Question

Stubbornness（固执，执着） can push a business to hold on but can also kill your business if it keeps stopping you.

Because I’m stubborn. I chased my dream of creating a pet-food company that sells what it claims to sell and not some unidentifiable substance in a dressed-up bag. Originally we packed our foods in transparent bags, which became our guiding philosophy.

To start the company in 2003, I visited every pet-food store in Manhattan and some outside the city. By 2006 Stella&Chewy’s was sold in 250 stores, mostly in New York City. In 2007 I moved the company to Wisconsin, with our earnings reaching almost $500,000 that year．But getting my product into stores was just the beginning. We were competing against much bigger pet-food companies whose monthly marketing budgets were more than our yearly sales. So we invested in advertisements and a website and even stood on sidewalks giving our samples.

With more customers came more feedback (反馈意见), much of which I ignored, I was also receiving complaints about ice crystals (冰晶) on the food, which form when the air temperature changes during transport. For this reason, most frozen foods are packaged in opaque (不透明的) bags or boxes. Studies have proved that ice crystals have little effect on either the quality or the taste of the food. So I ignored the complaints. After all, we were better than our competitors that wouldn’t even show their products. We didn’t hide anything.

In 2007 our sales kept growing, but not as fast as those of our competitors. We were told that new consumers were choosing products packaged in opaque bags. When I visited the stores and forced myself to consider my products objectively, I had to degree: The ice crystals reduced the look I wanted. The food looked as if a snowstorm had hit the inside of the bag.

We switched to opaque bags and tried to make ice crystals smaller. Customers responded: In 2009 Stella$Chewy’s was sold in 2,500 stores across the country.

1.At the beginning, the author’s company packaged their foods in transparent bags to ________.

A. make their foods seen clearly

B. make their foods look attractive

C. let customers know their guiding philosophy

D. show their foods are environmentally friendly

2.Why did the author have people stand on sidewalks giving out samples?

A. Because advertising and marketing on the website didn’t work.

B. Because no one knew his company’s products in Wisconsin.

C. Because he should use this way to save money due to the limited budget.

D. Because he attempted to use all means to compete with other companies.

3.According to the passage, ice crystals _________.

A. only appear on frozen food

B. may make pets feel uncomfortable

C. won’t form if the foods are transported well

D. almost don’t affect the quality of pet foods

4.The author’s experience mainly shows that ________.

A. stubborn people won’t simply give up

B. stubbornness can make people succeed or fail

C. the road leading to success is full of difficulties

D. meeting customers’ need is important to a company’s success

Answer 1