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 |
“It hurts me more than you,” and “This is for your own good.” These are the statements my mother used to make years ago when I had to learn Latin, clean my room, stay home and do homework..
That was before we entered the permissive period in education in which we decided it was all right not to push our children to achieve their best in school.
The schools and the educators made it easy on us. They taught that it was all right to be parents who take a let-alone policy. We stopped making our children do homework. We gave them calculators(计算器), turned on the television, left the teaching to the teachers and went on vacation.
Now teachers, faced with children who have been developing at their pace for the past 15 years, are realizing we’ve made a terrible mistake. One such teacher is Sharon Klompus who says of her students ----- “so passive” ----- and wonders what happened. Nothing was demanded of them, she believes. Television, says Klompus, contributes to children’s passivity; “We’re not training kids to work any more.” says Klompus. “We’re talking about a generation of kids who’ve never been hurt or hungry. They have learned somebody will always do it for them. Instead of saying go look it up, you tell them the answer. It takes greater energy to say no to a kid.”
Yes, it does. It takes energy and it takes work. It’s time for parents to end their vacation and come back to work. It’s time to take the car away, to turn the TV off, to tell them it hurts you more than them but it’s for their own good, It’s time start telling them no again.By “permissive period of education” the author means an age ______.
| A．when children are allowed to do what they wish to. |
| B．when everything can be taught in schools |
| C．when every child can be educated. |
| D．when children are permitted to receive education. |
We learn from the passage that the author’s mother used to connect importance with _____
| A．learning Latin |
| B．natural development |
| C．discipline |
| D．school education |
According to the passage, children are growing inactive in study mainly because _____.
| A．they watch TV too often |
| B．their parents leave them alone |
| C．their teachers are strict with them |
| D．they take on too many duties |
To today’s kids as described in this passage,_____.
| A．it is easier to give a negative（否定的）reply than to give a positive (肯定的) reply |
| B．it is easier to give a positive reply than to give a negative reply |
| C．neither is easy — to say yes or to say no |
| D．neither is no easy job — to say yes or to say no |
The main idea of this passage is that _____.
| A．parents should set a good example for their kids |
| B．kids should have more activities outside campus(校园) |
| C．educators should not he so permissive |
| D．it is time to be strict with our children |
Invention of TV began in 1922 in Rigby, Idaho, the hometown of Philo. At the age of 16, Philo was a very shy boy. Only his teacher, Justin Tolman, realized that Philo was a special person.
One day after school Mr Tolman found Philo in the schoolroom. The boy was making drawings on the blackboard.
“What are you doing?” Mr Tolman asked with interest. “What are these drawings?”
“I want to invent things,” Philo answered, “and these are the drawings of one of my first inventions. I have an idea for a way of sending pictures through the air. Please, just let me tell you about it. You are the only person who can understand what I have done.” In the school library Philo had read about a man who had worked on an idea for TV, but had failed. Philo was sure that his idea was better and that he could succeed.
Mr Tolman was not sure and asked Philo many questions about the drawings. Giving facts and figures, Philo answered every question.
In 1926, Philo sent his drawings to Washington, along with a letter asking for patent (专利)rights on TV. Since then, television has become an important business all over the world. When he lived in his hometown, Philo was _____________.
| A．quite different from others | B．an activity boy |
| C．an inventor | D．a hard-working boy |
When Philo said “ You are the only person who can understand what I have done.”, his mood（情绪） was_________.
| A．discouraged | B．guilty (内疚的) | C．trusting | D．hopeless |
It took Philo ________ to invent the television.
| A．2 years | B．4 years | C．6 years | D．8 years |
Philo ________ after he invented television.
| A．asked for the patent rights on television |
| B．sent his drawings to Mr Tolman |
| C．answered Mr Tolman’s questions |
| D．gave facts and figures to Mr Tolman |
When Mr Tolman saw Philo’s drawings, he ______________.
| A．did not believe it was Philo’s invention |
| B．believed Philo could succeed |
| C．did not believe Philo could succeed |
| D．believed Philo was a special person |
Children are our future, and it’s up to us to arm them with the tools to succeed. Sadly, today’s children are being armed with more dangerous tools like weapons （武器）, drugs and gangs. Once a relatively peaceful environment, many schoolyards of today are becoming unsafe for both students and teachers.
Home schools are available to give you choices. Home schooling provides top-quality education, flexibility, and freedom to create your own schedule （日程表）. At Heritage Home School we believe the choice should be yours.
Thanks in part to modern technology, home schooling information is becoming readily available across our nation. A recent study by the ITBS（Iowa Tests of Basic Skills）and TAP（Tests of Achievement and Proficiency）shows us that students of home schools do particularly well when compared with the nationwide average. In every subject at every grade level, students of home schooling scored obviously higher than those in public and private schools.
If you’re new to home schooling, you may be asking yourself, “Will home schools really work for my children? ”
Fact: A nationwide study using a random（任意）selection of 1,516 families found students of home schooling to be scoring, on average, at or above the 80th percentile in all areas on standardized achievement test.
Note: The national average on standardized achievement tests is the 50th percentile.
Collectively, the staff（全体职员）at Heritage Home School brings 65 years of experience in home schooling curriculum（全部课程）. We’ve placed students in the top 2% of the nation in math and many are successfully moving on to college.
One study found that of the home schooled adults, 2% were unemployed, 2% were on welfare（福利）and 94% said home education prepared them to be independent persons.
For more home schooling information, call us today toll free at 1（877）532-7665. We can learn from the first paragraph that _______.
| A．many schools armed their students with weapons |
| B．violence and crime exist in many schoolyards |
| C．students use weapons to defend their schoolyards |
| D．weapons are more dangerous than drugs |
All of the following are true of home schools EXCEPT that _______.
students are free to choose their courses
B. students do well in important national tests
C. they help students find jobs
D. they help students to be independent What is the purpose of the text?
| A．To give information about different schools. |
| B．To compare home schools with other schools. |
| C．To suggest a new method of school education. |
| D．To persuade people to choose home schools. |
The advertisement is mainly aimed at _______.
| A．students | B．parents | C．teachers | D．adults |
Students of home schooling get higher scores than those in public and private schools ____ .
| A．in some subjects at every grade level | B．in part subjects at every grade level |
| C．in few subjects at every grade level | D．in all subjects at every grade level |
Edward Wilson is America's, if not the world's, leading naturalist. In The Future of Life, he takes us on a tour of the world's natural resources. How are they used? What has been lost? What remains and is it able to continue with the present speed of use? Wilson also points out the need to understand fully the biodiversity(生物多样性)of our earth.
Wilson begins with an open letter to the pioneer in environment protection, Henry David Thoreau. He compares today's Walden Pond with that of Thoreau's day. Wilson will use such comparisons for the rest of the book. The problem is clear: man has done great damage to his home over the years. Can the earth, with human help, be made to return to biodiversity levels that will be able to support us in the future?
Biodiversity, Wilson argues, is the key to settling many problems the earth faces today. Even our agricultural crops can gain advantages from it. A mere hundred species(物种) are the basis of our food supply, of which but twenty carry the load. Wilson suggests changing this situation by looking into ten thousand species that could be made use of, which will be a way to reduce the clearing of the natural homes of plants and animals to enlarge farming areas.
At the end of the book, Wilson discusses the importance of human values in considering the environment. If you are to continue to live on the earth, you may as well read and act on the ideas in this book.We learn from the text that Wilson cares most about .
| A．the environment for plants |
| B．the biodiversity of our earth |
| C．the waste of natural resources |
| D．the importance of human values |
How many species are most important to our present food supply?
| A．Twenty | B．Eighty | C．One hundred | D．Ten thousand |
Wilson suggests that one way to keep biodiversity is to .
| A．learn how to farm scientifically |
| B．builds homes for some dying species |
| C．makes it clear what to eat |
| D．use more species for food |
We can infer that the text is
| A．description of natural resources |
| B．a research report |
| C．a book review |
| D．an introduction to a scientist |
The best example of something is often called the "gold standard." It sets the standard against which other things are measured. In economics, the term describes how major trading nations once used gold to set currency values and exchange rates. Many nations continued to use the gold standard until the last century.
In the United States, people could exchange paper money for gold from the eighteen seventies until nineteen thirty-three. Then-President Richard Nixon finally disconnected the dollar from the value of gold in nineteen seventy-one. From time to time, some politicians call for a return to the gold standard.
In 1978, the International Monetary Fund ended an official gold price. The IMF also ended the required use of gold in transactions with its member countries. Since that time, gold prices have grown and continued to be high. But people keep buying. Some people are "gold bugs." These are investors who say people should buy gold to protect against inflation(通货膨胀).
People have valued gold for thousands of years. The soft, dense metal polishes to a bright yellow shine and resists most chemical reactions. It makes a good material for money, political power -- and, more recently, electrical power. If you own a device like a mobile phone or a computer, you might own a little gold in the wiring.
The gold standard was the subject of one of the best-known speeches in American political history. William Bryan wanted the country to use both gold and silver as money. The idea was to devalue the dollar and make it easier for farmers to pay their debts. So he delivered a speech, which made him famous. He was a presidential candidate three times. But he never won.The underlined word “transactions” probably means “ ”
| A．wars | B．trade | C．meetings | D．conflict |
After the IMF ended the official gold price, the gold prices .
| A．stayed the same | B．began to drop |
| C．increased | D．increased a little at first and kept drop |
What’s the fourth paragraph mainly about?
| A．The reason for valuing gold | B．The history of the use of gold |
| C．New function of gold | D．How to obtain gold |
We can learn from the last paragraph that William Bryan .
| A．was once a farmer | B．loved to collect gold |
| C．was a famous political figure | D．was a good at giving speeches |
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