Apple ______.
| A．has a replaceable battery |
| B．has Touch ID |
| C．uses plastics as material |
| D．has no payment function |
In which aspect may Samsung’s latest models disappoint its users?
| A．It is more expensive than expected. |
| B．Mobile payment function is inconvenient. |
| C．It has more useless software. |
| D．Its storage can’t be expanded any longer. |
What can we know from the last paragraph?
| A．Samsung is longer in shape. |
| B．Samsung is good at creating new models. |
| C．Samsung has an advantage of function. |
| D．Samsung is always following trends. |
Like many other parts of our lives today, education has become a global enterprise. In microcosm(微观世界), my school is proof of just how global. Monkseaton High School is an ordinary state-funded school of 850 students in the unfashionable part of northeastern England. Over the past seven years it has sent 12 students to American universities --- two of them to Harvard. Monkseaton has, in turn, attracted students from other countries, including Germany and Latvia. Monkseaton now almost routinely receives inquiries from students in Eastern European countries. Obviously, learning English is a big draw, but his pattern of student movement was unheard of five years ago.
The brain drain is a universal phenomenon, and countries that don’t face up to the new reality will be losing some of their most precious resources. The northeast of England is its poorest region, and has experienced a severe loss of highly qualified professionals-to-be. Some of the most able 18-year-olds are going to other parts of Britain, even to other countries. What is happening here is happening to Britain as a whole. Most noticeably, there is a growing trend of British students taking degrees in American universities. This year the number will break the psychological barrier of 1,000 students for the first time.
And what is happening at the secondary-school level is happening to higher education. Wherever they come from, today’s students have a very different perspective on education from their parents. Because of television, the Internet and their travels, these students see the world as a much smaller place than their parents once did. They are more confident in accepting the challenge of moving from one country to another, from one culture to another; in many cases they can even apply to schools over the Internet. Students are also more aware of the overall cost of education and are looking for value for money. Plus, for many, education linked to travel is a better option than education at home.Why does the author say education has become a global enterprise?
| A．Monkseaton High School used to be a very unfashionable school in the Northeast England. |
| B．Monkseaton High School is now one of the state-funded middle schools in England. |
| C．Monkseaton High School has sent two top students to the Harvard University in U.S. |
| D．There is now an extensive exchange of students among different countries. |
What can we infer about northeast England from the passage?
| A．It is one of the poorest regions in England. |
| B．It has experienced a severe loss of professionals. |
| C．It will face a more serious brain drain in the near future. |
| D．It is losing its young talents to other parts of the world. |
According to the passage, students today have different perspective from their parents on the following EXCEPT that _________________.
| A．education linked to travel is much better than education at home |
| B．overall cost of education should be considered against money value |
| C．moving from one culture to another is a welcomed challenge |
| D．the Internet is more popular and easier to access in the near future |
The students today tend to see the world as a much smaller place NOT because __________.
| A．they are having more exposure to the television programs |
| B．they are having easier access to the Internet |
| C．they are having frequent travels to the other parts of the world |
| D．they are having better communication with their parents |
The purpose of the author in writing this passage is to __________.
| A．tell us the benefit of globalization of education |
| B．analyze the causes for students’ moving trend in Great Britain |
| C．criticize the universal phenomenon of brain drain worldwide |
| D．draw attention to students’ moving from one country to another |
【改编】Australian scientists say an organic compound used by Indian women to paint dots or bindi on their foreheads could hold the key to a breakthrough in cancer treatment. Rose Bengal (玫瑰红)was first used in the early 1900s as a dye for food, textiles and cosmetics. But now it is proving to be a useful weapon in the fight against skin cancer.
Television advertisements constantly warn of the dangers of overexposure to the fierce sun. Among them is the possibility of the disease melanoma(黑瘤), a type of skin cancer. More than 1,200 Australians die every year from the disease.
Initial trials of a solution of Rose Bengal injected into some melanoma cells have had a 75 percent success rate in controlling the disease. Professor John Thompson, the director of the Melanoma Unit at the University of Sydney, says this organic dye could become a powerful cancer-fighting treatment.
“We believe it works by getting into the tumor(肿块) cells and causing them to self-destruct. But the exact mechanism by which it works is not totally clear. It’s not useful for people who have a primary melanoma. The treatment of primary melanoma is surgical excision(切除),”he said. “It’s useful to inject tumors for people who have recurrences; when the primary treatment has failed and when recurrence in the area, or at more distant sites has occurred.”
About 90 percent of Australians who develop melanoma survive thanks to early diagnosis and treatment. If left untreated, however, the disease can be fatal.
Convincing younger people in Australia about the dangers of overexposure to the sun is a battle campaigners are constantly waging.
Veronica Manock, a 21-year-old student, had two major operations to remove a cancerous tumor from her leg.
“I’ve had a lot of friends who just said ‘I thought it was just, you know, I’ll get a mole(痣) cut out and that’s it’, whereas I don’t think people realize how much danger they’re putting themselves into and how easy it is to stop something like this happening to you just from doing little things,”said Marock.
Other researchers in Australia are investigating genetic treatments to skin cancer. There is a pressing need for such research to produce effective treatments. Australians, the majority of whom are fair-skinned(浅肤色的), are four times more likely to develop a melanoma than people in Canada, the United States or Great Britain.Which can be the best title of the passage?
| A．Rose Bengal—the cause of skin cancer. |
| B．Rose Bengal—a tool to fight against skin cancer. |
| C．Skin cancer—the first killer. |
| D．Melanoma—the threat to health. |
What does the underlined word “fatal” mean?
| A．Curable. | B．Serious. | C．Deadly. | D．Self-healing. |
From what Veronica Manock said , we can know _______.
| A．people haven’t realized overexposure to the sun is dangerous |
| B．mole on the leg is dangerous. |
| C．people can do nothing to protect themselves from melanoma |
| D．nothing can be done to deal with the disease. |
Who are likely to develop a melanoma?
| A．Englishmen. | B．Canadians. |
| C．Americans. | D．Australians. |
In which section of a newspaper does the passage possibly appear?
| A．Economy. | B．Agriculture. | C．Health. | D．Fashion. |
【改编】Shirley Temple(1928—2014)，an American actress，was considered among the most successful child stars in the history of film．Born by an ambitious mother，Temple first appeared in a film at the age of three，and at six she starred in Stand Up and Cheer (1934)．Known and recognized for her ability to sing and tap dance in several films，Temple became a famous figure in 1934．At the end of that year she was given a special Academy Award “in grateful recognition of her outstanding contribution．’’
During the Great Depression of the l930s，Temple was celebrated by an adoring public．At the height of her popularity，from l935 to 1938，Temple was the biggest box-office attraction in Hollywood．Temple made a number of films as a teenager，but her appeal had faded，and the films were not successful．In l949, Temple departed elegantly from Hollywood．
Two decades later，she reappeared into the spotlight by announcing her qualification as a candidate for Congress．She lost the election，but Temple displayed her determination and went on to enjoy a long and successful：career with the United Nations and the State Department．
After retirement，she reposed that she was at peace with her life and proud of her accomplishments in two of the nation’s most influential areas．“If I had to do it all over again．’’Shirley Temple once declared，‘‘I wouldn’t change anything．’’What made Shirley world famous?
| A．Her determination and strong will. |
| B．Her attractive appearance. |
| C．Her ability in politics. |
| D．Her ability to singand tap dance. |
What caused Temple to lose her appeal as an actor?
| A．The appearance of new stars. |
| B．Not mentioned. |
| C．The Great Depression |
| D．The disappearance of her beauty. |
When did Temple return to the spotlight?
| A．In her forties. | B．In her twenties. |
| C．In her thirties. | D．In her fifties. |
From the last paragraph we can infer Temple _____.
| A．regretted she was involved in politics |
| B．was disappointed at leaving the stage so early |
| C．wanted to lead a different life |
| D．was satisfied with her choices. |
How do you find Shirley Temple?
| A．Beautiful and kind-hearted. | B．Out-going and adventurous. |
| C．Tough-minded and gifted. | D．Humorous and charming. |
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