Never go into a supermarket hungry! This is a good piece of advice. If you go shopping for food before lunchtime, you’ll probably buy more than you plan to. Unfortunately, however, just this advice isn’t enough for consumers these days. Modern shoppers need an education in how and how not to buy things at the store. First, you check the weekly newspaper ads. Find out the items that are on sale and decide if you really need these things. In other words, don’t buy anything just because it’s cheaper than usual! “New and Improved!” or “All Natural” on the front of a package influence you. Instead, read the list of contents on the back. Third, compare prices, that is, you should examine the prices of both different brands and different sizes of the same brand.
Another suggestion for consumers is to buy ordinary items instead of famous brands. Ordinary items in supermarkets come in plain packages. These products are cheaper because producers don’t spend much money on packing or advertising. The quality, however, is usually as good as the quality of well-known name brands. In the same way, in buying clothes, you can often find high quality and low prices in brands that are not famous. Shopping in discount clothing stores can help you save a lot of money. Although these stores aren’t very attractive, and they usually do not have individual dressing rooms, not only are the prices low, but you can often find the same famous brands that you find in high-priced department stores.
Wise consumers read magazine ads and watch TV commercials, but they do this with one advantage: knowledge of the psychology behind the ads. In other words, well informed consumers watch for information and check for misinformation. They ask themselves questions: Is the advertiser hiding something in small print at the bottom of the page? Is there any real information in the commercial(商业广告), or is the advertiser simply showing an attractive image? With the answers to these questions, consumers can make a wise choice.
All the following statements are true about the phrase “ordinary items” in Paragraph 2 except ______.
A.ordinary products are usually cheaper than famous brands. |
B.producers spend less money on packaging of ordinary items . |
C.the quality of ordinary items is usually as good as that of famous brands. |
D.ordinary items never say “New and Improved” or “All Natural”. |
What does the writer think about ads?
A.They are believable. |
B.They are attractive. |
C.They are helpful. |
D.They are harmful. |
One of the author’s suggestions to consumers is ______.
A.to buy any ordinary items instead of famous brands . |
B.to make use of advertisements carefully for shopping. |
C.to buy high quality items such as famous brands after lunch . |
D.not to buy items with words like “New and Improved” or “All Natural”. |
The author implies that ______.
A.advertisements sometimes don’t tell the truth to the consumers. |
B.discount clothing stores are only good places to go to for shopping. |
C.going into the supermarket hungry, you may buy less than you plan to. |
D.the quality of ordinary items is usually high and the prices are relatively low. |