Question

My old digital camera broke down, so I wanted to buy a new one. Being the cautious type, I fancied a reliable brand. So I went on the Net, spent 15 minutes reading product reviews on good websites, wrote down the names of three top recommendations and headed for my nearest big friendly camera store. There in the cupboard was one of the cameras on my list. And it was on special offer. Oh joy. I pointed at it and asked an assistant, "Can I have one of those? " He looked perturbed(不安). "Do you want to try it first?" he said. It didn’t quite sound like a question. "Do I need to?" I replied, "There’s nothing wrong with it." This made him look a bit offended and I started to feel bad. "No, no. But you should try it," he said encouragingly, "compare it with the others.

I looked across at the others: shelves of similar cameras placed along the wall, offering a wide range of slightly different prices and discounts, with each company selling a range of models based around the same basic box. With so many models to choose from, it seemed that I would have to spend hours weighing X against Y, always trying to take Z and possibly H into account at the same time. But when I had finished, I would still have only the same two certainties that I had entered the store with: first, soon after I carried my new camera out of the shop, it would be worth half what I paid for it; and second, my wonderful camera would very quickly be replaced by a new model.

But something in the human soul whispers that you can beat these traps by making the right choice, the clever choice, the wise choice. In the end, I agreed to try the model I had chosen. The assistant seemed a sincere man. So I let him take out my chosen camera from the cupboard, show how it took excellent pictures of my fellow shoppers... and when he started to introduce the special features, I interrupted to ask whether I needed to buy a carry-case and a memory card as well. Why do we think that new options still offer us anything new? Perhaps it is because they offer an opportunity to avoid facing the fact that our real choices in this culture are far more limited than we would like to imagine.

1.The shop assistant insisted that the writer should ____.

A. trust him and stop asking questions

B. try the camera to see if there was anything wrong with it

C. get more information about different companies

D. compare the camera he had chosen with the others

2.What does the writer mean by "it would be worth half what I paid for it"(Paragraph 2)?

A. He should get a 50% discount.

B. The price of the camera would soon fall.

C. The quality of the camera was not good.

D. The price of the camera was unreasonably high.

3.The writer decided to try the model he had chosen because he _______.

A. knew very little about it

B. wanted to make sure the one he chose would be the best

C. didn't trust the shop assistant

D. had a special interest in taking pictures of his fellow shoppers

4.It can be inferred from the passage that in the writer’s opinion, _______.

A. we waste too much money on cameras

B. cameras have become an important part of our daily life

C. we don’t actually need so many choices when buying a product

D. famous companies care more about profit than quality

 

Answer 1

1.D

2.B

3.B

4.C

【解析】

试题分析：作者的相机坏掉了，于是他决定买一个新的。作者上网花了十五分钟时间看网上的评论，并把推荐最率最高的三部相机记了下来。营业员执意让作者比较一下其它的相机，但是作者认为没有挑选的必要。

1."No, no. But you should try it," he said encouragingly, "compare it with the others.”可知，营业员坚持让作者把他选的那款相机与其它的进行比较，故选D。

2.soon after I carried my new camera out of the shop,”可知，作者把相机带出商店之后，那个商品会贬值一半，即商品从售出的那一刻起，其价值就会贬低一半，故选B。

3.you can beat these traps by making the right choice, the clever choice, the wise choice”可知，作者想确认自己做出了正确的选择，因此，他才决定试一下他选的那一款相机，故选B。

4.I interrupted to ask whether I needed to buy a carry-case and a memory card as well.”可知，作者不想听营业员向他讲解那款相机的功能，而是打断了营业员，作者问营业员他是否需要买相机套和内存卡；根据“Why do we think that new options still offer us anything new?”可知，作者不认为新的选择会有什么新意，即可供挑选的商品虽然有很多，但它们并不会包含更多的配件或服务，说明购物时不需要太多的选择，故选C。

考点：生活类短文阅读